He squared off against the small doll-like Breah, who pursed her lips in thought and looked directly at Pax and said, “Why yes. If it comes to that, she’s dangerous.”

“Stop it! Both of you!” Lorna spoke, her voice echoing with power throughout the room. “We must consider all options.”

I made it to the heavy, wooden doors and pulled on them but they wouldn’t budge. I was locked in. Feeling a moment of alarm, I started to pound and kick the doors, but they were held fast. Turning, I looked for the key hole; there was no lock on the door. The Adepts were keeping the doors closed by their power.

“I’m sorry, child,” Cirrus said, rising from his seat and walking toward me placing himself squarely in front of me. “You are an enigma, a puzzle, an unknown, and to the human population that is a terrifying factor. To calm the stories that are going to be spread about you, and believe me there will be stories, it would be best if we understood you better and that might require careful documentation.” He gently rested his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face the others. “Can you imagine if others found out that you somehow acquired or stole powers that you weren’t born with and that you could possibly steal more? It wouldn’t be safe for you in Calandry. People may try to hurt you.”

“But I didn’t steal anything,” I shrugged defensively. “Don’t forget that I was the victim here.”

“No, but they won’t understand that. For your safety, it would be best if you stayed here, under our protection. Maybe we can find a cure or a way to reverse what was done.” Adept Cirrus spoke to me like a father calming a frightened child.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand?” Kambel said nervously, taking off his spectacles and cleaning them before donning them again. “How come the mercury stone didn’t recognize her? It is able to distinguish the Denai blood the same way Cassiel does. So does that mean she doesn’t carry any of the normal Denai gifts? If that’s so, we don’t know the range of her abilities or if she is a threat to us.”

I felt my heart quicken in dread at the implication. Here it comes, I panicked, the guards, torture, death. My palms were sweaty with perspiration, so I gripped the door handle harder turning it desperately, while shrugging off Cirrus’ hand from my shoulder.

“There’s an easy way to find out!” Breah stated. She stood up, pulled energy toward her into a ball of blue fire and walked determinedly over to my chair, her lips pressed into a thin, straight line. The slight tick of her jaw betrayed the amount of control she was using to keep her emotions in check, but I could read the animosity that was in her eyes.

I turned to face her, my hands never releasing their hold on the cold door handle. I wanted to cry out in frustration as escape was within my grasp, literally, if I could only open the stupid door. It wasn’t even locked and I still couldn’t open it. I looked over my shoulder at her ice cold stare and felt that this truly was the end.

Closing my eyes, I prayed for a quick and merciful death, but opened them at the last second. Movement caught my eye.

“STOP!” a clear voice commanded.

I watched the blue fireball stop a hand span away from my face. I sat mesmerized as it danced and fluttered in her open palm. Breah’s eyes blazed angrily, she swallowed and slowly closed her fingers and the ball shrank until it was the size of a fly and then disappeared.

The ugly tapestry of the hunter and the horse on the wall began to move. A small, feminine hand pushed it aside, and a beautiful woman with red hair and blue eyes stepped from behind it. Her dress was of the finest blue silk and a cloak covered her shoulders. It wasn’t until I saw the circlet upon her brow that I realized I was being addressed by the Queen.

Queen Lilyana left the alcove that was obviously her listening room and Commander Meryl followed close behind her. It struck me that I had seen her before when I first came to the school. And that I had seen her leave Lorna’s office. She must frequently sit in on the Adept Council’s discussion protected from sight by the tapestry. In fact, she probably was there on every occasion. No wonder Breah would shoot nasty looks at the tapestry when no one was looking. But it didn’t explain why the Queen was here now.

She stood before me and I began to fidget, uncomfortable in her presence. Her voice was neither soft, nor uncertain. “You won’t hurt me, will you?”

“No, ma’am, I mean, your Highness,” I stumbled on the words, still reeling from being in the presence of royalty.

She smiled sweetly at my ignorance. “Do you plan on harming anyone here in Calandry?”

I shook my head so hard I could hear my teeth rattle in nervousness.

“I have heard what all you have had to say and I don’t take this decision lightly. I really do believe that because of these unfortunate changes in circumstances, we have no other choice but to keep her here. I’m sorry, Thalia.” She looked grim. “You leave us with no other alternative. You must stay here permanently until we release you.” The tic in her jaw lessoned as a grin escaped from between her lips. “Or until you graduate from our training program.”

Chapter 10

My jaw dropped toward the floor in disbelief. This was the last thing that I expected. My heart felt like it was trying to escape my chest and the fingernails of my hand maintained a death grip on the door handle so I wouldn’t slide onto the floor in a faint of relief.

Glancing at Lorna to be sure that I had heard right and that my life wasn’t forfeit, I saw a look of satisfaction in her eyes and a hint of mischief. The ever intimidating Adept Pax Baton was nodding his head in agreement, while Breah sniffed in disdain, tracing a stain in the wood of the table with her dainty nail. Her actions shouldn’t surprise me, but somehow they did. Maybe it was because she was the youngest member of the Adept Council and, being young, she tended to wear her emotions openly on her sleeve. Or maybe it was because she felt she had to prove herself to them and was wary of anything that would cause problems. And to her I think I posed the biggest one.

I was beginning to feel wary of Kambel. I wanted to stay as far from him as possible for I had a feeling that if I walked past him he would poke me with a stick just to see my reaction and response time and then record it. That thought alone made me shudder. Cirrus, I had mixed feelings about, his help in the marketplace showed he was a caring person but I couldn’t find any faults with him, which made him seem too perfect.

“That settles it, you will enroll in the training program and start to learn everything you can from the teachers about your powers and how to use them,” Adept Lorna smiled, secretly excited about the Queen’s decision.

“You can’t be serious, Lorna. That would be unwise; you are going to teach her the secrets of the Denai? What if she runs straight back to the Septori? This could lead to the end of the Denai!” Breah had finished pouting and was up for another round.

“But what if you are wrong?” Adept Lorna turned on Breah. “What if she is the answer? What if she is the future? Maybe she can help us understand why we are going extinct.”

“We are not going extinct! I happen to come from a long line-,” Breah started.

“Oh shut up, Breah!” Adept Kambel spoke up. The room became still as everyone stared in astonishment at the small Adept, who until now had never raised his voice.