by Leia Stone
Oh mage.
Where did Gramps get it?
“All right,” Zia snapped, whirling on all of us. “Geoff clearly isn’t coming, so we best get a move on! The girl still has a deadline, and all this blathering doesn’t change it.”
Even though Zia was rude, she took initiative, which I could respect. The others nodded and then pressed in on me, hands outstretched.
“What exactly does this blessing entail?” I tried to back up and bumped into Raiden, who caught me around the upper arms.
“Think of it as a power activation,” Raiden said.
Aine grinned. “Plus, we’ll bind our souls to yours, so you can call on us when you need us.”
Bind their souls! Wasn’t that a bit overkill?
“This is…” weird. I glanced from one to the next, but what were my options? “Will it hurt?”
Hadn’t Gramps said this might be dangerous?
“Maybe,” Than said. “Maybe not. It depends on how much capacity you have.”
Capacity for what?
One by one, they laid their hands on me, and immediately, my skin buzzed and tingled. “You were born with a certain amount of power,” Aine said with kindness in her voice, “and our blessing will activate all the power of spirit in you.”
Zia still stood off at the outer edges of the circle, looking at me with a mixture of apprehension and dread. What did this chick have against me? And why were all of my ancestors thirty years old? And why hadn’t Gramps told me about any of this before shoving me into a pool with a bag of soul stones!
“She’s not Elia,” Zia muttered then looked me straight in the eyes. “You better hope you’re as powerful as her.” She reached out, placing both of her hands on my exposed forearms, and then fire coursed through me as if I were being burned alive…
That’s what it felt like—a magical surge, powerful and hot, poured over me. The heat sank into my skin, my muscles, then into my bones. It pounded against every fiber, every tissue, every cell. It was pain, unlike anything I’d ever felt before. The energy built and built—white-hot—until it peeled away everything except … power. So. Much. Power.
Holy Mother Mage … what was this?
My activated power? Had this been with me all along?
I whimpered as my nerves fried.
Raiden grinned. “She’s taking a lot,” he said.
Aine nodded. “A lot more than Elia did.”
I gasped, but each breath only seemed to stoke the flame of energy.
“Geoff had passed out at this point,” Than commented.
“So had you,” Zia muttered.
What were they talking abo—?
Blackness danced at the edges of my vision as raw energy pulsed through my body, seeping out from my skin. The power crawled up my spine and exploded from my head.
“Ahhh!” I screamed as a flash of white stole my vision.
Darkness swallowed me, and then I felt a hook at my belly button before I was submerged in water.
I sat up, coughing and sputtering in the hot spring water back on High Mage Island. Steam hung in the air. Grandfather Geoff stood on the ledge of my pool, hovering over me. His robe clung to his thin frail frame, and he leaned on his cane, grinning at me.
“Ha!” he exclaimed, grinning. “You did it!”
I glared at him while still coughing. “What. The. Mage. Was that?” I growled.
I felt like I’d died for a second there.
His eyes ran over my arms and legs, “Oh, you got a lot. I can see the power.” He looked like a kid in a candy store.
“They were crazy, and you didn’t properly prepare me for that,” I retorted.
He shrugged. “Sorry. No time. Hurry and change. We need to get to the records hall before midnight.”
I groaned.
Rage was so going to kill me.
“What do I do with these?” I pulled the bag of soul stones out of my pocket. Gramps indicated the changing area with a flick of his head. “Keep the bag by your suit should you need them. The stones should be safe in this realm.” He grimaced. “For now.”
For now?
Great.
Chapter Two
Reyna, my grandfather, and I stood in a courtyard outside a giant building titled “Records Hall.” Three steps led up to a large stone patio just outside a set of sliding glass doors. The front of the building was all windows while a soft glow just inside the entrance held the darkness within at bay. Despite the light inside the building, I couldn’t see anyone, which hopefully meant we were alone. Several stone benches were scattered throughout the courtyard, which was surrounded by a waist-high hedge. We crouched behind the boxwood despite the pitch darkness of night.
