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  I’d be fine with Arianne, and Walt, though fiery, wasn’t all that bad. Nando would be safe, and I’d be all right.

  I started walking toward the exit. Then why don’t I feel like it’s all going to be all right?

  However I felt, I had a duty to fulfill. I might lack Nando’s courage, and I might have less of an idea of magic than most everyone here, but I wouldn’t shirk a duty. I couldn’t. Not when the well-being of humanity hung in the balance.

  It was time to forget about me, about scary hellhounds, and all that I didn’t know.

  I was a student of the Magical Arts Academy. It was time to start acting like one.

  Chapter 6

  “I’m so glad we already had a basic lesson in firedrake husbandry,” Arianne said as she led us down the long hall toward the gardens. “That will be a great help with what we’ll be doing today.”

  I didn’t remember much about that class—given all the frightening things that had happened since then—and I looked to Walt to see if he was as concerned as I was. But Walt, who usually wore his emotions openly on his face, was guarded. That fact worried me even more. Was he just concerned about being separated from the sister he’d come to the academy to protect in the first place? That must be it. I didn’t blame him for being upset about being stuck with me instead of Marie.

  “They’ll be so happy once we set them free,” Arianne called jovially over her shoulder, and it took me a second to process that she must be speaking of the firedrakes who’d escaped Miranda along with me. “Let’s just hope I can figure out how to do it.” She seemed to be talking mostly to herself now. “If the magic is too dark, then I probably won’t be familiar with it. I’ll most likely still be able to connect to the firedrakes and help them overcome the curse, but if it’s too dark, we’ll be in trouble.”

  More trouble? Weren’t we in enough trouble already?

  “You’ll help me though, won’t you, darlings?” She spoke to Mathieu and Sylvia, who sidled along with her, waddling like ferocious, dragon-looking penguins. “Of course you will,” she cooed. “You’re such sweet firedrakes, you’ll help for sure. Between the three of us, we’ll figure out how to get the others out of their trap. We won’t allow those terrible SMS sorcerers to keep their claws in the magnificent creatures any longer, now will we?”

  I was almost certain Arianne had forgotten Walt and I were with them. Never had I witnessed a person so easily absorbed by a world inaccessible to most everyone else. As wary as I was of the firedrakes, the hellhounds, and their ferocious looks, the grace with which she interacted with them was enviable. Arianne was a woman at ease with her surroundings, no matter how many terrifying beasts inhabited them.

  I wondered what that might be like, because I was pretty sure I’d never know.

  She pushed open the door to the outside, and the sun instantly brightened my outlook. I was convinced that bad things couldn’t happen on pleasant sunshiny days like this one, when the birds chirped, the butterflies flitted, and the flowers posed with magnificent blooms. Obviously I was wrong, and bad things happened on happy days all the time, but I wasn’t going to focus on that.

  As lovely as the manor was, I’d spent far too much of my time indoors since arriving. At Uncle’s, the grounds had been my one permitted escape from his overbearing manner. The outdoors was my refuge, and my entire body responded to being outside again like a long drink of water on a scorching day.

  “Come with me, darlings,” Arianne called to Walt and me, who trailed behind her. “Let’s choose a nice spot for our work.”

  She led us off one side of the garden before slowing and finally stopping. “Oh,” she said. “I’d forgotten for a moment. How careless of me.”

  I hadn’t forgotten. As soon as she started walking in this direction, all I could think about was the way Wizard Meedles, that small giant of a man, had sobbed as we’d gathered to bury his fallen hellhound. When he and the surviving hounds had begun wailing together over the grave of their dead companion, even Marcelo, Brave, and Count Vabu had rubbed at their eyes a few times.

  I’d openly cried. The sounds of the hounds baying their grief was seared into my memory. So much loss and injury already, and we hadn’t faced the SMS head on yet.

  Yet. There’d come a time when we’d have to face the SMS. We were preparing now to take down Miranda and whoever joined her in the immediate fight. But Miranda was part of the larger organization, and we had no way to predict with any kind of certainty how many sorcerers we’d be fighting next.

