I woke with a strangled cry, my phone ringing loudly. Someone kicked at my leg and I kicked back viciously. Where the fuck was I--

  “Lia, it’s just me, Amy!” Icy fingers of terror gripped my heart.

  She was sitting opposite me on the couch, leaning against the arm, just where we’d fallen asleep halfway through The Rainmaker. She was breathing heavily from whatever nightmare she’d been pulled out of, but was staring at me with a look of open worry. With shaking hands, I tapped the answer button on my phone and pressed it to my ear.

  “Hello?” I asked, voice trembling.

  “Amaranth, it’s Clock,” he said, gutting any ounce of hope left. “Turn on the TV, any news channel!” I hung up the phone and dropped it.

  “Skitter’s dead,” I said numbly.

  “Whoa, what?!” Amy exclaimed, tensing. “Lia what do you mean?”

  “I fucked it,” I continued, staring at my hands. “I thought it was going to be fine, just...in prison until we needed her. This wasn’t supposed to happen, she was supposed to be safe, Amy!”

  “Lia what are you talking about?” I raised my head and met her eyes.

  “You ever fuck something up so bad that you know, no matter what, things aren’t going to be okay again?” She stared at me silently, and I could see her lower lip start to tremble as tears began to tickle my cheeks.

  “What—” Amy cut herself off, swallowing hard. “Lia what happened?”

  I opened my mouth to answer but all that emerged was a choked sob. My shoulders hunched and shook as I curled in on myself. I felt Amy’s arms wrap around me and couldn’t help but lean into her, hands clutching aimlessly at her sweater as I broke down. I could feel her rubbing little circles around my back, gently murmuring kindnesses I couldn’t understand.

  I wasn’t a clean crier, and I knew I was probably staining Amy’s shirt. Somewhere at the back of my mind that bugged me, but the gentle comfort overrode that easily. Her fingers moved from my back to my hair, gentle pulling through the unkempt mess it had become after months of neglect. A racking sob escaped my throat and I pressed myself closer to her.

  She smelled like bread. I wasn’t sure how the scent made it through my snotty nose, but it helped, weirdly. Oh so slowly, my wretched sobs gave way to pathetic, choked whimpers, then to shaky, unsteady breathing. Tears slowly trickled from my eyes, adding to the mess I’d made of Amy’s sweater. I shifted my head to wipe my nose on my sleeve, instead of her chest, then laid there quietly, listening to the gentle beat of her heart.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Amy asked after a few minutes. I opened my mouth to refuse, then paused. Amy...knew. She knew my power, the insides and outs. She was maybe the only person I could talk to, besides Dean.

  “I…” I sniffed and rubbed my eyes.

  “Did you die?” she whispered. I nodded as my lower lip trembled. “Shit, Lia when—”

  “Ten minutes from now,” I said. “Or...or from when we woke up.”

  “Why?” I couldn’t help flinching.

  Hesitantly, I began telling her about the end of the world. Details weren’t really important, even the few I could remember. Taylor wouldn’t be a Ward anymore, wouldn’t be Weaver. She wouldn’t fight Jack and his army of cloned psychos, wouldn’t be around to win but lose anyway. I wasn’t even sure how she’d done it, I just knew Jack talked to Scion and that was that. Now there wouldn’t even be anyone to try and stop him, and no one to pick up the pieces when it inevitably failed.

  “Holy shit,” Amy whispered when I’d finished. “We’re...you really think that’s it?”

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I didn’t know it would be like this.”

  “So that’s it?” she asked, voice brittle. “You’re just...giving up and letting us all die?”

  “Letting?” I scoffed. “I’m a third-rate cape with a fourth-rate brain. Even if I tried I’ll just die and die and die and die and die and die and—” Warm fingers against my lips cut me off.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Lia.” I flinched at Amy’s steely tone. “Stop. You’re...I know you remember stuff that hasn’t happened yet, but you said you didn’t know about this, so how the fuck is it your fault?”

  “She lived if I didn’t arrest her,” I said. “I...I fucked it up, all of it.”

  “You did your job,” she countered. “You’re a hero and she’s a villain, if you’d just let her go…” She trailed off and sighed. “You’re an idiot.”

  “I know,” I whispered, shoulders hunching.

  “But you are a hero,” Amy continued, her hand resting on my back. “You took on the Nine, saved me, saved my...saved Victoria.”

  “What does that matter when everyone else—”

  “We’re not dead yet,” she cut me off. “Right? You said this happens in two years, doesn’t it? You said it can be stopped.”

  “I thought so,” I said. “But that was when Taylor was alive and now—”

  “Now she’s dead,” Amy said. “But you’re still here. If...if you think it’s your fault, you should do something to fix it.”

