A frozen second stretched through the air. There were no chants or thunder anymore—just silence and the bittersweet realization that was slowly swallowing my mind.

He was there.

He met my gaze, and one of the rifts I'd experienced Roy creating tore open a space midair. He stepped into it, and soon enough I was met with the familiar smell of the same drugstore cologne he'd worn for the past ten years. His voice was close to my ear, the most comforting sound I'd heard all night. "Surprise, kiddo."

"How?"

"Remember every single time your mother chided me for being a terrible liar?" His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer. "You got your lying skills from me."

"But how did you even know where I was?"

"I told you I would make some calls."

I craned my head to get a better look at him, noticing there was a secretive undertone to his words. "Who did you call, Dad?"

He opened his mouth, but Roy's voice bounced off the walls. "Oh, how adorable. I had no idea we would be making a family reunion so soon."

"Don't move." Dad sprung to his feet, the Reaver Blade skillfully spinning in his hand. There was a different air to him, one I'd never seen before. He looked energized—alive. Like he was ready to leap off a building and swim across the ocean. Taking a step closer, he tilted his chin upwards. "Let me guess. You're that kid who is wreaking havoc instead of attending school?"

Roy let out a dry laugh. "And you must be the Keeper the Circle banned."

There it was again—that name. Lorraine's words were clear in my mind while it swirled with unanswered questions: Don't trust The Circle.

"They didn't ban me. I quit."

"Yeah, yeah, to start a family," Roy snapped. "But I guess you didn't count on your daughter being the treasured Keeper the Codex prophesized about, which is quite sad when you think about it. She'll watch you die a slow, painful death, and then I'll proceed to take her essence and finish what I started."

"You talk too much, Kid."

Dad crossed to Roy in three steps. He shoved his fist into Roy's jaw with a sickening crunch, letting the blade on his hand trail a clean slash from the side of his stomach to the upper, left side of his chest. Roy stumbled a few steps back, but an unnatural glow shone through his skin. The blood that had begun to drip from his shirt stopped. Like the cuts were no longer there.

"Pretty impressive, but not good enough," he murmured, lunging forward. A rift engulfed him, and the next time my eyes caught sight of him, he had plummeted on top of my father, rolling a few feet with him. Roy landed on top with a cartwheel movement. He sank his fist into my father's face this time, not sparing any seconds before plunging his knee into his ribcage. The Reaver Blade had clattered on the ground, sliding a few meters until it met the wall next to me.

With enough oxygen in my system, I stumbled to my feet. My fingers reached for the glinting blade, but a hand yanked me backwards. Using the column as support I looked at the dark silhouette walking toward me. The bright blue light pouring from the growing flames in the pentagram allowed me to catch her pale complexion in perfect contrast to the raven color of her hair.

"Going somewhere, Keeper?"

I divided a critical glance between the ritual and the fight ahead of me. Dad had thrown Roy into one of the concrete pillars, but his moves weren't as fast as Roy's. "Yes, I actually am, so if you could move out of my way it would be fabulous."

A dark smile danced over Tara's lips, and I caught a purple shimmer beginning to coil around her fingers. "No, I don't think so."

She was quick on her feet, sprinting toward me and coming closer. Her hands tried to reach my face, but reflex kicked in and I ducked forward. I quickly glanced back to see her staggering a couple of steps. She used the same column to regain balance and pivot her weight against it to turn in the air. Purple sparks shone naturally from her hands as she was about to land behind me. I jumped away, but to no avail. Her clawed hands grasped my shoulders and the aisle blurred in my vision.

The ground greeted me again. I felt blood leaking out of my mouth this time, and I didn't know how much longer I could stand before my body decided to give up.

A distant string of words slipped into my mind, so faint I barely heard them over the crashes and chanting. Reach the blade and swing it up when I tell you.

I forced my eyes open, glancing over my shoulder at the spot where I had last seen him. He wasn't lying down anymore but up on his feet, his hand shining a deep blue. Tara, who had been walking toward me, stopped on her tracks and stole a glance on his direction.

I took advantage of the moment and stretched my arm to the right, trying to get hold of the blade.

"May I join the party?" he asked quietly.

