The elevators are a poor choice with the building in such a state of destruction, so I head for the stairs, but the door barely budges. Something on the other side must be bracing it in place. I plant my feet against the floor and push with all my might, but it only moves an inch. Not nearly enough for me to slip through. But enough for me to see the rubble blocking the way. Destruction knocked free stone slabs and steel girders, which now prevent me from escaping.
Voices from the stairwell filter up to me.
“…check each floor.”
Enid!
“I’ll go to the top floor,” she says.
“Enid!” I call out to her just as a thunderous rumble makes everything shake, swallowing my call.
Plaster shakes free from the ceiling and rains down on me.
“Enid,” I call again, coughing.
“Ugene!” Her boots thump against the stairs as she ascends, climbing over collapsed bits of the ceiling. After a minute, her black hair bobs into view below. Her bright eyes shine as she looks up and sees me through the narrow gap in the door. “Oh, God. I thought you died.”
Enid runs up the steps two at a time, leaping over fallen pieces of the building. She reaches the door and slips her fingers through the crack. I do the same and our fingers touch. It’s such a small touch, but the gesture creates flutters in my stomach as relief washes over me.
“Where are the others?” I ask, my fingers gripping hers.
“Willow has some of them searching for remaining Directors,” Enid says. “Jayme, Miller, and I broke off from the group to find you.”
“What about Sho, Lily, and Rosie?”
“Sho and Lily are helping Willow,” Enid says, clinging to me. “Rosie is helping organize healing for the injured with Doc.”
That’s good news. How does Doc feel about what Willow has done, destroying the Tower and killing all those people? Did he know it was part of her plan?
“Something is blocking the door,” I say. “I can’t move it.”
Enid squeezes my fingers, then slips them back through the crack in the doorway to inspect whatever has me barricaded in. Just to be safe, I step away from the door.
Enid raises her hands toward the blockade, focusing all her intent on the problem. The blockade grinds against the floor. Her hands shake more violently with each second that passes. Enid whimpers then clenches her teeth and pushes harder. The shaking in her hands extends to her limbs and body, as if she is actually trying to physically push the blockade out of the way.
How much Power has she already used today? What if this is too much for her?
I brace my body against the door, gripping the handle for extra support, and push with all my might as she slowly grinds the rubble away. The gap sluggishly inches further open.
The moment the gap is wide enough, Enid releases her Power and rushes through, crashing into me as she throws her arms around my neck.
I pull her into a tight hug, afraid of letting go.
“I was so worried,” Enid says against my neck.
I stroke her hair. “Me too.”
“Willow was furious when you disappeared with Bianca,” Enid says, pulling back just far enough to look me in the eyes. “She and Jayme had a full blowout with each other. And then we saw your broadcast and the videos people had recorded and sent into the station, and Willow convinced us we had to take action right away.”
“She blew up the Tower, didn’t she?”
Enid nods, nuzzling against my chest. “But we had no choice. If the Tower didn’t come down, Paragon would have just picked up their research where they left off. The only way to get rid of the research was to bring the whole thing down.”
“Did she clear the building?” I hold my breath, hoping, praying that no one was harmed when it came down.
“There wasn’t time. We had to act quickly.”
I recoil, a bitter taste in my mouth. The image of that dust cloud rushing toward the Administration Building rushes back. “You don’t believe that.”
“Wars are won through action, not inaction.”
I flinch and pull away from Enid completely. Those are Willow’s words. “She’s manipulating you, Enid.”
“You know what I suffered in that place,” Enid says, planting her fists on her hips. “I couldn’t allow Paragon a chance to restart and make another girl suffer like me.”
This isn’t Enid. This is Willow speaking through Enid. “No. The Enid I know wouldn’t agree to destroy a building with thousands of people still inside. Willow is an Empath. I told you not to trust anything she says because she can Influence you to follow her.”
Enid scowls. “I thought you would understand.”
