Light

as far as Orc knew, a rod was maybe a stick and a staff was, like, all the guys who worked for you

Edilio Escobar was reunited with Roger. It was months before Roger recovered, but Edilio waited. During a routine traffic stop for a broken taillight a highway-patrol officer checked the IDs of Edilio’s parents and announced that he would have to report them as suspected undocumented aliens. Then he recognized Edilio and insisted on putting out a call to fellow officers. Four other patrol cars pulled up, and it was made clear that as far as the CHP was concerned, they’d be damned if they would take any action against Edilio or his family. Edilio ended up signing autographs

photo of Brianna, which Dekka framed and hung beside her bed.

Dekka Talent’s family took her in, still not happy about her “lifestyle,” as they called it, but unable to summon the nerve to berate her. Dekka could no longer control gravity, except by virtue of being the most impressive person in any room she entered. Dekka made contact with Brianna’s grief-stricken parents and told them about their daughter. They gave her a

“‘However, the rest of what happened was on me. Me, Caine Soren. You’ll probably be hearing a lot of crazy stories from kids. But what they didn’t know was that it was all me. Me. Me me. See, I had a power I never told anyone about. I had the power to make people do bad things. Crimes and whatnot. Especially Diana, who never did anything wrong on her own, by her own will, I mean. She—and the rest of them—were under my control. The responsibility is on me. I confess. Haul me away, officers.’”

“Now, Little Pete,” Caine said. “Right now.”

ng, some hope for Dia

little Nemesis,” Gaia said, but not to Diana.

Would Diana once again let herself be swept along in the wake of an evil person, first with Caine, now with Gaia? Was impotent snark all that Diana had to offer in opposition?

During her abbreviated pregnancy she had allowed herself to fantasize about being a mother, a better mother than her own. She’d pictured herself becoming a good person. She could do that, she’d told herself. She didn’t always have to go on being what she had been and what she had become.

She could have been saved.

“The end is the best part of any story,” Gaia whispered, talking to no one that Diana could see. “The end.”

Diana had imagined redemption, forgiveness, a new beginning as a young mother.

But she was mother to a monster who cared nothing for her.

“I don’t make good choices,” Diana whispered as she lay down in the dirt and wrapped her arms tightly for warmth.

“What,” Gaia snapped, looking up at her.

“Eh,” Diana said with a sigh. “Nothing.”

Little Pete was getting littler. That’s how it felt, anyway. He could feel himself sort of shrinking, and he wasn’t so sure it felt bad. Maybe it was a relief.

Life had always been strange and disturbing for Peter Ellison. From the moment of his birth the world had attacked him with noise and light and scraping touch. A

she was mother to a monster who cared nothing for her.

“I don’t make good choices,” Diana whispered as she lay down in the dirt and

ecause her voice and her eyes and her yellow hair hurt you?

Don’t fight it, Nemesis.

The end is the best part of any story. The end.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.

Orc had memorized the verse. In his head he said it “yeah” instead of “yea,” but that didn’t change the meaning. What it meant was, if you’re scared, don’t be, because God is there. That much was clear. But the next bit about a rod and a staff . . . as far as Orc knew, a rod was maybe a stick and a staff was, like, all the guys who worked for you. My staff.

My staff will comfort you. Which made sense because if you were God you’d need a