“Maybe I am. But I’m a monster with a destiny, and you’ve become part of it, like it or not.” She’ll do this. She feels too much. Cares too deeply for life to let this boy bleed out in the street. I chose this spot, in the shadow of a hospital, its steeple visible behind me, reminding her where she came from. How she got here. That she’s only here because she was saved.

Her choice is easy. Because I haven’t left her one.

FLEUR

The boy’s eyes are wide on me as blood seeps between his fingers. The church bell clangs in my head.

I drop beside the boy, taking his hand as his eyes close. My touch won’t do anything to stop his death, but it seems wrong to let him suffer without offering any comfort.

Doug paces through the slush in tight lines in front of me. “He’s out of time, Fleur!”

“I can’t do it,” I shout up at him, blinking away sleet. “You control Gaia’s magic! Not me.”

An angry muscle works in his jaw. With a grunt of impatience, he sinks to his knees across from me, glaring at me over the boy as he rolls him onto his back. Doug takes him roughly by the neck of his coat, tipping up his airway and pressing his open mouth to the boy’s slack lips. Doug blows two quick rescue breaths, pausing to glance uncertainly at me before dipping his head and blowing two more. A thin stream of gold light passes between them, and I feel the boy’s cold wrist for a pulse. Doug’s cheeks flame as he draws another breath and tries again. Over and over. The boy’s face only grows paler. His bleeding slows. Then his heart stops.

Chest heaving, Doug breaks the seal. The boy’s neck sags against the ground. Doug reels to his feet, watching the dim glow fade in the boy’s throat.

“You have Gaia’s magic! Do something!” I shout at him, angry that he’s giving up. That he would start something like this without any certainty that he could finish it. “We can’t just leave him here!”

Doug’s lip curls with a callous smile. “You’re right. We can’t.”

A cold hand grabs the back of my mind. A chill crawls down my spine as Doug’s magic slides into my muscles. My body arcs forward, my palms slapping on the icy ground, bracing me over the boy.

“What are you—?” Heat roars through my body like fire over a fuse. I feel Gaia’s power pass from Doug’s body to mine, crossing the tangled bridge between us like magic over a ley line. There’s a buzzing in my head. My lungs are on fire. Stars creep into my peripheral vision as the magic fills my lungs.