The door wasn’t locked, but the rusted metal creaked loudly when Blake opened it. Lewis looked back, but he didn’t see or hear anyone. Hopefully the mercenaries wouldn’t come back anytime soon, not that he was glad he’d frightened them so badly they ran. They had looked well trained, had been prepared to face two Elder Mages, but they hadn’t been expecting to face a monster. Lewis shoved that thought from mind and followed Curtis and Blake into the tunnels. The stone walls looked older and rougher, slick with moss and mold.

  Not far down the damp tunnel, they found a doorway. There was no door, but the small room beyond was lit by a candle on a stone ledge along the back wall. Stewart lay on the floor on a ragged blanket. His long blond hair was matted with filth and dried blood. His eyes, the same dark brown as Lewis’s, were out of focus and barely open. His breathing was shallow. The dark green High Mage robes he wore were torn and stained, and the upper half was open, revealing blood soaked bandages wrapped around his chest.

  Lewis’s breath caught when he saw his father lying there. He, Curtis, and Blake hurried closer. Stewart said something, so quietly Lewis couldn’t make out the words, before closing his eyes. Lewis, Curtis, and Blake looked at each other. Without a word, Lewis and Curtis carefully pulled Stewart to his feet, his arms across their shoulders. Blake took a Firerock from his pocket, ready for anything they might face on the way out.

  The mercenaries weren’t waiting anywhere to ambush them. Lewis and the others didn’t encounter anyone or anything on the way back out of the sewers. When they reached the ladder, Blake and Curtis went up first, then helped pull Stewart up. In the fresh air, Lewis felt a little better. But only a little. His father’s wounds were bleeding even more now. Curtis and Lewis carefully pulled the High Mage’s robes back up, getting his arms through the sleeves. He was still a mess, but there would be less panic if anyone saw him like this. The blood on his robes had long dried, but there were deep tears in the fabric where a sword had cut through them and him.

  “We’ll stop out in the forest and see to his wounds,” Blake said. “I brought fresh bandages and some of Lorna’s salve.” For the first time Lewis had seen, Blake looked uncertain, maybe even frightened.

  The three of them made their way down the alleyway, supporting Stewart, who still didn’t stir. Out in the more crowded parts of the city, they had to move more carefully, but no one looked their way. People ran past, others spoke quietly to the sides of the road, their eyes wide. What had happened? A little further down the road and Lewis heard it in the whispers and shouts all around them, in the chaos.

  “The queen…” Curtis stiffened.

  Blake shook his head. “We need to get out of here. Quickly.”

  The queen had been assassinated during a court meeting. The assassin was killed by the Knight Captain, but the queen’s wounds had been severe. No one stopped Lewis and the others. The knights that ran past didn’t even glance at the group. In the forest, when Palegrove was out of sight among the trees, the three of them stopped. Lewis and Curtis lowered Stewart to the ground gently.

  “Do you think Martin hired the assassin?” Lewis asked.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was him,” Curtis said quietly.

  Lewis looked back the way they came, but he couldn’t see the city among the trees. What was Martin planning? Was this so he could take the throne? Once he had the throne, it would be easy to close Birch Hall and drive out the mages, if that’s what he wanted. Lewis helped Blake tend to Stewart’s wounds, two deep gashes on his chest that had definitely come from a sword. They cleaned the wounds, put the musky smelling green salve on, and covered the wounds with fresh bandages. Stewart still didn’t wake up, but his breathing seemed steadier now, out of the moldy dankness of the tunnels.

  They continued through the forest, taking turns keeping Stewart on his feet. He didn’t wake up on the way back through the forest. Lewis barely slept when they stopped for the night. He watched his father closely, but he seemed no worse than when they left Palegrove. He also didn’t seem much better. The bleeding of the wounds had slowed, and sometimes it stopped, but the group had to keep moving even when the wounds reopened.

  When at last they reached Birch Hall, the sun setting, Lorna and the students hurried into the entry hall. Curtis and Lewis took Stewart upstairs, with Lorna leading the way to the infirmary. She had put blankets on a bed, had been ready and waiting for them to arrive. They tended to Stewart’s wounds more slowly this time, more thoroughly. As Lewis helped Lorna, Curtis told her what had happened as they’d been leaving the city.

  Lorna’s hands stopped for a moment while she cleaned Stewart’s wounds. “The queen…” She shook her head. “Martin would be the most obvious culprit.”

  Curtis nodded. “Now he will have the throne, so long as no one manages to prove he hired the assassin.”

  None of them spoke further until Stewart’s wounds were clean and covered once more.

  “He’s going to survive,” Lorna said to Lewis. “His wounds aren’t infected, and they have begun to heal.”

  Some of the tension Lewis had felt ever since leaving Whisperstream with Curtis finally left him. Things were far from over, but his father was going to live.

  “Lewis, Curtis.” Miriam stood in the doorway. “Meet Blake and I in the library.” She looked at Lewis without expression. “We need to talk.”

  The tension returned full blast. What would they decide to do with him? If he became a chimera and survived it, he would spread a blight across the land and give Esther’s master more power. Did they even have time to search for a way to remove the spirit magic from him? He and Curtis left Lorna to keep an eye on Stewart. They went back downstairs in silence. Miriam and Blake were already in the library when they got there. Miriam locked the doors behind them, then they all sat at the table where they had before.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Blake told me what happened in the sewers,” Miriam said, staring at Lewis, her expression still unreadable.

