I was out in the world, a great army behind me. Up ahead was an enemy, some foe I didn't know and couldn't place. They moved as one as I led them onward, but, when I looked back at their faces, I found they were blank, featureless.

Who were these people?

They didn't look like soldiers. Few of them carried weapons for one thing, and shorter humans—they must have been children—accompanied the crowd. Why would anybody lead a child into battle?

My stomach clenched painfully as I turned to meet the enemy. The sound of feet on earth was a loud rumble, a warning to anyone playing for the other side that we were on our way.

After a few minutes of marching, I stopped. There before me stood a little boy. He was maybe three feet tall, cheeks dirty, lips crusted, hair black, and tears in his violet eyes. Eyes like mine.

The army didn't stop with me; instead, they moved past the boy and me until they encircled us. There would be no escape.

I walked up to him and knelt down on one knee. "Where did you come from?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but tears rolled down his face until they pooled at his chin, dripping onto his tunic.

"It's not safe for a little kid to be out here. Don't you know?" I took his hand. He looked down, frowning, then held up his other hand and placed it on my forehead. It was icy cold against my skin, but a moment later it began to burn.

I gripped his arm with both of my hands, trying to tear his hand away from me. It didn't work. Soon, the pain began to overwhelm me, and I screamed as I tried desperately to separate us.

I grappled for his face. For the first time in my life, I purposely used my magic in an attempt to hurt another person. I'd defended myself over the years, but the anger and terror that were rising within me now brought out a darkness in my heart I had never known.

I poured everything I had into that face, that monster. But it wasn't enough.

I could hear my flesh sizzling beneath his fingers. Just as I started to black out, he slammed me so intensely with his magic that I was thrown back several feet and landed hard on my back.

I looked up and saw him turn away. The crowd parted to let him pass, and then they were all moving as one, away from me, leaving me behind as if I'd never led them at all.

They had a new master.

I turned over on the ground and touched the wound on my head. His attack had left a hand-shaped crater where he'd burned me. The people passed me by, not caring that I was in their way.

I climbed to my feet and headed in the opposite direction, against the tide. Suddenly, a tall man appeared with those same violet eyes. I only caught a quick glimpse of him before he knocked me back and my head slammed on the hard ground. He hovered over me, his mouth turning to a snarl. "Stay," he said.

And the gray sky above me faded away until all was black.

* * *

I awoke on the cell floor, the wind knocked out of me. My hands gripped my face, covered my forehead and searched for the burn I knew I'd find there, but my skin was smooth. Gradually the pain subsided until it was a dull ache, no more than a memory.

"I said get up," a man said harshly, his voice warbling, as he opened the lock on the bars.

I hadn't noticed anyone arrive. Disoriented, I struggled to push myself up from the floor. "What is it?" I asked.

"Zahn wants to meet with you." He smirked. "Good luck with that, little lady. You'll be lucky if he leaves you in one piece."

I stood up, the dream still whirling around in my head. Zahn? What did the head sorcerer want with me? He'd rejected me years ago and sent me on my way with the warning that I wasn't to practice magic of any kind or I'd be banished from the kingdom.

But I hadn't listened; how could I? And now here I was, two weeks away from my last day in Eagleview. Two weeks until I'd be made accountable for my actions. If I stayed, it would be a cell floor not unlike this one that awaited me every night.

The guard stepped to the side, holding open the gate. I frowned at him, then moved tentatively in his direction. I kept my back away from him, concerned that his boot might kick me to the ground if I wasn't careful.

Instead, he leaned in, his breath boozy. "I hope he sends you back here, girly," he said. "Then you and I can have a good time later."

I glared at him. Zahn may have been able to lock me up, but he couldn't keep me from using my powers, especially against this disgusting excuse for a man.

The guard grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hall. Several other cells lined the walls. Inside them, I saw all sorts of people: an old man talking to himself, teeth missing; a young woman, maybe a little older than me, her body rocking back and forth, hair knotted. And another person: a young man who looked healthy and well-dressed. He couldn't have been there long, I thought.

He caught my eye as I walked past and nodded his head. Odd.

At the top of the stairs, the man pushed me forward and I almost hit the floor again. A woman stood waiting for me, and she caught me. She stood me back up onto my feet and put her hands on my shoulders. "You're Bree," she said. "I've heard about you. Let's go."

She put her hand gently beneath my forearm and guided me away from the stinking man. "See you later, doll," he called after us. I turned back to look at him; he was waving enthusiastically.