She said nothing. Instead, her legs bolted toward him, but Hunter shot his arm forward. The first sphere missed, and I held my breath as she jumped forward to tackle him. Before she could connect her hands to his body, though, Hunter sidestepped her with a skillful swing. His arm shot forward once more, but this time, the blue sphere caught Tara's stomach, pushing her full speed on my direction.

I did one last effort through the pain, curling my fingers around the Reaver Blade's halt on time before I heard his voice again.

Swing.

My hands did his biding without any second guesses, and I felt the tip of the blade sinking into her back as her body landed on top of mine. Nothing happened at first, but the same bright light erupted from every inch of her skin, swallowing her and her scream. The nave darkened once more, leaving the only source of light to the pentagram and the flames.

Small, copper bolts now shone through my arm, moving up and down from the blade. I looked around, trying to find him, but quickly realized he was back on the floor and leaning against one of the pillars. I flung myself toward him, ignoring the blazing pain shooting through my limbs.

"I had to do it," he muttered. "If I didn't give them my blood, he would've let you die."

I felt a lump lodge inside my throat. "These marks..." I began, letting my fingers dance over the cuts on his chest. From up close, it looked like triangle, holding a 'Y' in the middle, which connected its three points.

"It's the Dragon's eye, a Germanic symbol."

"In English, please?"

A light sheen of sweat was covering his face, and the ghost of a smile pulled the corners of his lips upwards. "The choice between good and evil. It's used to swallow energy."

"Of course," I whispered, hearing a loud crash on the other side of the nave. I flicked my gaze to the source, finding Roy walking in our direction. Hunter shifted next to me, but with a muffled groan fell back into the pillar.

"Daddy dearest didn't seem to be able to handle real powers," he said simply. I tried to see past him, find Dad, but he blotted out any visuals from where we stood.

The gravelly voice of the man in the pentagram bounced off the walls again, this time holding an urgent tone to it. The essence, we need it now.

"Shit."

Hunter clasped his hand around my arm. "Get out of here."

My eyes met his in an almost incredulous way. "Through the rafters again?"

"No need for more escapades," said Roy. "We finish this, and we finish it now."

His steps quickened, and I felt the church flashing in the corner of my eyes before the wall kissed my back. An invisible blanket suffocated me beneath its folds. I watched Roy's smiling face getting closer swimming in and out of focus as he drew his hand backwards, readying to plunge it into my chest.

I expected the realization to spark some sort of horror or panic deep inside me, but all my fear was spent. I felt a frozen calm instead. Time didn't slow, and it didn't speed up. It looked me right in the eye, as cold and unemotional as Roy's gaze.

My lungs expanded to their limit then, threatening to burst, and just when I thought I couldn't stand it any longer, my chest went soft.

A void took over my stomach, and the world disappeared into the same grey space from before. I floated for the longest second before dropping to a different surface. Pieces of wood dug weirdly into my side and I tasted dust in my mouth. The church looked different now. The blue flames of the ritual were now to my left, and Hunter was staring wide eyed at me from the other side of the nave, still leaning against the pillar.

I crawled sideways, looking over his shoulder to take in the scene happening next to him.

Roy plunged his hand forward, a blue light exploding from it. I had to close my eyes, but the deep growl emanating from his throat forced them open one more time. As the glow settled and I looked over his silhouette, I saw a body sliding down the wall and falling on its side.

Time stopped moving around me.

I tried to call out to him, but his name got stuck in my throat. The desperate need to draw air dissolved, morphing into a horrible scream clawing its way out of my lungs instead. Roy's head snapped in my direction. His eyes looked like beacons, and a copper glow had taken over his hands. He flicked his gaze to the cloaked figures on the pentagram, almost unaware of what to do.

Bring it, a voice said.

"It's not hers," Roy barked.

It doesn't matter. There's no more time.

With another growl, he opened a rift and emerged back on his spot on the pentagram, letting the copper bolts shoot into the flames. This time, their blue shade gave way to a deep red, and the entire church was swallowed in the same glow of a photographic darkroom. Outside, bells began to chime, filtering their rhythmic sound into the halls.

I swallowed a cry as I tried to push myself up from the ground, but the effort wasn't necessary. Time quickened around me, a void stretching through my stomach as an invisible force pulled me across the nave like a magnet.

