Chapter 64: Juno

I held the aurora sword in my hand. There was something about it that felt right. Some of the memories of its rescue washed through my mind. It was like it was a part of me, it completed me somehow, at least this part of my soul. I wondered if I would feel the same when Kira and I merged.

I pushed the thought aside. I needed to find Kira. We were in Utah again, and if Isabell was trying to summon Juno, she was probably at the major nexus point. My quickest path there was teleportation, so I'd have to try it. I tucked the sword into my jeans. It felt like it fit against me, almost like I had done with the contract.

"Remi," I said into the trees. "Remi, I need a ride."

I waited a moment. The shadows solidified in front of me. Remi's face looked drawn. An orange ember buzzed around his head.

"Are you okay?"

"Where's Angie?" He asked.

"What? Angandriel? I..." I looked back at the circle. "He's not coming."

Remi frowned. "How are you going to defeat her?"

I shrugged. The golden light dived at him. He waved it off. I looked between him and it then stepped back. The ember zipped around me. Remi lunged for my hand. His hand caught mine then things go very cold. When light returned, I was standing in the center of the major nexus point. Rose bushes bloomed all around me.

Remi's face was tight with anger. The golden ember zipped away landing on Isabell's forehead who was standing at the edge of the circle. It sunk into her head and disappeared.

"I'm sorry," Remi whispered. He squeezed my hand.

I looked between Isabell and Remi. "I know. We all have to do things we don't want."

"And now Kira," Isabell ordered.

Remi disintegrated and them popped back holding Kira in his arms.

He dropped her at my feet and then popped back out of the circle to stand behind Isabell and... Mila? Wait Mila? I thought Isabell had taken over Mila. Then who was Mila?

"What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Vertigo," she whispered.

I bent and pressed my thumb on her forehead. I sent a little power into her. Her mind felt like it was on a ship at sea. I tried to straighten it out with my power. She sighed in relief.

I helped her to her feet. She clasped my hand and together, we turned to face our mother.

"Do it!" Isabell demanded. "Summon Juno!"

"It's a trap," she whispered

"I know, but we have to do this. We can get through this together. I promise, if it comes to it, I will choose you. I promise."

"What do you-?"

I squeezed her hands. "I promise, you will make it through this."

"What about you?"

I gave her a sad smile. "Just save Angandriel. Karma has him."

"What? No, Lanie, stop please. We've just found each other. Please..." Her words died as the wind rose.

"Happy twenty-first birthday to us," I said.

I looked up above Isabell at the sky then lifted my hand with Kira's in it. The wind whipped around us. My voice rose over the wind. "Accept this offering, combined the fracture to make us whole again. Grant us immeasurable power to balance the realms. I plead with the Juno, goddess of life, give us your blessing!"

The wind twisted around us, blotting out Isabell and Matei. My body hummed and sang. Light erupted from where our hands touched. The earth shuddered beneath our feet.

I looked into Kira's eyes, they had started glowing. She looked into mine. In my mind I said to her, "Don't be scared, Kira. I will always be here with you."

Her hands slipped through mine. Her body connected with mine. We were one being. We were a single person. Her memories flowed into mine. I was a little girl on a pony. I was sparing in the forest. I was in the dark. I was nothing. I was in the truck with Remi. I was in his arms while he kissed me. I was tied to a stake from both sides. I was seeing Juno.

I wasn't me, but I was. I was her, but I wasn't. No, I was us. I was me. My thoughts were whole. The emptiness inside of me, the crazy that I thought it was, wasn't that anymore. It was the half of me I had always been missing.

I took a deep breath for the first time as a single person. My mind organized my thoughts in chronological order. I looked out from fresh eyes to the dawning sun. It was my first sunrise as a single being. I was Lanie and Kira, yet I was so much more. I stretched up towards the sun like I was rising from a long nights rest, more like a long nightmare.

The wind around me died. The unearthly pink glow dimmed, leaving only the golden rays of the rising sun on my twenty-first birthday, the rising sun of the solstice. The trees lost their sway and the morning birds chirped from somewhere far away. Deep in my soul, I felt happiness for them.

I blinked. I felt happiness. I was alive and I was happy. The sensation shocked me. The feeling was so deep, warm, and rich, like the tone of a bass clarinet. I could feel it resonate with in me. It vibrated all the way from the deep center of my being out into my hands. Pink light filled my hands. I resonated with power and what a feeling!

I cast my gaze outside the Gemini circle. Isabell stood at the edge. Her dark hair framed her face and torso. Her gray eyes lifted towards the sky. Mila stood behind her, her eyes still blackened by the darkness.

Isabell's hands came up as she prayed. "Juno, goddess of the Gemini, I sacrifice this being, my daughter, grant me power. I promise to worship you with my dying breath."

Pink light returned to the circle. Juno materialized. Isabell's mouth mocked words, but no sound escaped.

Juno watched her with her head cocked for a moment, then turned to me. "Gemini daughter, how do you feel?"

I paused for a moment. This hadn't worked in the past, but she was asking me directly now instead of just talking at me.

To my surprise, words carried past my lips. "I feel happy."

Juno's smile was warm and it filled my heart. "I am glad." Her fingers touched my cheek gently. I didn't feel her prying into my mind like before. Instead, it was just a warm touch, like a gentle hug.

She turned back to Isabell. "She is not your mother," she said to me.

"She's not?"

"She may have birthed you for her own purposes, but I created you. I have made you whole. I am your mother."

My brow furrowed in thought. "I am not Lanie? I am not Kira?"

"You are both. They are still you. But now, you are so much more. Though, you must earn it." She nodded at Isabell. "She will stop at nothing to gain your power. It is the curse of the goddess. She tries to claim what is mine." Juno turned to me with glowing eyes. "Fight her. Earn your place among us!"

Juno clapped and disappeared.

Isabell's words lit the air. "Juno, I beg you, grant me this power!" She took a step forward in surprise. Her eyes landed on me.

The pink glow illuminated from the ground. Juno's words echoed through the trees. "Slay her!"