“Well, I don’t, because this isn’t you. It was you who insisted we shouldn’t trust Willow back at The Shield. It was you who insisted we had to do something to save the people still in Paragon and under the Directorate’s thumb.” I step toward her, hoping, praying that I can get through to her. I slip my hand into hers. “Help me stop Willow.”
Enid draws her hand back but doesn’t pull it away. “You wanted to stop all of this.”
“But I didn’t want people to die.” I dare to lean closer and place a kiss on her lips. Enid tenses, then relaxes against me. “We do this together,” I say as our lips part. “Or not at all.”
Enid blinks furiously, and her brows wrinkle together like they do when she’s thinking really hard. Then her body shakes. “I helped her.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I thought…I believed…” Enid squeezes her eyes shut. “What did I do?”
“This was Willow’s Influence. There’s nothing you could do.”
“Isn’t this touching?” I hear a voice say behind me. I turn to see Terry step through the open stairwell door. His black hair is slicked back, though a few strands hang loose. Dirt covers his pale face.
Enid and I both jump back, but Terry seizes Enid’s shirt and yanks her back, tossing her against the wall. Enid yelps. Before I have a chance to react, Terry raises a hand toward Enid’s head.
Enid shrieks. “Don’t. Please. Don’t kill him. I’ll do anything!”
What is she talking about?
Terry sneers. “The mind is such a fragile thing. Easy to plan hallucinations in one’s mind.”
My hands clench into fists so tight I can feel the tension all the way up my neck. I step toward Terry. “Stop.”
“Ah!” Terry raises a finger at me. “Another step and I crush her mind into madness.”
I freeze. Can he really do that? I can’t allow this to go on. I have to stop him.
Enid’s face contorts in terror, and she screeches and howls in agony in a way that makes my blood curdle. The sound bounces off the walls, echoing down the hallway, vibrating in my bones.
“What are you doing to her?” I ask, lurching a step closer. Furious with rage, sweat rolls down my temples.
“Forcing her to watch me torture you.” Terry’s tone is so blasé it turns my stomach. He chuckles and I want to punch him in the throat to stop the disgusting sound. “She can’t handle much of this.”
I bare my teeth, nostrils flaring. “What do you want?” Terry is a bully, and I’ve had enough of bullies.
“You.” Terry inches closer. “Or that is, Dr. Cass wants you. She intends to restart her research, but she needs you to do it. I will receive a very generous stipend if I bring you to her.”
“Forrest said she’s dead,” I say, my voice seething with the rage building in me, blocking all pathways to logic.
“She is very much alive,” Terry says.
Enid’s breaths are ragged as she cries, sinking down to the floor with her head in her hands, begging him to stop. Each of her pleas is a dagger in my heart. And with each dagger, my hatred toward him grows. I flex my hands out and back into fists as stiffness takes over my fingers.
“I can’t get to her,” Terry continues as if Enid isn’t suffering abject misery at his feet. “But she is alive, somewhe
re beneath what remains of Paragon Tower.”
Dr. Cass is alive? Some part of me knows I should manipulate this situation, outsmart Terry, convince him he’s wrong and he’s alone. Logic my way out of this. But the longer I watch Enid struggle, the less logic works in my favor and the more I want to destroy Terry, rip him apart, destroy him down to his very bones.
His Power is so much stronger than it was in Paragon. He never could have projected hallucinations in someone before. And now he’s torturing Enid. I would do anything to stop him, and I can. I just have to be smarter. My muscles all coil tightly as my body turns rigid.
It’s a struggle to keep my voice even with so much hatred burning on me. “Okay.” I step toward him. “Let her go and I’ll come with you.”
A lie. He doesn’t need to read my mind to know it. I won’t go with him. I can’t. I can’t let him be rewarded for this. He needs to suffer like he’s making Enid suffer.
“As you wish.” Terry releases his hold on her, and Enid crumples to the floor in a heap.
“What did you do?” I growl, sneering.
