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The thought made me think of the zombies.
Where had I pulled them from?
Were they from the other side? Or were they bodies with mysteries to solve? Like the abandoned lot where I’d accidentally pulled Cassidy’s first victims from the ground.
The memory brought the link back to my attention.
I sensed them in the distance. Motionless.
Fallen. But our bond remained.
I reached for them, begging, desperate for anything to help as I held threads together to keep more from slipping, running out of hands to actually weave.
A few seconds passed. I wavered, feeling as if the last dregs of me were about to vanish.
Then the zombies shambled out of the shadows.
Hollow eyes fixed not on me, but on the tear. They wobbled past us, spreading out along the opening. My mind relayed what they needed to do.
Could they do it? I was a ghost, and they were corpses without ghosts at all. Could we actually fix this?
The zombies moved as if I were the puppet master now. Each one carefully grasped for the threads.
The tear began to slow.
Holy fuck, it was working.
Bony fingers began to weave—clumsy but determined. They couldn’t see the threads the way I could, but they followed my lead. They couldn’t focus on the long-term vision, and couldn’t see each life and the possibilities woven around or through it. Instead, they simply repaired. Slowly. Carefully. More like Zhenjun’s method than I’d ever been.
“Useful,” Zhenjun muttered as he continued to work, shoulders tense as he fought exhaustion.
“We’re doing it,” I grumbled, not caring how impressed he was.
The tear shrank. Inch by inch.
The violet light dimmed, flickered, struggled, flashing a handful more times and the opening got narrower and narrower, until finally...
Pop.
The sound was barely more than a whisper. Like a soap bubble bursting.
The tear closed. The Veil shimmered as if the damage had left more than a scar, more like a thin membrane, fragile but holding. I suspected that people who walked through this area in the future would experience chills, or uneasy feelings. But that was a thousand times better than another merge with lives lost and monsters running through the streets.
The zombies collapsed around us like puppets with cut strings the same moment my legs gave out, as if mirroring my movement.
The rain pattered against my face, icy cold. I could feel it.
Nat appeared at my side, eyes wide, reaching for me as I fell.
The area in front of the warehouse, flooded with people. Police. SED. And Angel.
He saw me. I caught the alarm in his gaze a half-second before darkness swept through my vision.
That was okay. I didn’t fight it. I was too tired. Too empty. And oddly happy.
We’d done it. Closed the Veil.
Round one to the home team.
