Black Spring

“No,” I said, my heart pounding in panic.

I realized that it had never occurred to me that we might not escape, that we might not slip out of Lucifer’s net. The lot of us had faced long odds before. I had faced the longest odds of all in the Maze, and yet I’d always survived. To be so close and yet know that Lucifer would win, that Lucifer would take my child from me after everything I’d done to prevent that very thing . . . It was unacceptable.

“Put me down, Samiel,” I said, and he obligingly placed my feet on the ground. I held on to his arm to steady myself and he walked me to Nathaniel’s side. I took Nathaniel’s hand. “We’re going to get out of here.”

“How?” he said, and his jewel-bright eyes were bleak. “Lucifer has exerted his will. We cannot make a portal. The net is closing around us.”

“I have the power of Lucifer inside me,” I said. “And you are Puck’s son. And Samiel, too, is a child of Lucifer’s line. You said that a creature draws strength from his roots, right? Well, as much as we all hate to admit it, we come from that root—the line of Lucifer and Puck and Alerian and Daharan. If he can draw on that power, then so can we.”

His fingers gripped mine harder, like he was grasping on to the rope that kept him from falling into the pit.

“To do this, to overcome Lucifer’s strength, you will have to touch the shadow inside you, and so will I. We cannot do this with half measures,” Nathaniel said.

“I know,” I said, and the darkness opened up its eyes and smiled.

15

What should we do? Samiel signed. I’m not as powerful as you two. And I don’t use my magic as much. I mostly use my fists.

There was another surge of emotion that was not mine, and I felt the sinking sensation that always accompanied Lucifer’s approach.

“Just send as much power as you can through me,” I said.

“No,” Nathaniel said. “I will be the conduit. The surge might harm the baby.”

“Fine,” I said. “We don’t have time to argue.”

As if to illustrate the point, several foot soldiers came streaming out the servants’ entrance and entered into a pitched battle with J.B. and Jude, who immediately transformed into a wolf. Jack staggered back away from the swinging swords, flying magic and gnashing teeth.

“Stay out of the fray,” I ordered Jack as Nathaniel positioned himself in the center of Samiel and myself.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Jack said. Beezle landed on his shoulder. The blogger looked startled to see my gargoyle there.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Beezle said, squeezing Jack’s shoulder. His beak wrinkled in disgust. “What have you been doing, running a marathon? You smell like a sweaty gym sock.”

“Madeline,” Nathaniel said, drawing my attention back to him and Samiel.

I nodded, took a deep breath and opened up my power fully. It crashed out of me and into Nathaniel, the shadow seeking his. Our magic felt like a huge and miraculous thing as it mingled together, strong enough for us to overcome Lucifer’s spell, perhaps strong enough to overcome Lucifer himself. It was a dangerous feeling, and I realized the combining of power was going to my head. Nathaniel’s expression told me that he felt the same madness, the same pull of darkness.

It was a struggle to focus on what we were trying to do, to look for the seam, the opening in Lucifer’s magic that had to be there. There had to be an escape hatch, a way for us to break through and break out. But it was hard to think of it with the shadow rising inside us.

Suddenly there was a burst like sunlight, a pure and undiluted stream of magic, the reflection of Samiel’s heart. The light curled around the darkness and into it, lit up all those black places, sent the unnatural things scuttling away. His magic was so clear and beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes, and when I looked at Nathaniel I saw that he was crying, too.

Samiel’s power illuminated ours. It didn’t smother it or try to crush the darkness. And as it did, I felt the light inside me, the light that had been blanketed by the shadow for so long. It was the heart of the sun, the heart of an angel, and it burned free and true for the first time since Gabriel had died.

The shadow shrank away under that light, which burst forth from all three of us, shining like a star. Lucifer’s servants staggered back, away from the light, covering their eyes.

And a portal opened in front of us. A wind whipped up before it, a sharp breeze that quickly turned into a gale, pulling us toward the opening.

“Where does it go?” I shouted to Nathaniel. “I didn’t give it any kind of direction.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but anywhere is better than here.”

He tugged me to the portal. I turned back to make sure everyone else was coming along, but they were already there. Nathaniel stepped through, pulling Samiel and me after him. I hoped everyone else would get through all right.