Laha went to the tent at dawn, hoping she would have enough time to get what she wanted from Zayaka before the others returned or the Governess recovered. Part of her was pleased that Bertie wanted to ‘protect’ her, but the other part of her resented that he thought she needed protecting, and wanted to ruin her plans.

It didn’t mean Laha wasn’t scared. She was. She had told Chaos to stay behind for his safety, but the monkey had refused. When they reached the tent doorway, he raised his paws and formed them into fists.

Laha took a deep breath and entered the tent. Inside, she didn’t waste any time asking Zayaka to teach her the transformation magic.

‘How do I do it? What kind of creature can I transform into? Is there a spell? A method? What do I do?’ She stopped only to draw breath.

Zayaka smirked with pleasure at Laha’s enthusiasm. ‘For me, it’s a feeling more than a spell or technique. It begins with choosing a creature – the smaller the better initially, and once you have mastered that, you move on to other larger, more complex beings.’

Beings? Laha arched a brow, wondering exactly what Zayaka meant by that word.

Zayaka held her gaze for a portentous moment before continuing. ‘Transforming into a random animal is one thing – you will have all of its abilities and limitations at your disposal, without the strain of having to command it when you inhabit it. If, for instance, you’re a scorpion, you will have a stinger capable of causing great pain. And you will be small enough to hide, watch and listen to things and escape notice.’

Laha’s heart quickened, envisioning how it would feel to sting the Governess, or Alfred, perhaps.

‘But,’ Zayaka continued, ‘you will be as susceptible as any other scorpion to predators, and could easily be crushed under a human’s boot.’

A chill ran up Laha’s spine. ‘What? I’d be dead?’

Zayaka shrugged. ‘Possibly…if you didn’t transform back to your human form in time…and that, of course, means risking discovery. So, as a general rule, you will want to be circumspect about when and what you transform into.’

‘Right…’ Laha tried to absorb the magnitude of what Zayaka was saying. It sounded much safer to merely inhabit an animal, even if it was more taxing to control it.

A secretive smile played on Zayaka’s face. There was something else.

‘What?’ Laha asked.

Zayaka steepled her gloved fingers. ‘There is, however, one creature that you were born to be. A creature that has virtually no limitations, and when you transform into it, you will be at your most powerful…your most deadly.’

Laha’s mind raced. She had almost forgotten the threat the woman posed, and the fact that she had come here looking for answers about Zayaka’s mission. Why was Zayaka really here? What did she really want?

Be composed, Laha told herself. Draw the answers out slowly – carefully.

‘So…how would you transform into such a creature?’

Zayaka frowned. ‘That is something that can’t be taught or practised. It will just happen when you most need it to. Without even thinking – at least the first time. For me, it happened when my emotions were at their most extreme, when the most primal urges of fear, anger and love collided.’ Her hands curled like claws at the ready. ‘It happened when my very core was threatened.’

Laha suspected she was talking about her confrontation with the Governess, when Jidwya had died, and Zayaka had been exiled from the Institute. Right now, Zayaka appeared her most vulnerable, but possibly also her most dangerous. Laha must proceed with caution.

‘And the creature you turned into…was it a phoenix, like—’

Zayaka blinked rapidly. ‘The Governess? No. My form is different. The phoenix is always the very first born.’

The very first born? What was Zayaka saying? That there was more than one Firemaster in the Governess’s generation? That the Governess and Zayaka were…?

Laha must have the truth.

‘What is it you want from the Governess?’ she demanded. ‘What exactly did she take from you?’ Chaos leant forward from where he sat on Laha’s shoulders, and nodded – he too wanted answers.

Something in Zayaka’s eyes flashed. ‘Yes…’ she said slowly. ‘It is time you knew…’

Zayaka’s next words were sucked from her mouth in a rush of blinding light and sound. The canvas tent burst into silver flames, disintegrating into flying embers before vanishing altogether. The tent was gone, and in its place, Mary, Bertie and Alfred stood behind the Governess. Bolts of light fizzled from her cane. She looked pale and rings were etched under her eyes, but she was still terrifying.