"He's the least of your worries," the woman said as we hurried away. "Zahn is waiting for you. Whatever he does, you must not strike him."

I looked up at her, confused, but she didn't return my gaze; her eyes were staring straight ahead. "Why would I want to strike him?" I asked.

"He will provoke you, as he did your mother before you."

"My mother?"

"Your mother was Alina, yes?" The woman looked down at me. Her face was quite pretty, and dark-red hair cascaded over her shoulders.

"Y-yes," I stammered. "How do you—?"

"Everyone under Zahn knows of those who've been denied his training. But Alina is famous among us."

"Famous? My mother?"

I was confused. I knew very little about her. Father had barely spoken to me my whole life, and Grandmother kept her thoughts to herself. The questions I'd asked over the years had gone mostly unanswered.

"When Alina was a young child," the woman said, "she trialed with Zahn. Her power was so great that he was threatened by her. He sent her away into the mountains to kill a dragon, an errand he knew would likely result in her death. If it did not, he would have killed her upon her return if she didn't bring proof of the murder. Somehow, she beguiled the dragon in its lair, and it gave her a bone to bring back to Zahn — a great and magical gift."

The hallway was growing narrower. At the far end was a door; I wondered what awaited me on the other side.

"But when Alina returned," the woman went on, "the bone rejected Zahn and only Zahn. Every other pupil of his could use it as a powerful staff, but Zahn was left out. He was the only one unable to draw magic from it, the most powerful magical item he'd ever seen."

I'd never imagined that Zahn could have a weakness. I'd always thought of him as all-powerful.

"That angered him greatly," the woman said. "He sent Alina from the tower and banished her from the castle. From then on, Urvar, the dragon who had given her the bone, made it a point to visit her every night for the rest of her life to make sure she was safe from Zahn. Your mother is the only person known to have truly bested Zahn. You may wonder why he orders you to be treated the way he does."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He's banishing you on your birthday. Isn't that right?"

"Yes. I'll be seventeen in two weeks."

"Just old enough to care for yourself on your own," she said. "He couldn't very well get rid of you when you were a young child. Even the king would have thought that intolerable. But now…"

"Now I'm an adult."

"Basically, yes." She stopped in front of the doorway at the end of the hall. Before she opened it, she gave me one last word of warning. "No matter what magic you have within you, do not fight back. He will try to hurt you. You must let him if you want to survive the night. Do you understand?"

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My chest feeling tight, I nodded.

She opened the door and let me inside. "This is where I leave you," she said. "When you get to the top of the stairs, wait inside the round room in the tower. Good luck."

She closed the door between us, and I stood there for a few moments, staring at the wood. I looked through the tiny opening at eye-height. Through it, I saw her walking purposefully away. I turned and started up the stairs.

She'd said Zahn would try to hurt me. My hand automatically went to my forehead, the memory of the dream still strong.

When I reached the top, I found a great wooden door had been left ajar. There was no little window in this one, so I peered inside through the narrow opening. "Hello?" I called, pushing it open slightly.

"Come," a raspy voice from the other side commanded.

I opened the door all the way. Standing before me was a man I'd seen only one other time in my life.

Zahn was very tall and slim, his black robes hung loosely on his skeletal frame. His cheeks were hollow, as if he hadn't eaten for months, and his brow seemed permanently furrowed with anger.

He smiled as I stepped inside. His teeth were pointed, almost as if he intended to snap at me, to devour me. "Come closer," he said. He raised his hand, and the door slammed shut behind me.

He held a staff—a staff made of bone.

My heart was beating hard in my chest, but I did as he commanded and stepped into the center of the round room.

Great windows were cut into the stone all the way around the tower walls. The breeze outside had turned chilly, and I shivered as it came through the openings.

"You are Alina's child, are you not?" Zahn asked.

"Yes." My voice was braver than I'd intended, perhaps even insolent. "I'm Bree."

"It matters not what your name is," he said sharply. "You have been arrested for unauthorized use of magic. How do you plead?"

"I—I'm not sure what you—"

"The girl. You kidnapped her. You filled her with wild ideas about what was possible for her. You played doctor, no doubt damaging her beyond repair."

I stood quietly, unsure if my answer would enrage him.

He went on. "Do you deny it?"

"She's not damaged," I said. "I helped her. I just—"

"You used your fire magic upon her, and now she will become more ill than ever."

I didn't argue against his lie.

