Free

Iris

"CRESSIDA!" I scream as she crumples to the floor. I run over to her- my wings are too heavy with water to fly, and I can hardly control them anyway. I drop into a crouch beside her, sweeping my dripping hair away from my face, and grope desperately for her wrist. There's a pulse, a faint, fading pulse, but even so my heart drops like a stone. The mark of the mortem has turned completely black.

"Oh God, oh God..." Sky lands beside me, completely dry, her sharp face screwed up with dread. "We have to get her out of here! I washed away the blood, everyone down here is free to leave now. That includes Lilith!"

"Do you think she'll be able to?" I ask. "Do you think she'll be... Well, light enough?"

"She'll be able to, all right," Sky says grimly. "She isn't dead, remember? Listen, didn't you say that you created more healing plants? We need to get Cressida back there, now."

I nod, shaking with cold and fear. "C-Can you lift her?"

Sky wraps her arms awkwardly around Cressida's waist, and her wings carry both of them easily into the air. "Don't wait," I tell her. "I'll follow you, just get back to the Underworld!"

Sky hesitates, and then she and Cressida soar over towards the iron staircase. Now the the walls of flames have died away, many prisoners are already making their ways back to the Underworld, back to the place where they can get a second chance. I'm about to follow them when I hear a familiar voice behind me.

"Wait a moment. I still need you."

I turn around to face her, then turn back again, trembling even harder. I start to walk away, towards the portal. "No," I say over my shoulder. "I can't waste time. I need to leave. Just- Just please leave me alone."

"You may find it difficult without this," says Lilith idly, throwing something at my feet.

I look round and gasp when I see what it is. I reach for the wooden handle, anxiously checking the glass for cracks, but the mirror is flawless.

"You really don't think things through, do you?" Lilith laughs. "That mirror is the reason you came down here in the first place. And you really shouldn't have bothered. It's useless down here, you know. Not even something as powerful as the mirror can get you out of the Underworld."

"We used it to get here in the first place."

Lilith grins. "Getting to the Underworld is easy. The barrier from our world to the world of the Dead is easily broken. The issue is getting out. When you go to Death, you're not supposed to come out again. It's a one-way trip."

I take a deep breath, then start to walk away again. I can't let her get into my head. I can't. "Well, we'll see."

"And even if you could use the mirror," continues Lilith. "There's no sunlight."

"Sky has magic again. She can get it to work."

"The magic you stole from me?" Lilith says coldly. "I'm afraid it isn't powerful enough. Maybe if she had all of it... But fortunately I managed to stop the flow of magic before all of it was transferred to your friend, and now she only possesses a small part of it." Lilith twirls her finger, and a red flame dances on the end of it. "The majority of it is still inside me."

I break into a run, but Lilith appears in front of me, grabbing my wrist. "You know that there's only one way," she hisses. "So why aren't you doing it? Why are you running away?"

"Let- Go- Of- Me!" I try to wrench away. "My friend is in trouble! I have to go!"

"The only way," Lilith breathes. "Is the exchange. The sacrifice. A life for a life. So what's holding you back? Why aren't you going to try and sacrifice me?"