Hunter's arms steadied me, and I felt his breath on my ear. "Olivia—"

My brain told my legs to move, but there was no more strength left in any of my extremities. A desolated sob tore from the deepest part of me, merging with the ocean of pain flooding every inch of my body. Hunter's words had faded into static, and I pushed away from his grip, feeling my knees cry at the excruciating ache as I crawled toward my father.

He was lying on his side, a trail of blood pouring out from his nose, bruises spotting his face, and an unnatural serenity on his expression. A choked cry erupted from my core, but the explosion of unbearable pain dissolved into relief the moment I pressed my hand to his chest, feeling a faint movement underneath.

Hunter's hands were back around my arms, moving me aside. Our eyes met, and his tone was tainted with urgency. "He's still alive, but we need to get him out of here. He needs help now."

I swept my gaze around until it landed on the window Hunter had broken earlier, but before I could speak my thoughts, a low rumble vibrated through the ground, followed by the scream of the steel girders buried in the concrete. Then, as if a pressure bomb was let off inside, the remaining stained glasses around the church shattered in unison—horror with a mesmerizing beauty. Each one of the colored shards appeared to fall with the grace of snow only to plummet like an avalanche of raindrops a second later.

More wind started to seep into the church, carrying with it the distant sound of a bloodcurdling scream I would've recognized anywhere: Sally.

I looked around us, but she was nowhere to be found. The walls had begun to shake with the ground, and a translucent mist appeared through the flames. It stretched from side to side, bisecting the church. I could see Roy on the other side of the giant wall, his eyes wide open, lips stretched into the biggest smile I had ever seen.

"Is that..."

"The Veil," Hunter murmured, one of his hands gripping mine.

The light of the pentagram shone through the translucent wall. The flames behind it licked the air and danced as if in a show of exquisite magic: intense gold, liquid oranges and spectacular puffs of silver rays. Clicks and cracks broke through the growling of the Earth, intensifying while thousands of rays of light began to explode in all directions, losing themselves through the broken windows and the holes in the ceiling.

"What the hell is happening?" I yelled, trying to get Hunter to hear me over the hurricane of wind and chiming bells.

A horrified expression had taken over his face. "He broke it... He broke the Veil."

I took his cheeks in my hands, giving him a desperate shake. "The lights, Hunter. What are those lights?"

"Every single soul that was trapped inside the Veil," he said, snapping out of the stupor. "They're all getting out."

More and more lights started to burst through the thinning wall, but the flames seemed to be curling toward the wall. They moved in unnatural patterns, all reaching for the middle of the Veil. I tried to squint my eyes and see through the furious red swirls. They kept of moving from side to side, almost as if they were banging against it...

A giant rip broke the spot where the flames had been, and the brightest light poured from inside as a figure stepped out from the opening mist. It was hard to visualize their features, but I felt Hunter tensing on my side. Risking a glance on his direction, I noticed his face had gone pale, his hand shaking against mine.

"What is it?"

He didn't reply. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the incomer, who had easily made his way toward the pentagram with confident strides. From where we were, the only visible details I could gather were the thick mass of black hair on his head and a surprisingly neat suit secured around his body. The cloaked figures turned around, giving a synchronized nod. Roy remained standing, crossing the center of the pentagram and taking the man's hand.

"I told you to trust me, didn't I?"

The man let out a small laugh. "I had my doubts, but I'm fairly impressed."

Roy flicked his proud eyes at the opened rift, almost as if he was expecting someone else to walk into the church. "So, where are they?"

The man gave him no reply.

"Did they already come through or what?"

"There were some...complications along the way. I'm afraid they won't be joining us."

A muscle jumped in Roy's jaw. "What kind of complications?"

"Well, you know, complications."

"We had a deal."

"Deals change sometimes," the man replied nonchalantly, adjusting his cufflink as he let out a deep sigh. "Don't make such a big deal out of this."

"Where. Are. They."

A silent second lingered in the air, sliced by the man's simple response.

"Dead."

"You lying piece of shit."

Roy's face resembled the red flames of the pentagram as he pounded his fists against the man's chest. He didn't seem disturbed by the blows. Instead, he quickly trapped both of his hands and twisted them around his back. Roy let out a frustrated grunt, squirming under the man's grip.

