Lewis woke up to a familiar ceiling. He was lying on his bed in the tower. The door to the front room was open a crack, voices coming from the other room.

  “You’re pushing him too hard!” Curtis said.

  “It’s only a matter of time before Martin makes his next move,” Miriam said, her voice hard, but she didn’t raise it like Curtis. “The boy is barely an Apprentice. As he is now, Martin will have him exposed as a false High Mage with little effort.”

  “As he is now, Martin would have him exposed as an Afflicted Mage first,” Curtis said. “Do you think he can take care of a request like this? He couldn’t even teach a class!”

  There was silence for a moment. Lewis’s head throbbed when he thought of that odd word he’d written on the board. What did it mean? What language was it?

  “That word…” Miriam said, so quietly Lewis almost didn’t hear her. “It’s the title of the book Lorna brought back from Palegrove. At least, it’s the only word on the cover.”

  “Has he seen the book?” Curtis asked.

  “No,” Miriam said. “Lorna wouldn’t have shown it to him. We agreed it was best to keep the book locked away. The shadow wolves on the cover made me wonder if it had to do with the wolves Esther summoned. If the book has to do with Afflicted Mages…” She sighed, sounding frustrated. “We don’t know enough about that magic, or anything about the one Esther calls master.”

  “She told Lewis she borrowed the wolves from her master,” Curtis said. “If the book has to do with her master, maybe Lewis has some sort of connection to it.”

  The dream had changed. Why had it changed? He had dreamed before of the wolves chasing him through the mine, understandable after what had happened there, but why had it changed? And he’d had it the last two nights. Now he had written the name of the book he’d never seen before, a name that was in a language he didn’t even know. Lewis got to his feet, unsteady at first. He opened the door, leaning on the frame of the doorway. Curtis and Miriam were both in the study, but neither were sitting. The sun was setting.

  “Good, you’re awake,” Curtis said, his expression softening.

  “How much did you hear?” Miriam asked.

  “I’ve had dreams about the shadow wolves,” Lewis said. “I don’t know what the word I wrote on the board means. I’ve never even seen a language like that before.”

  Miriam pursed her lips. “Then perhaps you are connected to the book somehow, or maybe it’s calling to you. Lorna couldn’t open it, but perhaps you can. We thought an Afflicted Mage might be able to open it, since clearly it has to do with that magic.”

  Curtis shook his head. “Maybe he can open it, but he shouldn’t.”

  Miriam sighed and looked at him. “This could be our chance for answers.”

  “Whatever knowledge it contains may not be worth the cost,” Curtis said. “You said it yourself, we know nothing about Esther’s master. We know this book may have to do with the being Esther wants Lewis to help her free. That’s all we know.”

  Miriam’s eyes narrowed. “The Elder Mages will vote on it when Blake returns.”

  There were only three of them. She must be certain Blake would side with her. Would he? Lewis didn’t know how he felt about this. He was relieved when Miriam left without suggesting he do more training.

  Curtis closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead. “I’m sorry, Lewis.” He opened his eyes. “She is so convinced this is the right way to go about this.”

  “Maybe it is.” The words didn’t sound convincing even to Lewis.

  Curtis’s shoulders sagged. “Get some rest.” He too left the tower.

  Lewis felt more awake now that the sun was setting, but still weary from using so much magic. He filled the tub with water and slept in there again. The dream was waiting for him yet again, but the wolves still didn’t catch him. Now he wondered if they weren’t chasing him, but leading him somewhere. He woke up feeling only a little better, but still better than the morning before. Outside the dining hall doors, he stopped. If the training was going to continue like this, he would have to get used to his appearance, and the others hadn’t seemed horrified by him. He went inside, not raising the hood of his robes.

  Miriam and Curtis said nothing during breakfast. Tanya looked lost in thought, Dale was pushing his porridge around distractedly with his spoon, and Priya kept glancing at her sister as though worried. Lorna looked up when Lewis sat, but she said nothing, going back to her breakfast. After breakfast, Miriam and Curtis stayed behind at the table. Lewis went out to the garden, raising his hood against the sun.

