The Atlas Paradox

Reina wakes up from a dream about her stepfather—the “Businessman”—and the time he didn’t recognize her. At that time, he was angry with an Englishman, which didn’t mean much to her at the time but seems significant now, in light of Tristan’s relationship with James Wessex. Later, she asks Nico if he would have killed her last year. She asks if he would have killed the others and realizes that he wouldn’t have. She wonders, if he wouldn’t kill to be there, why he’s there? It also means that he wouldn’t have killed anyone to save her, but when he says it’s the same for her, she says no, she would have killed to protect him. She leaves, upset about the intimacy that she allowed Nico in the past.

The previous night, Callum told Reina that Atlas was depressed and was therefore trying to open a portal to the multiverse. He also tells her that Atlas was responsible for the deaths of the other four initiates in his class and confirms her suspicion that they’re each being drained—he says it’s because they haven’t given the archive a body yet by killing one of the six initiates. He warns Reina not to let Atlas recruit her to stay and work with him in the archives. She decides not to tell anyone about the connection she has discovered between the “Businessman” and Wessex Corp.

Tristan tells Libby that he isn’t actually there, at Callanish Circle—he’s on an astral plane, and his body is back at the Society, 30 years in the future. He explains that she needs nuclear power for her plan and that the effects would be catastrophic. He adds that Parisa found a report from Wessex about an explosion on their land in Nevada in May 1990, which seems to indicate that she did it. No one was hurt or killed, although the fallout had ramifications. The explosion was magical, powerful enough to bring Libby back, and it has never been replicated.

While she’s struggling to process this information, Tristan feels a pain in his shoulder and is returned to his body. He and Nico are, in their own time, at Callanish Circle, and Nico has been standing guard over him. He has already fought off two assailants, witches they assume were sent by Adrian Caine. As they escape and make their way back to the Society, Tristan tells Nico what happened. Nico wonders whether Libby will do it, and Tristan points out that she already has. When they return to the house, Tristan finds Atlas and agrees to stay in the house and work with him, tired of being hounded and attacked by his own father.

After Tristan disappears, Belen has a different understanding of their trip, and Libby can tell by her tone that she’s suspicious and angry. When Libby tells her the truth, Belen realizes the extent of Libby’s betrayal. She questions Libby about how magic is used to save the world in the future, but Libby is evasive, and Belen realizes nothing has changed. She also knows that this project won’t help advance her career, as Libby knew all along.

When Libby says that she doesn’t know whether she’ll actually do it, Belen points out that she already has, and she can see on Libby’s face that she would. In that moment, Libby distances herself from Belen. She decides not to live by anyone’s standards but her own and tells Belen that she doesn’t need her. Belen leaves, upset, and when Libby returns to their room, she sees no sign of Belen.

A month later, Libby is in Nevada with a job as a security officer at Wessex’s testing site. Today is the day she’ll do it, and she shakes off guilt and nerves. She’s leaving the old Libby behind.

Later, Belen sees her reaction as childish, but at the time, she’s angry, feeling heartbroken and betrayed. Libby never returns, and Belen is sure she carried out her plan. She’s amazed that she never heard anything about the event—she found evidence only years later. By then, she was angry enough to suspend her morals and connect with the Forum, which she knows is just as hypocritical as any other organization despite its claims of transparency.

When Belen is 52 and listening to Ezra Fowler talk about the Alexandrian Society, she’s still angry but jaded. He talks of the initiates as the most dangerous people in the world, but she thinks the collaborators are. In addition, she knows that Ezra Fowler must be Libby’s Ezra. When she gets Atlas’s invitation to attend the gala, she’s angry to be so casually invited—and by Atlas, someone who could have change things but didn’t. When she actually sees him that night, she’s depressed to find out he’s just a man and sees the futility of killing him. However, she also knows that she can’t give up because if she does, they’ll win, and the future that Libby told her about will come true.

After the ball, she leaves the Forum behind, and does whatever she needs to do to make money. She begins funding revolutions in developing countries. When Ezra and Nothazai approach her, concerned that she has lost sight of their goal, she pushes back. She tells them that everything the Forum wants the public to know, they already know, and still nothing happens.

