Nightfall by Shannon Messenger

Author:Shannon Messenger
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Aladdin

Forty-two

A PYROKINETIC,” SOPHIE repeated, certain she must have misunderstood.

But Mr. Forkle nodded—and the gravity of what he was proposing seemed to suck all the air out of the room.

“If you’re suggesting that you trigger the ability in Sophie—” Grady started, but Mr. Forkle held up his hand.

“No, Mr. Ruewen. My team and I were extremely careful to ensure that Miss Foster could never manifest as a Pyrokinetic. We knew her life would be challenging enough without a forbidden ability. Pyrokinesis is also far too volatile to risk combining with anything else.”

Sophie couldn’t help a small sigh of relief.

“Does she still have more abilities you could trigger?” Fitz asked.

“That is a subject for another time,” Mr. Forkle told him. “Right now, we need to decide if you’re bringing a Pyrokinetic on this mission.”

“Which Pyrokinetic?” Grady asked. “Aren’t they all a little . . .”

“Unstable?” Mr. Forkle guessed.

“I was thinking more along the lines of ‘out of practice,’ since they haven’t been able to use their ability in thousands of years,” Grady told him.

“They’re definitely that as well. And denying their natural talent has been far more of a struggle for them than most people realize. Brant and Fintan aren’t the only ones who lost part of themselves to their constant craving for flame. So I would never recommend any of the Pyrokinetics in the registry.”

“Then who—” Sophie started, before his words clicked. “Are you saying there’s another unregistered Pyrokinetic?”

Mr. Forkle nodded. “Someone manifested recently, and I’ve been doing what I can to ensure their ability remains undiscovered. But they’ve agreed to reveal themselves and help with this mission, provided that all of you swear not to tell anyone. Not even Mr. Dizznee or Miss Linh can be let in on this secret without express permission from the Pyrokinetic. Is that clear?”

“Does the Collective know about it?” Sophie had to ask.

“No. Given the recent havoc wrought by Fintan and Brant, people distrust Pyrokinetics more than they ever have before—even many of us in the Black Swan. And I know it’s with good reason”—his eyes focused on Grady and Edaline before drifting back to Sophie—“and I echo many of your concerns. But I do struggle with the idea of any ability being completely denied. If we’re willing to accept that every creature exists on this planet for a purpose, it seems only logical to assume that every ability does as well. They come straight from our genetics, after all. And any harm or heartache that pyrokinesis has caused in the past does not feel like proof that the ability is unredeemable—only that we need better training and systems to manage it. Think of Miss Linh, and the floods she caused before she learned to properly harness her hydrokinesis. Would any of us argue that she should’ve been forbidden from calling for water ever again?”

“Fintan wasn’t a newly manifested, untrained prodigy when his craving for Everblaze led to the death of five of his fellow Pyrokinetics,” Grady reminded him. “Nor was Brant when he murdered Jolie.

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