My blood seemed to have frozen in my veins. "What?"

Beside me, at the same time, Sparkle said, "What?" Then she added, "Caley, don't listen to him. He's talking about the darkest magics."

"Pshaw," von Einhard said with a dismissive wave of his hand. I'd never actually heard someone say that out loud before. "There is no such thing as 'dark magic,' you silly fairy. There is only power. Did you know that necromancy is close kin to healing magic? Learn one, and you can easily understand the other. They have the same base roots…manipulation of the human body."

"One to heal, and one to defile," Sparkle spat. "You mortals think you understand what you're doing to your souls while you toy with forces you barely comprehend."

I glanced at her, and was surprised to see that she looked taller, stronger, and more…other…than before. Fey, in the truest sense of the word. Once again, I wondered just how much I'd underestimated my dearest companion and her kin.

"Foolishness," von Einhardt said calmly. "The soul is an intellectual construct that humanity uses to grasp - dimly - the barest glimpse of true immortality."

"Can we get back on topic?" I asked. "This is an interesting conversation, but I don't think it's getting us anywhere."

Sparkle immediately backed down, becoming more like her usual self again. "Sorry, Caley. But what he's suggesting is truly awful."

"I don't see why," von Einhardt said to Sparkle, then addressed me directly again. "I am offering to show you the path to having your parents back. How can that possibly be a bad thing?"

I put my free hand on Sparkle's shoulder and squeezed gently. "How?"

She tensed a little, then relaxed again. Hopefully she understood that I was playing for time.

Von Einhardt considered me for a long moment, then his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You don't know. You said you'd read your father's journals…did he never mention his former Master?"

"Once or twice," I said. "It didn't sound like they got on very well."

"That's true," von Einhardt admitted with a nod. "After he came of age, he and I rarely saw eye to eye on anything. But he was a tremendously talented student, with the potential to be my equal in ways that his grandfather and father - my son and grandson - could never have accomplished." He sighed. "What a waste of time and effort."

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, that cold feeling settling in the pit of my stomach again. "You're…"

Sparkle sucked in a sharp breath and put her hands over her mouth, eyes wide.

"Your great-great-grandfather, yes," von Einhardt nodded, then gestured to the Hall. "When the ICOA heard rumors that the Hall was still occupied - that your mother was still alive - I volunteered James to make contact with her. 'They're of an age', I said. 'She'll trust him where she wouldn't trust someone older.'" He huffed in annoyance. "Then the boy went and fell in love with her on first sight, and took my order to draw her out as license to court her. Romantic twaddle.

"But I didn't know how badly wrong my plans had gone," he continued, "until I received a letter from the boy renouncing his family name and membership in the ICOA. He'd gone and married your mother, and had dedicated himself to her and the defense of this forsaken building. Can you believe the impudence?"

That broke through the frozen feeling inside me, and made me smile faintly. "From what I've learned about my parents, I don't have any trouble at all believing it."

Von Einhardt smiled sourly. "No, I suppose not. Be that as it may, it took me several years to regroup and lay new plans, by which time you had been born, and I had another generation of difficulty to deal with. Your mother was easy enough to deal with during one of her many trips into Oakwood." His expression darkened. "And while I regret killing James, he was not the first descendant I was forced to deal with harshly. Offspring are far more trouble than they're worth. Never again. With your family dead, I would have the secret of immortality, and be my own legacy down the ages.

"But imagine my surprise when I learned that you," he practically spat the word at me, "had been made untouchable, and thus the Hall impenetrable. Did you know that Sister Sarah is an impressively skilled sorceress, as well as a nun?"

I stared at him blankly. I'd had too many shocks in a short period…I was starting to not feel them.

He nodded. "Oh yes. The Church pays lip service to the notion that magic is evil, while having a number of talented spellcasters within their own ranks. Your father sent you - and I'll grant the boy his cleverness and quick thinking - to the one place I couldn't touch you."

