Mystic Island

☼☼19☼☼

Raine

Magic burned against my throat and I felt Sierra’s eyes burn into me. Heather leaned down and grabbed a bow and quiver from one of Lea’s fallen demigods, and she aimed it at the magic demigod’s head, but I put up a hand swiftly. “No, Heather!” The sword’s flat edge pressed a bit harder against my throat. I barely had the breath left to say, “Help the others!” before I whipped Lightning Strike around and used the blade to push Sierra’s sword away.
The clank of metal rang through the air as my weapon met hers. Over the sounds of battle from the animals and the demigods, I growled at her. “Still worshipping your ungrateful mother?”
Sierra twisted her sword around, but I knew that trick. She did not succeed at disarming me, and she couldn’t even get past me. We parried in swift motions as she tried to speak. “Hecate can be a bit ungrateful. But I remain loyal to her because she’s my mom!”
“It’s because she scares you!” I retorted while I pressed my blade to hers. At this point in time, I was only using skill that I knew.
Memories of battling Nichole flooded through me, and the techniques that she and I used flooded through to my hands. Yes! I thought, smiling at the skill I was using against Sierra. But she had to have been trained for years by her mother, or perhaps empousae. She met every swipe with a move of her own.
“At least I listen to her!” Sierra bragged.
“At least I refuse to leave my leader!” I retorted back to her.
“Artemis is not your leader!” Sierra said. “You are not one of her hunters! In fact, you have no connection at all!”
I clanged my sword again. “We’re sisters! And I’m not afraid of her!”
“Not at all?”
“Not like you are of Hecate!” Clang! The swords struck sparks this time.
Sierra looked past me while still striking at the fighting animals. I heard another yelp---Hecate’s, as it sounded, and the wolf’s victorious bark. Sierra flipped her sword, and held it at her side. I pointed the tip at her, but she shook her head. “Look.”
I turned, keeping my peripheral vision on Sierra in case she tried anything while my back was turned, and watched the goddesses. Hecate, the black dog, was loping back to the trees, wings that she kept with her animal form folded against her sleek black pelt for aerodynamic speed. The dog passed into the woods, and the silver gray she-wolf yelped, chasing after the retreating enemy.
“Hecate is running away!” I rejoiced. “Artemis won!”
Sierra glanced at me with glaring eyes. “No one won. My mother is not running away. She is luring Artemis to the gorge. She wants to complete her vision.”
“What vision?”
Sierra ignored me, and she broke into a sprint. “I must see this.” I tore after her, leaping over cold dead monsters and fallen demigods (none of ours, thank the gods). She passed into the trees, and, slicing the head off an empousa that reached for me, I followed her.
“Where are you going?” I yelled at Sierra, who was a few feet away from my sword so I could not grasp her.
“I told you! I must see this! If Lady Hecate completes her vision, there’s no need for me to kill you!”
“Only crazy people have stupid visions like that!” I hissed.
She looked back, breathless. “I know.” She picked up a newfound speed for the final length to the gorge. The roar of water became louder and louder…

Sierra paused by a fall of rocks. Beyond that I saw rock, but it ended and turned into air at one point. I gasped. This was where I’d first seen Sierra on this island…where I’d nearly fallen over the edge myself. I understood now…Hecate wanted to throw Artemis over the edge, was that it?
But as Hecate turned on long-limbed black legs, Artemis had run faster than the witch anticipated. The wolf pounced on the dog, pushing the night-colored body against the rock. But Hecate was not powerless, and the two broke into fighting again. They moved away from the gorge’s edge, and I heard Sierra sigh. “Artemis is so troublesome. I wish she’d just give up and die already.”
I enflamed with rage. “How dare you say that?” I demanded, bringing Lightning Strike down upon Sierra, but she grinned at me, passing her sword across her face. With another clank, our fight had begun once more. I twisted, swiped, defended, and parried, but Sierra did the same. She forced me back into the rock fall.
I stared into her blue eyes and she stared into my gold. I tried to figure every move she’d make, every skill she’d use, but some I’d never anticipated or seen before. I had to duck and roll once on the sand, but I quickly stood. So long ago, in the Appalachians, Ryan (remember him?) had told me a useful piece of information. Don’t stay on the ground too long. It gives your enemy advantage. And considering Sierra already had the advantage of the terrain (for she knew it better than I); I didn’t even consider giving her another. I pushed her back from the rocks, bringing her closer to the edge. I snapped and parried, and she swiped and pointed.