“Why are we hiding again?” I whispered.
My gaze jumped from Gramps, who had his eyes closed and was breathing in and out so slowly I thought he might have fallen asleep, to Reyna, who ignored me.
“Kian is inside,” Grandfather said.
I stiffened. How did Gramps know that from all the way out here? I didn’t want to know.
But it was a cool Jedi power I hoped to learn eventually.
Reyna tightened her grip on her sword and snarled. “That old bag of bones is going to try to stop Nai from signing her name as your heir.”
Grandfather grinned. “That ‘old bag of bones’ is at least five hundred years younger than me. But you’re correct; he’ll try to stop her.” He tapped his chin then shook his head. “He must’ve gotten wind of Nai’s presence here.”
Reyna rubbed her hands together. “What’s the plan? Want me to light his house on fire or something?”
Gramps tsked at her suggestion, but I actually thought it was a decent idea.
Shaking his head, my grandfather maneuvered out of the bushes with his cane, surprisingly silent considering his rapid deterioration of agility. “No, no, that won’t do. It would only come back to bite us. But, we do need a distraction.” He looked at me. “When Kian runs outside, you slip in, find the Master Scroll, and write your name under your mother’s. Understood?”
I gulped and then nodded because what choice did we have? “Understood.”
Write my name in a book. How hard could that be?
Reyna bounced on her heels, grinning like a loon. “What’s the distraction? Want me to kill someone?”
Gramps rolled his eyes. “I’m going to fake a heart attack. I hope your acting skills are as strong as your thirst for blood. Come on.”
He toddled toward the building until he stood in full view of the glass double doors.
“Ahhhrgggh,” he yelled and clutched his chest.
“Showtime.” Reyna winked at me and jumped out from behind the hedge to join him.
“Help!” She dropped to her knees and clutched her chest, wheezing dramatically.
I frowned, confused for a second why she was also pretending to have a heart attack; then it dawned on me. Reyna was his shield. If he had an illness, she took it on…
Did that mean she would die in a few months too?
The thought horrified me, but before I could dwell on it, the glass doors slid open, and Kian and his son Julian, who I’d spotted on Alpha Island, raced out of the building and skidded to a stop.
“What’s happening?” Kian looked down at Reyna and Gramps with alarm.
Reyna’s neck veins bulged. “Can’t. Breathe.”
Gramps lay on the stone patio, shaking so much he appeared to be having a seizure. I wasn’t sure that was a heart attack symptom, but both Kian and his douche-canoe son were transfixed. Taking advantage of the distraction, I slipped through the doors, squinting while I waited for my eyes to adjust to the bright lights. The scent of oil and leather hit my nose, and a single breath later, I raised my chin, and my jaw dropped.
Holy Mother Mage.
The records hall was … huge.
Bookshelves spanned from floor to ceiling, and all of them were filled with coffee-brown leather tomes, each one about a quarter of an inch thick. A
reception desk sat to my left, thankfully unoccupied, and I darted into the first row to scan the spines.
10000 BC.
9999 BC.
9876 BC.
Omg! They were dates—older than Gramps! I guess that made sense since he’d lived a thousand years, and I’d met five of his predecessors. That alone was six thousand years … assuming they all lived out their full lives and weren’t killed.
Every moment here gave me a dozen new questions.
Focus! I snapped to myself.
I stepped to the next shelf and discovered it started with 8000 BC, so at least I knew which direction to go. I raced past the shelves until I got to this century. Each year had a new book. Gramps said to put my name under my mom’s, but my mom wouldn’t have written her name in this year’s book … because she’d died…
Frick.
The year I was born.
I ran back to year 1999 and opened the book. I flipped through pages marked air, fire, water… There! I found spirit.
Master Mage: Geoff Drudner
Heir:
It was blank.
Blank?
The muffled sound of voices carried to me, and I crept to the end of the row to see Kian and his son marching back inside.
