Isle Of Midnight: Last of the Lost Souls (Isle Of Midnight Series, Book 4): Isle Of Midnight, #4

By Lola StVil

The end has come and not everyone will survive it...

In the final installment, Jazz and the team face their most fierce battles yet. They'll venture into the vast and terrifying world of Oryx and face a ravenous Demon army. And while they rage against the evil on the outside, they will also face the evil within themselves. This story is filled with dark and twisted turns you will never see coming…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lola StVil
• Release date: Jan 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386837053

Lola StVil

Lola StVil was seven when she first came to the US from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She attended Columbia College in Chicago, where her main focus was creative writing. She is the author of the best-selling Guardians series and the Noru series.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE: STRONG ENOUGH

NATE SPEAKS

The door slams open, jolting me out of a dead sleep. Jazz stirs beside me, instantly alert to the intruder. I sit up, reaching for the knife on the bedside cabinet.

You thinking about stabbing me, Nate? Harmony asks casually.

I relax a little when I realize it’s her. My body is still tense. For her to burst in here in the middle of the night, something is clearly wrong, but if the danger was immediate, she’d have been screaming it as she ran in.

What’s up? Jazz asks from behind me.

She’s already halfway out of bed.

I killed a girl, Harmony admits.

You did what? I say, sure I’m still half asleep and mishearing her.

I killed a girl, she replies, again casually. But it wasn’t my fault. It was self-defense. She crept into my room and tried to kill me. It was me or her, so I did the only thing I could. Right, Jazz? she asks, shrugging her shoulders.

Right, Jazz replies, on edge.

There’s something weird in Harmony’s body language and the way she’s talking, and she’s standing in the doorway instead of coming in. She’s obviously in shock. I flip on the light and blink a few times to adjust to the brightness.

It wasn’t my fault, Nate, so you can wipe that judgmental look off your face, Harmony says, amused.

I didn’t know I looked judgmental. I did just wake up.

No one is judging you, I say. If someone attacks you, of course you’re going to fight back.

So whose fault would you say it was? Harmony accuses, no longer playing.

Whoever attacked you, I say.

She nods thoughtfully.

That’s what I thought at first, but then the girl told me who she was. Marcia. Ring a bell, Jazz? she asks, clearly knowing the answer.

Jazz sits down on the end of the bed and nods.

I thought so, Harmony says. She’s dead now. I’m a killer. And it’s your fault, Harmony angrily accuses.

How’s it my fault? Jazz demands.

Because you planned on sacrificing her life to get what you wanted. She came looking for you. And got me by mistake. Her death is on you. Her blood is on your hands. Just like Flick’s blood. Just like Chip’s blood. You’re toxic, Jazz. Shit didn’t hit the fan til you got here! she spits.

Jazz looks down at the ground. I open my mouth to say something to diffuse the situation, but Jazz beats me to it, her head coming back up so she’s looking Harmony in the eye.

You’re right, she says simply. I was going to sacrifice Marcia, to do what I thought we needed. I let the darkness in, just like you’re doing now. But I fought it. And you can too.

Jazz stands up and takes a step toward Harmony, who eyes her warily but doesn’t make a move.

Fight it, Harmony.

You didn’t fight it. Nate fought it for you. He fixed your fuckup. Or at least he tried to, Harmony snaps.

Come back to us.

Look around you, Jazz! There is no us anymore.

That’s not true, Harmony. I knew I fucked up. I fought it. And I went to Nate for help. Just like you came to us.

I didn’t come to you for help, Harmony sneers. I came to you to make things right.

Her eyes flash and the black seeps in. Before we know it, she’s launching herself at Jazz. Jazz isn’t expecting the attack and she flies backward and Harmony pounces on top of her. I’m on my feet in seconds. The two of them are already thrashing around on the floor, punching at each other. I reach down and grab Harmony, pulling her away from Jazz and holding her against me. She’s like a hellcat, twisting and snarling, trying to get free.

Fletcher appears in the doorway as Jazz gets to her feet.

Harmony ... Jazz starts.

What the fuck’s going on? Fletcher asks at the same time.

Harmony sinks her teeth into my hand, hard enough to draw blood, and I cry out, instinctively pulling my hand away and freeing her. She’s not the only one angry now. Jazz’s face changed when Harmony bit me, and now, she’s ready to fight. This is war.

The two of them charge each other and collide in a flurry of fists and feet. I move toward them. Fletcher gives up trying to make sense of what he’s seeing and moves in closer too. I manage to grab a flailing arm—Jazz’s arm. I pull back, dragging her away from Harmony and pinning her arms to her sides by wrapping my own around her. Harmony is still coming closer, but Fletcher grabs her from behind. After seeing what happened to me, he keeps his arms well away from her face.

What the hell is happening? Fletcher demands.