The surge of the swordplay flipped, and I was now with my back turned to the edge. Sierra was facing the gorge, facing me, swiping harder and harder with anticipation in her eyes. She hooked with her blade at my hilt, twisted her sword, and nearly disarmed me. Nearly. Thank the gods I had such a strong grip. I had extra strength, not because I was demigod, but because my little half-brother was exceptionally strong for a fifth grader---and when he wanted something, you had to have at least superhuman might, or you’d starve.
But I held on to my hilt with all my power and though I slipped on the sandy rock, I used the tip of the blade to balance myself, and I glanced up at the furious young sorceress. “How close was that?”
“If you didn’t fall over the edge, then it wasn’t close enough!” Sierra hissed. She held her sword high and brought it down, meeting my blade with the flying of sparks. I pushed it back so I could stand, and we continued the epic sword fight. While the metal clanked, I asked between whips, “If you’re so good at this kind of thing, then why did you nearly fail gym?”
“I can’t portray my power in public,” Sierra said breathlessly, not looking directly at me---she was staring at me, but I could tell the answer was absent. Despite the skill she was showing with her swordplay, it was apparent that she was putting all of her focus and energy into it. “If I tried, then I’d look like a freak.”
“And I’m sure with wonderful friends like Kellie; you have to act like you’re not a freak.” I twisted the hilt to try and disarm her, but that was one of the hardest things to attempt with a sword. Besides, she’d been expecting it.
Sierra moved back with her sword pointed. “What would you know? You’ve had Brooke and Rose since sixth grade, and Nichole and Carole since first! I’ve never been able to fit in, and why? Because no matter how hard I try, I’m always a freak! Don’t think I don’t know what that idiot Alex and Kellie say behind my back!” I didn’t lower my sword, but I didn’t strike anymore.
She stared me directly in the eyes. “What if we’d been friends? We’ve always gone to the same schools. I’m going to Towson too next year, Raine. We’ll still be going to the same schools. If we’d been friends, would you be on my side?”
I didn’t answer as quickly as I’d liked, because to say the truth, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. But I still said, “No.”
“Really?”
“Stop questioning my loyalty. I’ve told you before; I’m not betraying anyone.”
“You’ve betrayed Nichole.”
“Nichole betrayed us,” I hissed. “Just because I’ve been swayed by Hades once doesn’t mean…”
“What?” Sierra murmured. “What does that mean?”
“I fell under his spell, that’s all!” I growled. And Ally died for it. “It won’t ever happen again! And I’ve fallen under your mother’s spell in Nevada too, but…”
“Oh yeah,” Sierra said. “Hecate told me about that. Only poor Brayden didn’t, because he wasn’t completely focused on the quest anymore. She was only targeting those.”
“Nichole wasn’t either, and she was under the spell.”
“She faked it,” Sierra admitted. “And so did her helper.”
I froze. “Helper? Who…what are you talking about? Nichole worked alone!”
“I thought she told you this before she died,” Sierra said. “That’s what my mother was told, at least. She gave away that there is another…”
“Lies,” I said. “She was trying to scare us. I’ve known her since practically kindergarten, and I know that’s what she does.” Sierra raised one eyebrow, and I, angered, swiped my sword again. She was a bit unprepared, but she barely met it. We were off again, fighting, no words to carry our emotions away. But there was one I kept hidden, not letting it carry into my eyes or flow through my motions: fear. I remembered clearly Nichole telling me as she lay dying, after Brayden had stabbed her in the back. She had admitted that she had not worked alone, but I hadn’t openly worried about that. But in the back of my mind, I always thought, ‘One of them serves Hades. One of them is a little spy.’
And if there really was a spy, a cold-blooded killer in the midst of our company, then was everything a trick? Who was it? Someone in Baltimore? Or even worse, was it someone on this island? Brooke, Rose, Kayla? I…had to believe Kayla promising that she was no traitor---no matter who her father was. But was it one of the Epic Three? Was it me?
None of us were supposed to exist. Though we were half-human, we were completely mythical. The only demigods that humans cared about were in mythology, in movies and books, while this was real. Was all of society mythical? Was the government full of monsters? Was Obama a son of Athena? Were the Beatles sons of Apollo? Was everyone great America saw as human really half-god?
I could take no more of it. I asked simply, “Who is the spy?”
Sierra shrugged. “I don’t know. Like you know, Lady Hecate is not exactly very high up in Hades’ army, and even if she does know, she wouldn’t tell me. She knows I’d just slip up.”
