“My Katybug.”
“Don’t call me that.” It hurt too much to hear and reminded me of a time when she wasn’t a raging psycho bitch.
“I know you think you hate me.”
“I do hate you.”
She cringed, the words almost physically cutting her. Good. “I know you think everything I’ve done is evil or that I’ve come back to punish you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Please believe me, baby. Everything I’ve done, everything I’m doing now, is for you.” She extended her hand. “Come with me, Katybug. Come with me, and we’ll fulfill the prophecy together, just as I promised we would.”
If this was what she’d meant when she said she had big plans for us, count me out. But I couldn’t deny the compassion in her eyes, the emotions heavy in her voice. I had to swallow several times. “I don’t want to fulfill the prophecy like this. Innocent people are going to die. This is not the way and will only reduce our numbers even more.”
“It’s thinning the herd. We don’t need great numbers. We need great power.”
“With great power comes great responsibility.” Because of course I’d quote Spider-Man at a time like this. It fit. “Being the prophecy isn’t about fame and fortune. It isn’t about glory or forcing everyone to follow you. It’s about standing up for what’s right even when you’re outnumbered. I know what’s right. This is not right.”
Her hand began to tremble as she leaned in, her eyes wide, pleading with urgency. “Katy, sweetheart, please think about what you’re doing. If you don’t join me, convince the others to follow, I’ll have no choice. Anyone not willing to stand as my ally must fall as my enemy.”
I swallowed several more times. As much as I wanted a relationship with my mother, I couldn’t do it, not like this. My brain and heart waged a war inside me. If I agreed to join her, I’d finally have her attention, maybe even earn her respect. But at what cost? I’d be betraying everyone, including myself. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t betray everyone I loved, especially my guys. “I’m sorry, Sammie. No dice.”
Her expression, so full of compassion, of eager anticipation only moments ago, melted into icy rage. She jerked her hand back as she transformed into the cold stranger that’d tried to kill me back at the ruins, turned and squared her shoulders. “Then so be it. Their deaths are on you.” Without warning, she whipped around, throwing her arm out and hurling a speeding current of air at the bus. The elementals who’d made it out of the bus, relief on their faces from escaping death, were launched over the side of the bridge. Screams echoed into the air as they fell.
I ran to the side of the bridge and called air, stopping them from plummeting to their deaths. The bus groaned beside me as it lifted and slid the final distance needed to knock off its center of gravity.
The elementals still inside the bus screamed and jumped out the back, only to be swept away by the wind she used to push everything over the edge. The bus descended, tossing and turning as it tumbled toward the airfield I’d created to stop the elementals from hitting the water. They hovered in place, halfway between safety and sure death, as the bus barreled toward them.
“Clay!”
“On it.” He hurried to the side and called air, halting the bus still partially full of people.
“Let me help.” Virgil Graves finally decided to join the rest of the class.
What happened next sealed his fate. And ours.
Instead of working with Clay to save the elementals, he faced Samantha Reed. “This was not part of the deal, Sammie.”
“Deals change, Virgil.”
I regarded Clay, who glanced back at me with wide eyes. The shock holding my expression frozen matched his. Rob and Leo took advantage of the distraction and helped bring the muted elementals back over the edge, setting them onto the pavement.
Graves and Sammie squared off. “Are you sure you want to do this? Double-crossing me is not going to end well for you. I handed you the prophecy.”
“And I handed you the Council,” she retorted, ignoring the rest of us as we saved the elementals. She spotted them on the bridge and shook her head. “Now look what you’ve done. They lived. You never wanted these dilutes in our world. Now we have to start over.”
“I have a better plan.” He lifted his hand and, with the flick of his wrist, sent Sammie spinning through the air. He then froze her in place and slowly walked toward her. She bared her teeth as he casually grinned. “Sometimes you have to make tough choices when you’re in a position of power.” He repeated the same words she’d used on me.
“Virgil,” she whimpered, showing a lack of control for the first time since she’d returned. “What are you doing?”
He glanced over his shoulder, nailing me with that piercing blue stare. “Restoring order to our world.”
Why the hell look at me while saying that?
“As you said.” He paused to return his attention to Sammie. “If they don’t join as allies, they will die as enemies.”
She struggled against the invisible restraints. “No. You can’t mean that.”
“I assure you, I can.”
“Katy,” she gasped and clawed at her neck. “Run.”
What?
“Katy!” Her eyes rounded. “Run!” When I didn’t react, she shifted to Clay. “Get her out of here! You can’t trust—ah!” She was abruptly silenced as her expression twisted in pain.
“We’ve heard quite enough out of you. Thank you for your service, Samantha Reed. You’re dismissed.”
Then, right before my eyes, he squeezed his hand into a fist and twisted his wrist. Her head mirrored the movement, turning impossibly wrong, and she crumpled to the pavement.
“No!” I screamed, paralyzed with shock. I did not just witness my mom’s murder. That did not just happen. Please, God. Please someone tell me that didn’t just happen.
“No!” Alec shouted at the same time
