Serial Saturday: "Priscilla Sum" Series Finale!

Finale

The waves tossed underneath me, and the winds Auraea harnessed were beating on me from all sides—but every time, I felt a warm surge coursing through my body, radiating from my wrist. Trikymios churned up the sea, and near the edge of Fourtouna I could see what was left of the dock, and the short white boat bobbing in the choppy sea, containing my last few friends. I spread my fingers and made a smoothing motion with my hand. The water responded, receding and stilling next to the island. I saw someone poke their head out of the small door to the cabin, but I was too far away to distinguish their features.

“Well?” Phony-Tony’s voice railed against me, drawing my attention back to him. He had brought Tony off the pole, and now held him suspended in midair—along with a few trees and boulders. “I’m waiting!” He flung one of the boulders at me, and I dodged without losing any altitude.

I made a sweeping motion with my hand, and called up both a gust of wind and a massive wave at the same time. The elements followed my gestures, rolling up onto the cliff and smacking into Tony/Egamad.

“Honestly, you shouldn’t have picked a friend like Tony for your vessel,” I said to the demon. “You probably thought that I’ll go easy on you to avoid hurting him.” I pulled a cluster of rain drops together inside a funnel cloud, aiming right for Tony’s chest. “But the truth is, you are the one who wants him in one piece, because without him you have no choice but to use your physical form, and I care about him enough to want to get you out of him by any means possible.” 

Tony’s hands faltered and dropped as he couldn’t maintain the telekinesis under the pressure from both water and air. 

I smiled. It was like pushing my hands into a soft, fluffy pillow. “Good luck finding something to hold onto!” I said, pushing up with a wave from underneath us. 

The cliff gave a colossal groan and sheared away—driving him right into the path of the tornado. I pulled it closer, drawing Tony/Egamad into the frenzy. His limbs flailed loosely as his body whipped around and around.
I hovered in closer, completely unaffected by the awesome forces of nature firmly under my control. I reached out and grabbed Tony/Egamad with a whirlpool of my own, anchoring him within a spinning a wall of water. I pulled him toward me, seeing the bruises on Tony’s skin, feeling each twisted limb through the water, and the malice in his eyes that I matched with my own.

My jaw clenched and I could barely form the words. “Get. Out. Of. Him.”
Tony/Egamad scowled. “No!”

I tilted Tony’s body back so that the spray scraped along the back of his head. It was probably sharp enough to draw blood, or even scuff off some hair. He howled in pain that I knew the demon wasn’t feeling just now. I let up on the pressure and let him face me again. “Do it!” I commanded.

Tony’s body was dripping wet, but Egamad still had the audacity to spit in my general direction. “You might as well kill your friend, because that’s the only way you’re getting me out of here.”
I didn’t doubt he was prepared to force me to do just that. I hesitated, staring straight at Tony’s eyes, trying to see past the demon, see the guy I knew trapped inside—

Priscilla?

Tony’s voice, clear and healthy, reached my ears, but on the inside, like imagining my own thoughts.
“Tony?” I gasped.

Egamad sneered. “Sorry, he’s unavailable!”

Pris, I don’t know what’s happening, but I can hear you. I can’t see you, and I feel like I’m stuck in a waterfall somewhere.

I thought my reply. Can you hear this?

Yes; what’s going on? What happened to me?

Tony, there’s too much to explain, but right now you need to fight!

Fight? Fight what? What are you—

That thing that’s taken your sight, it’s invading your body and you need to get rid of it!

How can I fight something I can’t see? Why won’t you tell me—

“JUST DO IT!” I couldn’t stop myself from saying the words out loud.

Egamad’s twisted face sneered, and he laughed at my desperation—but then he stopped. His face blanked for the span of two heartbeats, and when he focused on me with a grimace again, there was something shifted about his face, something weirdly out of focus.
“What—“

He couldn’t say anything more. I held Tony’s body right so he couldn’t move, but a thin stream of shadow began to seep from his ears. 

