by Jessica Gunn
Cold stone. Hot magik. Magik that had burned since they’d imprisoned me here three months ago. At least, I thought it’d been three months. I honestly couldn’t tell anymore.
At least the insanity had let up some. With the finality of my magik flare, clarity resumed.
Days bled together as they passed. Guards delivering food were the only indication of time passing, but even that couldn’t be trusted. They’d deliver it at different times to mess with me.
A chunk of bread. A fruit. Some bland mix of something I’d rather not identify. I swallowed it down, waiting for the day I got out of here.
For the day Giyano rescued me.
I hadn’t given up hope. The mark on my hand still burned, glowing at intermittent intervals. A message to me, whispering: Hold on. I’m coming. But even Giyano couldn’t waltz into Ether Circle Prison and break me out. It’d take time, and I’d deal with this as long as I needed to.
Besides, if Ben and the others were going to save me, they would have already done so. Unlike Giyano, Jaffrin—Leader of the Fire Circle—had connections with the Ether Head Circle. They were above him, but they liked him. And if Jaffrin hadn’t gotten me out of here yet, there was either no way of convincing the Ether Head Circle I was innocent, that I’d been manipulated, or Jaffrin himself would rather see me imprisoned here.
He’d kept me imprisoned for most of my life anyway.
Giyano’s mark on my hand burned, a searing ache that turned into pleasure on its way up my arm. I glanced down, lost in the distraction of the glowing red emanating from the swirls and dark black veins. Whatever he’d done to me months ago, it’d never reversed. And combined with Kinder’s magik, with her shoving more magik into me than I could handle, I had no idea how I was still alive.
But I was. I had to be. The ache in my bones from being unable to move in this tiny room, the twist in my ankle that never healed correctly… the burning, fiery pain that erupted from my fingertips every few hours… All of these things were impossible if I was dead. If I’d lost my fight with the magik flare after all.
I leaned my head against the stone wall of my cell, ignoring the slight shock of electricity delivered into my skin. A warning. The cell had been marked with magik to keep me inside, to keep me from being able to escape via word-magiks.
It hadn’t stopped me from using my other magik.
My fingertips burned as my hands pressed against the stone wall for support, taking in more electrical warnings. I’m not escaping, I promise. Even if I managed to escape, I doubted I’d stay hidden for long.
An ache throbbed in my hand beneath the burning and dread. The pain traveled up my palm to the tip of each finger, pulsing in waves.
“Fuck. Not again.”
Every few hours, my new power awoke. Because every few hours, I remembered why I was in here.
Instead of believing I’d been manipulated by Kinder and saved by Giyano, the Fire Circle thought I’d sided with them both. That I’d chosen this path against the Circles. The look on Ben’s face when he’d found out I’d been visiting Giyano had said it all.
Ben hadn’t fought for me either. I couldn’t blame him. I’d sought help from his son’s kidnapper. From my own father’s murderer. And in return, I’d gotten a jail cell and a new power.
A new magik altogether.
Flames erupted from my fingertips, bathing the stonework beneath them in a red and orange light. The wall turned black, but my fingers didn’t burn. It wasn’t the flames that hurt, but the force at which the magik left my body, one so unaccustomed to fire-elemental magik.
My heart rate raced, breath coming in short gasps as my veins burned from the inside out. This foreign magik, this change forced upon me—it’d kill me, I was sure.
The flames grew, lapping against the stone wall, and I cried out as I turned away from it, aiming the fire out into my small cell. Wave after wave of fire flew from my hands, heating the small room with no way out but between cell bars. The flames leaped near my mattress, overtaking the sheet and pillow, and the one newspaper clipping the guards had allowed me to have. An article about a building exploding in downtown Boston. Cause: gas leak.
It hadn’t been a gas leak, but a magik war. One fought within myself.
“Stop!” I commanded the flames, shaking my hands. The shaking only sent the waves of fire dancing, undulating across the space. “Stop it, please! God, why?”
Unwieldy, unruly. This fire-elemental magik was not my own. It didn’t—or wouldn’t—bend to my will no matter what I tried.
