“You are talking about moving myself from one moment in time to another, right?” I ask, hoping I’m close to right. “Like time travel.”
Celeste shakes her head. “Even the cosmos has limits. You cannot exist in two places at one time. To exist in one, you must not exist in it at the same time. It is not time travel.”
If I can go to any other moment, I could save my father or my friends. I could prevent the collapse of Paragon Tower. “But I can do it.”
“No.”
The word hangs in the air, smothering the flame of hope blooming in my chest.
Celeste finally speaks, and her words make me bounce up on my toes. “I can.”
“You can send me where I need to be, like at the Tower right before it falls,” I say, stepping toward her. “I can stop Willow from destroying it.”
“It comes at a cost.”
“Anything.”
Celeste’s lower lip quivers and she turns her hands, examining them, then gazes at the stars, a distant look in her eyes. “If you go to the Tower and stop Willow, you will die, and your revolution dies with you. I have seen it before.”
“But those people in the Tower will live.” I don’t want to die, but one death in exchange for the thousands in Paragon isn’t a choice. It’s a necessity. “I can’t live with myself knowing I could save them.”
“And what life will it be that they live?” Celeste asks. “If you save the people in the Tower, Seaduss survives and achieves his ambitions unopposed. Thousands more will perish under his direction. If you stay with him, his fate is fixed, as is Paragon’s. The choice is yours.”
My heart sinks. How many people were in Paragon Tower when it collapsed? Two thousand? Three? It doesn’t compare to Seaduss’ numbers.
When we were together at Paragon, Celeste read my aura and told me I would be faced with an impossible choice. So many choices crossed my path after her reading that I continually assumed the decision was made. Now I know better.
The choice was always ahead of me, a looming behemoth casting a shadow over everything I’ve done up to this point, waiting for me to come face to face with it. At the true point.
I either save thousands in the Tower and die…or save the city—and myself—and allow the Tower to claim its victims.
“The only path to true justice is through the fallout, or the battle begins anew,” Celeste says, flicking the infinity loop so new stars begin traveling the path. “Restarting its course on the loop.”
“Where do I go from here?” I ask, surprised at the tightness in my voice. Tears burn my eyes.
“Where you need to be.” The sadness within me reflects in Celeste’s brilliant green eyes.
I don’t need to tell her what my choice is. Celeste already knows. She probably always knew.
Wind caresses my skin, and I reach for her hand, afraid she will disappear. I never had a sibling, but I always saw Celeste as a little sister. I don’t want to lose her again. “Wait, Celeste, will I see you again?”
“I am always exactly where I need to be.” The stars that made up her dress scatter across the darkness, and her face fades.
“What do I do?” I ask quickly before she is truly gone.
“Exactly what you would always do.” Her voice fades. “If given the right circumstances.”
I rush toward where she stood, but the darkness recedes with each step, replaced by blinding light.
47
The weakness in my limbs from Terry and Forrest abusing me with their Powers have vanished, in addition to the burning pain from gashes and bruises from battle and the collapsed building. For the first time since coming to Pax, I feel strong and clearheaded.
Time is not linear. I’m exactly where I need to be…
Thousands have already died at the Tower. Seaduss is dead, and if any members of the Directorate remained in the building, Willow will find them. What will she do once she discovers them? How many more need to die before Willow is satisfied?
This can’t be what Doc wanted.
Enid’s breaths come in short rasps as she lies with her head in my lap. A strand of dark hair curls over her eyes, and I brush it back from her face. What do I do with Enid to keep her safe? How long will she be like this? I scan the space around me and find we are no longer in the hallway. I’m sitting on a claw-foot sofa in an office with Enid’s body draped across the length of the cushions.
Carefully repositioning her head, I slide myself out from beneath her and rise.
I’m exactly where I need to be. What does that mean?
The building no longer hums or vibrates. Whoever was using their Power on the structure has stopped. Willow probably had Naturalists creating a path through the wreckage to make the search easier.
