Enid startles awake and lets out a shriek, jumping to her feet and scanning the chaos around us. Her gaze falls on me and her shoulders sag. Tears shimmer in her eyes. The hallucination!
I rush to her side, but Enid is already recovering from the shock of seeing me up and well. Her eyes widen as she takes in the chaos around us.
Enid raises her palm, ready to strike out with her Power if need be. “What happened?”
“The Protectorate has fallen apart,” I say.
“Stop!” Enid shrieks, and she throws a gust of wind outward at Bianca even as I grab her wrist and redirect it into Willow.
A gunshot bangs off the walls of the office. Willow’s body is thrown across the floor by Enid’s wind. Bianca holds a gun in her hands. At this moment in time, all is perfectly still.
“Bianca.” I edge closer. “What did you do?”
“She’s in charge, right? Without her Influence, this is over.” Again, the coldness in Bianca’s voice reminds me just how different she is now.
“No.” Chase kneels beside Willow, stroking her hair and checking the wound.
Willow works her jaw, but her whole body has started shaking. The bullet grazed her leg as her body was thrust across the room with Enid’s Power. Not a fatal shot, but clearly enough to remove her Power.
Chase lurches to his feet and charges at Bianca, but he only makes it one step before Miller rips lighting down into a cage around both Chase and Willow.
Willow clutches her leg, wincing at the pain. “I told you, we…we can’t effect change without some nec-necessary losses.”
“People aren’t expendables,” I say.
War had casualties, but they were soldiers who chose to fight, not civilians caught in the crossfire. What Willow did today was unforgivable.
“Bianca.” I turn to her.
She holds the gun out to me. “I would do it again.”
The words thump against my chest as I cautiously take the gun from her.
48
The office building where Rosie set up a temporary hospital to help those injured in the fight is crowded with people, but she manages to find a secluded corner in the main lobby where Enid and I can have our injures tended to privately.
True to her intention, Bianca’s shot sent Willow into a fit of seizures. She was rushed to this hospital where Doc and Rosie spent the better part of an hour trying to stop the serum from invading her body further. We still haven’t heard official word yet, but those she was Influencing had their own wits about them now, so the prognosis isn’t good.
Director Shielding died from blood loss and shock from the serum’s reaction in his body before we could get him to the hospital. Director Collins nearly died as well, but Rosie was able to revive her at the last moment, though her Power was still removed.
I inspect my hands as if seeing the blood from all those lives on them. Everyone had blamed me. Seaduss. Cass. Terry. Willow. Was it my fault?
“What do you think happened to Cass?” Enid asks me.
I tear my gaze away from my hands. “I don’t know. Maybe Terry was delusional.”
Enid snorts. “He is certainly that.”
No, he isn’t. He’s lost, like the rest of us.
I hop off the chair and head for the door. “I need air.”
Enid frowns and starts to follow, but Rosie calls for her help. Grateful for a moment alone, I step outside the makeshift hospital and around the corner, scanning the destruction. The Administration Building—a formerly majestic capitol, with its front end ripped open like the mouth of a beast. Bodies still litter the courtyard. It will take some time to clear up the mess.
Footsteps shuffle along the sidewalk, and a moment later Doc sinks down onto a concrete ledge nearby with a sigh. He wipes his hands clean with a towel.
“Did you know about her plans to destroy Paragon Tower?” I ask, staring at the courtyard.
Doc hangs his head a moment, then raises his gaze to the horizon. “No. This isn’t what I wanted either, Ugene.”
“But you must have known it was a possibility.” I cross my arms and face him.
Doc’s eyes search mine as if looking for the correct answer. “Any time you start a revolution, even a peaceful one, you have to expect the possibility that the end result won’t be so peaceful. That’s the way of life. Nothing is ever as we suspect.”
“Some would disagree,” I say, thinking of Celeste. “Even when light breaks through darkness—”
“Darkness fights back.” Doc’s gaze is firmly fixed on me now. “She did find you.”
