Zebediah sped through the streets of Portland, leaving the giant and The Evil to duke it out. There were signs of devastation everywhere. Trees had come down. Roofs were caved where The Evil had passed. Dead and dying bugs were everywhere.
A voice filled all their heads, but this time it wasn’t The Evil’s.
++Project Thunderclap is a success,++ said Aleksandr. ++The Earth is safe forever from the realm of The Evil. All remaining Wardens and troubletwisters have one minute to evacuate.++
“What’s going on?” asked Jack. “Evacuate why?”
Lottie was still awake, completely recuperated thanks to her nap.
“The realm of The Evil may be closed to us,” she said, “but so much of it managed to escape here first, across the Bridge that brought us home. Thankfully, it’s contained by the wards for the moment. If it ever got out, though, if the wards were ever to fail even slightly, it would turn Earth into that desert I lived in for so long. They have to get rid of it before the world will be safe.”
“But they can’t send it back,” said Jaide, “because the Bridge is closed. No, it’s more than closed — it can never be opened again.”
“That’s right.”
“What are they going to do?” asked Jack in a quiet voice. He was imagining terrible things, all involving the destruction of Portland.
“What needs to be done, I guess,” Lottie said, which was no more reassuring than what Grandma X liked to say in similar moments. For the first time, Jaide could see the resemblance. “David, take us to the lookout. Do you remember the place? It’s just on the border of the town. We went there once, a long time ago.”
“I … I do remember it,” he said, eyes blinking furiously as he drove. “I do. How could I have forgotten?”
“Because I left you,” she said. “Sometimes it’s easier that way.”
“You’re back now,” he said.
“I am, and I’m never going anywhere ever again.”
Zebediah turned left onto Rourke Road and followed it out of town, engine surging as the land rose beneath it. Jack knew the lookout Lottie was referring to: It was not a particularly high vantage point, but it did show the town in a good aspect, from the Rock all the way to Mermaid Point. There was a plaque there, acknowledging the whalers who had founded the town and the many whales that had died to ensure its early prosperity. Mr. Carver had insisted on the latter part, and for once Jack fully agreed.
The twins had only ever gone to the lookout with their mother, because it was just outside the wards of Portland, somewhere Grandma X couldn’t go. As they drove up the increasingly curving road, they saw Wardens traveling in various guises. There was Custer in his saber-toothed tiger form. There was a wolf, a lion, a flock of sparrows, a boa constrictor, and a fierce-looking bird that Jack thought might be a cassowary. Some ran at incredible speeds. One glided like Jaide did, following the air currents above the treetops. Jack caught a glimpse of a shadow-walker flitting in and out of existence alongside the ride. Tara and Kyle stared at them with amazed expressions.
The only thing missing was lightning. The exhausted creators of the megastorm drove or were driven. As Zebediah neared the lookout, they saw a large number of cabs and minivans scattered higgledy-piggledy through the parking lot. Wardens didn’t like right angles very much, it seemed, or staying within the lines. Jaide wasn’t surprised.
“What are they doing up here?” Kyle asked Lottie. “How did you know they’d be here?”
She shrugged. “It’s an old place, important to Portland even though it’s not really part of it anymore. This is where the founder sketched the first plan. It’s also where the first ward was created by the first Warden of Portland. History is important.”
Rodeo Dave carefully drove the big car into the only spot large enough to hold it. The kids jumped out, and Cornelia took the opportunity to spread her wings and fly. The rain had fallen away, although the clouds remained, heavy and brooding above. Rodeo Dave insisted on carrying Lottie, although the boys tried to take her from him. She hardly weighed anything, he said. That wasn’t entirely true, Jack knew, but he suspected it was more than just gallantry that made Rodeo Dave say it. They had a history of their own.
Jaide and Tara hurried ahead to where two distinct shocks of hair, one black and the other white, revealed the presence of Hector and Grandma X. What they hadn’t seen from the road were the limp rotors of a helicopter in the lower parking lot. The pilot sat behind the controls with a glazed expression, not really doing anything — and possibly not seeing anything, either — while Susan stood with her husband, watching the assembly.