  “I’m sorry,” Lorna said. He hadn’t heard her join him, but he was too tired to be surprised. “I wish I hadn’t brought that book back with me.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Lewis said.

  “I heard Miriam and Curtis arguing as we were leaving the dining hall,” Lorna said. “Miriam wants to vote about the book, just the Elder Mages, when Blake returns.” Her voice shook. “She’s not even bothering to ask you what you think of this. You’re the one who would have to open the book and read it.”

  Lewis still didn’t know how he felt about it. “I don’t know what I want to do about the book. Right now, I just want to stop using magic long enough to rest.”

  Lorna’s shoulders tensed. “Miriam was never like this when she taught me. I think she’s afraid of what’s going to happen next. We all are, but that’s no reason to do this to you.”

  “She is right that I need to learn to use my magic,” Lewis said.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “You can’t practice if you’re passed out from exhaustion,” Lorna said. “The students were worried. You should have seen the way Dale looked at Miriam when he came to tell us you collapsed.” She turned and sat, her back against the fruit tree.

  Lewis sat beside her, so that he could lean against the tree too. “How long have you been at Birch Hall?” He asked, breaking the silence between them.

  “Maybe five years now?” Lorna stared off into the distance before saying anything more. “I’m from Alder, a mining town in Ferax. Much like Curtis, I’m the first in my family in generations to have magic. My magic and my skill with it led to me being feared in Alder. I feared it too, and I feared mages just like the rest of the people in town.”

  “How did you end up here?” Lewis asked.

  Lorna smiled sadly. “I was told to forget about the magic, was forbidden from using it, but I had trouble controlling it. I feared what I would do with my magic, so I ran away to Birch Hall. Miriam took it upon herself to teach me. We’re both from Ferax, so she understood how much the people of that country fear mages and magic.” She sighed. “It took time, but I’ve seen mages are hardly different from anyone else. I have nothing to fear from them,” she looked at him, “including Afflicted Mages. Curtis said your father kept you away from magic all this time. If he wasn’t teaching you how to use magic, then what was he doing?”

  “He was busy,” Lewis said. He wanted to tell her. She had opened up to him about her past. “He shut me out to keep me away from magic. He spent more and more time away, doing requests, at Birch Hall, or just traveling. Curtis told me my father was searching for more about Afflicted Mages all this time, was collecting books from all over the world, but my father never told me. I know he kept it from me to protect me, but I thought he just couldn’t figure out what kind of magic I had and was disappointed in me. I don’t know if he regrets it, if it truly was for the best that he not tell me anything, but I want to get him back.”

  “You don’t have to do it alone,” Lorna said. “I don’t know how to get through to Miriam, how to get her to see this way of teaching you is doing more harm than good, but don’t forget you’re not alone.”

  “Thank you,” Lewis said.

  She was right. It wasn’t how it had been in Palegrove all those years, or Whisperstream, where he had no one to trust, no one he knew, and no goals. He had a goal, and it was one all the mages of Birch Hall shared. They were going to get Stewart back. Somehow. The creak of the back door to Birch Hall brought him back from these thoughts.

  Miriam stood in the doorway, her expression unreadable. “It’s time to get back to it.” She turned and walked away without a word, leaving the door open.

  Lewis reluctantly followed Miriam back to the training room. Without a word, he lowered the hood of his robes and stood before the basin, staring at the water. He only needed to move a little of it, not all of it. The water rippled. No, that wasn’t what he needed it to do… Smaller ripples went through the center, then a single drop of water rose unsteadily into the air. He let it fall back into the basin and tried again. The next drop of water took longer, the one after that even longer, and they were getting smaller, not bigger how Miriam wanted them to be.

  They stopped late at night, and Lewis didn’t go with Miriam to the kitchen. He slept underwater in the tub again, dreaming of the wolves chasing him across the stormy plains. Were they chasing him, or were they leading him somewhere? No matter how close they got, they didn’t nip at his heels or jump on him. Still, he didn’t dare stop running to see what would happen. At breakfast in the morning, he ate quickly. He wasn’t sure why he was hurrying. It wasn’t as though he could just get through his time with Miriam, wasn’t as though there was anything past that besides sleep and more training.

