Infinity Reaper

by Adam Silvera

  I’ve never seen Luna look this defeated before. Does she really not have something up her sleeve? Is June going to pop in any second now and vanish with her leader? Maybe Luna will show me some final mercy and have June carry me away too because I’m all out of moves now. It’s up to Emil and the Spell Walkers to cast a light on the Senator’s crimes. Outsmart him.

  “Do you remember when you were little and you were rooting for me to become President Iron so you could live in the White House? You should be proud of yourself. It required some nudging and threats, but you did this!”

  “It’s not over. You can still lose, especially without my power to lie for you.”

  The Senator laughs. “You think I don’t have this election in the bag? In the eyes of this country, I defeated that supremacist Sunstar in the debate, I have apprehended the alchemist responsible for many of our terrors, and I sentenced my son to a life behind bars for their protection. And if that isn’t enough, all isn’t lost.”

  The impossible happens.

  His eyes burn like an eclipse and the black eye and cut lip glow in gray lights and fade away as if they were never there. And that’s because they never were. I blink multiple times, not wanting to believe this is true. Then I piece it all together. The Senator and Luna both left together on the night of the Cloaked Phantom. Then he came back sick. . . .

  “How? That alchemy doesn’t work well for people your age.”

  “Perhaps in the hands of some untrained alchemists, but I worked with the best alive. Luna warned me that it could have dangerous results, though once I saw how valuable your power was I knew I would still need it on my side after you inevitably betrayed me. Who better to do all this dirty work than the only person I ultimately trust?”

  This man is absolutely diabolical.

  He worked me to the bone, but he’ll have a long career ahead of him if he can do everything himself. What better way to paint himself as a saint than by making monsters of his opponents?

  “I should’ve poisoned you,” Luna says.

  “I thought you were, after drinking that disgusting creature’s blood. Eduardo, you should’ve seen that hideous shifter. It was as if a coyote had wings made of fish scales.”

  No one knows a shifter’s true state since they all take on different forms, but most are wise enough to blend in with other animals and creatures. The wounded shifter I got my powers from looked like a small red elephant with jackrabbit legs and a lion’s tail. I cried watching it die, whereas the Senator was repulsed by the one that’s made him powerful.

  I stare at Luna. “This will go down in history as one of your worst crimes.”

  “Of which there are many,” the Senator adds. “But don’t discredit yourself, son. You made this happen too.” He again glows gray and shrinks a couple feet, and his hair grows long and black with some silver in front. His pale skin becomes slightly darker than mine and breasts grow from his chest. His face’s tight skin becomes relaxed, natural, and beautiful with brown eyes and high cheekbones. “I’m proud of you,” he says with my mother’s voice.

  This is cursing her memory.

  “STOP IT!”

  I use all my strength to try and pop these straps.

  The Senator takes on Mom’s laugh. Then a bump grows on her nose that can only be found on the Senator’s and her round jaw squares like his too. He’s bathed in gray light. “I’m still ironing out the tricks, but I’ll get there.”

  The deck door opens. “Docking, Edward,” Bishop calls down.

  “End of the line,” the Senator says. “I can hardly wait to get started in the office and I’m looking forward to the many terms I will serve. It brings me peace knowing that if I’m ever voted out I can simply morph into the next president and continue the great work I’ve started to protect this country from people abusing their powers.” The Senator releases a deep, proud sigh. “Think of me in the White House from your cells. If you survive long enough.”

  The Senator has fooled the world without these powers. Now that he has them, he’ll destroy it as the President.

  Sixty-One

  Villainized

  BRIGHTON

  I’m keeping up the good fight for Emil’s privacy.

  Ma wants to let him cry in her arms, Wyatt wants to hold him, and Prudencia just wants to keep him company, but he asked to be alone, and it’s staying that way. We brought some chairs out into the hallway though so we can be with him at a moment’s notice if he changes his mind.

  Everyone is exhausted. Before going to sleep in Maribelle’s room, Eva generously healed my burn marks from Emil’s fire. There’s a shortage of available rooms, so Wesley and Ruth joined her, and Maribelle doesn’t care that Iris is there too. I wish Ma would go take Emil’s bed in our room, but she’s being stubborn and resting in her chair.