"Let's not get emotional, shall we?"

"You said that if I did this right you would bring them back!" Roy screamed. "You said you would bring my parents back—they were your friends!"

"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made," he said. "Sometimes the price you have to pay is bigger than your love for those you care about." There was a pause in his words, but a shiver crawled up my spine as he spoke again. "And sometimes you have to lie in order to win a game—welcome to the real world, Kid."

Without warning, he pushed Roy's body into the giant rip in the middle of the wall, letting the red flames swallow him completely. I felt a choked cry coming out of my mouth, and the man's attention snapped in our direction.

Bad decision.

Hunter started to get on his feet, pushing me back before I could process what had happened.

The mad had already cut half the distance between us. He gave one step forward and then another, until his body crossed the beaming wall bisecting the nave. I felt my heart sinking to the floor the moment I took in the rest of his features. His squared jaw, slightly crooked nose, and beaming blue eyes in perfect contrast with his olive skin... It was a more mature version of the guy standing before me, the same I had seen in his memories.

Vincent.

"It's been a while, son."

Hunter's muscles tensed, and I heard his breathing shorten. "How is this possible?"

"I said I would find you," Vincent said slowly. "I kept my promise. I'm here now."

He gave another step, but Hunter moved backwards. "Stop."

"Stop? It's me, Holden. You wouldn't fear your own father—would you?"

My brain faltered at the sound of his words, and I divided a glance between Vincent and Hunter, who met my eyes for a short second with a guilt-soaked expression. When he looked back at his father, his voice had lowered considerably. "Don't call me that."

Vincent's brows shot upwards. "Then what am I supposed to call you? I doubt your mother would like the fact that you changed the name she gave you when you were born."

"Don't talk about mom," Hunter growled.

"Come on—"

"Answer the question! How is this possible?"

"I told you there were some things you would only understand the moment you grew up."

"I thought you meant things like Santa or the extent of my powers, not how you pretended to be dead for the past nine years."

Vincent gave a slow nod. "You wouldn't have come with me had I told you what was meant to happen. The Council offered a different way to approach this, and I knew the best chance at finding what's hidden behind this prophecy was to find the Codex. They're the only ones who have ever had access to it."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Hunter's voice rose an octave. "Why would you even care about that stupid book?"

"Do you know what kind of secrets hide inside those pages? The fact that you are a part of that prophecy—it's so big that you can't even begin to wrap your head around it. You were born to do great things... I even tried to tell your mother that defying the Council's decision to abide the prophecy's natural course was the wrong thing to do. I tried to make her understand that we had a duty to stand by your side, help you fulfill your destiny, but she wouldn't listen to me—"

"You knew what would happen..." Hunter began, his hands balling into fists. "And you let them kill her?"

"Killing Lorraine was never my intention."

"Then what the fuck was your intention?" Hunter yelled. "Use me as the Council's lab rat so that you could hold the book of wonders in your hands? Maybe find the way to Narnia hidden in there?"

"Please, son—"

"No. You lost your right to call me that nine years ago. You're not my father. My father died that night. And you know, Roy was right: you're just a lying piece of shit."

"Language, now." Vincent said, setting his jaw. His eyes drifted from Hunter's all the way to the ground where I was then. My pulse skyrocketed, matching the battering thunderstorm outside. "I'm guessing you're the Keeper everyone has been talking about."

"Don't even think about it," Hunter warned.

Vincent gave his son a mocking grin. "Oh—so you like her? I have missed so much information, apparently. Please excuse me, I tend to forget you're a man now and girls don't...what was it that you said? Yucked you out?"

Hunter said nothing.

"I'm just nostalgic—don't give me that look. And you can't blame me for having quite an interest in her." Vincent eyes shot in my direction again. "I kind of expected someone as powerful as the prophecy described. This one looks...well, like a bird that got run over by a truck."

"What are you even doing here?" Hunter asked, closing the distance between them. "Was this your plan all along? Lie to Roy so that you could get him to break the only wall keeping balance in this world?"

"Correction: the only wall keeping balance in the human world, not ours. This is all for the bigger purpose of justice—"

Hunter scoffed. "And there it goes again. Everyone seems to think they know what justice means lately, don't they?"

"Don't you?"