Shock hammers against me. “You know Celeste?”
“An extraordinary young woman. A good thing Dr. Cass never truly understood her gifts.” He tilts his head back, gazing at the clouds. “Replicating those gifts under these circumstances would have ensured our defeat swiftly.”
“She’s watching us right now,” I say, wishing I could see the stars.
Doc huffs. “She’s always watching.” As he shifts his weight to stand, Doc groans, a clear sign of the toll this day has taken on him. Without another word, he heads back inside, leaving me blissfully alone. People shuffle past going to and from the hospital. Some tip their heads to me, but they all leave me in relative peace as I lean against the building and watch the sun slowly set.
“There you are.” Mom steps up alongside me.
“Mom?” It’s the first time since she pushed me out of her house that I’ve truly seen her, and it almost feels unreal, like she’s an apparition from a previous life. “How did you find me?”
“Mother’s intuition,” Mom says, then grins. “Your mind was screaming for me.”
It was?
I watch as a young man limps toward the hospital, cradling an arm that nearly hangs off his body, half his clothes burned off. But the DMA uniform is still unmistakable even in this condition.
Everything is a mess. Buildings destroyed. Lives lost. Downtown Elpis is a crater in a once stunning city. So much destruction and death. And for what?
“I don’t think this is what Dad wanted,” I say.
“He would have been proud of you, Ugene,” Mom says, pulling me into a hug. The embrace is warm and reassuring. “Just as I am. Your words moved the entire city into action.”
“To their doom,” I mumble, clinging to her.
“Most of the people in this city will survive this day, and they will have you to thank for their freedom.” Mom pulls back but I hesitate to let go. Her hands cup each side of my face. “You gave their fears voice and inspired them. It’s exactly what your father would have wanted.”
Tears shimmer in my eyes, and I blink furiously to reign them in, pulling away from her tender grasp before I fall apart. The fight is over, but it will take a long time to recover and rebuild.
Mom slides her arm around my shoulders, and we lean against each other, staring at the sunset as it paints brilliant hues of pink, purple, and orange across the sky.
And soon, the stars will come out again.
Part Four
“I’m not a hero. I didn’t aim to start a revolution. I’m just a Powerless kid who wanted to be like everyone else. To be ordinary. I never asked for any of this, but once I understood what was happening, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. Everyone deserves an equal chance at a good life. Not because of their Power, but because of their character. That is how we rebuild.”
~ Ugene Powers
One Day After Liberation Day
49
Dr. Cass was found among the living, clinging to life beneath the remains of Paragon Tower. In her final moments, Hilde created a shield using her Power and her body to protect Dr. Cass. Doc and Rosie tended to Dr. Cass’s wounds and locked her in a Power-dampening cell in The Shield where she remains under strict isolation.
I return to The Shield to gather my belongings—and Celeste’s book—to move back to my house, and the temptation to speak to Dr. Cass is more than I can resist. Questions remain unanswered.
I pull
up a chair outside her cell and gaze inside at the woman within.
She looks as fresh as if she just showered, and her clothes are immaculate despite being extra scrubs kept in the medical bay. Her sharp eyes flick to me.
“Well this is a switch,” I say, unable to hold back a grin as I drape my jacket over my lap. Not so long ago, I was locked in a cell while she watched.
“They can’t hold me here forever,” she says confidently as if she knows something we don’t.
But no one else remains in support of her. Forrest lost his Power and sits in his own prison cell downtown, right beside Director Collins. Most of the Paragon research department was at work the day the Tower fell. To our knowledge, Dr. Cass is on her own.
“Only until we know what to do with you.”
“Self-importance is a dangerous thing, Ugene.” She smirks.
I chuckle. “You would know.” She certainly let her own self-importance lead to her downfall. “When I was at Paragon, you told me I would never have Powers. Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
“What truth is that?” She’s toying with me.
“I know who I am, and about my mutation. Why did you hold the truth from me? What did you stand to gain by keeping me in the dark?”
