“Trust me, I watched the warlock who prepared itveryclosely. Your drink has no magical properties whatsoever, and as a bonus, it’s decaf.” Kallie took a drink. “Mine, however, is embedded with wolven herbs for my shifter strength. What are you working on?”
“Ivy let it slip to me that Charlie’s lessons with the Elves haven’t been going well,” I muttered, turning a page. “I’m trying to figure out why they’re having such a hard time performing magic.”
“Simple, isn’t it? They’ve been spoiled in Forevermore,” Kallie said, sitting across from me.
“I know, but there has to be more to it. Even incompetent supernaturals can usesomekind of magic.”
“What does your intuition say?”
We’d been working on intuition all semester, meditating by the waterfall in the Elementai room. I was getting better at determining what my intuition wanted to say to me, but I still had trouble trusting my judgment.
“It says there’s something we’re missing,” I stated. “The answer is right in front of us, but we’re overlooking the obvious.”
“That means it must lie with magic we already know,” Kallie said. “Elves are similar to fae. What if they need to practice illusion magic first?”
“I guess, but how is that going to help them? They need to be able to overpower the guards and steal another supernatural’s magic if they’re going to escape.” I finished off my coffee with another few chugs. I was on a mission this morning to figure this out.
“What about simultension?” Kallie asked. “There’s a start.”
I hadn’t thought about simultension much since we’d used it in the Darke Games. It was the ability of supernaturals to meld their powers together, even across different races. We’d used it to beat monsters during the Games. “That could work. What if simultension is the best way to teach the Elves how to use their powers?” I speculated. “Start off slow, teaching them how to meld their magic with another supernatural’s,thenoverpower it?”
Kallie smirked. “I am a genius.”
“We have to tell Charlie!” I was so excited. This could be the key to getting the Elves out of here! I got up from my bed and ran to his dormitory next door. “Charlie?”
I poked my head in, but he wasn’t in there. I began roaming the halls, wondering if he’d already gone down to breakfast.Where was he?
I did a mental search for Oberi. I felt himsomewherewithin the prison, but couldn’t tell where he was, only that my Familiar was very worried.
Okay, I was starting to freak out a little. Kallie followed me as we roamed up and down the halls. “Charlie? Charlie! Has anyone seen him?”
People shook their heads as I asked, and my gut began to bottom out. He was never very far away. Even when he was mad at me, he was always nearby.
Kallie came closer as my breath started to quicken. I turned in place in the hallway, feeling faint. “Charlie! Where are you?”
“I’m right here.”
Relief flooded into my veins as I watched Charlie approach, Oberi at his side. Marcus followed at a distance, his head down.
“Ancestors, you scared me.” I hugged Charlie and kept a tight grip on his arms as I pulled away. “I thought something…”
My voice trailed off as I saw the tight look on his face. Somethinghadhappened. My hand brushed something. It dropped against my side when I saw a white bandage wrapped around his arm, the sleeve of his sweater pushed up.
“No.” I backed away, shaking my head. “No.”
“They retested me. They took my blood this time. The Warden watched them do it,” Charlie said heavily. “They’re going to know I’m an Elf soon. The tests are more comprehensive, so it’ll take longer, but he’s going to know—”
“Hecan’t.” My voice cracked. I refused to accept this as reality.
“There’s no way to stop it now. I’m going to the Underground,” Charlie said. “I have to get ready for whatever the Warden has in store.”
I couldn’t handle it. I hit the floor.
“Pidge!” Charlie instantly knelt by my side.
I was justsobbing.“You can’t go,” I pleaded. “You’re my best friend.”
He rubbed my back. “You’re my best friend too, Ava.”
