“I think it’s because I’m dead.” Aaron’s voice was indifferent, which made the words worse.

“Don’t say that!” Call shouted. “Shut up, Aaron —”

“Call —”

“I mean it, don’t say another word!”

Aaron’s mouth snapped shut. His eyes were steady on Call’s.

“Aaron?” Call asked uneasily.

But Aaron didn’t reply. He couldn’t reply, Call realized. Like a Chaos-ridden, he had obeyed Call completely.

AFTER THAT, CALL forgot about Alex and Master Joseph completely.

“I command you to never listen to my commands again, okay?” Call said.

“I heard you the first five times,” Aaron told him, sitting on a rock and looking out toward the river. “But I don’t know if that will work. I have no idea how long your commands last on me.”

Call felt cold all over. He remembered when he’d told Aaron to knock it off with Tamara, and Aaron had immediately shut up. Or when he’d told Aaron to go to sleep, and Aaron had done it. You should just concentrate on getting better, he’d said, the moment he brought Aaron back to life. And Aaron, who’d been through a huge trauma, had said, Okay.

How had he missed it?

He couldn’t lie to himself any more about it. Aaron wasn’t okay, maybe wasn’t even Aaron. This Aaron looked pale and weird and worried. This Aaron did whatever Call said. Maybe he always would. Call couldn’t think of anything more horrible.

“Okay. So you’re not fine,” Call said slowly. “Not right now. Tonight, let’s go down to the experiment room and figure out what’s going on.”

“What if you can’t find anything?” Aaron asked. “You’ve succeeded far more than Constantine Madden ever did. I am mostly here. It’s just that I’m not — I’m not supposed to be.”

This time Call didn’t shout at him to shut up, although he still wanted to. “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know,” Aaron said, and there was more animation in his voice than Call had expected. “I’m not — it takes a lot of concentration to pay attention to what’s going on. Sometimes I feel like I’m slipping away. And sometimes I feel like I could do bad things and not really feel anything about them. So, you see, I really can’t be the person who tells you right from wrong, Call. I really, really can’t.”

Call wanted to protest like he had before, but this time he stopped himself. He thought of the flat look in Aaron’s eyes, the way he hadn’t understood why he was supposed to care if the people in the Magisterium died. He couldn’t keep insisting Aaron was fine. If Aaron believed something was wrong, then he owed it to Aaron to believe him.

And at least Aaron could tell. That had to mean something. If he wasn’t Aaron, he wouldn’t have been bothered about how different he felt.

“We can fix this,” Call said instead.

“Death isn’t the same as a flat tire,” Aaron said.

“We have to stay positive,” said Call. “We just need to —”

“Someone’s coming.” Aaron stood up and pointed back toward the house. The front door was open and a line of mages, headed by Master Joseph, was marching toward them.

Call stood up, too. With Tamara and Jasper gone, Call’s plans of escape had become vague and half-formed. He’d been distracted by Aaron’s return and he’d thought that Master Joseph had been distracted, too. He’d figured he had more time.

Aaron looked up. Call followed his gaze — the sky was heavy with iron-gray clouds, and through them Call could see huge shapes wheeling.

One of them broke through the clouds. It was a massive air elemental, with clear, ragged wings. On its back was Anastasia, her silver-and-white armor stained and dirty.

Her elemental landed in the field behind Call and Aaron, sending a wave of air that flattened the grass all around her in a circle. Call glanced about — they were effectively trapped between Anastasia on one side and Master Joseph on the other.

What was going on?

“Callum!” Master Joseph reached them first. Call noticed two things immediately: Alex wasn’t with him, and his coat was splashed with some questionable-looking fluid. “The time has come.”

Call exchanged a look with Aaron. “Time for what?”

“Tamara and Jasper were able to reach the Magisterium,” said Anastasia, approaching them. Her elemental waited in the field behind her, rippling a little in the breeze. “The Assembly will soon know our location and what you’ve done.”

“It’s time for us to reveal ourselves, to show the world the power we have,” said Master Joseph. “Hugo, did you bring the machine?”

Call and Aaron both stared as Hugo handed Master Joseph an enormous glass jar. Inside it, gray and black air swirled.

Tornado phone, Call mouthed at Aaron, who nodded slowly.

With a flourish, Master Joseph ripped the lid from the jar. The air swirled up around them violently. Anastasia’s air elemental made a startled sound and disappeared with a pop.

Call moved closer to Aaron, whose hair was whipping across his eyes. The air expanded outward, slashing through the branches of the trees, circling the space where they stood.

“Master Rufus!” Master Joseph shouted. “Assembled mages! Show yourselves!”

It was like looking at a fuzzy television set. Slowly their images evolved, and Call could see the Assembly room and the green-robed mages there. He recognized some of them, like Tamara’s parents, and of course the mages of the Magisterium — Master Milagros and Master North, Master Rockmaple, and, sitting with his shoulders hunched, his bald head gleaming, Master Rufus.

They must have come together like this for one reason: to discuss how to defeat Callum Hunt, the Enemy of Death.

Call felt his stomach tighten at the sight of his teacher. But it was nothing compared to the feeling inside him a moment later when he saw who sat next to Rufus — Jasper, in the white uniform of Fourth Year, and Tamara, also in white, her hair in neat braids. Her wide, dark eyes seemed to stare out of the spell’s vision, as if she were looking right into Call’s soul.

It was Tamara’s father who stepped forward, hand on her shoulder. “This is the last time we will offer you surrender, Master Joseph. The last war cost us all, but it cost you, too. You lost your sons, you lost Constantine, and you lost your way. If we go to battle again, there will be no brokering of peace. We will kill you and every Chaos-ridden thing we can find.”

Call shuddered, thinking of Havoc, who was probably hiding behind a tree.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Master Joseph said. “You try to argue as though you are in a position of strength, when we have the key to eternity. Is it because Tamara and Jasper ran back to you with news of our stronghold? If I was afraid of that getting out, I would have cut their throats when I had the chance.”

Tamara glared at him, while Jasper took a step back. His mother was beside him, but Call couldn’t spot his father anywhere.

“You don’t understand,” Master Joseph went on. “No one cares about your ridiculous war. Mages want their loved ones back. They want to live forever. The only way you could get the mage world on your side is to deny what is standing right beside me.” With that, he put an arm around Aaron, who stepped out of his embrace.