“Get out,” I said. I wasn’t sure I could kill Tycho and didn’t want to risk my life in a fight against a sage. Even weakened as he was, Tycho had centuries of experience and tricks up his sleeve.
“As you wish.” Tycho bowed and stepped into the shadows.
“Thank you.” Hahen rubbed his throat. “You’ve made a powerful enemy this day, Jace. That you did it on my behalf puts me deeply into your debt.”
“No,” I said. “You owe me nothing, honored spirit. You are my friend, even if my choices disappointed you. And I don’t tally my friend’s debts.”
“That is a refreshing change.” The rat spirit chuckled. “Then allow me to continue your training. The world is in danger, and it needs you. Now more than ever.”
The Revival
WHEN THE LAST DAY OF the school year arrived, I still wasn’t sure what I would do over the summer. I didn’t have any home to go back to, and spending three months in this old building with no one but the staff and Hahen to keep me company wasn’t my idea of fun. I could meditate, sure, cycle my jinsei and try to push my core from disciple to artist. Very few people, not even graduates of the School of Swords and Serpents, made it to that level. The majority spent their lives as adepts, much more powerful than your average person, but a far, far cry from the strength of the sages.
But a whole summer of that? When I was about to turn sixteen?
No, that didn’t sound like any fun at all.
To distract myself from that bleak prospect, I rounded up my friends and dragged them out to the beach for one last afternoon of fun. We played volleyball, chased each other through the surf, and cooked hot dogs we’d stolen from the kitchen over a driftwood fire. When the sun was low on the horizon, I called them all over to me.
“What is it?” Clem asked as they gathered.
“I’ve been working on something,” I said. Hahen had opened my eyes to new ways of using my abilities. “A new technique. One that builds off what I’ve learned since Kyoto.”
“Look at Mr. Disciple over here,” Eric said. “Showing off.”
I pointed at a patch of strange crystallized sand and blackened grass.
“I did this when I came back to school at the beginning of the year,” I said. “Stripped the aspects and jinsei out of the earth. I nearly lost control.”
“You’re killing me with the suspense,” Clem said. “What is it you want to show us?”
“This,” I said.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and a rush of jinsei poured into my core. It brought with it the natural aspects of my surroundings: growth, life, plants, beast, and vitality. There were more, but those five were the most important aspects, and the most dominant. Taking them in this way wasn’t the same as when I stripped them with Borrowed Core. It was like the difference between ripping leaves off a tree and picking up those that had already fallen to the ground.
I let out a long, slow breath and pushed the aspects out of my aura toward the blighted patch at my feet.
It was slow at first. I was doing the exact opposite of what my Eclipse core had specialized in, and the effort of creation was far greater than the effort of destruction. Beads of sweat burst from my forehead as I pushed against the fabric of reality. The world didn’t like having its authority challenged.
And I didn’t care.
One aspect at a time, I put the jigsaw puzzle back together. The world slowed to a crawl as I forced the aspects to fit where they’d once belonged. And then...
“By the Flame,” Clem whispered.
The black was gone. The grass was lush and green and six inches taller than it had been. There was no sign of sand or dead earth anywhere around us.
“How?” Abi asked, his voice thick with emotion.
“The Eclipse core could drain jinsei from the environment or people,” I explained. “It’s so powerful it shreds the aspects from wherever it gets the jinsei. That’s why they were so powerful against the Locust Court. They not only drained the power out of the spirits’ cores, they destroyed the aspects that made up their bodies.”
“That explains how you killed the grass in the first place, not how you fixed it,” Clem said.
“It’s like cycling.” I took a deep breath of jinsei-laden air. “You pull the energy in, but the aspects get stuck in your aura until you can cleanse them. You exhale, and those aspects go back out into the world, leaving your core with clean, pure jinsei. The only difference is, I can move a lot of aspects out of my aura at the same time. And I can tell them where to go.”
“That’s incredible,” Eric said, his voice low and shaky. “You just... I can’t believe this. That grass was dead. And now it’s alive. I’d say it was impossible if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”
“You have to tell someone about this, Jace,” Abi said. “What will you do with such a power?”
I considered the question for a moment. I’d started my life as a camper with a broken core, the lowest among the low. I’d fought so hard to make my way into the school, only to be treated like dirt. And, now, I’d saved everyone and become a hero.
There was really only one thing left for me to do.
“Change the world,” I said quietly.
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