No. It’s not possible. It can’t be true. He’s in there, he has to be.
“Atticus! It’s us!” Raven pleads, trying to break through, but Adelina smiles mockingly.
“Don’t worry,” Adelina says. “It was over quickly. He didn’t want to be in this world anymore.”
I don’t know what to do or how to stop this. Is there anything I can do? This is magic that goes beyond me, beyond nature itself. Bringing someone back from the dead, it shouldn’t be possible. And yet, here she is. Using Atticus’s body like it belongs to her.
“So,” she says, looking at the wand in Raven’s hand, “let’s stop wasting time, shall we?”
I step in front of Raven and slam the cell door closed, shutting Adelina inside.
She presses up against the bars, smashing her face against the frame, a grotesque smile on her face. “This won’t stop me.”
Adelina throws out a hand.
As if pulled up by invisible strings, Raven rises off her feet and goes flying toward Adelina’s hand. With a bang, Raven slams hard into the cage.
“Raven!”
She drops the book and the wand and collapses into a heap.
I catch her just before her head can hit the floor, but Adelina grabs the book and the wand, grinning in victory.
Raven is dazed, but unharmed. Her eyelids flutter open, and she grabs on to my shirt, hauling herself back to her feet as she gapes at Adelina in fear.
“Thank you for bringing these back to me,” Adelina says. “I’ve missed them.”
She raises her wand, pointing it at us—
Then Adelina’s head snaps back like she’s been struck by an invisible fist. She stumbles, reeling. Blood leaks from her nose. She looks at us, and her eyes are somehow changed; they’re different. They’rehis.
“Atticus!”
He’s back.
38
Atticus
The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.
—Mary Shelley,Frankenstein
“Atticus,” Dorian whispers.He’s the first thing I see when I wake.
The world snaps back into place. I’m in my body again, but everything feels wrong. Adelina is still here, in my body with me. I hear her whispering in my thoughts, growing louder. Raven and Dorian are calling my name, but my ears feel like they are stuffed with cotton. I shake my head to clear it.
“I’m…” It’s like I’m standing on a rocking boat. It’s hard keeping my feet under me. But they’re my feet at least. They’re mine again. “I’m fighting—” Pain shoots through my skull as blinding white dots fill up my vision. Blood pours from my nose and drips down the back of my throat. In my thoughts, Adelina thrashes, struggling to take control. I try to open my eyes, but tears blur my vision. I want the pain to stop; I want this to be over.
Raven and Dorian stare at me, terrified, and I know I need to fight Adelina. I do it for them. I screw up my face, push through the pain, through the storm of sulfur and smoke and ash that chokes my mind. I’m strong.
But she’s stronger.
Like a hammer, she slams me down.
I’m falling, falling,falling.
“Don’t you dare.” Her words echo deep into my head. “I’ll make you kill them if you interfere.” She’s using my mouth. She’s stolen my voice, my body. I’m not in control. I’m a ghost in my own mind. I try to grab hold of something solid, anything I can reach, but it slips away from me, passing through my hands like fog.