Egamad flinched, whipping Tony’s head back and forth. “What are—no you can’t—argh!” He roared. “STOP!” 

I almost dropped everything as his skin burst into flames—not the kind that would be extinguished by all the water around us, but the Greek fire, burn-on-water kind. I could feel the heat in the palms of my hands!
I could see flames in his dark pupils as Egamad snarled, “WE HAD A DEAL!”

That’s it, Tony! I cheered on my friend. Keep pushing!

Pris... His voice in my head had grown weaker, I could barely hear it, with long pauses between the words. I don’t... think... I can... fight him off...

Yes, you can, Tony! I believe in you!

But it’s... my body... Tony replied. I was dying... without him... if he goes away... I’ll die...

No! I watched Tony’s form lose focus again, more black wisps leaching out of it. You don’t want to owe your life to a demon, Tony, you really don’t! Please! You have to fight! I can help pull him out but you have to push from the inside!

“This one’s fading fast, little one!” Egamad rasped. “His time is almost up, and your leverage will be gone! And then what shall I do with you? I’m sure some of my associates can suggest the perfect torture for such a pest as yourself. That petty amulet isn’t going to do you much good for much longer!”

I increased the height of the whirlpool, sloshing him in the face but making sure he could still hear me. “I’ve got power enough!” I tossed him into the whirlpool again, rewarded with the sight of an inky black mass belching out of Tony.

Atta boy! I thought to him. Keep pushing!

Egamad’s voice radiated out of the whirlpool, groaning in pain, far more dehumanized than it had been when he was using Tony’s voice. “What? Stop it! You can’t—“

“We can and we will!” I hollered back, keeping Tony’s body in a constant state of motion, pulling the demonic shadowy essence out of him.

“No! That’s impossible! NOOOO!”

A violent disruption brought the momentum of the tornado to a blistering halt. Something barreled into me, sending me crashing toward the ground.

“Eroméni!” screamed a chorus of voices, and I felt a soft cushion of air impede my fall instead of hard ground. Water pelted down over me, but it wasn’t the topsy-turvy chaos of an outright storm. In fact, as I lay there, collecting my breath and trying to reorient my thoughts, I felt the tingling warmth of sunlight as the clouds rolled aside, revealing blue sky.

I blinked and caught my breath until my heart stopped pounding so hard. It felt like waking up from a bad dream as I slowly sat up. Not far away from me, the body of a young man lay sprawled face-down in the mud. Curiosity gave way to sheer panic as I launched myself over to it.
“Tony!” I screamed. “Tony!”

He flopped like a fish when I rolled him over. His eyes were closed, and his skin had a pale grey pallor to it. His hands were a pale purple color.

I prodded his cheeks, pulling down his chin and willing for the smallest puff of air from his nostrils. “Please don’t be dead!” I begged. “Don’t be dead, Tony! Not now! Not like this! Not after all that!” Memories of CPR training from my babysitting days came lunging back, and I placed my hands at the middle of his chest, just above the sternum like they showed us. Just knowing that the body in front of me was real, and not a plastic dummy designed to take and withstand right and wrong amounts of pressure made me second-guess myself for a few moments, but I managed a few compressions.

Nothing happened. My whole body shook. I think I was crying. Scratch that, I was definitely crying. “Please, Tony!” I begged, even thinking the words intentionally, as if he was in any position to reply. “Please be alive! Please let it be that I wasn’t the person to kill you after I jeopardized your life with that healing stone! Please!” I pushed on his chest some more, wishing that some of my friends were there to lend a hand, instead of probably halfway to the mainland by now.

He didn’t move. I wasn’t even sure if I was doing it right. Misery closed in on me. I might have bested Egamad—but in the end, it still felt like he had won, because he’d taken Tony from me.

