CHAPTER 181

"Do you think magic is hereditary?" Dana asked.

Her question surprised him. "Why wouldn't it be? I don't think it would be any different than hair color or whatever. Then again, that would mean there was some spiritual component similar to genetics." The image of a trans-dimensional double helix with glowing lights filled his head. It was a fun thought.

"I guess I mean types of magic. For example, would Yuki's children have ice magic that smelled like hers does?"

It was often hard to read Dana, but there was something behind her expression that made him pause and consider. She seemed to be deliberately ignoring his gaze.

"Maybe?" He shrugged. "Couldn't say, but that's specifically suspicious. Why are you asking?"

She screwed up her face, then sighed. "I think that I should tell you--"

He didn't hear what she said next. Instead, the room was yanked out from underneath him and he was falling through darkness, his limbs flailing wildly. Gasping, he slammed his hand into a palm tree and steadied himself.

"What the hell?" He let go of the tree and stumbled backward onto the beach. The dark waters of the Dreamscape swirled menacingly around the island, and some of the others stood along its shore.

"Hey. Hey!" He ran to the others, but they weren't looking at him. Their gaze was fixed on a figure who stood in the water, several yards out from where the waves kissed the sand.

"Velvet?" He started to walk into the water, but a hand grabbed onto his and held on tightly.

"Mike." Lily's voice had an edge to it that he hadn't heard before. "This...I..."

"What?" When he looked at the others, he saw nothing but sadness reflected in their eyes. "What's going on?"

"My love?" Velvet's voice was soft like feathered down, and there was a tightness to it that shook him to the core. "I'm sorry, but I have to go."

"Go? Go where?"

She grimaced, then looked at the others. "I think you know."

"I don't understand. You can't leave here, nobody can leave." He looked to Lily for support. "Aren't you all knitted into my soul or something?"

Lily lowered her gaze to the ground. "There's always been one way for someone to leave, Romeo."

The sky darkened up above, revealing a clear night sky. The stars all twinkled, but one of them sparkled more brightly than the others. Velvet looked at it with longing, and suddenly he understood.

Fiery pain passed through his chest, and he clutched at his ribs in agony.

"NO!" Mike's voice came from everywhere as he shot across the Dreamscape, his feet hovering over the water, to grab onto Velvet's hand. "I don't know what's happened, but I can hold you here like you did me! You held me here so that I wouldn't die, maybe I can do the same!"

"It isn't the same, and we both know it." She smiled weakly at the women behind him. "Because of you, I've loved more deeply in the last three days than I ever could have imagined. Thank you."

"Don't talk like that, I--" He sputtered, the words tangling into letters that spilled from his lips and floated away in the dark sea. The star above had become a ball of blazing light, overwhelming the others until they were no longer visible.

How could he tell her how he felt? Did he even know? He had experienced love before and often with the others, but their connection had been so intense. They barely knew each other, but they fit together so perfectly.

The Dreamscape shook as an earthquake hit the island, the result of his grief. He let out a cry of agony as the sea swelled beneath him and slammed into the beach.

"Velvet, no." His voice was little more than a whisper. "Please don't go."

"I don't have a choice." When she smiled, the skin around her eyes crinkled. She put her hand against his cheek and held it there. "Please tell my sister I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave her alone in this world."

She looked up at the star and took a deep breath.

"I'm afraid," she told him. "For all the magic and beauty in this world, I'm afraid of what comes next."

He was gasping for air now, and rings of light had formed around his feet beneath the water. His magic bubbled up from the depths and filled the air with ominous whispers.

The words made no sense to him, but he could tell that it was a question. When he closed his eyes, he could hear what his magic asked of him, and he inhaled sharply.

Do you want her to stay? There was no malevolence behind the voice, if it could be called such a thing. The power inside him had felt his pain and was reacting, to grant him what he wanted. If he willed it, his magic would cling to this tiny part of her soul, and a piece of her would be with him always.

But then what would happen to the rest of her soul? He thought of Emily, trapped as a tormented specter in the Underworld. No, he didn't want that at all.

He just wanted her.

A cold hand slid into his. He opened his eyes to see Cecilia hovering next to him.

"It is time, mo shíorghrá." She wiped the tears from his cheeks, then used her free hand to take Velvet's from his own. "I am sorry."

Velvet was watching him, her spirit fading into the churning mists of the ocean. It was like she was being diluted into nothingness.

"No." He took her by the hand once more, then looked at Cecilia. "She can't stay, but...maybe we can help her go?"

The banshee nodded, a sad smile on her face.

Cecilia's lips parted and the song of mourning filled the air. The seas calmed and the air went still as her powerful voice filled the cosmos and bent it to her will. The three of them stood in a triangle as a golden light formed around Velvet's silhouette, and her spirit snapped back into focus. Wonderment filled her eyes as she looked into that night sky and saw something that he couldn't.