Chapter 27. The Price of Power

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The air was warm, moist. It smelled of wax, and sweat, and moss from the canals that snaked beneath Denengear. Smoke had settled into the high ceilings and spires at the top of the abandoned cathedral, forming a layer of thick, gray clouds. Though the cathedral was abandoned no longer–there were thousands of people gathered inside tonight, gathered before the platform where Shawn now stood. Some were quietly muttering and whispering about what was ahead, others were shouting and starting fights. A few hired guards had been brought from Copper Lanes to watch over the crowd, but it was obvious that the people present could easily overpower them if things got out of hand. There were even soldiers from the Royal Army out there watching–the ones who’d abandoned their king.

“I hope this is what you wanted,” Darko said, strumming his fingers against his chin. “They’re here now. They’ll be expecting a show.”

Veronica looked at him, eyes dark and hollow. “And they’re going to get one,” she said.

Darko shook his head. “So you really found this Crystal you’ve been going on about? The one that was hidden in that forest?”

“I did,” Veronica said, sounding terrified it wasn’t a lie. “It was exactly where I knew it would be. I’ve known where it was since before Tonila killed my friends.”

Darko looked like he was deciding whether or not to pretend to care.

“You’re little trick better work, Vee,” Tonila said, unaffected by Veronica’s words. “Every Runner and Flyer worth their weight in gold in the city is out there. Darko’s reputation is on the line. You better not screw this up.”

“She won’t,” Darko assured Tonila. “I’ve made it very clear to Vee what’s going to happen to her if she fails. The whole city will know her name. And not for the reason she wants them to.”

Tonila reached out and shoved Veronica, making her stumble back a few steps. “Is that going to be before or after I break her legs?”

“Preferably before,” Darko said. “I’d hate for any bounty seekers to hold back on our little Vee out of fear of harming a cripple.”

“Sounds fine to me,” Tonila said, re-crossing her arms. “I can wait a day.”

Veronica looked at Shawn, eyes like razors, then back to Darko and Tonila. “After tonight, you’re never going to lay a finger on me again, because if you do, I’ll have your hands taken off.” Her voice was like the venomous bite of a snake.

Tonila and Darko shared a glance, then Tonila tightened her stare and leaned down at Vee, halfway smiling as she got close. “Sounds like your head is in the right place. That’s good. I hope this all works out just the way you have planned, I really do. But until it does, until we’re all sitting high above copper lanes in those gilded council seats you’re always bragging about–we’re the ones in charge around here. Don’t forget that.” Tonila reached out and shoved Veronica again, even harder than last time.

Veronica looked at Tonila, her eyes erupting in flame. Darko saw Veronica’s stare, then put his hand on Tonila’s shoulder. “That’s enough,” he said. “I believe she understands.”

Tonila looked away, focusing her attention back on the crowd. Veronica turned to Shawn, the flame in her eyes cooling as they walked away. “Tonight is the last night we’ll ever have to suffer the insults and lies of cut throats and scum-lords. After tonight, they’ll bow to us.”

“When is it going to begin?” Shawn asked. He could feel sweat building on his forehead and neck. The smell and heat of all the bodies writhing throughout the cathedral was making him nauseous. He and Veronica were partially hidden behind the walls at the edge of the stage, but even from here it was obvious the crowd was growing restless.

“Soon,” Veronica said. “When Molly and Dylan get here.” She leaned out, looking across the crowd. Her eyes shimmered in the torchlight, the Turquoise fire flaring up as she scanned the mass of flesh and cloth. “There are so many people here tonight. What do you think it would take to stop them if someone tried?”

Shawn looked out with her, counting the eyes. There were more than a thousand people, at least. “An army. A big one.”

“One like my father’s?” Veronica smiled. “Once we have those people on our side, no one will be able to stop us from doing what’s right.” She looked at Shawn’s chest, then back to his eyes. “And this is just the beginning… They’ll go out there and tell more people what we show them tonight. It won’t be long before the entire island knows who we are and what we can do… Are you ready?”

“I don’t know,” Shawn said, his feelings as confusing as his thoughts. “I was at first…but…”

“I know what you’re feeling,” Veronica said. “I’m scared too. But I’m excited underneath. Think of all the people we’re going to save, Shawn. We’ll be heroes. Our story passed down in legend for thousands of years to come. The ones who stopped death. The ones who saved Talmoria from its King.”

