“I really do care,” Devin said, his voice barely a whisper. “I always have. Everything I did, I did for you.”
I knew I was crying, and my tears mixed with the wet air until I couldn’t tell where they ended and the elements began.
“No,” my voice cracked. “Please don’t die.”
Tears slid down my cheeks and I pushed them away with the back of my hand. “I’m so, so sorry. I wish it didn’t have to end this way.”
“Shhh,” he whispered, with effort. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s better that it end like this. Now. While you and I—we’re okay. While Raven knows how I feel about her. Happiness can’t last forever, right? At least I got to be happy at all.”
“I’ll always care about you.” I smoothed the hair back from his forehead. His eyelids fluttered.
“No!” Raven came running over, collapsed at Devin’s side, across from me. His eyes met hers.
“We would have been happy,” he said.
“I know,” she said, her voice trembling. She pushed the hair out of his face. “It’s all I ever wanted.”
And he held her hand in his and closed his eyes, and soon his body and Ardith’s disappeared with the mist and floated away on the wind. Gideon looked up at us helplessly.
Raven was sobbing into her hands. “I think I get it now,” she said. “I think I understand.”
Asher wrapped his arm around me. And, a second later, he wrapped his other arm around Raven. I let my head fall onto his shoulder.
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t believe what this was coming to. Devin was dead, and the world was already unraveling. Chaos, Order, everything was falling apart. Maybe this was the End of Days. Maybe this is what it looked like. Losing someone you cared about. Knowing you were to blame.
The rest of the world came rushing back. The sounds of fighting, farther down the beach. The angry roars. The battle cries. Aunt Jo and Aaron and James—and hundreds of thousands of Rogues—were fighting. For me. And I had to finish this. I couldn’t let anything happen to them, either.
I stood up.
“Skye,” Asher said quietly. “Are you okay?”
I turned to him. “I love you,” I said.
“What are you—”
“It’s the only way, Asher,” I said. “I have to.”
“No.” He grabbed my arm. “Whatever you’re about to do, don’t do it. We can end this a different way.” I pulled away from him. “Skye, listen to me. We can end it together. We have to keep fighting.”
“All I want is to keep the two sides in balance.” The wind whipped and howled, and I had to yell to make my voice heard. “There’s only one way to do that. I see it now.”
Asher’s eyes turned dark and stormy. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking—”
“It’s the only way.”
“No,” he said. “I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself. You’re too special, you mean too much. To the world.” He swallowed hard. “To me.”
“Asher, please, let me—”
“We can do this another way! If we talked to them—”
“You think we’ll end this fight by talking? They won’t listen to reason.”
I stood up and wiped my eyes, grabbed my sword from the ground.
“Skye, don’t!”
“Astaroth!” I yelled.
Maybe he was right, the night he visited my mind. Maybe in the end, you did have to choose between life and love.
I looked up. He stood on the top of the cliff, commanding his army. He met my gaze.
“Come down here and fight!” I screamed. “You and me. One-on-one.”
Astaroth’s face twisted into an evil smirk. He took a step and jumped off the cliff, descending on huge, ancient wings.
“Skye!” Asher called.
I stopped. To my right, my whole group was lined up. Asher and Raven, Ian, his dad, Aunt Jo and Aaron. Each held a weapon. Each was deadly serious. Behind them, the Rogues covered the beach.
“If you’re going to fight him,” Ian said. “We’re going to be behind you. And we’re going to finish him.”
Asher met my gaze, and his look said it all. I’m not going to let you die.
But all I could think of was Devin’s good-bye: Happiness can’t last forever, right? I had been happy for a moment. But I couldn’t let anyone else I loved die.
Astaroth had his sword outstretched. And as I ran toward it, I was surprised to hear a new voice bloom in my mind. Earth’s.
Save him, it said.
“Are you going to listen to me, Skye?” Astaroth sneered. “Here’s my sword. It’s now or never. You could end this. You could end this whole thing.”
Save him.
Earth’s message in the stars. Was it possible there was another way? She was sent to me for a reason. Help Skye.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Rebel’s fireball soaring across the clouds—heading right for us. Before I could think twice, instinct took over. I veered to the left, grabbing Astaroth and pushing him to the ground with me. The fireball arced over our heads, leaving a trail of smoke and ember in its wake.
I sat up, gasping. Astaroth wrapped his arm around my neck and we struggled on the ground.
I knew then that Astaroth didn’t have power over my mind anymore. He didn’t have power over me. And I would end this my way. I grabbed him and struggled to my feet.
“You—you saved my life,” he growled. “Why would you do that?”
A group began to gather around us, Guardians and Rebels, swords and bows falling softly to their sides as they watched.
“Because now you owe me.”
Gideon limped to the front of the group. His face was pale, his eyes wild.
“That’s fair,” he said. “You know the laws of the heavens.” He stepped closer. “Cause and effect. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s the guiding principle of the Order and the Rebellion. The rules you fight so hard to maintain.”
“So what would you have me do?” Astaroth spat. He gnashed his teeth like a caged animal.
“Let us establish an Uprising,” I said. “A third group of Rogues, who will forever keep the balance between chaos and control.”
“And what about you?”
I’d thought about this moment for a long time.
“Let me go,” I said. “This isn’t the life I want. I don’t want to cause any more destruction, or fighting, or death. I don’t want to bring about an End of Days—or a Beginning of Days. I just want to go to college, and follow my dreams, and lead a normal life.” I took a deep breath. “I want to end this war. And I want to be human.”
“But Skye!” Aunt Jo cried out. “What about your parents? Everything they fought and died for? What about everything you’ve been working toward?”
“This is what I’ve been working toward,” I replied. “They had their fight, and this is mine. I can write my own ending.”
Astaroth considered this. “That may be a solution,” he said. “For now. You’ll keep the peace, perhaps. Your friends, your Rogue army. You may keep the balance of the heavens in check. It may be true that I owe you—that the rules dictate I cannot harm you. But that’s for now, only now. The universe exists in cycles, Skye. It ebbs and flows, like time, like the great ocean behind you. Nothing is ever truly over, not really.”
I thought about Earth, so young and innocent but with an incredible power. Would it be her job one day to lead the Rogues in another Uprising? Would she be the next chosen one, whose job it would be to keep the peace between the two sides? Would she rise too, to be a leader?
I didn’t want to leave her that kind of life, either.
“No,” I said. “You don’t understand. There will be no more Sight. No more Order and no more Rebellion. You won’t meddle in people’s lives anymore. There will be no such thing as destiny, no chaos, no cause and effect. They’ll live their own lives, as they want to. You, Astaroth—I’m ousting you from your position of power.”