And they thought we were the monsters. What a joke.
Scowling, I turned back to the booth and my spine went rigid. Where did he go? Magic buzzed in my veins—an innate defense mechanism I shoved deep down, attempting to bury it before it got me into trouble.
I scanned the crowded market space, spotting a black haired head with a streak of blue running through it.
Got you now, sucker.
I darted after him, throwing a half-assed warding spell up in my wake to try to keep shoppers away from the booth. I weaved through the bodies in my way, almost losing sight of him as he neared the food vendors.
The guy looked back, catching sight of me chasing him. Our eyes locked. And then he bolted.
“Hey!” I shouted after him, spurring myself to go faster. “Hey! Thief! Stop that guy!”
A hundred sets of eyes turned to the sound of my shouting voice, but none moved to help me. Useless.
Sweat dropped down my back, and my flip-flops slapped the pavement. Nearing the exit to the market, he sped up. No! If he got outside, I’d lose him for sure.
And who knew how much more stuff he stole while I wasn’t paying attention. Stupid.
I moved to cut him off through the fruit market and ran smack into a pyramid of apples, scattering them to the floor and almost slipping on them. My hands flew out to my sides, catching my balance.
“Sorry!” I called back to the shopkeeper, who shouted obscenities after me as I wound between the stands.
Crap, crap, crap!
Why did I always have to mess shit up?
My chest squeezing, I darted between two booths and missed him by a hair. He blew past me into the main square, shoving people out of his way without a care.
“Stop!” I screamed at him, beyond furious. The familiar crackle of energy under my skin wouldn’t be soothed, no matter how much I tried to swallow it down.
He was too fast. I’d never catch him. And then I’d have to deal with their disappointment again. I’d have to explain how I messed up. They wouldn’t be surprised. They’d say they knew I wasn’t ready to have the responsibility of running the booth.
My body opened to the energy running through the earth like blood through veins. Hauling it in like the first breath after coming up from the water. It came rushing to me with the slightest thought, like it was only waiting for permission.
“Stop!” I shouted again, and the ground shook beneath my feet. A great groan had me skidding to a stop. My hands shook.
Crack! The pavement split. A fissure slicing through it from where I stood, skittering out over the square. Chasing the thief down faster than I ever could.
Someone screamed.
The sky darkened, and my blood boiled.
The fissure reached him, and he grunted as the ground heaved under his feet, sending him sprawling into the street. The jewelry jolted and bounced from his sleeves to land unceremoniously across the street beside him.
Cars screeched to a standstill. Their horns blaring. People everywhere were shouting. Running. Earthquake, they said, but they were wrong.
The magic I’d used still coursed through me, slowly waning. Leaching out of my bones to return to the earth, leaving me shivering against a sudden chill.
The ground still pulsed beneath my feet. My fists clenched.
What have I done?
Across the street stood two men. They weren’t running away. Or trying to film the scene. They weren’t even looking at the giant gash in the pavement.
They were staring at me.
CHAPTER TWO
Harper
The thief stumbled to his feet before scurrying away like a rat, leaving the jewelry behind.
But he didn’t matter anymore. And neither did the few hundred dollars’ worth of silver and gems glinting in the sunlight that had come rushing back to life. I didn’t dare make a move to retrieve any of it with their eyes boring holes into my face.
The taller of the two men turned his wrist to face me. The golden tattoo shimmered in the warm morning light. A triangle with two crossed arrows. My breath hitched, and I worked to quell the tremble in my knees.
Arcane Authorities.
Bad luck seemed to be as irrevocably attached to me as my own shadow, but this really took the cake. Forget the cake, this took the whole damn party. Was there any way they hadn’t seen what I did?
The shorter one with the tight jaw and thick brows met my wide-eyed stare. He tilted his head toward a shaded alley before the two of them stepped out of the light and into the shadows, waiting for me to follow them.
Nope. They definitely saw.
I could run, but chances were I wouldn’t get far before they caught me. And then what? Running would only get me into more trouble.
No, running wasn’t an option. I sighed and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my shorts. Leo and Lara were right. It was only a matter of time before my magic got me into trouble, but I’d make sure they didn’t go down with me.
The traffic started to move again once I’d crossed the street. The people had gone back to their shopping and gossiping, avoiding the split in the pavement. The split that I’d caused.
They’d fix it. Fill it in. It would be like it never happened for them.
I had a feeling I wouldn’t be so lucky. I steeled myself before stepping into the alley, a million thoughts tripping and swirling through my mind.
I’m too young to be sent to Kalzir Prison. And besides, that place was reserved for murderers and dark witches, not for people who accidentally cleaved the earth in two… right?
It was true being underage would save me from Kalzir, but it would be Leo and Lara who were punished for my unsupervised use of magic. My stomach rebelled at the idea, twisting uncomfortably until I thought I would lose my breakfast.
“We haven’t got all day,” a deep accented voice rang out from the alley. I hurriedly stepped inside, feeling the kiss of energy against my skin as a ward snapped into place behind me, effectively sealing us off from the curious eyes of the outside world.
