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RORY

The rogue stands over Eddie’s body, glaring at me, his jaws dripping with blood.

He growls, his body tense, as if he’s ready to attack me next.

But Mia steps in front of me, ready to shift.

“Come on, big man,” she cries out. “You’re looking at two semesters of self-defense right here. I’ll kick your ass!”

The wolf’s jaws curl into a smile as he stares at us.

But then, for some reason, he turns and sprints back into the darkness of the forest.

Mia puffs up her chest. “Yeah, that’s right! Run, you little wimp!”

She turns back to me, feeling proud. “Oh my Goddess. Did you see that?”

I nod, relieved that the danger is gone.

But I’m also confused. It honestly doesn’t make sense…

He probably could’ve killed us both in a flash.

~So why would he just attack Eddie and then leave?~

I look down at Eddie, lying on the forest floor, covered in blood and dirt.

~Goddess, poor thing.~

I don’t have time to wonder why the rogue left. I need to heal him.

I rush over, get on my knees, and put my hands over his wound. I squeeze my eyes shut, focusing my healing energies into saving his life.

But no matter how hard I try, nothing changes. I don’t feel a thing.

“What’s wrong?” Mia asks. “Is it working?”

I open my eyes, and it dawns on me why I can’t heal him.

I put my ear to his chest, listening for a heartbeat, just to make sure.

But all I hear is empty silence.

Eddie is completely ~dead.~

It’s too late to save him.

I feel tears start to rush down my cheeks as I fall back onto the ground, knowing that I can’t do anything anymore.

My whole body feels numb.

This is the moment I’ve been dreading for so long. The moment where I can’t help someone I care about.

When they’re gone, lost forever, and I can’t do anything about it.

Mia puts her arm around me, squeezing comfortingly.

“Hey, it’s okay, Rory,” she whispers. “You tried your best.”

I look at her, wiping away my tears.

“No, I didn’t!” I cry out bitterly. “I could’ve learned to save him! I should have! But I didn’t.”

I stand up angrily.

“No, this isn’t over!” I say. “We can still save him. We can bring him back.”

Mia looks at me, confused.

“What? How?”

“I need you to help me get him to Professor Xander’s house. Can you do that?”

She nods. “Of course. We can take my car.”

I allow myself a small smile. I’m so grateful for Mia right now. This would be hell if I was alone.

We look down at Eddie, each lifting one side of his limp body. It’s going to be a long walk back to the pack.

My mind starts racing anxiously.

~I just hope Xander’s home.~

~And on top of that, I wonder if he’ll even want to help me after how mad he was the last time I saw him…~

But there’s one thing that’s keeping me going now, fueling me like a fire in my chest.

~Hope.~

~Maybe, just maybe, this might work.~

***

Mia pulls her Mini Cooper up to the side of the road near Xander’s cottage. We quickly get out and open the trunk, hoisting Eddie’s body out.

As we approach, the magic lights burst to life, illuminating us as we make our way through his garden.

~Goddess, last time I came here, I was bringing a lemon cake.~

~Now, I’m bringing a dead body.~

We get to his door and I ring the bell. While we wait, Mia and I exchange anxious looks.

Xander was furious with me the last time we talked. And now, here I am, showing up in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, the door opens.

Xander stands in the doorway, bleary-eyed. When he sees me, he does up the front of his robe, covering his muscular chest.

“Aurora?” he says angrily. “It’s three in the morning. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I-I’m sorry, Professor,” I stutter, “but it’s an emergency…”

I point at Eddie’s corpse, leaning against the wall by the door.

Xander’s eyes widen. “Is he…?”

“Yeah, he’s dead.”

“Like, ~dead~ dead,” Mia adds.

Xander eyes us both with suspicion. “If I recall correctly, Aurora, you were telling me you wanted nothing to do with this. And ~now~ you want my help?”

I nod. “I’m sorry about how everything happened earlier. But once Eddie died, I realized I was wrong. I need to bring him back.”