“I know,” Shawn said. “I do think about them–all the time. But… Why do we need these people? They don’t seem like they want to help. They seem angry.”

A sarcastic smile appeared on Veronica’s face. She shook her head at him as if amused by his naivete. “Of course they’re angry–their lives have been taken away from them. Most have lost their families, their friends, to the Gray Death or worse. They don’t have any hope left, Shawn. They don’t have a future.” Veronica looked out across the eyes like they were a glinting field of stars. “But we’re going to give it all back to them.” She looked at Shawn. “Won’t it be beautiful?”

“Yes, it will be… But, these people…what are they going to do for us?” Shawn asked, breaking Veronica’s daze. “Are you sure they aren’t…dangerous? Is this really going to help us save the people in the Death Realm?”

Her happiness faded like a dying flower as the reality of what they were doing came back. “My father’s not going to just give us the Black Crystal, Shawn. If we want to save them, we’re going to have to take it from him.”

Shawn was surprised that she was planning to directly take action against her father. It seemed like a step too far–they were in his city. “But he’s the king of Talmoria.”

“That doesn’t matter. He had his chance to do the right thing and he failed. Now it’s our turn–and we’re not going to fail.” Veronica’s eyes gleamed with fury, like a bomb had gone off inside her mind. “I’m not going to hurt anyone, Shawn. Not unless I have to.”

“What about the ones who do stand against us, like the Protectors?” Shawn couldn’t imagine what a clash with Jarod’s army might look like. He had to avoid that at any cost.

Veronica seemed to be fighting a battle behind her eyes. “They can join us willingly… or they can die–and join us as Reborn. It’ll be their choice.”

The answer wasn’t the one Shawn hoped for. “That doesn’t sound like much of a choice.”

“The time for them to choose their own futures was yesterday…and they chose wrong. This time, we’re going to choose for them.”

Veronica seemed to notice the disappointment growing in Shawn’s stare. She shook her head, frustration squeezing her eyes almost shut. “Either way, they’ll never fight us once the Black Crystal is mine. No one will stand against a civilization that can never die, never wither and grow old, never get sick…” Veronica’s voice slowed. She went from excitement to sadness like a cold wind had blown into her mind. She turned to Shawn. “And every person who dies will just make us stronger… There will be no Gray Death for us. Just Rebirth, and a civilization born unto eternity.”

Shawn could feel a storm gathering like electricity in the air, a thunder so deep and ominous he could almost sense it shaking the mansion’s stones already. But Veronica seemed like she would become a victim of this storm as much as anyone, like it was too big for even her to control. But why? Why was she willing to go so far? “As long as everything goes according to plan,” Shawn reminded her.

“It will. It always does. At least most of the time.” Veronica turned to Shawn, looking less sure. “This never would have been possible without your help, you know that, don’t you? You made this future become reality as much as I did. And you’ll help me make it even more real when tomorrow arrives. I know that in my heart.”

All Shawn could think about was Manie, and how much danger was secretly growing around her. Veronica was something else. She was much more dangerous than he’d thought when they first met. The only other person Shawn could think of who scared him as much as she did was her own mother, Agatha. But even still, right now, there was still a chance for Shawn to get what he wanted out of this mess–he just had to keep focused. This isn’t why I’m here. “The only thing I care about is the cure to the Gray Death–like we agreed.”

“You’ll have anything you want,” Veronica said, smiling at the pain his words seemed to cause her. “You’re my savior. My King.” Veronica’s eyes twinkled and burned like Shawn was the only thing she could still see. “You make me feel…” she closed her eyes, as if the words she was about to say brought her great pain. “...alive…” She put her arms around Shawn’s neck and looked up at him. “When I’m near you it’s like I never lost my light…”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Vee,” Shawn said. “There are lots of broken people in the world. I should know, I’m one of them. Your mom killed my dad a long time ago. You’re not different.”

“I wish that was true,” she said. “If it was, I’d run away from this world with you and never return.”