  The thought immediately threatened to consume me, so I forced myself to shake it off, to forget the way the hellhounds crying with their master had torn at my heart.

  I deposited myself in the here and now and made myself remain there. “How about over there?” I pointed to the opposite side of the garden, hurrying Arianne up in getting us away from the freshly churned soil behind a large flower bush.

  “Right. Oui, good suggestion, ma chérie.” She was as distracted as I’d been as she led us in the opposite direction with a single, sorrowful glance behind us.

  “We won’t lose anymore,” she said, again mostly to herself and the firedrakes, I thought. “We won’t let it happen. We can’t.”

  There was, of course, no guarantee that any of us would survive the fight.

  When Arianne looked at Walt and me, it was obvious she was thinking the same thing. Her face transformed from the long mask of sorrow into taught determination over the course of several seconds.

  “Right,” she said, her energy once more focused and on point. “That’s one important lesson for you two. We never allow ourselves to wallow on what’s already been, and what might or might not be. There is power in our focus. Especially when we’re dealing with magic, where we place our attention, energy follows. Energy is the basis of magic. Control your focus, darlings, and you’ll better control your magic.”

  All righty-o. What exactly did that mean?

  “Now, let’s get to it.” She put a feminine pinky finger to either side of her mouth, then whistled so loudly that it strained my hearing.

  I chuckled at how impressed Walt looked, forgetting that I’d been sad just moments before.

  “That was impressive,” he said.

  Boys....

  Arianne smiled graciously. “I’m a woman of many skills.” Then she winked at him, and Walt had the good grace to blush. “There’s little room for the nonsense of etiquette and the ‘place of a woman’ when we’re dealing with magic.”

  I grinned. “That sounds very refreshing.”

  “It does, doesn’t it? We’ll meet society’s norms only insomuch as it suits us. Beyond that, I have no use for them.”

  I wanted to mention that she was still wearing a corset, and there was nothing comfortable about those torture contraptions, but I didn’t. What she’d said was more than I’d heard any other woman say before, and I’d revel in it, even if I was in a corset too.

  Unusual sounds were coming from... somewhere, and I turned back and forth trying to locate the source of the sound.

  Ah, it was flapping, a whole lot of flapping. No, flying. Graceful, prehistoric flying.

  I titled my gaze upward, and even though I was expecting to see seventeen firedrakes heading our way, I still startled and took an unconscious step backward—as if that would do a thing to help if a flock of firedrakes chose to attack.

  “They’re magnificent, aren’t they?” Arianne sighed. “So many of them. So wonderful.” She nuzzled Mathieu in contentment.

  I took a step toward Walt.

  They flew close together so that they blotted out the sun as they descended toward us. I clutched at Walt’s arm. He didn’t shake it off, so I pressed myself against his side.

  The seventeen firedrakes gave the appearance of a swarm of a thousand. I attempted to bat away my growing distress as they overtook the sky and circled overhead.

  Arianne clapped excitedly. “I never thought I’d see such a wondrous sight. So many of the
m!”

  I worked hard to battle every one of my instincts, which screamed at me to run and hide—somewhere, anywhere. I fought not to cower, though I wanted desperately to tuck my face in Walt’s shoulder.

  I startled to tremble, and no matter how much I wished I wouldn’t, my body didn’t listen.

  I had perfect vision, and therefore had no trouble making out the multitude of teeth as sharp as a barber’s blade and talons as long as my fingers, extended in preparation for landing.

  I gulped. Their eyes glowed with the red of a fiery sunset.

  Walt wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I gratefully slumped into him. He wasn’t Nando, but it still felt better than standing there all by myself while creatures, who nature clearly designed as apex predators, overwhelmed us.

  “Ooh,” Arianne cooed.

  My shivering minimized beneath Walt’s warmth, and I managed to take in Arianne’s face. She glowed with the enthusiasm of a small child, who hadn’t yet been corrupted by the disappointments of life.

