My father was dead. The doctors found no medical explanation. His heart had simply stopped. There was no sign of the seizure medication, no evidence of a second seizure. He had simply ceased to exist, like someone had unplugged him from life itself.
I stood in the hospital room and felt something break inside my chest. James Morgan, who had spent thirteen years trying to find me, who had learned to be a father after abandoning me, who had been trying to protect me from forces I didn't understand, was gone.
Helena waited for me outside the hospital, and when she saw my face, she didn't try to offer comfort or explanations. She simply said, "We need to move. The system will come after you next."
"Let it," I said. "If it wants me dead, then I'm done. I don't want this power. I don't want a
