“
You did not,” I practically shout.
“You could have been killed.”
“
Lukas was with me.”
I glare at him and then roll my eyes. No
point in getting upset over something that already happened. At
least it wasn't Tawny so carelessly risking her neck. If her mother
found out all she's doing, she'd have my head. Then again, the
Queen may have known how dangerous it was here. Maybe she wanted
Tawny to come and have the experience to help her be a better Queen
when it's her time.
But my thoughts are trailing off. I need to
think on the here and now. On Cynthia at Chancellor Ryan's house.
“And you found what?”
“
It's only guarded with spells. They
appear tough, but once you take a closer look at them, they’re easy
to break through,” she says and grins. “Ryan is
overconfident.”
“
Let's start there, then,” Jack says.
“While Bethany learns more information about the power plants,
we'll attack the Chancellor's home. That will be the perfect place
to hit first. Who'd like to head up the task?”
“
I believe I'd love the job,” Cynthia
says.
“
I'll go with.” Someone needs to help
Lukas keep an eye on her revenge so it doesn't get out of hand. But
oh the joy this will bring. Our first real hit, right to the second
in command.
Chapter
Thirty-One
J
ack insisted
on coming as well. So there are four of us hidden in a crop of
trees, staring at a house surrounded by all sorts of flashy colored
spells. It looks like a rainbow dome threw up
over the
entire hou
se
.
“
Are you sure this is just flashy?” I
ask Cynthia in a whisper.
“
Not only is it just flashy, only
servants are home. Ryan is with the Grand Chancellor.”
I shake my head, trying to be hopeful, but I
have to be honest with myself. I'm more scared than I've ever been
in my entire life.
We move closer to the building, waiting a
little each time we move. When we stop, Cynthia concentrates a
moment before sending out a spell, each one unraveling a little
more of the throw up rainbow dome, getting us a layer closer to the
house. She was right, the spells are fierce looking, but for her,
they're nothing to break through.
When we're almost to the mansion, an animal
starts howling. Grand. A watchdog.
“
You didn't say anything about a dog,”
I tell Cynthia.
“
I didn't know there was
one.”
We sit tight for several minutes, but the
dog never comes into sight. All the while worry flutters through
me. If we're caught before were ready, it could mean a fight we
don't want. But the way remains clear. “I think it's safe.”
Jack nods and, together, the four of
us
make our way closer still. Suddenly, there's a bang
of a door closing. We dive to the ground, practically eating the
grass that used to be under our feet. My heart thuds in my
chest.
Through the line of bushes, I see several
warlocks headed our way. Stupid dogs.
One warlock with a deep voice calls out,
“Who's there?”
Might as well get this over with. I give
Cynthia a glance. She nods.
Together, Cynthia and I rise, standing
together. My full height usually leaves me feeling odd in
Chardonia, but not tonight. Tonight, its full effect has me
towering over these bumbling servant idiots, powerful and
strong.
“
It's a barbarian and the witch,” one
of them squeaks.
They want me to be a barbarian? A barbarian
I'll be.
I run straight at them with a warrior
scream. At the same time, Cynthia zaps a black spell streaked with
crimson at them. They cower like frightened Chardonian women before
scampering away
.
As soon as they're out of earshot, I turn to
Cynthia laughing. “We should do that again.”
“
Definitely.” She's laughing as
well.
Jack stands, and he is most definitely not
laughing. “Don't worry. There's going to be more chances for that
than you want.”
That sobers me right up, even if it was
funny to see the looks on their faces.
We move toward the house, not another guard
in sight. I suppose the throw up dome was supposed to deter
everyone. The building is massive. Four floors and as wide as
Zade's. Who knows how many people could be hiding in there?
As we stand in front of the main door, I
say, “I feel like we should knock.”
“
It does feel that way,” Cynthia
says.
Jack shakes his head and barges forward,
swinging the door open. A butler stands several feet away.
“
Get out of here if you don't want to
be hexed,” Jack growls.
The butler scampers off. We hurry through
the halls, searching the house, servants running from us as Cynthia
flashes spells at them. We gather what supplies we can carry in our
packs, food that's much needed. “It's too bad we can't take more of
this with us.”
“
There isn't time,” Jack says.
“They're sure to have warned Ryan, and we can't be slowed
down.”
I sigh as we leave the house, packs full.
It's just a shame not only to waste all this precious food but to
destroy such a beautiful building. We stand out in front of the
grass, and I suddenly worry that we've missed someone in the house.
It was so big, and we moved through it so quickly.
I can't worry about that too hard. This is
war. We were kind enough to go through the house before hand.
“
Do it,” I tell Cynthia before I
chicken out.
She faces the building, and with a spell of
flaming orange and yellow, she sets the building alight. It quickly
blazes up, bright and hot. If there is someone left in there, I
hope they have time to escape out the back. For now though, we've
done what we came to do.
We run then until we're far from the
building but can still see its glow in the distance. We are armed
and dangerous now. Message sent
.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
W
ith more
confidence now that we had a victory, we can press forward with
more hope. Only there's still such a long ways to go. To try not to
stress about it, I join Tawny in helping to teach others, mostly
girls, about magic. She's smiling and laughing with them,
comfortable with helping, even if they aren't as comfortable with
her.
“
Good morning,” she says as I join
them. “Have anything fun to teach us today?”
“
Just the usual.”