Shawn was reluctant as he brought his hands up and put them against Veronica’s shoulder blades. It felt like he was betraying Manie everytime their skin touched. “I wish we could, but there’s nowhere else to go. Besides, if we don’t find a way to fix this mess, maybe no one will. We have a responsibility to do something. That’s why we have this power.”

“You really believe that? It doesn’t seem fair…” Veronica pulled the Turquoise Crystal out of her pocket, letting the green light glow across her neck and cheeks. “Maybe no one has to do anything.” She looked out into the crowd, a dim happiness glazing across her eyes. “Maybe we should just leave this mess behind and start again somewhere new. We could ride a ship to the lands beyond the seas and just…disappear into time…like we were never real at all. Like two names in a storybook.”

Shawn was stunned to hear her say that. It didn’t seem real. “Are you sure?”

Veronica whipped back to Shawn. “If we leave now, no one will know. We can run away and go somewhere we can be happy.”

Shawn wasn’t sure if she was serious or just playing games. He even wondered if it was some kind of a test. But even if it wasn’t, he knew it wasn’t possible. “After all we did to get that Crystal, and now you just want to throw it all away?”

Veronica’s eyes fell to the stone, her eyes reflecting its glowing color. “It would be easier than this… Less…confusing.” She turned to look at Darko and Tonila standing not far away. Tonila was glaring in their direction. She seemed ready to kill anyone who crossed her path. “And less dangerous.”

“If we tried, Darko and Tonila’s people would come after us. They vouched for you to all of Copper Lanes to get this crowd together. If we don’t do this tonight…we’re dead. You saw what they did to Chen.”

Veronica looked back to Shawn, her eyes shimmering with a glaze of tears. She froze for a moment, absorbing the enormity of what Shawn said. “Am I in over my head?”

Shawn let out a breath, not knowing what to say. “It’s too late to ask that now. Look, if you’re serious about leaving, then let’s just go. But first we have to find the cure. I can’t leave Denengear without it, Veronica. I’ve told you from the beginning that’s the reason I came here with your sister. And it still is.”

Veronica looked into Shawn’s eyes, her passion fading into fear. She turned and stared at the crowd beyond the stage. She bit her lip as a tear broke from her eye and fell down her face. “I… I think–”

“Our future queen!” a loud and enthusiastic voice broke in. Shawn turned and saw Marcus, the commander of the Royal Army, coming towards them. Molly and Dylan were leading him. And at the back, trailing behind like a whipped dog, was Silvan, his arms crossed and his eyes stuck to the floor. Every time Shawn saw Silvan he couldn’t help but feel disgusted and betrayed all over again.

“Marcus,” Veronica said at once, breaking the tears from her eyes with a quick swipe. She let go of Shawn and moved towards her guests, pretending she and Shawn hadn’t just talked about leaving. “I’m glad you’re here. We’re about to begin.”

“Good,” he said, raising his brow. “I’ve got the men who are still loyal to your father running laps around the city. They’ll be too busy training in the mud to notice what’s happening right beneath their feet.”

“That’s perfect,” Veronica said. “We should keep them in the dark for as long as we can.”

“They’ll never figure out what you’re planning. They aren’t smart enough.” Marcus put his hands on his hips, looking at all the people gathered beyond the stage. “I was beginning to grow afraid I’d miss the show. Wouldn’t want to be absent from the first page of the world’s new history book.” He smiled at Veronica.

Veronica smiled back. “I’d have Grandmaster Rorik write you in even if you weren’t. You’ve done so much to help us, I doubt this night would have been possible if not for you.”

“We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?” Marcus asked. “But really, this is your night, Vee. You made this happen–no one else. That kind of ambition is exactly what this island needs. That’s why all of us believe in you.”

“Some of us,” Tonila corrected.

Marcus looked at Tonila and Darko and raised an eyebrow. “Well if it isn’t the two most notorious criminals of Copper Lanes. And here under one roof. It’s a shame my boys aren’t with me–we’d have a real good time dragging you two parasites into the dungeon to rot where you belong.”

Darko smiled. “Shame you couldn’t get your claws into us back when it really mattered. But I guess you were just never that good–were you, Commander Marcus?”