Von Einhardt spread his hands, waving his cane vaguely. "So how can I give you back your parents? By the simple expediency of the fact that you are my blood, and they are your blood. I can teach you to use those connections to bring their souls back from whatever lies beyond death's door. And all I ask in return is free access to Oakwood Hall."

I opened my mouth, closed it again, and pretended to give it serious thought. Part of my brain actually did, too…but two thoughts quickly ran through my head. First, what Ken had said about negative elemental magics and how I'd probably never be able to use them…this sounded like something that fell into that category. Second, I felt a weird certainty that my parents would never have wanted me to have anything to do with such magic.

I wasn't sure why I was so certain of that, but I was as sure of it as I'd ever been of anything.

Sparkle grasped my free hand in both of hers and whispered, "Caley, no! He's talking about awful magics…"

I squeezed her hands gently and then pulled mine free of them. "Sir…may I call you grandfather?"

Von Einhardt considered that for a moment, then shrugged with practiced indifference. But there was a gleam in his eye that told me I'd struck the right chord. "As you will."

Anything to buy myself a little more time. I was about to risk angering him again anyway, and I knew very well that there was really only one way this conversation was going to end. Anybody who could kill his own son, grandson, and great-grandson - and presumably accompanying family members - wasn't anyone I would trust. Ever.

I just needed to buy time for some sort of help to arrive. I suspected that I'd already bought all the time I could.

"Grandfather," I began again, speaking carefully, "with all due respect, I find it difficult to believe that immortality is the only secret you're looking for in the Hall. Ken has already taught me about several known ways to extend life. There must be something else within that you seek."

That was a dramatic exaggeration…Ken had barely hinted at such things, and only recently. But von Einhardt didn't know that.

Beyond all hope, von Einhardt seemed intrigued by the question rather than angered by it. "Indeed? I wouldn't have expected him to teach you such things. And yet…all spellcasters eventually come to the question 'How can I live longer, so that I can learn and do more?' It is quite natural." He nodded to himself, then continued, "You are correct, there are many such ways. But they all have costs, and those costs are cumulative."

He stroked his neatly trimmed beard thoughtfully. "But…again, you are correct, and very insightful. It is not merely that which I seek within Oakwood Hall. There are more pressing mysteries - "

Behind me, I heard the front door unlock, open, and Ken said urgently, "Caley, I reached both Ariana and D.T., they're on their - "

"Close the door!" I shouted.

"Impudent whelp!" von Einhardt spat, and threw fire at me.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I blocked the gout of fire. So much for keeping him talking.

Sparkle darted to the right and out from under the portico, hurling cricket ball-sized bolts of purple energy at von Einhardt, as I summoned spikes of ice and sent them whistling toward him. He deflected our attacks with an invisible shield and flicked the fingers of his free hand in my direction. I felt an invisible force scoop me up and fling me backward again, and I slammed into the front door just as it finished closing.

Then he turned and swept his cane in a semi-circular arc in Sparkle's direction. She yelped in surprise as she was yanked into the air, her latest bolt of energy going wide and blowing a hole in the lawn some distance away. Then she was slammed into the side of von Einhardt's Bentley hard enough to leave a significant dent, and dropped bonelessly to the drive. There was a flash of purple light, and she was back in her tiny, natural form, sprawled unmoving on the ground.

I felt the anguished cry escape me before I could stop it. "Sparkle!" I couldn't tell if she was just unconscious, or…worse. Fear and anger exploded in me.

Struggling to my feet, I gathered power and hurled a bolt of lightning at von Einhardt. It was the first time I'd ever cast that spell without a verbal focus, but you never would have known it…the focused and blindingly bright bolt of electricity split the air between us with a crack as thunder rumbled somewhere overhead.

Von Einhardt caught it on a shield of force, and looked startled when the power of the impact actually drove him back a step. "That wasn't bad at all. You do have potential girl…but you will either let me in, or you will die this day."

Not only was I well and truly convinced that he would kill me either way, there was no way I was going to stand aside. I set myself firmly between him and the front door. "In the immortal words of another wizard…You shall not pass!"