I rolled my eyes, thinking, ‘Screw you then’, and I struck at her again. I was losing complete focus, worrying about spies, and I realized that was what Sierra had intended. Artemis’ words crossed my mind. You choose to rely on what you’ve learned. But perhaps it is good to focus on what you’ve always known? I let my mind give way to my instincts, like I had with Artemis, and I found that my movements were swifter and sharper. Sierra’s eyes widened---she was having a harder time keeping up. She was slower than me, so I took the opportunity to flip around and force her to the edge instead of me. She gasped as there was a high-pitched yelp from farther away. She was frozen with shock; I turned as well to see a silver-gray wolf with paws on a black dog’s neck, her teeth inches from the dog’s throat. Hecate, the pure black animal, growled with rage but she was trembling with fear. One snap of her jaws and Hecate would be dead.
Why was Artemis hesitating? Then I saw Hecate’s forelegs moving. The witch was still fighting her, and Artemis had to put her strength into keeping her down. If Hecate was moving her away from her neck, and Artemis bit down, she’d put her power into the snap of her mouth. And if she missed, she’d be thrown off…and I’d seen the power of the goddesses. One throw could leave one lying on the ground, broken. And Hecate could kill her with her down.
But Sierra was hesitating, her fear pulsing in the air, flooding into her eyes. She was frightened that her mother’s pure enemy, therefore Sierra’s as well, would kill Hecate and then she’d be virtually defenseless. If Artemis came after her, she’d have no chance. Would any of Hades’ other gods protect her? I felt a flash of relief, knowing that Artemis protected me from any other threat.
I took advantage of her fear. I wove my sword around hers, bending it against the magic blade and then whipped my sword. Both weapons were in my hands, pointed against her. The force of me disarming her had caused her, in surprise, to fall, and the power of her fall had made the weakened rock to crumble away.
I stood over her. Sierra slipped over the edge, but she scrambled to grab the rock. She curled her fingers around the jutting edges, and I watched her, not offering any help. She stared up at me with wide blue eyes hopefully, fear shining, but I gazed coldly down. The hope changed to fury. “You won’t push me off.” I raised one eyebrow and pointed both swords in an ‘x’ pattern, both blades close to her neck. “I know you aren’t like that, Raine.”
“I could if I wanted too then,” I told her. “I could have killed you then. And I could now too.”
“You’re lying!” she spat, her legs kicking against side, trying to get a hold. But it wasn’t working, and she grasped the stone harder. “You can’t kill in cold blood, Raine! You may seem fierce, but you’re too soft!” She hissed, “Now help me up.”
“I’m not killing you in cold blood,” I told her. “I am saving you.”
“Then you’ll help me up.”
“Normal kids who are abused are sent to foster homes,” I whispered. “But you are abused by your godly parent. You’d never escape her. Death will be your only peace. I threw her sword off the edge, and she ducked down so it wouldn’t injure her. And then she stared up with confusion in her eyes.
She slipped terribly and had only one hand holding her up. She cried horribly to Hecate, “Mother! Mother, help me!”
I turned. The black dog’s ear flicked, like she heard her daughter, but then Artemis grew confused as well. Hecate’s black eyes lit up and she shoved the wolf away. The silver animal landed harshly closer to me, and it cried out in pain. Ichor began to flow from the animal where she’d hit the rock. Hecate leaped, somewhat limping, to her paws and slowly padded to the bleeding silver wolf. She growled hungrily, and the two animals’ thoughts spread to our heads like a wildfire. Instead of growling, we heard words.
“I have waited so long for this moment, Artemis,” the black creature snarled. “Longer than civilization has existed, longer than the first cloud of smoke rose to the sky. And now…it will be finished.”
“Forget Artemis!” Sierra cried. “Please, Hecate! I...I can’t hold much longer!” As she said that, one finger let go off the stone. “Mother, please!”
Hecate dropped into a crouch, ready to spring on the struggling wolf. She bared her gold-smeared teeth happily, and took another step towards the weakening wolf. I wanted to run to the wolf’s side…but some force kept me back. I peered with my eyes. A faintly shimmering, nearly invisible force field blocked me off from running. Magic.
Sierra let go of the rock, clawing desperately at the stone, looking at me frantically, but I didn’t help her. She fell and shrieked with such a horrible sound that I had to cover my ears. My sword fell to the rock and I pressed my hands against my ears. It was sound of pure terror. Somewhere below, there was a tiny splash.

