Page 149 of The Fifth Heir

“No.”

The scale beneath my wrist wrap began to burn.

I grabbed the band and pulled it loose. The transparent scale appeared without concentrated light. Fire and Frost divided across its surface, sending red and blue lines over my arm.

The medical slate chimed faster.

“Her scale is drawing power,” Malcolm said.

“No,” Sebastian called. “It’s dividing it.”

Malcolm pressed his staff to the blackened return channel.

The metal sparked.

“Reverse the flow,” the headmaster ordered.

“The return is no longer responding.”

“Then break the inner ring.”

“That would release four uncontrolled elements into the Hall.”

The audience heard him.

People left their seats. The gallery exits opened, but hundreds of spectators could not clear the chamber before the containment failed. Candidates pushed toward the stairs while academy guards tried to maintain order.

My parents remained in their seats.

Camilla had risen. Her Stone scales covered her neck and forearms, ready for a shift the crowded gallery could not safely accommodate.

“Go,” I called.

She could not hear me through the barrier and the noise.

The Fire line surged.

Torren dropped to one knee.

His flames had begun flowing backward through the control pillar, stripping power from him rather than accepting what he intentionally released.

The same thing happened to the others.

Rafe’s lightning became brighter and less controlled. Shadow covered Sebastian’s arms to the elbows. Frost spread across Leander’s uniform and climbed toward his chest.

The demonstration was no longer testing whether I drew from them.

The mechanism had begun doing it for me.

Malcolm had named me a possible thief before the test began. Now someone’s reversed channels were forcing his accusation into reality, using my body as the place where four stolen powers met.

“Disconnect the pillars,” I said.

The nearest runemaster shook his head. “The channels are locked.”

“Break them.”

“The resulting discharge—”