The thought of being stuck with those black eyes for the rest of my life was far from thrilling.
I wrestled with telling Sanrin the whole story, though. I didn’t know everything about the contingency plan the New Moon sympathizers had put in place. If I was wrong, I’d look awfully foolish.
But, if I was right, we could save a lot of kids from feeling miserable and growing up confused. We might even be able to stop the Lost from coming back.
“I’m not unique,” I said. “I think there are others like me.”
That got Sanrin’s attention. He pursed his lips and stroked his beard.
“That is an interesting piece of news,” he said at last. “Care to elaborate?”
“The Eclipse Warriors,” I started. “Not all the Empyreals agreed that they should be murdered.”
“It was a very contentious decision,” the elder said. “The five sages and the Council of Dragons eventually decided they were too dangerous to keep around. I imagine from your earlier statement that you agree with that sentiment.”
“Yes,” I said. “And no. I mean, the Eclipse Warriors are incredibly dangerous. The things they can do are straight out of a nightmare. But if there’s something dangerous headed our way, couldn’t we use more people like me?”
“That is a question that borders on the heretical, young man,” Sanrin said. “The Empyrean Flame agreed with the destruction of our weapon at the end of the Utter War. Why would it have done that if we would need them in the future?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But we still need to find anyone else like me. The Lost, if there are any of them left, can use them to return. Like they did with me.”
Sanrin and I chewed on the problem until he leaned forward with his head in his hands.
“I’m too tired to make sense of this,” Sanrin said. “If there are others like you, how would we find them?”
“I think I know someone who could help,” I said.
The Farewell
THERE WERE STILL A few days of school left when the doctors got tired of my whining and released me from the Shadow Phoenix hospital. Other than a headache that seemed destined to stick around for a while, I’d mostly recovered. I had some wicked new scars on my arms from my fights with assassins and the Lost and an ugly patch of discolored skin on my stomach that no amount of jinsei had been able to fix. None of the doctors knew what had caused that damage, and I wasn’t going to tell them the truth.
That was the mark I’d earned when I fused my core. I was sort of glad it was still there. It reminded me that I was more than I thought I’d ever be. And of the price I’d paid for that power.
“Look who it is,” Clem said as I joined them in the breakfast line. “If it isn’t the hero of Kyoto.”
“As if.” I chuckled. “The freak of Kyoto is more like it.”
Abi glanced at me, then shook his head. He put one arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to his side.
“All heroes change,” he said. “They are marked by their experiences. You are no different, my friend. You’ve seen things most cannot even imagine. Your eyes will now tell that tale for you, so you will not have to speak of it.”
That was a surprisingly profound way to look at things, and it wasn’t what I’d expected from Abi. I’d worried he’d be afraid of me, afraid of the darkness that had taken root inside me. He wouldn’t be the only one.
Stories about the Eclipse Warrior terrorist attack had spread to the news like wildfire while I was laid up in my clan’s secret hospital. I’d spent a lot of time worrying about what people would think when they saw my eyes after that. Even without the attack, all-black eyes were pretty freaky.
“Thanks,” I said. “I just wish it wasn’t quite so scary.”
“Who would be scared of you?” Eric said with a smirk. “You’re a big old teddy bear.”
“This teddy bear’s got fangs and claws,” Hagar said from behind us. “I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side.”
My handler looked like she’d been through the ringer. One side of her head was bandaged beneath the shock of red hair that ran down the center of her skull. Both of her eyes were ringed by shadowy bruises, and she was still on crutches.
“You look like you recovered all right,” I said and made some space for her in the line. “Let’s get you some breakfast.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole pig.”
“You’ll fit right in here, then,” Clem said with a grin.
She and I worked together to get Hagar a heaping tray of bacon and sausage, a trio of fried eggs, and what looked like half a loaf of heavily buttered toast. I carried the warden’s tray back to our table, and the five of us all sat down together.
“Sounds like Grayson’s going to recover,” Eric said. “The spirits almost got him, but I guess sages are tougher than they look.”
“He might have survived, but I wonder if he really wanted to,” Clem said. “From what I read he’ll be laid up for months. The Locust Court did a real number on him. Siegfried didn’t fare much better. Both the Suns and the Titans will be without their sages for a while, now.”
“I’m just glad we all made it,” I said. “You guys really shouldn’t have come to Kyoto, you know.”
“It’s a good thing we did,” Abi said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been around to save the world.”
That was true, though I didn’t like to admit it.
“You cut it awfully close,” I said. “But, thank you. I really couldn’t have done it without you guys.”
“We know,” Clem said with a grin. “If it hadn’t been for me and