I’m going to kill that bitch; that’s what happening, Harmony snaps, still trying to get loose.

I’m the bitch? You’re the one who bit Nate. Your friend and teammate, Jazz snaps.

Why are you trying to kill Jazz? Fletcher asks, his mouth close to Harmony’s ear.

Because she made me a fucking murderer, Harmony growls. Whenever she’s around, people fucking die, Fletch.

Fletcher moves to face Harmony, keeping a tight hold on her as he moves. He lets go for a split second when he’s in front of her and grabs her wrists. He looks into her black eyes.

Listen to me, Harmony. The darkness is making you believe this is the only way. It isn’t. You know it and I know it. It makes you think you want something you don’t. Focus on something you care about and pull yourself back. You’re a healer. You’re stronger than this. Think about helping people, saving lives, not taking them.

I cared about Chip. And she got him fucking killed, Harmony shrieks. I’m not here to heal anymore. I’m here for revenge.

I realize Jazz stopped fighting me, and I slowly release my hold on her. I step around her and walk over to Fletcher. There’s one thing that can reach Harmony.

Think about the baby, Harmony. Think about everything you’ve done to keep Freya’s baby alive. You can’t just walk away from who you are unless you want that baby to die, I say.

Harmony goes rigid for a moment and then her eyes flicker. The black fades, and her eyes return to normal. Her knees buckle and she sags forward. Fletcher catches her and holds her as she sobs against his chest. She rocks back and forth and repeats herself over and over.

I killed an innocent girl. I wasn’t strong enough to fight the darkness and I killed an innocent girl.

CHAPTER TWO: AURORA’S TREASURE

ONE WEEK LATER

NATE SPEAKS

Jazz and Harmony have reached an impasse, the peace between them is anything but certain. They both emerged from the fight with a few bruises, but basically unharmed. Ironically, the worst injury was the bite to my hand I got while trying to stop them from killing each other.

Jazz of all people can understand how the darkness takes you and makes you do things you normally wouldn’t, and she instantly forgave Harmony. Harmony, for her part, apologized for attacking Jazz, but I’m not convinced this is over. They are short with each other, the easy friendship between them seemingly gone.

Harmony is in the kitchen, and I’m heading there to talk to her and try to see for myself exactly how deep the darkness has its claws into her. I want to make sure she’s definitely not in a place where she might attack Jazz again.

Hey, I say as I reach the kitchen.

Hey. Do you want some coffee? Harmony asks.

Sure, I say.

Now I’m here, I don’t really know how to start this conversation without stirring the darkness up and making everything worse.

How are you? I ask.

Harmony turns away from the coffee she’s making and grins.

I’m fine. Why? Do you know something I don’t? she says.

Her grin turns into a confused look as I shake my head and shift from foot to foot, looking anywhere but at Harmony’s face.

No, I just ...

Realization dawns on Harmony and she shakes her head and sighs.

Wanted to make sure the darkness is gone? It has. I gave in to weakness for a moment, but I can assure you it won’t happen again, she says curtly.

I’m worried about you, Harmony, I say honestly. You seem ... I don’t know ... different.

Harmony’s face softens and she smiles sadly.

We’re all different, Nate. What we’re doing here, it’s for the right reasons. I get that. But it changes you.

I can’t argue with that. I know she’s right.

Guys, Freya says, bursting into the kitchen. The next object is being revealed.

Harmony and I exchange a look as we head for the lounge. The others are already gathered, and I can’t help but notice the empty seat beside the one Harmony takes. The seat where Chip would have sat. And of course, the empty seat that should have been Flick’s. Harmony is right. How could this not change us?

I sit down beside Jazz. Once we’re all gathered, she leans forward and picks up an envelope. She pauses, looking up at the team for moral support. Blaze smiles at her and nods.

Open it, Jazz, he says softly.

She does as he says.

The Moonstone of Aurora, she says. That’s all it says. There’s no map, nothing. Any ideas, Blaze?

Blaze shakes his head. No, but I’ll find out.

You don’t need to, Freya says as he goes to stand up. I know what that is.

You do? Blaze says, clearly surprised.

I do, Freya confirms. She punches Blaze playfully in the arm. And I’d appreciate it if you could at least pretend you’re not surprised by that.

You know it’s not a shade of nail polish, right? Fletcher grins.

Freya throws a cushion at him.

Are you all done mocking me or do I need to give you another minute? Freya asks with a frown that she can’t hold in place for long.

There’s so much more to be said, but it can wait, Fletcher says.

She gives him a look and turns to Jazz.