With Enid safe for the moment, I search the desk drawers for something to restrain Terry. I can’t do anything about him using his Power, but at least I can detain him for now. In one of the desk drawers, I find a package of zip-ties. It isn’t perfect, but it will work. As I make my way to the hallway, I attach a few of them together so they make a long enough chain to connect his wrists together behind his back. Then I pull a strip of cloth from his own shirt and tie it around his eyes to blind him in case he wakes. His Telepathy won’t be stopped by a blindfold, but it might be slowed.
I crouch over Terry, shifting him to his side and wrestling his arms into position, then securing his wrists together—but not too tight. He could break them easily if I pull them too tight. Standing over him, I chew my lip. I haven’t felt so much hate for anyone since I attacked Forrest in the street. After considering his Power, I decide to wrap cloth around his head to block out sound from his ears. Another way to slow down his Power.
Bianca strolls down the hallway, Forrest’s body tossed over her shoulder like a sack of flour. She walks as if he weighs nothing. What happened between them? What has she done to her brother?
“Did you find anyone?” she asks.
“Just Enid. The others are in the building somewhere.” I grunt, trying to pull Terry up so I can get him into the office, but he’s much heavier than I expect for someone so thin.
Bianca nudges me away with her toe and reaches down, grabbing Terry with one hand and easily hefting his body into the air.
“In there.” I point at the office.
Terry is the one who altered Bianca’s memories, but I wait until she starts fussing over Forrest in the office, restraining him, before speaking up. Terry now lies on the floor in the corner.
“Paragon used a Telepath to alter your memories,” I say.
Bianca’s back stiffens as she binds Forrest’s ankles with multiple zip-ties. “How do you know?”
I glance at Terry. “Because he confessed.”
Bianca spins around, following my gaze to Terry’s prone form. In a few long strides, she crosses the room and I rush over to stop her. “Wait. I know you’re angry, and I would love nothing as much as watching you beat him to a pulp, but if you hurt him, we may not get your memories back.”
“Is that possible?” she asks, glaring at Terry.
I rub the back of my neck. “I don’t know. But is it worth the risk?”
Bianca’s hands clench and unclench as she contemplates how to deal with him. Ultimately, she huffs and returns to Forrest.
Electricity makes the hair on my neck and arms rise again, and flickering light from the hallway catches my attention. Then Miller’s familiar voice echoes off the walls, “She hasn’t reported, and she came up here. She must be up here.”
I rush to the door and see Miller standing over Jayme. Lightning dances around Miller’s body, controlled by his new rush of Power. He’s prepared for a fight.
Jayme crouches beside the blood I left on the floor. “That can’t be good.”
“Miller!” I call out, realizing my mistake too late.
Miller spins, throwing a small ball of lightning through the doorway. I barely jump out of the way before the ball of lightning strikes the wooden frame right w
here I was standing.
“Ugene?” Miller steps through the door and a grin breaks across his face. “I told them you weren’t that easy to kill.”
The lightning momentarily winks out of existence as he claps me in a hug and steps back. Jayme joins us, scanning the room.
“You’ve been busy,” Jayme says.
“Seaduss is dead, too,” I say, just in case they didn’t already know that. “I’m sorry guys, but I have to ask. Did you help Willow destroy the Tower?”
They exchange grim looks.
I heave a sigh. “Okay. I tried telling you before. Willow is an Empath. She can Influence people to do her bidding. If you helped, it isn’t really your fault.”
“We did what needed to be done,” Jayme says, crossing his arms.
“No,” I correct. “You did what she wanted you to do. We don’t have time to debate about this right now, but all I ask is that you think for yourself. Would you really have killed thousands of people, many of them innocent victims, if she hadn’t Influenced you to do it?”
Jayme opens his mouth, but I hold up a hand.
“No. Just think about it.”
“I felt it,” Bianca says from behind me. I spin around to face her. “Back at the safehouse, she tried to do it to me when we were alone, but I didn’t fall for it. I let her think she did though.”