I jumped at the sensation, turning in time to see the taller of the two flicking his finger as he finished drawing a binding sigil in midair, the swirling, looping pattern glowing a bright orange. He shoved his palm against it and the sigil expanded and then vanished, settling over me like a wave of concrete.
My hands flew behind my back, my fingers clasping of their own accord. The spell was even stronger than the time I accidentally crazy-glued my hands together. I couldn’t move them at all. There was no sense in struggling and yet I couldn’t help trying.
“Wait, please!” I said, my voice wavering. “I can explain—”
“And you will,” said the one with the thick brows. “But it isn’t us you’ll need to do your explaining to.”
Neither moved to take hold of me, but instead maintained their distance at about ten paces away at the dead-end of a brick wall. The taller one swallowed, his gaze darting from me back to his partner. He seemed… afraid? Of what?
Surely, they weren’t afraid of me?
I mean, my magic hadn’t ever caused a minor earthquake before. I mostly did simple spells, but even I had to admit they never turned out how I intended. Like the time I tried to use magic to extinguish a candle and put out every fire at the campground instead. Or when I made potions that didn’t work exactly like they were expected to.
“Where are your parents?” the shorter one asked.
I looked away, my heart thumping wildly in my chest. An image of my guardians flashed in my mind. Of their disappointed faces when they were told what happened. Of them being escorted to that horrible place, their kindness being ripped apart by the monsters that inhabited the prison.
Lie, my subconscious screamed.
“I don’t have any parents,” I told them, weaving honesty into the lie. “They’re dead.”
Thick Brows scowled. “So, you’re all alone, then?”
I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded. My eyes burned.
/> They’d be so worried when they saw I was gone. Would I be able to return to them? I didn’t know what happened to underage witches with no parents or guardians. But I could not, under any circumstances, bring the authorities back to our booth.
Selling potions to humans was illegal, and though I had no problem with it—especially since they were weakened versions of the real thing—the Arcane Council would see it a little differently. If the Arcane Authorities saw their booth, it would earn my guardians a one-way ticket to Kalzir.
My hands came apart and I looked up to find Tall Guy frowning, a gleam of pity in his eyes. “You won’t give us any trouble, will you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I swear I didn’t mean to—”
“Didn’t mean to?” Thick Brows interrupted. “That was strong magic. Not just anyone could’ve pulled that off.”
“What’s your name?” the other one asked, inching closer, looking more at ease than he did before.
My skin bristled. “Harper. Just Harper.”
“Well, ‘Just Harper,’ I’m afraid your fate is now in the hands of the Arcane Council.”
My blood chilled and the spark of magic reignited in my blood.
“Try to stay calm,” the taller one added. “Everything will be fine.”
Why did I get the feeling he was lying to my face? How could things possibly be fine when the Council was in charge of my fate? Everyone knew how these situations ended.
I didn’t dare object, though. Afraid I’d burst into tears or wind up begging for freedom I knew they wouldn’t give me. Tall Guy was right; I had to stay calm. Bad things happened when I wasn’t calm. I didn’t want to add any more to the list of crimes I’d already committed.
And to think, it wasn’t even noon.
Must be some sort of record.
Thick Brows set to work drawing out a sigil on the brick wall behind them. I was still crap at them, but I recognized the symbol for travel, and the one for creating a doorway interwoven with others I didn’t recognize. He was opening a portal.
“Come,” he said, and the brick disintegrated before my eyes to reveal a long hallway with a parquet floor and golden sconces that cast a rich umber light on the mahogany wood paneling. It looked like the inside of a castle.
My stomach dropped.
A loud meow set my hair standing on edge, and I flinched. Relief flooded through me at the sight of the orange tabby jumping down from the rooftop above onto a trash bin against the wall.
“Your familiar?” Thick Brows asked.
I shook my head as Gato, Leo’s familiar, pounced down to rub himself against my legs. “No, he isn’t mine.”
“Then hurry up, would you? I can’t hold the doorway open all day.”
I bent down to scratch the tuft of fur under his jaw. If Gato was here, that meant Leo and Lara weren’t far. I had to go before they found me, and the Arcane Authorities who had me under arrest. With a lump in my throat, I whispered to him. “Tell them not to come looking for me.”
The cat stopped, sitting back to listen. “They’ll be punished if they do, and I—I’d never forgive myself.”
Gato growled, turning to hiss at the men still waiting at the wall.
I hushed him, dropping my voice lower to make sure they couldn’t hear. “I’ll be alright. And I’ll be back as soon as I can. Now go.”
The cat jumped back up onto the trash can and then up to the roof, turning back to look at me only for a moment before he vanished from sight. I hoped they’d understand.
“Let’s go—”
Before he could finish, I crossed my arms, bent my head, and stomped down the alley and through the portal. My jaw clenched tight to stop the stinging in the back of my throat.
The Arcane Authority guys had just finished explaining to the Council delegate—a man with graying brown hair, kind eyes, and a thick southern accent—what I’d done.
“Given that she’s underage with no guardians, we thought it a matter best handled by the council directly.”
The older man huffed from the other side of the ornate wooden desk separating us. “Yes, yes,” he said, waving them off, never once taking his milky gaze from me. “Thank you, that’ll be all.”
