Trial by Fire

“I’m not doing it for you,” she replied. “I’m doing it for them.” Lily made a gesture toward the camp.

“Good.” The sachem smiled slowly at Lily, and she found herself smiling back at him. She didn’t know how she felt about Alaric just yet. She wasn’t ready to trust him, but she did respect him.

The sachem looked up and watched as the spell trails of the wards dimmed. “Beautiful,” he whispered. Lily’s mechanics joined her, kneeling in front of her so that the darkness was at their backs and the fire behind her lit up their eyes. Alaric turned to Lily and tipped his head.

“Good luck, Lily Proctor,” he said, before limping off into the night surrounded by his ghostly guard.

Ready? Lily asked her three charges.

Ready, they answered as one.

Lily took a breath with her whole body, breathing in air through her lungs and heat through her skin. A witch wind kicked up immediately, knocking all three of her mechanics forward with its ferocity. Lily’s skill and strength had grown with training. She wasn’t overwhelmed by warrior magic anymore, as she had been in the cabin the night she’d claimed Rowan. In fact, she craved it. The column of air collided with Lily and lifted her up off her feet, her arms and face reaching toward the dark sky. Lily felt her three stones rise up off her breastbone, begging for power.

The harvested heat grew inside her chest like a seed sun. Her smoke stone floated in front of her, wanting it the most. Heat piled on heat inside Lily’s body. As the witch wind shrieked around her and flew her high into the air, Lily knew that this was the most power she’d ever taken into herself. She looked down on her three mechanics, waiting on their knees and saw how small they looked several stories’ distance beneath her. She was afraid for them. How could she give this much power to them without crushing them?

Help me, Rowan. I don’t want to hurt you.

It’s okay, Lily. Give me the most, Tristan the second most, and go easy on Caleb. He’s not as experienced as Tristan and I are.

I’m afraid for Caleb. Show me how much is too much for him.

Spill it all into me, and I’ll Gift Tristan and Caleb. Don’t worry about hurting me. I can take it.

All of it, Rowan?

At this level, I can take whatever you can gather, Lily.

There’s another level?

Firewalking. Don’t think of it now, just Gift me.

Her smoke stone opened like a book of light. She poured all her power through it and into Rowan and gave him the Gift. Giving the Gift was different from the dribs and drabs of power she’d been channeling into her mechanics to dig tunnels and climb ropes. This was on a different level entirely. It turned her mechanics into gods who could do the impossible. It filled them up and set them free so that only the limits of their imagination limited their physical abilities.

She was getting better at transmuting energy. Every calorie of heat from the fire changed easily into raw force inside her willstone. This much power also tempted Lily to take them over, to steal their will. She wanted to own each of them so badly she ached, but she wanted Rowan most of all. He was the strongest by far, even though both Caleb and Tristan were physically bigger than he was. Rowan’s mind was like a diamond—strong, clear, and so tightly bound onto itself that he could handle enormous amounts of pressure.

Let me keep myself, Lily.

Yes. I will. I’m sorry.

It’s okay. It’s time to start over the wall. Let go of the heat. I’ll catch you.