Susan saw the twins and performed a strange but utterly heartfelt leap of delight and relief. They ran toward one another with arms wide. Jack overtook Jaide and was the first to meet her. The three stood in a tight embrace until Hector joined in and made them four.
“It’s over,” Susan said. “Thank goodness it’s finally over.”
“It is not over,” said Aleksandr, his voice trembling with repressed rage. “Today did not go at all to plan, thanks to the willful disobedience of the Shield family. Were it within my power to strip you of your Gifts, I would seriously consider doing so. You have left us with an exceedingly serious problem on our hands.”
As one, the gathering turned to look toward Portland, above which a dark cloud of The Evil was gathering, made of birds and any terrestrial insect that could fly. The dragon form was returning, and with it a sense of questing menace. It was looking for Wardens. It was looking for revenge. Most important, it was looking for a way out.
“The wards are sealed,” said Grandma X. She stood on her own, slightly apart from the rest of the gathering. “The Evil is contained, for the moment.”
“Exactly,” said Aleksandr. “For the moment. We cannot keep it here forever — you know how hard it is to deal with even a tiny excision — and we cannot send it back. There is no known way to actually kill The Evil, so what do you propose we do? Call in a nuclear strike and hope for the best?”
That was the worst of Jaide’s fantasies, and she hoped that wasn’t seriously on the table.
“Why can’t you kill it?” said Kyle. “That doesn’t make sense!”
“Because it is not truly alive,” said Grandma X. “It is a facsimile of life, a vampire that has no blood of its own, no matter how much it drinks of the blood of others. It is the yearning to be, without the means to be. It is the most tragic creature in the universe.”
Lottie nodded, and so did Stefano. He was standing behind Aleksandr, looking distinctly singed around the edges.
“It’s a parasite,” Stefano said, “but even parasites deserve to live.”
Aleksandr looked like he was about to explode. His mood wasn’t improved by the sudden appearance of Alfred the Examiner, who emerged from the wooden deck of the lookout not far from where Aleksandr was standing, making him jump.
“What do you suggest we do, then?” Aleksandr asked. “Set it free so it can grow fat and happy on the people we have sworn to protect?”
“Of course not,” said Grandma X. “There is another way.”
“A secret way,” said Lottie from her cradle in Rodeo Dave’s arms, “kept secret for a very important reason. It undermines the very purpose and existence of the Wardens.”
All eyes turned to her. None looked more surprised than Alfred’s.
“You cannot know this,” he said.
“I can,” she said. “Remember where I have been. I’ve watched The Evil every day for over forty years. I’ve studied its ways, and my own ways, too. I’ve learned some things … things that shocked me at first, but they had to be true because there was no other explanation. Jack, tell them what you experienced when you were in the realm of The Evil.”
Jack had never expected to be addressed in such a highly charged moment.
“Uh … I don’t know what you mean.”
“What happened to your Gift?”
“It was strong. Way stronger than it is
here.”
“Why do you think that is?”
He remembered Kyle jumping up and down excitedly. “Because we were on a different planet and things work differently there?”
“That’s what I thought at first, too,” she said, “which made me wonder what it was about our Gifts that could make them change that way. I experimented. I did what I could with what little I had. In the end, I came to the conclusion that the change had nothing to do with me at all, or the planet I was living on. The Evil was what mattered.”
“Your Gifts got bigger because they could tell it was closer?” asked Jaide. “Because they wanted to fight?”
Lottie shook her head. “Not because they wanted to fight, but because The Evil is the source of our Gifts.”
A startled murmur rose up from the crowd.