Marcus drew in a breath, then exhaled, the irritation obvious in his eyes. “Worms like you are always slippery, Darko. That’s what makes them worms. Just because I couldn’t catch you doesn’t mean no one did. I heard one of your closest partners stabbed you in the back. Or did he stab you in the front? I can’t seem to remember.”

Darko laughed. “Yes, I learned a harsh lesson that day about tricking myself into believing that those who had once been my enemies could one day become my friends. How naive I was. I’ll never make that mistake again. You however, never seemed to learn your lesson, did you? I suppose that would explain why your daughter is dead.”

“My daughter is dead because you’re a scum-lord piece of trash who’s lucky he isn’t decorating the bottom of my boot with his teeth.”

Darko laughed. “What can I say–accidents happen. How could I have known little Silva was going to be stuck at home during the riots? And how could I be blamed for a rogue torch flying into one of your windows? Even more unfortunate that all the doors were blocked from the outside. Such a tragedy.”

“You’ll get what’s coming to you,” Marcus said, a dark rage filling his voice. “After I get my daughter back.”

“Well I guess we’ll find out sooner rather than later, won’t we, Commander Marcus?” Tonila put a hand on the sword in her sheathe and squinted.

Silvan grabbed Marcus’s shoulder. “Not now,” he muttered. “Not tonight.”

“Get your rat claws off me, Turnheel,” Marcus said, shouldering out of Silvan’s grip. Silvan raised his hand and backed away as Marcus went to the end of the stone room where the braziers were gathered, stopping beneath what was left of the broken statue of Mikhail that Shawn had destroyed.

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Veronica looked at Shawn, her eyes bleeding fear. She looked lost, broken–like an abandoned child without anyone left in the world to guide her.

Dylan went to Veronica and stopped, looking out from the darkness at the crowd before them. “This is the first step,” Dylan said. “Your dreams are coming true, Veronica. It won’t be long before the true power on this island belongs to you. The people in this room tonight will soon become the most feared leaders to ever set foot in Talmoria, when we’re finished.”

Shawn didn’t like the sound of Dylan’s voice. He never had, but now, since his Rebirth, he seemed harsher, less friendly.

“I don’t want to be feared,” Veronica said, a darkness rising in her eyes that didn’t match her words. “I want to do what’s right.”

Dylan turned. “It doesn’t matter what you want. It only matters what they want.”

Molly came to Veronica and tugged on her sleeve. “I’m afraid, Vee,” she said, shaking her face. “It’s so big… What if your plan doesn’t work? What if everyone turns against us?”

“They won’t,” Veronica said sternly, yanking her arm from Molly and looking away.

She trained her eyes on the crowd beyond the shadows and her anger instantly melted back into fear. “They can’t.”

“But what if they do, Vee?” Molly asked. “I don’t think anyone will bring us back from the Death Realm if we can’t keep our promise.”

Veronica looked back at Molly from the corner of her eye, the furious determination broken like the surface of a still pond shattered by ripples.

Silvan stepped up beside Molly. “She’s right, Veronica. If you do this, there will be no turning back. This is your last chance to change your mind. You need to think about what you’re about to do very carefully before you do it. Because this decision is going to affect everyone who was ever born–from the smallest child to the biggest man. Everyone in Talmoria will be touched by what you do this night.”

Veronica paused for a moment, taking in his words, then her eyes wilted into anger, as if she’d been betrayed. “I thought this is what we all wanted?” she asked, confused and hurt. “What we all agreed? Don’t tell me you’ve changed your minds now. We’re doing the right thing. My mother unleashed a disease that has been spreading across Talmoria for seventy years. It has killed everyone it touched. We can’t stop. I’ve been to the Death Realm, I’ve seen what it’s like in that place. I’m not going to leave those people there to suffer for all eternity. This isn’t about us, or them. It’s about those who have been forgotten. The people who were betrayed by their Queen. The people my father decided to leave behind and condemn to a raging inferno.”

“It isn’t that simple, Veronica,” Silvan said. “Nothing is. If you go out there and show those people this power you’ve found, they’re going to make you the queen of this island whether you want it or not… And if you refuse, they’ll take that power from you and do it themselves.”

“I know,” Veronica said, sounding afraid.

“I hope you’re ready for this,” Silvan said.

