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  I lost track of everything but Trixie’s movements. I couldn’t see Marcelo, something easy enough to do when he and his horse were invisible, and I also lost sight of Albacus. At any kind of distance, the ghost would have merged with the regular shadows of the outdoors.

  Trixie charged down the road at what felt like her full speed. Every piece of me bounced, rattled, chattered, and hurt.

  It took a few minutes, but eventually Marcelo’s magic must have taken further hold. The deafening sounds of seven horses galloping muted little by little, until finally they softened into nearly nothing.

  My hearing registered our race ahead as if we were racing underwater. My sight recorded nothing, not even myself, and it all served to further disorient me. I was certain I would have been in a full-fledged panic if I’d had a speck of concentration to spare.

  But I didn’t. I clutched Trixie with all my strength, and fleetingly wondered how on earth Marcelo managed to race at this speed while also doing enough magic to encompass all of us. If this was what would be expected of me, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it.

  Whenever I could, I looked up ahead to the right, down the perpendicular road. Our would-be attackers were more visible than before, each time coming into better focus. They were advancing as rapidly as we were, and it looked to me like they might reach the intersection of our roads before we did.

  My head spun in dizziness, my eyes longed for a still point on which to concentrate, and I had to bring my face back against Trixie’s neck. I closed my eyes, but it only made it worse, the constant motion agitating me from the inside.

  I prayed we might pass the intersection before our enemies. And once we beat them to the crossing point, what? Then we’d still have to outrun them, who-knew how far. Until we reached Acquaine. And then what? Then we’d lead these sorcerers straight into the heart of the school? Someone had mentioned something about some kind of wards there, hadn’t they? Would they keep the sorcerers out? Would they keep me out?

  I had no choice but to trust that Marcelo and Albacus would save me from all of it. One thing at a time. First we had to pass the road before they reached us.

  Trixie was breathing hard, sweat coating her pelt. The way she ran, like the devil was lashing her flank, made me think she could run forever. But no horse could maintain breakneck speed for long. What would happen when she grew too tired to continue?

  Enough! I scolded myself internally. None of this was helping one bit. My job was simple. Hold on and trust. Could I do that? Yes. I had to, so I would. The rest was out of my hands. I’d make it back to Nando, and he’d live. It was the only outcome I’d accept.

  The sorcerers were nearer. At this distance I counted at least a dozen of them. Like me, their heads drew low, close to their horses, which ran like the wind.

  They were no farther than two-hundred feet away.

  I leaned my head against the right of Trixie’s neck, in the direction of their approach. With rattling eyeballs, I noticed everyone in riding gear, all with a ferocious look plastered on their faces. It was as important to them that they reach us as it was to us that they not.

  One hundred feet.

  It was going to be close. I felt rumbling on either side of me, and I assumed two of the horses behind were passing Trixie. Faster girl, faster, I willed, but the poor thing was going as fast as she could. Her breath was coming hard enough to worry me, her sweat wet and icky against my face.

  Fifty feet and all hell broke loose.

  The earth started exploding around us. What I assumed were invisible magic cannon balls hit their mark.

  The horses spooked, jumped, and voiced their complaints, but continued forward.

  A ball of magic landed too close to Trixie. Dirt flew up in a spray, which got in my eyes. I resisted the urge to rub at them while Trixie jumped—into a horse to our left, from the impact and sound of it—and I worked only to hold on. If I fell then, I wouldn’t have to worry about the bad sorcerers. Frightened, panicked horses would trample me to death in seconds.

  I risked a glance toward the road about to intersect ours. Twenty feet!

  Two of the sorcerers in front of their pack had their arms raised. They gathered what looked like balls of light in their hands, then launched them at us.

  The one that rolled off a woman’s hands lobbed our way. My heart beat frantically in my throat as I saw it making its way directly toward us.

  “Hurry, Trixie. Hurry! Faster.” I believed my words pointless. The horse was already running so fast. But maybe it was the panic that laced my words, or maybe Trixie understood what was coming. She stretched impossibly longer, her stride covering more ground.