“Think about it.” She shouted to be heard. It was amazing that such a strong voice could emerge from such a frail body. “Where do you think our powers come from? Out of the ether, like magic? Not likely. And haven’t you ever wondered why we can do so many of the same things that The Evil can — talk with our minds, defy the normal laws of this universe, change our forms? We exist to fight The Evil, but without The Evil we would have nothing to fight with. Our Gifts, you see, ultimately belong to The Evil. We who have the ability have stolen them and used them against it. We have passed them from parent to child for thousands of years, without truly understanding what they are. And the more we use them, the more like it we become. Our blessing is also our curse. We are the parasites, as surely as it is.”
The twins were staring at Grandma X, who nodded slowly.
“It’s true?” Jack said.
“You’ve known this all along?” said Jaide. Her skin crawled at the thought that inside her was part of The Evil — a part that she had thought was becoming her friend, even as it rebelled against her.
“I have known only so long as I have been the Warden of Last Resort,” Grandma X said, addressing not just the twins but the entire crowd. “I was selected by Alfred when my predecessor died. It takes a Warden of exceptionally strong will, in case he or she is ever called upon to act. In all our history, none of them have ever been called. But now I have been. And I am here.”
She looked down at her feet, and the twins realized that she was standing alone for a very important reason. Everyone else was outside the wards. She alone was inside.
“Grandma,” said Jaide, “you’ve got to get out of there. The Evil is coming.”
And indeed it was. It boiled up over Portland, a dragon in shape and intent, flapping its mighty wings and baring its teeth, flying at all speed to where Grandma X stood on a lonely hilltop with an excellent view of the town.
“I can’t leave, Jaide. I am the Warden of Portland. If I take one more step, the wards will fail and The Evil will escape into the world.”
“But you can’t stay there,” said Jack. “It’ll kill you!”
“No, it won’t.” Grandma X smiled.
“That remains to be seen,” said Lottie. “This is what it means to be the Warden of Last Resort — to take this chance, if required to. When everything else has failed.”
“Is it, Mother?” asked Hector. The twins were surprised to see tears running down his cheeks. “Is there no other way?”
“This is how it must be, dear boy,” she said. “Not least because everything Aleksandr said is true. I made decisions today that put the world in danger. This is how I will make amends. Let me put everything right … if I can.”
The twins looked to Aleksandr, hoping he would find a way to talk her out of it. He looked at Alfred, who shook his head.
“I don’t understand,” whispered Kyle to Jack. “Is she going to kill The Evil or not?”
“She can’t do that,” said Tara, “because that would destroy everyone’s powers. Who would want that?”
Grandma X smiled at them. “It’s good that you are here, children. We have fought for so long to save the people of the world. You are witnesses to all we have done, for good and evil. You must understand what we sacrifice. You will remember.”
Her moonstone ring flashed once. Kyle and Tara stiffened and their eyes opened wide. They blinked, but only with an effort, and they couldn’t look away.
Grandma X turned to face the dragon.
“No!” the twins cried. They would have run to her but for their mother’s hands holding them back.
The dragon grew large and furious before the assembled Wardens. Although they knew it couldn’t get through the invisible barrier the wards created to keep it out of the world, it was still difficult to stand unmoving during its approach. Long years of hard training — or perhaps it was a sense of recognition, many Wardens now thought, given everything Grandma X had just told them — prompted their Gifts to stir. Tendrils of smoke and flame curled out of thin air. Patches of grass bloomed suddenly from solid concrete. The daylight turned orange, then green, then returned to its former listless gray. A chill wind swept through the gathering, whistling mournfully.
“We like to say that The Evil is so evil we don’t have a word for it.” Grandma X stood firm before the dragon, even as it rose up above her, mouth and clawed feet opening to engulf her. “That’s not entirely true. We may not have a word, but we do have something much more powerful. We have …”
The Evil struck her with all its force. She disappeared under the sheer weight of the dragon, and Jaide cried out in horror. The vast mass of The Evil crashed into the wards, too, spreading out as though against an invisible glass wall. Jack turned away, unable to bear the sight of all the squashed bugs. The air was suddenly full of the smell of them.