I dared myself to look over the edge. I could not see Sierra anywhere, for she had been carried by the strong currents of the river between the gorge’s edges, the same river that flowed into Hecate’s home. I held my breath, and looked away. I had killed her. I was a murderer.
Hecate did not spare a look for her fallen child. She coiled her body to the ground and sprang in the air. The black animal spread her wings and curved her path in the air, diving for the dying wolf. I screamed, “No!”, and there was a rumble of thunder. With a crack, a white bolt of lightning came down and struck the flying dog midair, causing her to yelp. She fell from the sky, but she lay only stunned for a few moments. Her magic shield fell, and I sprinted as soon as it did to Artemis. Her pained yellow eyes looked up at me, but the wounds on her body were deep, and she stopped trying to stand. The canine eyes probed mine wounded, and I told her, “Get up! You have to get up!”
I cannot win anymore, Raine. I have to accept fate.
“You aren’t going to die! I promised that you wouldn’t!”
Her torn ear flicked, but her thoughts murmured sadly. I am sorry, Raine. I am dying. I am bleeding to death. It won’t be long.
“No,” I whispered, my eyes scanning the wolf’s tattered pelt sorrowfully. Ichor flowed from her relentlessly, and I saw the light in her eyes fading. Her thoughts were weaker when she spoke again. Raine, promise me you will not put yourself at risk. This was always my fate, to die at the hands of my cousin. I have been waiting for my death for a long time, Raine. I wait for paradise.
“Hecate will die,” I said firmly. “But you won’t. I know you won’t.”
Your loyalty is touching, but you know as well as I do that I do not stand a chance.
My heart fell, and my gold eyes were liquid with grief. Hecate would die.
A loud snarling erupted from behind me, and I turned barely to see Hecate sprinting towards me. She leaped upon me, pushing me down and clawed across my face—lightly, as a warning, not anything damaging. Stay away from my battles, little worm. I shall deal with you after I finish the goddess. She padded off of me, standing near the growling wolf with yellow eyes of fire. The young goddess glared at the towering witch harshly, snarling, ‘They will know it was you.
And how? No one will leave this island alive. I am sure the other demigods are dead, and if they are not, I shall dispose of them presently. You, little cousin, will die with your half-sister. Hecate sprang at her and snapped down on her throat. Artemis yelped, her final cry ringing in the air, and the wolf moved once more. Her yellow eyes flew open wide, and then closed slowly. Her body became still, the aura of power leaving, and when I reached to her thoughts, I only reached silence. My heart sank painfully and I whimpered, “No…it can’t be.”
Hecate howled triumphantly, a short howl, for she turned to me with eyes glinting. I do prefer killing this way, Raine Strike. It is so much more effective, would you say?
“You’re a monster,” I growled dangerously, my eyes flooding with fury over the grief of the dead moon goddess lying still in wolf form, her heart beating no longer.
The black dog padded to me, baring her teeth, and she laughed, ‘Sad that your spirited leader is dead, Strike? It is too bad, I suppose, that I am the only owner of the moon now, for you. Thought it is strange…when one owns a sphere of power alone, it is said that they become healed and even more powerful. But I feel no change. She moved closer to me. Perhaps one more death is required.
“You killed Artemis, Hecate,” I said lowly. “And now you will pay for it.” The dog pounced, but I ran from her. The witch bounded behind me, snarling with joy, ‘Are you afraid little demigod?
I reached the gorge’s edge, and wrapped my fingers around the sword I’d left in the grass. The dog could not see it, for I kept it hidden behind me, and she dropped low, stalking the rock earth with a somewhat slow speed. You seem terrified, little half-god.
“I’m not,” I said. She leaped, and I flashed my sword. “But you should be.” I thrust the sword into the dark creature’s belly and her eyes opened wide, and she let out a painful whine. I sharply moved the sword upward and let her go. The black animal fell to the ground writhing with pain.
I held my sword high over my head, dripping with ichor, and she snarled, ‘What? Go on, try and kill me. I will return from the dead. Immortals cannot always remain truly dead. Some can return, and I will be one.
“You are in the body of a mortal animal,” I warned her. “Therefore, you will never return.” I stabbed downward and heard one final canine cry. The warmth from the dog was fading, and as she died, the witch rasped in my head. Do not rejoice. You have not won. Where there is victory in battle, there is always a death in fate’s payment to the victor. Her head fell to the side, and she became still. Death had reached her at last.