On the day their initiation period is over, the five gather, but it’s anticlimactic. Nico is prepared to present his independent study, but Parisa points out that it was to be contributed to the library, not presented. Atlas isn’t coming, Dalton is ill, and Nico wonders why they’re even there.

Parisa points out that they’ll all be leaving the safety of the house and that someone is after them, so they should devise a plan. She suggests that they fight back by going to each other’s homes rather than their own—that way, their adversaries will expect someone with different powers. They all agree and, to placate Nico, decide to have a final dinner together the next day. In his dreams that night, Nico invites Gideon to meet him, in person, in Paris. He asks about Libby, but Gideon hasn’t heard from her, so either she succeeded or she’s dead.

Although Nico wants the final dinner to be special in some way, no one else is interested. They all leave the following day, but before he does, he asks Atlas why he never asked Nico to stay. Atlas says that Nico will return because Libby will return. This surprises Nico, who thinks about it on his way to Paris. When he arrives, Gideon is waiting for him, but before they can even hug, someone attacks Nico.

Reina has gone to London to take Tristan’s place, and Callum finds her there after he goes to New York, where he dealt with attackers as well as a mermaid who tried to manipulate him. He helps Reina deal with her attackers and asks her what her plan is. She’s vague but admits that she’ll need his help. He wants to help her succeed so that Atlas can’t use her. They use their combined powers to gain access to the person who set the witches on them—Adrian Caine.

In Osaka, Parisa fends off her attackers. Later, she remembers a dream she had in which Gideon had asked her for help with the Society’s wards. She told him that freeing the Prince didn’t work, and he worried about his mother’s reaction. Before she woke up, they realized that they might meet again—and be adversaries again.

Dalton joins her at the cafe. He has changed drastically over the last few weeks. She wonders if Atlas knows what they’ve done—she thinks he made mistakes but also suspects that it’s part of a larger plan. Parisa suggests that she and Dalton possibly plan to take over the Forum. Dalton, however, asks about the other initiates because he wants to use them. Parisa thought he wasn’t interested in creating a new world, but he says that he wants to open a door to another one. As they talk, she gets the uneasy feeling that something’s wrong with him. However, she decides that she doesn’t owe the world anything and would rather make a new one with him.

Atlas has let Ezra enter the Society. In his office, Atlas looks older and thoughtful. Ezra apologizes for the attacks on the initiates. His plan is going awry—nobody is where they should have been, especially Tristan, whom he planned to meet. Atlas tells Ezra that Dalton is gone and asks whether Ezra is there to kill him—he has concluded that it’s the only way Ezra’s plan will work.

Ezra is angry that Atlas is playing the victim, but Atlas says that Ezra has always given him too much credit for what he’s capable and in control of, and has therefore arranged for the deaths of six people. When Ezra says he only meant to capture them, Atlas tells him not to be naive, that giving their locations to his collaborators meant death. Atlas believes that Ezra came because he finally realized that Atlas wasn’t as bad as the people he has been working with.

Atlas reminds him that, when they were initiates, he decided to make his own world. As a result, the other four members of their group died, and then he realized he had to commit to his plan or their deaths would mean nothing. Atlas assumes that he’s still alive only because he’s still in the house, which keeps him safe in exchange for draining his powers. He believes that they chose the wrong path, so long ago—but that if Ezra allows him to finish his research, he can fix it.

When Atlas asks Ezra what he’s going to do about Libby, Ezra points out that he has turned her into a dangerous person, which is his worst mistake. Ezra says he’ll kill her, but Atlas doesn’t believe him. Ezra realizes what Atlas already knows—he came for forgiveness, for choosing the lesser of two evils, but still an evil. He hears footsteps behind him and turns around to see Libby there, smoldering with anger. She shoots fire at him, and he realizes that this is the end.

Nico and Gideon are in Paris, fighting three medeians who were all selected to fight Parisa. Afterward, shaken, Gideon kisses Nico, who is surprised but happy, and pulls him in for another kiss. Gideon feels a transport open behind him, and when they look, Libby is there, covered with blood. She takes a step forward and falls into Nico’s arms.