He felt her move within him and it was like heaven all over again, yet even more complete. She found the key to his vast experience as a warrior and as a leader of men. She opened the door, and he felt all that learned wisdom and understanding flow over her and through her. She caught it and held on.
* * *
Grace flew up and out of Leto’s most essential self, and when she’d departed she looked around. She stared at Greaves, so at ease in the chair. He still couldn’t see her.
She recognized what he was feeling: a deep satisfaction that he had vanquished them both, that now he could continue with his plans.
She accessed all that Leto had just shared with her, the analytical processes of his mind, how swiftly he would create strategies but toss them aside if they didn’t seem right, then his lightning-like ability to formulate new ones.
She did the same now.
She assessed the situation: her broken body, Leto’s as well, Greaves’s enormous power, the shroud he had placed over the cabin. She and Leto could never fight him and win, so this could never be about acquiring enough power to battle Greaves.
She could also sense that Leto was near death, so her most critical task involved healing and escape.
And now it all seemed so simple. She leaned down and kissed Leto while still in her ghostly form.
I’ll be back in a moment. I need to reach Fiona. I think I’ll be able to bring her back because I can possess her. I will need to see Horace as well, to acquire his healing ability. Stay alive, Leto.
I’ll be here returned to her strong and steady. How different from the man in despair she had left five months ago.
Fiona, who had the ability to enhance power, would be able to amplify Horace’s healing power once Grace had Horace’s advanced ability.
Because she was still functioning within her obsidian power, Grace focused on Horace and her apparition-self began flying through space. She found him just finishing up with one of the Militia Warriors at the New River Borderland. She called his name. He turned toward her, but he couldn’t see her.
She explained where she was and what she needed. He nodded, saying, “Of course. I have heard of what you’ve been able to accomplish. Please do what you need to do.”
Grace took as few words as possible to explain her process. Horace, the most powerful healer on Second Earth, nodded and closed his eyes.
She dove within his mind, then fell into his soul, which was, as she knew it had to be for such a kind man, very warm and very beautiful. She found his healing lock, inserted her blue flame, and acquired the ability.
She drew out and thanked him.
She then apparitioned to Fiona, moving swiftly and smoothly through nether-space. When Grace reached her, she was in Endelle’s palace because Endelle had done as Grace had asked and brought her obsidian sisters to the central rotunda, ready for action. Thorne stood next to Marguerite, and Jean-Pierre was pressed close to Fiona, his arms surrounding her.
Grace took as few words as she could manage to explain the Greaves predicament.
“What do you need from us?” Endelle asked.
“I need to possess Fiona in this form.”
“Do it,” Endelle said softly.
Fiona moved toward her by way of assent. “Yes, do whatever you need.”
Something deep inside Grace blossomed, a sense of belonging and of hope, of being very present in her life and less ghost-like than she’d ever been before.
She focused for just a moment on her variety of obsidian flame power and let a new wave flow from the earth, up into her soul, even into this apparition-form that was as much a part of her as her corporeal self.
She thought the thought and simply took possession of Fiona. Her obsidian power flowed.
Together Grace sped with Fiona back to the cabin. Just as she suspected, because she was part of Fiona, she passed through the shroud of Greaves’s mist and into the bedroom. Her body and Leto’s lay crumpled and burned.
Oh, God, Fiona murmured.
It’s all right. Now, I’m going to concentrate on the healing ability I learned from Horace. Are you ready to enhance the power?
Yes.
Grace just let the thought take form in her mind, and healing began pouring toward the bodies on the floor.
* * *
Leto drew a sudden deep breath and rose, his own body knitting together at lightning speed, miraculously, unbelievably. He wasn’t even sure exactly how this was happening, but he could feel Grace’s presence.
He turned Grace’s body and watched her re-form, though she remained inert because Grace was in her apparition form. He glanced around and saw the strangest sight: Fiona in a ghost-like form, glowing in streaks of gold and blue. It meant of course that Grace was with her, and that together they were doing the impossible.
And now all his pain was gone.
In a sudden heartbeat, the dual apparition-form vanished, and he heard a thump behind him.
Grace rose, laughing. “I stood up too fast and hit my head on the wall.” Her gaze shifted beyond Leto. “Oh, shit, we’d better get out of here.”
“How?” he asked.
“What the hell is this?” Greaves shouted, rising from his chair. “How did you heal?”
Leto feared the worst, that though Grace had worked her miracle, Greaves would now bring fire and brimstone down on their heads and wipe them from the face of the earth.
But the moment these thoughts flew through his mind, he realized Grace had already split into her apparition-form and once more Fiona returned, glowing with blue and gold streams of light swirling around her.
Fiona winked. Or was that Grace? Then he heard Grace’s voice in his head: Sorry for the delay, but I had to access Endelle’s folding ability. Ready?
Yes. Make it quick.
He felt Greaves’s power ramping up again. He stiffened, waiting for the blow, but before the blast hit he was gliding through nether-space. When his feet touched down in the palace, he felt Grace beside him as well, though a little unsteady on her feet since she was only partially inhabiting her body. He steadied her with a hand beneath her arm.
He was still in his beast-form, so she might as well have been a feather. He drew her into his arms and held her close. He felt the moment when she returned fully to her body. She slid her arms around his neck. “We made it,” she whispered.
He kissed her again, but his warrior concerns returned as he drew back. “Greaves. We should prepare in case he follows us here.”
“Fiona and I blocked the trace.”
He let out a deep breath. “Good.” He kissed her again, long and deep. I have things I need to say to you, my darling.