“... Oh thank the gods, I found her; Priscilla!”
Alex dashed toward me from the trees, not a single scratch or bruise on him. I kept Tony’s body cradled in my arms as I squinted up at him in confusion.
He noticed and hesitated. “What? Did something happen?”
He was asking if I was okay? He was the one tossed into an actual forest like a rag doll! “How are you still alive?” I blurted.

Alex blinked, and realization dawned as he glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, that... Yeah, it’s sort of my thing, being a stírigma and all.”

I almost asked him what the Greek word meant, but just saying it to myself conjured up mental pictures of the other things I’d seen Alex do, and his use of the term for “foothold” seemed quite accurate, since his presence here gave Trikymios and Auraea someone in their corner, looking out for their interests.
Wow, and now I’m thinking like a Greek scholar! I thought to myself.

Alex knelt beside Tony, placing his hand gently beside mine. His warm eyes sought mine. “May I?” he asked.
My voice caught in my throat as my composure threatened to dissolve into tears again. “It’s too late,” I whispered. “Egamad was the only thing keeping him alive. I freed him, but he’s dead now.”

The corners of the young Greek’s mouth twitched. “Not entirely,” he murmured, spreading his hand over where Tony’s heart would be. 

My vision blurred and quivered, refusing to focus on his hand for some reason, and when I could finally see it clearly, I watched Tony’s chest rise and fall underneath it.

Tony and I gasped at the same time. He blinked and lifted his head a little. “W-what—“
“Tony!” I just about shrieked his name, and threw my arms around him, feeling the warmth from his skin as he hugged me back. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe you’re alive!”

His breath tickled my ear as he chuckled. "Me neither--where was I? What happened?"

I pulled back, and Alex continued supporting Tony's back until he could prop himself up on his own. 

His dark eyes shifted between us. "How long was I out?"

I glanced toward Alex, to see whether he was afraid of me spoiling any secrets. How much did Tony remember from his whole possession--however long that had been? "What do you remember?"
Tony rubbed the back of his neck. "You mean, since we left camp in search of the temple? Well, it's a bit of a blur..." He scrunched up his face, trying to dredge up memories and distinguish reality from imaginary. "Like, literally. I remember walking in the woods, then everything just kept getting darker and darker, until I couldn't see anything... Then it was hard to breathe... I don't remember breathing... Almost like I--" He stopped and looked down at his rumpled, sodden clothes. I saw him glance over and see that Alex and I were both wet as well. "Did I drown? Or was it just raining really hard?"

This time, Alex and I shared swift eye contact. "Umm..." I stammered. "Both? Kind of?"

Tony jerked forward, and it took me a minute to realize that he was trying to stand up.

Alex reached over to steady his shoulders and I supported his hands as we eased him up to a standing position.
"That's kind of all that I remember," Tony finished. "Just being in the dark, unable to breathe, floating like I was surrounded by water, and then--" He gestured around us. "Here... Hey wait," His expression turned to a frown as he glanced around in bewilderment. "What happened to the camp?"

Alex coughed to command attention. "There's a boat waiting to take us off the island. I can help you down to the dock." He began leading Tony away, but my friend still held my hand.

"Hang on." He looked back at me. "Aren't you coming with us, Pris?"

I took a breath, buying time to figure out how I was going to answer that. "Well, actually, I--"

"Priscilla!"

My mother called my name, and my dad hollered, and when I turned, there they were, walking down the beach, still in their usual "business casual" attire. Dad had on a suit jacket over a dark tee shirt, and Mom wore a chic shirtdress.
Mom threw her arms around me, and I just about lost all composure then and there. "Oh, sweetie! We came as soon as we heard! I'm so glad you're all right!"
It figured that she would know exactly what to say to cover up what really happened.

I turned to Tony with a huge grin on my face. "I'm going home with my parents," I said. "I'll see you in Chicago!"
Tony's face filled with skepticism, but he shrugged and ambled alongside Alex, toward the dock.

