“All my favorite people in one place,” Jeremiah continues, wiping blood from his own chin—a result of Cami or Riley, I’m not sure. “This couldn’t be more perfect.”

As he takes the syringe from Kael and reaches for my mum’s arm, steely resolve settles over me, along with an irrational sense of calm.

The time has come for me to act. To try something— anything. Because right now, I’m the only one who can. And I’ll be damned if I don’t do everything in my power to stop this nightmare from continuing.

“Actually, it could be more perfect,” I say, stepping forward.

Both Jeremiah and Kael whirl around to face me, but that is as far as they get. Because just as Jeremiah froze the room, I envision the same—only with the both of them immobile, too.

There’s no flash of light, not so much as a warning. There’s no Spoken word for Kael to combat, nothing for him to destroy. One moment they’re moving, the next they’re still. Just like everyone else.

Everyone but me.

“You’re right, Jeremiah,” I say, walking slowly toward him. “None of us can win against a Creator. It’s too much power for one person to have. It’s the kind of power that corrupts, the kind of power that kills.”

I look at the bed and the lifeless form in it, before quietly continuing, “My dad knew that. For years, you’ve blamed him for a decision that any sane person would have made. What happened to your wife wasn’t his fault. It was a consequence of your actions. Caroline Roscave died because you became unstable, because you lost control of your Creator ability. Because you became dangerous to the world. You consider my dad your villain, but to everyone else, he’s the hero.”

Jeremiah’s midnight eyes—the only resemblance I can see between him and Kael—are burning as he glares at me. But still, I go on, “Caroline’s death was a tragedy. But the real tragedy was what you did afterward. Instead of celebrating her life, you sought to avenge her by bringing about more death.” I think about the laughing woman I saw in the photo, and then I think about how she was in Kael’s memory, struck by an illness that would soon claim her but still bursting with love. “I’m not sure if I ever met her, but I don’t have to remember Caroline to know that she wouldn’t have wanted this for her husband, and she definitely wouldn’t have wanted this for her son.”