I picked up the body of the canine witch and tossed her over the edge of the cliff into the river below. The night-colored body hit the water silently and was gone in moments with the swift water’s current.
The water in my heart rose to my eyes and I held them back, dashing to the wolf. I tripped and fell at her side, putting a hand against her gray fur with a last flicker of hope that she still lived. That I could save her. But the wolf was cold. Utterly cold.
I yelped with grief, and my head fell. My face was pressed against her silver fur, fur that streamed with my tears, and when I remembered that she had been waiting for death, the tears flowed stronger. All feeling around me fell, and I felt nothing but mourning when I looked upon the fallen goddess. Her eyes were not completely closed; she had died too swiftly. The sightless yellow eyes reflected the stars that began to shimmer in the skies. Clouds swathed the sky thickly as grief enveloped me, leaving my heart in shadows, and as my tears fell, rain began to fall from the heavens. The cool drops fell upon me without feeling.
I held the animal’s head in my trembling arms, closing my tired, sad eyes. I felt the cold fur against my face, letting myself fall into ultimate sorrow. Both of us were still, but only I stayed physically alive. Inside, though, I had died as well.
There were cries beyond the trees, but I took barely a notice of them. My subconscious recognized it as a war cry of Brooke, but I didn’t respond. I wept rivers around me, and the rain fell harder and harder. I didn’t even notice when showers pelted me and the lifeless Artemis. All I wanted to do was to die.
But another shriek came from the forest from another demigod, and I raised my head, my face soaked with tears. The rains continued to fall, and I stood. I turned my dull face to the direction of the sound, and I gently picked up the dead wolf in my arms. Her silver tail brushed the rock and her head faced the stars hidden by clouds as I slowly walked into the woods. When I was shadowed under the palm canopy, I could not see where I was walking. My sorrowful yellow eyes searched for an opening, the split wood that marked the edge of the clearing. I carried the wolf through the dark trees until I saw a faint light. It was the light of another empousa bursting into flame, as they did before they died, and then turning to ash. I heard a triumphant yell from one of the boys; it was Sam, and I followed the sounds of the battle. I paused at a bush with huge, waxy leaves, and I pushed the leaves from me, still holding the cold wolf. I slowly walked into the open ground, letting the rain wash my face again.
The demigods were only fighting the hellhound-Olympian dog mutts, all the empousae dead and gone. They could not return like the hellhounds, but most of the canines were still alive…or alive again. I looked out at the battle; no demigods were dead and they were still fighting with a well-sized force. I said dully, “Stop.” No one paid any attention, and louder, my voice still flat with grief, I yelled, “Stop!” The demigods backed away from their opponents. The hellhounds growled, but they as well backed away. They turned their heads toward me, and some had their face fall, some were frozen with shock. I held the wolf closer to me, seeing the dark looks that the monsters threw. Heather cried out in sorrow.
“It is over,” I said. “Hecate…Hecate is dead. I killed her. The battle is finished.” The hellhounds looked to each other, and one padded out in front. It was Nixta, the apparent leader of the shinytongues. She dipped her head to me, and spoke with human words. “Thank you, my lady. You have destroyed the tyranny that has held our people back for millennia.”
“You can speak?” Caroline asked her, awed.
The black dog, which only wrenched my heart with the memory of another black dog cutting Artemis’ life off, turned to her. “The cruel Hecate ordered me to remain silent whenever there are strangers present.” The dog fell to its knees at my feet. “I praise you to the highest. We are free.” The hellhounds were rounded together, and the remaining pack ran to the woods, leaving us.
“What the hell?” Rose asked. “What happened to…” She faltered, resulting to pointing to the wolf.
“You know I’ve never heard you curse in my life,” Brooke murmured.
“Never mind that!” Kayla hissed. Her pupils melted with her sad dark eyes when she stared at me. “I can feel the cold. I don’t see a light. How did she die?” Her voice broke into a whisper at the word ‘die’.
The air fell once more as the water opened heavily and I could sense the spirits of the other demigods fall. Artemis was dead. An Olympian was dead.
“There are eleven,” Brooke said quietly. “How did it happen, Raine? I would truly like to know.” For, of course, all Children of Athena loved knowledge and for one not to know was straining.
“If she hadn’t fought in her wolf form, then she would not have died. Not so quickly,” I murmured loud enough for the others, now approaching, to hear.
