Infinity Son(75)

When the hug breaks, my gaze doesn’t leave the floor.

“I hope you find yourself,” I say.

“I hope you pop up again, firefly,” Ness says, and the door clicks behind him.





Forty


True Colors


NESS

Before I leave the illusion’s perimeter, I morph into a white man so no one will bother me. Every step away from Nova is terrifying, but I don’t let that show. I maintain this guise that I’m someone with a great life who’s simply out for a late-night stroll. No one will suspect this man is thinking about fleeing to the Dominican Republic where his mother was born, so he can connect with roots that the Senator didn’t encourage growing up. To get far away from everyone who ruined his life in this city.

Maybe when I’m older and the world has completely forgotten me, I can exist in the world again without a morph. Some people I pass on the street may question why I look so familiar, but no one is going to make the connection that I’m that kid they believed died in the Blackout.

I’m about to ask someone for directions when sirens approach. Cars clear a path, and enforcer tanks speed past me. They park, and a young man steps out. He pokes at the air with a glowing hand before yanking his entire arm back, like someone pulling a tablecloth out from underneath a dinner setting. There’s a massive flash that funnels away, and I can see everything—the empty gas station, and ahead, Nova.

The celestial broke the illusion.

The tanks speed toward the school, and I don’t understand how celestials can turn their back on their own kind. But who am I if I turn my back on Emil and the Spell Walkers when they may need me the most?





Forty-One


Gravesend


EMIL

On the way to pack, I wish I had more than scars and memories to remember Ness by. I should’ve taken him up on that amateur art. Maybe he would’ve painted two boys sitting closely together on the floor. But after seeing how Atlas was used against Maribelle, maybe it’s best if we don’t let anyone get to know our hearts.

I enter the room and almost bump into Prudencia.

“I was about to come find you,” she says. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I was . . . I was seeing Ness out.”

Ma is on my air mattress beside a stuffed duffel bag, and she stops folding a shirt. “He left?”

I nod. “How are you two?”

“We’re done,” Prudencia says. “But Brighton’s stuff isn’t here. No clothes, no bag, no laptop.”

He’s probably camping out in someone else’s room. “I’ll go find him.”

I put down the egg, and it glows brighter than before and begins hatching.

“It’s happening!”

The room gets warm. I can’t believe I’m about to witness the birth of a phoenix—especially a century phoenix. Brighton should be here for this once-in-a-lifetime experience, getting it on camera like I always wanted for him, but there’s no time to find him. The shell cracks on one side and within seconds, a bronze beak is hammering away, yawning a song of chaos. Then Gravesend breaks free from her egg with her crown of midnight-blue feathers and eyes as big and shiny as marbles.

“What a beauty,” I say as I scoop her up in one of my shirts. She’s as light and soft as a bouquet of flowers. Her war-hungry cries grow louder and louder as she squirms around my arms with one wing shielding her eyes from the light.

“She needs to be fed,” Ma says.

“Good luck making Gravesend vegan,” Prudencia says.

“Challenge accepted,” I joke, even though I know it’s not in her breed’s nature to eat anything but other animals. “I’ll see if there’s anything left in the kitchen and—”

Gravesend squirms more viciously, and her song chills my bones like when I’m walking through a bad neighborhood and can see shady characters watching me.

Then spellwork and screams echo in the hallway.

The Blood Casters are here for Gravesend.

“Turn off the lights and lock the door,” Ma says.

Was Gravesend warning us?

“We can’t stay here. Gravesend is too loud. Pru, get Ma somewhere safe.”

“You’re coming with us,” Prudencia says.

“I have to find Brighton.”

I can’t believe I’m doing this to Ma again, I can feel her heart breaking every time, but I’m not leaving without my brother. I peek out into the hallway, and a familiar blur is moving door to door, banging on each one.

Wesley appears before us, sweating and panting. “Enforcers. Enforcers are here. Get to the back and go past the fence. Cars will be waiting on the other side.”

“How did they—”

Wesley dashes off. How they found us doesn’t matter right now.

I hug Ma and Prudencia and tell them I’ll see them soon, then I run with Gravesend in my arms before they can stop me. I go for the roof first, shuddering whenever spellwork explodes, shaking the floors. I shout for Brighton, but he’s not up here. Over the ledge, I see six enforcer tanks parked by the front entrance. I rest Gravesend in the corner of the roof, praying to the stars this will be the safest spot to leave her while I hunt down Brighton. I kiss her forehead and rush back down. Her cries follow me the whole way.