  “He must’ve really cared for him,” Wyatt whispers.

  I honestly didn’t understand Ness’s whole thing. He didn’t seem like a Brightsider himself, to be fair. But he did a lot for my brother. “They bonded,” I say.

  “He cared about Emil too,” Ma says with her eyes closed. “He said Emil made him feel warm.”

  Wyatt stares at the floor.

  Whenever Emil is ready to talk, I’ll be here for him. I expect he’s going to end whatever this Wyatt situation is immediately. I know my brother, he’s got to be feeling really guilty right now for getting romantically involved with Wyatt while Ness was alive and still thinking of him. Even bonding with our mother.

  I’m on my phone typing up the format for the interviews I’ll film tomorrow morning when I switch back to BuzzFeed’s coverage of Ness’s discovery to find an update. Prudencia inches closer when I press play on the video. It’s of Senator Iron standing on a dock and addressing reporters.

  “Thank you for your patience on this impossible evening,” Iron says as he tightens his jacket. “There were so many nights after the Blackout where I would wake up and forget that Eduardo was dead. I never in a million years suspected he was alive and being corrupted by the Blood Casters, and later by the Spell Walkers. He was manipulated into putting power above all—country, family, justice. To punish me after a successful debate against Congresswoman Sunstar, he tried to destroy the campaign he once fully believed in with the powers of a shifter.” He brushes his black eye, wincing. “I’ll admit, if this weren’t such a public affair I would get my son into a rehabilitation program to rescue him from this darkness, but my loyalties can’t only be for my family. They must also lie with the American people. My son is not above justice and has been sent to the Bounds alongside the terrorist Luna Marnette, who poisoned Eduardo with her powers. I have failed the memory of my late wife, but I hope this heartbreaking gesture proves my commitment to making this country safe from gleamcraft supremacy.”

  Iron doesn’t answer any more questions as he steps into a black car and drives away.

  Prudencia and I immediately charge into the library and Emil’s head pops up from the table in a panic.

  “He’s alive, he’s alive,” we both say.

  “What?” Emil wipes his eyes.

  Ma and Wyatt follow us in and we replay Iron’s speech.

  Emil bursts into more tears. “He’s being sent to the Bounds? This isn’t a win.”

  “It can be,” I say. Everyone’s looking at me like I’m insane. “It wouldn’t be our first break-in tonight. We’re already tracking one-for-one in success rates.”

  “This isn’t some politician’s home in the suburbs,” Prudencia says. “This is a federal prison on an island.”

  “And maybe our last chance to save Ness,” Emil says. “He’s never going to get a fair trial.”

  No one protests.

  “This country is going to villainize everything we do,” I say. “But we know we’re the real heroes. Let’s go save the day.”

  Sixty-Two

  Strategy

  MARIBELLE

  “Am I really the only one who’s going to keep calling out these ba
d ideas?” Iris asks.

  “Yes,” I say.

  We’ve all been rounded up outside my guest room, where Esther is sleeping and being watched by one of Ruth’s clones. The weight of breaking into the Bounds is heavy enough on everyone’s shoulders, and I’m not sure they have the fumes this late at night.

  “I can phase us in and out,” Brighton says.

  “It’s still breaking the law,” Iris says.

  “You’ve never cared about saving people unless you benefit,” Brighton says. “This is just like when the Blood Casters kept me hostage, when Stanton was kicking my ass and humiliating me and you didn’t want to rescue me.”

  “That wasn’t only Iris,” Wesley says. “I agreed with her then and I agree with her now. We’re seen as the face for the celestials in this country. It’s not going to be a good look if we kick down the doors of the Bounds to rescue someone everyone thinks is a terrorist.”

  “But we know he’s not,” Emil says. “Ness could pull back the curtains on everything his father has done.”

  “The truth doesn’t matter!” Iris shouts. “It’s supposed to, but it doesn’t! I know that’s a harsh reality but it’s one we live in.”

  “Then what do you suggest we do?” I ask.