He began to pace, walking behind me as he made a full circle around the room. The staff clicked against the mosaic floor with each step. I desperately didn't want him at my back, but I felt sure that he'd take it as a threat if I were to turn to face him.

"I remember when you trialed here years ago," he went on, his robes fluttering in the wind. "You were mediocre at best. So why is it you think you can, as you say, help her?"

I tried not to lie, but I knew the truth was about to get me into trouble. "I don't know," I said. "I guess it's always helped her in the past."

"So you admit it freely." He turned to face me. "You have used your fire magic against all the laws in this land."

I didn't speak.

"Are you aware that the use of fire magic is punishable by death?"

My eyes widened. He was lying: there was no death penalty for using magic untrained. Jail time, perhaps; banishment, maybe. But not death.

"I was not aware of that, no," I said.

His lips curled into a wicked smile, and he raised his staff, a staff I now knew he shouldn't have been able to wield. My mother's staff.

A great pulse of power came through the bone and hit me squarely in the chest, knocking me back so hard that I fell to the ground.

He approached as I tried to catch my breath. "You are lying," he said. "And you have done a poor job of trying to hide your magic. There is no dragon to protect you here." He raised the staff again and pointed it at my forehead.

That dream. A premonition?

He sent another jolt through the bone, and it took everything I had not to protect myself, not to scream. The bolt hit me squarely; this time, it knocked my head back so far that it slammed against the wall. In a daze, I raised my hand to my forehead, half-expecting to find the burning handprint of a child there, but there was nothing.

Don't cry. Don't let him see.

My breathing was coming in hoarse gasps. I rolled over to push myself up off the floor. A jolt hit me in the back.

I cried out for the first time — and for the first time, I felt angry.

I turned around again to face him. That must have surprised him, because he raised the staff again, snarling as he aimed it at my stomach.

I was too quick. The staff was within my reach, and I grabbed the end of it just as he was releasing his power through it. The power rebounded against him and sent him flying.

I quickly dropped the staff to the floor and tried to come up with some sort of defense. The red-haired woman had told me not to defend myself at all costs, but she couldn't know what was happening inside this room. Or could she?

Either way, I was a goner now.

Zahn rose from the ground as if an invisible rope were doing all the work for him. He straightened his robes and summoned the staff to his hand. "Get out of here," he said sharply.

He raised the staff again and produced a large ball of aquamarine blue flame that hovered in the center of the room. I scrambled to my feet and walked backward, floundering until I found the door. I didn't dare turn my back on him again.

But it didn't matter. Once the door was open, he thrust the power at me, and it knocked me onto my back, sending me tumbling down the stairs.

"You have two weeks," he said from behind the door. "Use them wisely."

* * *

A different man from the previous jailer was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me, this one sober and with a dark, but not vengeful, face. He took my arm and guided me through the door. He didn't speak as we walked down the hall back toward the dungeons.

So I was to stay. I wondered if maybe I'd be held until my birthday, then sent out into the wild unprepared. That would seem on target for Zahn.

We walked down the narrow stairs. On my way through the dungeon hall, I saw the same boy who had nodded at me earlier. He looked up, concerned, and I frowned at him.

The drunken guard had passed out at his post.

My escort quietly opened the cell door. Surprisingly, he didn't push me into the cell but waited a moment to let me walk inside before he shut the door behind me. "You are of Alina," he said quietly once I was inside.

I gripped onto the bars. "Yes."

"You must flee. He will kill you."

"He already tried."

"No," he said. "If he had tried, you would already be dead."

I wondered if that were true. "Who was that woman?" I asked. "From before? She had red hair and—"

"That was Erin," he said. "She is a great sorceress, second only to Zahn. And, perhaps, to you."

I frowned. Me?

"You must be more careful," he said, turning the lock.

As he turned to leave, I slipped down to the cold, stone floor. I rested my forehead against the cool bars, a sliver of relief for my aching head. After a moment, though, my exhaustion overcame me, and I lay down right there at the entrance to the cell. Tears came now, though they were silent. My body hurt as if Zahn's attacks had electrified my every nerve.

He was right: I was no sorceress. Without training, I was almost nothing. The only thing I'd done was protect myself against his oncoming blow with the staff, but that didn't seem like much. All I'd done was touch the bone, and his power had recoiled away from my hand.

And it had knocked him down. How?

"Bree," a voice called quietly. That boy at the end of the hall. There were no guards down here now, which explained him taking the risk. "Bree, are you hurt?" he whispered.