  “Fix it?” I asked incredulously. “Amy I can’t fucking fix this, I just tried! I’m...we’re stuck.”

  “Lia.” She gripped my chin and forced me to look up at her. “You’re a hero. You can do this...and now you might be the only one. I...I don’t know what you can do honestly, I’m not a hero and I’m no good at cape stuff. But you are and you can do this. Whatever you need I...I’m with you, okay?” I felt fresh tears gathering in my eyes.

  “You really mean that,” I whispered.

  “Of course I do,” Amy said, offering a gentle smile. “You’re my hero, Lia.”

  I couldn’t help but flinch as her lips pressed against mine, my entire body tensed as if going into a fight. She wasn’t very good, but I had my doubts she’d actually kissed someone before. Wait a fucking second Amy was kissing me. Why was she kissing me? She didn’t like me, she liked Victoria and I sure as fuck wasn’t her. A moment of awkwardly, stiffly pressing our lips together, Amy pulled away. Her mouth was just slightly open, breath coming a little quicker than normal. Her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson, and I could feel her heart racing where my hand clutched her shirt.

  “What?” I croaked. It was all I could manage.

  “You’re my hero,” Amy murmured, thumb gently wiping away the tear tracks staining my face. “I don’t think it’ll be easy but I think you can save everyone, like you saved me. And you saved me, Lia. I don’t know what from but...but you did. So I’m with you to the end...just promise you’ll stop it.”

  “I don’t, Amy, you...what?” I shook my head and tried desperately to focus my rattled brain. “I don’t...I don’t know if it can be stopped anymore.”

  “Then try.” Her arms wrapped around my back, making me sigh. “Don’t give up on us on...on me.” I gripped her tighter and rested my head on her chest again.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I whined.

  “We have two years, right?” I nodded, smearing more tears against her shirt. “We’ll figure it out. Probably you if I’m honest, but I’ll…I’ll try too.” I swallowed and turned my head to look up at her.

  “You really think I can?”

  “I really do,” Amy whispered, leaning down. I flinched and pulled away, making her pause. “What is...sorry, did I do something wrong? Oh fuck did I—”

  “You’re okay,” I said quickly, trying to disentangle myself from her. “I’m sorry it’s...I’m sorry.”

  “No I’m sorry, you probably don’t feel that way I’m just a fucking idiot and—”

  “Amy,” I cut her off. I sighed and leaned back, running my fingers through my hair. “I don’t know. I’m not...fuck, I can’t talk about this right now.” My head was spinning as I rose on unsteady legs. “I’m...I’m gonna go to bed. Can we do this later, please?” Amy took a deep breath, drawing her knees up to her chest..

  “I’m sorry,” she said miserably.

  “Thank you,” I replied, leaning over and putting a hand on hers. “For...yeah. Thank you, Amy.” She looked up at me, lower lip trembling, and nodded silently.

  I left as quick as I could, only pausing to make sure my mask and hood were in place before ducking out. It left me feeling overheated, like I could barely breathe, but I forced myself to stick it out. It didn’t help my racing thoughts or my galloping heart, but it got me back to my quarters where I stripped, collapsed on my bed, and screamed into my pillow until I felt light-headed.

  It was all too much. Taylor’s death, my death, the end of the world, then...then that. No I could worry about that later, the end of the world was more fucking pressing. But that was all that was on my mind, that fucking kiss. I didn’t know where to begin to think about it, let alone where that all ended. Did I even like Amy like that?

  With a groan, I rolled onto my side and pulled my blankets over me. It was stuffy, but slightly better than burying my face in the pillow. I didn’t want to think about any of this right now...or ideally ever, but that just wasn’t possible. Wasn’t responsible either, and now it was my responsibility to put a stop to Gold Morning.

  I had no idea how I’d do it. I wasn’t Taylor, I wasn’t a tenth the cape she was. But...but I remembered things. Not a lot and not often, but maybe something I knew could be useful. I couldn’t be sure without actually trying, and I really didn’t want to dive deep into the other’s memories. Doing that once had been the worst mistake of my life...so far.

  But I was better, or at least wasn’t trying to delude myself anymore. I had people who weren’t just willing, but wanted to help me; people who liked me, for whatever reason. Even if it was potentially dangerous to lean on the other’s memories, I didn’t have to lean only on them. Yamada, unreliable as she was, could at least try and keep me sane. The Wards would have my back in a fight, even if Gold Morning was a bit out of our league we could at least prepare. And Amy…

  I rolled over and shut my eyes, hoping I’d have some kind of answer in the morning...for anything.