“Great news—you’re insane.”
“It’s a powerful instrument of death, I’m sure.”
I can’t—I can’t keep doing this. “I’m going to hide over there.” I point at a hangar that’s not too far from us. “I’m scared.”
He shrugs. “Fine. But not too far. Hear me?”
I nod. “Not too far.”
Another round of jets shows up, and I realize the general was telling the truth. They really are hitting him with everything they have. I form a bubble of wind over my head, and I sprint for the hangar.
The very last thing I ever expected is waiting for me inside: Izzy.
“You finally got clear.” She hugs me. “P. S. There’s no way we’re killing you, you idiot.”
Leonid’s right behind her. He shrugs.
“You weren’t supposed to tell her,” I snap.
“You don’t know your sister,” Leonid says, “if you thought I could hide that. She heard you on that call in real time.” He chuckles. “But let’s go. I’m not sure how many weapons the US military will be stupid enough to give him.”
“I can’t run.” I shake my head. “He’ll come for me—it’ll pull him right to you.”
“Exactly,” Leonid says. “We’re counting on it.”
“You don’t understand,” I say. “No one in this world can destroy him. He’s not evil—he’s just pure darkness to balance the light. Light can’t exist without darkness to define it.”
“Oh, wow, you’re in deep.” Izzy grabs my hand. “Come on. We know all that, and we’re not trying to kill him like the stupid US military. We’re just trying to put him back to sleep, and we have some ideas, but we need you for all of them.”
It’s hard to leave him—surprisingly painful—but I go.
I only look back one time, and my heart wrenches as I abandon my big, strong Cobalt Blue.
16
Xolotl
It’s always like this.
Humans never really believe what I am when I first wake. It takes some time to draw out the ones who matter and show them what I am. But once they really see, once they understand that I can’t be defeated or killed, they usually capitulate rather easily.
The missiles, the glorious, beautiful, blessed missiles, finally stop coming, and the jets stop making so many passes. I don’t crush these, because soon they’ll be my jets.
General Phillips was an idiot, but his second-in-command is smarter.
“My name’s General Barerra,” a short man with dark hair says. “I’d like to welcome you to California.” He bows to me.
That’s more like it.
“You may stand,” I say. “Thank you for finally showing me the deference I deserve.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” His brow furrows. “Or how would you have us address you?”
“You can decide all of that sort of thing,” I say. “I don’t care about titles or words.”
“What do you want me to do, sir?” he asks. “How can we best serve you?”
“I’m here for one reason. The humans of this time have grown imbalanced. They’re ill in their minds, because they no longer have an enemy. They have no real things to fear, so they make up enemies for the sake of balance.”
