Page 74 of Infinity Son (Infinity Cycle 1)

sidered leaping into the East River, but we had to prove ourselves. One celestial was telekinetically pinning me to a wall and preparing to launch a dagger into my heart. He would have succeeded if Atlas hadn’t dropped from the sky and blasted him off the bridge. I recognized him from his attention-thirsty Instagram account, but in person, Atlas was dedicated to the mission. Same for Wesley, who was carrying people away from the action at an exhausting speed. Then a celestial was about to strike Atlas out of the air, and I drop-kicked him into a car’s windshield. He thanked me for saving his life, and I called it even.

Then tonight when he needed me to back him up, I killed him.

I’ve stayed in our room for an extra hour by myself, punching holes in the wall and screaming and crying into the pillow that smells of him. I want him in bed with me, to feel the world roll off my shoulders as he embraces me for the night, like we’re the only people in the world.

Mama and Papa were bold with how they wore their hearts on their sleeves when out saving the world that hated them. It inspired me growing up. Even after the Blackout, I was still determined to fall in love and fight for it. But I shouldn’t have said anything. June could’ve killed anyone, but she targeted Atlas to destroy me. At least my parents died together.

I wander the halls and find everyone in the boardroom. Wesley is balled up against the wall and sobbing; he even kicks at the floor. Emil, Brighton, and Prudencia are sitting around the egg, and they freeze when they see me. Eva is massaging circles into Iris’s back. Iris is in her own daze.

“Where is Atlas?” I ask.

“Maribelle, I’m so sorry,” Eva says. “There’s nothing I—”

“I know you can’t heal him. Where is he?”

“Downstairs in Wesley’s room.”

I’m running hot again, and if I can’t control myself, that mysterious ring of fire might kill everyone in this room. Seems appropriate since I’m truly a killer now. The boy I love more than anyone else is gone because of me.

“What’s wrong with me?” Atlas isn’t here to calm me down. “I’m heating up.”

“Power advancement?” Eva says.

“I can levitate. Flying higher and further would be a development.”

“You sure your parents didn’t have fire-casting in their bloodlines?” Brighton asks.

Everyone keeps speculating except Iris.

“You know something,” I say as I approach her.

She refuses to make eye contact. “No one knew . . . no one thought this would happen. My parents believed your power had advanced as far as it could. It just came so late, and your blood glistens, and you’ve shown no other signs of being . . .”

“Being what?”

“A specter,” Iris says. “This is phoenix fire, Maribelle. It just surfaced differently than Emil’s. Flight before fire.”

I’m going to blow this building to the ground. “How do you know all of this?”

“I was told everything in confidence. The fact that you’re experiencing both sets of powers is exceptional, especially since . . . especially since Bautista didn’t. He only possessed phoenix fire.”

“What the hell does Bautista have to do with me?”

“No way!” Brighton’s hands fly to his mouth.

“Lestor and Aurora raised you,” Iris says. “They’re your parents, but—”

“Save it, Iris, I don’t care about your secret intel. I’m a Lucero. End of story.”

“You’re Bautista and Sera’s daughter, Maribelle. To our knowledge, you’re the first child born from a specter and celestial.”

No one says anything. Even Wesley stops sobbing and stares in confusion. Emil is the only other person in this room who has a sense of what I’m going through, and even then, our experiences are different. His past life is my biological father. I have no idea when Mama and Papa decided to raise me as their own or how that even unfolded. Was that Bautista and Sera’s idea? Finola and Konrad’s? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Why was this a secret?

The question that pains me: “Who else knows?”

“No one,” Iris says.

Even Eva is shaking her head. “Iris, how could you not tell her? This wasn’t some intel like before. This is her family.”

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