Page 27 of Ever Dark Academy: Volume 6

You have to understand, Dad. You have to. Please.

But his father wouldn’t. And he didn’t have to do anything. He’d made choices. Sacrificed twenty years of his afterlife…

“I serve King Daemon,” Grayson answered simply.

His voice was remarkably calm and cold. Implacable. He saw Ryder close his eyes for a moment. He knew. Weryn knew. Fiona nodded once more. She knew as well.

“And what does that mean exactly?” Roan asked waspishly.

“That I cannot–that I cannot be used to move him,” Grayson answered. “That I cannot be bribed. That I cannot be used. That I must sacrifice all to serve him. And that means that I will not allow you to use me and my mother as chess pieces.”

I’m sorry, Mom. I know you can’t hear me. I’m sorry. And I forgive you. I really, truly do. But I don’t know if you can ever forgive me for this.

“You say that so easily! But I have not begun to bargain!” Roan laughed with all sharp edges. “And you have not begun to see what could happen to her.”

“I know what could happen to her,” Grayson said quietly. “And I know that death is not the end so she–”

“Will be imprisoned forever! Forever, Grayson. You think that is what she’s owed for her one mistake?” Roan asked.

The air was icy. Grayson wrapped his arms around himself. His knees felt weak. He needed to sit down. Maybe he needed to lay down. The flame in his chest was but a guttering spark as his father’s nearest–his attempt to get Grayson to listen–were increasing. Ryder was suddenly by his side.

“Stop,” Ryder said. “Ryan, stop.”

He was speaking to Grayson’s father. Begging him to stop. The cold retreated, but Grayson was still ice.

All ice.

“Fiona, we need to return to Nightvallen,” Grayson said dully.

“All of us?” she asked.

“I told you what would happen to your mother if you take me where I don’t want to go,” Roan snarled. “She’ll pay the price!”

Grayson felt the weight of that on his shoulders. “I know.”

Where, Oh Where

Grayson knew he’d made a mistake the moment they all touched hands. He realized when Fiona was about to take them back to the Ever Dark that he hadn’t checked Roan for structures. And for the first time–and maybe the last–he found out what happened when Vampire magic encountered them.

It was far worse than he’d imagined it would be.

The last thing he saw was Ryder’s face. That beloved, handsome face. Those silver eyes widening. Those lips parting to yell his name. Grayson’s hand being ripped away from Ryder’s.

He still teleported, but his trip was not guided by Fiona. He was tumbling, head over heels, to someplace. His stomach merging with the soles of his feet and then the top of his skull.

And then it all stopped.

Very abruptly.

He gasped as all the air was thrust out of his lungs as he–landed? Fell?--arrived at his final destination. He was on his hands and knees surrounded by tall grass and mist.

Oh, and mud.

Lots and lots of mud. Squishy. It soaked his knees and his hands were slowly sinking into it. The smell of it was rich and almost sulfury. He would have been disgusted except for the fact that he seemed unable to take a deep breath. He drew in the air and coughed painfully. It was like his organs had slammed into the front of his chest and were pancaked there, especially his lungs. He concentrated on breathing even as he sunk up to his wrists in mud.

Gross.

Finally, able to breathe he wrenched one hand out of the sucking ooze then the other, shaking off the excess and cleaning the rest off on his shirt. He looked up. It was night.