I shouldn’t have involved him either.
Everyone I touch burns.
I press down hard with gauze, cleaning up the blood, and fix new bandages across my cuts. I pull on Brighton’s white shirt with the minimalistic camera design over the pocket. The shirt is fitted, way snugger than anything I’ve allowed myself to wear in years. I’m going to rock it like armor.
The lock on the front door twists, but there are no keys jingling from outside.
I fight past the pain to conjure a fire-orb, but it’s Prudencia entering with Iris and Wesley. I slam into her with a hug. Prudencia takes me to the couch and tells me everything. Ma and Eva are on their way to the shelter in Philadelphia where Ruth will watch over them. Other celestials have been spread out everywhere with short trips to New Jersey and longer journeys to Ohio. There’s no sign of Brighton or Maribelle, but I have hope that maybe they’re together when they tell me Maribelle recently uploaded some tributes to Atlas on his Instagram; that sounds like Brighton’s doing. I tell them about Ness being exposed and taken captive.
Wesley stares at the constellation through the window. “We need to stop Luna. She’s the heart of all this pain.”
“We don’t stand a chance,” I say. “Four against however many acolytes and Blood Casters will be there. And Pru and I didn’t grow up using our powers.”
“Everyone gets a boost, but the Crowned Dreamer is on the side of celestials above all,” Iris says. “Wesley will be faster, and I will be stronger, and Prudencia will be more powerful. We’re not as outmatched as you think.”
“Maybe it’s time we turn it over to the authorities,” I say. “Get the enforcers to take out Luna.”
“They haven’t cared before, and I don’t see them starting now,” Iris says. “We don’t need to beat everyone. If we can get close enough to kill Luna or the phoenix, we can end this.”
I shake my head. “No. Gravesend is a newborn. She needs to live long enough to grow that muscle. If anyone kills her now, she won’t ever resurrect.”
“Luna won’t either,” Iris says. “If we can save the phoenix, we will, but if we can’t, we must do what has to be done. You’re not calling the shots here, Emil. Especially not after you were ready to walk. But we do need you to fight alongside us.”
It would be easier if I walked away from this battle. To spend tonight tracking my brother. “No lie, there have been times the past few days where I was hoping for a quick death. But what I want is a long life, and I know I can’t have that if Luna lives forever.”
Wesley nods. “It’s what we all want, but I hear you. We got to grow into our roles, and you were pulled out of home suddenly. Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve stayed in for this long.”
“This is the fight of our lives,” Iris says. “If we don’t move now, the sacrifices of everyone we’ve lost will have been for absolutely nothing.”
If we lose, Luna can rise to power, and alchemists everywhere will stop at nothing to figure out her formula. And if they succeed, we’ll have a world that’s overrun with immortals fighting beyond the end of time.
We leave home.
During the ride over, we gear up in power-proof vests Iris had packed away. I wonder how much stronger I could be if I hadn’t been cut up by the infinity-ender, but I’ll take what I can get. During stoplights, Prudencia tests the elevated strength of her telekinesis out the window—lifting a parked motorcycle, knocking over a trash can. She’s proud and hopeful, and I wish I felt the same.
We reach the Alpha Church of New Life. It isn’t massive, but it’s impressive. The bricks are dark gray with steeples as blue as Gravesend’s feathers. We’re spotted immediately when we get out of the car, and a sniper in the building next door fires a rapid bolt at me, which Prudencia sweeps away. Wesley takes the lead, faster than ever, and lays out acolytes left and right like a game of pinball, and he bursts through the front door. We run inside and there are murals of various creatures. It’s refreshing to see them illustrated so peacefully and living their lives out in nature instead of the usual, like three-headed hydras viciously attacking cities or basilisks swallowing children whole or shifters deceiving loved ones or phoenixes being drowned.
I blast open a large door that leads us into the garden, and there they all are. Luna is in a ceremonial cape that drapes down to the floor, standing beside Anklin Prince. Stanton, June, and Dione are all dressed in gray jumpsuits with half a dozen acolytes surrounding them. Thankfully, there’s no shield like the one in the cemetery.
Luna turns her back on us, muttering a prayer as she swings a massive scythe over the hydra’s neck. The hydra roars in pain, and Stanton holds it down as Luna hacks away, yellow blood spraying and pooling into a metallic cauldron. Gravesend is screeching in her cage. We all break. June appears behind me and wraps her arms around my chest, kneeing me in the back repeatedly. I cast my fiery wings and take flight, shaking June off, and she crashes to the floor. I fly straight to Anklin as he twists open the urn, but a bolt from an acolyte’s wand blasts me in the center of my vest. My world spins as I’m flipping toward the bronze spikes of the gate—suddenly I’m jerked in midair and fall into a cluster of bushes.
“That was close,” Prudencia says as she helps me up. Before I can thank her, we see Iris being cornered by Dione and Stanton. “I’ll do what
