“There’s no room for second-guessing in war,” says Eurek, cutting off Hysan’s outrage. “We need to free our camp from the Marad soldiers holding our Zodai hostage in the other fortresses. Once we’ve rounded up all the prisoners and locked them up in The Bellow, we’ll address next steps.”
His gaze stops on me and hardens. For a moment I think he’s going to recommend locking me up in The Bellow, too, but suddenly Pandora comes over and links her arm with mine. “Where should we meet you?” she asks Eurek.
“My chambers. I’ll arrange an urgent holo-meet with the other Guardians so we can debrief them.” He looks to Skarlet, Ezra, and Gyzer. “We’ll either have to take out one Fort after the other, or we can split up into two teams of two.”
“I have another idea,” says Hysan, and they grudgingly look to him. “You can access the central air cooling systems in the main halls of both structures, where I planted Bind bombs weeks ago, in case we ever needed them.” He ignores the way the air tenses when he admits to more secrecy. “They’ll disperse through the air in seconds, and everyone in both fortresses will fall asleep. Then we can arrest the Marad soldiers and explain everything to the Zodai when they wake up.”
Bind is House Libra’s signature weapon: a wispy white powder made from ground-up minerals found deep within Kythera’s core that seeps quickly into a person’s muscular system and puts the body into a deep sleep. Librans are immune to small doses of the powder from breathing in trace amounts of it every day.
Eurek finally nods. “That’s a better plan,” he says, biting off each word like it’s bothering him. “How do we set them off?”
“I’ll go with you—”
“I know how to activate them,” Ezra cuts in. “You stay here and sort this shit out.” She waves between Hysan and me.
“Let’s go,” says Eurek, marching out with his team, and then I’m left alone with Hysan, Nishi, Mathias, and Pandora.
With the others gone, Pandora lets go of my arm and returns to Mathias’s side.
Only Nishi meets my gaze, and I almost wish she wouldn’t. There’s so much disappointment on her face that I flash back to the day at the International Village after I was stripped of my Guardianship—the day the Zodiac turned against me. Only this time, it’s the people I love most looking at me like I’m worthless.
“I understand if you want to lock me up in The Bellow,” I say, and at this, Mathias’s indigo blue eyes shoot up to mine. He doesn’t look stoic anymore . . . he looks sad.
“I came back because I don’t want you guys to die,” I say, realizing I’m speaking the absolute truth for the first time in a while. “If you choose death, then I’ll die with you. But I’m begging you to reconsider, for your sakes.”
Nishi blows out an exasperated breath and brings her hands up to her face. “You are so infuriating, Rho. You sold your soul to save my life—did you seriously think I would thank you for it? You really think I could live with that price?”
“I’m sorry, Nish—I just couldn’t bear the thought of you in there another moment—”
“You couldn’t bear it. Because it was something you had the power to fix! I was someone you could still save, unlike Stan.”
The air blows out of my lungs, but new oxygen doesn’t replace it. “I know I could have handled things better, but that doesn’t matter now, because I brought you the information you’re looking for.”
Mathias and Nishi’s expressions shift from upset to curious, and they edge closer. “You know how he’s going to open the portal?” asks Nishi, and I nod. “How?”
“He’s—”
“Why tell us if you think Aquarius is right?”
Hysan is still speaking in a low voice, the facial hair swallowing his usual glow.
“Because you have the right to decide your own fate.”
“I don’t want you to tell us,” he says resolutely, crossing his arms. “Not unless you’re with us again.”
“Hysan—” starts Nishi.
But to my shock, it’s Mathias who rests a hand on her shoulder and says, “Let him talk.”
Hysan’s green gaze locks onto mine like a lie detector. “Why did he attack your House and Virgo and Gemini?”
“To redirect the Dark Matter that was being disturbed by Guardians Origene, Moira, and Caasy’s experiments.”
“That’s not true,” says Pandora, stepping forward. “We worked it out. We believe it was to destabilize the Psy.”
I turn to Hysan questioningly, and he explains. “Aquarius’s plans were too close to fruition to risk the Zodai foreseeing them. So to disrupt the Psy, he had to take out its anchors—today’s greatest seers. Since a Guardian’s strength comes from their Psynergetic connection to their world and their people, he had to take out chunks of these worlds’ populations to truly weaken the Psy’s pillars.”
“But the Dark Matter—”
“Is only a threat because Aquarius is a threat,” says Hysan. “The signs he’s been seeing started showing up the moment he set on this idea and began taking steps toward it.”
I look to Mathias, who’s nodding in agreement with Hysan, and I remember what he told me when he taught me about the Collective Conscious: In the brain, everything is relative. Most of us don’t intentionally try to misrepresent anything—but the lies we tell ourselves, the truths we repress, the things we conceal in the physical realm . . . they inform reality in the Psy. Even in an abstract dimension, ideas built on flawed foundations will fail.
“Aquarius is the one bringing the Zodiac down,” says Nishi. “He’s a star with free will—that gives him too much power.”
Everything I’ve learned over the past few days starts to connect in my mind, forming a new constellation of facts. Ophiuchus was meant for that role because he was Unity: It went against his very nature to think of just himself. The other Guardians weren’t offered the same power because it would have had a corrosive effect—they weren’t meant to hold it. By interfering, Aquarius has distorted the astral plane.
He may be all knowing, but Nishi’s right: He’s not just a star—he’s a star with free will. And he keeps making the same choice as the humans he looks down on: He can’t let go.
He’s created his own darkness.
“Which came first: fate or free will?” I say softly, quoting Aquarius. Mallie said she joined him because she Saw herself joining the Party. But who sent her that vision?
He manipulates the Psy by creating the visions he needs, Hysan said when Crompton revealed himself as the master in the Cathedral. He’s been recruiting people for his plan by altering their destinies.
“I say free will,” says Nishi, and the anger in her face is gone, like a candle that’s been blown out. “What do you say?”
“Aquarius is going to open the portal by sacrificing Ophiuchus on his own soil,” I blurt out.
All four of them stare at me in awe.
“We have to go back for him,” I say. To save the Zodiac, we have to save Ophiuchus.
28