I planted my staff on the pavement and used it to gather energy, then summoned more foot-long slivers of ice around me, a dozen of them in total. Without another word, I began flinging them at him one after another in quick succession.

They shattered on his transparent shield, before he was forced to turn and take a few steps back and to his right as I turned the water on the ground into expanding spikes of ice that rose at angles from the ground around him and tried to skewer him. They broke on his shield, but he was battered this way and that by the impacts for a moment before a wave of force rolled out from him, shattering them and rocking his Bentley on its wheels.

The wave of force would have struck me as well, but I created a matching wedge of force centered on my staff and used that to create a safe spot for me to stand in by diverting the invisible wave around me. The lamps on either side of the door and the ground lights on either side of the portico were crushed by it as a result.

Von Einhardt nodded. "An elegant defense. Killing you will be a waste…but a small one, compared to what I can achieve once you're dead."

I threw a second bolt of lightning at him…but even before I felt the wave of exhaustion and dizziness roll over me in its wake, I knew it was weaker. He side-stepped it and let it blow a hole the size of my fist in the rear panel of his Bentley. I tried to gather more power, and could almost feel it slipping through my fingers. I was still tired from the day before, and it was catching up to me quickly.

"Your stamina is lacking, child," he said condescendingly. "You may have learned a great deal about magic in a short time, but it will take longer than you've had to build up the magical stamina to stand up to someone like me in a fight. I offer you one last chance to live: Let me in, and I will teach you such things…"

Fortunately, Ken had been teaching me other ways of defending myself. I drew my smallsword.

Von Einhardt laughed. "How dramatic! You have become more amusing than annoying. Very well…" He twisted the head of his cane and whipped out a slender blade. "En garde!"

A sword cane. Of course he had a sword cane. And he probably knew how to use that blade better than I did.

Nothing for it. I walked out from under the portico and into the rain.

Our blades met, and for a long minute we exchanged ringing blows in the light mist, footwork taking us closer to his Bentley, then back towards the portico, then back towards his Bentley. As I'd suspected, he knew how to fence very well.

I wasn't about to let that hold me back, though. Not when Ken had drummed into me to use every advantage I possessed when fighting in earnest. So I used my staff to whack one of von Einhardt's shins.

He hopped back and glared at me. "That wasn't very sporting of you," he taunted. "What happened to the Code Duello? Did you never learn it?"

"Only as an element of history," I said politely. "I was taught practical swordsmanship, not fancy dueling."

"Wise," von Einhardt said with a nod. Then his face darkened, and he snapped a word in a language I didn't recognize as he swung the scabbard part of his sword cane at me.

I easily blocked the blow with my staff…which instantly shattered, spraying me with splinters. I staggered back and bounced off of one of the portico's columns, staring dumbly at the fragments of white waxwood falling all around me. The phoenix staff-topper came to rest face-down near where Sparkle was still sprawled, unmoving.

I'd barely even learned how to use it properly. Sparkle…

I set von Einhardt back on his heels with a flurry of attacks that he quickly worked to parry as my anger boiled over. Then he regained his equilibrium and we came to a halt, exchanging a few more blows as he calmly said, "Anger can be a powerful tool, girl. But an equally crippling impediment."

Then he shattered my sword the same way he destroyed my staff.

I tossed aside the useless hilt and settled into a fighting stance, ready to try hand-to-hand. Instead, he jabbed me in the stomach with the blunt end of his sword-cane's sheath, knocking the breath out of me and doubling me over. His cane came up and cracked against my jaw painfully, snapping my head back and sending me reeling. I felt something hook my feet, and went over backwards, landing hard and banging the back of my head on the drive.

I saw stars, and lost track of everything as my head swam. I gave my head a shake to clear it, and discovered what a terrible - and painful - mistake that was. Everything went black for a moment.

When I opened my eyes again it was to a fresh peal of thunder, dark clouds overhead, and the feel of something cold and sharp pressing up under my chin.

