Somehow, it transforms into my own timeline, and I think about how strange my life has been. The one thing I knew for certain growing up was that I loved Cancer—and that I left it. The one person I never wanted to be like was Mom, then I followed her footsteps and abandoned Dad and Stanton. The first guy I ever fell for was a university student whom I watched silently for years, loved silently for weeks, and then let die in silence, without giving either of us a chance to say our goodbyes. I was in too much of a hurry to reach my own death.
Everything starts to connect in the air around me, as though a new Ephemeris were swelling out, only it’s a map of my life and how it’s led me to this moment, my death.
Time is three-dimensional, and it forms its own galaxy of lights and connectors, not like the music of the stars, but more like a brain’s neuron network. Only it’s never-ending and ever-expanding, like our universe. As it rotates round and round, the image of a worm eating itself comes to mind.
Everything is connected, cyclical, eternal. Time, Space, Ophiuchus. And somehow I understand what integral element the Thirteenth House brought to the Zodiac. The thing missing from our galaxy today.
Unity.
At Helios’s Halo, I felt something electric in the air, something I’ve never felt before. It’s not just our trust that Ophiuchus stole from us—there’s something more powerful he took, something we glimpsed for a minute that night, when we came together.
It’s hope.
And in a universe of people that spend their todays searching for tomorrows, hope is the most powerful weapon you can have.
Ophiuchus was supposed to bind our solar system together. His defection left us imbalanced and broken. Fighting him will require a force of souls from more than just House Cancer.
I’ll need to fuse with Psynergy from the whole Zodiac.
41
SOMEHOW, OCHUS’S ARM IS STILL SWINGING. I dig deeper into my Center, staring into the blinking lights of the twelve constellations, until I’m fusing with the Psynergy flowing from the whole solar system.
I’m borrowing psychic energy from people all over, the way Ochus does, so my pulling tugs on his own store of Psynergy, and his fist falls.
What is this? he demands. You can’t do this!
We wrestle for power, each of us gaining and losing physical strength. Ochus has an easier time retaining his hold on this dimension, and I don’t have Abyssthe, or even my Ring, to help. All I have is me—so it’s a good thing I’m an everlasting flame.
I keep holding on, knowing it’s only a matter of time until Ochus’s gradual change comes over him—the burden of time—and he grows old. When eventually he curves into his hunched form, he lets go. He can’t defeat me in this shape.
So. You have won a round. Perhaps you will even become a worthy opponent in time. His body grows less visible every moment, but his black-hole eyes remain dark, churning in midair.
This game never ends, but you have earned a respite. House Cancer has nothing further to fear from me.
I glare at him. You’ve already destroyed it. What about the other Houses?
Hear me well, child. This game never ends. I serve a master who has more surprises in store.
He wheezes a fading laugh. Then he blows me a kiss. A sharp, white-hot kiss of pure Psynergy.
I dodge, but the poison dart burns a glancing blow across my neck, etching my skin like acid.
Remember me, he says, vanishing.
I feel myself plummeting downward through burning gases and dust, flailing my arms, and then solidifying into a mass of pain. My head smacks the deck of the Wasp, and I touch the throbbing wound on my neck.
As soon as I look up, my Wasp’s mechanical voice chirps. “Warning. Hydrogen leak.”
I look around. I’m alone in Space.
“Passenger eject,” says the voice. “Eject urgently.”
The console buzzes with emergency messages. My Wasp’s powertrain is about to rupture.
On autopilot, I zip my suit up all the way and put my helmet back on, wincing from the pain in my hands. Then I cinch the belt tight and speak the final command.
With a detonating crack, my cabin capsule separates from the engine assembly and tumbles away. Soon the orange flash of the rupturing powertrain spins across my porthole like an angry sun. The capsule has no navigation, so I can’t direct it. I just turn over and over on end, until—
Thump.
I’m caught in the claws of a grappling arm, which has appeared out of nowhere. I’m not spinning anymore, so I watch the arm haul me in, holding my breath, unsure who’s got me.
And then a much smaller ship coasts into view. A skiff, its lights blinking.
Tears fill my eyes. It’s Hysan.
? ? ?
As soon as my capsule’s inside the Xitium’s bay, Hysan’s skiff glides in and docks, and Sirna pries open my hatch. When she sees my face, her helmet shield rests against mine, and I hear her voice. “Praise Helios, you’re alive.”
Hysan springs out of his skiff and lifts me from the capsule, clasping me in his arms. The outer bay doors shut, and the three of us cycle through an airlock to the ship’s interior. We rip off our helmets. “How did you find me?”
Sirna touches a spot at the center of my chest. “I’ve followed all your movements, Guardian. The pearl I gave you is a tracker.”