He looks down at Eddie. I can tell his mind is spinning as he debates what to do.

He looks up at me.

“Alright.”

I erupt into joy. “Oh, thank you, professor!” I cry out.

“But if I help you,” he says, his face serious, “you have to promise to do ~everything~ I say. We only have one chance at this.”

“Of course,” I say. “Not a problem.”

He turns and waves for us to follow him inside.

We move Eddie through the dark house, past the dining room and down the hallway. He opens the door to his office, waving us inside.

We cross the room, stopping in front of another door. I notice a strange symbol of an eye on it.

~Weird. I’ve never seen that symbol before.~

Xander pulls out a key from his pocket and unlocks the door, pushing it open. On the other side, there’s a staircase, leading to a large room below.

When we enter it, Xander snaps his fingers, and all the candles in the room burst to life.

It’s a giant room with stone walls, with strange runes and symbols etched into the walls. There’s a stone slab in the middle, which Xander points to.

“Put the boy there.”

Mia and I place him down, and I take a moment to catch my breath.

“What is this place?” I ask, looking around.

“There’s no time to explain,” he says. “Now, we’re going to perform the spell to get you to the spirit realm. Once you get there, do you remember how to get to the land of the dead?”

I nod.

Down below the mist, there’s the blackness. That’s where I have to go.

“You’re going to need to go down there and find Eddie’s soul,” Xander continues. “Call out to him. He will find you. Once he does, bring him back up with you and take him through the door.”

I nod.

“But there’s one last ~very~ important thing,” he says, staring at me with utmost seriousness. “Do ~not~ look at the soul. Ever. If you do, Eddie will be lost forever. Do you hear me?”

I nod again, feeling the anxiety rise up in me.

~Don’t look at the soul.~

~Got it.~

Xander has told me what to do, but I’m still nervous as hell.

My heart is still racing and my body is shaking. I feel like I’m going to have a panic attack.

“I’m not sure I can do this,” I say, feeling the fear rise up in my body, threatening to overwhelm me.

Xander takes my hand, squeezing it gently. He flashes me his reassuring smile.

“Aurora, I believe in you. I know you can do this. You’re the only one in the world that can save his life.”

A small smile creeps onto my face. Even after leaving his class and disappointing him, it means the world that Xander still believes in me.

“Alright,” I say, taking a deep breath and placing my hands on Eddie’s body. “Let’s do this.”

“Good luck,” Mia says, standing off to the side. “And, uh, I’ll just be ~here.~”

I close my eyes, focusing my mind, while Xander mutters the incantation of the spell that will take me to the spirit realm without dying.

And then, my vision is filled with a blinding white flash.

And before I know it, I’m back in the spirit realm.

I look down, remembering that I need to dive below to get to the edge of the land of the dead.

The hole in the mist opens below me, and I stare down below into that endless black void.

Just looking at it, a familiar terror fills my body. It’s like it’s staring right back at me.

The darkness of death—looking right into my face, making me want to run in the opposite direction.

But I have to fight that fear.

Xander told me I had to use love to guide me into the darkness. Memories flash through my head of Eddie and me, back in high school.

~Our stupid inside jokes that made me want to pee my pants with laughter.~

~The way he’d stand up for me when someone would bully me.~

~His kind eyes, so full of excitement for life.~

It fills me with courage, knowing that if this works, I can make those eyes open again.

I start to float down, when a voice calls out behind me.

My mother’s voice.

“What are you doing, Aurora?”

I turn to see her, standing at the edge of the mist. She normally looks so serene, but now, she looks terrified.

“I thought I told you never to go down there.”

“I know,” I tell her. “I’m sorry, but I have to.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Aurora!”

“Yes, I do,” I say, turning away from my mom and the bright white mist. “I’m saving my friend’s life.”

I take a deep breath, ignoring the fear as I let myself fall down into the blackness.

***

EVERETT

I storm into the dungeons with Ace and Lucius on my tail.

I woke them up in a panic when I realized in the middle of the night that Aurora was missing.