“Had Hecate killed her?” one of the lesser warriors, Caroline, asked.
“What do you think, imbecile?” Sam asked her, nudging with his elbow. “Do you think, maybe, that Raine had killed her?”
“No I did not!”
Rose began to approach the fallen animal carefully, her eyes flickering up to mine ever so often. I shot visual bolts of fury, as a warning for her to return to where she’d been before standing, but the girl took no hint. She put her hand on the silvery gray pale fur, seemingly whiter as she remained cold as death had stolen the warmth of life from her. I wondered where she was now; where did immortals go after death? She seemed too good to be thrown into Tartarus…but her enemies were the lords and ladies of death. Perhaps she would not get a fair sentence. I felt the tears sting my eyes again, but I would not let them surface. The rain threatened to end, but I ordered it not to: I liked the feel of the consistent beat upon me.
Rose nudged the lifeless shape stupidly (to me it was stupidly) and I drew my sword, putting it at her throat. She glared at me with shock. “What is wrong with you? I am your friend, Rose! You wouldn’t hurt me!”
“Back away from Artemis,” I ordered coldly. “I see no friend here.”
Icy flames were her blue eyes when she snarled, drawing her own faithful weapon, Cascade. “Is that how it is, Raine Strike? After all I’ve ever done for you, you treat me like an enemy? Like the one who killed Artemis?”
“You’d shut up if you knew what was good for you,” I said. “Have you not forgotten? I cared for her and you compare yourself to the demon who took her life?” I felt grief power my rage, and because my grief was overwhelming, as was my anger.
Rose was wordless, not out of being beaten, but out of speechless vehemence. She raised her sword and nearly brought it down upon mine. Though she seemed like fire, brave and powerful (as I knew she was), she knew she had no real chance of defeating me. Though we were both Epic Three, I was twice as dominant as she.
Brooke rushed in between us. Rose had almost cut down the daughter of the owl, but she was skilled enough to evade her, attempting to get at me. I hissed with amusement, slipping around the gray-eyed girl, trusting my skills over hers. I felt a surge of hatred against the watery warrior.
“Stop!” Kayla growled, pushing me back. She was strong still for someone who had recently fought a tiring battle, but when I began to break her by pushing past, she stared into my eyes. “Now, Raine, are you going to snap me in half, or are you going to control your anger and stop this nonsense?”
“Really?” Brooke repeated, exasperated.
“Get away, Brooke!” Rose snapped, knocking her with her fish-haven hilt. The lone shark swam quickly away (if one remembers, the hilt of Cascade was made of magic tropical water---therefore, even a tiny-to-them shark could pass through) at the force it was being smacked. Brooke slapped it away and the sword fell to the sand with a soft, stifled thud. I smiled, tossed Kayla to the side and moved against the weaponless water demigod. Rose’s blue eyes glowed; the waters rose from the sea and molded into a tidal wave over my head.
But when Brooke moved in front of Rose, blocking her sight, the water fell, splashing. I prepared power of my own, beginning to imagine lightning to strike near Rose. But, oh no, I did not want an ordinary bolt. I wanted the skies to clear, for a white claw to strike from a starry sky that danced around the moon. And as I did that, silver fell across my face. All thoughts of a storm melted away and I gazed happily at the white face, forgetting what had become of it. A shadow fell across my heart. Oh...the moon was abandoned. No living creature had any rule over it. Would it revolt against the sun? I had heard once that the true reason that there were moon and sun gods and goddesses was because before Time, there were constant wars between day and night. You wouldn’t find that in mythology.
But the moon did not intend freedom. The silver light flooded onto the shore but closed in on a gray-white being lying on the ground. The golden-by-day sands were bleached ivory and the trees as well. The night was alive with light, but the strongest of all was a spotlight that fell upon Artemis. Only her eyes were no longer closed. They opened slowly, revealing bright yellow that had caused me so much pain to look at when sightless. But they were alive and fiery once more. Ichor dissolved in the moonlight, the wolf’s pelt shimmering and clean once more. Her wounds disappeared with the ichor, closing up so perfectly that I could think that they were a month old, already healed. The prophecy of a sole owner was true once more. The proper leader of a sphere of power would be healed by magic, no matter the toll of their injury. Even death was turned around. Artemis the wolf stood in the glory of silver moonlight, her pelt turned snowy and her head held high. She stood gracefully and her yellow eyes fell upon me calmly but with some kind of joy.
The Fates have taken mercy upon me, Raine. I am alive once more.