I unfurl my body and stand, unsure what I’m meant to feel.
When I underwent my Transference, the pain was excruciating, but it was over quickly. Having Aslendrix’s power was like a natural step—a continuation, a balance.
That is not how I feel now.
Even though it’s a new moon, and the pendant at my throat is cold, there’s a thrashing inside of me. Like a glimmer, a shard of light—sunlight—has found a crack in the stone well in my chest and is trapped inside.
And it doesn’t like it.
The light is fighting against me, as if it doesn’t want to be contained.
“How does it feel?” He grabs my arm, and I recoil from his touch, snatching my arm away. “Oh, child, relax. Now we see the result, and whether Novandia was able to pass on any influence. Come.”
Seems the experiment isn’t over.
The Usher leads me towards the sound of the ocean. I follow, keen to see the water, and maybe get a sense of what the rest of Nehandun looks like, while I ignore the fight continuing inside of me. We walk for some time, and I take solace in the sound of the waves growing ever closer.
Selina and my brother are waiting at a small cliff edge—nothing like the cliff he tossed me from in Kirrasia, I think, to my relief.
I study Selina and wonder what her experience with Novandia was like.
“I want you to find your power and use it,” the Usher commands.
“But,” I look around, “I’m Kirrian. We don’t have magic under the new moon.” The pendant is still cold, the hum I’d grown used to, cut off and dormant right now.
“It will be back in a matter of hours. Use your magic, now. Like Selina.”
As if needing to remind me of just how powerful she is, the rough sea below suddenly calms as she raises her arm, lulling it into submission. It’s no less impressive than when she did it to ease our journey leaving Kirrasia.
She smiles, not a kind smile, or one I can convince myself means well. This is a challenge, filled with the confidence of knowing her power is vast and strong.
Fenix holds no smiles for me, but I see he’s healed. It’s a shame.
Instead of provoking or antagonising, which has become our usual dance, he stands off to the side, his arms crossed, like he’s scrutinising me. That alone is enough for my anger to simmer, and with it, a spark of something within—that small line of light, trapped in the dark.
“Take Selina’s power, Ever.” Another command.
Fighting the Usher or my brother is one thing, but Selina? “No. I won’t.”
“Won’t or can’t?” Selina’s smile grows, and with it, a rush of waves crashes below, as if to punctuate her ability.
Okay, then. They’ve turned me into this—driven me to this point. I know what is at stake, and I know what I’ve been ableto do with my magic. “You’d risk that I could take your power, drain it from you?” I check, because if I do this, I want to be clear that it was their own choice. Because I’m not just going to stand here and let her beat me.
“You might be a risk on any other day, but not today. Novandia saw to that.” The sea rushes in again, breaking over the rocks below, and the waves spray as high as our position on the cliff edge.
“You aren’t as powerful as my brother. Why is that?” I ask.
“I thought you’d welcome this, Ever. To see your power unrivalled. But perhaps you are not ready. That is disappointing.” The Usher’s voice turns insistent, the edge of frenzy lifting the high-pitched whine. “Perhaps our faith in you has been misguided.”
His words only agitate me, and I think back to all the pain over the last few days, and what it felt like to be forced to take power from others. Selina is taunting me, willing me to try. Fine. I’m done with this. There is no bargain here.
If I can’t beat Fenix, then it’s all for nothing.
For a moment, I imagine what Selina and I could do together, but I push that aside. This is a test. My opportunity, and I can’t fail. Stepping forward, my boot crunches in the dirt as silence drops all around, and my movement is the signal they were all waiting for.
Selina doesn’t offer her hand. Instead, I snatch at it.
So much of my power and magic is intuitive. It happens without me knowing or even controlling it, like it takes my subconscious command. Now is when I need that instinct to kick in, regardless of how far away from Kirrasia we are, that it is a new moon, or that the Usher has just done something that I fear has left me open to Novandia.