Mary’s eyes flickered between disappointment and concern. Bertie’s gaze was apologetic. Alfred’s accusatory. The Governess’s eyes were solely on Zayaka.

Chaos screeched, and Laha directed a defiant stare at the intruders.

Zayaka was the first to speak. ‘It’s been a long time…sister,’ she hissed.

Mary and the others exchanged surprised looks. Laha, by now, had guessed the two women were related – they had to be. But to have confirmation that they were sisters…It was hard to reconcile, especially given everything that had passed between them. It meant the Governess had banished her own flesh and blood – her sister. It was beyond even the cruellest thing Laha could imagine her capable of.

The Governess’s hand tightened on her walking stick. ‘You can’t be here,’ she said, her voice ringing with authority.

Zayaka merely cackled in response. ‘But I am…and I shall take what’s mine.’

She raised her hands and launched fireballs at her sister. The Governess blocked them with a silver flame shield, but the blast’s energy reverberated, propelling Mary and the Princes into the air.

‘No!’ Laha cried, running to her friends. The trio lay dazed on the ground. Laha helped Mary to her feet. Her gown was singed. The Princes stood up on shaking legs. Bertie’s hand went to a bloody gash on his forehead.

Alfred reached for his sword. ‘What have you done this time?’ he growled.

‘Later,’ Mary said. ‘Now, we fight.’

She held up her hands. Cycling orbs of air hovered above her palms. She strode back to where the Governess was still shielding herself from Zayaka’s fireballs. Alfred followed her, his sword raised. Chaos shrieked.

‘I’m sorry,’ Bertie mumbled, ‘but I had to tell them.’

Laha’s fingers went to the wound on his head. ‘It’s alright…but I didn’t want you to get hurt, either.’

His fingers met hers over his forehead. ‘It’s nothing, really…but Mary’s right. We have to fight.’ Bertie pulled his own sword from its sheath and he and Laha joined the others.

‘You’re outnumbered!’ Alfred shouted at Zayaka.

‘And no match for us!’ Bertie said.

Zayaka cackled again.

‘They’re right!’ Mary yelled. ‘You can’t defeat the Governess. She is a true Firemaster. Whatever you are, you’re just…’

The Governess and Laha shot Mary warning looks, but she wouldn’t be stopped.

‘…you’re just a flawed imitation of a Firemaster.’

Zayaka’s face contorted and she spun toward Mary, sending fireballs directly at her. The Governess expanded her shield to protect the Princess.

‘I am as much a Firemaster as your Governess,’ Zayaka sneered. ‘Even more so.’

‘Impossible,’ Mary retorted. ‘Only the firstborn in the Firemaster line inherits.’

Zayaka lowered her hands, the fire receding into her palms. ‘That is so. Which is how I can also do this.’

She held up her wrists in front of her face, forming the same feathered cocoon she had used before transforming into a raven. Laha was puzzled. In her raven form, Zayaka could be easily defeated.

A plume of rasping black smoke swirled around her, but it was different than before. Darker, larger, louder. It funnelled upwards, shrieking and expanding until it was towering over them.

‘Step back,’ the Governess told Laha and the others, but they remained fixed to the spot.

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The shrieking morphed into a maniacal laugh as the smoke started to dissipate, revealing – not Zayaka…perhaps Zayaka…

A chorus of gasps.

A fearsome creature stood before them, with the body of a woman and the height of a giant. It had the face of a raven and talons for hands and feet. Gargantuan wings folded out from its back. The creature opened its beak and cawed silver fire.

This was Zayaka’s being.

‘What?’ Alfred and Bertie cried in unison.

‘But how?’ Mary sounded confused.

The Governess’s voice was thin. ‘We’re twins.’

