Callum Hunt's eyes were wide.
"No," he almost shouted.
"We aren't going to argue about this, Call." Tamara Rajavi replied. "What happened to Aaron was just as much my fault as it was yours."
"But it's going to be dangerous." Call replied, his eyes welling up. "I already lost one best friend, I can't lose another."
"You aren't going to lose me, Call." Tamara said. "But I have to do this, just like you."
After Call had been able to escape the mages' prison with the help of Anastasia Tarquin, he had been reunited with Tamara and, surprisingly, Master Rufus. Even though he was the Enemy of Death and had the soul of Constantine Madden, it didn't matter to the older man. Call, Aaron and Tamara were his students and he wasn't about to give up on them, even when Call came up with the crazy idea to go into the void and retrieve Aaron's soul from the dead.
It had been a crazy idea, if not suicidal. But for Call and Tamara, they couldn't live with the guilt of Aaron's death. The prophecy told by the Devoured formerly known as Master Marcus had come true. Tamara had failed, Aaron had died, and Callum was already dead.
But despite the risk, despite what the mages would probably do to them if they survived, despite what it could mean for Master Joseph and Alex Strike, Call was going.
And Tamara wasn't going to give up until he agreed to take her.
Call sighed, brushing his hand through his black hair. "Okay," he replied, his gray eyes looking up at his friend. "But just please stay with me."
Tamara smiled, the first one she'd had since Aaron had been killed. "I will, Call, I promise."
Moments later, the pair sat on the floor, with Anastasia and Master Rufus watching on reluctantly. And as Call summoned his chaos magic, he held on to Tamara's hand, keeping it firmed as the void appeared to consume both of them.
The void wasn't like they expected.
Sure there was no scenary that Call and Tamara could see but for some reason they saw the souls of people and animals interacting or acting like it was normal.
As they walked through the void, Call's leg not hurting at all as he did so, both of them kept an eye out for their friend, hands still connected so as not to lose each other.
They saw Drew, Master Joseph's son, who had been killed in their Iron Year after kidnapping their friend by feeding him to a chaos elemental. They saw Stanley, the Chaos Ridden man who'd they encountered in Constantine Madden's tomb in their Copper Year. They even saw Mrs. Tisdale, who'd been killed by the metal elemental at her farm house.
More surprisingly, they encountered Call's mother Sarah, his uncle Declan and Constantine's twin Jericho.
Sarah hugged Call, saying that despite having another soul inside him he was still her son and that wasn't going to change. His uncle Declan ruffled his black hair and grinned and Jericho treated him as both his twin and his friend's son. For the briefest moment, Call felt at home but then Tamara reminded him why they were here and he felt the pull go away.
Sarah smiled. "He's waiting for you," she gestured a little further along. "And Call, tell your father that I'll be waiting for him."
A tear left Call's left eye and went down his cheek. "I will, mum. And thank you."
Call and Tamara continued until they found him, his recognisable blond hair and bright green eyes shining openly. Aaron Stewart looked just as handsome as he did when he was alive, just as handsome as his preserved body that waited them back beyond the void.
"Somehow I knew you guys wouldn't let me rest yet." Aaron smiled, tears falling from his eyes.
Call and Tamara both grinned, tears flowing as they grabbed their friend's hands.
"Someone needs to keep me in line," Call replied. "And Tamara from second guessing."
Tamara kicked his left leg, which didn't hurt at all. "And because it's all or none of us," she said. "Otherwise we aren't going to get very far."
Aaron chuckled. "I guess you're right," he looked passed them a little bit. "Let's go."
As Call came to, he realised two things.
One, Tamara was still holding his hand.
And two, Master Rufus and Anastasia were looking at the table holding Aaron's preserved body in shock.
As Call looked over in that direction, his face broke into a smile.
There was Aaron, in the blue Magisterium uniform he was placed into when he died, awake. His green eyes were open and looking around before breaking into a lopsided smile.
"So, what did I miss while I was gone?"
It took Call and Tamara bursting out in crying laughter to break the silence while everyone realised something.
Callum Hunt had succeeded where Constantine Madden had failed, he had brought back someone's soul from the void and given someone life.
Everything else didn't matter, at least not in this moment.
For now, Call and Tamara stood up and ran to hug their friend, glad to have him back.
