Emma gasped and opened her eyes in the starlight place, but something was wrong. The Cosmic Judge looked scared.

"Twenty seconds left," he whispered. "Choose now, Emma. Save yourself and keep the resurrection system, or die and change everything forever."

Back in the kitchen, Emma’s body wasn’t moving. Luna pressed her ear to her mother’s chest. No heartbeat. No breathing.

"She’s gone," Luna cried.

But Alex shook his head. "No! Look at her face. She’s still thinking about something."

Emma’s eyes were closed, but her forehead was wrinkled like she was solving a hard math problem.

In the starlight place, Emma stared at the Judge. "If I die, Luna and the twins might choose to die too?"

"Yes. And millions of others who were brought back. Your choice will make them pick between living forever or dying naturally."

"That’s not fair to them," Emma said.

"Ten seconds," the Judge warned.

Emma thought about her family crying in the kitchen. She thought about all her students outside. She thought about Luna, who had lived for fifty years but still felt young because of the resurrection power.

"Five seconds."

Emma made her choice.

She closed her eyes and felt herself falling back into her body in the kitchen. Her heart started beating again, weak but steady.

"Grandma Great!" Tommy screamed with joy. "You came back!"

Emma opened her eyes and looked at her family. They were all smiling and crying at the same time.

"I couldn’t leave yet," Emma whispered. "There’s something you all need to know."

She sat up slowly. The silver light around her was dim but still there.

"The Cosmic Judge gave me a choice. I could die naturally and reset the whole universe. Everyone who was ever brought back would have to choose between living forever or becoming mortal."

Luna’s face went pale. "You mean I would have to pick between immortality and natural death?"

"Yes. And so would Alex and Maya and everyone else I saved over the years."

"That’s millions of people," Maya whispered.

"Exactly," Emma said. "I couldn’t make that choice for everyone. So I came back one more time."

The Judge appeared again in the kitchen, but now he looked angry.

"Emma, you cannot avoid this decision forever. The universe needs balance."

"I know," Emma replied. "But I want to give everyone the choice themselves, not force it on them because of what I decide."

"How?" Kael asked.

Emma looked at Luna. "Honey, you’re going to take over my job. But first, we need to tell everyone the truth about what resurrection really costs."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked.

Emma’s voice got stronger. "Every time someone comes back from the dead, someone else in the universe dies early to balance it out. The Judge never told us that."

The Judge’s golden form flickered. "That information was not necessary."

"Not necessary?" Emma stood up, anger giving her strength. "We’ve been stealing life from innocent people for decades!"

Everyone in the kitchen stared at the Judge. Even Tommy looked upset.

"Is that true?" Alex demanded. "When you brought me back from the car crash, did someone else die?"

The Judge was quiet for a long moment. Then he nodded.

"Yes. A young girl in another dimension died of a fever that night. Her death balanced your return to life."

Maya started crying. "When I came back from drowning, who died for me?"

"An old man who should have lived ten more years with his grandchildren."

Emma felt sick. "All this time, we thought we were saving people. But we were killing others."

"The cosmic balance must be maintained," the Judge said coldly.

"Then the balance is wrong!" Luna shouted. "If saving one person means killing another, that’s not justice!"

Emma nodded. "That’s why I’m going to die naturally and reset everything. But first, everyone who was ever brought back needs to know the truth. They deserve to choose with all the facts."

"That will cause panic across the universe," the Judge warned. "Billions of people will learn that their second chance at life came at the cost of someone else’s death."

"Good," Emma said firmly. "Maybe it should cause panic. Maybe people should be upset when they learn they accidentally caused harm."

The Judge’s form started to fade. "If you tell them the truth, many will choose natural death out of guilt. The universe will lose countless valuable beings."

"Or maybe they’ll choose to live and make their extra time count for something," Emma replied. "Either way, it should be their choice."

Luna stepped forward. "I’ll help you tell everyone, Mom. We’ll travel to every world where someone was brought back. We’ll explain everything."

"That could take years," Maya said.

"Then we have years," Emma answered. "I’m not dying until everyone knows the truth."

Alex looked confused. "But what about your heart? It stopped beating. How are you still alive?"

Emma touched her chest. Her heart was beating, but it felt different. Slower. Weaker.

"I used my resurrection power on myself, but only for a little while. I have maybe a few months to live. Long enough to tell the truth, but not long enough to see if people make the right choices."

"That’s not fair," Tommy said. "You should get to see what happens."

Emma hugged her great-grandson. "Sweetie, sometimes teachers don’t get to see how their lessons turn out. They just have to trust that they taught the right things."

Suddenly, the kitchen door burst open. Riley ran in, looking panicked.

"Emma! Something’s wrong with your students outside!"

Everyone rushed to the window. In the yard, thousands of Emma’s former students were glowing brighter and brighter. But it wasn’t a happy glow. They looked like they were in pain.

"What’s happening to them?" Luna asked.

The Cosmic Judge reappeared, looking more solid than before. "They felt your resurrection power activate. Since they were all brought back at some point, they’re connected to you. When you used your power to return from death, it triggered something in them."

"What kind of something?" Emma demanded.

"They’re all dying," the Judge said quietly. "At the same time. Right now."

Emma’s blood turned to ice. Outside, her students were falling to the ground one by one. The people she had spent her life saving were dying because she had chosen to live a few more months.

"Stop it!" she screamed at the Judge. "Save them!"

"I cannot. You used the last resurrection power in existence on yourself. There is no way to bring them back."

Emma ran outside, but it was too late. Thousands of her students lay still in the grass. The people who had traveled across dimensions to say goodbye to her were gone forever.

And it was all her fault.

But then something even more terrifying happened. The Cosmic Judge smiled.

"Actually, Emma, I lied about something very important. Those people aren’t dead. But in sixty seconds, everyone you’ve ever loved will be."