“It’s only—”
“No!” the spirit screeched, her beady eyes staring at Myron in fear and rage. “He chained me! Bound me! I amnotaccepting him as my mage.”
“Assuming the Merlin Gate would let him in even if you did,” Amelia said with a snort. “What?” she added at Marci’s angry glare. “Someone had to say it.”
“Amelia,” Marci said through clenched teeth. “You’renothelping.”
“But she is right,” Myron said, turning to face the DFZ, who took another step back. “I’m sorry.”
“Little late for that,” the rat hissed. “You let me be born into chains.”
“I did you great wrong,” he agreed. “You and many others, but I was only trying to do what I thought was best for everyone. I was…”
He trailed off with a sigh. “I was afraid,” he said at last. “In my work for the UN, I saw human cruelty in all its terrible forms. I spent my whole life believing that Mortal Spirits would be our salvation. That they were the good and righteous forces in us that would finally elevate humanity to an equal playing field with dragons and spirits. That was my dream, but after the Empty Wind, after I saw Algonquin’s pool of blood, I felt like a fool. Then, later, when Algonquin told me the real reason the magic had vanished was because the Merlins had bound it to banish the monsters that were humanity’s uncontrollable gods, it fit my own experiences too well for me to disbelieve her. That was when I decided to seal the magic away again forever. That’s why I used you. I wanted to save humanity from itself.”
The DFZ glowered at him. “But?”
“There is no but,” Myron said. “Humanity is foolish, selfish, fearful, and violent, and our spirits reflect that. If I’ve learned anything from all of this, it’s that you truly areMortalSpirits. You areus, and I am sorrier for that than anything.”
Marci put her hand over her face. “Myron,” she groaned. “This isn’t useful.”
“It’s not meant to be,” he said angrily. “I’m telling her the truth. I watched everything that happened here from the Heart of the World. I saw the DFZ’s rage, and I know it wasn’t only from the spirits Algonquin used to fill her. My anger was in there, too. I was also ready to destroy myself and all of human magic if it meant defeating Algonquin and everything like her. Istillthink it would be a worthy sacrifice to give my life to make a safer world for future generations. That’s why I joined the UN, why I’ve doneeverythingthat I’ve done. The only difference now is that I no longer see Mortal Spirits as an enemy to be defeated.”
He looked at Marci. “You were right, Novalli. Theyareus, and that’s better reason than any to lock the magic away again forever. It’s the only way to make sure they don’t suffer as we do. If you think about it, all Mortal Spirits are is magic that we’ve dragged down to our level. The only reason I’m here doing this instead of dragging you back to the Heart of the World to banish all spirits forever is because thatdoesn’t work. We can’t stop the magic. It just keeps flowing no matter what we do. Even if we could make another seal, it would just be this problem all over again in another thousand years.”
“That’s whatIsaid,” Marci grumbled.
“And I’m admitting you were right,” Myron snapped. “I don’t like it, but anyone who can’t change his mind in the face of evidence is an irrational fool, and for all my other flaws, I’ve never been one of those.”
Marci stared at him in wonder, but before she could follow up, the DFZ beat her to it.
“So what are you going to do?” the spirit asked warily. “Just because you’ve given up trying to block the magic doesn’t mean the rest is forgiven. Good intentions don’t excuse what you did to me. Why shouldn’t I cut you loose?”
“Because we need each other,” Myron said sternly. “I thought cutting off the magic was the silver-bullet solution to all our problems, which was why I was willing to do such terrible things to get it. I’m sorry for that, and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but that doesn’t mean I’ve quit. I’m still in this for the future of humanity, only now, instead of a single simple solution, we have to do things the hard way. We have to change, fight humanity’s inclination toward cruelty and violence spirit by spirit, mage by mage. That’s not a task I can accomplish in my lifetime. I’m not confident it can be accomplished at all. But we willabsolutelyfail if Algonquin gives the Leviathan what he wants.”
He held out his hand. “I’m not asking for your forgiveness. All I want is for you to help me stop this disaster. Let me be your Merlin long enough to fool Algonquin, and I promise, I will set you free immediately after.”
“Set her free?” Ghost said, incredulous. “There is no setting free. The Merlin bond is for life.”
“Then I’ll end mine,” Myron said without missing a beat. “I’ve staked my life on far less. If I have to die to help humanity avoid this disaster, I’ll count it cheaply bought, but I will not stand by and do nothing.” He thrust his hand at the DFZ. “Let me be your Merlin, and I swear, I will not live to see you regret it.”
That was a terrifying way to put it, but to Julius’s amazement, the DFZ was smiling. She shifted next, her rat-shape collapsing into her human body, who was staring at Myron with a new gleam in her orange eyes.
“You’re crazy,” she said. “And a pompous jerk. But I’ve always been a city of people who don’t take no for an answer. Dreamers, too.” She tilted her head at him. “Being Merlin was always your dream, wasn’t it?”
“My greatest ambition.”
The DFZ grinned, and then she grabbed Myron’s hand. “I accept,” she said, squeezing his fingers until he winced. “If only to see how you’ll try to cheat your way out of death.”
“That’sherdepartment,” Myron said, tilting his head at Marci, though his attempts to play it cool did nothing to hide his obvious relief. “Shall we go try the door again? With less breaking, this time?”
The spirit’s answer was to jerk him forward, and then the two of them vanished down an open manhole thatdefinitelyhadn’t been there a second ago. It vanished a second later, leaving Myron’s body lying facedown on the piled trash, empty again.
“That can’t be healthy,” Amelia said.
“Myron’s never been one to let physical limitations get in his way,” General Jackson replied, walking over to flip Myron onto his side so he could breathe more easily. “Do you think he’ll survive?”
“You mean, ‘Will he make it through the Merlin Gate?’” Marci shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m still not sure what logic governs the gate’s decision, but I’d say he’s got a much better chance this time around. Other than having a Mortal Spirit, the only real requirement for being a Merlin is ‘be a champion of humanity.’ You don’t have to be a nice person or even a good one. You just have to be willing to protect humankind. All of it, including our spirits. I think Myron’s got that now. We’ll just have to hope the Heart of the World feels the same.”