“What a fool,” Kian snapped, his eyes narrowing.
I raced back and grabbed the books marked 1998 and 2000 and then bolted down a few rows in hopes of avoiding the mages. I just needed to sign… Crap! I needed a pen.
“Do you think she’s here?” Kian’s son asked.
My heart thundered against my ribs as they stepped past the reception desk, coming deeper into the records hall.
Kian slapped the young male mage upside the head. “Of course she is,” he growled. “Now, let’s find her.”
They each ducked into rows closer to this century, and I ran for the reception desk, sliding around it just as Kian popped back out of the row I’d been in.
“Where is that child! I know she’s here,” he snapped.
My hands shook as I cracked the spine of the 1998 book. Was this the last year my mother had spent training? Maybe she didn’t put her name in the 1999 book because she was preggers with me. Is that what stopped the legacy of heirs? I didn’t know how this worked, but Gramps had said to write my name under my mom’s. I found the spirit page once again, and my gaze snapped to the names.
Master Mage of Spirit: Geoff Drudner
Heir: Elia Drudner
Initiation: completed August 2, 1998
YES!
Spinning, I spied the pen on top of the desk and grabbed it.
“Weird how heartburn and a heart attack have such similar symptoms,” Reyna said as she stepped into the room.
“Where is she!” Kain hissed as he ran down another aisle.
I tuned them out and, with a shaky hand, scrolled my name in cursive font.
Nai Crescent, and then, on a whim, added a hyphen, Drudner.
As soon as I lifted my pen from the page, light flared from the paper, and the heat of it blasted me in the face. I closed my eyes to keep from going blind as magic poured over me.
“No!” Kian screamed, and the panic in his voice made me grin.
The light died out, and I blinked. Kian, his son, Gramps, and Reyna all stared down at me, peering over the desk from opposite sides.
“Oh, hey, guys.” I smiled. Hopefully, the light display meant I was in as the heir of spirit.
“Check the books,” the high master of water snapped to his son.
The young male mage ran to the shelves and started pulling books. After opening three in a row, he shook his head and said, “It’s done.”
I flipped open the 1999 book I’d already looked through, and my eyes bugged when I spotted my inscription declaring me as Gramps’ heir. Were they all filled with my name now, all the way up to the current date?
Judging by Kian’s pissed expression and his son’s declaration, the answer was yes.
Whoa.
Gramps grinned. “Well, I guess we’ll be having an initiation after all.”
Kian whirled on my grandfather. “Initiations are in the beginning of the year. We’re in the middle. She’ll have to wait until next year.”
Gramps stilled, and his expression went from jovial grandfather to unhinged, angry old man with a single blink of my eyes. He clutched his cane, glaring at the high mage in blue robes, and stepped toward him menacingly. “Initiations are whenever a new heir is claimed. I’ve claimed Nai Crescent as my heir, and her name is recorded before the deadline. We’ll have an initiation for her or it’ll be documented that you overrode the need for one and she can just be fast-tracked into admission.” Grandpa raised his gaze to look at Kian’s in an epic staredown, and the water mage paled.
“Fine,” Kian spat. “I’ll alert the others, and we’ll ready the test for her at first light.” He snarled to his son and then spun on his heel and stomped away.
After the door slid shut behind them, Gramps leaned heavily on his cane. “I think it’s time for some shut-eye. I’m exhausted.”
Reyna and I both surged forward, each catching one of his arms as he wobbled. Somewhere in the bowels of the records hall, a clock chimed midnight. I needed to get some sleep too, but there was something else I wanted even more.
“Can I pop over and see Rage now?” I asked.
Gramps shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. Now that you’ve been recorded as my heir, you’re stuck here until you pass or fail the initiation. The test will start first thing in the morning.”
Ugh. Rage was going to straight-up murder me.
I blew out a long breath. Mother Mage, please let him understand.
“Okay.” I forced a tight smile and nodded. “Morning, then. He’ll have to wait.”