I balled my fists and swung them in an upward motion, hoping to stamp out the flow of fire, but instead, my lunch tray flew across the cell. I ducked, barely in time to avoid being struck by the plastic saucer as it shattered against the stone behind me.
What the hell?
My eyes narrowed as the flames died down. I turned, studying the remains of my lunch tray. All of my previous magik had been erased. No more telepathy. No more telekinesis.
Then how had that tray moved?
I swiped at the air in front of me like I used to when I had telekinesis.
Nothing.
Curious, I shifted my focus from the shattered plastic to the air around the plastic, then pushed my hand up through the air. The pieces of the tray moved, floating in the air like a mobile in a nursery.
“Cut that out, Blackwood.”
The remains of my lunch tray fell to the ground. I snapped my gaze toward the guard in front of my cell. “Go to hell.”
His eyes, wide and dark, took in the sight of my room. “Again? Control your damn magik or we’ll take it away.”
I put on the sweetest smile I could. “And deprive you and your friends of this show?” The guards got off on watching us all try to escape our cells—by magik or sheer force.
No one ever seemed to actually get out, though. Wards or other magik, no doubt.
The guard crossed his arms and gave me a pitying upper lip. “I think this time we’ll let you wallow in this mess for a few days.”
“Suit yourself, asshole.” I was tired of being transferred into what was obviously a torture chamber while they cleaned the room out, anyway.
“You know it was lack of respect for authority that got you locked up here in the first place, right?” His voice boomed, but for the faintest hint of tremor floating on the air.
My eyes narrowed and I charged the bars, gripping them. They buzzed a magik warning at me, one I ignored. “You do know who I am, don’t you?” I smiled at his shaking hands. “Thought so. If you know who—what—I am, then you know it wasn’t a lack of respect for ‘authority.’ It was everyone else’s lack of respect for me and the power I wield. You assholes should be getting me out of here and helping me control this new magik, not letting me nearly kill myself trying to figure it out on my own. I’m the damn Daughter of—”
“Alzan doesn’t want your treason,” the guard said as he reached forward and pulsed ether magik at the cell bars.
I yelped before they connected, jumping back as the ether magik spliced up my fingers and into my arms. My body shook as I backed away, glaring daggers at the guard.
The guard laughed and started to pace away, back down the cell block. “No one wants a traitor in their midst, not even if she’s the savior of Alzan. The world will burn instead.”
Chapter 2
BEN
I was so tired of waiting. For Jaffrin to get an update on Krystin. For the Ether Head Circle to realize she was innocent. For anyone to give me the go-ahead to pick Krystin up from Ether Circle Prison.
But all I did lately was wait, presently in the lobby of Fire Circle Headquarters for Lissandra, the admin, to let us upstairs and talk to Jaffrin.
I paced the space between the front windows looking out at the City of Boston and the missing persons board, where one space had been cleared off. Riley’s space. He’d been on that board for two and a half years.
Not anymore.
My feet ached as I paced, digging
my heel in on each step. Between the aftermath of Kinder’s attack and the Fire Circle almost being revealed to Boston, there hadn’t been much time to think about Krystin’s predicament. But it’d hung over my head anyway, filling the free time away from work with a dozen strategies for breaking into that prison and saving her. Except on the days where I didn’t want to. On the days I’d rather let her stay in there for good.
I hated what she’d done—seeking Giyano for help. Giyano of all demons. But I hated even more that with the space three months had given me, I understood why she’d done it. And that I’d do the same thing if Riley or Rachel were on the line. If it was a matter of life and death for either of them, I’d buck the Hunter Circles’ creed of killing, not siding with, demons.
But I’d never ask Giyano.
I froze in front of the missing persons board, reeled back my arm, and punched straight into the wall below it. Except it wasn’t drywall but metal, and my knuckles, only recently healed from punching the magik-barrier glass in the quarantine chamber upstairs, buckled beneath the impact. Blood seeped out around them, but I held my fist steady.
