Taiwo escaped with the heart of the broken register.
He placed it inside the Gate.
Every Covenant register in the world began to open.
London.
Accra.
Abuja.
Cairo.
New York.
Thousands of spirits entered the human world.
Kofi led a team back into the Lagos hall.
Elder Funmilayo and Dr. Obi followed him.
Zara and Adisa stood near the broken Gate, both weakened.
Portrait of a Lady remained quiet on Zara’s skin.
Gris Charnel had returned to Adisa, but only faintly. The fragrance now carried the cold trace of the world between life and death.
“The Gate feeds on power,” Dr. Obi warned.
Kofi looked toward the opening.
“Then we close it before it takes more.”
He threw fire into the Gate.
The opening grew wider.
Elder Funmilayo shouted, “Stop! You are feeding it!”
Kofi turned toward Zara.
She understood before he spoke.
“No.”
“I can close this link.”
“You do not know what it will take.”
“I know exactly what it will take.”
Adisa moved toward him.
“There may be another way.”
Kofi shook his head.
“You have both spent enough time looking for another way.”
Fire covered his body.
The hall became too hot to breathe.
For once, Kofi was not thinking about rank, family or what the Covenant expected.
He gave the Gate everything.
His fire.
His title.
The power he had carried since childhood.
The Lagos link closed!
The fire vanished.
Kofi fell.
Zara reached him first.
He was alive.
But when he opened his hands, no flame came.
The air around him smelled only of smoke.
No power.
No rank.
Only Kofi.
Elder Funmilayo knelt beside him.
“Your power...”
“It is gone,” Kofi said.
Zara stared at his empty palms.
“I am sorry.”
Kofi shook his head.
“I am not.”
He looked toward the closed Gate.
“I finally chose something because it was right.”
Across the room, Babycat rose sharply.
Amara fell into another vision.
Dr. Obi caught her before she hit the ground.
“What do you see?”
Amara’s body shook.
Babycat changed.
The vanilla softened.
Smoke disappeared.
Amouage Guidance entered the room through the vision.
Folake stood before the Gate.
Then... there was silence.
Babycat collapsed back against Amara’s skin.
She woke crying.
Zara knelt beside her.
“What did you see?”
Amara looked at Zara.
Then toward the door, as though she expected Folake to enter.
She could not answer.