‘Both the firstborn,’ Laha whispered.

‘Step back now!’ the Governess ordered.

She stamped her cane on the earth. Streaks of lightning sparked from the stick, and there was a whoosh of silver flames followed by a red-and-gold inferno. The Governess disappeared in the flames and the cane fell to the ground.

An ear-splitting screech cleaved the air, and from the fire stepped a phoenix.

The two fire-breathing creatures circled each other, staring one another down.

‘Leave, sister,’ the phoenix said in the Governess’s voice. ‘There is nothing for you here.’

‘Nothing!’ the raven creature shrieked. ‘You mean everything.’

‘You know I have to stop you.’

‘Like you had to last time.’ Talons pawed the ground.

The phoenix’s voice lowered. ‘I did what had to be done. You were a danger to Kengia, to yourself…to her.’ The last word a whisper.

Her? Who was the Governess talking about?

‘You had no right to do what you did. You took everything from me. And now you must pay!’

Zayaka’s monstrous wings extended and beat the air. The Governess’s wings of flame rose, and both creatures launched into the sky.

The sisters fought, crashing into each other in the air. Talons sliced, fireballs erupted, screeching fire pierced the air. Chaos ran for cover, hiding behind a rock.

‘We have to do something,’ Mary cried. ‘We have to help the Governess.’ Alfred and Bertie nodded beside her.

Laha’s mind swirled in confusion. A primal instinct gnawed at her, telling her that whatever Zayaka had come back for was something Laha had to know. That it was somehow important. She wasn’t sure she wanted the Governess to defeat Zayaka if it meant she would never discover the answers she needed.

Laha watched the battle in the sky. Zayaka stabbed a talon at the Governess; it entered the phoenix’s torso. She screeched as a river of blood rained down. Then the Governess used her own claw to snap the talon off. Zayaka screamed. The Governess ripped the talon from her wound and threw it away. The plate-sized raven claw fell to earth, rattling at Laha’s feet. Laha realised that such a talon was probably what had injured the Governess’s leg in the battle with her sister all those years ago.

‘Laha?’ Mary cried, but Laha was unmoving. ‘I’m helping the Governess!’

Mary ran so she was almost directly under Zayaka. She held up her hands, pulsing her fingers until they glowed. A whirling spout of wind rose from her palms, growing until it was three times her height. Then, with a whoosh of her hands, she hurled the wind spout at Zayaka.

Zayaka’s wings contorted and bent in the gale-force wind. She struggled to find her balance. Mary flicked her wrist and focused the wind blast on one wing. There was a cracking of bone, and a guttural cry, then Zayaka was tumbling to the earth.

Laha held her breath, looking away when the creature met the ground with a sickening thud. When she turned back, she saw Zayaka in her human form, pushing herself into a sitting position. Bloody cuts criss-crossed her face and limbs, and she cradled her arm. The Governess stood over Zayaka now, also in her human form. Mary, Alfred and Bertie flanked her, the Princes clutching their swords.

Zayaka lifted her chin. ‘Do it, sister. Kill me. Because if you don’t,’ she spat, ‘I will come back for you…again and again…for as long as it takes.’

The Governess winced and looked away. ‘I can’t…’

All it took was that one tiny moment, and Zayaka was on her feet, reaching for Mary, gripping the lost talon, then holding it to the Princess’s throat. With her free hand she shot a fireball at the Governess, blasting her into the air. The Governess crashed back to the ground, winded.

Alfred advanced on Zayaka, his sword raised. Zayaka directed a fireball at his weapon. The Prince watched in horror as the blade caught fire, then disintegrated in his hands. Bertie followed suit, only for his sword to suffer the same fate.

Fear surged through Laha’s body, followed by a ferocious determination. She strode toward Zayaka, her arms aloft.

‘Let her go!’ Her hands burned. Fire leapt under her skin.

‘No, Laha,’ Zayaka said.

