Page 139 of Once a Villain
“In the bedroom at Holland House?” Joan hadn’t seen a tear in the bedroom.
“I saw it tonight,” Aaron said. “It was small, but I saw it on my way upstairs.” His eyes roved over her face, as if he was mapping her. “You told me you loved me yesterday. I didn’t believe you.”
“Ido,” Joan assured him. “Iloveyou.”
“I know.” Aaron’s face was full of everything he felt—his own love right there on the surface, like an offering. “I know that now. And I know what triggers your power. It comes out when you’re losing someone you love.”
“Aaron,” Nick said sharply. “You’re too close to that tear! Come toward me!”
Aaronwas, Joan saw, with a shot of fear. He’d been walking backward as he talked, and he’d ended up right at the edge of the tear from the Breakfast Room. It seemed unnervingly large suddenly—the size of a standing mirror.
“Come forward!” Joan said. “You’rereallyclose!”
Aaron glanced over his shoulder at it. He didn’t move, though, and Joan’s stomach dropped.
“Aaron, moveawayfrom it!” she said. She could hear the fear, suddenly, high in her voice.
“I love you,” Aaron said. “Iadoreyou.” He took one more step back, and for a moment he stood there, poised at the very lip of the abyss. Cold horror washed over Joan. “Who’d have thought it would bemesaving the world at the end?” he added, with a shaky smile.
“Aaron!” Joan screamed. “No!” She lunged for him.
Beside her, Nick was already hurling himself forward too—andhealmost caught him. His fingers brushed Aaron’s as Aaron jumped. But it was too late. They’d both been too late. Aaron had already fallen into the shadows of the void.
For a second, Joan’s lungs locked up. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t believe what Aaron had just done. She was still reaching for him, as if he wasn’t already gone. As if every future version of him hadn’t been obliterated.
A scream tore from her throat, the sound harsh and agonized. She felt her legs give, and then she was on the ground, her throat raw, Nick beside her. She had a feeling he’d caught her and eased her down. That he was holding her.
Under her hands, the strands of grass felt unreal. The entire world felt unreal. Sobs wrenched from her, making her whole body shudder. Aaron was dead. Joan couldn’t bear to believe it. It couldn’t be true.
She was vaguely aware of shouts from the others; of the earth beginning to shake like she was shaking. Back at the house, she hadn’t been able to access the deepest well of her power, but now she could feel it inside her, vast and terrifying as a rising flood. This time, she welcomed it.
Rage and grief washed over her, and the grass began to twist and turn like worms under her hands, wriggling back into the earth. At the edge of the field, the tree line shrank and shriveled to saplings, and then vanished to seed. The road melted and steamed, the stink of hot asphalt cutting through the wind. Beyond it, houses were being flayed to bare framesand then sinking back to their foundations.
“Joan!” Nick sounded a little afraid.
Joan looked up and saw—with shock—that the whole field was rolling like the sea. “What’s happening?”
“It’syou,” Nick said. He held her tighter. “Your power!”
Joan gasped, fear mingling with her grief. She could feel it now—herpower surging from her in a torrent, violent and wild.
You have to break that bond, Aaron had said, and another racking sob shuddered out of her. Aaron wasdead.
“Hejumped,” Joan choked out. “He did it to save us all!”
Nick’s expression was achingly gentle in response, his eyes full of pain. “I know.”
Joan gasped for breath. Aaron was gone. He wasgone. Not for one timeline—forever. A fog of horror had descended on her, but even within it, Joan knew that Aaron had asked her for one thing. Shehadto do it—for him.
She forced herself to her feet and walked over to Eleanor across the shaking field.
Her sister stared back, wide-eyed, as houses and trees unraveled around them. In the moonlight, the bond around her waist was an eerie glow that reminded Joan of the luminescent display at the Court.
Joan reached out, throat tight, half expecting Eleanor to stop her. But Eleanor just watched as Joan took hold of the bond at her waist. It didn’t feel like anything at all, but it crumpled like fabric under her hand.
Joan folded her fist around it and wrenched. Earlier, at the house, she hadn’t come close to breaking the bond, but now ittore away like a delicate gauze.
Eleanor’s breath hitched. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Joan. “You did it,” she breathed. And then her face creased, and she groaned in shocked pain as the bond began to unwind itself from her. She tottered back, and then her knees gave, and she fell on her hands and knees to the ground.