I grimaced, hoping Rage wasn’t completely losing his mind over my absence.
After helping Reyna get Gramps to bed, she escorted me to the central landing of the second floor of the castle. “That is Donovan and your aunt Sariah’s wing.” She gestured to a hallway off to the right. “This is my room.” She motioned to a door next to Gramps’ “wing” of the house. “Annette sleeps downstairs. She’s a lower-level mage, but her family’s been loyal to the spirit mages forever. Annette tends to Donovan and the household duties.” She pointed across the hall to a hallway with a bunch of doors. “Your wing will be over there.” Then she winced. “But tonight, to be safe, you should sleep in the old man’s office so Kian can’t pull any tricks.”
Her words registered, but all I could do was nod. Of course, Kian would be a high mage douche. After all, he’d been BFF’s with Declan when he was the alpha king.
Not that I cared where I slept. Besides, this way, I’d get to see Honor.
Reyna yawned, looking bleary-eyed and tired. “I’ll walk you over there, and then I’m gonna hit the hay.”
As I followed her back through the house and down the dark lacquered hallway to Gramps’ office, my mind raced ahead … to tomorrow, which made nervous energy crawl through my insides.
When we reached the door, she opened it, and Honor hopped off the sofa and ran to greet me.
‘All good?’ he asked.
I nodded, even though everything in me wanted to say no. ‘We can’t go back until tomorrow, but my name is in the scrolls, so I guess we’re all good.’
As Reyna turned to leave, I called, “Hey, Rey?”
She raised her eyebrows but didn’t protest the nickname, so I continued. “What’s in the initiation test?”
“I’ve never seen one,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve been with your grandfather almost ten years, but they don’t allow anyone to see the tests.”
“Oh.” My brow furrowed, but before I could ask my next question, Reyna spoke.
“His last shield…” She drew a line across her neck. “Probably from one of those old bags of evil. Which is why we’ve spent a lot of time in here.”
Wow. Sorry I asked.
“Anyway, goodnight, Nai.” She strode
down the hall, chin held high and whistling like knowing evil mages were out to murder her and my grandfather didn’t bother her.
I slunk into the room. My entire body felt heavy, drained of energy. It was like all of the adrenaline that had carried me from one fight to the next had left the building, and now I just felt sore and exhausted.
‘Rage is going to kill me. Maybe you should go over and explain everything to him,’ I told Honor as I crashed onto the couch. The soft crushed velvet folded around me, and I yanked a blue knitted blanket draped over the back of the sofa until it fell over me. Oh, this couch was nice; it was so deep it was almost the size of a twin bed.
‘I can’t go back,’ Honor said. ‘The door won’t open for me.’
‘You already tried?’ I asked him, pushing up on my elbows.
He jumped up onto the couch and then curled up at my feet. ‘I was going to pop over and explain things to Rage. The door burned me. But even if I could, I wouldn’t leave you. This place seems sketchy. Rage would want me to stay with you.’
Honor was right, but I still felt bad.
‘Rage?’ I tried again, picturing him in my mind’s eye. How his upper lip curled into a smirk—and how his emerald eyes flashed with heat as he hovered over me.
The darkness and silence pressed against me, and when I felt sleep dragging me under, I sighed. ‘Please forgive me, Rage.’
I think I sent that thought to Honor, but I was too tired to care.
“Morning, sunshine,” Reyna said, jabbing me in the ribs. “You need to get up.”
I groaned, peeling one eye open as she withdrew her foot from where she’d prodded me.
Reyna was holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, and I sat up with a smile, reaching for the mug. There was my Harvest girl.
She jerked the mug back and held it close to her chest. “This is mine. Make your own.”
Ugh. Black sheep of the family. Clearly. “Your sister Kaja brought me coffee all the time.”
She snorted and waved her hand dismissively. “My sisters are weak.”
“Hey!” I snapped, ready to defend my bestie. “Your sisters are—"