Some of the girls groan.
“
Come on,” Tawny says. “Show us
something fun. Did you girls know that Waverly is one of the most
talented Envadi at spelling dresses and getting people ready for
balls? Her talent is extraordinary.”
“
Show us something,” Nelly
says.
The other girls immediately start clamoring
for something fun as well. It's not helpful at all in terms of
learning to fight, but I suppose it is a lot of fun. Besides, if it
gets them excited about magic and practicing it, all the better.
And they aren't cowering from me.
I spend the morning teaching them different
spells, starting with a simple nail color changing spell and
working up to adding sparkles to clothes and face paint. They ooh
and ahh over it, all making me wish I'd thought of the idea
sooner.
When I finish, I say. “This is war. We can't
only change the color of our dresses.”
“
I wish we could make it that way,”
one of the younger girls says.
Me too. But there's more spells to
teach them, useful spells like a shield spell that could save their
lives. And food that needs to be gathered and people that need to
be settle
d into places to sleep,
and chores that need to be done. There's just so much. So
many people that need help, and I'm only one person. There's not
enough that I can do.
“
How about this,” I say. “For every
three attack or defense skills you learn, we'll learn one fun
spell.”
“
I like this idea,” Tawny says. “I'm
sure there's lots you can all learn that way. Sometimes learning
the fun spells can help make you better at the necessary skills
anyway. Practice, you know.”
Phyllis, who's been lingering on the edges,
says, “How much can we really learn anyway? We're just women.”
“
Don't you remember that spell I
taught you before?” I say. “The one where you made a burst of
light?”
“
Yes,” she grudgingly
replies.
“
If you can do that, you can do so
much more. As women, we have more strength than we know.” If only I
could get them to believe that and to believe in me.
***
After the other girls have gone to bed for
the night, I turn to Tawny. “Do you know any healing spells?”
“
Quite a few. They're required in my
schooling.”
I wish they'd been required in mine. “Would
you teach them to me?”
“
Of course. Is there any particular
reason you want to learn?”
“
With all this fighting, people get
hurt. I hate feeling helpless. I want to be able to do something if
it's needed.”
“
Good enough reason for me.” She claps
her hands together. “Where should we start?”
“
With whatever's easiest.”
“
How about with whatever's the most
useful?” She gives me a sly grin.
“
It's going to be hard, isn't
it?”
“
Whatever gives you that
idea?”
“
The look on your face.”
She laughs. “Maybe you'll have a better
aptitude for it than I do.”
“
One can only hope,” I mutter under my
breath, hoping that I can pick it up easily. There isn't a lot of
extra time around here to be learning new spells. I'm too busy
helping with the girls and Ben, chores, or teaching others to do
magic.
“
It would help if we had an injury to
work on.” She gives me a look.
“
Oh no, I'm not injuring myself just
to fix myself.”
“
Fine. I will.” Before I can stop her,
she pulls out a spell that leaves a cut on her arm.
“
Tawny,” I yell at her, “you can't be
doing things like that to yourself.”
She shrugs. “It's for a good cause. Besides,
look at it. It's barely a scratch.”
Indeed, it is the tiniest of scratches, just
enough to draw blood. “Maybe,” I grudgingly admit, “but don't do it
again. We can find other ways to practice.”
“
I suppose you're right. There has to
be someone around here that's hurt themselves.”
“
Exactly. Now, how do I fix it so I
don't have to feel guilty about you hurting yourself for me any
longer?”
“
Like any other spell. Picture your
magic stopping the flow of blood and knitting the skin
together.”
“
Just like that?” I ask, skeptical
that it would be so easy.
“
Just like that.”
Which I know should be true, but having
never done this before, I'm more worried about making it worse for
her than making it better. Still, I have to try. I need to be good
at this so I can help when real injuries happen. For they will, no
matter how hard I try to stop them. That much is already
apparent.
I picture the flow of blood stopping
and her skin covering up the wound. Once it's in my mind's eye
clearly enough, I call on my magic to do exactly that. The spell
comes out white, tinted with green. It moves to the cut, quickly
stopping the flow and healing the skin back together. I'm a little
tired by the time I pull my magic back in, but not by
mu
ch
.
“
Well done,” she says. “It took me
more than a dozen tries before I could even get the blood to stop
flowing. You're a natural.”
“
It's about time I'm a natural at
something.” Relief that I can do this, that I will do this and help
people, fills me. Now I only hope that I don't have to use
it.
Chapter
Thirty-Three
A
s encouraging
as teaching the women and girls to fight is, there are other things
to worry about. Things not nearly as enjoyable. Despite what food
we gathered from Ryan's, we desperately need more, but the amount
of warlocks we have with us is being heavily outweighed by
wom
en
. We need warlocks to go
out with women so they don't get in trouble with the law officers.
Though there's no promises that that will help. Most of the
warlocks who have come to us have been placed back into society
where they can do more to help us from the outside. That's the hope
anyw
ay
.
With such a limited number of warlocks
though, and with such a great need, we decide to have one warlock
with two women go search for food. I'm placed in a group with a
guard I'm unfamiliar with and Nel
ly
. The entire walk to town, she stays as far
from me as possible, despite our strides forward
yesterday.
How am I ever going to get these people to
trust me? It's frustrating being here to help and being treated
like I'm the enemy. It eats at me, gnawing at my concentration.