Lissandra jumped at my outburst, swinging her chair around to face me.
We’d been so busy keeping Krystin isolated that we’d driven her to have no choice. In not trusting her, she’d taken that trust elsewhere. And after three months, I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought we weren’t trying to save her at all.
Assuming the Ether Head Circle hadn’t already disposed of her. How much protection did that Alzan prophecy actually give Krystin?
My cousin Rachel appeared at my side and pulled my fist from the wall. She didn’t say anything, her worried gaze doing the work for her.
“I’m fine.” But we both knew I hadn’t been fine since the accident that had awakened my lightning magik.
“She’s okay if Jaffrin’s calling to update us,” Rachel said, holding my hand in hers. She uncurled each finger, careful to avoid the blood.
“Alive, you mean,” I said. “Alive and okay are two very different things.”
“They won’t kill her.” That came from Shawn, who hadn’t stood at my outburst. He looked at me from the seat he’d taken beside Lissandra’s admin desk. “She’s safe as long as Alzan needs her.”
“At which point, knowing Krystin, she’ll give them the middle finger and walk away,” said Nate. His gaze fell to my bloody hand. “Lissandra, can we get some bandages?”
Her stare jumped from me to Nate. “Sure thing.” She excused herself and left the lobby, her phones still ringing.
Rachel dropped my hand and walked me over to the rest of my team. “You need to stop blaming yourself.”
Bile rose in my throat, flashes of Kinder’s attack racing through my mind. So many Hunters had died that night, both from our raiding party’s lack of knowledge of Hydron’s operation, and from Krystin being manipulated by Kinder. Had Hydron—an organization of Water Circle Hunters mixed with CIA agents—just told us about their operation in Boston, we’d never have been there.
“I’m not blaming myself,” I said. “Krystin’s at fault for most of her situation.” But that wasn’t true, either.
Shawn stood. “The Ether Head Circle got trigger-happy, that’s all. They’ll realize Krystin wasn’t actually working for or with Kinder—or Giyano, for that matter—and she’ll be let out.”
“At least until she and you fulfill your roles in the Alzan prophecy,” Nate said, his tone disheartened. “Then they’ll throw her back in prison.”
I’d thought about that possibility. And about escaping with the entire team to Canada because of it. Rescue Krystin, save the world, then hightail it out of the country. Sure, there were Hunter Circles branches there, too. But citizen laws gave us an out.
Besides, Riley was in Canada. And to be with my son again was my end game no matter what.
Lissandra padded back into the lobby and offered me a bandage wrap for my knuckles. I took it and thanked her, wrapping my hand as she reclaimed her desk.
Her smile faltered as she looked at her computer screen. “Oh. Looks like Jaffrin is ready to see you now, but in the great hall. You can head there now.”
I looked to my team, who returned my questioning expression. “Sounds a bit overkill.”
Lissandra shrugged. “They don’t tell me anything.”
Okay, then.
My team and I hurried along the staircase to the great hall, a sweeping amphitheater space that served as an announcement hall when the entire Circle needed to be present. It was also where all training graduation ceremonies took place, most recently for Shawn’s class of Hunters five months ago.
Jaffrin stood at the bottom, not on stage. That didn’t sit well with me. Jaffrin was the type of person who took every opportunity to show his rank amongst those beneath him.
Oh, god. Krystin.
“Please, hurry,” Jaffrin said as my team and I descended the stairs. “We don’t have much time and I’d like to cover a few things.”
As we reached the bottom platform, I asked, “What’s going on?”
We gathered in front of Jaffrin in a tight circle. He looked each of us in the eye for a long moment before settling his gaze on me. “We have five minutes before the magik I’ve put on this room dissipates.”
“Magik?” Nate asked. He looked around, brow furrowed. “I don’t feel any.”
Never mind that—I’d always thought Jaffrin didn’t have any magik.
Jaffrin nodded. “That’s the point. It’s subtle. My abilities are.”
Okay, so he did have, and use, magik. If this was the first revelation of many, it was going to be a long morning. “What’d you do?”
