There also wasn’t any guarantee that taking Abi down would get me what I wanted. I didn’t know how to pilot the portal. I’d need him or another guard like him to do that. If I knocked Abi out and had to hunt down another guard, I’d be right back where I was right now.
I had to convince Abi that I was telling the truth.
“You have to let me through,” I said. “If we’ve ever been friends, Abi, if you’ve ever believed me about anything, you have to believe me about this. If I don’t use that portal, a lot of very important people will die. The world will be thrown into chaos. And what happens after that will be much, much worse than any of you can imagine.”
“Jace,” Abi said sternly, “this has gone on long enough. I’m calling my commander.” He turned his head toward the lapel of his robe and reached toward his belt for something.
I activated the Stolen Aura technique. Desperation and adrenaline pushed the technique to new heights.
The stone floor beneath my feet cracked and splintered when I stole its strength aspects. My aura flared and expanded in a dark cloud. It encompassed a nearby potted plant, which withered, blackened, then crumbled to dust. The overhead lights, powered by jinsei and light aspects, dimmed, guttered, and died as I stole their power.
Abi took a labored breath, his eyes fluttering.
My Eclipse nature wanted his aspects. Strength, life, honor. It wanted them all.
“Enough,” Abi said. “Stop.”
I let the technique go and my aura returned to its natural size. It was crowded with aspects that demanded to be used, and my core boiled with stolen jinsei. My vision was smeared with dark streaks that showed me the dead spots I’d created. The pressure behind my eyes told me I’d donned the visage of the Eclipse Warrior in all its horror.
“Do you believe me now?” I asked Abi, holding his gaze with my black, bottomless eyes.
Abi shook his head. I couldn’t tell if he was denying me or if he was trying to clear his thoughts. Either way, I didn’t have time to wait for him.
“Look at me,” I commanded.
He looked at me with real fear in his eyes. There was a flash of anger there, too, replaced almost as quickly as it appeared by a deep, abiding sorrow. For a moment, I thought he was going to turn away from me. But he clenched his fists, steeled himself, then reached out and put one hand on my shoulder.
“Your eyes,” he said. “They’re as black as midnight.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s what happens when I let go of it. When I lose control or have to push myself. It’s who I am. It’s what I am. An Eclipse Warrior.”
“You can’t say that,” Abi insisted. “They’ll kill you, Jace. They’ll think you’re a monster.”
“Maybe I am.” I looked around at the damage I’d caused, the dead lights, the dusted plant, the broken floor, my friend’s still-labored breathing. “But I’m the only one who can stop even worse monsters from turning the world upside down. You have to believe me.”
“Perhaps you are,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, Jace. I had no idea. I would never have made you reveal this, not to me, not to anyone.”
“I don’t blame you, Abi,” I said, my voice choked with emotion. “But I can’t hide it anymore. That’s what’s caused all this trouble. No one wants to talk about what happened after the war. No one wants to admit what the clans did was wrong. Let me fix this.”
“I hope this ends the way you see it, my friend,” Abi said slowly. “There’ll be repercussions for what I do now. But I trust you. So, go, save the world.”
The Arrival
“I AM NOT AN EXPERT,” Abi warned me. “I can only pilot the portal to an area where there is an anchor. Kyoto is unfamiliar to me, but I will try to get you as close to the central courthouse as possible. No guarantees, though.”
“You’re the only shot I’ve got.” I gave Abi a one-armed hug. “You’ll do fine.”
Abi turned his attention to the console in front of the portal. His fingers flew over the keyboard. His eyes scanned a screen I couldn’t see, flitting from point to point as if tracing a route on a roadmap.
“Godspeed, my friend,” he said, and pressed a button with a dramatic final gesture.
Golden light flowed over the gateway like warm honey. Its outline sharpened and something moved in its center. I wouldn’t know what lay on the other side until I crossed through. It didn’t really matter, though. My fate was in Abi’s hand, and I’d have to play whatever cards it dealt me.
I stepped across the threshold of the hole in space, and my stomach churned as the world turned itself inside out. For the briefest moment, I had one foot back in the School and the other on the cool white tiles of a spartan, efficient building in the Kyoto overcity.
Surprised shouts erupted at my sudden appearance, and the portal closed behind me with a sharp, electric snap. Abi had been wrong about his accuracy. He hadn’t put me down near the courthouse, he’d put me inside it. Given the high-profile case taking place there that day, there were plenty of security guards and media nearby to be alarmed at my abrupt entrance.
The more quickwitted reporters amongst the crowd snapped pictures of me with cameras they produced as if by magic. Their slower peers jumped and shouted in alarm.
The guards on duty had an altogether different reaction.
One of them drew his sidearm and shouted at me in a language I assumed was Japanese. The weapon was centered on my chest. A little more pressure on the trigger, and I was a dead man.
And so was everyone else in this building. I was the only hope any of them had of surviving what was on its way.
“English!” I shouted. “I only
