Falling back to my body, I try to grab a hold of what I can as I feel myself emerge from an abyss of dizzying lights.
"Astrid," I hear my name called out. "Ease up."
I find my whole being tensed up as I awake, especially the grip of my hand in Bianca's, who is knelt beside the bed, her green eyes tinged with worry.
"Sorry."
I release my hold on her and lie contemplating about where I am for a second. The muted greys and blacks of this neat and tidy room confuse me for its lack of color.
"What took you so long?" Bianca asks, massaging her hand. "Did the Sun Goddess tell you why she's doing this?"
The memories flood back to me in an instant as a faint hum in the back of my head resounds to the chorus I heard just before tumbling back to earth. The betrayal I witnessed as I was there a prisoner in the Sun Goddess's mind leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I don't know for sure if that last ray of blinding light was a death blow, all I know is the intention behind it.
"Oh, B. Everything is so messed up," I lament as my eyes idly trace the corners of the room. "I don't think she wanted things to turn out the way they have."
"Nobody wanted any of this yet here we are in the crossfires of a heavenly war. That's the war that's really going on."
"You're right, B."
I look at Bianca's face, which has somehow aged over the course of this long week. Her brow, once so smooth and delicate, is now creased with lines that reflect the emotions of our journey so far—a journey that was thrust upon us selfishly by the beings up above.
"Why is it," I continue, "in all mythologies of heaven, hell and earth that the beings on earth suffer the most while heaven and hell get by unscathed? I've struggled to find meaning in my purpose wondering why me? I'm just an ordinary person."
"You're not ordinary," Bianca gently shakes me from my self-pity. "You travelled halfway across the world to find me. Who does that?"
"A best friend?"
"No, not just a best friend. That is something only a truly extraordinary person would do. So stop feeling sorry for yourself for who you are, because I'm an Alpha's daughter and look where I am now," she scoffs. "It doesn't matter who you are, but it sure as hell matters what you do."
A bright choral hum resounds at the back of my head in the same key as the song of my ancestors.
"Strange," I remark.
Bianca sighs. "Astrid, you're not strange you're..."
"No, not that," I interject. "It's the song in my head."
"What song?"
"It's what the Sun Goddess called the song of my ancestors." I sit upright to decipher its meaning. "I heard it each time I've seen her."
I hum the first melancholic tune.
"When Ganzorig heard this, he called it a funeral song."
Next, I hum the staccato tune just before I was sent back to earth.
"This is in the same key, but it occurred just before I came back when the Sun Goddess blasted a ray of light out of her hands."
"It sounds more urgent," Bianca observes.
I nod and proceed to hum the third tune.
"What does it mean?" Bianca scowls and purses her lips contemplatively.
"I don't know but maybe the ancestors are separate from the Goddess, you know? Maybe we're not completely alone in this fight."
Suddenly, a sharp pain strikes just above my clavicle upon Rio's mark. My body jolts in the realization that he was the last thing I saw before entering the ethereal realm.
"Where's Rio?" I ask.
"In the circle."
We urgently descend Rio's tower where Alex has already left us to join the others in the grand hall. I bang my fists on its locked doors as I faint muffled sounds emanate from behind it, my mark deepening its soreness. After three clicks of the lock, a terrified Demi opens the doors, her lips trembling. The sudden sounds of shouting causes my ears to pop. My eyes widen at the bubble of shadows in the middle of the room as Souleymane and Kobe hold a frantic Alex back.
"We cannot break the barrier," Souleymane shouts over Alex's desperate cries.
The Beta swings wildly, though Kobe holds him well as the brother of an Alpha. In the commotion, Alex's eyes drift to me and he calls out.
"The First Son is trying to possess him," he pleads, pointing to the bubble of shadows. "Save him, Astrid!"
As I move closer, Helena, the red-haired witch, steps in front of me to prevent me proceeding any further. The pockets of vision in between the black smoke reveal not one, but two bodies inside the magical barrier. The smoke suddenly vanishes as we hear the thud of the bodies hitting the floor.
"Valentina!" Bianca exclaims behind me.