Thick Brows stiffened. Likely, they weren’t used to being so easily dismissed. But they left without another word, closing the large double doors to the office behind them with a solemn click.
“Now then.” The delegate of the Arcane Council smiled, showing two rows of yellowed teeth between his thin lips. “Are you often able to produce magic in such… magnitude?”
I tucked my hands between my knees to stop them from vibrating as I spoke. Did my best to meet his gaze with a steady one of my own. “No. I don’t know what happened.”
“You needn’t lie to me, girl,” he said softly, cocking his head to one side as he considered me. Something in his expression, or maybe in the way he’d said it made me believe him. Maybe if I told him the truth, he’d understand it wasn’t my fault I couldn’t control it.
“Sometimes,” I amended cautiously. I couldn’t decide one way or the other if I should trust the old man. There were twelve delegates that made up the Arcane Council, and a Magistrate that had the final say on the important things. My mind was still reeling with the fact that I now sat in the office of one of the most powerful men in the witching community.
He could have me imprisoned. Killed. The most likely thing to happen would be to be stripped of all my powers which, honestly, wouldn’t be all that bad. At least then I wouldn’t have to hide or check my power all the time when it came rushing up out of nowhere.
Like in the streets of the French Quarter.
“Thought so,” he mused, making a clucking sound with his tongue as he rolled the information around in his mind.
Sweat beaded at my hairline despite the cool air in the dusky office. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. As though all the sound in the universe had been vacuumed up, blocked out by the insulation of hundreds upon hundreds of tomes lining thick wooden shelves all around the space.
I shook off the miasmal feeling. I wished he’d just get on with it. There was no sense in dragging this out. I was sure he’d already decided on what my punishment would be. But you didn’t rush an Arcane Council member.
“Who were your parents?” he asked after a time, and I flinched at the question, sucking in a quick, sharp breath.
“I’m not sure. They died when I was very small.” I gave him a small shrug. “I never knew their names.”
It wasn’t total bullshit. I didn’t know my mother’s name, but I knew my father’s. Alistair was his name. I only knew it because it was inscribed on the inside of the ring my mother left with me—a gaudy golden thing with a great bird on it. An orange colored stone was set where its eye should’ve been. His last name began with an H, but the engraving was worn down from too many years of wear. I glanced down at it, twisting it round my thumb, the only finger it fit.
The delegate seemed intrigued by the ring but snapped out of his glazed over stare when I shoved my hands back between my knees. He cleared his throat. “A pity,” he began, pursing his lips. “A natural ability such as yours is wasted—and dangerous—if left unchecked on the streets. We cannot risk that kind of exposure. You understand?”
I did. Ever since our kind left the dying lands of Emeris and arrived here, we’d been persecuted. Bordeaux. Salem. London. It didn’t matter where we were. If they thought there was magic in our veins, they burned us. Buried us. Or let us starve.
Thousands of us were killed because of human ignorance. But that was a long time ago. Before cell phones, social media, and Twilight. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t exactly keen to risk it either, but I understood why some of our kind believed it was time to ‘come out’ to our human neighbors.
“I understand.”
“Good.” The finality in that one word gave me chills.
“I can’t go back, then? To… to where I was?”
His for
ehead creased. “I’m afraid that isn’t possible.”
Kalzir, then. I could already feel it—the cold bite of iron shackles on my wrists and ankles. The oppressive weight of the bindstone woven through the walls of my cell, suppressing my magic, slowly driving me to madness.
I watched him from the corner of my eye as he gathered a quill, ink, and a sheet of parchment. My mind wandering, not quite settling on any one thing. My body light. Gaze blurred.
The metal quill-tip bit into the ink, coming out coated in the shimmery black substance. In a state of total disbelief, I read the words as he wrote them, For Headmaster Sterling, and then I watched as they disappeared into the paper, seeming to evaporate before my very eyes. Unbothered, he continued writing his letter, the words vanishing seconds after being written.
“Have you heard of Arcane Arts Academy?” he asked, pausing the scratching of metal on paper to glance up at me. A small smile pulled at the corner of his thin lips.
Of course, I had. How could I not? Arcane Arts Academy was a school hidden deep in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, I thought. It was supposedly a place for the children of great and wealthy witches to study. To develop, grow, and hone their natural abilities without the prying eyes of humans.
In other words—no place for a girl like me. A vagabond without a home or a penny to her name had absolutely no place within the hallowed halls of AAA.
He couldn’t be serious.
“Are you surprised?” he asked, continuing before I could pick my jaw up off the floor and attempt to formulate a response. “You’re welcome.”
Thank you? He really wanted me to say thank you? They’d eat me alive in a place like that. Spoiled rich kids. Know-it-all teachers. Curfews. Exams. I wouldn’t last a damned day. “But how long will I have to stay there?” I began, trying to keep the sour taste in my mouth from tainting my words. “Is this your sentence for what I did?”
The curve of his lips held amusement, as if he knew what would become of me there. “If you choose to see it that way, then I suppose it is. And I expect you to stay there until formal graduation.”
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