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

find a second eye on this, so I upload the video and squeeze onto the couch. My subscribers are all over it. I picture their notifications waking them up all night; posting late is a new tactic to build my following. If someone wants to brag about how they saw the video early, they have to subscribe to get my notifications. When the content is epic like this, you don’t want to be late to the show. I spend twenty minutes reading through the comments as they roll in. Lots of people are impressed with how Emil’s aim has improved. Others are blown away by the hydra and the phoenix. A few praise me on how brave I was to go in there with no powers. They’re calling me a hero, and I drift off into a well-deserved sleep.

I don’t know how long I’ve been knocked out when I’m pulled out of a dream where I was flying. Emil is calling my name and shaking me awake. “I’m not going to our room,” I groan, shutting my eyes to try and rest some more.

“Get up!” Maribelle shouts.

I pop up to find Prudencia, Iris, and Atlas behind Emil and Maribelle. “What’s going on? Did Eduardo speak?”

“His name is Ness,” Emil says. “He hasn’t said anything.”

“So he’s not Iron’s son?”

Emil keeps his eyes low as he runs his hand through his curls. “I’ll catch you up later. Your video took a turn.”

“As in, everyone has turned on us,” Maribelle says.

“It’s your fault too,” Iris says to Maribelle.

While they argue, ignoring everyone asking them to calm down, I open my laptop. I feel sick reading the comments. People are calling us liars and asking me to explain myself and telling me I should delete my entire channel. Subscriber count has dropped by nearly ten thousand, which is a sign of what’s to come. This has always been one of my fears as a creator. Trusting that something I put my heart into will turn on me.

This is all going to hell because of Silver Star Slayer.

Turns out there was a straggler back at the arena who recorded Maribelle attempting to kill June. The user shared the clip online, and Silver Star Slayer uploaded it to his channel to disprove all my messaging, saying that no one should trust me or the “violent and destructive Spell Walkers.” My face is hot, and I might throw up. I wouldn’t even wish this moment as a nightmare—the heroes I’ve been hyping up are going at it with each other because I’ve screwed them over. Looks like there’s still some support online for Emil since he let June go, but other commenters are calling him complicit.

Maribelle snaps back to me. “Your channel was supposed to help us.”

“I’m sorry. I edited it to protect our image.”

“It backfired,” Maribelle says. “Everyone thinks I’m as evil as the Blood Casters.”

“This backfired because of your actions,” Iris says. “Whether Brighton posted the video or not, this was going to leak. He just got the jump on this guy, and now the optics aren’t great. End of the day, Maribelle, you were about to kill someone, and it doesn’t look like self-defense.”

“She killed our parents!” Maribelle looks so confused, like maybe she’s wondering if she’s speaking a whole other language because Iris doesn’t seem to understand her pain. “I’m not some bloodthirsty killer. I want vengeance.”

“We’re seeking justice, not revenge. Celestials are depending on us to get this right.”

“Specters too,” Emil says.

“I know you’re not defending that shape-shifter,” Maribelle says. “His crew is getting away with actual murder while we’re being persecuted because I attempted to kill the celestial who screwed us over.” Emil tries to speak, but she talks over him. “If it wasn’t for Atlas showing up that first night when he did, then Ness would’ve kidnapped you and probably had your brother killed. Ness made his bed, and he has to lie in it.”

“You tried to kill June, and you now have to live with that,” Iris says.

“No,” Maribelle says. “I’m going to live with the fact that I will be the one to kill her.”

She storms from the room.

Atlas sighs. “I’ll talk to her.”

“If you can’t get her to cooperate, you know what’s going to happen, right?” Iris asks.

“I will do my best, but Mari is Mari. She’s just as heartbroken as you are.”

“It’s different!”

“How?”

Iris shakes her head. “I’m older. More time with my parents and fighting alongside them. More weight on my shoulders. Just . . . do your best to get her to cool it. We need to be united.”

Atlas nods and leaves.

Everyone is quiet.

“I can make this right,” I say. “I’ll film an apology and own it.”

“We should hold off on videos,” Iris says. “We can’t react impulsively.”

“But . . . I’m still going on missions, right?”

“We’ll talk.”

Those two words tell me everything. I take a deep breath and run past everyone. Emil and Prudencia chase after me. I snap around. “I’m fine,” I lie. “I just need some space.”

“Let me get some space with you,” Emil says.

“Just me,” I say.

“Brighton,” Prudencia calls, but I run back onto the roof and stare out into the bright city.

I screwed up. I did so much good and had more to accomplish, but I screwed up. This isn’t like the couple times I didn’t study properly for an exam. This is colossal. I made the heroes look like heartless terrorists. I have to figure out how to bounce back from this. If not, who am I? What’s my role?

It’s one thing to be powerless and another to be completely useless.

Twenty-FiveInfinity Cycle

EMIL

Everyone is falling apart.

Maribelle and Atlas have been hitting the streets the past couple nights, trying to track down any acolyte or alchemist or dealer who has a direct connection to Luna. When Iris isn’t locking herself away she’s been negotiating with Ness for some intel, but he’s not budging on what the Blood Casters are up to. Eva is bone-tired as she bounces between therapy sessions with celestials who are feeling