Page 140 of Once a Villain
Joan stumbled back too, shaken, as the bond ribboned into the air, its curling movements reminding her of the shadows of the void. Unlike the shadows, though, it shone in unearthly colors as it twisted and writhed.
Joan felt another stab of debilitating grief as she watched it rise. There was something alien about it, but it was beautiful too. Like a cold flame. Like an aurora come to life. She wished Aaron could have seen it.
The eerie coil of it floated above Eleanor, and Joan could feel it searching for someone in the vicinity strong enough to take the leash—to wield control over the timeline itself.
Then to Joan’s shock, it leaped towardher.
It hovered before her, offering itself, and Joan’s breath stopped.If we kill Eleanor, Nick had said,we’ll be able to mold a new timeline.
Joancould. She could feel it—the possibility of it. She could make a better world—agoodworld, where people were happy and at peace. Where monsters and humans weren’t in conflict. She could forge the kind of peace that her original self had wanted. No talks or persuasion needed. She couldmakethat happen.
She could almost hear the timeline speaking now. A vastintelligence, asking her the question:Are you going to take the leash?
Joan took a step forward. Behind the glow of offered power, she could see another shape—just a silhouette in the darkness. She drew a sharp breath. It was the great beast of the timeline itself. There was something cruelly confining knotted around its neck, and it took Joan a long moment to understand that she was looking at the collar on the other end of the leash.
She turned, searching for Nick. He was just a few paces from her—he’d followed her over to Eleanor—and he gazed back at her steadily now.
Molding the timeline to your will means molding people, she’d said to him in the library that night.
And she could. That was the power on offer. She could take hold of the leash and create a new timeline, forcing her will on everyone—humansandmonsters. She could force everyone to be as she wished them to be.
But... “It wouldn’t be right,” she said to Nick. And who was even to say thatJoanwould make a good timeline? Eleanor and the King had both believed that they were doing that.
“I know.” Nick’s eyes were very soft. “I’ve thought a lot about what you said that night.” His mouth curled up wryly. “I guess we’ll have to do a bunch of talking instead.”
“Just like we did in the original timeline,” Joan murmured. Except that this time, they’d be without Aaron. Grief rolled over her again, so consuming and overwhelming that she could hardly breathe. Aaron would never be with them again.
She turned back to the glowing light before her.Are you goingto take the leash?the timeline asked again.
In answer, Joanstretched out her hand. She reached beyond the leash with her power—right across the field to the beast itself, until she could almost feel the rough rope of the collar against her hand.
Then she tugged hard, ripping the collar from the beast’s neck. The rope fell away, and there was asnapall around them as the timeline was freed.
Eleanor gasped again in agony—as if a few last threads of the leash had still been attached to her. Her eyes sought Joan’s as she died, her pained expression easing to something closer to relief as her breath stopped. She’d bound the timeline so tightly to herself, she couldn’t survive without it.
Joan swallowed. Had there been an apology in Eleanor’s eyes in those last moments? She wasn’t sure.
Above, the light of the timeline was filling the holes in the sky, and the field was beginning to change.
Nick cried out a warning as a wall shot up near Joan. The house was returning. The timeline was already re-forming into something new.
Nick grabbed Joan’s hand, and they ran together with the others—into where the garden had once been. Then, with the last of her strength, Joan threw up a shield, protecting herself and the others from the changing timeline.
They’d done it, she realized. They’d saved the world. And as soon as she thought that, she was suddenly sobbing uncontrollably.
Eleanor had died, and some part of Joan wished she had too.Because Aaron had stepped into the void. He’d saved them all—but he wouldn’t be there to see it. He wouldn’t be in the new timeline, or any other. He was lost to them.
When the darkness came, it was a relief.
Thirty-Eight
Joan woke slowly, her cheek pressed against patchy grass. She groaned, and a shadow passed over her as Nick knelt beside her worriedly.
He pushed her hair gently from her eyes. “Are you all right?”
Joan opened her mouth and then remembered everything that had just happened. They’d defeated Eleanor, but... “He’s gone,” Joan choked out. “Aaron’sgone.” Nick drew her into his arms. Joan hugged him back, desperately tight. “Are the others—?” She turned, searching.
She spotted Jamie first, kneeling on the grass. He groaned, and Tom crawled over to check on him.
