Sharp edges of stone shoved into my back. I held my breath, chest about to burst from fear.

Raoul flicked his fingers up.

The muraes are gone. Go now.

I ran behind him as quietly as I could. My brother looked like a spy, his body close to the wall, hugging it.

I felt more like a bull in china shop. Everywhere I turned, I made a noise.

Raoul's elbow struck me in the stomach. All the air I held came out in a omph.

"Watch it, Raoul," I whispered. "That hurt."

His finger darted to his lips. Voices filled the air, hissing voices that creeped down my spine and sent chills down to my fingertips.

I nodded, mouth suddenly dry. Wherever he was taking me, the muraes couldn't find out.

Raoul grasped my hand and darted around the corner. My arm was almost yanked from its socket because I didn't move fast enough.

My heart leaped to my throat when the back of a murae was what I saw after we left our hidey-hole from the corner. My brother didn't stop long enough for it to turn around, he just ran.

Somehow, neither of us made a noise.

The same thing happened two or three more times-I forgot to count because I was too busy trying not to scream. After what felt like forever, Raoul stopped at a door--a door I knew.

The door to William's room.

The place where he died.

Too many deaths.

The Lumita, Merlin, William... Dad.

The handle my brother grasped was highlighted with red.

Red, red like blood dripping down a stark white face. It falls like tears from eyes--eyes I know. Eyes I have.

Clang!

My brother uttered a word that would have resulted in him washing his mouth out with soap for at least a week. "Hurry," he hissed.

Acid built up in my chest. I couldn't step in. Couldn't bring myself to--not after losing two people.

No.

Losing three.

When William died, Rosinka followed.

My arm stuck out between the door and the hallway. Raoul hadn't let go of me.

But I couldn't step in.

Walking in meant seeing death again.

"Clair."

Footsteps echoed down the walkway. They heard the noise--of course they did. Muraes seemed to be able to hear everything.

"Clair!" Raoul tugged me a little. "Get in here, they'll see you."

Nothing.

My chest was numb. Cold. Dead.

For an instant, I didn't want anything anymore.

A scream shot through the darkness.

"Clair!"

I turned my eyes up to my brother. They were as wide as the plates my mother would use on holidays. The muscles in his arms tensed taut like a bowstring.

The numbness left in a blaze of fire. He'd lost the same as I had. It wasn't just my father who had died, but his. His friends too.

If I was gone, who else did he have?

I walked inside the room. The door slammed behind me.

It was strange, the amount of force it took me to stay. It was strange, the need I felt to look where William still had to lay.

We only had to hide for a second, but it felt like years.

Tell me a story.

My breaths quickened. Ice seized my veins.

Wood, fleshy wood is cold under my hands. I cry, I choke, I sob, but there is nothing. No tears.

I clapped my hands over my ears like it would stop the noise. The cries of the dead.

I'm losing it.

No. There was no losing. It'd already been lost.

An arm wrapped around my shoulders. Someone hissed into my ears, breathing warm air. I leaned into it, not caring. It could have been a ghost at that point.

As long as it wasn't King, it was safe from me.

My shoulders shook with silent screams. It was screams of those who couldn't make a sound. Cries of the dead.

Suck it up, Clair. A shaky breath sent a chill down my spine. Push through. Get over it.

I couldn't stop. I wouldn't. Not until King was stopped.

King and his quest for normality. It was enough to make me laugh.

He'd kill us all.

"Good girl. Laugh."

I gasped, scrambling away from the voice. It breathed into my ear, softly, peacefully. Kindly.

I shouldn't have heard it though. William had been dead for about a day.

Ghosts don't talk.

Yet, this one did. My body froze as my eyes hit the boy beside me. He sat straight, his brown eyes locked onto mine. A tiny grin flitted at his lips. Instead of pale tan skin, he was darker, more healthy. Dulcian.

William.

"You're dead," I mouthed.

I really have lost it.

My friend--my dead-definitely-not-here-friend--didn't try to correct me. He didn't do what Raoul did.

Instead, he just stared at me, hard. The pounding of feet from outside the door were no longer hammers against my skull,no, they were non-existent.

William smiled. It didn't quite reach his eyes.

