Ignite Me

Kenji and Juliette bid farewell to a teary James. Juliette promises they will all return, though she knows this is likely to be a lie. She and Kenji walk, invisible, to the port where they find Anderson’s enormous ship. They strategize about how to infiltrate the ship, which is defended with an uncommonly large force. Juliette uses her powers to knock the soldiers into the water from a distance, then the pair hurries onto the ship before a lockdown begins. Sirens start to wail.

Juliette loses Kenji in the hallways of the ship. She whispers for Kenji as soldiers approach but can’t find him. She hides in a doorway as the soldiers pass, then continues, realizing she has become visible again. She feels stupid and afraid of facing Anderson alone, but gathers her powers, which gives her confidence. A gunshot rings out as the soldiers see her.

Juliette crashes through the floor to escape the soldiers, smashing door after door as she searches for Kenji, astonished that she hasn’t yet been hit with a bullet despite the many soldiers shooting at her. After a series of empty rooms, she is cornered and forced to test Alia’s theory that she can use her power to be bulletproof. The soldiers shoot her repeatedly, but none of the bullets penetrate Juliette’s defenses. She knocks down the soldiers with her power and looks at the “puddle of bullets” (229) that failed to injure her.

Juliette calculates that she has knocked down 300 soldiers between the water and the hallway. She runs, kicking down doors, lamenting that despite her power, she is still out of shape. Still, she resolves to knock down as many doors as possible to find Anderson and the twins. Several more soldiers attack Juliette, but she knocks them away easily. She demands to know where Anderson is, but the soldier doesn’t know. She worries they have the wrong ship but comes upon a door that instinct inspires her to open by hand, instead of kicking down. The door is unlocked.

Inside the room, Sonya and Sara are unharmed. The three hug, and the twins reveal Kenji had recently appeared, looking for Juliette. Juliette tells the twins to remain where they are while she searches for Kenji and Anderson. The twins direct her down the hall to a room with a blue door, but warn her that Anderson has some kind of weapon about which he’s been very excited. Juliette is unconcerned and heads to kick down the door. Kenji screams for her to wait as she kicks the door in.

Juliette is thrown against the wall so forcefully she fears she has broken her back. She crawls forward, pushing against the force with her own energy, pushing ahead until she sees Anderson and someone she doesn’t recognize. She realizes he has powers like hers, and that she is being struck with pressure waves, not a physical force. Fear for Kenji, who doesn’t have her resistance to physical impact, propels her forward. She reaches out and grabs the unknown man, breaking his neck, causing the pressure waves to stop.

Anderson shoots Juliette, who has collapsed to the floor. She uses the last of her power to block the bullets, then reaches out and crushes Anderson’s ankles in her fists, severing his feet. Anderson starts to say something, but Juliette shoots him without listening.

She shoots Anderson twice, considering each bullet for Adam and Warner.

Juliette carries an unconscious Kenji to Sonya and Sara, whom she urges to help Kenji. After a long healing session, the twins confirm Kenji will be fine, though he will sleep for several days. Juliette reports she has killed Anderson. The war, she asserts, is over.

Exhausted, Juliette carries Kenji off the ship and she and the twins find an abandoned tank. She thinks that the first step toward her goal has been achieved, and that she plans to continue her quest to see The Reestablishment completely destroyed. She leaves the twins and Kenji at the barracks to rest, then returns to the assembly room and climbs up to the same scaffold where she announced her plan to the soldiers of Sector 45. She announces Anderson’s death and presents herself as the new leader, challenging anyone who disagrees.

Juliette descends, looking at the injured soldiers, including those still soaked from when she knocked them into the water. Anderson’s soldiers have surrendered. Juliette finds it both “bleak” and “beautiful” as loved ones are reunited following the bloodshed. She feels calm, wondering that she can now be touched and jostled by the crowd without fear of harming them.

Juliette climbs to the roof of a compound house, thinking that these bleak buildings will need to be replaced with real homes. She searches the crowd for her friends, fearing she will have to search for their bodies. Gradually, all the members of Omega Point emerge injured by alive—even Kenji, who needs to be supported by the twins. Their mood is jubilant, but Juliette frets as she continues to search for Warner. She feels the roof shake and a hand appears over the edge.

Warner mounts the roof and the two embrace. Though Warner asserts that “the whole world will be coming for [them] now,” Juliette confidently asserts that she “can’t wait to watch them try” (245).