  “As Curtis said, perhaps there is a way to remove the spirit magic,” Blake said.

  “I don’t know if we have time to find a way,” Lewis said. “We don’t know enough about how my magic works.” He had been thinking about this all the way to Palegrove and back and had made his decision. “I want to open the book. If I can.”

  The Elder Mages stared at each other in silence for a moment.

  “It could be dangerous,” Curtis said.

  “If there’s even a chance it might tell me more about my magic,” Lewis said, “I need to read it. As things are, I’m playing right into the plan of Esther’s master. Even if I did avoid absorbing Amnis, I became the chimera in the sewers and I didn’t die. That means I’m endangering the entire world.”

  Miriam nodded stiffly. “Then you must read the book. Whatever the dangers may be, what we stand to gain is worth it.”

  “You’re not the one who has to read it…” Curtis muttered. “We don’t know what that book is capable of.”

  “Lewis has decided this is what he wants to do,” Blake said, glancing at Miriam. “It should have been his choice to begin with.”

  Miriam pursed her lips. “We must also consider the possibility we may not be able to prove Martin had that letter written or had Stewart captured. Especially now that he will be king.”

  Curtis sighed. “For now, there is little we can do about that. Maybe Stewart will have an idea once he wakes up.”

  Miriam looked at Lewis again. “Looking at the book can wait until morning, to give us all a chance to rest. We will keep our distance, but we will be in the room with you when you open the book.” For just a moment, her expression softened. “In case anything happens.”

  What would happen? This question haunted him all the way up the tower steps. He dreamed of the plains again, the sky stormy as ever overhead, but he wasn’t running. There were no wolves. As far as he could see, he was alone on the plains, but he felt something calling to him. He could almost hear a whisper in his mind. A chill ran through him. Was it the book calling to him, or something else? Why had the wolves disappeared now, after he had decided to open the book? Despite the strange dream, he awoke feeling more rested than he had in a while.

  Things were far from over, but this was a start. They had gotten his father back, and he would survive his wounds. But the queen had been assassinated and Martin would become king. Lewis got out of bed and put fresh robes on, hoping again he wouldn’t have to pretend to be High Mage for much longer. He went down to breakfast, but Tanya, Priya, and Miriam weren’t there.

  “Did something happen?” Lewis asked, sitting where he usually did, beside Curtis.

  Lorna, Blake, Dale, and Curtis all looked tense.

  “Tanya has left,” Curtis said. “She left behind a letter saying she joined that group of mages Blake told us about. The ones who believe it is up to them to restore magic to what it once was. The letter said she has a new master, who has promised to teach her things she wouldn’t learn otherwise.”

  “It was the weakness of her magic that was bothering her,” Dale said quietly. “Maybe I should have…”

  Lorna shook her head. “There was nothing more we could have done. We all tried talking to her about it. Her magic isn’t weak, just weaker than her sister’s and her parent’s. The letter said she was tired of it always being compared to theirs because it’s wind magic, that she wants her own power.” She stared hard at the table. “Miriam is with Priya now, but Tanya told Priya nothing.” Her shoulders stiffened. “We all knew something was wrong. Priya was afraid to confront her sister because she feared she would lose her if she did.”

  “We’ll find out more about this group and get her back,” Blake said, sitting up straighter.

  Lewis had never seen him look so determined. “Do we know if she was meeting the group somewhere?”

  Blake shook his head. “For now, all we know is that she left and why. I’ve been trying to find out more about this group, but so far I have no leads.” His jaw clenched. “I will not stop looking. I won’t have this group corrupting our students with their delusions. There is nothing in written history to suggest magic has ever been anything other than what it is now.”

  Written history also didn’t know how Afflicted Mages had come to be. There was a powerful being sealed away, a being capable of creating a new form of magic. There was so much about their world they didn’t know. Lewis wasn’t sure Blake truly believed his own words. For all they knew, magic had been different in the distant past. But where would this group have found out about things that weren’t written?

  The rest of breakfast passed in silence. After that, Lewis, Curtis, and Blake went to the library. Lorna and Dale had gone ahead to the classroom. Miriam joined the four of them in the library a moment later, closing and locking the doors behind her. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her hands shook a little as they turned the key in the lock.

  “How is Priya?” Curtis asked.

  Miriam sighed. “She blames herself for not talking to Tanya about what was bothering her, even though we all know Tanya wouldn’t have taken it well. She only opened up if she wanted to. Priya said her sister had gotten only more closed off recently and had been spending a lot of time in the forest.”

  Blake stiffened. “Then she may have been meeting someone out there. Perhaps this new master she spoke of?”

  “I fear it may be so…” Miriam said. “We have always made it clear students aren’t to leave the hall at night, but perhaps one of us should keep watch in the halls at night, and we ought to lock the doors.” She looked at Lewis. “We usually leave them unlocked for any traveling mages.”

  Curtis nodded. “We can trade off keeping watch at night, in case anyone gets in.” His expression was as frightening as Blake’s, the opposite of Miriam’s exhausted resignation. “I don’t want to lose any more students.”