“Nash?”

I asked it before I could register what I felt and saw in my surroundings. Before I could even wonder where I was or remember what had happened. All that came in a flash after I uttered his name, and still, I didn’t have my answer yet. Was he alive? The room around me blurred.

My heart twisted in my chest in a torturous series of somersaults.

“He’s okay. He's in a medical room.”

The voice seized the wildness of my heart. That was right. Piercey had come for us.

“You’re okay too," Piercey said. "I started healing you both.”

I rolled my head to see him standing in the open doorway with Leif and Wren crowded behind him. Pale ceiling tiles stretched over his head and bookshelves lined the far wall.

Leif pushed past Piercey and ran to me, dropping to his knees, close, ready to help me. "We're here, girl."

My arms felt shaky as I tried to rise up. Piercey held up a hand to stop me and came to my side of the bed beside Leif. “Not yet, Max. I needed to work on you both at the same time. I didn’t make it very far before resting.”

“He needs it more.”

Piercey spoke to me in that slow, calm voice he always used when wanted to help me settle down. “Yes, he does. And he’s getting everything he needs.”

I let myself relax into the plush mattress beneath me. The bed was far more comfortable than I remembered anything in this compound being. The lights in the room were dim and the curtains drawn closed. Beside me, there was a nightstand with books on physics and quantum mechanics. Nothing else. Piercey hadn't stopped studying.

“I want to see him,” I said. I would try again to rise, but I knew I couldn’t. I’d used all the energy I had and now I was shriveled up.

“That’s fine," Piercey said. "Take it slow. Your ribs were badly broken. You're lucky your lungs weren't punctured.”

Leif carefully sat beside me and lifted me so I could sit up.

“I really thought we were done for." I squeezed Leif's hand and then nodded at Piercey. “Thank you.”

Piercey was quiet for a beat. “I can’t believe you’re here, Max.”

So much time had passed. We’d both changed. Piercey didn’t look much like the boy I’d left behind. His beard was full and dark, and he’d filled out his lanky form enough that it would have taken me a moment to recognize him. “Me either.”

“Let’s get you up.” Leif lifted me into his arms and carefully carried me around the bed toward the doorway. I soaked in his comfort.

“Where are we?” We passed a massive desk with a curved screen. It was a nice room. Looked like Piercey lived alone here, though. That made me feel a little sad for him, thinking about him by himself.

“The director’s apartment…” Piercey pushed a wheelchair in from the living room. “I took over.”

My eyes widened. "You run the whole center now?"

"You sound surprised."

"Well, yeah."

"You missed a lot, Max. I'll fill you in when you're healed and rested."

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The surprise quickly fell into hurt, though. "You didn't unseal my power."

Piercey helped Leif settle me into the wheelchair and then paused. "I couldn't, but there was no one to defend the seal when you started to break through here on the mountain. It's incredible you managed to do it. Those instructors are long gone."

Did he think I was a monster too? He didn't trust me down in the valley carrying a power like this?

"How strange." Leif ran his fingers along the rubber handle while Wren knelt to inspect the wheels.

"I know this is overwhelming," I said, swallowing down the feeling of betrayal.

"Your friend explained a great deal of things to us." Wren chuckled. "Too much. I'm lost."

"He isn't one to spare details."

Piercey crossed his arms. "We should talk before I take you to your friend. Leif and Wren told me about what's happened to your people. I have dozens of graduates I would trust with my life. I'm calling on them to help free your people."

I jolted up in excitement and then doubled over from the pain.

"Calm down." Leif pushed me back against the seat. "We still haven't talked him into killing the Prophet."

Piercey sighed. "Three of my best will take Leif and Wren back to your people and meet the others there."

"We should all go together," I said.

Wren knelt beside me. The permanent war paint darkening her eyelids couldn't harden the softness of her eyes. "We need to get there soon. No one will trust a group of demons if we aren't there to explain. You and Nash need more time to heal. You won't be far behind us."

"They'll be well guarded, Max." Piercey had confidence like I'd never seen in him. It soothed the fear. "We need to work fast. You should say goodbye now."

Wren gripped my hand. She knew how hard this would be for me.

Pain twisted my heart.

----------------------------------------

I'd said goodbye to Leif and Wren far too many times this week. My heart yearned for them as Piercey wheeled me down the hall.

Now that we were alone, our years of separation and our years together burst at the quiet. "I can handle whatever you have to say, Piercey." Windows lined the hallway. Outside, blustery winds scattered snow in the air, so all we saw was white. So much like the white room.

His voice was heavy when he spoke. "I don't know what to say, Max. So many times over the years I thought about what it would be like to see you again."

"Thank you for always sending the medicine. It saved me."

"I pushed some in through an IV while you were out. You should have relief."

I turned so I could see him. "You know I didn't want to leave you right?"

"Of course, I know." The same eyes of the boy I'd said goodbye to looked back at me, even though the years had changed us both so much. "I didn't think you'd ever come back. I thought about telling you the instructors were gone now, but I couldn't. It's… complicated…"

There was much more to the story than he'd told me and it was clear he felt guilty. But as important as the past was and the implications it held for the future, I needed to get him focused on my people. He had a soft heart and he would want to save them. I swallowed down the pain in my throat. "I need your help."

He smiled softly. "I love that you want my help. The thing is you don't need me to do anything for you. You could kill him yourself."

Shame and anger flooded my cheeks with heat, so I had to turn away quickly. "Your power has grown. Mine hasn't. And the seal, I don't know if it's broken for good, or if I'll lose my power when I leave the mountain."

"I think it's safe to say you broke it for good. I was forbidden by the gods to return your power to you or reach out. They upheld your banishment. But I told Dr. Henderson that one day you'd find a way around these limits. So, I don't think you ever needed me. You had enough power as a child before coming to this place to kill the Prophet."

The reference to the eclipse shot tingles through my body. "That was… I was out of control."

"That power is inside of you. I've had my entire life to come close to it. You've always had it. You're holding yourself back."

Was it true? All this time was it not so much the instructors or the gods sealing my power within me, but my own fear and guilt?

"When I don't hold myself back, people die." The blood raining in the white snow flashed in my mind. I dug my fingers into my side too hard and sparked pain. "I don't want this power anymore. I want Dr. Henderson to take it away from us all."

"We'll talk more when you're well. You're in pain."