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“What if the Earth got it wrong? What if she didn’t anticipate your strength and found herself unable to stop you?” I whispered feverishly, trying to get him to see reason. “Please, Leo, your grief blinds you.”

He sighed, dropping my chin.

“Bryn,” he whispered, his eyes returning to their normal coloring for only a moment. Only for me. “I was really hoping, this time around, you would understand.”

He stood, as a shuffle of movement came from the doors. The two creatures he had ordered to leave were back, with a body between them. A sack covering the person’s head.

“I’ll make this simple for you, Bryn. You can help me willingly. Stand by my side and rule the Earths as they should be. With magic. With eternal life. No expiration on greatness, no rules restricting how we use our power. No fear of having too much power. Or wielding more than one.” He paused, letting his words sink in.

He was right about this one thing. I’d hidden my ability to wield the earth from the council tonight, out of instinct. My parents had feared for my safety as a dual-wielder in my past life but had never explained why. Had only said it was dangerous for me.

But why should I fear it? When all I had done was accept what the Earth had given me . . . accept what I had earned. The Earth herself told me my powers would be needed. Against the war that threatens to darken my lands, she had said.

Was the war against Leo and his Decodons the war she’d been talking about?

The creatures continued to shuffle forward, dragging the body that was now fighting and bucking against them, the creatures eventually growing tired, throwing the faceless person at Leo’s feet.

“Or,” Leo said, “you can make this difficult for yourself and pay the ultimate price for your disobedience to your king.”

His eyes were manic once more as he tore the covering off the person’s head, and I screamed.

First, I saw his hair, no longer a fresh buzz cut, but dirty and grown from being unkempt these past few weeks.

Second, I noticed the way he winced as he drew a deep breath, able to breathe unrestricted now that the sack had been removed.

And third, I cataloged his blue eyes staring at me from his battered face, and his smile that was his attempt at acting like nothing was wrong, even when he looked inches away from death.

“Hiya, sister, fancy meeting you here.” Hunter tried to laugh, but it turned into a wheeze.

I was sure if he lifted his shirt, there would be an incredible amount of damage to his ribs.

“Hunter,” I whimpered, standing to run to him, only to be pulled back down by the creature behind me.

He was alive, and here.

Sarah had told us she’d watched the creatures descend upon him. But his body had never been recovered.

Now here he was, right in front of me, and he was okay.

But my relief was short-lived.

Leo was going to kill him.

“I’ll fucking kill you if you touch him!” I screamed.

Leo smiled. “What’s it going to be, then? Spare your brother’s life, and walk out of here with me . . . or watch as I melt his face with a Mag-Bullet, then carry you out of here over my shoulder anyway?”

I looked at Hunter, then at Leo. “Just let us go,” I pleaded. “Let us go back to Six. It will be as if we were never here.” I hated how the words tasted as I begged him to let me return to my old life.

“Can’t do that.” Leo laughed. “See, I need you, Bryn. Not only in a wanting way, but in a literal way. My Deks . . .” He panned his gun around the room, noting all his creatures. “They’re from Earth Ten. But their essence is from me. They’re amazing, right?” He stared doe-eyed at his creations. “But I have an issue. They can only walk in the moonlight. Their bodies made from the dust of Ten, their hearts beating with the power of night. But when the sun rises . . . they die.

“I need your daylight, Bryn. I need your power to sustain them, so my army can walk under the moonlight and the sunlight.”

“It isn’t the portals closing that’s turning them to ash,” I whispered, surprised, “It’s⁠—”

“The sunlight.” Leo grinned. An evil, horrible grin.

I heard Sigrid speak up from somewhere behind me, “This isn’t the answer, Leo.” I couldn’t see her from where I knelt. Was Cal still in here, too? Maybe they would be able to reason with their friend who was so far gone in his own delusions. “What happened to your parents was horrible,” she continued. I craned my neck as far as I could to see Sigrid behind me, on her knees as well, hands bound like mine, Cal restrained next to her. “But this isn’t the way. We can work with The Nine, to amend their laws, find common ground. You deserve peace.”