The wall of flame began to shrink. It no longer reached the rock ceiling.

"The humans," said Maura. "I want them back. I hate being lonely."

"Then come with us," urged Gilda. "You'll never be lonely again."

"You know I can't. Dabyr is a place for people with souls. Thanks to you, dear Mother, I have none."

"That's not true."

"It is. You ripped it from me the day you cut Sibyl and me in half."

"You're wrong. I've seen the good in you. This path you've chosen is just thata"a choice."

Maura smiled. "And so is this." She pointed to the floor where the flames were rooted. A hulking Synestryn to her right flung himself forward onto the fire.

It screamed and writhed, but fell silent in a few seconds. Maura stepped up onto the thing's back, using it as a bridge to cross over the fire.

Angus lifted his sword. Gilda refused to panic. She gathered power into her, readying it for use at a moment's notice.

Angus's power flowed into her more easilya"not like normal, but better than before.

Maura came to stand in front of them. Not a single Synestryn had moved to attack.

Hope surged in Gilda's soul. Maybe her baby had decided to come back after all.

Gilda reached out a trembling hand toward her daughter.

Maura looked at her hand with an almost wistful expression, as if she wanted something she could never have. "Everyone I touch dies."

Gilda ached for her baby and all the mistakes they'd both made. She should have been a better example. She should have spent more time rea.s.suring Maura that she was loved and needed. But like so many other things Gilda had done, it was too late for anything but regret.

"It wasn't always that way," she reminded Maura. "It doesn't have to be that way now. Come with us. Come home. We love you."

"You can't love someone who has no soul. I'm a thing. Plastic and hollow. A weapon. You can't love a weapon."

"You're our daughter," said Angus. "You're our flesh and blood, part of us."

Tears welled in Maura's eyes before she blinked them away a second later. "I don't belong with you. My place is here. Killing. Destroying. That is what people with no souls do."

Gilda saw the change in her daughter the second it began. Whatever cracks of doubt she and Angus may have caused healed up. Maura squared her shoulders and that evil glint came back to her eyes. The softness in her expression vanished and standing before them was no longer their daughter. It was their enemy.

"Daddy," said Maura, reaching for Angus as if to hug him.

Everyone I touch dies.

Gilda couldn't let that happen to Angus.

She used the power she'd gathered to propel herself forward toward Maura. She tackled her, bearing her down to the ground. The feel of her daughter's body against hers brought back countless memories of the times she'd held Maura or rocked her to sleep.

Each memory broke Gilda's heart all over again.

Maura fought, but she had a child's strength and Gilda subdued her easily. By the time she'd pinned Maura against her body, preventing her from moving, the wall of flames had died down enough that the Synestryn on the far side could leap over it.

Angus had placed himself in the way of their advance, but there were too many for him to fight alone.

"Stop!" shouted Gilda, imbuing her words with the power of command.

Everyone froze, including Angus.

Gilda dragged Maura up, still restraining her. She wrapped a hand around her daughter's throat and said, "I'll choke her if you come closer. Get back."

The Synestryn slithered back a few feet, but that was all.

Maura's body began to shake with laughter. "I've already won. You touched me, so you're dead. Which means Father is, too. My troops don't have to do a thing."

A throb of panic bloomed inside her, but Gilda controlled it. "Your magic won't work on me."

"No?" asked Maura.

As she spoke, Gilda felt the first stab of pain go through her. It started at her feet, sharp and intense, like someone had cut off her toes. She sucked in a startled breath, unable to hide her pain.

"See. No one can touch me and live. Not even you."

". . . three."

Nika found a spot near Tori that wasn't completely infested by Synestryn and aimed for that. She held on to Tynan and sent them through s.p.a.ce.

She landed just as hard, only this time, it didn't make her feel nearly as sick. Whether it was because it was a shorter distance or because her stomach was already empty she wasn't sure.

Tynan wasted no time. Before the Synestryn could figure out they were right there next to Tori, Tynan scooped her up and shouted, "Now!"

Nika was still out of breath, but she ripped as much power from Madoc as she could, gripped Tynan's arm, and aimed for the spot behind Madoc.

Before she'd finished channeling the power, her body flew back through the air, hitting a rock wall. Her head exploded with pain and her vision began to fade. The last thing she saw was Zillah wrapping his too-long fingers around Tynan's neck and Tori falling from his arms onto the floor.

Chapter 26.

Something powerful and wrong was happening to Gilda. She could feel the slow, insidious creep of evil Maura had inflicted upon her. She'd never felt or seen anything like it before. Pain inched up her body, setting her spine on fire, and yet she refused to let go of her daughter.

She had never been more afraid in her life. She and Angus had been through some tight spots. They'd both been injured and nearly died many times over the centuries, but never before had she felt despair like this. If she didn't find a way to stop the spread of this evil, she would die, taking Angus with her.

