So I don’t stop the tears. I don’t hold back. I just hold Anna while the world moves around us.

A soft chill tickles my wrist.

When I open my eyes, Max’s spirit stares up at me. I nearly choke. Anna hiccups. For a moment we all simply stare, and then Max sits back on his haunches, draws a front leg against his stomach, and performs a theatric bow.

A smile cracks across Anna’s face. “If you weren’t dead right now, I’d bop you,” she says thickly, her eyes red and raw from crying.

Max’s eyes sparkle mischievously, and my heart wrings.

“No.” I shake my head. “This can’t be the end. I won’t let it be.”

My fingers dig into the dark fur of Max’s body, my hands trembling. Every restraint I ever wrapped around myself is gone, and my grief is bare.

Max shakes his head sadly as Anna says, “There’s nothing you can do, Colin.”

But I don’t listen. I pull his body from Anna, wrapping him in my arms. Tears run down my cheeks, and I hold him close.

“I don’t believe that,” I say, thinking of what Fin said to me. You inherited a sliver of my power.

A power that could absorb life, and maybe, just maybe, give it back.

I delve deep into the magic inside me, and then I reach out, seeking Max’s energy. Jabberwockies were born of the Shield, their bodies as much made of spirit as blood and bone. Just like Max gave us his energy, maybe I can return it.

I pull the energy free of the Shield, drawing it out like a rope, just as Fin did to me.

Max’s spirit straightens—then his entire form begins to glow. The faded Shield comes alight once more, brilliant in its luminance. Max’s edges blur, his form turning to pure light and condensing into a small ball. It sinks into his body.

The tiny cat takes a ragged breath and stirs in my arms.

Anna lets out a strangled laugh, throwing her arms around both of us and tackling us to the ground. Max wriggles out of my arms, looking in awe at one paw and then the other. Then Anna’s whole family is there, patting him on the head and scratching behind his ears.

It worked. It really worked.

“How is that possible?” Anna asks as I scoop him up and we stand.

“Fin said that I inherited some of his power,” I say. “I thought since he could absorb energy, maybe he could return it too. That maybe I could…” I trail off, staring down at my hands.

“I can’t believe I did that,” I mutter.

What does it mean that I inherited the power of the King of the Dead? What does that make me?