My friends prevailed unscathed over the worst of the dark days, and I managed a mass reversion. The Rebels are now a nonissue. As much as I want to break free for a celebration, I’m not finished. In fact, ahead of me is an even harder job. Can I handle it? Buckle up, Kids. We’re set to find out.

“We’ll start with Ryan,” I offer. “Any other joyriders after Tally?”

“Us!” Kiley chirps excitedly.

Declan whistles disapprovingly. “I don’t mean to sound like a downer, but what’s the thing they say about putting the cart before the horse?”

“Unlike Declan, I believe this is entirely possible,” Matthew states emphatically. “My problem is the numbers. Assuming this can work, what’s a realistic number? Sheyla may not be able to invert more than one Solathair. We need to see how it impacts her.”

“It should be Tally,” Ryan points out.

Tally shakes her head.

“You’ve wanted this more than anyone,” he argues.

“And for the longest time,” Declan adds.

“You people!” She places her hands on her hips. “I said I’ll go second. I’m going second. Saving the best for last is a prospect, too.”

It isn’t like Tally to put herself second in anything, but this isn’t the same Tally we’re used to. I make an extra effort to focus on her, shoving everyone else’s feelings off to the side. Though the most seemingly self-assured Solathair I’ve met, she’s exuding chemical fire like nobody’s business, and there are many reasons justifying those nerves. Hottest reason? Doubt. Her anxiety is valid. “Are you worried I can’t do it?”

She flips her hair over her shoulders. “You can do it.”

“Are you worried I’ll run out of juice?”

“You won’t run out of juice,” she tuts. “You’re totally full of it.”

“She pulled a fairly solid move waiting for the inversion until after the fight,” Declan notes, “but Tally’s standardly transparent as a default setting. I’m guessing the hesitation is what’ll physically happen to her.”

“Not as transparent as her!” Tally fumes, pointing at Kiley. Rude, picking at Kiley’s sore spot. She hates being invisible.

“You’ll be sorry you said that,” Kiley retorts.

Tally is unperturbed by her threat.

“Are you worried you’ll get hurt?” The inversion might do more physical harm than good.

“No, I’m not afraid for my life.”

“Are you afraid for mine?”

She rolls her eyes. “As if.”

I search her emotions for the truth since she habitually uses sarcasm to hide her real feelings. Yeah, her mild interest in what happens to me comes second to her real concern. What will the inversion do? Will she feel the same? Want the same things? Most importantly, will she look the same? Declan’s right. She’s scared of a negative physical transformation. She’ll change, and that change may revert her to her previous state, which isn’t the stunner she transitioned into. Her fears stem from typical human insecurities regarding her appearance. It all boils down to her pretty face. She doesn’t want to lose it. Lame.

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“Reasonable people would probably be worried about things like, oh, I don’t know, their lives?”

Her stink-eye dares me to continue. I don’t, but Barry misses the news bulletin. “Baby, you’ll always be beautiful to me,” he promises her. “I don’t mind a little lovin’ in the dark.”

She full-force punches him right in the jaw.

“Love taps,” he muses.

“Alright, Ryan.” I redirect. We’ve just avoided a battle. I don’t want to thwart another one. “Ready?”

He nods. “I just wanted to say something first. If this doesn’t work, it’s okay. That you’re trying, I can’t even explain what it means to me. I appreciate what you’re giving up.”

“It isn’t even a fraction of what you’ve had to give up,” I counter, “and it can’t even touch what you’ve given me. I owe you this. You’ve been nothing but supportive with unwavering faith. You all have.” He wipes a stray tear trailing down my cheek. “I am what I am because of you,” I declare. “We’ve made it this far because of you. Time for me to give something back.”

“If there’s any sign of strain, please stop.” Ryan frowns. It’s forlorn. “It’s not worth permanently damaging yourself.”

“I will,” I lie.

I’m under no disillusion inversion will be an easy process. It won’t be as simple as snipping. Nor will it be like unweaving the Sentry binding. Spooling the extracting energy during a reversion is bound to be a small feat compared to what we’re attempting. I’m prepared for it to be tough, but it’ll be well worth the struggle if I succeed.

Closing my eyes, I search for his water energy. Radiating a healing glow, it’s easy to find. I pinch the strand as a resting point. Next, I circle the thread as I did with Tally the first time. I’m checking for breaks in the line. Once I’ve examined it all, I take a deep breath. Coming up is the part that makes me the most nervous. If death is the natural consequence of playing with his life force, death will occur when I split it. I fight to steady my shaking hands. On my exhale, I snip.

I open my eyes to see for myself if Ryan’s survived, holding tight to both ends of the thread and hoping I can retie them hastily if I need to. His distress for me, not himself, is confirmation he’s fine. He wouldn’t be so fixated on me if something was wrong. We’ve made it past the first part with no negative impact on either of us. I’d wipe the sweat from my brow if I had any free hands.

I advance to the next step. It’s brand new territory. I need to give him a sufficient enough piece of my humanity that he can survive the extraction. In my mind, I envision another thread. My life thread. Unlike his, there’s a definite difference in my would-be-Solathair and human essence. I release an ample supply of fire fuel through the grates, fashioning my handy fire needle. Before I can lose my nerve, I snip mine at the point of division. Threading the fire needle eye using my humanity, I hone in on Ryan’s water strand. Time to start sewing, binding my life with his. There’s no pain in the process, but it’s draining. I continue sewing until I grow weary.

We’ve both sunk to our knees. Ryan’s forehead presses to mine. “Temperature check?” I whisper.

He smiles.

“Akantha, I could use a bit of help now.”

She kneels between us, placing a hand on each of our shoulders. I feel the boost immediately, and I’m thankful for the reprieve. Once I’m confident the binding will hold, I pick up the loose end where I snipped his energy in two. I spool it in my hand as I did with the Sumairs I previously reverted. Only, instead of placing it in a storage chest, I hold the energy ball in my palm, winding and winding until I come back to the part connected to my humanity.

To my surprise, there are no longer two separate threads at the connection point. It’s a single non-magical one having a broad stop line as it becomes mine. This, I know what to do with. I cut where his magical thread connects to the new non-magical one. Then, I wind the excess water energy around the ever-growing spool in my palm until nothing is left.

I take hold of the thread connecting me and Ryan. Volume isn’t an issue. There seems to be enough left for a few more rounds. Three at most. I’m cool giving a quarter of my humanity to Ryan. I put all my focus into steadying my hands, cutting the tie binding Ryan to me. My life force pulls my thread back in without any coaxing. My fire fuel eagerly fills up the empty expanse, fusing the loop.

The humanity rope I’ve given to Ryan is only a quarter of a full life force. That won’t give him a long and happy life, so I slowly roll and pull it in my fingers, carefully stretching it to the max. When I can’t risk it any thinner, I sew the ends together. I’m pleased with the result, tripling the initial length. Expectations have been exceeded.

The strain of my efforts hits me all at once as I palm Ryan’s Solathair energy. I feel myself falling but refuse to let go of the spool. It’s solidified, no longer glowing. A perfectly formed landing stone rests right in my hand. The last thing I see before passing out is a human Ryan leaning forward to catch me.