My eyes dart between the two of them when the black bubble settles to reveal both Valentina and Rio's bodies unconscious on the floor. Valentina's complexion shifts back to normal, however, Rio's slowly turns a sickly grey. I wait for the rest of his body to cloud up like Valentina's under Er's possession, but nothing happens.
"Release the barrier," I demand as Helena watches me back with cold blue eyes.
"No," she replies sharply. "Imagine what the First Son could do in a Lycan's body."
"A Lycan?" Alex remarks incredulously. "Have you forgotten that he is your Alpha?"
Helena ignores him and addresses Souleymane directly.
"Souley," she says, "you can't let your son's grief distract us from our purpose to prevent history from repeating itself."
Alex peers at his father and Helena in disbelief.
"He's my best friend," he whispers, defeated.
I feel the pang in Alex's voice as he sinks into his father's arms and I'm reminded of the journey I went through to get my own best friend back.
I march forward as Helena attempts to intercept me again.
"You don't have to break the barrier," I tell her. "Just let me through."
"As the future Luna," Souleyman remarks, "we have to protect you now that Rio is compromised."
"Then you should know that as the future Luna, I may be the only one who can save him, now let me through."
Even though I got Bianca back, the flame in my determination has not dimmed. Nor has the light that resides within me when the quiet hum at the back of my head reminds me what I'm capable of. Maybe she was right to tell me that what I do counts the most. I know that's what Rio would have said, too.
With the mages still unsure, I press on.
"I found my best friend through sheer determination and perseverance. Please trust that I would go even further for my mate. I know how to save Rio."
It takes one heavy step for Helena to stand down and let me through. And as I enter the invisible barrier to Rio's greying body, I shake my head thinking that I don't really know exactly how to save him.
Rio's face looks serene, but troubled. His eyelids may be closed, but the slight movement underneath them indicates that he's still in there somewhere. I kneel down and cup both sides of his face and take a deep breath. Strangely, his usual minty fragrance is faint, almost non-existent, though the smell of death follows not too far.
I close my eyes and hum the song of the ancestors.
"No."
I hear the faint voice and stop, fluttering my eyes open to observe any changes to Rio's face, but he remains the same. So, I press on and continue the song.
"Stop it," the voice tells me.
This time, I respond, "Why?"
"I do not wish to go back, nor do I wish to return," it says.
"Go back where? Return where?"
"Death. Life."
Whoever is speaking to me, I know that the song is causing a disturbance within Rio's mind. Possibly the entity is Er himself. Without hesitation, I press on with my song, louder and stronger this time. A chorus emanates through my voice, of others unseen but heard and I know I am being joined by the ancestors in their song. Whatever it may be that I am singing about, the light notes tell me I have to continue even if I have no clue what the outcome could be.
"You don't know what you're playing with," the voice tells me.
When I open my eyes, I see Rio's open, too. My vision is clear and bright as I notice every single contour of his face and the black eyes staring back at me.
"There is a price to life and death," I now understand the voice to be Er's speaking to me telepathically, though Rio's lips don't move. "Are you ready to pay?"
Er's words unheeded, I wade through them willing my mate to return to me as I sing with more gusto. In my heart, I anchor him down to me hoping to tether him with our bond. That is all I can do as I sing. Hope that whatever power it is that I am unknowingly manipulating doesn't blow up in my face. And I know my ancestors wouldn't guide me astray.
Slowly, I feel the song work its magic as the blacks of Rio's eyes turn white around the edges. It shrinks smaller and smaller until revealing the aqua blue iris in his left eye. Rio's black Alpha eye remains. My heart skips a beat.
I did it. I tell myself and end the song.
With his face still cupped between my hands, the sickly grey complexion flushes back to the vivid blush of his bronzed skin. Then his eyes shut, a blank slate of emotion across his face. I shake him and call out his name.
"Rio!"
Grabbing either sides of his broad shoulders, I shake his body, willing him to awaken, but to no avail. Then, I do the only thing I can think of and hope the movies and storybooks aren't wrong about this. I sink down to kiss his parted lips and wish hard for Rio to come back to me.
"I love you, too," I whisper.
Gazing back at his face, his expression remains unchanged. And he lays quietly still.