“That sort of trauma takes a toll. Don’t worry. She should be fine. But you…”
Terry’s Telepathy slams against my mind like a jackhammer trying to break up concrete. He pounds at my skull with his Power again and again, pinching my head in a vice-like grip, squeezing tighter and tighter. Terry is trying to break the Wall Mom placed on my mind. Maybe he can now.
I hunch over on my knees, pressing my hands to my head as the cracks in the Wall spider outward. The world spins. Blood drips from my nose to the marble floor.
Terry hovers over me, shaking as all his Power focuses on breaking down the Wall.
Without the Wall, he can kill me. I can’t let him win.
The thought is distant, as if it comes from someone else, a detached version of me watching from afar.
Every sound—the hum of the building, the grinding of stone against stone and steel, each booted foot moving over the ground in the floors below us—is like a hammer against my skull. Blood from my nose begins pooling on the floor.
“Stop…” The word is breathless, barely a whisper over the thunder in my head.
“I will break the Wall or kill you trying,” Terry says, his voice strained from the effort. “Dr. Cass be cursed.”
It requires every ounce of strength I can summon to put my hands against the ground and push myself upright. The muscles in my legs protest, wobbling as I suck in quick breaths to rise. I stumble, and my legs almost give out, but I reach out and grab Terry to keep from falling over.
“You never quit, do you?” Terry asks. His voice simmers with hate. “This is your fault. You left me to die in the desert. You left me in their hands while saving everyone else. I am what I am now because of you.”
Trembling, I rise to my fullest height and do my best to stare at him, completely unintimidated. Blood trickles from my nose down across my lip. Every inch of me protests as his Power batters at my skull like a ram.
“Maybe, once I’m done with you, I’ll make Enid forget who you were, too.”
The implication of this statement takes a few seconds to sink in. It was him. He stole Bianca’s memories.
My arms quiver violently as I clench my hands into fists. Logic is burned away by the fires of rage pumping through me. I’m not a great fighter, but Bianca taught me a thing or two during my time at Paragon. With my mind not working, and the rage dominating every cell in my body, fighting is the only answer.
My head weighs as much as a mountain, pressing down on my shoulders. I stiffen my spine. The world tilts again.
You won’t touch Enid. He can’t read the thought, but I feel it fiercely, burning through my body, giving me strength despite the drain his Power has on me. In a swift motion, I pull my head back, then ram it against his skull. The impact momentarily darkens my vision and my knees give out, but it worked. The contact is broken.
Terry stumbles away, and I grab his arm before I fall. Using him for leverage, I pull back my other fist and punch him in the kidneys. Terry doubles over, but I hold tight to his arm, thrusting an uppercut into his jaw. The impact tosses his head back and he twists his arm out of my grasp, retaliating with an ill-placed punch to the side of my jaw. I blink away stars as pain lances outward from the point of impact.
As he rights himself, working his jaw, I grasp either side of his head and yank his head down to meet my knee followed by a swift open-palm slap to each ear. Terry tries to stand up, but lurches to the side and falls over.
Adrenaline pumps through me, quickly dispersing the effects of his Power, though my nose still bleeds and my jaw throbs in pain. I can feel my lip puffing up at the corner of my mouth.
Finish him. I blink furiously to get the sweat out of my eyes, staggering a couple of steps as I seek out the owner of the voice before realizing it’s my own.
Terry pushes to his hands and knees but tumbles onto his back. The slap to his ears must have affected his equilibrium.
I shuffle closer, then sink to a knee at his side. My speech is surprisingly slurred as I say, “You won’t touch any of my friends again.”
Terry laughs. A sound of madness.
The feeble fingers of his mental reach try to grab hold of my mind. I snarl, pulling back my fist, and jab him in the jaw once. Twice. Three times. Terry’s body goes limp, and his eyes slip shut.
I sink to my knees and crawl to Enid’s side, pulling her head into my lap as I lean against the wall. Laughter echoes in my ears.
