“And the Sire and Lady will allow that?”
“No, unfortunately. I’ve pleaded with them for information about the gateways and hybrid magick. They’ve refused. They won’t even lower the wards so I can test out a few minor spells. Don’t you think that’s suspicious? Shouldn’t I be allowed to try something else before giving up my life?”
Echo stared at her totem things. “This is all very confusing. I’m failing at my task.”
Poor Echo. She seemed so deflated and miserable. “Look, you’ve failed at nothing. Petra has no real verbal message for me today. She merely sends Sisters like you to show me that she can get to me whenever she wants to…And she plans to find me at on the third day of the Martyr’s Comet.”
Echo twisted her totem rings in a nervous rhythm. “The Mouthpiece of the Gods warned me that you wouldn’t agree. But I’m not to transport back to her like the others. I’m to activate this totem ring, bringing the Divine Petra here to speak to you directly.”
I frowned. This was different for Petra, and with the Martyr’s Comet about to appear, I didn’t like things changing, especially with someone as young and inexperienced as Echo around.
“Listen to me carefully, Echo. Do not speak the word to launch that ring.”
Echo went on anyway. “Possession!” With that word, Echo’s totem ring flared with blue light. Instantly, an indigo haze enveloped the girl. Her eyes took on a glazed and empty look. When she spoke again, Echo’s voice had a distinct monotone. “I have taken control of this lesser mage. Now I give my true message to you, Elea.”
I’d heard that voice many times before. Petra. She’d cast a spell of possession on young Echo. A chill of fear crawled up my limbs. This wouldn’t end well.
I cupped my hand by my mouth. “If you can hear me, Echo, you need to stop speaking.”
On reflex, I reached out with my mage senses, getting ready to cast a counter-spell. Necromancer power lay all around me, resting heavily in the bones and fossil-laden rocks under the earth’s surface. I drew that energy into my soul. Magick flowed into my limbs, making the bones in my arms glow blue with power.
When Echo spoke again, it was still with Petra’s voice. “You’ll never pull in enough power in time to help this lesser mage. You must stop fighting me and pay attention. You have forced me to possess this girl’s body because I must teach you a lesson. When you disobey the gods, this what happens to those you love.”
Blue light flared once more from Echo’s totem ring. More possession spells. With unnatural speed, Echo turned to face the deadly gateway.
I gasped. “No!”
Without so much as a glance in my direction, Echo rushed toward the magickal arch at a supernatural pace. I quickly glanced upward. The Martyr’s Comet still hadn’t appeared. Echo was headed toward a gateway that remained fully warded and absolutely deadly. I simply had to stop her.
I raced toward the girl. “Wait!”
But Echo didn’t seem to hear my words. Just as Petra had predicted, there wasn’t time for me to cast a spell or catch up by running, especially considering Echo’s magickal burst of speed. I could only watch in horror as the young girl stepped under the arch. For a moment, Echo stood frozen in place. After that, her body took on a glass-like sheen, like she was made of porcelain instead of flesh and blood. Blue light illuminated her from within. Dark fissures formed along her skin and robes. My heart cracked as well.
The gateway’s magick was about to pull Echo apart.
With a great boom, Echo shattered into a thousand glowing shards of blue light that flew into the illuminated stones of the gateway. For a moment, the arch’s rocks flared with such a bright shade of blue, they almost looked white. A weight of sadness settled into my soul. There was no coming back when you were obliterated by a gateway.
Echo was dead.
Around me, everything reverted to its non-magickal state. The gateway’s stones returned to being non-illuminated blocks of gray. I stared down at my arms. Blue light still shone in my bones. There’s still so much power in my body, all of it ready to cast a counter-spell. Plus, if Rowan had been here, we could have brought hybrid magick into the mix as well. That was even more energy.
And yet, I couldn’t save that innocent girl.
Echo was gone, but her words—or I should say, Petra’s—reverberated through my soul: “When you disobey the gods, this is what happens to those you love.”
Petra kills them.
Meaning I should sacrifice myself or she’d take those I cared about.
Waves of rage tightened up my rib cage. Petra had moved on from sending threatening messengers to murdering mages before my eyes. My one-time Mother Superior had made her point: she would do anything to force my sacrifice, one way or another. And there was no question who she planned to go after next.
Those I love.
Rowan.
If Petra’s intention was to frighten me into submission, it didn’t work. With each passing moment, more of my will hardened into stony resolve. I would still spy on the gods and get some answers. Then I’d use that information to learn hybrid magick and fix the gateways.
And after all that, I’d make Petra pay for what she’d done to Echo.
Chapter Two
I scanned the barley fields while Gail kept talking about the faire. “And we have dozens of torches and lanterns,” she said. “The festivities can last all night long, if we like—”
“Hush,” warned Lizzie.
“Why?” asked Gail.
“Because she has her arm up.” Lizzie’s voice trembled as she pointed to my left hand.
Oops. I hadn’t even realized that I’d raised my arm in order to cast.
All the color drained from Gail’s face. “Is something wrong?”
I spoke in a low and calm voice. “Listen to me carefully. Climb into the back of the wagon and stay down.” There was no point in all three of us sitting exposed on the driver’s bench. My open osquitoes. “So many bugs this time of year.”
Now, it’s a strange fact of human nature that mortals will do almost anything to avoid the reality of magick in their lives. I swear, if there weren’t mages walking around, humans might not realize magick existed at all.
The Dunkel sisters paused for a long moment before slowly nodding.
“I think I did drift off,” said Gail. “And perhaps I had been bitten back at the farm.”
“Me too,” added Lizzie. “I’m certain of it.”
After that, the pair launched right back into a discussion of the weekend faire. I didn’t hear a word. All I could think about was Wren’s warning. A mage battle with Shujaa would be a welcome change of pace, but the news that Rowan might be sick? That couldn’t be true, could it?
Only one way to find out.