  “Luna being locked up goes a long way, but Iron continues to blame us for the Blackout and has been using Ness to lie on a grander scale for weeks. We need to turn our focus to finding out what happened to Sunstar and hope to save her so she can rebuild this country for our families.”

  Wesley, Ruth, and Eva seem to be in agreement. Saving Sunstar is important. But Iris doesn’t have the full story on my family.

  “Justice hasn’t been served. When I retrocycled, I discovered that Luna is my grandmother. Though, hey, maybe you’ve been sitting on that secret too,” I say.

  Iris’s face is frozen in surprise, her eyes glazed and lips parted. She might be a liar, but she’s not an actress.

  “That criminal turned us into orphans, Iris. Tala lost her parents too. We need to make sure that Luna being locked up isn’t another trick from Iron to make himself look good.”

  “And if it isn’t?” Iris asks.

  “Then we end Luna once and for all.”

  Iris puts her hands in the pockets of her father’s corduroy jacket, which has always been so big on her. “I’m sorry,” she says sheepishly. “I won’t pretend to understand the nightmare of being related to that monster who has ruined our lives. We’re here to help you through that because even though you piss me off like no one else, you’re still family to me, to all of us. Take the higher road, Maribelle. Killing Luna won’t bring you peace.”

  I not only witnessed Luna murder my birth mother, but I felt that blade across Sera’s neck. The Blackout took Mama and Papa away from me. Then, when Atlas brought me some light, he was killed too. It’s as if my heart has turned to stone, and the only way to break through is by making sure the source of my greatest pains has met her end.

  I turn away from Iris. “We should get moving. Who’s in?”

  “Team Infinity,” Brighton says, standing between Emil and Prudencia.

  Tala already has her crossbow ready from standing guard outside. We might have to fight over who gets to kill Luna.

  “I’ll be enjoying a book and a bubble bath if we don’t get arrested,” Wyatt says.

  “I can’t leave Esther,” Ruth says with her hand to her heart. She’s always been a sweetheart who feels guilty when she shouldn’t. “I’m sorry. Carolina, you’re welcome to spend the evening with us. I’ll do better to protect you if there’s more trouble.”

  Carolina offers a warm, tired smile. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll be here too,” Wesley says. “Maribelle, I hate to play this card, but . . . Atlas’s parents are still jailed for going above the law with their powers. He wouldn’t want you locked up too.”

  I’m not going to have Atlas’s memory used against me, and I won’t get caught.

  “I won’t be useful to you,” Eva says. “I’m going to stay.”

  Iris grabs her hand. “Me too. I didn’t lose you to run away again so soon.” She addresses Emil and Brighton. “I can’t stop any of you, but I will also guard your mother with my life if enforcers find us.”

  “Thank you,” Emil says.

  “Let’s go,” Brighton says.

  Tala leads us to a closet with training gear, not allowing anyone to wear official Halo Knight armor. I still have my power-proof vest, but Emil, Brighton, and Prudencia put on gray ones. Wyatt is nervous when Tala fills a bag with gem-grenades because bringing weapons into a prison with powerful criminals is a bad idea, but so is breaking into one. Emil and Brighton take a few moments with Carolina, promising they’ll look after each other.

  Everyone sees us off, which is an infuriating gesture from those with powers refusing to help. Roxana carries me and Tala over the mountains as Wyatt and Emil are close behind on Nox. Prudencia and Brighton tail us with the car.

  I feel powerful under these stars, but they won’t give me strength where we’re going. The underground cells in the Bounds will weaken me, but I only need to be strong enough to throw fire-arrows into Luna—one for every person she took from me.

  Sixty-Three

  Cell

  NESS

  I’m blindfolded as guards carry me through the island and into the Bounds. I only hear the screech of the cerulean phoenix that circles the towers, the harsh winds, and Bishop instructing the guards to process Luna for solitary confinement and me for a cell with minimal supervision. Between this and the fact that they haven’t cuffed me in any neutralizing gauntlets, I guess I’m not the threat they’ve made me out to be.

  I’ll die here knowing the truth—and knowing that they know it too.