Veronica held up the Turquoise Crystal, the green flame dancing inside its depths. “Is anyone ever ready to become the Queen?” she asked.

Silvan shook his head at her. “I doubt it.”

Veronica let out a breath, then turned back to Silvan. “Then I guess it’s best we get this over with.”

“What about all the people that might die,” Shawn said, grabbing Veronica’s hand. The first person he thought of was Manie. He’d made Veronica promise him to never hurt her, but he didn’t feel sure it was impossible. “This is going to affect more than just us.”

“No one is ever going to die again,” Veronica said, her eyes and voice softening when she met Shawn’s gaze. “Not once the Black Crystal is mine.”

And when you turn the dead into Reborn, their lives will belong to you. The thought drew a chill up Shawn’s spine. That kind of absolute power would corrupt anyone. And anyone this new Queen disagreed with would be cast into a world of endless death and darkness, where men’s shadows became dreams and their memories turned into nightmares.

“The right to the throne has been mine since birth,” Veronica said. “Even if my father disagrees.” She squeezed Shawn’s hand then looked into his eyes, the green flame biting at her irises as it waved and flapped like an emerald dragon taking flight for the first time. “And when I get there, you’ll be standing at my side.”

Veronica let go of Shawn’s hand and moved away, towards the break in the shadows at the edge of the stage. She took a deep breath, then stepped out into the torchlight, letting the orange of the flames wash over her like a flaming embrace into the new world she was about to create. A roar of dulling whispers washed over the crowd until the cathedral, which stretched on and on between the granite pillars like a cavern in a hollow mountain, was almost silent.

Shawn followed Veronica out as she strode to meet the crowd. And after him came Molly and Dylan, then Silvan and Tonila and Darko. Marcus was the last to join them, and when he did his eyes changed from what he saw. The thousands of people out there were more than he seemed able to comprehend. The enormity that all of them were about to be under Veronica’s command seemed to strike him like a hammer to the chest. Shawn could feel the sweat on his own neck, and he could see the sweat on Marcus’s. Even the stones were dripping wet, shining and shimmering in the light from the flames as if they’d fallen into the stomach of some enormous creature.

Veronica went to the front of the stage where she stood in full view of everyone who had come. She had her hands clasped in front of her waist, her green dress flapping in the draft. She looked out, taking in the sight as if it was making her drunk. She drew a deep breath, then let her hands fall to her sides. “Is there anyone left in Talmoria who believes we need a new queen?...”

The silence in the crowd echoed with her question, but no answer came back, just a deafening and haunting silence.

Veronica looked out, the panic building in her eyes. “What about a King?” she asked, taking a few steps across the stage. “No?” she asked to their silence, as thousands of eyes watched her hover across the stage, weightless as wind. “What about a way to save the ones you love?” Veronica held up the Turquoise Crystal, its green flame shining through the glass. “A way to bring back the people who have died.”

The idea burned across the crowd like wildfire until an accusation erupted from the mass of faces. “You’re the King’s daughter. The one who fell from the top of the tower almost a century ago.”

Veronica looked out at her audience, bitten by their words. “I am,” she shouted back at them, shame and anger burning in her voice. “I’m Veronica!”

“She died,” a woman shouted. “Dead girl,” said another with a hiss. “She’s a freak! Rotten from flesh to bone.” “Kill her again!” Another screamed. “Make her beg for death!”

Veronica looked at the people hurling insults and said, “I was dead. Yet here I stand again. Do any of the thousands of you know why?” Veronica moved quickly across the stage, staring into the thousands of eyes below. When no answer but insults came back to her, she continued. “There exists a way to bring back the ones you love. The dead can be reborn like I was. Whether they burned in Duncan’s fires, or fell to the Gray Death, or died with a sword in their heart–they can be brought back.”

“Reborn?” A man from the crowd asked. “That cannot be true!”

“It is true! When people die they go to a place called the Death Realm,” Veronica shouted at her audience, anger burning in her voice. “A prison that I was trapped inside for decades. A living nightmare the likes of which words cannot describe. A rotten secret your king has kept hidden from you for decades. But that is not the only thing my father has kept secret… He has a key to unlock the Death Realm. He could have freed those people long ago. He could have stopped the Gray Death–ended death itself. But instead he chose to let us suffer, let us grow sick, and die for his mistakes!”