My own laughter. The hallway darkens, and I close my eyes, welcoming sleep.
46
All is dark. I can’t be sure if I’m falling or standing still. No sensation of motion makes my stomach tumble. No floor presses against my shoes. No air brushes my skin. I’m in a void of nothing. Experimentally, I move my feet, and find they shuffle as they would over a floor, but nothing appears to be beneath me, and I can’t feel anything under my shoes.
This place isn’t a dream or memory, as I’ve experienced in the past. It’s simply nothing.
Last I knew, I was fighting Terry in the hallway.
Am I dead? Panic captures me. Accepting death is one thing. Being dead is another. Is Elpis free? What happened to my friends? I can only hope their fates fare better than my own.
White lights blink to life around me. Hundreds of them. Thousands. I move forward, reaching for one of the lights, but it remains ever unreachable. Will the lights guide me like they did through the streets of Elpis? I advance, my feet gliding over nothing.
A powerful female voice calls from the darkness. “Ugene.”
I spin and gasp as a young woman with glowing green eyes steps out of the darkness, her gown seemingly made of lights. Millions of tiny lights pulse around her, casting a glowing aura surrounding her slight frame. Black hair falls in ringlets over her shoulders. I’m unable to look away from the woman in front of me. She is Celeste, yet she isn’t.
My head spins, and I press the heel of my palm to my temple, trying to steady my thoughts. I step back. What’s going on?
She cocks her head to the side much like a bird as she examines me.
“Celeste…? Am I…dead? Where are we?”
“Death is not an absolute. Time is not linear,” she says, and her voice carries both that youthful innocence I remember and a wizened understanding of things beyond my comprehension. She raises her hand, and the dots of light around us begin moving.
Stars. Those are stars, not lights.
None of this makes sense.
I watch the stars as they shift and swirl, then I glance again at Celeste. “That was you. Last night. The stars showed me the safest way to Bianca’s house. That was you.”
Celeste smiles, and it illuminates her smooth, youthful face. “I always knew you were special. I’ve walked this path countless times in countless ways to find this moment.”
I watch the stars and notice they are making the same motion as those I saw in my dream. “How l
ong have you been here?”
“A month. A century. A minute.” Celeste raises her hand and pokes at the darkness with her finger twice, creating two stars. “As I said, time is not linear. There is no beginning. There is no end. Many believe their lives are a line from Point A to Point B.” With her other hand, she makes a line between two stars.
“Others believe life isn’t a straight line, but a zigzag from start to finish.” She makes the motion, and the line shifts into a zigzag. “When really, our lives are more like a closed loop, and you can shift that loop, bend it, to connect at any point in time.” She draws an infinity symbol between both stars, then flicks it with her finger and the stars begin shifting along the line of the symbol. A few times, they nearly touch at intersecting points, but never do. “This is the true path most people travel. But not you. Yours is different. It always has been and always will be.” The stars come together along the loop, merging when the loop intersects. “Your path is malleable.”
“Why?”
Celeste cocks her head curiously as if I should just comprehend. I wish I did.
“Because you make it so,” she says simply, then plucks a single star from the merged point and holds it toward me in her palm. “To affect change, you must touch the true point.”
“What is the true point?” I ask, reaching for the star. My fingers slip through it like it doesn’t truly exist.
Celeste steps toward me, pressing the star into my chest. Afraid of being burned, a moment of panic surges through me, but I feel only the warm touch of her hand.
“Now,” she says.
“What?”
“I’ve traveled this loop, searching for the true point. I’ve watched you die countless deaths seeking the path to the true point. It is now.”
Pieces begin falling into place. I don’t comprehend the full picture, but I understand well enough to get her meaning. Celeste has somehow lived forever and not long at all, and if the notes in her book are any indication, she has found a way to alter her place in time at the moment of her death. If she can do this, can I? Have I already, if I’ve walked this path so many times? The implications are enormous.
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