I turned back to my parents, and Dad wrapped me in a huge bearhug. "Your mom and I saw the whole thing," he said. "That was some hurricane you whipped up!"
Mom rubbed my shoulder. "We're so proud of you, honey! You faced your first demon and won!"

The spikes on the amulet around my wrist pricked me, the pain reminding me of a certain other amulet that initiated this whole mess, which could have been avoided if I had just communicated honestly in the first place. "Mom and Dad, I--" My voice cut out and my vision blurred over, and the next sound out of my mouth was a choked moan as the weight of what I'd done crashed down on me in earnest. I slumped against Mom's shoulder as I burst out crying.

"I'm sorry!" I wailed. "I'm so sorry--for lying, for stealing, for sneaking around behind your back, for not telling you everything, or asking the questions when I should have!" I turned my head to look at Dad, coming in beside us to embrace me also. "I'm sorry I never believed you, even when the things you were saying were true!"

"Hush, child," Mom murmured, her hands caressing my face and wiping the tears away. She looked straight into my eyes, and I could see the power of her deity in her gaze. "We forgive you for everything."

"After all," Dad rumbled, "You must have started believing something, otherwise you wouldn't have found the temple, to retrieve the bracelet, and even if someone else managed to dig it up, you wouldn't have been able to activate it and use it like you did."

I took a shaky breath and wiped the rest of the tears from my eyes. I moved to un-clasp the amulet. Somehow, even though I'd felt the spikes embedded deep into my flesh, when I took it off, there wasn't even a hint of scabs or scars on my skin. "Here," I said, handing it to them. "I want to give this back to you, now that everything is over. I lost the locket... and I am pretty sure the healing amulet is long-gone, but--"

Mom took it, but she held it like a normal piece of jewelry, and not a priceless treasure. She smiled. "I suppose you're right," she said. "Everything is over--the bracelet did what it was supposed to do, and now it can go back to being just a simple, magic-less relic from an ancient era."
I rubbed my nose in confusion. "What does that mean?"

Dad grinned. "It means that from the moment you released the spikes, the amulet served its function and delivered our powers to you." He pressed a hidden catch somewhere on the design and the spikes retracted into the bracelet itself. "See? It can only be activated like that once, and once our blood is mingled, it can never be undone. That's why you didn't need the locket anymore." His eyes twinkled and he reached into the pocket of his slacks. "But if you wanted it, just for a keepsake..." He opened his hand over mine, and the locket dropped into my palm.

I felt a warm tingle radiate through my whole body as I closed my hand around the locket. How had he found it in all the chaos? More than that... The full effect of what Dad just said washed over me. I looked up.
"Hold up, you said our blood is mingled. Does that mean--" My thoughts scrambled so hard that my brain seized up. "Are you telling me that I'm--"

Dad nodded. "Walking around with divine blood in your veins? Yes."
I felt my heart pounding in my ears. "Does that mean... I mean, does that make me--" What even were words right now?

Mom laughed and put her arm around me. "You carry the blood of two gods, but you're not quite a natural-born goddess. More like a demi-goddess, actually."

I stared at my hands. "Does that mean I can--" I didn't even finish the question. The moment I thought about it, the ground pulled away from my feet, and I floated higher into the sky. 

Both my parents joined me, and we hovered in the air. Mom brought a cloud bank underneath us to obscure us in case anyone was looking up into the sky, and I studied the living map of Fourtouna below. Just off the coast, I could see a white dot making its way toward the shores of Thessaloniki. My friends!

"So..." I looked up at my parents as we watched the others making their way back to land, where they'd get a flight back to Chicago. "I guess the FRED organization was pretty evil, after all."

Mom nodded. "After we were free of Egamad's influence, we reported to the other gods of the Microtheon, and they confirmed that the leaders of the organization did indeed belong to the sect that was devoted to worshipping the demon, and their whole aim was to finish what he started through fraud and shady business practices--so of course, we set in motion plans to shut the whole thing down. That demon should have no more power here, and his followers should have no influence."

