Sean knew he had been wrong to act that way to Smyth after all they had gone through. It was unfair. But life was unfair, wasn’t it? That’s what they all say. Even though in essence, Sean had saved the world, he felt like he had gained nothing at all. In fact, he felt he had lost more than he had gained. Harry was gone, and Elise, and his father. Sean might have prevented a disaster at the museum, but his gut felt torn and mangled, like a gnarled tree root breaking through concrete. And he knew why. It was guilt. The pain resting at the bottom of his stomach wasn’t natural pain. He felt guilty for not saving Elise.
    Sean slid down against his closed door. So many ‘what if’ questions flew around in his brain, he couldn’t even pick out one of them to answer. Instead they just kept flying around like a dust devil, never stopping in their ceaseless, chaotic motion, never wanting to be caught and answered. None of them wanted to step forward for Sean to examine. But even if they had, would Sean have the strength to answer them?
    Sean just sat there, leaning against his door and feeling the carpet beneath him. He stared at the walls in the adjoining living room. Turned his gaze down the hallway. He was home. But could he still call it home? After all that had happened, could he live a normal life? Considering all what he knew now, Sean didn’t think it was possible to return to a normal life and expect everything to resume as it had once been. He saw the world from different eyes now. Sean knew things a regular teenager had never seen before or would ever hope to. He had felt his skin shredded and beaten and bloodied. And he khad experienced loss. He had watched helplessly as he watched people close to him be ripped away. But the real elephant in the room was that Sean knew magic existed.
    Magic was real. What good was magic to him now? Earlier, Smyth had said if Sean had the power of foresight, he could've stopped Elise from counteracting the spell. And Smyth was right. Right now, if Sean had a time machine, a magical time portal-anything-it would take Sean barely a heartbeat for him to go back and warn Elise about the offensive spell Medraut had laid in wait for her. He would use it to go back and save Harry.
    But he didn't have a magical portal back in time.
    He didn't have the power of foresight.
    Looking down at his knees, Sean let his head fall back against the wall behind him. Sean felt something tingle in the back of his throat. Even though no one was there, he swore he had the feeling that somebody was out there. Somebody could hear him. So when he spoke, Sean spoke with confidence, knowing someone was listening. The words were his own, yet a tingling sensation left the words hanging in the air. The sensation of power.
    “I wish you were alive, Elise.”