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PROLOGUE
“What if Idon’t have any powers?” my daughter asked, her eyes full of worry.
“You do,” I assured her. “You have the Luxian markings. If you didn’t have any abilities, the designs wouldn’t appear on your skin when you get wet.” For emphasis, I ran my fingers over the spot where her black markings emerged every time she bathed or swam in the ocean.
Possessing the markings were vital. It meant you had abilities. It was simple: markings meant power. To have blank skin like the humans represented weakness, and I knew my daughter was anything but. I performed the ancient Luxian ceremony when she was born and submerged her in the ceremonial basin I kept hidden. It used to be widely exercised back on Allium to note which infants would grow into elemental powers. But it was banned since coming to this planet. For the first time, our kind started to have no powers. The Luxian markings didn’t materialize on their skin when met with fluid—they looked too similar to the humans. I shuddered, thinking of how mothers killed their babies by accident, keeping them under the water for too long, praying and pleading for their newborn’s skin to change.
She watched me closely, seeming to think over what I said before asking, “But what if the other kids make fun of me because I don’t know what my powers are yet?”
“It’s completely normal that they haven’t manifested. It can take some Advenian children a while to figure out what they’re capable of. That’s why you’re going to school—to practice. You’ll have plenty of years to train before you have to take your Trials.”
I silently prayed to our Goddesses that her powers were ordinary because Luxian civilians seemed to disappear when they emerged with rare or special abilities. My stomach tightened, and I felt my anxiety giving way in the shape of knots. I couldn’t discern what her markings meant. I didn’t want any attention drawn to her. I just wanted her to be average, to get through this long life unnoticed. I was thankful each day that her powers hadn’t manifested. But I knew whenever the day came, there would be no hiding them.
I was envious of the Tennebrisian markings and sometimes found myself wishing we’d been born to that Kingdom instead of Lux. The Dark Kingdom of Tennebris could easily hide what powers they possessed. Their golden markings only awoke on their skin when their abilities were being used, and even then it was usually just pretty patterns and spirals. But the Luxian markings were a tell-tale sign of what you could do. Flame markings meant you possessed fire, waves were water, wings were air. Trees, flowers, or branches were signifiers for ground manipulators. Even the more rare abilities like healers or Alluse users had specific symbols.
“I hope I have water powers like you!” my daughter exclaimed as she stared at me. I followed her gaze and saw my own markings, now appearing on my forearms due to the sweat coating my skin. Black wave-like designs ran over the tanned length of my arms. There would be no doubt to any Advenian that I could manipulate the water element. I smiled briefly, momentarily forgetting about my anxieties concerning my daughter, thinking of when she would ask to color on my arms, spending what seemed like hours adding blue to the canvas on my skin.
I prayed that we would have more times like that—coloring together and swimming in the ocean under the blazing sun. But the sweat enveloping me had nothing to do with the scorching heat this island succumbed to. I was nervous. I didn’t want her to attend school. Six years old seemed too young to start her gruesome training this golden city mandated, all leading toward the Trials upon graduation. She would only have twelve years before the most important test of her life.
The school was supposed to be a balance, focusing on our history while training the children in the specific abilities they possessed. They would learn about our long and complicated past regarding the Ability War that caused the destruction of our planet, Allium, forcing both Advenian Kingdoms to discover Earth and remain hidden from the humans. No Advenian was fond of their new home on Earth, but both Kingdoms had agreed to the newfound peace out of necessity.
Lux, the Kingdom of the Light, home to elemental powers, was marooned to an island in the Atlantic Ocean. Tennebris, the Kingdom of the Dark, possessing mental abilities, was stranded on the snow-laden coast of Antarctica. Our new homes—ones we could never leave.
I hugged my daughter tightly, knowing that starting school would be so much more than just learning about our history. She was about to enter the most grueling part of her life, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that her ability would be her damnation. Because in this Kingdom, the powerful were just as cursed as the weak.
ONE
SCOTLIND
“What dowe do with the others?” an unfamiliar voice grunted, waking me from my sleep.
“Eliminate them.”
I flung off the bed sheets, aware that my body was drenched in sweat. My room was abnormally hot, too hot even for a scorching summer day in Lux. Every inch of my white nightgown was soaked, plastered to me like glue.
“Momma—” I choked on the words. They were barely audible, catching in my throat as I gasped for air. My windpipe was now scratchy and raw. I closed my mouth as I squinted around my room. My eyes adjusted to the dark as my hazy bedroom came into view, tinged with smoke.
The word “momma” was on the tip of my tongue again, begging me to scream for her.She would know what to do,I thought, but I swallowed back the plea for help, too scared to draw the attention of whoever was here. I didn’t know what they wanted, and I didn’t want to find out if I was one of the “others” they spoke of.
A distant, muffled scream reverberated through the house, heaving me into action. I jerked upright in my bed.
Large beads of sweat began to drip down the back of my neck and collect at the base of my spine. I didn’t think it was possible to sweat any more than I already had. My heart was pounding so fast and loud that I thought it would crack a rib. Whoever was here was getting closer. Fumbling off my bed, I scurried underneath it, just as my bedroom door forcefully swung open.
My eyes blinked, rapidly adjusting to the bright light shining through the now open door. Two black-tipped boots stepped inside the doorframe, blocking my only exit. Smoke engulfed the room as it propelled in with such a violent force that it was an effort to keep from coughing. I could only make out his legs from where I was hidden under the bed. His boots paused there for a moment, taking in my now empty bed, and then began sauntering around it.
The same rough, male-sounding voice griped, “Where’s the girl?”
He started scavenging the room, throwing the blankets off my bed, pulling the drawers from my dresser, and rummaging through my closet. I flinched, wanting to sink into the floor and disappear beneath it as a drawer flew across the room and collided with my vanity mirror. I pulled my hands over my head in reflex as shattered glass scattered across the tile floor. Some of the smaller pieces made their way to my hiding place.
I tried to steady my breathing in an attempt to stifle my panic, but it didn’t work. With each breath I took, a cough threatened to escape as the thick smoke scratched my windpipe. I clamped a sweaty, shaky palm over my lips as two more figures entered the room.
“Stop making such a ruckus. We’re supposed to be discreet. It’s not going to seem like an accidental fire if you keep this up,” one of the new intruders barked.
Another voice growled, deeper and more menacing than the first, “What’s taking so long? Find the girl, and let’s get out of here.”
Nausea crept into my stomach and formed a thick lump in the back of my throat.They were here for me, but why?I willed my eyes to shut in an effort to relax and calm the bile threatening to spew from my mouth.
Black-tipped boots paused in his search. “What about the others?”
