Page 50 of The Princess of Portals

I shot him a defiant look. “I don’t go down easily.”

“But you do go down eventually.” He shot a warning glare my way. “Remember that.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I have a feeling you won’t let me forget it.”

“Enough!” he bellowed.

The word echoed off the stone walls about a dozen times before it faded into the darkness.

“Let’s get down to business. Where do you come from?” he asked me.

“Gaia.”

“Your abilities reveal your lie. You are a Polymage. Since I didn’t turn you into a Polymage, there’s only one other possibility: you were born one. No one from Gaia is born with magic.”

“No one that you know of,” I said. “Until you met me.”

“I hate teenagers,” he growled under his breath.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t kidnap them.”

“Is that your plan?” he demanded. “To annoy me until I abandon all of my plans?”

“Will it work?”

“No.” He bit out the word.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I can be very annoying,” I promised him.

His cold eyes met mine. “I don’t doubt it.”

“Good. Glad that’s been cleared up. Now save yourself the trouble and let us go.”

He watched me, his scowl deepening. “You aren’t human. I’m certain of it.”

He was right. For whatever reason, I wasn’t human. Kato and Conner weren’t human either. But how? And why? What were we?

“I’ve had my eye on you, Savannah Winters,” Fenris said. “And you are nothing but trouble.”

He’d had his eye on me. Well, wasn’t that nice?

“Why are you trying to ruin my plans?” Fenris demanded.

“Because your plans involve kidnapping people, experimenting on them, and brainwashing them. I know you played hooky the day moral compasses were handed out, so here’s a tip: all of those things are evil.”

“You don’t understand anything.” He laughed in my face, spraying me with spittle. Gross. “You don’t even know what you are, do you, child?”

I winced.

“I thought so. How sad for you. You have all this power, and you don’t even understand why. You don’t even know who you are.”

I gave him a defiant look. “I know exactly who I am. I’m the person who’s going to stop you.”

He gave me an amused look. “I’m sure you’ll try. But in the end, you will fail. Knowledge is power, Savannah Winters, and you don’t know anything.”

I glared at him.

“I can help you,” he said, pleasant and false. He was such a liar. “I can help you learn who and what you truly are.”