I tilted my head. "What about Daeva-Staite? Was that a secret demon-serving organization, too?"

Dad smirked and Mom choked, "No, not at all--I thought I told you this! The Daeva-Staite Foundation was one that a group of our fellow gods started, just after we went into hiding, with the express purpose of partnering with known affiliates of demonic enemies, in order that we might surveil their operations from the inside, and make moves to stop them every time there's a play for our power."

A contingency plan! Not a bad idea. "And our guide, Alexandros--"
Mom didn't quite turn toward me, but I saw her eyes shift. "Yes?"
"How long has he been serving as your stírigma?" The word rolled off my tongue.

Mom lifted her eyebrows, impressed at my diction. "He told you as much, did he?" She grinned. "It's been a long time--in fact, ever since we left Fourtouna, he's been the guide for anyone looking to travel to the island, in hopes that one day someone he guided would be the one connected to us, empowered to stop Egamad from gaining dominion."

"So..." I shifted nervously. No wonder he'd been staring at me so strangely when we first met! "He's, what, immortal?"

Mom wiggled her eyebrows secretively. "Something like that," she answered.

I wagged my head, and my thoughts traveled back to Tony. "Oh, I almost forgot... Do you think--I mean... Is there a possibility that you might..." I felt so overwhelmed by what I wanted to ask, that I almost couldn't find the words. "I mean, T-Tony... I--" Crap; I was going to start crying again. "He's still dying, isn't he?" I sniffed. "I accidentally used Egamad to heal him, and now that Egamad is gone--"

"Oh, Priscilla!" Mom grabbed my hand and held it tight.

"Hey, kiddo," Dad said, coming alongside me. "It's okay. When Auraea and I met with the Microtheon, they gave us permission to offer you the chance to ask for a reward, in return for vanquishing Egamad." He winked. "We sort of already guessed the one thing you would want most. From here on out, Tony can live his life like a normal human being. He'll get illnesses and grow old and stuff, and what they granted him is not immortality either--but at least that blood disease will never affect him ever again."

The weight came off my chest, and the rush of relief overwhelmed me. "Thank you!" I flung my arms around Dad's neck and buried my face in his shoulder. "I promise I'll believe in you more, and I promise I won't be so annoyed anytime you want to tell me more of your stories!" I turned to look at Mom, coasting alongside us. "And Mom, I promise to come to you more often for advice, and to be more open about my thoughts and my life."

She chuckled. "And we promise," she paused to make eye contact with Dad and get his assent, "to involve you more in our discussions, and to really listen to what you have to say, and be more open and sharing about ourselves, as well."

I sighed. There was just one more thing nagging at the back of my mind. "So... Now that you don't have to be in hiding anymore..." I looked between the two of them, "Does that mean you are going to go back to--" I balked at their curious stares. "Whatever celestial dimension you live in?"

Mom and Dad shared a longer glance, and Dad coughed. "I don't know about you, Aurelia," he used Mom's mortal name with a cheeky half-smile, "but I'm kind of liking the retired life. I could stick around a little longer," he nudged my shoulder. "If you'll have me."

Mom smiled, coming in closer to us. "Well, Patrick," she gave him the same treatment, "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. What do you say, Priscilla?"

I slipped my arms around both of them. I'd been looking for that sense of belonging, of family all my life--and here, miles above the Atlantic Ocean, I felt more "at home" in my own skin, right where I was, than I'd ever felt before. For the first time, I knew who I was: I was Priscilla DelVento-Thiele, daughter of Patrick and Aurelia--who also happen to be gods.

"I say," I declared, soaring high with my parents on either side, "that you two are the ones who made me who I am today--and I wouldn't trade having you as my family for anything else in the whole wide world."
We soared off together as the sun set behind us.

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THE END 

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