All the empty promises and sales pitches, the days I’ve spent waiting for help and trying to think of new places to search for answers … it’s been a waste of time—a precious commodity I’m running out of at a pace I can’t even predict. The truth of it crashes over me like a wave of dark water, cutting off my air. How fucked up is it that the only person who had a real solution to this problem and tried to do something about it was Mr. Strauss?

“August?” Jude steps forward, tense with concern. “Don’t panic, all right? Not even the League of the Dark Star can prove the Corrupter is real, or that you’re—”

“Stop it! Just stop!” I still can’t breathe. “I can feel vampires, and I’ve been having visions of the past and the future … I saw you, okay?” Accusatorily, I point from one of them to the other. “Both of you—on the beach, touching your fingers together, hoping nobody else noticed. There were fireworks … Was it New Year’s?”

Gunnar blinks. “You saw that?”

“August.” Jude takes another step closer. “What else have you seen? What else have you experienced?”

“It doesn’t matter, does it?” I laugh, the sound utterly unhinged. “I mean, I’m already dead, right? Either someone kills me, or my body gets hijacked by a ghost that will doom humanity, and you both know it. You’ve known it all along, and you’ve treated me like some prize in a game show!” My chest catches. I refuse to let them see me cry. “Fuck you both.”

They call after me as I turn and run, but I’m done listening. The only completely true thing either of them ever said was that I shouldn’t trust vampires. Will I still be me when my parents get back from London? And if I’m not, will they be able to tell? Someday soon, I’m going to wake up in the back seat of my own body—if I’m lucky—and a being with my face will introduce the world to a nightmare no one will wake up from.

By the time I reach the dark side of the abandoned factory, panic and despair have given rise to a sense of unstable recklessness. If my fate is sealed, then who cares what I do? What have I been waiting for all this time? While everyone else was living their lives, I was hanging onto the promise that one day mine would finally start. I can run home and await the inevitable … or I can do whatever I want, because what do the consequences matter?