I started to whirl around to look at the place his body had been. If I really saw him, if he really wasn't gone, the place would be empty.

He grabbed my shoulder, panic wild in his eyes.

"Don't."

I stopped, but not because he told me to.

I stopped because, while I knew he had me, he wasn't fully there. The only feeling from his hand I got was cold, and that was just barely.

Fabric rustled against stone as Raoul squirmed against the door. He peered out the crack between the hinges and wall, pretending not to hear me.

"William," I breathed. "If you don't want me to look, that means you're dead and if you're dead, that means you aren't telling me to not look right now, which all boils down to me being insane."

He shook his head. "You aren't crazy."

"But you are dead."

My voice cracked at the end of the sentence. 'Dead is dead,' that's what I'd always been told.

So if that was the case, how was I speaking to a ghost?

Will didn't try to deny my claim, but he didn't confirm it. "I think it was Rosinka. It felt as if as soon as I closed my eyes they opened again, but I wasn't all... connected."

Astral projection.

That's what Dad called it.

She gave him enough for him to still speak.

I shut my eyes. Thank you, Rosi.

"Clair." A hand--a solid hand--pressed against my shoulder. "We need to move."

Raoul stood over me, trying to hide fear from his eyes. Worry.

His hand closed around mine.

"Do you have a plan? We can't just charge into King's room and not know what we're doing."

Raoul paused. "I thought you had one. You know, stone-things and all."

Great, just great.

I turned to William. "Will, do you--"

He cut me off with one glance. "Right now, only you can see me."

The surprise I felt must have been kin to grief, because Raoul squeezed my hand tighter.

I shut my eyes, pretending the darkness was a barrier for noise. I knew what we had to do. The issue was doing it.

"Okay, you know the staff King carries with him?" I gulped and looked up at my brother. He nodded.

"Great. I need the top of it. Inside the glass, there's another stone. Once I have that, I can get the others and do..."

Who knows what.

"...whatever I'm supposed to do."

Raoul nodded. My explanation wants the best, but all he needed.

He took a deep breath. "I'll get the stone from King."

I didn't argue until I realized what that meant.

"No!" I shook my head so hard my hair slapped both of us in the face. "He will kill you, Raoul."

He forced a laugh. "I don't like the idea either, but think about it. You're the one who does all the--" His fingers waggled around. "--magic stuff, so you are the one who can't die. Besides, there will be muraes all around us that need to be taken out, and you're the fastest way to that."

I opened my mouth to argue, but was stopped by William's voice in my ear.

"He's right, Clair."

No.

Too many people had died.

Too many for me to let my brother go.

"You will die, does that make sense?" My voice started to rise above a whisper. "He. Will. Kill. You."

He didn't take back what he said. Didn't change his mind. Instead, he just nodded. Accepted it.

"I was there when the Lumita fell, Clair." For the first time in forever, water bubbled around his eyes.

Tears.

"I watched him take Elora and stab her through the neck. She didn't have time to turn, she just was gone."

He's been through more than you have.

Raoul clenched his fists. "I watched Dad die--not because of something he did, but because of something he couldn't control. Something that monster thrust upon him."

He swallowed, tears gone, stone replacing. "I'll do anything to get a few good punches in. If I can take out a head or three, I'll at least go content."

As soon as he was finished, he became victim of a tackle-hug.

I held him like I never would again.

He pulled away after a minute. "You take care of the muraes first, just let me get a weapon. When they're all down, I'll start with King. Just... keep his army still, alright? Don't let them get to me."

My hand went up to my forehead in a salute. A grin found its way to my face. "Yes sir."

He laughed. "Ready?"

There was no 'ready.' If we waited for that, we'd turn to dust.

My smile faded. "Let's go."

Raoul pushed against the door. That time, it didn't groan or scream.

That time, it was silent.

A cold hand tapped my wrist. "The closer we get to King, the more I can help. You'll need it when stunning the muraes."

Boy, would I.

Raoul was the first one out of the room. He waved his hand for me to follow.

I took a deep breath and stepped out, William and my heels.

Will jerked his head to the side. "King is to the left," he whispered.

I tapped my brother's shoulder. "This way."