"I know justice doesn't mean breaking a wall that represented great sacrifice to build, putting the lives of millions of people in danger because of it. I know justice doesn't equal power, and I know it doesn't imply turning your back on everyone you love over a stupid prophecy."

"You call fate stupid?"

"Fate isn't written in pieces of paper," Hunter barked. "You choose your own fate—that's what Mom used to say. And you evidently chose yours. You destroyed your family."

"I'm building a new world for it." Vincent inched forward. "You don't know half of the things I do... There's more to this than you could even begin to imagine."

"I think I've seen enough."

"You can come with me and we will do this together. I followed your steps all those years, making sure you were okay. I knew that if you wanted to run away then the best option was to let you run, find your strengths on your own...and look at you. Feel the power running through your veins. It was the right call, and now you can finally join me and see the real content of this prophecy."

Hunter's words were as sharp as a razorblade. "I'd rather die."

"You don't mean that," Vincent began.

"Oh, but I do."

"Holden—"

"I won't join you."

"Bad things happen when you mess with fate. You don't know what you're doing."

Hunter stepped forward. "I don't know you."

"You see what spending time with humans does to you? It makes you weak. I can help you gather the remaining power you need. We can do this together. You're my son."

"I'm not, Vincent," Hunter resolved, all emotions drained from his voice. "I'll never be your son, because a son can't hate his own father. And I hate you. I want to kill you. I want to make you feel what Mom felt as she died on the floor that night, knowing her husband was a hypocrite and a selfish bastard."

Something twitched in Vincent's face muscles. "Fine. Have it your way. I tried to be the loving father, but if you want to go around making things harder than they have to be, it's fine by me."

Without warning, Hunter's body flew across the church, falling against the rafters with a dry thump. I had to swallow a cry, and despite the growing hot flames spreading through the nave, I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. Vincent moved toward him, stretching his arm outwards. Invisible arms yanked Hunter up to his feet, pulling him like a fish hooked on a rod until Vincent's fingers were curled tightly around his throat.

He took a step, then another, and I felt my heart plummet to the ground when the bright rift that had swallowed Roy came up in front of them.

"This doesn't have to end this way, son." Hunter's face had begun to grow red, his eyes bulging, but Vincent tightened his grip regardless. "You can still choose to come with me... We can be the family we were always meant to be."

"Go. Fuck. Yourself."

Vincent shook his head. "I guess they were right all along... You're a lost cause."

I noticed he was drawing his arm backwards, and I felt time slowing in my head. My legs acted on their own, and I lunged forward in a fleeting moment of hope. A moment when I really thought I could somehow reach them and pull Hunter back. A moment when I really thought everything would be okay.

The memory of his lips on mine back at the lake house and the sun's warm rays hiding behind the skyline flashed through my mind, but reality snapped around me like a tensed cable, shattering and taking the images with it.

Vincent's hand was no longer curled around Hunter's throat, and I saw him falling into the endless, flaming rift. I felt my feet coming to a short stop as our eyes met. For a frozen moment he simply looked at me, with an unreadable expression that seemed to mask an ocean of emotions all at once: guilt, shame, fear...

His lips moved, shaping two simple words:

I'm sorry.

Light exploded from the rift. Within seconds, the hurricane of flames had doubled its size, swallowing him into the infinite ocean of red swirls.

I waited a moment, trying to convince myself none of this was real, hoping I would wake up and be in bed that night, with Jared by my side, knowing that I was probably having weird dreams after that party at Will's house where I met the strange boy with striking blue eyes. I physically needed someone to shake me awake, someone to snap me out of this never ending nightmare.

Hunter.

His name echoed inside my head. I called him between sobs and the sounds of uncontrollable anguish and desperation that kept tearing out of my throat. But the world didn't listen. Even as I stared at the rift, nothing but the giant flames greeted me back.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and my heart hung by a thread. The hope to which I had clung until then escaped my hands and drifted away, unreachable. I felt my soul breaking into a thousand pieces, pieces of myself that were taken away with the cold wind, blowing out the only flame that was still flickering weakly inside of me.

"Seal the Veil." Vincent's words were sharp, and I looked at him incredulous. He was looking at the man with the scar, the same one who had carved the mark in Hunter's chest. "Do it now."