But then, after going over the day’s events, the pieces started to come together. I knew that she had tried to break the humans out of jail.

~But how far could she have gotten?~

She’s so clumsy…how the hell would she be able to sneak in here?

I turn the corner and arrive at the guard post. The older warrior is snoring in his chair.

~Ah. That’s how.~

I slam my fist on his desk and the warrior immediately jumps to his feet, trying to act like he was paying attention the whole time.

When he realizes the alpha is standing in front of him, his bleary eyes get filled with fear.

“Where are the keys?” I growl at him.

“Right here, Alpha,” he says, pointing to a spot on his desk.

But the spot is empty.

“Or, uh, they ~were~ right there…”

“You’re useless!” I roar. “I’ll deal with you later.”

I race past him, entering the dungeons.

~I really need to stop putting my most incompetent warriors on dungeon duty.~

I ignore the different inmates cursing me as I pass them, finally getting to the cell where the humans were kept.

And just like I thought, it’s empty.

~Aurora broke them out.~

“Shit!” I say, kicking the bars angrily.

~This is a disaster.~

The council will be furious, and Amber might use this to split the whole pack apart.

I need to find them before the morning.

Suddenly, the rogue in the cell behind us starts laughing hysterically. “Don’t you see? It’s all happening!” he cries out. “She is returning!”

I spin around to stare at the familiar rogue.

~Eden.~

But his eyes are completely crazed, and he grins at me like a lunatic.

He’s obviously lost his mind down here.

“The day has come! The day has come!” he sings.

I’m about to tell him to shut up because it’s hard to think with his ramblings in the background.

But that’s when I notice the inside of his cell.

The cell walls are completely covered in the same symbol, scratched with his claws over and over hundreds of times.

I step closer. I recognize that symbol.

It’s the exact same symbol that was on Xander’s door in his office.

“What the hell does that symbol mean?” I roar at him.

Eden’s laugh echoes through the prison hallway.

“It’s the eye of darkness!” he cries. “Darkness, everywhere!”

***

RORY

I stare into the cold blackness all around me.

I can’t see a thing, but down here the voices are deafeningly loud.

“Aurora…,” they hiss, right next to my ear. “Aurora.”

“Eddie?” I call out, my voice trembling. “Eddie, are you here?”

“Yes!” I hear him call back, somewhere in the darkness. “Aurora, is that you?”

I look around. I can’t see him anywhere, but it’s obviously his voice.

“Yes, it’s me!” I cry out. “Here, take my hand.”

I feel a cold hand take mine.

~Goddess…~

~It’s him.~

“I got you, Eddie. Just hold on tight, okay? I’m gonna get you out of here.”

“Okay,” he says, squeezing my hand.

I turn and float back up, away from the other voices calling out my name, gripping Eddie’s hand with all my might.

Suddenly, the light appears above us. The white mist of the spirit realm.

Xander’s words enter my head.

~Whatever you do…~

~Don’t look back at Eddie.~

I keep my vision fixed straight ahead as I fly up into the light with Eddie behind me.

Then, I spot the door in the distance.

And I pull Eddie through.

***

I gasp, opening my eyes to find myself back in Xander’s cellar.

Xander and Mia stare at me, eyes wide with anticipation.

“Did it work?” he asks anxiously.

“I think so,” I say, looking down at Eddie.

Suddenly, his finger twitches.

Xander and I glance at each other, smiles growing on our faces as we watch in amazement as the color returns to Eddie’s face.

“Eddie, are you okay?” I cry out. “Can you hear me?”

He murmurs, his body starting to move.

~Oh my Goddess!~

~He’s alive.~

~I can’t believe it worked!~

Joy floods my body as his eyes crack open, staring right at me.

But instead of looking back into Eddie’s dark-brown orbs…

They’re a glowing, sinister ~yellow.~

The eyes of Nemesis.

Eddie’s mouth spreads into a devilish grin.

“Hello, Aurora,” he says, his voice distorted. “Did you miss me?”