Page 210 of Victorious

Sydney watched that Mitch dissolve. Another sprung up in his place, as the original held her to his front, and told her it would be all right.

“I’m here,” he said.

And he was. But he was also there, and there, and there.

Sydney didn’t understand. She’d brought a fair number of people back, and none of them had become EOs, but Mitch definitely wasn’t human. One of him was holding her, and the rest were fighting Serena.

Fighting. And dying.

Serena drowned him, cut him, shot him, froze him, and every time, the Mitch still shielding Sydney winced, as if the killing hurt him, too.

But he never quit fighting.

And he never let go of Sydney.

And that was how she knew she had to be the one to make it stop.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. And then much louder, “Enough!”

Her voice echoed on the lake as Serena killed another incarnation.

“Enough,” Syd said again, this time to Mitch as she pried herself free, and got to her feet. “Serena.”

“Syd, wait,” he said, starting after her.

But she shook her head. “Stay here,” she ordered, using the same tone she took sometimes with Dol. And whether it was her voice, or the look she gave him, Mitch listened. The last thing she saw was the worry on his face before she turned and walked away from him.

And toward her sister.

Dr. Gray was right about one thing. Whether she meant to or not, Sydney had done this to Serena. Poured all her fear and need into her bones. Made her stronger than anyone should be.

And that made it her problem to fix.

Serena stood there, breathing heavily, blood staining one cheek, and breath clouding the cold air, her blue eyes bright as sun on water.

Sydney loved her sister, and she feared her, and she knew that she would never change. At the end of the day, Serena Clarke expected the world, and everyone in it, to do exactly what she wanted. Even if she had to make them.

So when Syd looked up into her sister’s eyes and said, in a breaking voice, “I want to go home,” Serena didn’t question it. She simply nodded and held out her hand.

And Sydney took it.

And as she did, she reached. Past Serena’s skin, for the thread, the one she’d fought so hard to catch before. But this time, it was right there, already wrapped around her fingers, and instead of pulling it closer, Sydney let it go.

Unsure if it would work, until it did.

Until Serena frowned and fell apart.

Her illusion vanished at the same time, the frozen lake, and the fog, and the house in the distance that would never be home. All of it crumbled along with Serena.

When Sydney’s hand dropped back to her side, she was standing in a large white room.

June lay crumpled in one corner.

Serena, ashes at her feet.

Mitch was there, pulling her back against him.

“We have to get out of here,” he said.