Page 100 of My Wild Horse King

That’s an interesting question. “It may not be the same for you, but I can feel the magic sort of pulsing in my head.” I tap my forehead, and then I realize he can’t see that either. We do a lot of things every day that rely on sight. It’s strange for me to function without it. “My power usually kind of hovers right behind my forehead, just above my eyes. I canfeelthe power, sort ofwaitingthere.” It’s weird because I can almost feel it right now, even though I know it’s not there. “When I need it, I can kind of squint up my eyes and focus, and, bam.”

I zap Gustav.

“Ow.” He bolts upright on the sofa. “What just happened? That hurt!”

“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I haven’t had my power in so long that I didn’t realize—” My powers. When did Leonid give them back? And more importantly,why?

“You—you have them?”

“I’m as shocked as you,” I say. “What could it mean?”

Gustav’s quiet. “Maybe it’s his way of trying to get you to call him.”

Of course it is.

Gustav’s a genius.

I talked to Leonid. I offered him a deal, and he even gave me a phone. Then I never called, and now he can’t so much as track it. I never asked him to restore Alexei’s powers, and he has no idea where we are. . . But clearly he wants to find us.

So he’s summoning me with a treat, like he would a dog.

“I don’t want to use it now.” My voice is small, and I remember my epiphany from earlier, the one that made me change without thinking. The one that led us here. “I think Leonid’s been holding those weird trials. . .and just killing anyone he finds who’s dark.” I don’t explain my guess very well, but Gustav’s silence tells me that he gets it.

“Would he really do that?”

“You tell me,” I whisper. “Would you feel confident doing that?”

“Not at all,” he says. “But I’ve only had this ability for a few days. I wonder what having it for years and years would do to me? Would I become more sure of my ability? Would I be confident of what the light or dark means?”

“He can’t just go around killing people,” I say. “It’s wrong.”

“But it’s okay for the government to execute people, even though they really have no way of knowing whether the criminals did what they’re charged with doing?”

“I don’t know, but?—”

“Heisthe government,” Gustav says. “The people elected him, and this is how he’s chosen to keep people safe. There’s a disturbing kind of simplicity in his version of justice.”

“He’s like a villain in a television show or a movie.”

“He’s literally out there, a wannabe Batman or something, eliminating anyone who’sbad.”

“And he has a bad-o-meter,” I say. “Or at least, he thinks he does.”

“What if he’s right?” Gustav asks. “What if he’s uniquely situated, better even than any impartial judge, to know what people will do and rid the world of all the darkness that threatens it?”

“You can’t kill someone for what they might do,” I say. “You can’t kill them for ‘badness’ either. Unless he has a real reason—evidence of something they’ve done wrong—he should not, hecannotjust kill people. These powers. . .you may not have them yet, but when you do, you have to remember that it’s wrong to use them that way.”

“I think maybe I do feel it,” Gustav whispers. “I feelsomethingup behind my forehead, kind of pressing on me.”

I sit straight up on the sofa. “You do?” When I’m looking directly at him, I can make out his general shape and size, even in the dark.

He grunts. “I’m not sure. I thought it was just a headache before, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I think maybe it’s not. It’s been there since, well, since the day I leapt in front of the men to save you. Looking back, that sounds kind of stupid, but people get headaches.”

I slide down to the end of the sofa that’s closest to him. “When I want to use my power, I focus on that spot, and then I push.”

“But what if I use one Leonid has?” he asks. “Would that pull him here?”

I wish I knew. “Do you think he felt me zap you?”

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