"But what about when the blood sisters banished the magic. Didn't that protect us?"
Thomas weighed the question.
"When magic disappeared from your world . . . it did keep the darkness away. For a while."
"But not forever. It found a way in," Lizbeth offered.
Thomas agreed. "Yes, it found a way in . . . through us . . . our negligence. We should've been on guard, but we were on Earth, enjoying the fruits of your world and not minding what we should've been minding. And just as bad, we should've found you and looked after you."
"Because I'm the last Dream Keeper?" Lizbeth asked, and Thomas nodded. "Hessika knew The Flood was coming and that I was part of it. She made sure the Echo Park coven took me in and protected me. So that worked out okay."
"Yes, they did well by you," Thomas said. "But now it is my and Tem's turn to look after you. You belong with us."
"And what will happen to The Flood?" she asked.
"The Flood is just the earthly manifestation of the darkness. The mask it wears, if you will. When we banish the darkness, The Flood will cease to have power."
Lizbeth thought she was beginning to piece it all together.
"And how do you banish the darkness? Can you keep it just here in the dreamlands . . . ?"
"That would be nice," Thomas said. "Though I'm not sure it's even possible now."
Lizbeth disagreed. This was exactly what Hessika and the other Dream Keepers had foreseen. That The Flood would come and only a handful of blood sisters would be able to stem the tide. She and her witches from the Echo Park coven. If anyone had a chance of fixing things, it would be them. Lizbeth didn't argue with him. She would let Thomas and Tem train her . . . but only after she and her coven mates had tried their hand at stopping The Flood.
"What happens if we fail and The Flood wins?"
"The darkness will own your world and it will become like ours."
Lizbeth hadn't heard Tem speak much of his world, but she sensed Thomas wanted to talk about it even less.
"What does that mean?"
Thomas looked at his hands, his fingers clasped so tight they were white and bloodless.
"Our world is a wasteland, Lizbeth, and we are part of only a handful of our kind left. It's why we need you. You have enough of our blood to help us."
She didn't push him to illuminate.
"I'll make a deal with you," she said, finding herself speaking before she'd really thought the idea through. "So long as you help us kick The Flood's ass, I'll give you my word that I'll do whatever you ask of me after."
"Just like that? No further negotiation?"
She shook her head.
"That's it. No further negotiation."
"Well, we'd already planned to help in any and all ways that we can-"
Lizbeth laughed.
"Then it's a deal."
They shook hands.
"This may all be for naught," Thomas said, suddenly serious.
Lizbeth smiled at him.
"Then we go out trying."
Daniela
At first, Daniela thought they were all doomed. The boat had crashed nose first into the shallow water, timbers breaking apart, twine unlashing, but somehow Niamh had managed to hold it all together, and those still left clinging to the wooden pieces had been saved.
Daniela had seen Arrabelle go flying. She'd tried to grab hold of her coven mate, but she'd slipped out of Daniela's grasp and disappeared into the darkness-though not before Daniela's touch had brought her directly into Arrabelle's mind. There she'd been exposed to the kind of personal information that no one needs or wants to know about their closest friends. It was a different experience than she'd ever had before. Within two seconds of touching her friend's skin, the essence of Arrabelle had been downloaded into Daniela's mind.
She felt like a magnet, collecting psychic energy, and she knew it had everything to do with the creature Niamh had put inside her. It was what had wrought this change in her power, and the strangest part was she seemed to suffer no ill effects from the experience. It was bizarre to think that before her deathbed revival, if she'd touched Arrabelle, she would've been destroyed for days. All her life, her brain had been jacked up royally every time she'd used her powers . . . but now she felt free, no more fear that her power would kill her because the worst had already happened: It kind of had.
"We need to go back!" Daniela screamed-eyes hungrily scanning the landscape for any sign of Arrabelle.
The others were fine. Dev sat hunched in the corner with Lyse, eyes wild with terror. Evan was turned around so he could face the back of the boat and look out for Arrabelle, too. Niamh just sat in the middle of the boat looking shell-shocked.