"Let her go, love," he said to Gilda. "We need to find Tynan."

"It's too late for that," said Maura. "He can't heal what I've done to her."

"Maura, undo this," he ordered their daughter.

Maura's black eyes met his. "There is no undoing it. She's dead. If she's lucky, it will happen fast."

No. Gilda refused to die. She and Angus had just reconnected. She wasn't going to let go and give up her chance to make amends for all she'd done.

Gilda funneled some of Angus's power into her body, converting it to a healing light. Her skin began to glow from within as that light streaked through her body down to her legs, where the pain was worst.

"You're killing both of us," said Angus.

Maura's body seemed to sag. "I know. I've known for a long time how it would end."

What must it have been like for Maura to see the future, to see herself kill her own parents?

Gilda's body screamed in pain, but she forced herself to move, to turn Maura around so she could look her daughter in the eye. "Is that why you think you have no soul?" asked Gilda. "Because you saw this moment?"

Maura looked away in guilt. "I knew what I'd become. Why fight it?"

"Because your future is not written in stone. You of all people should know that."

"Apparently, you're wrong. Things happened just as I foresaw."

There was a hard throb in Gilda's legs; then she felt the warmth of the healing light go out and the pain moved higher, up to her knees.

Gilda sucked in a breath and reached for more power. The connection between her and Angus had widened further, allowing her to bring more into herself.

She sent more light to combat Maura's infection, but the effort left her shaking.

"You don't have to do this," said Angus. "We can fix this."

"I can't. I've tried. It always ends the same way."

Angus stepped forward. Grief deepened the lines on his face, twisting Gilda's heart. "No. I don't accept that. You have to at least try. You don't want to kill your own mother."

Maura bowed her head. "It doesn't matter what I want or don't want. We all are as we were created to be. I was created to kill."

"No," said Gilda, barely able to hold on to Maura's arms. "You were created to lovea"to love a man the way I love your father, to be loved in return, to fight evil as all the generations before you have done."

Maura's dainty mouth twisted in contempt. "That will never happen now, will it? You made sure of that when you made me promise to never grow up."

Angus must have felt her siphoning off more and more power, because he came to stand by her side, cupping the back of her neck so the parts of the luceriaa"ring and necklacea"locked into place. The contact eased the flow of energy into her, and with a sudden, hard push of will, she drove the last of Maura's infection out of her body.

The effort left her panting, but there was no time to rest now. She had to show Maura there was still hope. She wasn't a lost cause. "It was a mistake made in grief. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry changes nothing."

"It can. If you're willing to forgive, the way I'm willing to forgive you."

Maura wrenched her little body away, backing up out of reach. "There is no forgiveness for what I've done, what I'm going to do."

"You haven't killed me," said Gilda. "I cured whatever you did to me with your touch."

"Liar! You're just saying that to trick me."

"Into doing what?"

"Coming with you. You want to take the little sliver of soul I managed to cling to in the womb and give it to your favorite daughter. If you do that, maybe she'll grow up."

"You're wrong," said Angus. "Sibyl is not our favorite."

"She always did the right thing. She was always perfect."

"No one is perfect. We love you anyway."

Maura's eyes darted around, like she was uncertain about something. "You can't love someone who does the things I do."

"Then stop. Come with us. Turn your back on this evil and rejoin your rightful family."

"The Synestryn are my family now."

"Do they love you?" asked Angus.

"They fear me. That's enough."

"No, it's not, and you know it. You deserve to be loved."

Maura covered her ears. "Go. Leave before I order your death."

Gilda stepped toward Maura. "I'm not afraid of you. And there's not enough fear on this planet to make me stop loving you."

"Liar! Lies. All lies." Maura whirled around to where the Synestryn waited for the order to move. She lifted her small hand, pointed at Gilda, and said, "Kill them."

Tori crawled out from under the man's flailing feet. Zillah had some guy by the neck and was shaking him like a dog did a toy. She squatted against the cave wall, using it to support her weight.

She was so tired. Hours of pain had drained her strength, but at least it was almost over.

Another pain gripped her, and she could no longer keep from giving in to her body's demands. She had to push this thing out of her.

Hungry monsters closed in on her, eyeing Zillah to see if he was watching. If anything happened to him, she knew she'd be one more meal.

Part of her wished they'd just get it over with and put her out of her misery.

Despite the chill of the cave, sweat poured down her face, stinging her eyes.

Another wave of pain hit her and raw instincts took control of her body. Tori didn't want to be here for this. She didn't want to see whatever it was that came out of her.

She tried to pretend she was somewhere else, like she used to do, but the pain was too intense. It wouldn't let her go.