  The ball of swirling magic was nearly overhead when she pushed even more, and we leapt forward.

  The ball landed somewhere behind us. I didn’t turn to look; Trixie was moving too fast. But I heard it meet its mark.

  The sound wrenched at my heart.

  From behind and to the left, a horse wailed in sudden agony. A large body, in motion, stuttered to a stop and crashed to the ground.

  The wounded horse crashed into others as it fell. Whinnies and complaints reached through Marcelo’s muting magic.

  We flew past the intersection of the roads, the sorcerers’ horses still at least ten feet away.

  But it no longer felt like a victory. One of us had fallen. Even though it was a horse instead of a person, I experienced the loss acutely. Never fully comprehended by people, I’d found animals more understanding and more forgiving.

  I hadn’t known the horse, and it was a dark sorcerer’s horse, but none of that was the animal’s fault.

  My heart felt like it was cracking inside my ribs, the protective cage unable to shield it from a harm that started on the inside.

  The sorcerers merged with our road and gave chase. Trixie was already going as fast as I imagined she could. The only thing I could think about was how they’d forced us to abandon a fallen creature, with no one there to comfort the horse as it passed from this world.

  Maybe the magic ball had claimed the horse’s life right away. The alternative of riding away from a suffering animal was too hard to accept.

  How could they even see us? I couldn’t see us. But then, I wasn’t a magician... not yet.

  If the sorcerers were trying to prevent the rise of a force to oppose them, at least with me, they were failing remarkably. If I’d been in doubt before of whether or not I’d accept the risk my decision forced on my brother, I wasn’t in doubt anymore. My brother was a big boy; he could walk away from this if he wanted.

  But there was no way in heck I was walking away now.

  As the sorcerers’ horses drummed their pursuit, my body and mind numbed into only one thought: Arrive in Acquaine and begin my training. Whatever that instruction was going to look like, I was ready for it. Nothing like a life-or-death chase to crystallize any doubts.

  Swirling balls of magic continued to rain down on us, but they were less frequent and fell wide of their target. I suspected we were advancing faster than them, and the woman and man sorcerers hurling balls at us could hardly afford the distraction when trying to catch us.

  “Just hold on a bit longer, Isa.” Marcelo’s words were faint, as if they had to travel from far away and underwater to reach me. But I heard them. Hope flared to life in my chest. “Once we cross the gates, we’ll be mostly safe.”

  I pushed away the concern that his mostly qualifier might engender and focused only on the just a bit longer part.

  I could hold on a bit longer. I would. Now I wanted to train in magic more than anything. If there were jerks like these in the world, who apparently wanted to kill me without knowing a thing about me, then I had no intention of letting them.

  If they wanted a fight, well then I’d fight back. Just as soon as I learned how....

  Chapter 11

  I suspected Marcelo had cast some spell to allow our horses to run faster than our enemies’, because if he hadn’t, why were ours faster
? And if he had, why weren’t the sorcerers who pursued us doing the same thing? I didn’t know whether enchanting horses to run faster was a skill not every sorcerer—not even a dark one—might possess.

  Maybe it was only luck on our side (though I’d never been particularly lucky before), but our horses were outpacing those that chased us—not by much, but enough. We were gradually drawing farther and farther away from them. The two sorcerers in front no longer bothered to throw magic balls at us, all their focus on catching us.

  I didn’t imagine Trixie could continue at this pace for much longer, so I put my hope in Marcelo’s promise that we didn’t have much farther to go. There was nothing up ahead to validate his promise, but I trusted—it was the only thing I could do.

  I focused on staying on Trixie and making it as easy as possible for her to carry my weight. I was mindful not to press my legs into her sides any harder than I needed, and I was careful not to squeeze her neck so she couldn’t breathe.

  Her breaths arrived heavily and loudly, even through Marcelo’s muting magic. All around I heard the same sounds echoed. Horses panting, chests heaving, and footfalls landing with grace despite their speed.

