Infinity Son(72)

“Then you can stay out of it. We’ll stop Luna without you.”

“You cannot come on any more missions,” Iris says. “We just lost one of our best celestials—one of our best friends. Atlas was powerful and good, and now he’s dead. If we couldn’t bring him home alive, we can’t guarantee your protection. It’s too big a risk, and if you hop in one of our cars again, I will throw you out myself.”

Brighton’s face is red. “First I’m not worth a rescue mission. Now I can’t enlist in this war because I might die? You’re not safe just because spellwork can bounce off your skin. Wesley isn’t so quick that he hasn’t been hit. I’ve seen more action than Eva.”

“Brighton, enough,” Prudencia says. “Be with your family. Be with me. No more blood should be lost.”

“I’m not turning my back on everyone,” Brighton says. “But good on you all for being able to do so.”

He leaves.

Iris approaches Wesley. “We need to relocate everyone. It’s too dangerous.”

I’m energized by Brighton’s fire, and I stand. “Don’t worry about the Blood Casters. I’m going to get to them first. Take care of June and the others for good.”

“Spell Walkers don’t kill,” Iris says. “Can we at least see eye to eye on that?”

“You all don’t kill. But I will.” I get up and head for the door. “I quit.”

My first thought when I see Atlas underneath the blanket is that he must not be able to breathe. I pull back the blanket, and I’m frozen for seconds before the sobs burst out of me. Too many memories rush through me, like the date I planned for him on Nova’s rooftop and whenever we showered together and when I kissed him for the first time and whenever he made me laugh so hard that I forgot all my pain. He became my home, and now I don’t know where to go.

Before I leave Nova, I have to take care of him.

I step out to grab rags and water and find Emil sitting in the hallway. I keep walking, but he follows me.

“I get what you’re going through—the family thing. If you want to talk—”

“That has no effect on me,” I interrupt. “You’re not my father.”

“I know I’m not. Definitely not trying to pull that card. It’s so . . . bizarre. But I know what it’s like to go through something life changing and discover your parents didn’t give birth to you. It’s not the same thing at all, I know, but it doesn’t have to be so lonely.”

I spin around and get in his face. He backs up with teary eyes. “I’m not interested in some support group, especially not with you. If you had held on to June like I asked you to, she would be dead instead of Atlas.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Will Ness know where June is?”

“He said the gang routinely moves around. They won’t be in any of their usual spots now that he’s betrayed them.”

Just my luck.

“Maribelle, I’m seriously sorry, and I—”

“It’s great that you’re done with this fight. You don’t belong here. But before you go, tell Wesley to come see me. No one else.”

The Spell Walkers have fallen apart, and I don’t care. I’m a one-woman army.

I go to the bathroom and return to Atlas with a bucket, water, and rags. I wash the blood and debris from his face, apologizing over and over. Wesley arrives and offers to help, and I don’t fight him.

“He wanted to be cremated,” I say. “Say your goodbyes while I pack my bag.”

“Mari, don’t—”

“He’s the only one who could call me that.”

I don’t take my time in our room. Atlas was my home—wherever he was, that’s where I felt happiest and safest. I throw everything that matters into the duffel bag—the star-touched wine Atlas gifted me, Papa’s binoculars, Mama’s reading glasses, and the daggers I will drive into June. When I return downstairs, Wesley and I carry Atlas out to the playground and lay his body on top of a stretch of glass.

“What if he didn’t see June possess me?” This question will haunt me until we’re reunited. “What if all Atlas saw was me pointing a wand at him and firing a spell? He wouldn’t even have had time to think about it. It was all so fast, Wes. I hate that it was so quick that he didn’t have time to register that it wasn’t me, and I hate that I’m upset that his death was swift.”

“He knew you loved him,” Wesley says.

“He would be alive if I didn’t.”

Wesley stays quiet. It’s true.

“I’m technically the one who killed him, so I should be able to bring back his ghost. But only after I’ve killed June. Then I can send him to rest in true peace.”

“I want to be there if you’ll let me.”

I nod.

“I’ll see you soon, Atlas.”

I call for my power, focusing on getting vengeance on June, and I close my eyes once the dark yellow flames enshroud Atlas’s body. I won’t leave him, but I can’t watch. For an hour, I sit with my back to Atlas’s body, crying against Wesley as we breathe in charcoal and other odors. Then, when Atlas’s body is gone, I empty the bottle of star-touched wine in a dying plant. I scoop up Atlas’s ashes with a gardening shovel and pour as much as can fit of him into the bottle and I pray to the mightiest of constellations it will be enough to summon him back for a proper goodbye.