She tilts her head, scrutinizing me. “You are a persistent and curious fellow. If I told you the truth, your requests for further research and potential solutions would have been endless. And it would have hindered my own research.”
I nod. She’s probably right about that.
“You know, I once believed this city needed Powers to survive,” I say, leaning back in the chair. “And you had me believing I was both the problem and the cure. But you were wrong on all counts.”
“What gifts of ignorance does adolescence bring,” Dr. Cass says, rapping her nails on the door. “To truly believe such rubbish is folly.”
“The very existence of The Shield proves you wrong,” I say, waving a hand around us. “This entire base was built with little to no Powers. It’s maintained just the same. The Protectorate may have done some things wrong, but this one thing they certainly did right.”
“No, Ugene. This base was built before the Fall. Before the Purge, when the global economy was in full swing. Your friends simply inhabited it.”
“True.” I nod. “But the clean water and fresh food is all their doing. And they expanded, not just inhabited.”
“In time, you will recognize that I was right all along, and you will look to me for guidance. When that day comes, I will simply smile at you and say no.”
“Well,” I say, smoothing out the wrinkles in my jeans as I rise. “Thanks to us, now that’s a choice you have.”
50
The leather high-back chair bends around me as I sit at the desk, folded over my notebooks. Writing my thoughts has always helped, and I need to do justice to the day. Mom polished the desk with her lemon cleaner, and the smell is familiar, like home.
By the end of Liberation Day—as the media coined it—the Directorate was brought down. Doc and Sho organized search-and-rescue teams, and they worked tirelessly for two weeks just seeking survivors. More dead were found than living—a lot of people remained unaccounted for.
Rosie and Dr. Lydia worked together to gather as many healers as they could to help those injured in the chaos. Five buildings downtown were cleared out to act as temporary hospitals—in addition to the clinics around the city. The major hospital in Elpis had been in Paragon Tower, forcing Rosie and Dr. Lydia to creatively seek out and utilize resources. The two of them split the supervision of the locations: Rosie with two and Dr. Lydia with three. Clinicians maintained their own locations all over Elpis.
After Liberation Day, Doc held a press conference to announce the dissolution of the Directorate and the Protectorate and explained everything he knew about what Paragon and the Directorate had done. He also rounded up former Directorate aides—people who worked for sympathizers to the Protectorate’s cause—to act as interim officials and help him establish a new government. I attended most of the meetings, offering insight whenever I could. It took weeks to hash out some of the details.
Willow’s betrayal stung Doc deeply, and though he never mentioned just how much she hurt him, I could see the pain he tried to hide every time her name came up in conversation. Those under Willow’s Influence were absolved and welcomed back into society. Some chose to stay at The Shield, and a few of the citizens chose to move there after learning of its existence. The blast doors that sealed it off from the rest of the world wouldn’t be necessary anymore.
Former DMA tents all over the city became Missing Persons stations overnight. People poured in, seeking loved ones who went missing in the chaos. In some cases, people went missing before the fight, people the DMA scooped up under the guise of Proposition 8.5 or 9. Others were people who were known “volunteer” test subjects at Paragon. The list has grown insurmountable, but I review it every day. The current number approaches six thousand.
Forrest was placed under arrest and Rosie treated his wounds, though Willow’s bullet had done its job, removing his Power. Mr. Pond visits him regularly. After the first visit, Mr. Pond hugged me—actually hugged me—and thanked me for saving his son. But Bianca is the one who saved him. While Mr. Pond agrees that Forrest needs to pay for what he did to those innocent test subjects and for his part in the entire Purification Project, Mr. Pond was thrilled that both of his children lived. For some reason, he believes I’m the one responsible for their survival when, in fact, the opposite is true.
