Forty-Two ◑ The Landing

Gravity took hold of Lucille, and before she knew it, she was falling down the edge of the building.

She flailed around, frantically searching for anything to hold on to. Her hands found the flat ledge around the building before her eyes did. She grabbed onto it, managing to keep herself from plummeting, but the abrupt and forceful movement caused her right arm to give way.

There was a faint crack along her elbow and a louder pop in her shoulder. A burning, prickling sensation erupted from both areas. It was as though she was being slapped by a paddle with embedded nails that dug right through her bones.

Now she was dangling at the side of the rooftop, relying only on an arm with a mangled wrist, a broken elbow, and a dislocated shoulder.

A whimper escaped her lips. Shaking violently both from fear and pain, she used her left arm to support her weight better. It eased some of the burden, but she knew in her gut that she wouldn't be able to last long.

And as though the mere sensation of being weightless wasn't enough, Dimitri's time-freeze spell began to lift from the entire area. The cars way below her roared to life. The rain began to pour once more, making the ledge more slippery than it was before. Thunder rolled overhead, mixed with the loud bursts of black energy coming from different areas in the rooftop.

Dimitri. Dimitri was still fighting. For her.

The twins had done nothing tonight but to fight for her.

Tears welled in her eyes. Crippling guilt invaded her whole body, making her feel weaker than the actual pain of her injuries. She was gasping for breath now. It was as though she was being torn limb by limb, not only physically but emotionally.

Slowly, her fingers began to slip off the ledge. Strong winds whipped around her, hastening the process.

However, just as she was about to lose grip, Keiran appeared from behind the concrete railing and grabbed her just in time.

The god looked . . . washed out. There was nothing bright about him now. His colors seemed undersaturated. His eyes were droopy, and his movements didn't exude the same strength and confidence, but he still held her arms tightly.

Lucille did her best to cling onto him, but she had lost sensation in both of her arms. She was trying to step on the wall and prop herself up, but every time she moved her legs, her stomach would lurch in fear.

"Hold onto me," Keiran said, his voice weak but reverberating in her ears. "I won't let you go."

She knew that, yet she wasn't sure she wanted him not to let go. She'd already caused them so much trouble. She was alright with letting go, but she wanted to see Dimitri's face, even if it's for the last time—

Another explosion shook the rooftop, this time as forceful as the crack of thunder. As a result, her arms slipped a bit lower under his grip.

"Don't." Keiran's face contorted with the effort of tightening his grip. He tried to pull her up, but his position was so precarious that he himself stopped halfway. "Please don't let go, Lucille. Whatever happens, don't let go."

Her sobs made her breath hitch in her throat. "But I'm tired."

"I know, so I will hold you up." He readjusted her position, raising her an inch higher. "Just don't let go."

Lucille nodded, doing her best to stay steady. But it wasn't easy. The fire on the rooftop rose into the air, thrusting towards the sky like greedy fingers. It was being countered by more bursts of black smoke, followed by growls and clangs. She could picture Dimitri flying, doing his best to retrieve the candle from Cade.

"Tell Dimitri to come here and save you," she rasped, looking up at Keiran. "Let them have the candle—"

"No," he interjected, the word carrying a vehement kind of conviction. "Hold on for a few seconds more. If you fall and Dimitri doesn't get the candle. . . ."

"I'll die," she supplied in a low voice. "But maybe it's time."

*BOOM*

The explosion that followed her words sent a massive cloud of swirling black fog around the rooftop and extinguished the fire in one sweep. It was so loud, so shocking, that her ears began to ring, and she could feel something thick and hot trickling from both of them, flowing down her jaw and along the length of her neck. The entire building shook, the windows from the upper floors rattling and the walls groaning.

The railing that Keiran was grabbing for support trembled, making Lucille sway back and forth along the brick exterior of the hotel.

And it didn't take long for the swinging to build a momentum, weigh her down, and make her fall.

Keiran blanched, climbed over the railing, and jumped after her.

But Lucille had a headstart, and the god was no longer radiating power. She was traveling downwards at top speed, her hearing still numb from the big explosion. She could see flashes of colors, blurring into streaks as she plummeted.

The sensation of being heavy and weightless at the same time was strangely relaxing. It felt like a long release. Her body went limp. She only had a brief, vague moment of seeing the winged silhouette of Dimitri before she closed her eyes and gave in to gravity.

Then, she approached the end.

The wind rushed from under her, feeling almost like a cushion as her acceleration spiked up, making her dress and her hair billow and fly around. The droplets of water hit her skin like needles, cold and shocking, mixing with the tears that lined her cheeks.

Lucille waited for the impact, for the symphony of pain and despair to reach its peak and mellow down into nothingness. She waited for her body to slam against the concrete, or perhaps the unyielding traffic in the streets.

But it didn't come.

Instead, Lucille kept on falling—no, she was afloat. Airborne. She opened her eyes and saw a cloudless blue sky and the teal expanse of an ocean. Over the horizon was a rocky island topped with trees and dotted with white stucco structures erected along the sloping cliffs.

And clutching her around the waist was Dimitri, whose wings were stretched to their full extent, now back to its normal shadowy form. On his back, holding on for dear life, was Keiran. The God of Fate was cradling the golden box.

The three of them didn't fall. Somehow Dimitri managed to save them all.

Despite the pain that was now wracking her entire body, Lucille managed to feel shocked, confused, and awed at the same time.

Dimitri soared ahead, flapping his wings every once in a while to get their momentum going. There were cuts along his face, and his wings had a few bent feathers. The arm that he had wrapped around Lucille was covered in golden ichor, the blood of the gods. Even though his jaw was set and his eyes were focused in the distance, she could still tell that he was getting drained.

His flight went slower and slower, and they began to dip closer to the ocean. A thin mist of saltwater began to spray them as the waves rolled over towards the shore.

He raced these waves, summoning the remainder of his strength to give them a proper landing on the pale brown sand that surrounded the emerald island.

Dimitri set down Lucille against the beach, her feet still getting lapped by the sea water. He himself collapsed on his knees, propping his arms against the sand to prevent himself from falling face-first. Keiran rolled off his back and plopped on the ground with his eyes closed.

The sun beat down on them like a laser beam, but Lucille forced herself to keep her eyes open. Something about the place felt awfully familiar, and it made her skin prickle.

With her breathing growing ragged, she turned on her side to face Dimitri, who was removing small daggers from his shoulder and arms.

Her lips were dry, her throat just as rough, but she managed to ask Keiran, "Where are we?"

It was Dimitri who answered, since his twin was still spread-eagled and close-eyed on the sand. "Crete."

Crete. No wonder the place was familiar. It was her origin, her hometown.

"Let's get on the move," Dimitri continued, eyeing the cliffs warily. "We can't be seen here."

Lucille inhaled and exhaled slowly. "We can ask for help. We're all hurt and I'm sure there's a hospital—"

"No, you don't understand," Keiran interjected, opening his startling blue eyes. "We can't be seen here."

"Why not?" She sat up, wincing at the shock of heat that coursed through her right arm. "We're in Crete, and tourists are—"

"There are no tourists here." Dimitri rose to his full height and held a hand to her. "This is Ancient Crete. You're not just in your hometown, Lucille. You *are* home."