Here I am, marching my brother to his death. I may as well be the one to hang him myself.

I pinched my arm. Stop it. You are not doing that. It's his choice.

He would wind up the same as Dad. As William.

My steps faltered.

"There's a chance he won't be gone, Clair." William pushed his hand into my back, urging me forward. "He is capable of running, you know."

It was a lie to convince the both of us.

A hiss made my brother and I freeze. My heart found its way to my throat.

A murae, a small one, skinny with barely any smoke waving from it, shifted into view. Its back was toward us, it's attention on something else entirely.

"Something else" being the furious shouts of King.

He yelled in breaths and hisses--in his language.

It wasn't hard to tell what he was mad about. He was in the same room he made Dad and I fight in. As far as he could tell, neither of us were dead.

The tip of a knife peeked out from the corner of Raoul's hand. He pressed his fingers to his lips and pointed to the closest murae.

I nodded.

William moved closer to me. "I have no magic other than what I can channel from you."

Great.

My voice so low I could barely hear it, I answered, "Considering I have close to none, this'll work really well."

He rolled his eyes. "Just trust me."

There was a soft thud as the murae Raoul killed fell to the floor. He held up a long, thin sword.

"Now," he mouthed.

I took a deep breath, able to find air for the first time that day. William and I moved up to close the gap between Raoul and the muraes. When we were in front of my brother, I bent to the ground.

William's fingers brushed against my shoulder.

"Kaique."

Each rat in front of us moved to see what happened. For a split second, King's eyes locked with mine. Some type of understanding passed between us, like we each knew what we were doing and regretted none of it.

The world erupted into flames.

It was like Arium all over again, except this time it, was the muraes who were afraid.

Good.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw the shadow of my brother pass me.

After that, I lost track.

The monsters caught in the fire shrieked as they burned. Those who were luckier started running toward the cause of the issue.

Me.

William let go of my arm. The red and orange faltered slightly.

"Keep the fire going!" he shouted.

With that, he grabbed the head of the closest rat and twisted, hard. It didn't cry out, just fell.

The sword it dropped was slid over to me. I grabbed the hilt, fire dying down.

There was no time thank Will before another murae tried to lop my head off. I ducked under its tail and stabbed, praying I'd hit it.

It vanished as soon as the sword hit its stomach.

The damage the fire'd done was unbelievable. In one cry of a spell, the army of rats became only a few.

I glanced to the side. Raoul and King were already fighting. A trail of blood slid down my brother's cheek.

I have to get closer.

Completely ignoring the murae that changed at me, I ran closer to Raoul.

"William!" I shouted. "Help is good, Ghost Boy!"

He was beside me in a second. We stood back to back, with me facing Raoul.

The coolness that seemed to seep off Will before turned to nothing. I stared at him, stared at him holding a sword, bouncing it up and down like he'd had no trouble with it for the last day.

Like he hadn't been dead.

"Told you I'd be able to help."

The snide remark that traveled to the tip of my tongue had to be swallowed. I dodged an incoming claw from a shadow and took a swipe at its neck.

A scream drew my attention back to my brother.

King's knees hit the ground. Oily blood pooled up around the side of his heads, dripped to the floor in puddles--ponds. His hands felt around the blood for something, but didn't find it.

Raoul had sliced all but the bottom center head in half.

He snatched King's staff from his hands and smashed the glass orb on top into the ground. A stone a little longer than my pinky bounced out.

"Clair, catch!"

In one fluid motion, the cavalier soared over to me, the purple gleaming in the light.

I caught it.

We would stop King. Raoul did it.

"Illi--"

Everything.

Slowed.

Down.

King snarled, a shadowed limb high in the air. It arched down, down to the ground, down toward

me.

Except it wasn't me he aimed for.

Pain ripped through my chest as King's tail hit flesh. Air stuck in my throat, not moving, not breathing.

Raoul glanced down at the shadow wrapped like a necklace around his neck. It stuck through his neck and stabbed down.

He was gone before he hit the ground.

Mom doesn't make a sound as King slashes her wrists. She struggles, she's struggled. She fought. She stares at him unafraid when blood bubbles out of the gashes.

