I woke from the nightmare in a cold sweat. My arms were ablaze with runic power flowing through the scars worked into my body, lighting up the dark room with a deep red glow. I was holding my soulbound weapon, a weathered machete, in a death grip in one of my trembling hands. My eyes scanned around the room for any dangers as I came out of the nightmare, and I forced them closed. I took a deep breath, then another, as I calmed myself down from the adrenaline rush.

“It was just a dream.” I told myself. “It’s over. He’s dead.” I put the machete down on my bed and forced myself to let go. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. I rubbed my eyes with my hands as I steadied my breathing and felt my heart rate lower. The red glow waned before being extinguished as I quelled the magical power flowing through me. The light receded from the room, crawling over the scarce furniture and decorations I was allotted: a desk, a chair, and the trident that Rowan had skewered me with before I killed him.

Rowan. Lily’s previous guardian, and the man who’d tried to slaughter me. The monster who’d awoken the latent magical potential coursing through my veins. He’d died for that mistake. Some parts of the story were still a mystery to me. Why did he want me dead? How did he know what I was? The family considered this incident a shameful black mark upon them. They took me in and trained me to try and make up for their failure to control one of their own Adepts. I’d taken his place as Lily’s guardian, and I was disciplined in the ways of controlling what magic I had.

I rubbed the scars lacing down my arms. That discipline had a price. Beatings, lacerations, anything to work up the fight-or-flight near-death response that the power inside of me demanded. The other Adepts could call upon their power at will. I was still working on that: so far, all I could do consistently was call upon the machete, and most of the heavy lifting for that was carried by the magical handle. I wasn’t well-versed enough in magical theory to know why things had to be this way, but I’d accepted that this was the way the world worked. Mages got to study magic and learn it at their own pace. Adepts got thrown head-first into the wild world of the arcane, and most would burn themselves out without ever learning to control their abilities. I was one of the lucky ones whose magical talents were buried so deep that they never should have awoken.

Until they did. Rowan wasn’t the only one who’d died that night. Lots of bystanders became my victims. My original family, too. I’d spend the rest of my life atoning for that, with the Blackwood family’s help. If it meant they had to whip me raw and bleed me dry, then so be it. My power was too dangerous to be left unchecked. If anything, it was a miracle that the family didn’t put me down when they’d figured out what had happened. It was their right to do so, as stewards of this area. Instead, they chose to take me in. I’d never be able to repay them for their kindness.

I groaned. The nightmares had been getting worse. I’d had them ever since Rowan attacked me, but now my magical powers were flaring up in response to it. Why couldn’t I use them when it would be useful? At this rate, someone was going to get hurt. I hauled myself out of bed. I wasn’t going to get back to sleep at this rate.

I wandered the manor, looking aimlessly for something to occupy my mind. I didn’t want to think about Rowan and what happened when my powers awoke. As I ambled, the manor’s masked servants ignored me. My feet carried me to the training grounds. I heard the sounds of someone hitting a training dummy in there. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep.

I pushed open the door. Inside was Harry, one of the older Adepts of the Blackwood family. He waved to me as I made my way in. I waved back and smiled.

“More bad dreams?” Harry grunted at me.

I sighed. “Yep. Thought I could stretch my legs a bit.”

Harry tossed a wooden sword at me. I caught it and twirled it around. He walked into the center of the ring and gestured for me to join him. I smiled. I liked Harry. He got to the point and didn’t mess around. He was one of the Adepts who’d stepped up to mentor me when I was first learning about the supernatural world I’d been thrown into. I joined him and we bowed to each other.

Harry didn’t waste any time in mounting his offense. He lunged at me from across the ring and it was all I could do to parry his blow before twisting and dodging his follow-up attack. I struck out at him, but he had already shifted back behind me, forcing me on the backfoot. He let loose a flurry of blows, driving me back towards the edge of the ring. I grit my teeth and struggled to find my footing. I desperately searched for any opening in his attack that I could use. He lifted his weapon up and—there. I lashed out with my own wooden sword and struck for his heart.