The man took the Reaver Blade out from his cloak again, taking a few dangerous steps toward the rift.

"No," I murmured. "No—you can't do that! Stop!"

I stumbled forward, trying to reach him before he got to the wall, but I felt the air getting knocked out of my lungs. My knees kissed the ground, and I noticed the man kept on walking toward the swirling flames with much more determined steps now. He let his fingers curl naturally around the blade before swinging it into the rift. Its tip sunk into the portal, but it only went halfway in, solidifying the mist that swirled inside. The rays of light had stopped exploding out the wall in obedience. Instead, they collided against its surface like wayward bullets.

Like they were no longer allowed to go through.

A crack ran across the translucent wall, then. It was small at first, barely the length of a hair pin. It shone in a silvery white against the subdued red colors that filtered from the inside of the Veil, but before I could keep my eyes on it for too long, the crack branched out like a drunk spider's web. Millions of lines sprung on every direction, and the ground gave a final shake as the wall broke into thousands of pieces.

I felt myself shattering along with each one of them, seeing a proud smile take over Vincent's face as the church was swallowed into a horrible darkness. The only light came from the dimly lit pentagram and the occasional lighting splitting the sky.

"You killed him..." my voice was hollow, and I winced at the pain that the statement implied.

"That's right." He turned his body, taking a few steps and crouching before me. "Just like I'm going to kill you now."

My mind screamed out as pain drove through my back suddenly. Every thought present in my mind became confused as burning waves started to boil inside of me. I wanted to scream, try to fight back. But I couldn't. My limbs were out of strength, and all I could do was stare back at his eyes while they burned a deeper blue.

"Do it," I managed, feeling tears starting to pour down my cheeks. "I don't care anymore."

"I wish I could've gotten to know you," he murmured. "See what your powers can really do inside this vessel...but I guess taking them will be enough."

The pain continued for another moment, and I noticed his hand had begun to inch forward, aiming for my chest. Before his fingertips grazed my skin, though, a loud crack echoed through the quiet church, followed by another, and another.

They're here, the cloaked man spoke, his words swimming in my head along with the pain.

"Give me a moment, Gerald," Vincent growled.

There is no time. We must go, and we must go now.

Vincent's jaw tightened, and before his fingers contacted my skin, the waves of heat boiling inside of me subsided, taking with them the rest of my energy. He moved closer until his lips were two inches away from my ear.

"We'll see each other again, Keeper."

With that, a thick cloud of smoke coming from the cloaked figures started to envelop every corner of the church, growing into a swirling mass of black that swallowed everything standing on its way. The last thing my eyes caught were Vincent's eyes shining through the mist, disappearing inside and leaving no trace of his presence once the tendrils drifted away.

I felt myself curling involuntarily, shaking against the wet floor despite the shards of glass covering it. The air seemed colder, and every second that went by morphed into excruciating pain jabbing at every part of my body. But even as I felt the waves of shock taking over me, all I could do was stare at the spot in the middle of the nave where the rift had been. It went in and out of focus, swirling in my vision as the memories replayed.

The walls of St. Boniface Church had begun to stretch abnormally, turning long and narrow, as if I was looking at them through a mirror at a funhouse. Tears kept on streaming down my face, but despite me blinking them away several times, my vision failed to come back to a focal point. My bones felt leaden, refusing to move, and my eyes sank against the stark fluorescent lights that were now flooding the church.

Silhouettes began to pour into the nave, but the more I looked at them, the more they appeared to multiply, overruling any sort of rationality out of my brain. A slur of voices drifted in and out of my ears as well, and one of the lights made its way directly over me. I felt warm fingers curling around my head, as well as muted questions which I knew were targeted at me.

None of them took shape in my mind.

Instead, strange rectangles wavered all around, spinning along with the dark figure leaning on top of me. Somewhere through its dazed stupor, though, my brain registered the familiar glint of what looked like a Reaver Blade shining on the silhouette's hand. I tried to focus, then, make out the insistent words getting shouted around the church, but no part of my body listened.

I fought once more to push myself up, to no avail.

My eyes shut on their own, letting one final thought run through my mind before all the lights spiraled away:

It was all over...

The Veil was broken, and he was gone.

Hunter was gone.