He laughs when she's gone. He knows what is coming. He knew when he put me and my father against each other.

Dad screams, his hands against his head, his hands covered in blood. My blood. His blood.

Raoul falls.

All I wanted was to save my family.

All that happened resulted in their deaths.

King pulled the shadow away and plunged it forward again. This time, it would hit me.

The stone in my hand burned into my skin. "Illium!"

The stone fell into a whole in the universe. All of the cavaliers lot up with a glow too bright to be real.

William shoved me back, away from King, away from death.

Everything stopped.

Everything but William and I.

It was like a bubble that closed everything up. All outside froze, all inside lived.

Will turned his head to stare at me--no--past me. His hands hovered near the shadow shoved over his heart.

Not again.

I followed his gaze.

Feet away, too many feet away for reality, there was a girl. She was smaller than me, her hair so blonde it should've been white. Her eyes were brown, dark, older than her. Holding too many secrets. Too many answers.

"Eris."

My sister.

My sister who died when she was six.

The girl tilted her head to the side. "Is that who I look like?" She lifted her hands to examine them. "I wondered why it was this form."

Will moved back, sucking air through his teeth. "She's made of magic. That's--"

Eris held up a hand. "I am the Consumed. Those who die by power become a part of me."

Oh.

The dome of light dimmed.

"You're time runs out." Eris stepped closer. "You summoned me. What do you wish?"

I wish a lot of things.

I turned to stare at William. He shook his head.

The magic darted in front of me. "He cannot help. Only the one who summons can demand. What do you wish?"

My parents. My family.

That's what I wanted.

I wanted none of this to have happened. I wanted everything back to normal.

I could see it. Mom, Dad, Raoul--all of them. We all laughed and were together.

But it wasn't what I needed.

If I asked for my family, the muraes would still kill. Still murder, still destroy.

Will... he wanted his parents again too.

It wouldn't happen for either of us.

My throat was tacked together. My lips wouldn't part, the words wouldn't come.

William stared at me, his face twisted in pain he shouldn't have felt.

He thought I would ask for me. I would be selfish.

I did, too.

I shut my eyes. "I ask... for you to stop the muraes. Reverse what they have done and stop them from doing more harm."

"That is a strong request."

My eyelids snapped open.

Eris sat cross-legged on the floor. "A type of payment needs to be made for me to be able to grant it."

"What do you mean?" The lights dimmed more. When we reached the darkness of the outside world, she would be gone.

A tiny grin flicked at the corners of the girl's lips. "You know."

I did.

Eyes locked with Will's, I spoke. "Take my memories of this. They are all I have left. They are what makes me me at this point."

My friend's eyes widened.

Eris placed her hands on my shoulders. "Someone must remember. Someone must know so this will never repeat. And be warned--those that do may not be included."

Included in what?

Before I could ask, a voice chimed in from behind me. "I will."

William struggled to stand up, away from the shadow of King. Something fell through his fingers, but it wasn't blood.

It should have been.

"I will remember for her. For her family. I'll take all of it." He met my eyes. "It's my fault she was brought into this. It's me who has a chance to fix it."

Eris nodded. She stood beside him, barely touching.

My heart raced. I'd forget, he'd remember.

It was the opposite of what we wanted.

"I don't blame you, Will." The light inside the bubble was only one shade above the real world. "I am the one who chose to come along. I chose this life."

He smiled. If a ghost could cry, he was. "I am the one who led them to Arium, Clair. I am the one who wanted to avenge my family. You just wanted to save yours." With a small laugh that didn't ring true, he whispered, "I guess Miss Rosinka--your dewdrop fairy--needs to be thanked for coming to her senses."

I couldn't take it anymore. Ignoring the magic beside him, I wrapped my arms around his neck. Warmth from his body heated me so no cold blasted me.

He hugged me back.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for showing me what I have instead of what I've lost."

I squeezed him tighter.

"Goodbye, Curly," he whispered. "I'll see you later."

I shut my eyes. "Goodbye...

Nutcracker."

When snow falls, the kingdom dies. Dark will leave. Light will rise.
Only then will the leader rise, out from ashes and hidden from prying eyes.

_______________________________________

Keep reading. It's not done.