It happens in slow motion.

Have you ever thought about piercing yourself with the black cupid arrow, Lila?

The arrow slices through the air towards me.

Turning yourself into one of us?

The tip glints, black, in the dim light.

And something cold and dark rises inside. The blood in my veins turns to shadow.

Darkness.

I will bring the darkness.

I breathe in; a long, cool breath.

But then...

No.

I reach out.

And it stops mid hurtle. The tip a breath away from my face. My fingers curled around the arrow.

The moment seems to stretch an eternity. Around me all is still. But I can hear my breathing, and my heart pumping blood through my body. Somewhere close - outside maybe - I'm aware of a white light.

And then everything speeds up.

"Lila...what the...?" James is on his feet behind the table – coffee mug toppled on it side. I jerk my head to him. 

There's a flicker of movement behind the bar and I turn back to the bartender. His dark eyes fix on mine, and, as though seeing something behind them that scares him – he lowers his bow and takes a step back.

My gaze darts to the clock, hung above the dusty wooden bar. It's ten. 

"I don't have time for this," I say.

I meet James's widened eyes once more. Behind him, through the murky window, an ethereal white glow emanates from the ocean. It's the same light that shrouded the beach when we fought the battle against Valentine.

The Ferry of the Dead is here.

"Lila, I'm sor –"

"Stay where you are," I say.

I slip the black cupid arrow into my quiver, then turn and run out of the bar into the night. 

There is shouting ahead. My pulse races as my converse pound against the road. And as I sprint across the parking lot I try to focus on what's to come – the Arrows, the Furies, the fight ahead, Valentine. I have to. I can't let myself analyze what just happened.

I was almost hit by a cupid arrow. And, for a moment, I'd wanted to be.

Breathing hard I reach the wooden steps leading down to the beach. The rolling waves are painted silver by the light originating from the large, ghostly ship – anchored about twenty feet from the shore. I don't see the Furies, or the Arrows, or Cupid and Cal.

What if they're on the ship? What if I'm too late?

My stomach churns as my eyes dart across the scene. It's then that I notice two dark shapes in the sand by the sea – bodies. Unfamiliar. Unmoving as the water laps them. Dead.

"Cupid. Cal. Where are you?" I mutter under my breath.

A glimmer draws my attention to a vast, black rocky archway looming out from the cliff edge as a stream of arrows hits it. Cupid and Cal have their backs pushed against it, taking refuge from the onslaught.

Atop the cliff I raise my bow, slip out the cupid arrow that almost turned me, and search the shadows. I find my target. The feather fletching tickles my cheek. The wind is cold and hard, and I adjust my aim. 

And then I release.

My arrow hurtles through the air and plunges into the chest of a male dressed all in black – sending him flying back into the ocean. I release a breath, then look back towards Cupid. His face is half hidden by shadow - but I see his head jerk up, eyes catching on mine – glimmering in the glow from the Ferry of the Dead.

Something seems to pass through the air between us, something that heats the ice in my veins.

Then he looks sharply towards Cal who is saying something, and then the ocean. I follow their gaze. Three women – clad in black leather - are wading through the icy waves towards us. The Furies are here.

I half run, half stumble down the wooden steps towards the beach, towards Cupid and Cal who move out of the shadows and into the center of the archway. The Furies approach them, say something, and Cupid and Cal get onto their knees, raising their hands over their heads as the woman with the dark braid chains them together.

"LILA! I CAN'T LET YOU GET ON THAT SHIP!" James's frantic voice resounds behind.

I freeze, half way down the cliff. I look over my shoulder. He hurtles towards me, eyes fixed on my face. I barely have time to react before he's grabbed my arms and we're both tumbling, rolling over each other as we fall down the hard steps.

"LILA!" I hear Cupid roar as wood and rock bashes against my bones, and the world spins around me.

Sand scrapes my skin, and burning pain screams through my body as I land hard on my back on the beach. I lay still for a moment, bright dots dancing in front of my eyes, air knocked from my lungs. And then I groan and turn my head.

James lays on his side a few feet away – blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Behind him – fifty feet away – Cupid and Cal are trying to get to their feet but are kept down by two of the Furies, arms in chains. The other advances towards me and James, biker boots crunching through the damp sand behind him.

I push myself upright as James stumbles to his feet. Something glints around his neck as he moves - a chain of some sort.  I catch his gaze. And his face scares me as he half falls, half walks towards me. There's something murderous in the intense glint of his eye, and the hard set of his jaw.

"James...what... are you doing?" my voice comes out hoarse. Breathless.  

I grapple for one of my arrows, scattered in the sand, and force myself to my feet. My hand trembles a little with the exertion of pointing it at him. I hurt all over. And there's something hot and liquid running beneath the torn sleeve of my leather jacket.

"I don't want to kill you, Lila," he says. A tear slips down his cheek, mingling with the blood that dribbles from his lip.

"I don't want to kill you, either." I stumble back. "Don't make me."

"I have to do this," he says.

My pulse races, and part of my brain won't let myself believe I'm really in this situation. Not with James. Not with the guy I shared my first kiss with, who I learned to surf with, who I used to get into trouble for whispering in class with. He was my lab partner in second grade and took me to a theme park for my last birthday because he knows I how much I love rollercoasters. He looked out for me when my mom was ill, and came to her funeral when she died. 

He's been a boyfriend, and an ex, and a classmate, and a friend. He's been in my life since I was a kid.

And now he's a cupid. And what - we have to fight to the death?

I shake my head. "Why, James? Why are you doing this?"

"You're dangerous. They...they told me. You can't get... on the ship."

Behind him the third Fury approaches. Cupid and Cal are fighting the other two, trying to get to me.

James swallows hard. "If I can't stop you, I have to... I have to kill you," he says. "They told me... they'll kill me..."

"James...we can protect you. You don't understand what's going on."

"NO. NO I DON'T, LILA," he screams, "AND YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME. YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS."

There's a glint of metal as he slips a knife out from his pocket. 

"James..."

And then he charges at me. I grab his blade-wielding wrist as he tumbles into me, struggling against his force. I can smell his cologne, barely masking the slightly sour fear sweat that soaks his flushed skin.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" I scream at him as we stagger back and forth. My muscles scream with the effort of holding him back, of keeping the blade away from my neck. My left hand tightens on the black arrow. 

I don't want to do it. I don't want to kill him. I don't want to -

Suddenly he slumps forward into me, his grip released from my arm. I stagger back,  dropping the arrow in my hand, as he falls to his knees. His eyes meet mine – wide with shock. 

"James?"

He slumps onto his face.

There's a black arrow jutting from his back.

I look up. Amena stands on the clifftop, bow raised, dark hair whipping around her face. Crystal and Mino stand beside her.

I look down at James, face-down on the floor. Still. Heavy. Lifeless.

I hear nothing but my heartbeat pounding in my ears. Coldness floods my body. Time seems to stop. 

He's dead.

He's really dead.

No.

"On your knees," a cold, female voice jerks my gaze upwards. My eyes lock onto the cool, dark eyes of the Fury who now stands inches away from me. Numbly I fall down, not even crying out as I hit my knees hard on the ground.

James is dead.

I can't process it. It's too much.

He can't be dead.

The Fury grins wickedly, white teeth glinting in the ethereal glow from the ship, as she follows my gaze to his still, lifeless body in the sand. 

"You're going to wish he'd killed you. We don't usually take humans where we're going. But I'm glad we're making an exception. I'm going to enjoy spending time with you and your boyfriends in the Underworld."

Slowly she runs a length of chain between her ringed fingers.

"We're going to have a lot of fun."