A furious bitterness grew in the crowd, crossing lips like a swarm of bats emerging from the mouth of a dark cave. But then someone fought the growing frustrations like an icy wind. “She’s lying! She’s lying to all of you! No such place exists as a Death Realm! Have you all forgotten the gods? The true gods! This is just a yarn wound by an over-imaginative girl. Veronica is dead! She’s been dead for seventy years! You all know that.”

“I was dead,” Veronica repeated, holding up the Turquoise Crystal. “But now I am alive.” The green fire in the Crystal erupted into a burst of light that shone across the cathedral, its light dancing across the marble pillars and casting thousands of shadows over the room. The light blinded the audience for a moment as everyone brought up their hands to cover their eyes and kneel. Soon after, the mass of bodies rose once more, looking again towards Veronica as the Crystal’s light dimmed enough to reveal the furious whirlwind of green fire rising out of her hands, streaming high into the spires and broken glass roof, roaring and rumbling like a mountain about to erupt.

Shawn crouched as the sound and vibrations overtook him, looking up the eye of the green storm. He saw shapes of fire begin to break away from the spinning inferno, soaring out and gliding across the room like weightless sheets. Dozens more joined the first, and before Shawn could begin to count how many he saw, the cathedral had filled with hundreds of screaming shards of green flame, flying everywhere around the room and above the heads of the people who had come. The crowd seemed too stunned to react at first, then they looked afraid, screaming and fighting to distance themselves from the green magic burning in Veronica’s hands–but some began to understand what they were looking at.

“The fires have faces!” A man screamed. “They have faces!”

“They’re burning!” A girl in her mother’s arms screamed and pointed.

“Those aren’t fires–they’re people!” shouted another.

A gasp shattered the fear in the crowd as everyone stopped fleeing the swooping and swarming fires to look. The room was awash in a tide of green sparks and falling embers, and the men and women below shouted and cried, awed by their sight.

“That’s my husband!” A woman said, pointing after one of the green flames, like a comet trailing over her head. “He perished of the Gray Death less than a season ago.”

Hundreds began to point and shout at the fires racing around the deep ceiling of the cathedral, naming them, telling stories of loss and despair, fond memories and forgotten love. Men and women wept like children, some howled and cried with laughter, others shouted curses and compliments at the souls in rages of joy. Most seemed to almost forget Veronica. Like she almost wasn’t part of what was happening at all. The crowd had become fully consumed by their reunion with the dead.

“Mildred!” A man shouted with tears streaming down his face, waving his arms at the ceiling. “Mildred Flower! I’m down here! Daddy’s here waiting for you to come home!” He reached at his chest and snapped a necklace off his neck, one with a feather wrapped in a braid of leather. He held it up in the air towards the soaring green flames. “Mildred, please come back to me.”

The green fire twisted in the air and quickly came down, stopping before the man’s outstretched arm. People backed away, tripping to make room. Within the floating green fire was the face of a girl around Veronica’s age, her hair long and braided.

“Mildred,” the man said softly. “Where did you go, Buttercup?.. I waited for you to come back that night–I still wait for you.”

A hand made of green fire reached out and touched the necklace, leaving it unburnt. The face in the flame had blue eyes. At first they looked at the feather, and then they went up to her father. “I got lost in the streets looking for the medicine man. It was raining–I slipped on the stones. I hit my head and I never woke up. I never felt a thing.”

Her father fell to his knees, fighting his tears as he squeezed his mouth with one hand. “No one…hurt you?”

“No,” his daughter Mildred said. “I know you thought that, but it was my own mistake. The men found my body and thought I’d died of Gray Death, so they burnt me. I wish I could have told you sooner, but I didn’t know a way.”

“I’ve missed you, Mildred… More than anything.” Her father looked broken, but in her words he seemed to have found absolution.

“I’ve missed you too,” said Mildred, smiling. “But this place… Father, it’s dark, and full of nightmares here.”

“How can I help you? I’ll do anything. I swear it.”