  If the estate of Acquaine didn’t arrive soon, like right over this hill, then it was very possible that our horses might collapse of exhaustion, and the dark sorcerers would have their way with us. If I’d had to run this hard and this far, there was no way I would have made it. The sorcerers would have killed me already (or whatever it was they meant to do with me), long ago.

  “Just a little farther, Trixie, I promise.” My promises meant a lot to me, and I never made them lightly, but I felt Trixie needed the encouragement. Whether she could understand me or not, I didn’t know, but I’d always felt that animals could somehow. Beyond Nando, animals were my only friends at our uncle’s manor, and they were the ones I’d miss.

  “Once we make it there, I’ll take care of you. I’ll wash you free of all this sweat, and water and feed you. And I’ll make sure you get rest.” My words hiccupped with each of her strides, but I felt like the sentiment was still important. She whinnied softly and seemed to nod her head. Even though I had no real idea what Acquaine would be about, I’d do everything within my power to keep my promise. My attention was the least Trixie deserved after delivering me from these sorcerers.

  We’re not safe yet. It was a nagging thought that I shoved aside. We’d make it. We had to.

  My insides were shaken so thoroughly that there was a chance my internal organs would never work as they had before, but once we crested the hill, just as I’d hoped, there were signs of human habitation.

  My breathing hitched and I thought I might cry from the relief. I chanced a look behind me. The sorcerers were still thundering after us. The expressions on the faces of those in front suggested they realized their window to catch us was closing. I couldn’t make out those behind them, lost to a cloud of dust.

  Those in the lead pursed their lips and narrowed their eyes. They banged their heels into their horses’ sides, and I flinched at each imagined hit, knowing how much the horses were giving already.

  I turned back around, and slid on Trixie’s back. I gasped. My heart thudded. I had no choice but to squeeze my thighs and calves around her as hard as I could. I wouldn’t pull on her neck any harder; I’d distract her from our course too much. And while we were ahead of our pursuers, we weren’t that ahead.

  I tried to pull myself up, but only managed to slide more. I hung off the right of her, using all my strength to stay on, and tilted my torso upward and to the left so I wouldn’t disrupt her pace too greatly.

  But if you fall, her pace won’t matter.

  I didn’t want to let go of the tenuous hold I had on her neck. I really didn’t. But I had to do something to correct my position, and just pulling upward wasn’t achieving anything beyond tiring me out and causing Trixie to falter.

  She stumbled in her step a couple of times, but blessedly didn’t fall. Like this, however, she might.

  I took a deep breath filled with particles of dust and moved before I could think it through more.

  I let go of Trixie’s neck with my top hand, pushed myself upward with my legs, and lunged for a hold around her back. I grabbed on, but her fur was slick, and I immediately started to slide.

  It’s now or never, Isa. I let go of her neck completely and clipped my other arm around her torso. I was sliding down, and it was causing her step to hitch, her fast pace to halter. I’d meant to make it easier for her, but I was making it much, much harder.

  I didn’t allow myself to think what would happen if I didn’t manage to secure my place on her back. Marcelo wouldn’t have the chance to do anything to help me if I fell.

  I pushed into Trixie with my legs and lurched my upper body to the left. My body was twisted, but I still managed to pull with enough strength in my arms to at least halt my progress downward.

  But I hadn’t really made progress to right myself much.

  I heaved with my legs again and tugged with my arms. I gave it all I had.

  I pulled and pushed on Trixie in every direction I shouldn’t have. Her stride faltered until she managed to get back on track.

  I pulled with my arms again, my legs like bands of iron around her sides, but I didn’t manage to adjust the way I needed to.

  I moved again without thinking, because if I thought it through, I’d never convince myself to do what I had to do.

  I put every ounce of strength I had into pulling with my arms. The effort made me grunt, but I released the hold I had with my legs, and slid across her back on my stomach.

  Immediately, I felt like an errant seed of corn in a hot pan. I slid and bounced.