The next thing that happened occurred without thought or planning. It was as if Laha’s body instinctively knew what to do.

A fireball formed in her hand. Laha propelled it at Zayaka’s feet.

There were gasps from everyone except the Governess and Zayaka. Zayaka shoved Mary away to protect herself from the flames. Mary fell heavily, her head striking the ground. Alfred and Bertie raced to her side.

Zayaka held out her hands placatingly. ‘Laha. I cannot fight you.’

‘Why?’ she scoffed. ‘Are you scared I will win?’

‘Because you’re my—’

‘No!’ the Governess shouted.

Zayaka clenched her jaw. ‘Because you’re my daughter.’

Daughter? Laha’s head spun. No. She couldn’t be. How?

‘You were taken from me when you were born.’ Zayaka’s voice was quiet – soothing. ‘They…’ She glared at the Governess. ‘She told me you died at birth. Right after she killed your father, Jidwya. Right before she exiled me.’

Laha shook her head. She had no mother. Why would Zayaka play such a cruel trick on her? ‘No. It can’t be true. I was the daughter of poor Kengian farmers – they died of fever.’

Zayaka stepped toward Laha so she was less than a foot away. ‘You were lied to. Like I was. Look into your heart, and you will see it…I am your mother.’

Having a mother was one thing, but for it to be someone who was trying to kill her friends was another. She didn’t know what it was like to have a mother, but she hadn’t expected it to be like this. Laha turned to the Governess. ‘Say it’s not true.’

The Governess lowered her eyes. ‘I did what had to be done. To protect you. I couldn’t let the darkness consume you like it did your mother.’

‘My mother?’ She sensed the truth in the whispered words. The connection she’d felt with Zayaka had been unmistakable.

So she’d had family all this time, when she’d thought she was alone.

Barbed fury burst from her throat, and she turned on the Governess. ‘You were my family. Yet you treated me like an abomination – your own niece!’

‘I’m sorry, but—’

‘No!’

Laha aimed a volley of fireballs at her. The Governess created a fire shield, but Laha continued, relentless in her attack. The Governess struggled to maintain her shield, holding one hand to the bloody wound on her stomach.

‘Stop!’

Mary, Alfred, Bertie – all of them were yelling, but Laha couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to stop. The darkness wanted the Governess to pay.

Zayaka joined Laha, and together they launched fireball after fireball. The Governess’s shield began to weaken. With each blow, Laha’s thirst for revenge increased. The stronger her power grew, the more of it she wanted. Suddenly she understood why the Governess had been so scared of Zayaka – but more so, she didn’t care. The dark rush of power was intoxicating.

She was unstoppable.

A flash of brown fur appeared at the corner of Laha’s eye. A monkey’s screech. Chaos!

The monkey held out his hand. A plea for Laha to come back from wherever she was, to let go of the hate, to fight the darkness.

‘Get out of here!’ she warned. ‘You’ll get hurt—’

Chaos shook his head and stepped closer. Laha lowered her hands and reached for him…but it was too late.

A fireball deflected by the Governess flew through the air, striking Chaos. The monkey crumpled to the ground. His body lifeless.

Laha screamed. A guttural scream that came from her soul.

Everything that had been done to her over the years – the lies, the denial of her family and her powers…it paled in comparison to this. For all of Chaos’s mischief, he was an innocent. He had done nothing but protect her and be her friend when she’d most needed one. Now he had been taken from her.

It was the final straw.

Her skin was on fire. Her body burst into flames. Her limbs twisted and turned, her torso elongating. Laha looked down at her arms; they were fiery wings of silver and black. She opened her mouth. A beak. A screech of flames.

She was a phoenix.

‘Yes!’ Zayaka said. ‘You, my daughter – you’re the firstborn.’

Laha launched herself toward the Governess, who was kneeling on the ground in a growing pool of her own blood, but Zayaka shook her head.

