Medusa’s eyes are closed, but she turns in my direction. “My dear sister, it’s only a curse if I make it so. Now, open your eyes, Tarek. Let me give you what you need.”

Tarek pants on the ground, dirt covering his face. “And what is that?”

“To see death and stay alive.” She cups his cheeks. “Open your eyes. Open them, son of Enoch. You have years of life in you, but if you do not accept death, you cannot accept life. So, watch me. Watch me and accept it. Only then can you live.”

My chest hurts. I start crawling toward him as much as I can, but I’m too weak to make it very far.

Cassius runs over and picks me up, then whispers in my ear, “Trust us.”

I shake my head. “He’s mine.”

“So let him choose,” he says right back. “Just like the stars. And just like you did so many centuries ago.”

I can’t watch, so I turn my head when Tarek opens his eyes and locks gazes with Medusa.

I’m too afraid to look.

Cassius sets me down. A hand grabs mine, and I glance left. It’s Genesis. She smiles and squeezes my fingers. “Remember, fear is not welcome here.”

“Not welcome,” Stephanie adds.

“Never,” Hope agrees.

Before I know what’s happening, all the women walk with me toward Tarek, and I see him stand, completely alive and whole.

I run toward him.

But something stops me.

“You,” a childlike voice says, “and I need to talk.”

My entire body freezes as I turn and look at the Creator. “Are you here to end me?”

“Why would I end the beginning?” He smiles and holds out his hand. He looks maybe sixteen, then changes into a man in his thirties of Arabic descent, then an Indigenous person, then a woman of Jewish ancestry. “Why would I ever end my Creation?”

Chapter Sixteen

Tarek

I feel fine, but I need her. I need to touch her.

Instead, all I see is her staring at me, and everyone surrounding us. I know that I was healed. I know I’m fine, but I’m exhausted. Danu is gone, but my person is still here, still on this Earth, my Earth. I need her.

I reach out with shaking hands.

“Shhh.” Mason, my brother, pulls me into his arms then dusts me off. “Man, you’re a mess. Just gotta be so dramatic about everything. The apple returned to its spot beneath the Earth, and so did Danu. And look at you.” He shakes his head. “Hot mess.”

Horus sighs and pulls his leather jacket tighter across his shoulders. “He really was dramatic, just lying on the ground.”

“All done.” Timber walks up and dusts off his hands. “She’s in the Underworld but not in the nice, safe place. More like the ‘oh, look, torture,’ up top.” He holds his hand up for a high five while all the angels remain standing around us in formation. “What? Too soon?”

I hit his hand because it’s almost embarrassing—he’s been holding it up for longer than a few seconds—then watch the Creator talk to Lilith.

They’re so many things.

A man. A woman. Of every descent. Every face. They encompass all things, and it’s incredible to watch it happen, like They want everyone in the universe to know.

I am.