Infinity Son by Adam Silvera (some good books to read .TXT) 📕

“What if using my powers overloads me too?” Emil asks.

“Bro, you’re trying to talk yourself out of fighting. You see that, right?”

“Emil’s fear is valid,” Eva cuts in. “There’s still so much we don’t know about Orton’s situation. Did he die because he was a celestial with phoenix essence? Maybe the creature’s blood took longer to corrode his celestial blood.”

“I want to do the right thing,” Emil says. “But what if I screw up everything even worse than Keon did?”

Eva is about to tug a strand of hair and resists. “Back before there was so much disharmony between celestials and humans, our ancestors had a saying: ‘The strongest power above all is a living heart.’ Emil, your heart is powerful—you care, you ache, you feel. I don’t know what Keon’s intentions were, but his execution was disastrous. Your humanity is what makes you heroic, not your powers.”

As Eva tells Emil more about how she swears by this mantra as a pacifist, my mind keeps turning the words over and over: The strongest power above all is a living heart. Humanity is what makes heroes, not powers. The strongest power above all is a living heart. Humanity is what makes heroes, not powers.

The strongest power is humanity.

“I got it!”

“Got what?” Emil asks.

“The key to winning.”

I tell them to get everyone in the boardroom, and I run back to the library to get ready. I collect all the links and data I need to make my case. This is going to be a level up for the movement. My heart is pounding when I enter the boardroom to find the Spell Walkers and Prudencia gathered around. I haven’t been this nervous about a presentation since my Advanced Placement Computer Science final—which I aced.

I go to the front of the room and thank everyone for coming.

“What’s the big plan?” Maribelle asks.

“A six-part video series featuring all the Spell Walkers,” I say. Maribelle glares at me like Dad used to when I would urgently wake him up to tell him about some new fun fact I learned, a fun fact that always could’ve waited until he was out of bed. “Eva told us about that old celestial adage, the one about the strongest power being a living heart. Why don’t we post about why you all became heroes? Your origin stories. We can dispel all the rumors about how you’re building an army to take down the government or getting stronger to attack the city again.”

Maribelle stands up. “Dude, no one cares about us.”

“I disagree.” I share my report on the positive engagement I’ve seen across Emil’s accounts and my own. People are rooting for all of us. They didn’t know Emil two weeks ago, and now they’re starving for more details. I remember what it was like waiting for the next time any Spell Walker would pop up on my feed, whether it was a clip of the latest brawl or even a casual sighting of them out in the world.

“We’ve tried the media route before and after the Blackout,” Atlas says. “My own account included.”

“You built your following by shouting out how many lives you’ve saved or lost. They only see you as a warrior. Let’s take it to the next level and make it clear what you’re fighting for.”

“And you’re the one to do it?” Maribelle asks.

“My platform has grown since Emil.” I can’t say it out loud, but it does sting that my personal fame isn’t because of my own spotlight. The tables have now turned, and I’ve become Emil’s cameraman. “I can get people to pay attention. We start with you all, and maybe we can expand to the innocents you’ve saved.”

“Not every celestial wants to be exposed,” Prudencia says. “All the work they’ve done to blend into society gets thrown out the window.”

“Everyone will have a choice to prove they’re not walking weapons simply because they have powers. They can tell their stories through my Human Power campaign.”

I give them the rundown. We lead with a special feature—Spell Walkers of New York—on my channel and every video will be tagged with #HumanPower. When it trends—and it will—we’ll throw the question back at everyone: What’s your Human Power? Celestials can share their stories. Humans can prove they’re allies and energize others to step up their game.

Prudencia takes a deep breath and looks me dead in the eye. “I want to believe your campaign will work, Brighton. It’s inspired. I’m not all that confident that someone who’s a bigot learning that Spell Walkers have dreams and feelings will finally view them as equals. Then there’s the fake activism, which is exhausting. People show up for a hashtag, spend an hour preparing a picture to post to prove they’re good, and then they return to their regular lives where people don’t swing at them.”

It’s a conversation we’ve had before, but my cheeks flush having it in front of the Spell Walkers.

“It’s worth trying,” I say.

“I agree,” Iris says, and I hold back a smile. “Senator Iron is using the Blackout to silence Congresswoman Sunstar. It’s unrealistic to expect Brighton’s campaign to change everyone’s worldviews forever, but maybe now is the time to try. This could be a big push to get Sunstar in office, where she can continue her work on a greater scale.”

Everyone is talking over each other. Atlas is on the fence because not everyone’s stories are going to be received well by the public. Eva is worried about what this could mean for Nova if enforcers and alchemists find out there’s a healer on the team. Emil wants me to think about how this might backfire on me, but hateful comments are very different from what celestials face daily. Maribelle is resistant until she realizes the potential of this campaign catching fire—with a bigger platform, she can ask the world if they know the identity of the mystery girl who survived the Blackout. Wesley wants to talk it out