Whether it was a gift of the Mother, or something Lewis had left me, my metal arm was gone.… It was, in fact, a melted heap of bronze on the floor next to me.
My arm was flesh. Perfect, and unmarked.
I looked beyond my arm, and saw Luis holding Esmeralda in his arms. He looked up at me and shook his head.
She hadn’t made it back. One of the many I’d taken, and lost.
My burden. My great and terrible guilt I would carry for the rest of my human days.
He gently lowered her to the floor and walked over to me. One effortless pull got me to my feet and into his arms, pressed hot against his body as he held me close, so close. He sighed and rested his head against mine for a moment before finding my lips with his in a bright, burning kiss.
“Something’s different,” he said.
Well, yes. The storm outside was breaking apart now; the black was fading on the aetheric, replaced by a still, soft pearl gray shot through with glittering, translucent colors. Everything was different. Everything.
But he wasn’t talking about all that. He was talking about me, and as I considered it, I realized that I was no longer bound to him. No longer drawing life and power out of him.
I had it inside me, a fierce and glowing tide that stretched invisible roots down into the earth.
I was alive. I was a Warden, a real and genuine Warden, with power of my own.
“Yes,” I said aloud. Even my voice felt different in my mouth—stronger, more assured. My voice. My body. My life, to live and lose. The clock of the world was ticking in me, and it felt… astonishingly good. “I’m human.”
And he smiled a little, one side endearingly just a tiny bit higher than the other, and kissed me again, very softly. “You’ve always been human,” he said. “You’re just really, really committed to it now.”
“And to you,” I said. I put my arm around Isabel and pulled her close. “To you both.”
And to the world that we faced now, damaged and hurting, but hopeful.
Ready to be reborn.
Unbroken.
TRACK LIST
I’m pleased to offer you an excellent soundtrack for this last installment of the Outcast Season series; I think these songs and artists offered some real insight and excitement to the story, and I hope you enjoy them, too. Please remember that these musicians deserve your financial support, and buy their music.
“All American Nightmare” Hinder
“Hurricanes and Suns” Tokio Hotel
“Here Comes the End” The Raveonettes
“Fight the Power, Pts. 1 and 2” The Isley Brothers
“Gone” Jessica Riddle
“The Fire” Rev Theory
“Rolling in the Deep” ADELE
“Set Fire to the Rain” ADELE
“Secret” Missy Higgins
“Scare Me to Death” Joe Henry
“Pins & Needles” Opshop
“We Cry” The Script
“Fall for Anything” The Script
“Rusty Halo” The Script
“Walk Away” The Script
“Dead Man Walking” The Script
“Medicate” AFI
“Rise Above 1 (feat. Bono and The Edge) Reeve Carney
“Keep the Streets Empty for Me” Fever Ray
“Diables” Cirque du Soleil
“You Did (Bomp Shooby Dooby Bomp)” Chuck Prophet
“Living in a Dream” Finger Eleven