The day after Liberation Day, Mr. Pond and I sat down in Mom’s living room as she hovered in the doorway watching with Enid. The cameras made me uncomfortable, but Mr. Pond insisted that the people wanted to see me, to hear from me, so I agreed to the interview. My words were a simple message. We can never again allow ourselves to undertake such a lapse in humanity or allow the government to strip people of their basic human rights. Mr. Pond asked why I felt we allowed it to happen in the first place and my answer was simple. Fear. It’s a powerful motivator. Fear can rob us of our common sense and make us blindly follow our leaders, trusting that they have our best intentions at heart.
One week after Liberation Day, the people voted for an Ambassador to help rebuild the government, someone to act as their voice and in their interest as a new government is established.
Enid moved into the spare bedroom in my parent’s house, right across the hall from mine. She didn’t have any family or friends, outside of those she’d made at Paragon. Though Mom insisted we have separate rooms, we spent more nights together than apart. The fighting was done, but the nightmares still plagued both of us. Somehow, when we are together, those nightmares diminish.
Bianca moved back in with her parents immediately following the events of Liberation Day, but it didn’t take long before she moved out on her own. Her parents tried to set her up with memory therapy to see if she could regain anything Paragon stripped away from her. Bianca didn’t like it. She feared it would resurface memories of what they did to her, and she enjoyed being blissfully ignorant of it. She told me she just couldn’t live with the expectations her parents placed on her or the disappointment when she couldn’t fulfill those expectations. “Maybe some things are best left in the past,” she told me. “But right now, I just need to find myself.”
I couldn’t agree more. Maybe, along the way, she would find some pieces of our past together. I would love to have my old friend back.
Lily returned home, to her parents. Sho spends any second of free time he can find loitering around her place. When I asked Lily if she would like to help us rebuild, she politely declined. “I’ve seen enough, and I just want to get back the time I lost with my parents,” she told me.
Miller and Jayme moved into a loft downtown, not far from the Administration Building where they spent hours each day rebuilding. Jayme’s Power has dwindled. Dr. Lydia visited to check up on him after the dust settled, and she informed Miller that
Jayme suffers from a rare nutritional deficiency that effects his bones. Using his Power has amplified the illness and the vitamin and mineral infusions she had been giving him no longer have the same effect. If he uses his Power, it will kill him much like it did my dad. And there are hundreds with Power-related illnesses in Elpis—perhaps even thousands. The search for a cure is in full swing, and I’m eager to step in and do my part.
Willow and Chase are awaiting trial tucked away in Power-dampening cells. The work to establish a system that will judge them fairly is still being thought out. At first, I had Willow helping with the Missing Persons reports, talking directly to people torn apart by their fear and grief, but too many of them wanted her head. For her own safety, it was better to hold Willow in a cell and leave her there for the time being.
I once believed there was no justice in this world. Now I know it’s my job to ensure that there is.
A knock on the door interrupts my thoughts, and I try to scribble fiercely in the notebook to get everything written before it’s gone. The door opens and shoes patter on the tiles a few steps in.
“It’s time, Ambassador Powers,” Bianca says, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth.
With a sigh, I skim the page of the notebook, then snap it closed.
51
Enid and I walk from the Administration Building to Tribute Park—the city block formerly occupied by Paragon Tower. It took the crews months to clear out the rubble and build the new monument out of the wreckage. Today, on the anniversary of Liberation Day, Tribute Park officially opens, and half the city has come to watch the ceremony.
The closer we draw to the steps leading to the massive infinity symbol, the more my stomach twists into knots. My grip on Enid’s hand tightens.
The infinity symbol, inspired by Celeste’s explanation of our lives, fills the length of the city block and stands tall enough for people to mingle under and around it. Along all edges, the names of every person lost in the fight either on Liberation Day or leading up to it are engraved in the sparkling, twisted metal. I watched with Mom and Enid as they etched in Dad’s name, along with all the friends I lost along the way—Mo, Trina, Dave, Michael, Noah, Leo. The only name I omitted was Celeste. Something tells me her name doesn’t belong on the monument. Where the symbol twists, the edges don’t meet but instead pass each other, never touching. And between those twisting edges, an eternal torch waits to be lit.
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