The Moonstone of Aurora is a powerful stone used to make love potions. If the stone is dipped in liquid, it infuses the liquid with a potent seductive power. If one person presents it to another and that person drinks it, one of two things can happen. If the person using the elixir has good intentions and a pure heart, then the drinker will instantly see past any of their imperfections and fall in love with them. If they don’t, then it becomes a much darker potion, and the drinker will have an insatiable lust for the one who presented it, and they will stop at nothing to possess the person sexually.

A shudder goes through Freya as she says it, and Blaze gently squeezes her hand. I feel a surge of anger run through me. She knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that treatment, but unlike in the case of the potion she’s talking about, she did absolutely nothing to deserve it.

A single tear escapes her eye and she angrily scrubs it away. The sight of that tear makes me want to jump to my feet and go and confront her rapist right now, but I fight the urge. I promised her I would stay out of it; that’s what she wanted. I don’t know how much longer I can do that, but I have to at least try.

That doesn’t seem like something Iris would want us to seek out, Harmony says. Usually the artifacts have real power, like something actually useful.

That’s just the well-known part of the story, Freya says. "But it’s not the interesting part. The interesting part is the stone was originally in the possession of Demeter, mother of Persephone, who I’m sure you all know became Queen of the Underworld.

"To cut a long story short, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and tricked into loving him. Her mother never accepted her decision to remain with Hades in the underworld, and Zeus, needing to find a compromise to keep Demeter happy and provide fertility to the lands, declared that Persephone would spend half of her time with Hades in the underworld and half of her time in Olympus with Demeter. The arrangement worked to some extent, but Demeter knew Persephone had been tricked into believing she loved Hades, and she vowed to break the spell.

"She infused a moonstone with both the full power of true love and the power of insatiable lust and convinced a messenger to take the stone to Hades and tell him if he wet the stone and gave Persephone the liquid, she would love him forever. Knowing that Hades wasn’t true of heart, she knew this would end him. Persephone was a bright girl, and Demeter knew she would see through her blind lust and know that Hades was trying to control her. Once this happened, she could be reunited with her daughter. Hades saw through the plan and sent the messenger away.

"Demeter wasn’t ready to be beaten, and she went to Aurora, a powerful witch, who enchanted the stone further. She gave the stone the power of reanimation. If the stone was given a blood sacrifice and rubbed across the brow of one recently deceased, it could bring that person back to life, as long as it was done before their soul reached its final destination.

"Demeter poisoned her daughter’s favorite candy and presented it to her, telling her it was a gift from Hades. She watched the girl eat the candy and die before her. She then cut her palm and bled onto the stone and rubbed the stone across her daughter’s brow. Instead of Persephone reanimating, Hades appeared before her, mocking her. He told her that Persephone was the Queen of the Underworld, and therefore, her transition to her final resting place was instant. Demeter had done nothing but ensure her daughter could never return to Olympus, not even for half of the year.

After she learned her daughter’s fate, Demeter went back to the witch, who told her the only way her action could be reversed was to destroy the stone. Demeter tried everything to destroy the stone, but it was no use. The stone was unbreakable. Eventually, Demeter went quite mad and the Moonstone of Aurora was lost, infused with the darkness of Demeter’s grief.

So the stone’s power is to bring someone back from the dead? I ask.

Freya nods. That sounds pretty damn dangerous because shit like that always has a consequence.

Yes, Freya says. And this artifact is slightly different from the others. It will only work if the person using it has true love in their heart for the person who has passed. If they don’t have true love, then both of them will be lost forever. The bearer must give the stone a blood sacrifice to activate the power within it, and ...

Why couldn’t that have been the first object? Harmony shouts, cutting her off. Chip could have been saved.

Freya gives her a sympathetic glance.

Bear in mind Iris is involved in this. I’d be surprised if she didn’t find a way to infuse it with her own darkness, so it could still affect any of us the way the other artifacts do. It’s not something we should be tempted to use.

Would you say that if we had it and Blaze was killed? Harmony demands.

Freya opens her mouth to reply. She promptly closes it and shakes her head.

Freya, do you have any idea where we might find this thing? Jazz asks.

Harmony gives her a glare as she interrupts to move the conversation back to something more practical.

No, Freya admits. But the girl who told me about it, Suki, is a practicing white witch, and she’s here on the island. Back home, she threatened to kill a girl and smacked her around enough for the threat to seem plausible. She knew she’d be sent here because she had a couple priors. She told me she had no intention of killing anyone. She did it because she desperately wanted to get to this island because she’d heard talk of the moonstone being here somewhere. I’m pretty sure she found it, because she sells love potions to the other inmates, and apparently, they work. Although not always in the way people expect them to.

It definitely sounds like she found it then, I say. And you know where to find her?

Freya nods. Yeah. She’s only a couple buildings away. We can go right now.

Wait, Jazz says. What about the Freedom Shield?

What about it? Harmony asks, looking suspicious.