‘No, Laha. Let me have this.’

Zayaka pointed her fireball hands at the Governess, a hungry sneer on her face. The Governess met her sister’s eyes and nodded in resignation.

Zayaka’s sneer grew, then it froze. Her eyes widened. She looked down.

Laha followed her gaze to see the end of the Governess’s walking stick protruding from Zayaka’s chest.

Alfred stood over her shoulder, holding the other end of the cane. He grimaced, then pulled it from Zayaka’s body. Zayaka collapsed to the ground.

Something ripped inside Laha. She changed back to her human form and ran to her mother’s side. She held Zayaka’s head in her hands. Blood trickled from her mother’s scarlet lips.

‘You must go,’ Zayaka gurgled from her blood-filled throat. ‘This place is doomed…I have seen it…You will never be safe here…’

Tears streamed down Laha’s face. ‘Don’t talk. We’ll get you help.’

‘It’s too late for me…’ The blood now gushed from Zayaka’s mouth. ‘But you must keep yourself alive…keep our legacy alive.’

‘Our legacy?’

Zayaka tried to smile. ‘The Firemasters…We will rise again, one day…It is up to you, my daughter, to see that it happens.’

‘You can see it happen,’ Laha sobbed. ‘You will be here.’ But her words were wasted.

The light in Zayaka’s eyes slowly extinguished.

How could this be? How could Laha learn she had a mother, only for her to be snatched away minutes later? How could life be so brutal?

The answer stood before her, in the form of two hateful people who’d done nothing but chastise her for being herself. Two people who’d made her feel like she was never good enough.

Laha was back on her feet. Striding. Bearing down on the Governess and Alfred.

‘No, Laha.’ Mary stepped in front of her.

‘Get out of my way,’ Laha roared, fireballs springing from her hands. ‘You know you’re no match for me.’

‘This isn’t you, Laha.’ It was Bertie speaking now.

‘How do you know? None of you know who I really am!’

‘Of course we do,’ Mary protested.

But Mary was wrong. They didn’t know this Laha, and if they did, they would be just as scared of her as everyone had been of her mother. She thought of her mother’s words, her eyes going to Zayaka’s limp body, then Chaos’s. She saw nothing but pain.

Laha looked to the sky, the silver sun beckoning her.

‘No.’ Bertie’s hand on her arm. ‘You can’t go.’

She looked back at him, at the kindness and concern in his gaze. ‘I must go. There’s nothing left for me here.’

‘What about me?’ His eyes swam with tears. ‘I’m here.’

‘And so are they.’ Laha tipped her head at Alfred and the Governess. ‘They took my mother from me. And they’re both afraid of who I am. They will never understand me.’

‘I understand you.’ Bertie’s hand went to her face. ‘I love you.’

Laha closed her eyes and leant into Bertie’s warm touch. Her heart told her to say she loved him too, but it was pointless. They could never be together.

She reached into her tunic and grasped the parchment piece, pressing the prophecy into Bertie’s free hand.

‘It is up to you, Bertie. You must do what it takes to protect your kingdom from what is coming. It must be you.’

Confusion flickered across his face. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘You do understand. You understand what’s necessary. And you understand the darkness.’

He repeated her own words back to her. ‘There can’t be light without darkness.’

Laha nodded and kissed the palm of his hand, then slowly released it. She stepped away from Bertie and looked again to the sky.

‘Laha?’ It was Mary’s desperately thin voice behind her.

‘Goodbye,’ Laha said without looking at her.

The fire erupted around her, and she was the phoenix once again. She soared high above them. Not looking back until her past was no more than specks in the distance. She pointed her beak to her future across the Kyprian Sea. A future wholly unknown. The only thing she was sure of was that she was a Firemaster, and that her kind would rise again. The Firemasters of the future would take their place in a world that wasn’t afraid of their power, or the darkness…

That was her purpose, and that would be her legacy, no matter how long it took.