  I wanted to celebrate like her, to enjoy the magnificence of the specimens that flew directly overhead. I wanted to be joyful and brave and trusting.

  But I wasn’t. I was frightened, as much of the firedrakes as what was to come.

  That won’t do at all, Isa, I admonished. If you don’t feel courage, you can pretend that you do. Hadn’t Arianne just told us that where we focused our thoughts and our energy our magic followed? Well, it’d been proven that I at the very least had portal magic, along with some other kind of strange variation on it that none of the magicians had heard of.

  Ah! That realization banished the shivers completely, distracting me from the approaching firedrakes. My thoughts—my memories—had transported my physical body from one place to another. That’s how powerful thoughts were—mine, at least.

  Arianne was right. Thoughts and focus were powerful. Until I had more of a chance to figure out my magic, I could control the path of my thoughts. While I worked to learn magic, I’d build a strong foundation for it.

  The firedrakes began to land right where we stood. I didn’t break away from Walt’s support, but I stopped slouching against him and stood straight against his side.

  I’m not afraid. Not all. These firedrakes aren’t one bit scary.

  No, I could do better than that.

  I am courageous and strong. I have magic, so I belong here. The runes chose me to work with Arianne and the firedrakes. I’m right where I should be. The creatures only seem scary if I believe they are.

  I made myself look into the glowing red eyes of the nearest firedrake. They had slits instead of pupils, but the more I looked, the less of a predator I saw.

  The firedrakes couldn’t help their appearance. They’d look ferocious even if they were gentle in demeanor.

  I’d give them a chance, and give myself the opportunity to become the brave girl I hoped I could be. I’d been chosen as a witch in training. I was ready to embrace that role.

  I swore the firedrake was trying to smile. That might have been the precise moment in which I lost my marbles, because I smiled back.

  Chapter 7

  “All right, darlings, let’s do this,” Arianne said. Her voice quivered just the slightest bit, undermining much of the resolve I’d built over the last few minutes. The red-haired grandmother, who possessed the vitality of someone decades younger, was normally assured and confident. She wasn’t the kind of woman who hesitated in anything she did.

  She was hesitating plenty now, taking in deep breaths to steel herself before beginning whatever it was she was going to do that would free these firedrakes from their curse.

  “Mathieu, Sylvia, I’ll need you by my side the whole time.” That was a given. It’s where they would have been regardless of her request. In theory, Sylvia was Mordecai’s firedrake, but since Sylvia and Mathieu were mates, and Mathieu was Arianne’s firedrake, Sylvia was around the witch nearly as much as Mathieu was. Mordecai didn’t seem to mind; he liked being around Arianne too.

  She moved to the dozen firedrakes that the SMS had used as steads in the sky. “You, darlings, please form a circle around us to help hold in the energy. I promise I’ll attend to you too. I’d never forget you. I just need to attend to the other firedrakes first.”

  When she said she’d never forget them, I believed her. She might forget an ordinary human or a magician, but not a mythical creature in need of her help. Never.

  The dozen firedrakes, including Elwin, the bluish indigo creature who’d fallen from the sky during Nando’s rescue, appeared to understand Arianne perfectly. I wasn’t sure how, as none of them gave any outward indication they spoke our language, but they shuffled backward to enclose the rest of us in a large circle. They spread their wings until the tip of one overlapped the tip of the wing next to it, and I resisted a sudden surge of claustrophobia.

  It’s no big deal, Isa. It’s only a circle, and it’s open to the sky.... Yeah, but it’s a circle of firedrakes.

  I breathed deeply and took half a step closer to Walt, who’d released me once I seemed to relax.

  “Isa and Walt,” Arianne called, and I was thankful to place my attention on her instead of the creatures, no matter how friendly that Elwin one seemed to be with his strange firedrake smile. “I want you to watch exactly what I do, but stay out of the way.”

  I nodded—I was happy to stay out of the way—but Walt stiffened.

