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Facing the lake, Mack shakes his head. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I don’t think trying again will have a different outcome.”
“Which means we’re at the needing my help stage?” Nova asks, a vulnerability returning to her voice.
“I’m sorry, Little Star.” Mack helps her to her feet and stares down into her face. “We can’t allow Sam back into the fold until we’re sure it’s safe.”
“But the voice said we need him.” Nova looks pleadingly at Mack. “If we’re going to fight The King, we need him. I know we do.”
“I agree,” Mack says. “Which is why we need you to help us persuade the demon to show itself.” The professor closes his eyes and sighs heavily. “If I thought there was another way—”
“How?” Nova asks, drawing herself up so she looks a little taller and a little fiercer. “How can I coax it out?”
“You need to attack him,” Kole says, standing so he’s towering over both Nova and Mack. “Use your powers. The ones you used on the hounds, and the werewolves, . . . and Johnny,” he adds cautiously.
Nova frowns. “No,” she says, shaking her head. “That’s ridiculous. I can’t. First of all, those powers only come to me when one of us is in grave danger. Secondly, I can’t hurt Sam. I just can’t.”
“You won’t,” Mack says. “It won’t have to go that far.”
“Then why—?”
“Because your energy, your power, might just wake the demon up. Bring it to the surface.” Kole nods at her like he’s trying to will her to understand.
“But you’re guessing,” she says. “You don’t know what will happen. You’re just guessing. Even if it does show itself, what then? How do we separate the demon from Sam?”
I look up at Mack and Kole. Nova has a point; we haven’t discussed this part. But then it dawns on me—they’re not certain they can separate me from what’s in my head. They need it to show itself so Nova knows they have no choice but to kill me. They need it to show itself, so she’ll forgive them for what they have to do when it does.
“A spell,” I say quickly, standing up and firing Mack a knowing glance. “They have a spell, but they can’t use it unless the demon unmasks itself. Right?” I look from Mack to Kole, then at Tanner and Luther.
There’s half a second of silence, in which we all come to understand what’s about to happen, then they nod and say, “Yes, a spell.”
A flutter of relief lights Nova’s face. She trusts them to tell her the truth, but I hope they’re smart enough to fake a spell that goes wrong rather than letting her know we betrayed her.
If she finds out, she’ll never forgive them. And I can’t bear the thought of her being alone and broken, facing The King by herself, trying to save the world without a cocoon of love to lose herself in when the going gets tough.
“Alright,” she says. “But someone needs to help me do this because I have no idea where those powers come from or how to access them. I’ve only just got the hang of conjuring flames when I want them.”
“We’ll help.” Luther jumps to his feet. “It’s in there somewhere, Little Star. We just need to find it.”
34
NOVA
Luther stands behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders. Sam is in front of us. The others are curved behind him in an arc formation, ready to cast their spell if I manage to tempt the demon to show itself.
“When you killed Johnny, we weren’t in danger,” he says darkly. “Remember? We were nearly free, running out of the building. He was no threat to you or to me, but you found your powers and used them to destroy him.”
I swallow hard and close my eyes. I can still hear the sound Johnny made when he exploded. I can still feel chunks of his flesh landing on my skin and smell him in my hair and on my clothes.
“What happened when you looked at him?” Luther asks. “When you saw him in the stairwell, what happened?”
“He spat at me,” I whisper, eyes still closed.
“And what did that make you feel?”
“Angry.” I flex my fingers at my sides. “I felt really fucking angry.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw him burning me.” I drag my hand across my chest. “I saw him cutting me.” I move my fingers to the scar on my upper arm. “I saw him cursing at me, yelling at me, kicking me.”