  That day, the drops of water rose from the basin more easily, but he still couldn’t make them bigger. He was too weary to make them bigger, or to keep them hovering above the basin for longer than a moment. Miriam barked orders at him to make the drops bigger, to keep them in the air, but she only gritted her teeth or sighed when he failed, before telling him to try again. It was late at night when they stopped, and Lewis again didn’t follow her to the kitchen, too tired to care if he was hungry.

  In the morning, he ate even faster than usual, leaving while Miriam was still eating. He went to the library, sitting at a table half hidden in the shadows to read a book on plants. He wanted to do something that wasn’t training. Anything. Dale came in a moment later, hesitating when he saw Lewis at the table. Lewis thought of Tanya at breakfast, distracted just as the day before. And Priya had still looked worried.

  “Are the twins alright?” Lewis asked, closing his book and setting it on the table.

  Dale sighed, sitting across from him. “You noticed too? Something’s up, but I don’t know what. I haven’t seen Tanya with Priya as often. I think that’s why Priya seems down, but I don’t know what Tanya is up to, and I didn’t want to pry.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I was going to ask Priya about it today. She seems…”

  “Worried,” Lewis said.

  Dale nodded. “Priya’s magic is stronger than Tanya’s, and that’s always seemed to bother Tanya, so maybe it has to do with that. I know it bothers her that Priya has no desire for strong magic, or to make it stronger through practice. I think the strength of Tanya’s magic is average, like mine. Mine is getting stronger as I learn, how it should. This is normal. We can’t all be like Priya or Lorna.”

  “You have nature magic like Lorna?” Lewis asked.

  “Not as strong, but it is nature magic,” Dale said. “I’m grateful I didn’t grow up in Ferax like she did, but I was in a bad situation…” He didn’t continue for a moment, and Lewis didn’t push. “I was forced to use my magic constantly in Conlis, in the farming town of Pine. I had to use my magic to help plants grow in the unsuitable soil. One day, Knights of Elnestine came to free me. Someone had informed the court of what was happening in Pine, that I was practically enslaved there. I was sent away to Birch Hall after that.” He looked embarrassed. “I was slow to trust the other mages, but I’ve realized no one here is going to use me again.”

  “Do you think Tanya fears being used?” Lewis asked.

  Dale shook his head. “I doubt it. Her and Priya’s parents are well known mages. No one would get away with using one of their daughters. I think Tanya wants to be stronger, but I’m worried she’s getting so focused on power that she’s forgotten what she wants the power for. I want to learn how to use my magic not to make it stronger, but so that I can decide for myself what I want to do with my life. I want to use my magic for something meaningful, but I want it to be my choice. I don’t know what Tanya wants more power for, but if it was just so she can protect herself and her sister, shutting her sister out would make her efforts pointless.” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m ranting.”

  “I’m worried about her too,” Lewis said. “I don’t know her as well as you.”

  “I barely know her,” Dale said. “I think only Priya really knows Tanya.” He stared into the distance for a moment. “We all know trouble is brewing in Betula. Mages may soon no longer be welcome here. I’m afraid it’s the beginning of worse things, that eventually the entire world will turn against us.”

  Lewis closed his eyes for a moment. “I hope it won’t come to that.” But it definitely could.

  “Has Elder Mage Blake returned?” Dale asked.

  “Not yet,” Lewis said. “For now, we still don’t know how many allies Martin has among the court. I think it’s fairly certain Martin is the one who forged that letter, but he’s probably not working alone, and we don’t know what his goal is.”

  “He’s well known for his hatred of mages,” Dale said, “but that’s all I know about him.”

  “He’s been riling up the court against us for over a year now,” Miriam said, coming to stand near their table. “The mages of Birch Hall need to be united against whatever trouble is doubtless coming our way.” She frowned hard. “I will not let them close Birch Hall. There have always been students and other mages here with nowhere else to go. Some mages find work in the world, but others are not ready or are too young.” She looked at Lewis. “We cannot let the court see any weakness, or they will use it against us. We cannot let them see the truth until we are ready. They need to keep believing Stewart retired and you are the High Mage.”