I wake up on the front porch, my teeth still chattering. What just happened? How did I end up out here? Am I dead—is this just my spirit escaping all that chaos?
I look down at my body. It’s still there. I rub my hands together, still cold. I exhale, and vapor floats out of my mouth. I feel my heartbeat, faster than it should be, but at least it doesn’t feel like my heart is about to explode anymore.
I’m still inside my body. I’m still alive.
“Sunshine?” I look up. Lucio is crouched beside me. Nolan stands over him. “Are you okay?”
There’s no way to answer that question, so I counter with one of my own: “What happened?”
Lucio looks up at Nolan like he’s asking a question. Nolan nods. “Helena couldn’t go through with it,” Lucio says finally.
“Couldn’t go through with it?” I echo.
“She couldn’t kill you,” Nolan answers. As always, he provides the information I need to complete the picture. Helena couldn’t kill her own daughter—the girl who shares her hair and her mouth, the girl who is exactly her height.
“Let’s get out of here,” Nolan says, reaching down and pulling me up to stand. I immediately feel queasy. Guess our kiss couldn’t break the spell completely.
“We wouldn’t get much farther than the edge of Victoria’s front yard.” Lucio nods toward the street in front of us.
Nolan can’t feel it, but Lucio and I can. Helena arranged all the spirits that were criss-crossing Victoria’s living room into a ring around the house. They’re lined up around Victoria’s house like a fence.
“We never covered this particular trick in my lessons,” I say to Lucio.
“I don’t think Aidan actually knows how to do this.”
“I guess he wasn’t the only one who spent the past sixteen years doing research.”
“Guess not,” Lucio agrees.
“Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on here?” Nolan can’t see or feel the spirits. He might even be able to walk right through them if he wanted to. I explain that we’re surrounded. “Helena is holding us prisoner,” I finish.
In unison we look back at the house. The front door is open wide. We can hear Aidan and Helena shouting at each other.
“Now we know why he made Anna my test.” I don’t know why I’m speaking so softly; it’s not like they’d be able to hear me over the sound of their own voices. “He needed her spirit to be part of this.” Lucio and Nolan both nod.
“I’ve never heard him yell like that,” Lucio says softly. “Not even at you,” he adds with a smile. Nolan doesn’t seem pleased with Lucio’s inside joke.
“The darkness is growing stronger,” Helena shouts. “There isn’t a moment to waste.”
“Then why didn’t you eliminate her when you had the chance? You must still believe—”
“Belief has nothing to do with it.”
Aidan doesn’t respond. Helena’s voice is calm, even when she says, “There’s no one left on your side but a powerless woman and an orphan boy.” Lucio flinches. I place a hand on his forearm.
“There may be fewer of us, but that doesn’t make us wrong,” Aidan counters.
“They could go on like this all night,” I whisper breathlessly.
“All night?” Lucio laughs, but there’s no joy in it. “They could go on like this forever.”
I glance at Nolan, pressing my hands to my lips. Blood still drips from the wound on his right temple, and even though I can’t see them, I know his arms are bruised beneath his jacket. This isn’t the first time he’s been hurt because of me. The shouting inside the house grows louder.
I might be able to put an end to all of this. Repair the rift, protect Nolan, protect Kat, protect the entire human race. I shiver, shoving my hands in my pockets to keep warm, wrapping my fingers around what’s inside.
“Nolan, I have something for you.” I slide a wrinkled piece of paper from my back pocket.
“That’s Aidan’s map!” Lucio exclaims, recognizing it at once.
“I thought Nolan might be able to make some sense out of it.”
Nolan immediately starts scanning it with his eyes. “Four places, four dates?” he murmurs thoughtfully.
“Those are the four dates and places across the globe where one luiseach has died suddenly.” Lucio hesitates before adding, “One luiseach every four years since Sunshine was born.”
I gasp. Nolan’s face looks grave, but he keeps his eyes focused on the map in his hands. Just as I thought, Nolan will make sense of the map. And now that he and Lucio are both distracted, it’s time for me to act.
I take a step backward, away from my friends.
Did the spirits in Aidan’s lab really move on without help after I left? Or was Helena right when she accused Aidan of lying? I shake my head. After what happened inside Victoria’s house, I know that it doesn’t matter whether or not Aidan was lying.
I’m not strong enough to help all the spirits in the world.