“How?” I ask.
“Just acted like I was obeying her wishes when she tried to Influence me to stay put and not speak a word.”
“No, I mean how did you resist?”
Bianca shrugs. “It just didn’t work. Terry tried to read me once at training, and that failed, too.”
They put a block on Bianca’s mind. Why?
“Good.” I can use this to my advantage. “I need you to do that again if she tries.”
Bianca raises a brow. “It isn’t something I consciously do. It just happens.”
As if we’d summoned her by talking about her, Willow’s voice emanates from the hallway. Jayme calls her in, and in moments the office is occupied by thirteen us. It makes the space cramped.
“You didn’t tell me he was up here,” Willow says to Sho over her shoulder as she meets my gaze. “You have some nerve, Ugene.”
I sneer. “Don’t start.” I take note of everyone present—and the one person missing. “Where’s Leo?”
Sho’s eyes cast down at his feet. Jayme and Miller exchange uncomfortable glances. Lily bites her lip.
“He didn’t make it out of the safehouse,” Jayme says. “He died in the blast.”
Momentary grief presses down on me. Leo was the last of my friends from high school, aside from Bianca who doesn’t even remember me. We’ve lost so much…too much.
“Go find him,” Willow says to Sho, pulling me out of my sorrow. “Bring him here.”
“If you’re looking for Seaduss, he’s dead,” I announce, freezing everyone in place.
“You’re sure?” Willow asks, raising a brow.
“I saw it myself. So did he.” I wave a hand at Forrest’s unconscious body.
Willow stalks toward Forrest’s unconscious body on the floor where Bianca bound him up. She crouches at his side and brushes a hand over his forehead. The gesture is almost compassionate.
“Do you know him?” I ask.
“A long time ago,” Willow says, her voice distant as she gazes down at him. As if sensing we’ve noticed some momentary weakness, Willow’s back stiffens and she stands up, testing his zip ties before nodding. Then she turns on me. “How did Seaduss die?”
“You killed him.”
Willow smirks. “I think I would remember that.”
“When you destroyed the Tower,” I clarify, “he died in the fallout. If it matters, Terry says Dr. Cass is looking for me, so she must have survived your attack.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know. What would it matter?”
“We won,” she breathes as if overwhelmed with relief.
“No. We didn’t.” I shake my head. How could she not understand what she’s done? “There were innocent people in those buildings who died because of your actions today.”
Other members of the Protectorate enter the office, dragging prisoners with them. No, not prisoners. Directors. Only two of them survived the attack. Two out of seven. Director Collins with her graying sandy hair in disarray around her wrinkled face, and Director Shielding with his eyes wide in apparent fear. Both are handcuffed with gags in their mouths. Willow waves for the Protectorate members to line up the prisoners against one of the walls. It strikes me that this is reminiscent of a firing squad.
“What are you doing with them?” I ask, stepping closer.
Chase’s muscles tense and he shifts in my direction, making it clear that if I touch her, he will react. I don’t know how I missed it before. Willow and Chase are no different than any other Psionic and Somatic. Just like the bullies in high school, or Terry and Derrek. Willow is the hunter, and Chase is her weapon. That alone should have tipped me off.
“Giving them a taste of their own medicine,” Willow says with so much disgust dripping from her voice that my skin crawls. “Bring them over to the line.” She waves at Terry and Forrest.
Chase and another Protectorate Strongarm I don’t know grab the bodies and drag them toward the far wall.
Bianca steps between Willow and Forrest. “He is my brother. He is my problem.”
“Move out of the way if you don’t want to join them,” Willow snaps.
It is a firing squad.
I rush up to Bianca’s side. “Willow, stop. The fight is over. Seaduss is dead, the Directorate is finished. Let’s find Dr. Cass and call this victory.”
But it isn’t a victory. Far from it.
“Enough people have died today,” I say.
