I recalled Julian talking me through finding the ragged edges of Ezra’s wound at the river. Radiance was so much more complex than I understood—than any of us understood.
So I wondered …
“Give me your hand,” I whispered to Ezra, extending the one that Julian wasn’t touching.
Trusting in a way that made me ache, Ezra twined his fingers with mine. A strange jolt ran through me, different from the sensation of Julian’s radiance creeping into my bones.
Ezra’s eyes widened. “Did you feel that?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
With my hand in Ezra’s, I could sense Julian’s heartbeat. Then I closed my eyes, and I couldseeit. The tiny bursts of radiance that made the chambers of his heart squeeze and open. I extended that impossible view toward Julian’s mind, his brilliant mind. It was a machine. Beautiful and complicated and struggling.
Julian let out a soft moan. I didn’t look. I couldn’t. My awareness had turned entirely inward, to the infinite intricate network of pulses that made up Julian’s wounded consciousness.
“Hey,” Ezra said softly. “Julian, hey. Shhh.”
“I think I can …” I tried to say, unable to form words for what I could sense. I wasn’t a healer. I didn’t understand, but I knew, somehow, that my radiance could flow alongside Julian’s. That I could help him repair the places that the House’s brutal procedure had ravaged. His theory of alternating radiance currents had been correct—more correct than he’d imagined.
“You’re doing something,” Ezra said in a bewildered whisper. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“I think it’s because of you. So don’t stop.”
“I don’t actually know what I’m doing.” Ezra’s voice carried a wry smile I knew I’d see if I opened my eyes. “But I won’t stop.”
“We’re like … a machine.” Sweat prickled all over my body. Julian’s radiance was starting to braid itself along mine. It didn’t hurt as much as it had at the start, but it took a tremendous amount of concentration, and my injured body was already flagging.
“I’m going to try something,” Ezra said. I peered to watch him rest one of his hands atop Julian’s.
“Oh,” we both said at the same time.
Instantly, the three of us were braided together more tightly than ever before, Ezra’s magic and my radiance not clashing but blending into something purer than light or water. It felt … it felt like love. I had no other way to describe the warm buzz flowing through my body, through my blood.
Julian had his eyes closed. He shook his head and breathed unevenly, little whimpers catching at the back of his throat. Tears escaped from the corners of his eyes and ran down his face. Something was happening.
“You’re going to want to make note of this,” I told Julian quietly, feeling a little giddy, and also a little worried that my giddiness meant I was about to pass out. “I think we’ve formed one of Nikola’s closed circuits.”
I closed my eyes once more, and we were back on that endless wagon trail, walking together with the sun on our shoulders. It was warm. We were filthy. And Julian was unusually talkative, explaining something about Maggie Taylor’s research and the potential for water and radiance to form a bond.
Sharing that memory with Julian, I tiptoed through his consciousness, unlocking doors and releasing floodgates. I could feel his awareness returning, along with all the discomfort that came with being aware.
Navigating the unending landscape of Julian’s mind, I knew I’d misunderstood radiance my entire life. It was no different than the wildness in Ezra. The House of Industry had simply distorted it and made it into something that went fundamentally against its nature.
It felt so obvious now. Magic wasn’t meant to be hoarded and stored. It wasn’t meant to be bought and sold. It wasn’t meant to amass wealth.
It was meant to pulse like lifeblood.
Magic. That’s what I had.
That’s what the three of us had.
“Huh,” I mumbled, my tongue feeling clumsy. “That makes more sense.”
I felt Ezra shifting. “Jo,” he was saying, a thousand miles away and right here, his fingers tightening around my hand. “Jo.”
I tried to tell him about our magic, but I couldn’t quite recall how to speak. Smiling, I felt Julian’s consciousness unfurl around me. He wasirritated.I’d never felt anything as beautiful in my life. He was going to wake and experience the future he’d helped shape.
“I’m going to pass out,” I announced.