Mildred pointed at Veronica, her eyes reflecting the roaring green tornado tearing the air in her hands. “You have to help her. She has a plan. She wants to save us all. She’s the only one who can.” She looked back to her father. “So will you do as I say? Will you help our queen free me?”

Her father nodded. “I will, Mildred. I’ll help her. But…how?”

“She needs your help to find the key.” Mildred smiled at her father. “And then she can free us all.” Mildred looked up at the other souls flying across the darkened ceiling.

“I will,” her father said, nodding at his daughter. “I’ll do whatever she asks as long as it brings you back to me.”

His daughter nodded, her smile fading. “Thank you father. I love you so much. I hope we’ll see each other soon.” She closed her eyes and fell back into her green flame.

“Mildred,” her father whispered as tears ran from his eyes. “Please don’t go.”

His daughter’s flame shot up into the roof of the cathedral, leaving a trail of raining, green sparks to follow her up and spread across the crowd below like a falling sea of glowing stars. Her father watched every spark like each was a fragment of the daughter he’d lost, his eyes shattered into thousands of burning pieces as thousands of others watched with him. Everyone seemed captured by the magic of what they had just witnessed. The sadness. The hope. The girl’s father smiled, then slowly brought his eyes down to find Veronica, humbled by who he saw. “She’s a god,” he whispered. “A living god.”

“Not a god,” A tall man with a deep voice beside him said. “A queen.” He reached down and helped the father back to his feet.

“We’ve all known it for decades,” a dirty woman with dreadlocks in her hair shouted as she came out of the crowd, twisting to face everyone she could see. “King Dukemot’s leadership isn’t worth half a shit these days–anyone with a brain in their skull knows that. It’s time we get a new leader and take back the world that was stolen from us. Look at what this girl can do–I just laid eyes on a man I haven’t seen since I was knee-high. This is bloody real!”

Another emerged to argue her point. “I don’t give a fuck who has their hands on the stone–the person who tells me they’re going to bring back all those killers from up north that slaughtered those helpless villagers–I start to get second thoughts about them. This isn’t who we are. People die for a reason. It has been that way since time began!”

“Did my four babies die for a reason?!” A woman shouted, crying as she grabbed the man by his collar. “Two were barely old enough to walk, and that Gray Death took em’ one by one, making them skinnier and skinnier until they were just skin and knobby bones, couldn’t even remember their own mama’s face by the end. I can’t go on without ‘em. I can’t! Don’t you dare try to take that away from me! Don’t you dare.” She was hysterical, crying as she shook the man with all her strength, which wasn’t enough to make him more than stumble.

“What the fuck is this shite, Jimmy? After all this time, all we’ve seen, all those corpses we’ve burned and dumped in the rivers, and now you’re going to up and change your mind about them like that? Curse em’ to the darkness? I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” A second man approached the woman and his friend.

Jimmy pushed the crying woman off his shoulder and back into the crowd. He then pointed at his friend. “If you think this is a solution then you’ve lost your damn mind! All of you! This girl will bring a doom down upon all of us that will make the Gray Death look like a bloody saddle-sore! She wants to reverse death? Bring back all the monsters who have died so they can terrorize our world anew? Only moments ago, you all were fancying this girl a freak! An abomination! And that is what she is. A thing better off forgotten.”

“You better watch your tongue,” the man said to his friend Jimmy, pointing. “I’m warning you.”

“She’s no queen. She should be dead!”

A fist slammed into Jimmy’s jaw, knocking him to his knees. Jimmy tried to stand, and a wooden board came crashing down on his head from behind, knocking him off his feet. He began to scream as blood ran down over his face. The crowd descended on him, kicking and punching and tearing at his clothes.

The deep voiced man stepped ahead of the brawl and raised a fist high into the air. “For Queen Veronica!” he roared, his voice a bellow of fury. “For a world without death!”

A roar of approval erupted around the man, shaking the stones beneath Shawn’s feet. Hundreds joined the cheering, then thousands, until the entire cathedral began to rumble and echo with the barbaric thunder of screaming voices, all calling out Veronica’s name. And there she stood before them, their queen, holding the Turquoise Crystal in one arm high above her head, chest rising in and out as she looked across her audience, sweat pouring down her brows, eyes burning like green coals. She smiled, then laughed, as she listened to her name echo across the stone halls. “We’ve done it,” she shouted beneath the furor.