I sat up and looked outside the cell, but I could see nothing. "Who's there?" I asked.

"My name is Albion. I can be a friend to you. Are you okay?"

"Not really."

"The guard is right," he said. "Zahn will send for you again."

"It didn't sound like it. He said—"

"He is a liar, Bree," he said. "He will call for you. You must leave now. Tonight."

"But how? I'm in a dungeon, in case you hadn't noticed."

"As am I," he said. "But there is a way out."

He was silent for a few moments, then suddenly he was at my door. Carefully, he directed a beam of green flame from his hand across one of the bars until it broke free. "Can you manage?" he asked.

I climbed to my feet. "Yes, I think so." I felt wobbly but able to walk.

He sighed, put one hand on my shoulder, and released a pulse of magic into me. Immediately, I felt better.

I stepped through the bars and turned to him. "Thank you. I—"

"You must go now, while the other guard is passed out drunk. He will be cranky in the morning, and you will not be safe. Come. Follow me."

"What about that man? The other guard?"

"He's no guard. That was Kieran — he's one of Zahn's. Come on." Albion gestured for me to follow him.

"And are you one of Zahn's as well?"

"Yes," he said quietly as we walked down the hall.

"Then why are you down here?"

"Why are you?" he asked. "We come and go at Zahn's whim. He is not a good man."

"You think so? And yet you're one of his students," I said.

"Not by choice."

As we approached the guard, we could smell the liquor on his breath. Albion paused to make sure he was asleep, then reached for the dungeon keys, and quietly took them off the hook above the guard's head. We kept our footfalls light as we walked toward the gate, and we didn't speak as Albion unlocked it.

Once we were around the corner, he took me toward the market. The moon had set, and everything was dark. I was grateful for whatever cover it lent us.

Soon, we were running through the side streets that encircled the castle. "Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"Home," he said. "You need to get your things and be gone by morning light. Otherwise, you'll be dead by tomorrow night."

"No," I said. "I can't leave."

He slowed. "What do you mean, you can't leave? I've taken you all this way to save your life. Don't throw it all away. What possible reason could you have to stay?"

I paused, unable to come up with the right words. "I have a friend and—"

"Don't tell me this is about some boy!"

I grimaced at the thought. "I have this friend named Oriana. She's sick, and we were planning to run away together. But not tonight. She'll be locked up tight after today."

"Today?"

"I broke her out this afternoon, and we spent the day in the field. Her mother is well, she's just horrible. I know she won't let Oriana out of her sight again for weeks. It's too soon."

"You must leave. There is no other way. People disappear around here. My friend Connell, he's long gone. He should've been back months ago, but—"

"Connell with the horse? The big chestnut?" I asked. "I met him once."

He stopped and stared at me, confused, then pulled me into a dark alcove. "You know Connell?"

I shrugged. "Not well. I only met him the one time. I was out in the fields, and he was walking by. He said it was the first day of his journey away from Zahn. He never came back?"

Albion shook his head. "No. He's gone."

"Well, he didn't seem eager to stay, I guess," I said.

"If you see him on your travels, tell him we need him back here. Tell him that Zahn has gone mad, that he's been hoarding the magic Light he has all of us collect for him. Tell him that the punishments have become much worse." He turned around and pulled up his shirt. Welts crisscrossed his back.

"Oh, my God, Albion. I can fix—"

"No." He turned back quickly, letting his shirt fall. "Zahn will know. He will check. I'm better off this way. You must trust me."

He peered out from our hiding spot, then reached out his hand. I took it without question. "Come on," he said.

It wasn't much farther. Soon we rounded another corner and came to a small door with a huge lock hanging from the handle. With a simple flick of Albion’s hand, the chain fell to pieces, and the door swung open.

"You must go," he whispered. "You can't wait. I don't care who this friend of yours is. You're in great danger if you stay."

A guard walked along a path below the castle, and we closed the door quietly and hid behind it. "Why are you doing all of this for me?" I asked. "Why risk it all?"

"You are Alina's child," he said simply. "If she could beat Zahn, then maybe you can, too."

"How am I supposed to beat him if I leave?"

"You'll need to come back when the time is right for you. I trust that you will. Now go."

He opened the door again, checked to see no one else was walking down the dirt road on the other side, and hurried me through. "We'll be waiting for you," he said.

He closed the door and locked it behind me. I turned to face the night on my own.