A flicker moving in the air in front of her, like it was just in the corner of Saxony’s eye where she couldn’t quite focus. Nobody else seemed to catch it and the harder Saxony looked, the harder it was to see.

But it was there.

Some kind of a ripple.

Something impossible, where Tavia’s body was supposed to be.

Hope.

38

TAVIA

Being dead sucked. Thankfully, those kinds of things weren’t always permanent.

Tavia patted herself down, touching her chest where the blood had been moments ago.

She wasn’t dead.

Why wasn’t she dead?

I had to make it look real, a voice in her head whispered. I’m really sorry if I scared you.

Zekia.

Tavia searched the bridge until her eyes settled on the young girl, who was trying her best to look anywhere else but at Tavia.

Get to the bullet, Zekia said. Wesley told me you needed it. You have the time now. He thinks you’re dead.

By he, she meant Ashwood, but all that came to Tavia’s mind was Wesley.

He was knelt beside the false image of her that Zekia had conjured. There were tears staining his eyes, trembling at the corners like they were too afraid to drop.

She’d never seen his face like that before.

She never, ever wanted to again.

She made to move toward him.

The bullet, Zekia urged. Go now!

Tavia bit her lip and looked back to Zekia.

She was risking her life to help them and it occurred to Tavia then that the future Karam had seen wasn’t of Tavia dying; it was of the world thinking she had.

Zekia was as good a planner as her brother.

Thank you, Tavia whispered inside of her mind, hoping Zekia could hear.

She took a tentative step forward.

Ashwood’s back was to her, which was just what Tavia needed.

Karam was on the floor by Ashwood’s feet, his hand clutched around her wrist. Her arm shook as she tried to push him off, but Ashwood persisted.

Saxony’s face was one of pure rage.

“I’ll show you power,” she said.

And then her hands set ablaze and the ground around her lit up with pools of fire.

Tavia could feel the heat from where she was and when Saxony threw her hands out, Tavia ducked and placed her hands over her head on instinct.

The fire shot toward the Kingpin.

Only Wesley didn’t move.

He stayed kneeling by Tavia’s body, staring at the illusion of her like there wasn’t a war just a few feet from where he was.

Tavia wanted to scream that she was alive, and that everything was okay, but this was the moment she needed.

The distraction of Saxony’s fire would give her time.