The sight of Veronica standing there as thousands shouted her name and pumped their fists, stamped their feet and cried in furious glory, and souls of the dead raced across the cathedral above, and an innocent man’s blood ran across the stones below, was terrifying to behold. Shawn knew he’d never forget this moment, and neither would a single other one of these people. Darko and Tonila had just watched their power over Copper Lanes vanish in the lick of a flame–and they looked like they understood it more than they wanted to accept it. Veronica’s name echoed over and over past their ears, and each time it did, Shawn could see their panic grow, see their grip over Copper Lanes loosening. Silvan shook his head, muttering something so quietly Shawn couldn’t hear the words, but he didn’t look happy. Marcus looked as excited as anyone in the audience, but impatient. Mostly impatient. Molly was clearly terrified, covering her ears as she hid behind the stage, and Dylan was right out in front, basking in the glory of Veronica’s success.

At the height of their cheers, Veronica screamed, making the green tornado reverse its spin with an explosion of emerald lightning and the wind began to suck back in, drawing in the room of soaring souls like a deep breath being inhaled. The fiery bodies danced and melted as they fell back into the wind, crashing through the Turquoise Crystal like falling stars. The green lightning flashed and exploded then whipped across the marble ceiling. The electricity clung to the pillars and left scorch marks across the cathedral wherever they touched, marking Mikhail’s former place of worship with a scarring of black webs.

The crowd parted and dodged the lashes of sparks and lightning, terrified and mesmerized at once, screaming and stopping to express awe at their new queen’s power. When it was over, Veronica fell to her knees and let the Turquoise Crystal drop to her lap in her hands. Shawn ran to her side and grabbed her arms as he went down beside her. “Are you okay?”

Veronica looked up at him, showing her teeth with a smile as sweat dripped down the edge of her face. “I’m better than okay,” she said, sounding high on her exhaustion. “I’ve just become a queen.” Her eyes found Darko and Tonila, and her smile deepened with a small but ferocious laugh. “We did it, Shawn. We really did it. The city is ours…”

Shawn didn’t like the sound of that. He looked out at the audience, his heart hammering in his chest, his ears ringing in their silence. “They’re yours now,” Shawn whispered. “Say something to them.”

“Help me stand,” Veronica asked.

Shawn took her arm and pulled her to her feet. She stumbled when she got up, leaning against him before finding her feet.

Veronica took a breath, her eyes half shut. “Tonight we’ve taken the first step towards a Reborn future.” She shouted, pausing to let her words sink in. The audience seemed like they’d been transformed into fearful children, quieted by the person in front of them. “This is what the Crystals can do,” Veronica continued more quietly. “They can give us back the world we’ve lost. Now go tell the people of Copper Lanes what you’ve seen. I’ve got big plans coming, and I’ll soon need everyone’s help. So rest now and wait for my word. I’ll call upon you when it’s time to take the next step.”

Whispers echoed in the cathedral like a sea of singing snakes. The air hissed and hummed with the talk of a future reborn, a future made by their new queen. Veronica breathed, then turned and moved out of Shawn’s grasp. She went towards the back of the cathedral where the shadows swallowed the stage, where the light from candles and braziers couldn’t reach. Dylan was the first to follow, then Marcus and Silvan after. Darko and Tonila went in a different direction, leaving the cathedral under the protection of armed guards, wordless as they went.

The last on the stage was Molly, looking at Shawn with eyes that screamed for help. “We’re all going to end up dead from this.”

“No we’re not,” Shawn said as he went towards her, doubting his own words as he said them. He bit his lip and tried to not feel afraid. “But it’s too late to go back now. That’s for sure.”

Molly’s eyes fell to the stones below. “I don’t want to go back to the Death-Realm, Shawn. Not ever. It’s worse than anything.” She looked back up at him, panic stirring her gaze.

“Then stay on our queen’s good side,” Shawn said, the words hauntingly real as he said them. Molly looked away, terror stealing the color in her skin. Shawn was surprised to find something in common with her. Maybe she was smarter than he’d thought. “Come on,” Shawn said. “Let’s go before they forget about us.”