It’s too dangerous to leave it here unattended. Cole and his team can come and go as they please now that Cole can open portals, and if they get to it and open the box and use the shield, someone dies. Someone innocent, Jazz says.

Now she’s worried about innocents dying, Harmony mutters.

What was that? Jazz demands.

Nothing, Harmony says. Where do we put the shield?

We’ll take it with us, I say, standing up and taking control before Jazz and Harmony can get into another argument. Jazz is right. Now that Cole has truly embraced his dark side, he could sense the shield. Darkness attracts darkness. As long as the box is closed, we’re protected from its darkness.

I go and get the box before anyone can object. It’s small enough to carry in a small backpack, which I sling over my shoulder. I rejoin the team in the lounge.

Right, let’s grab our weapons and go, Jazz says.

***

We reach the building with Freya leading the way. She pushes the door open cautiously, no doubt remembering the welcome party Fletcher, Blaze, and she got the last time they visited an old friend on the island. She turns back and nods for us to follow her into the building.

A girl sits on the sofa, humming to herself as she scrawls on a piece of paper. She looks up at the sound of us entering and her face pales slightly as she takes in Fletcher’s machete, Jazz’s bow, and the knives the rest of us carry.

It’s okay, I say quickly, stepping forward and giving her what I hope is a reassuring smile. We’re not here to hurt you. Freya is a friend of Suki’s. Is she around?

I realize as I say it that this could well be Suki and I sound like an idiot. The girl relaxes slightly and returns my smile with an unsure smile of her own.

She’s in her room. Hang on, I’ll get her for you, she says.

She gets to her feet and hurries out of the room. I glance down at the paper she was scribbling on. I thought she was writing a letter or something, but on closer inspection, I see she’s drawn a picture. A building burns while people hang out its windows, their mouths pulled open in silent screams. One woman has escaped the building and she stands before it, awash with flames. The girl might have looked nervous at our approach, but she’s far from sweet and innocent it seems.

She comes back in. I’m pretty sure she catches me looking at the drawing because she gives me a strange smile.

She’s in her room. Second door on the right, she says.

Thanks, I say.

I lead the way toward the corridor. We reach the door and Freya steps up to the front of the group.

I’ll go in. You guys wait here, she says.

She taps lightly on the door and Suki shouts for her to go in. Freya goes in, leaving the door slightly ajar so we can hear what’s going on. They exchange greetings, probably hug a little, and Suki tells Freya to sit down.

So what brings you here? Suki asks. It’s been a long time.

She doesn’t sound angry. She sounds genuinely curious as to why Freya has suddenly reappeared in her life.

Too long, Freya agrees. And after so long, I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I need your help.

Go on, Suki says encouragingly.

The Moonstone of Aurora, Freya says hesitantly. I ... I need to know where it is.

Suki laughs, a soft, musical sound.

You wouldn’t know what to do with it if you found it. Look, if you want a love potion, I’ll make you one. I’ll even do it cheap for old time’s sake. Are you going to use it on that hot guy you hang around with? Fletcher, is it?

Blaze tenses visibly at Suki’s assumption. He glares at Fletcher, who shakes his head.

You can’t be mad at me. I didn’t fucking say it, Fletcher hisses.

I don’t need a love potion, Freya says.

Blaze tenses further. I cringe inside. Way to protest and tell Suki you’re with Blaze, Freya.

I need ...

She sighs and starts over.

You know about the demons on the island, right? she says.

Sure, Suki says. I have enchantments that help to protect souls from them, but I don’t think you and your band of demon hunters need them.

No, we probably don’t, Freya agrees. But here’s the thing. And this is going to sound crazy, but we have a way to stop them for good. We’re on a quest to save humanity from the scourge of demons and worse. And to complete it, we need the Moonstone of Aurora.

Suki doesn’t respond for a moment, and I picture her looking at Freya like she really has cracked up. She surprises me with her next sentence.

I don’t think that’s crazy at all. It fulfills the prophecy.

What prophecy? Freya asks.

Aurus’s prophecy, of course. Suki responds like this should be obvious. The prophecy states that one day, Iris will rise and try to infect the world with her hell creatures. And that Aurus will gather a team of special people to defeat her. I mean, the wording’s a lot fancier, but you get the drift.

Jazz catches my eye, looking as shocked as I feel to hear Suki casually talking about Aurus and Iris. She slams the door open and goes into the room before I can stop her. The door is wide open now, and Suki glances up at the interruption. She looks away, but then her jaw drops and she looks at Jazz in awe.

The daughter of Iris, she whispers.

How do you know all this? Jazz demands. Are you working for Iris?

Her hand is moving toward her arrows. Freya stands up and places herself between Jazz and Suki.

Jazz, stop, Freya says.

Suki stands up and steps around Freya so she can look Jazz in the eye.

"I know all of this because I make it my business to know.