“Essentially soundproofed the room,” he said, stepping in closer to the team. “And blocked any scrying from occurring. I don’t trust what the Ether Head Circle has planned.”
My eyes narrowed. “Are you kidding me? You love them.”
Jaffrin chuckled bitterly. “There’s a difference between love and respect. And as far as Krystin goes, I don’t trust her trial will be unbiased.”
“She’s part of the Alzan prophecy. She’ll be fine,” Shawn said, though even he couldn’t completely scrub the worry from his tone. “They won’t kill her.”
Jaffrin’s jaw locked. “And neither will they let her go free. We need her here in Boston. While the Ether Head Circle is powerful and well-versed in the goings-on of this world, they’re not the most proactive group. As you saw three months ago.”
My fists clenched at my sides. “Clearly.” They’d sent us on a mission to disband a possible Landshaft bounty hunter operation in downtown Boston. But when Kinder had shown up and attacked, they’d only stepped in to help us out after a dozen Hunters and other innocents had died.
After Kinder had turned Krystin against us.
Jaffrin’s eyes hardened. “You see my point.”
“You’re worried that if the final conflict comes, the Ether Head Circle won’t let Krystin out until Alzan is already under attack,” Nate said. “You think they’d be that stupid?”
“They’ve already imprisoned Krystin without allowing her to unlock the Alzanian magik inside of her, something she can’t do without Shawn. And since they won’t let even me visit her, I doubt they’re going to let Shawn get close.”
Silence filled the space. Even if Jaffrin was right, that didn’t mean there was anything we could do about it. Unless…
“Are you suggesting we attack the prison somehow? Break her out?”
Jaffrin’s gaze settled on me. “Yes, precisely. I can’t do it alone, and honestly, I feel as though Krystin would not appreciate my presence even if I did. But you four, with my guidance, can get in and take her.”
Rachel held up a finger but didn’t speak right away. After a pause, she said, “You want us to break into the most notorious, most heavily-guarded, magik-protected prison in all the Hunter Circles and break out our teammate?”
“Isn’t that against every code in the book?”
Nate asked.
I nodded. “I thought you were scared of the Ether Head Circle and their power.”
Jaffrin’s body went rigid. “I’m more terrified of what they’ll do to Krystin. What Krystin’s absence in the final conflict will do to us all.”
He’s scared of her power—and lack of it. Shit.
I looked around the room, looking for any sign of Jaffrin’s soundproofing. For a signal this was either a joke or that it was real and the soundproofing had gone away. Nothing looked different. There were no signs of magik at all. “Say we do this. Say we manage to break into Ether Circle Prison and take Krystin back. They’re going to recognize us. If not by our faces on cameras, then by the feel of our magik. They’re going to know we went there, and either accuse us of acting on our own or they’re going to flay you alive for going against their word. There is no winning in this scenario.”
“Not to mention Krystin might be pissed we left her there for this long,” Shawn said. “I would be. I’d be worried you all hated me.”
Jaffrin straightened. “You let me handle any backlash from the Ether Head Circle.”
Rachel shook her head. “You’re assuming they won’t kill us on the spot. This seems awfully stupid and risky just to take back someone we should be able to bring home through legal means after her trial.”
“They’ve had her for three months now,” Jaffrin said. “That trial was set to occur at the end of the first. They’re stalling, or they were never planning on putting her on trial, period. If we don’t act now, they’ll hold her until the final conflict.”
“Whenever that is,” I muttered, although Jaffrin’s fear of this conflict worried me. The prophecy said that Shawn and Krystin would save Alzan from Darkness, so I had to believe that whatever that final conflict will be and no matter where it’ll be held—probably in the ancient city—we’d win it, for Good’s side. What’s to worry about?
A bright yellow shimmer showered down around us. Jaffrin backed up immediately and put on a big smile. He clapped me on the shoulder and gave a hearty laugh. “Congratulations, Ben. Your hard work will soon pay off. I’ll let Dacher and my Command know that you’ve officially begun work to Leader candidacy.”