  In one swift, coordinated motion, I swung my left leg around her back to her left side at the same time as I wrapped my right arm back around her neck. Then I secured my right leg around her side and my left arm around her neck.

  I did it. I was back where I’d started before I looked behind me and lost my balance.

  My breathing was as heavy as Trixie’s, and my heart certainly beating just as fast.

  I pressed myself against her, as low as I could, and swore I wouldn’t look back again.

  “I’m so sorry, girl,” I whispered. Unless Trixie was listening to me in a way that surpassed words, she wouldn’t hear me. “I didn’t mean to make it harder on you.” That I had made me want to cry again. I didn’t like how emotional I’d become since Mordecai and Albacus arrived to get my brother and me. I wasn’t usually a crier. I’d gotten good at hiding what happened inside.

  I was noticing how filthy my dress must be, close to saturated in a combination of horse sweat and my own down the length of the front, when a realization startled me. Albacus! I’d totally forgotten about him once the chase was really on.

  I hadn’t seen him since we started racing away. Obviously he hadn’t managed to lead the sorcerers away from us, so where was he?

  I wasn’t about to look for him, but I hoped he was all right. He might be dead already, but I still worried for him. It sounded like a dark sorcerer had already killed him once. He didn’t deserve any more of their torment. I had no idea what dark sorcerers might be able to do to someone who was already dead, maybe nothing. But I still hoped Albacus hurried up in revealing he’d made it to safety with us.

  “There’re the gates.” Marcelo’s voice was a glorious symphony to my ears.

  “Did you hear that, Trixie? We’re nearly there.” Face pressed against the back of her neck, I smiled.

  I shouldn’t have.

  Chapter 12

  Relief swept over me in a nearly overwhelming wave the moment Trixie raced through the double gates, which hung wide open in anticipation of our arrival. My skin tingled as we passed the heavy wooden gates, and I assumed it must be the effect of the wards. The tingling sensation was uncomfortable, but stopped short of being painful.

  When I was sure the riderless horses that followed us had made it through as
well, I swung Trixie to the side of the drive, intending to slow her down to a stop. She’d done enough. I didn’t want to push her a moment longer than necessary.

  Just as I was steering her to the right of the path, where we wouldn’t stand in the way of the horses behind us, I registered the thundering of more horses... up ahead? What?

  It was hard to tell what was coming at us at first, and I flicked a worried glance at Marcelo. But he hadn’t slowed down in the least, and was already several lengths in front of me.

  I frowned and eased Trixie behind the riderless horses that had passed us, urging her into a canter. I squinted into the distance up ahead until I made out three riders. One was Mordecai or another brother if he and Albacus had one. Mordecai and Albacus looked much alike, with their long hoary hair, beards, and flowing robes, that if they had another brother, he might as well.

  The other two looked so much like each other that I figured they, too, must be related. With their flame red hair, they very well could belong to Clara’s family.

  But these weren’t the most salient details. This wasn’t the reason my heart, which had just started to settle, resumed its frantic pace.

  The red-haired woman was waving her arms above her head frantically, clearly indicating something of great importance. What? As usual, I had no idea. But she wasn’t relying on me to figure it out. Even from up the drive, I could tell the three riders were trying to communicate with Marcelo, not me.

  When the woman finally pointed at us—no, behind us, I realized—my stomach plummeted down somewhere around my toes. She insisted, pointing with a meaningful look on her face.

  Had the sorcerers somehow followed us through the wards or protective spells or whatever it was that was supposed to prevent them from doing so? The dread stewing low in my stomach told me yes.

  I wouldn’t turn around to confirm that our pursuit continued. I’d learned that lesson well enough already.

  “Sorry, Trixie,” I said to her, not bothering to whisper anymore. Our invisibility had faded the moment we crossed the gates into Acquaine. Besides, Marcelo’s invisibility and muting spells hadn’t seemed to do much to conceal us from our pursuers, anyway. “It looks like we’re still in a race for our lives,” I told her, my words imbued with all the regret I felt reverberating through my rattling bones.