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I shot him with one of the guards guns and he simply laughed as if I was a fly.

“Those can’t hurt me anymore,” he laughed and flew over to me, taking out a thin, silver dagger.

He was about to fling it at me when he froze mid-air, his face a mask of horror.

A strange gurgling sound came from his mouth and I watched as his face changed color and started to bubble and melt. He fell to his knees, his arms contorted. Behind him, I saw Kaya, covered in blood, leaning against the doorway.

“Kaya!” I ran towards her, catching her as she fell into my arms. I could see she’d lost a lot of blood and needed medical attention right away.

“Get… that…” she pointed at the occillite pendant that had rolled away from Da Salle. It had burnt into his back like acid, dissolving everything in its wake. I took a towel and covered my hand, as protection to pick up the pendant by the leather strap.

“Scared of a little stone?” Kaya smiled weakly at me, taking the stone from me.

Then she asked, “Is he… gone?”

I smiled, “It’s over. You did it.”

“You helped though,” she said, hobbling over to me, holding her side. “Clearly, I’m no longer a one-man band.”

I managed to carry her to the elevator. We made our way down to the parking lot and I hotwired Da Salle’s car, driving right through the boom and dodging his army’s bullets as they rained down on us.

I knew we wouldn’t be able to get out of the city without help.

Glancing over at Kaya, I was shocked to see that she had lost consciousness.

“Kaya, Kaya!” I kept shaking her arm but she didn’t wake up.

I didn’t have much time.

I called Elizabeth and asked her to help me.

“I’m a cancer specialist!” she said, horrified. “Did you say she’s been shot? She needs a trauma physician.”

“She has just defeated the biggest cancer of our time,” I said. “But I think it has spread all over the city. We can’t risk going to any of the hospitals around here. Please, help us.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Of course, I’ll text you an address.”

“Hurry!” I said and ended the call.

Chapter 29

Kaya

It was a freezing cold winter.

I couldn’t get warm, even though there were huge fires in the fireplaces. The doctors could not explain it. Jack had brought in every specialist to look at me but still he was stumped.

My stomach wound had healed but some kind of poison had leaked into my blood and the infection kept spreading. I was vaguely aware of the conversations going on around me. I could see the worried faces and was aware of people coming to visit. I saw Pearl and Princess, even Josie had come by.

I knew I was at the castle in Jack’s quarters.

In moments of lucidity he told me about how the world had changed all because of me. The fall of Da Salle had led to all kinds of investigations and tribunals, uncovering infiltration of the highest level of government. The president had been impeached and the vice-president had been sworn into power. She had ordered an overhaul of the whole political system.

“She?”

“We have a female president,” Jack laughed and held my hand.

He was worried though. I could see new lines on his face, even his hair was going gray, which I hadn’t known was possible.