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My weapon only struck air. A blow landed on my right shoulder, sending me to the ground. I felt the tip of Harry’s wooden sword pressing against the base of my neck. “You lose, kiddo.”

I groaned. “That’s no fair. I can’t use magic like you and the others. Do you think it’s funny to just jump over me at superhuman speeds like that?” I put the pieces together in my head about what had happened as I got up off the floor. Harry offered me a hand and smiled. “I’ll bet you even did a flip while you were over my head. Asshole.”

Harry laughed aloud and we walked back to our starting positions. Each round of our sparring was much like the first. Harry had the height, weight, and experience advantage on me. Even though I was pretty good, I couldn’t match that. And then there was the issue of magic. Adepts were trained to fight other Adepts, mages, and whatever monsters crawl up out of the darkness to come after the family. The use of magic was fair game, and Harry wasted no time flexing that particular muscle. He could jump over me, cross the entire arena in one step, and generally move at breakneck speeds. For all that, Harry was still one of the more manageable Adepts to spar against. The others might have been able to launch fireballs at my head, or suck the air out of my lungs, or any other number of nasty magical tricks.

Any time I felt like I was getting close to scoring a hit on him, Harry put me back in my place. He whacked me with his wooden sword for about an hour before we called our sparring session done. I rubbed my fresh new bruises as we cleaned up the arena. He offered me a wet towel to ease some of the pain. For all the beatings he’d just dished out on me, I knew Harry was a good guy. He was just pushing me like everyone else, to get to the point that I could use my own powers for the good of the family. Until then, I wasn’t of much use to them.

“You’re doing better, kiddo.” Harry spoke up while I was sweeping the sparring ring. “Wasn’t too long ago that you couldn’t hold the right end of a sword. You’re getting close.”

“It sure doesn’t feel like it.” I stretched my shoulders out and got back to cleaning up. “And with whatever that monster was last night, I’m worried that close isn’t good enough.”

Harry zipped around the room using his superhuman speed, straightening out all of the gear and tying up anything loose. “You’d be surprised. One of these days you’re going to take a round off me.” He put a hand on my shoulder from behind and I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden surprise. Harry laughed while I settled back down.

“That’ll be the day.” I gave a laugh of my own and shrugged off his hand. “I just wish I could see some progress.”

“Don’t sweat it. You’ll get there with your powers. That’s what the training is for.” Harry’s face darkened as he got more serious. “Now what’s this I’ve been hearing about a creature in the woods?”

“Did Jane tell you?” I wasn’t sure who’d been told what since giving my report. “We’re heading out tomorrow to search for it. I didn’t realize it was some kind of secret.”

“Don’t go blabbering about it to anyone who doesn’t need to know.” Harry cut me off. “Especially the heir.”

“I know, I know. I didn’t tell her anything, okay? She must have heard something from someone, but it wasn’t from me. I learned my lesson after last time.” I finished sweeping and headed to the closet to put the cleaning supplies away.

“Listen, kiddo. I know you two are pretty close these days, but the family’s orders are orders. We keep our mouths shut around her. She’s got enough of a burden learning how to be a mage, she doesn’t need to shoulder the baggage of the Blackwood’s dirty work when she’s just a kid.” Harry lectured me about this for what felt like the hundredth time. His expression softened. “You’re just a kid, too. I wish you didn’t have to go through all this.”

I shrugged. “It’s not so bad keeping secrets from her, even though she’s nosy. I just—”

“That’s not what I meant.” Harry cut me off again. “I mean all of this. The training, learning about the supernatural world, being part of the family. It wouldn’t be so bad if you were raised this way, and learned how to control your powers when you were young. We’re pushing you hard, kiddo. I’m just worried you’re going to break.”

There was real concern in Harry’s voice. I gave him a smile. “I’m going to be fine, Harry. I owe the family after they took me in after what happened with Rowan.” Harry winced at the mention of Rowan, but stayed silent. “I can take it.”

Harry nodded at me and clapped me on the back. We exited the training grounds while I stretched my sore arms and shoulders. The sun was starting to come up, and it was time for a whole new day.