I stood there and smiled. Which was a feat considering my injuries.
But hey, it was over, and that would be enough to make any girl smile.
It took Mary a long time to pull her shocked attention off McCain and lock it on me. “You did it. Child, you saved him.”
“In a manner of speaking,” I managed as I brought up a hand and tried to neaten my hair over my shoulder. I gave up when it felt like I was trying to run my fingers through a knot of wire.
Mary’s lips quivered. She tried to push to her feet, but before she could, McCain stirred. Showing his strength and speed, his hand shot up and locked around Mary’s wrist.
At first, my heart wanted to beat with fear. At first, my heart wanted to tell me that I’d been wrong, that I hadn’t managed to save McCain after all.
I pushed that inevitable conclusion away and watched, waiting to see what would happen next.
Mary turned her head down just as McCain tried to sit. There was a frown on his face. It wasn’t powerful, wasn’t angry – it was simply confusion.
He shifted his attention from me back to Mary. As soon as he saw her, a spark of familiarity lit up his eyes and curled his lips into the warmest smile I’d ever seen. “Mary? What’s happening? Where am I?”
A single tear fell from her eye and trailed down her cheek.
I looked down at her. I didn’t smile. To be honest, I still didn’t know what to think. McCain had been a world-class asshole. He’d cursed my whole family for generations.
“It was the magic. His magic did it to him.” Mary, obviously reading my mind, shook her head. “It was the cost of using his magic.”
Could I actually believe that?
“Mary, what’s going on? Who is that woman?” McCain asked. His tone was completely different. Gone were the strident power and hatred. In their place were innocence and confusion.
Mary smiled at McCain then tilted her head up and faced me. “You took his magic, wiped the slate clean. How?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to lose my Max. So I found a way to make everyone win.”
Ever since I’d met Mary, she’d always called me child, always looked at me as if I needed protecting. Now she shifted her head back and nodded as if I were an equal. “You are surely more powerful than I ever was.”
I snorted. “Not anymore. I used up all my power. I’ve only got a single spark left to get back home.”
A wide smile spread across Mary’s pale cheeks. “Your magic won’t be gone completely, Chi. Though you’ve used up most of it, and you’ll never see full visions of the future again and you’ll never be able to travel to the past, you’ll still catch glimpses.”
“Glimpses?” Even as I asked, I realized I already knew what she meant. The tiny flashes of possible futures that had helped me defeat McCain.
“It’ll be enough to help people.”
I nodded.
She returned her attention to McCain, another smile pressing hard against her lips as she tenderly patted the hair from his eyes.
I stiffened. Even though I’d kind of saved the world here, I couldn’t let this drop. “I may have stripped him of his magic, and he may have apparently lost his memories, but he’s still a criminal.” I stopped just short of calling him a monster.
Mary’s eyes lost focus as she stared past me into the middle distance.
I had a feeling she was about to tell me it was complicated, that McCain’s magic had made him do it.
She didn’t. Instead, she nodded slowly. “Aye, he gave into his magic, like most of us do. I’m not excusing what he did to us McLanes, and I never will. But neither will I give in to the last of his magic.”
My brow crumpled and dropped low over my eyes. “Sorry?”
“His magic robbed us of our future. Robbed anyone around him of their futures. That’s why he needed you – a seer who could create another path.”
I shook my head, finally realizing what she was implying. “I don’t buy that McCain was created by his magic. He had a choice in the matter.”
Mary laughed softly. “We’re not all as strong as you, Chi. We’re not all as good at finding balance. Know this, McCain’s magic was stronger than him. It wanted his future, wanted to become as powerful as it could.”
I frowned, the move driving lines through my chin. The way she was explaining it, it sounded like magic was some kind of parasite feeding off the people who practiced it.
… I entertained the possibility for half a second before shaking my head resolutely. Magic was neither good nor bad – it reacted to your fear, to your desires, to your quest for certainty.
“Don’t worry, Chi – he’s lost his power now. His memories, too. There’s no longer anything to punish, just cherish,” she added under her breath as she softly thumbed the hair from his forehead again.
Though I wanted to linger and challenge her, she suddenly shifted over her shoulder, eyes opening wide. “It’s calling you back, my dear.”
“What?”
“The future. You can’t linger here anymore. It’s over, Chi. Return to your own time and reap your just rewards.” With that, Mary nodded low.
“Wait, what about the timeline? Now I’ve removed McCain’s power, won’t history change?”
Mary laughed softly. “Don’t worry, everything will be exactly as you remember it when you return. Now go back. Time to live your future, Chi.”
I bowed low.
Then I turned. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated with all my power on that last spark of a firefly.
This was it. Once I used it