  “What I’ll be doing is dangerous,” she continued. “In fact, I’ll give it a try, but we might have to stop at some point and wait for Gustave to join us. For now, I think I can do it on my own. He needs the time to help Humbert, the poor darling, suffering for what those terrible sorcerers have done.”

  She momentarily went somewhere else in her mind—reflecting on poor Humbert, no doubt—then snapped back to us.

  “Please don’t interfere under any circumstances. Unless I ask you, I want you to remain within the circle of the firedrakes’ protection, but as far away from the magic that I’ll be doing as you can. Understood?”

  “Yes, madame,” Walt said, surprising me with his immediate acquiescence.

  That wasn’t like him, not at all. Unless he realized how dangerous what Arianne was about to do was... and he was all too happy to stay out of it. No, that wasn’t like him either. He wasn’t exactly chivalrous, he was a little too rough around the edges for that, but I didn’t think he’d be willing to stand around and do nothing if someone—especially Lady Arianne—were struggling.

  “Isa?” Arianne interrupted my fruitless ruminations. “Do I have your agreement as well?”

  “Of course.” Of course I wouldn’t jump in on magic I had no idea about and was wholly unprepared for, most especially when it involved a whole bunch of firedrakes.

  “Very well then.” I didn’t like how her voice contained evidence of trepidation, but I admired her for continuing with whatever she’d planned just the same.

  She turned to face Mathieu and Sylvia, who shadowed her, and laid her forehead against Mathieu and closed her eyes. The fear I’d experienced the first time I saw her do this was gone, replaced by total fascination. Here was a witch, who looked no different than an ordinary woman. And yet she communicated—and loved—creatures that most of the world wasn’t aware existed.

  She sighed in contentment, placed her hands on the firedrake’s shoulders (as wide as her own when his wings were tucked against his body) and smiled. “Merci, mon cher.” Whatever they’d spoken about in their minds, she was grateful for it. “Je t’aime.”

  “Sylvia, darling, you heard what I said?”

  I’d learned that as connected as Arianne was to the magical creatures, Mordecai was the only one who could communicate with Sylvia the way Arianne did with Mathieu. It seemed that once the bond between magician and firedrake was forged, no one else could link to the creature in the same way—or something like that. As with so much of what I’d learned since arriving at the academy, it was an assumption based on my observat
ion.

  Sylvia nodded her long, opalescent face, as shiny and iridescent as mother of pearl.

  “Wonderful, my darling. You’re so precious. Merci.”

  Then Arianne whirled toward the five firedrakes grouped in the middle of our enclosure. “I’m ready to free you, my darlings. Step away from the students and toward me.”

  I hadn’t even realized the firedrakes had crowded near us, but they’d been doing that whenever I was close since they’d followed me into the portal by the river.

  When they hesitated to move away from Walt and me, Arianne urged, “Come, darlings. It won’t hurt—at least I don’t think it will.”

  She opened her arms wide, and none of the firedrakes was able to resist her then. They waddled forward, casting a few scattered glances over their shoulders at me.

  Hunh. That’s very strange. Why were they so interested in me? It wasn’t as if I’d done much to save them. All I did was ask Madame Pimlish if they could come with us through the portal of her creation. That didn’t seem sufficient to inspire such loyalty.

  “Come, come, mes chers. You’ll be so pleased once you’re free.”

  After all her cooing and delay, I was wholly unprepared for her to snap into action in that moment.

  One second she was all encouraging smiles and admiration. The next she was furious determination and concentration.

  Her eyes snapped shut and her lips started moving rapidly. Like all the magicians here, she spoke as softly as she could get away with while still performing a spell, which apparently required its magic spoken aloud. I suspected she’d already forgotten Walt and I were there and supposed to be learning from her. It was difficult to do when we couldn’t make out the words of the spells. Except for Madame Pimlish that one time in class, but then her spell hadn’t made much sense, more random gibberish than useful words.

  I strained my ears and managed to pick out some words, even though Arianne’s accent grew thicker when she spoke rapidly and only for herself and the magic that brewed inside her.