  I can tell we’re inside when the winds stop, replaced by the sound of gates clanging. Throughout the halls it smells like sweat, burnt flesh, and rank vomit.

  I stop keeping track of where we’re going after the third flight of stairs. Doing so only tricks me into thinking there’s a chance for escape. If I couldn’t break free from my childhood home, I have no chance inside this labyrinth. There’s power in resigning to your fate.

  Inmates are cheering and roaring as I’m pushed through the halls. They see someone young, but they have no idea what power I have. I could probably use that to my advantage for a day or two.

  A cell door is opened, and I’m unstrapped from the stretcher. By the time I remove my blindfold, the door is locked. I groan as I sit up. There’s a bed, a toilet, and a bloody handprint on the wall. I have a dozen neighbors down this hall and Bishop is watching me from outside the bars like I’m some caged animal.

  “Did you ever think you’d be back here under these conditions?” Bishop asks.

  “I don’t need small talk. This is punishment enough.”

  “You’re on my turf, Eduardo, and I’m doing you a courtesy so you’re not surprised when your door suddenly opens within the next hour.” The stupidest thought that Bishop might try to help me passes through my mind. “These cells sometimes get overcrowded, and when that happens my guards unlock cells for survival of the fittest. I unfortunately can’t be on the premises when this happens, but I’m looking forward to hearing about the results of a new game to make it extra exciting—Hunt the Shifter.”

  This is why I was blindfolded.

  This is why my power wasn’t neutralized.

  This is why they’re not bothering to put me in a custom cell.

  I’m about to be in for the final fight of my life.

  Sixty-Four

  Rebel

  EMIL

  I’m standing on the dock, staring at the Bounds across the river.

  Between breaking into Iron’s home and getting ready to storm into a prison, I feel like Bautista’s rebel spirit too. I can’t only look at the good though; I got to wonder if I’m growing corrupt like Keon too. I have no idea what pushed Keon to create specters beyond the usual theories of him wanting power
, but maybe his heart was steering him toward unlawful acts too.

  Brighton and Prudencia finally arrived minutes ago, and they’re currently deciding which is the best rental boat to “borrow” to get them across and back as if we’re going for some new record on most crimes in a single night. If only Brighton could fly and Prudencia could trust her power to carry herself across the river. Meanwhile, Maribelle and Tala are strategizing on how to defeat the sky swimmer that’s known to guard the prison. Nox and Roxana are standing in the river, bobbing for fish.

  Then there’s Wyatt, who comes up beside me. “This evening has become a touch too exciting, hasn’t it?”

  “I’m sorry. I bet you’re wishing you didn’t stop Tala from having us all blown up.”

  “You’re foolish to think I regret meeting you, love. If I may be so direct—”

  “You always are.”

  “—I’m hoping our time getting to know each other isn’t at an end. I understand things are a tad complicated and I’ll give you the space you need. But I really love when you hold me as we fly through the skies and when I get to hold you back at night. I’d hate to lose that so soon.”

  It’s not fair that he’s hitting me with this right now, not when I’m a river away from Ness, but I can’t act like I’m not moved by it. He’s beautiful, confident about himself though bordering on conceited, devoted to phoenixkind, and keeps dreaming up a better world for me as a Halo Knight. I’m really into everything he’s talking about too—my arms wrapped around him as we fly around on Nox, how we don’t have to talk over the winds to feel connected, and how much easier it’s been to sleep because I’m with him.

  I just can’t give him anything in return until I figure myself out.

  “Hey!” Brighton calls, sitting inside a four-seater jet boat with Prudencia. “We’re ready!”

  We all gather around and review our plan once we get inside the Bounds. Split up into pairs of two—Brighton and Prudencia, Maribelle and Tala, me and Wyatt—to cover more ground. There’s one phoenix specter on each team, and hopefully our fire will be enough to melt whatever cell Ness is in. We’re not expecting our phones to work underground, so if we hear chaos, we’re supposed to blow on whistles the Halo Knights have used when training phoenixes and run toward the danger to make sure none of us get captured during this mission.