Deserted (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 4)

I had no idea how I’d moved so fast. Even for me, it was a mere moment in time before I was halfway toward Tsuma, heading right for the two spectral figures. Reece was at my side, and even through the cacophony of pain and disbelief, there was a flicker of peace in knowing I wasn’t facing this alone. Not anymore.

‘Is it really them?’ I asked, sobbing through each word.

He cleared his throat. ‘I don’t know,’ he finally said. ‘But either way, there’s still a moment to stop Tsuma, and we have to go through them to do it.”

The ghosts were not just anyone, but Leka and Rhett. The translucent pair floated in the path, looking exactly as they had all those years ago, decked out in battle gear with smiles on their faces. Both had a love for life that apparently lasted through death and to the other side.

When I was a few feet away, I slowed my pace but didn’t stop. We needed to know if they were a physical barrier or not. Leka winked as I passed right through her, and in another pop, she was now in front of me again. This time, she waved her hands on, but as she opened her mouth to say something, no sound emerged.

A barrier kept the living and the dead apart, and while I could see her, we could not talk. But I read lips well enough to understand what she was saying. Run. Hurry.

“They’re not here to stop us,” I said in a rush to Reece. “They’re helping.”

This gave me a final jolt of energy to cross the sand and smash into Tsuma, sending her flying into the pillar she stood before. In the same instant, Reece’s sands formed glasslike weapons, slicing her hands clean off. He didn’t stop there; his fury over Alistair and the overall betrayal driving him to punish her.

I was about to do the same, when a roar from behind us had me spinning to see that the giant wave of sand energy from earlier, which had been struggling to get through the valley, was now barreling rapidly toward us. I screamed at Shadow, who was already moving into action, sending up a flame-filled barrier that wrapped around the rest of our friends and Alistair’s body.

He would protect them, which meant Reece and I were all that remained to stop the ancients from rising. Turning, I found him holding that disloyal bitch up with his sands, while she laughed manically. ‘Your parents would have been here if they were still alive,” she taunted. “They craved power, same as the rest of us born too close to the Delfora. You are evidence of that.’

“Reece,” I yelled over the roar of the spell he hadn’t seemed to notice in his rage. “How can we stop the sands?”

This finally got through to him, and he turned icy blue eyes my way before they looked along the valley. “The others?” he asked, his voice unnaturally deep.

‘Shadow has them in a protective shield, but that can only last so long,’ I shouted, the roar growing louder. The sands were at Shadow now, so we had only a few seconds until they engulfed us too.

I grabbed a fistful of Tsuma’s tunic. ‘How do we stop this?’ I yelled in her face. ‘All of your followers are dead, and you’re about to join them. There’s no one to control the gods now!’

Her face finally went blank. ‘There’s no way to stop it,’ she whispered. ‘The ritual was complete when the blood of the sacrifice filled the final space.” She looked toward the pillar, and I saw the deep burgundy dripping along the script I could not read, filling it all.

Before I could say another word, Leka and Rhett appeared before us, jumping and shouting, waving us past the pillars into the desert where the ancients rested. They were telling us what we already knew: Time was up, and our only option was to get out of this valley before the sands smashed into us.

Leaving Tsuma sprawled on the ground, we took off. Behind us, a clanking and shattering of bones echoed between the canyon walls, and the heat of this power’s rage burned down my spine. This was the reason that Desertlandians were not welcome in this part of the Delfora. The powers here were strong and unpredictable, and when mixed with energies of all eight dynasties and a power moon? Well, the wall of destructive sand energy was the end result.

Tsuma should have known better; her greed for power might now destroy us all.

The two ancient pillars had stood as a barrier to the resting place of the gods for an eternity—since the ancient days—and as we tried to cross, I expected to be flung back. But in the last second, our ghosts wrapped around us, sending us into unchartered territory. The dead could cross where the living were not welcome.

The sands that had been right behind us hit the pillar barriers and remained where they were, unable to cross after us. That didn’t mean there was no power on this side, though. Tsuma had broken the spells holding the gods, and beneath our feet the ripples and bucking of the sands could already be felt. A particularly large jolt sent Reece and me up into the air, but my wings, still tucked in behind me from the fight, opened without thought and I caught us both. Not that Reece needed my help, but it was nice to save him for once.

When we were back on the land, standing under the bright light of a power moon, I knew that we were too late.

The ritual was complete, and the gods were about to rise.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and knowing it couldn’t be Reece from that angle, I spun to find Leka at my side, looking very un-spirit like. “You can touch me?” I burst out.

‘You don’t have much time,’ she said, and I had to reach out and hold onto her when my legs weakened at the sound of her musical voice. ‘You called us in your grief, and we knew we had to come to get you through the gateway, but the other realm is calling us back.’ Her golden eyes locked on mine. ‘The ancients awake.’

My chest heaved as I clutched her; having her back for these few seconds meant more than I ever imagined. ‘How do we stop this from happening?’ I managed to choke out.

‘You have to put them to rest again,’ Rhett said from where he appeared beside Reece, looking like a slightly blonder and darker-skinned version of his brother.

Reece shook his head. ‘You did not die in these lands; your bones don’t even rest here. How is this possible?”

Rhett shifted his gaze to stare right at Leka. “Where her soul goes, so goes mine. Our fates were always intertwined.”

Even in this moment where everything had gone to shit and the worlds might possibly end, that was a ray of light to soothe away a small fraction of my pain. I hadn’t known their bond was so strong… as strong as Reece’s and mine.

My sister smiled at him; her face softer than it had ever been in this realm.

Before I could fall into my feelings over this, Leka returned her focus to me. Reaching up, she tucked a strand of my braid that had fallen free back behind my ear. “You can stop them, Mel. You’re finally embracing all sides of yourself, including the side that was born to exist in the Desert Lands. Use it all now. Use your bond with Reece, and return the gods to their resting place.’

She flickered, almost disappearing completely, and I tried desperately to hold onto her, needing one last touch before she was lost forever again. In my grief over Alistair, while in this land of power, I’d managed to call her soul. But she was not mine to keep.

‘I love you, Leka,’ I whispered. ‘Until our souls meet again.’

She hugged me hard, and for a second, we were twin souls again.

But then it was over.

By the time I opened my eyes, Leka and Rhett were gone. Be happy. I heard on the breezes before their energy returned to a realm I could not find. Not yet anyway. As I met Reece’s gaze, a bittersweet emotion lingered between us. We were happy to know they’d found each other in the next life, but not having them here with us any longer was a wound that would never fully heal.

“At least I know now why Rhett was never the same after that battle,” Reece said with a shake of his head.

“That battle felt like it took everything,” I said swallowing roughly as I stepped to his side, “but it didn’t take us. We’re still standing here, centuries later, and we can finish this.”

Reece, face set in the hard lines of his warrior expression, nodded. ‘Do you have any ideas?’

I took a second to look around, noting that the resting place of the ancients was a large, perfectly circular canyon, with cliffs curving overhead to define the shape. Behind us was the valley, its pillars the only part visible since the sands were smashed against the barrier, hiding everything else. In front of us was another set of pillars, which I could only imagine were guarding an even greater threat than the ancients beneath our feet.

“Whatever we do, we should do it fast,” I finally said. “Because I have no idea how long Shadow can shield them from that deluge.”

‘They’re still alive,’ Reece assured me, his hand against his chest. ‘I can feel their lifeforce, but time is running out.”

It was, but for once, I wasn’t facing this alone. “True mates,” I reminded him. “We will face this together.”

Always.