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One possibility among infinite possibilities.
Her affinity felt like a separate thing. No longer only a part of her, but a part of everything.
You could have all of this. The thought came unbidden, stark and absolute, and she knew somehow it was true. With the power in the Book, she could remake the world. You could remake time itself. She could reclaim all that she thought was lost.
Because it wasn’t lost. Every time line, every change she’d created, it was still there. Within the seconds. Waiting.
It could be yours. The life you never got to have. Any life you might claim.
Her affinity flared, and she saw into the spaces between. For a blinding instant, she saw all that the city could have become had it taken a different course, had the Brink never severed it from its place in creation. But then she saw a different future. She saw every future, the beautiful and the terrible all at once. She saw futures where they won and the old magic grew and futures where they lost everything.
And then she saw the Brink fall, felt the terror of time turning to nothing—of the world and existence ceasing to be. And she understood that future, that possibility, was there waiting as well. Reality came undone as the city became an aching maw that was not time or place. It was only emptiness and lack.
Esta didn’t realize at first that she’d begun slipping there into the nothingness of that unmade city, unmoored from time. But then she felt the familiar pull of time, the same terrifying sensation she’d felt back in Colorado of flying apart and being unmade. In a panic, she reached for her connection to the old magic, but whatever the Guard had doused her with was doing its worst. Her affinity was cold now. Distant. The seconds felt slippery, and the layers were flashing by too quickly for her to see any single time or place.
With all her strength, she reached for the city she had known, struggling against everything to find a layer where the city still stood and where she could still exist. But she’d only barely glimpsed it, had just started to grasp those seconds, when everything went dark.
DANGEROUS MAGIC
1902—St. Paul’s Chapel
Viola struggled to drag Ruby from the church without harming her. She understood why Ruby was fighting her; she didn’t want to leave Theo or Jianyu with Jack and his creatures, either. But Ruby was a liability. She was fragile and devastated, and Viola could not both protect her and help Jianyu at the same time.
“We can’t leave him there,” Ruby wailed, again trying to turn back.
“He wanted you safe,” Viola reminded Ruby. Fear coursed through her even as she felt the crack in her heart growing, expanding so wide and deep that it felt like soon it would spread through her entire body. With one more heartbreak, she might shatter completely.
“You can save him,” Ruby said with a desperation that only made the crack in Viola’s heart ache all the more. “If we go back, you can save him.”
“I can’t.” Viola shook her head as she fought back tears, wishing it were otherwise. She had seen the way Theo had jerked and gone still in the monster’s grasp. She’d heard the sickening sound of his body when it hit the floor, and she knew that he was no longer with them. She could mend a wound or rend a heart in two, but she had no power over death. Though she would have perhaps traded whatever was left of her very soul if she could have only stopped Ruby’s keening grief.
“You did it before. I watched you remove a bullet from his body. You saved him before,” Ruby charged, her eyes wide and half-delirious from the shock of what had happened. Then she released Viola and stepped back. “Or is it that you won’t?” Her voice had become cold and hollow, and her eyes were as hard as the diamond band that now sparkled on her finger.
Viola’s throat was so tight she could barely speak. “I would if I could, but not if he’s—” She couldn’t say the word. She could not be the one to make this real for either of them. “Please. You must come with me now. Come, and I’ll return for Theo,” she promised. “I’ll bring him back to you.”
She could not tell Ruby the truth. She could not explain to Ruby that each second she wasted could be the moment that one of those creatures did to Jianyu what they’d done to Theo. Viola had to go back. She had to return to the dangers within the church, but only for Jianyu, because Theo’s life was beyond her reach now.
Her promise to return for Theo worked, though. It was enough to allow Ruby to relent, and Viola was able to pull her through the side door of the chapel, where they found themselves in a graveyard. Viola led Ruby past the worn stones and uneven ground, breathing as deeply as she could. She willed the effects of the opium to wane enough that she might be able to again grasp the edges of her affinity. She needed something more than a single knife when she returned to the battle.
Compared to the chaos within the church, the graveyard was starkly silent. The day itself was unbearably bright. Despite the cold in the air, the sky above was an indecent blue, clear and absurdly serene. Viola hurried Ruby to the side of a mausoleum and found a place shielded from view.
“You must stay here,” she told Ruby. “Keep yourself out of sight. Please.” Viola’s affinity had not yet returned to her, but that didn’t matter. Even without her magic, she could certainly destroy a man who had become a monster. “Promise me that you’ll stay here.”
Ruby nodded. “I promise. I’ll wait right here, out of sight. Please, Viola. Save him for me.”
Unable to lie, Viola turned without answering and started to move toward the door, but she hadn’t even gone four steps when flames erupted once more, blocking the exit they’d just used. A blast of cold energy, every bit as dangerous as the Brink had ever been, careened through the churchyard, nearly bowling Viola over with its power.
Ruby was on her feet, already charging back toward the chapel, but Viola snagged her and held her back. Flames were now completely blocking the door they’d just come from. There was no way to retrace their steps, no way to reach Jianyu.
“The front,” Viola commanded Ruby, hoping against hope that Jianyu had managed to escape before the fire engulfed the building.
Together, they dashed through the graveyard, stumbling over ancient headstones, until they reached the front of the church. A crowd had already gathered on the sidewalk, barely far enough from the building for safety. Viola held Ruby back as the front doors of the church flew open and Jack Grew appeared with Theo draped over his shoulder.
All at once the flames that had been crackling in the doorway died down and the smoke began to dissipate. The crowd went completely silent as Jack descended the steps of the chapel slowly, like a hero returning from battle.
When Ruby recognized who was draped over Jack’s shoulder, she moaned. It was a broken sound, filled with pain and devastation. She lurched forward to run toward the front of the church—to run to Theo—but Viola kept hold of Ruby by the waist and didn’t let her go. Together, they watched in horror as Jack reached the bottom of the chapel’s steps. The crowd parted just enough to make room for him to lay Theo’s body on the gravel walkway.
Theo’s body was limp and lifeless, and his head lolled back at an unnatural angle.