Von Einhardt stood over me, the tip of his short rapier lightly grazing a point beneath my jaw on the right side. He smiled. "Ordinarily, child, I would simply eradicate you. I know spells that would erase you from the world as quickly and painlessly as if you had never existed at all." His eyes darkened and his cold smile turned into an angry sneer. "But you have been an inordinately frustrating thorn in my side!"

There was another crack of thunder, and it began to rain. Not a gentle rain, or a hard rain…just a cold, steadily soaking rain.

I tipped my chin up, refusing to let him see how afraid I was. Even so, my voice was raw and quavery. "It seems to me, Grandfather," I said the word with all the disgust and hate I could muster, "that your descendants have been nothing but thorns in your side."

He snorted derisively. "Truth. My son was an ungrateful wretch who wanted to steal my power from me. His son was soft and refused to follow in my footsteps. I killed him and took his son - your father - to raise as my own child. And how was I repaid? He fell in love, married, had a child. And you..."

He trailed off into silence and glared down at me, then whipped the blade away from my throat and kicked me. His foot caught me in my ribs, sending me rolling across the gravel. I stopped just short of the portico.

I cried out as he kicked me. I didn't want to, but couldn't help it; I was battered, bruised and exhausted. I wasn't a fighter. I barely knew how to defend myself. I was drenched to the skin, my jeans and tunic clinging to my skin unpleasantly in the chill rain.

Sparkle had been hurt, maybe killed, and I'd failed to protect my new home. Despair flooded me, and I had to choke down a sob.

"You," von Einhardt continued, "Are a half-trained whelp barely aware of your own potential. And yet you still cause me no end of grief." He advanced on me, the rain running off the brim of his hat as he slashed the air with his short rapier. "For nearly two hundred years I have tried to gain control of the nexus your family has been so hell-bent on keeping anyone from using. So I will kill you slowly. I will run you through and watch you bleed out, lying practically within arm's reach of help. Then I will batter down the Hall's defenses and take what I need - "

As he raised the rapier over his head to bring it around and plunge it into me, a stone hand grasped the blade with an odd grating sound.

Everything fell silent except for the rain and the wind. From somewhere overhead, thunder rumbled and a flash of lightning rippled across the clouds.

Von Einhardt looked up, bewildered, to stare at the stone gargoyle that crouched atop the leading edge of the portico. It had leaned forward and down, the talons of its left hand grasping the edge of the portico for balance, while its right held the blade immobile.

Von Einhardt blinked in blank incomprehension.

"The Hall," a boy's voice called from nearby. "The Hall will protect you, as you protect it!"

Instinctively, I reached out and slapped my left hand against the stone of the pillar beside me. I was immediately overwhelmed by a rush of emotions that weren't my own; fear that I would be lost, wistful longing to be able to release Ken to assault the intruder, affection for the young woman who had barely been there long enough to learn about.

And, so strong it practically swamped the rest, rage. Rage that this interloper, who had killed two of its previous Guardians, would attempt to do so again. It would not allow it. It would help me.

I felt strength return to my muscles, energy flowing into me through my hand where it touched the stone of the Hall. Understanding followed, why the Hall had done what it had.

Without releasing my contact with the Hall, I extended my right hand. I visualized the effect I wanted to create, just the way Ken had taught me. I gathered energy from my direct contact with the Hall, and shouted a single word. When it emerged from my throat, my voice was barely recognizable as my own, booming and stentorian. It seemed to echo off the house and off the clouds themselves.

"FULMINIS!"

I wasn't sure which came first, the blinding flash of light, the snap of electricity and smell of ozone, or the explosion of thunder. The bolt of lightning that streaked down from the sky was stronger than anything I had dreamed of being able to do. It struck the tip of von Einhardt's sword and grounded through him.

He was blown backwards through the air and crashed into the back door of his Bentley, not far from where Sparkle lay. His clothes, I noticed, were on fire even in the drenching rain.

I flopped onto my back. My side, stomach, and jaw all ached abominably, and I felt completely drained. The last thing I saw before blacking out again was the concerned face of Emrys Hawkins bending over me and a flash of steel as Ariana stalked past.

Better late than never.