++We have you now,++ gloated The Evil. ++We have you at last, Warden of Portland. You will thwart us no more! We have … We have …++
Its voice changed, becoming higher pitched.
++We have … we have … a name?++ it said, only it didn’t sound like an it anymore. The voice sounded exactly like Grandma X’s.
The mass of dead bugs parted and she stepped through the invisible wall, into clear air. Her eyes shone a bright, lifeless white. The Wardens backed away from her. The wards shivered. She took five steps and stopped. She didn’t seem to see anyone or anything around her. She looked down at her hands and shook her head.
The wards collapsed, prompting a flood of dead bugs that reached almost as far as the heels of Grandma X’s cowboy boots. Nothing living stirred in that terrible mass. The dragon was dead.
++We are …++ she said. ++I am …++
The whiteness in her eyes swirled furiously, spinning in ever-tightening circles. Her hands clenched and unclenched into fists, leaving tiny half-moons in her palms where her fingernails dug in. Strange forces swirled around her, twisting her hair into strange streamers and whorls.
“Lara Mae,” said Lottie. “Come back to us.”
Grandma X jerked as though struck. Her eyes closed, then opened.
The whiteness was gone.
“Thank you, Charlotte,” she said in her normal voice.
Then she collapsed.
The twins pulled away from their mother and were instantly at her side.
“Will she be all right?” Jaide asked. The old woman was unconscious but breathing. Jaide touched her neck where she had seen her mother do it the other day, and felt a rapid but steady pulse.
“What happened to her?” asked Jack.
Rodeo Dave knelt down beside them, with Lottie still in his arms.
“She became The Evil,” Lottie said. “But not the usual way. Instead of being taken over by it, she took it over. I bet it wasn’t expecting that.”
“That is what she meant about needing extraordinary willpower.” Alfred had joined them and was manipulating one of Grandma X’s hands as though testing to see if the joints still worked. “The Evil is still here, but it’s part of her now, bound up with her, under the name she surrendered until she needed it again.”
“So it’s not The Evil anymore?” said Jaide. “It’s
… Lara Mae?”
“It’s still The Evil,” said Lottie, “but it’s Lara Mae as well. Names have power. They are bound together now. It can never escape.”
“What will she be like when she wakes up?” asked Jack. “She will wake up, won’t she? Will she be herself?”
“Time will tell,” said Lottie, mopping her sister’s brow. It was hot. “Time will tell.”
Susan forced her way into the huddle.
“Until then, I think it’s best we get her to a hospital,” she said. Behind the crowd, the rotors of the helicopter were already starting to turn. “Jack, Jaide, you can fly with me, if you want. You, too,” she said to Alfred, “in case something weird happens on the way. Hector, go with David and make sure Tara and Kyle are okay. The rest of you” — Susan looked around at the gathered Wardens — “you can start cleaning up some of this mess.”
For once, the twins were grateful for their mother’s bossy tone, and it seemed Aleksandr and the others were, too. As Susan and Alfred carefully lifted the old woman off the ground and placed her on a collapsible stretcher, a babble of voices rose up around them. The shocked silence was over. The questioning had begun.
“Lara Mae,” said Jaide. “I never would’ve guessed that.”
“She said her middle name was Prudence, once,” said Jack. “It sounds right.”
“My middle name is Patience,” said Lottie with a wry smile. “Our mother named us well, don’t you think?”
The old woman looked so small in Rodeo Dave’s arms, so frail. Jaide was moved to hug her, experiencing a sudden sense of kinship that she hadn’t felt before. This woman was her great-aunt, her grandma’s twin sister. She had been gone for a long time, and now she was home. Whatever else happened, that was an amazing, wonderful thing.
“Jack, Jaide, are you coming or not?”
Jack tugged at his sister. This was their chance to finally ride with their mother in the helicopter, something they had wanted forever.
Jaide wasn’t ready.
“You go,” she told him, letting go of Lottie but finding the old woman’s hand and feeling it grip hers tightly. “I’ll stay here and make sure Dad’s okay.”