“Move or be moved,” Willow commands, but I stubbornly refuse to move. “So be it.”
Chase grabs my arm and yanks me out of the line of fire.
I snatch my arm away, but Chase clutches it even tighter the second time, pinching my arm in his strong grip.
“The Protectorate. The Directorate. Different name, same face,” I say, throwing as much of my anger at Willow as I can. “I suspected as much from the start, which is why you didn’t like me. Stop fighting. Use your Power for good.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Willow snaps.
“This isn’t for good. You have the Power to make the battle stop. What more can you want?”
“You started this with your package and your broadcast. Now I’m forced to finish it before the Directorate has a chance to regather their strength and apply their final blow.”
I don’t struggle as Chase pulls me away. “This can’t be what Doc wanted.”
“He wanted this to end,” Willow says, pulling out a gun and raising it at Forrest. The two Protectorate members who brought in the prisoners raise their guns as if she pointed them herself. I can’t let her do this. I can’t let her remove Powers, kill people, and make these helpless men responsible for her crimes. “He said as long as the Directorate or Paragon stand, we can never truly win.” Sweat rolls down her face from the fatigue of using so much Power. She’s using it, even now. “You forced my hand. And now they can no longer stand.”
Tears roll down the desperate Directors’ faces, leaving streaks in their dirty cheeks. Both shake their heads, trying to speak through their muzzles, eyes frantically pleading for me to stop Willow. I have no love for these people and what they allowed Seaduss and Dr. Cass to do, but that doesn’t give us the right to shoot them.
Without warning, Willow fires at Forrest. Bianca bellows and throws herself at Willow, but too late. The bullet strikes Forrest in the shoulder, only slightly thrown off the mark by Bianca’s sudden attack.
The other two fire as well. Miller sends a bolt of lightning at each of the Protectorate members, but too late. The two remaining Directors recoil against the wall and slide to the floor, writhing in pain.
Chase rele
ases me to rush to Willow’s aide. I fall to my knees beside the Directors, inspecting the wounds. One to the knee and one to the gut.
“Hold on, it’s okay,” I attempt reassurance as a fight breaks out behind me.
The gut-shot isn’t too serious, and I hold on to hope that he will survive. Director Shielding. That’s who this is. Director Shielding—the Director of Social Welfare—begins seizing and choking. Power-removing bullets! I rip the gag out of his mouth so he doesn’t choke to death on the frothing foam bubbling through his lips.
Bianca slams her back into the wall beside us, attempting to dislodge Willow, who is strangling her as Chase punches her in the ribs.
I roll Shielding on his side so he won’t choke on his own saliva. The woman beside him is Director Collins, the Director of Business Administration. She watches Shielding with wide, terrified eyes as she clutches her leg and cries through her gag. Neither of their Powers are useful in this fight, or in healing.
Bianca grabs Willow by the neck and flips Willow over her body, right into Chase.
I pull the gag from Director Collins’s mouth.
“Do something,” she commands in a shriek.
“I can’t. There’s no stopping it once it’s started. The serum is already in your veins.”
Collins whimpers and smacks her head against the wall. Then a bout of seizures rocks her body.
Chase flies past, his back skipping across the floor, and Bianca launches through the air, landing over the top of him and throwing fierce punches at his ribs. Chase kicks his legs to try and force Bianca off, but she has a hold on his vest, and all he does is make her buck. Bianca pulls back a fist and throws a bone-cracking hook into his jaw.
This is chaos. This isn’t how we end the struggle.
Jayme rushes at Willow as she scrambles back to her feet. She grabs his leg, slamming him into the ground. I wince as she pounces on him, pinning his arms as she punches him in the kidney.
Miller’s entire body pulses with lightning as he charges two Protectorate members. They scatter, but he throws lightning ropes at their legs and yanks them to the ground. As they wrestle against his Power, Miller strikes each of them with lightning darts in the chest. Both of them stiffen suddenly, then slump against the floor.
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