The sun was rising when Lewis opened his eyes. He was lying on a blanket on the floor of the inn room. The window was open, the air crisp with the smell of last night’s rain. There wasn’t a single dark cloud left in the sky. Curtis was the only other one still in the room, pulling his boots on. He smiled when he saw Lewis was awake.

  “When is the trial?” Lewis asked.

  “Soon,” Curtis said. “You don’t have to go.”

  Lewis shook his head, getting up. “I want to be there.”

  “Understandable,” Curtis said. “How are your bruises?”

  Lewis glanced at his arms and hands. “They’ve already almost faded entirely.” He wasn’t sure it was a good thing he was healing abnormally fast.

  Curtis was frowning hard. “We’ll figure this out. When we get back to Birch Hall, we’ll figure all of this out.”

  Lewis hoped that was true.

  The two joined Stewart, Miriam, and Blake downstairs, having a quick breakfast in the inn’s common room before setting out for the castle. This time, no one sat upon the throne or stood before it. The court had gathered in a circle in the throne hall, with Martin standing at the center, hands bound in front of him, and knights all around him. Martin stared at the floor. He didn’t look up the entire time, didn’t defend himself. The entire court had turned against him, some of them revealing things they had kept secret for fear Martin would silence them.

  Two days later, Martin was publicly executed by hanging at the center of Palegrove. As far as Lewis could tell, Esther wasn’t there, though she likely wouldn’t have used an appearance she’d used before. No one tried to stop the execution. Lewis wasn’t worried the execution would free the old god, since the queen’s assassination hadn’t done it. He didn’t know if Esther had to do the sacrificing, or if she had to do it with that dagger of hers, but Martin was now out of her reach.

  The assassination of the queen and the death of the would be king left Betula in an uncertain state, but the court had decided they would find the queen’s other cousin, who had been living in Ferax for many years. Lewis hoped this possible new queen wouldn’t share the hatred of mages so many in Ferax had. He could tell his father and the Elder Mages were worried about it as well, and they talked about it quietly at the inn that night.

  “All we can do is wait and see what the new queen is like,” Miriam said.

  They left for Birch Hall in the morning, traveling back through the forest and reaching the hall just after sunset. Stewart and the Elder Mages all had a key to the hall. Lorna came to greet them in the entry hall, having been keeping watch for the night. Dale and Priya were asleep in their rooms. Lewis was careful not to wake Dale when he entered the room and went to bed. Lewis woke up late the next morning, Dale having already left the room. It was good to be back at Birch Hall. He joined the others for breakfast in the dining hall.

  “We don’t know what Esther’s next move will be,” Miriam was saying when Lewis sat down at the end of the table with Dale and Priya. She glanced at Lewis. “At this point, it would be easier for her to wait for Lewis to become the chimera than to get close to the new queen and sacrifice her.”

  “We don’t know what the other plan she spoke of is,” Curtis said with a shudder.

  Stewart sighed, paler than usual that morning. He had been walking slower with each day on the way back to Birch Hall.

  “You need to rest,” Miriam said. “Your wounds haven’t fully healed.”

  The court had made Stewart officially High Mage again, which meant Lewis was officially an Apprentice. As the next few days passed, he attended lessons with Dale and Priya, but he went to the library during magic lessons. A mage who couldn’t use magic… He pushed the thought away, reading every book he could find about distant history, searching for anything about a blight, but finding nothing. At night, there was always an awkward silence between him and Dale, but Lewis didn’t know what to do about it.

  Word came to Birch Hall that the queen’s other cousin had been found and would become queen in five days. Stewart and Blake left for Palegrove to attend the coronation, as it was expected of the High Mage. Blake had insisted on going since Stewart was still recovering from his wounds, and Curtis was away on a request. If it weren’t for the constant tension hanging over Birch Hall, it would feel like things were finally normal. Lewis hoped this tension wouldn’t just become the new normal. Curtis came back before Stewart and Blake returned several days later. The two had news from the court and the queen, which they told everyone about during dinner.

  “Birch Hall was the reason for Martin’s misdeeds,” Stewart said. “The queen held council with the rulers of Ferax and Conlis and they agreed to declare Birch Hall officially neutral territory, not a part of Betula or any other country.”

  “The new queen believes Birch Hall is too important to be claimed by any one country,” Blake said. “She and the other rulers decreed that Birch Hall will continue to be a place of study and sanctuary for mages.”

  At last some of the tension eased, but only some of it.

  “Have you found out anything more about that group of mages?” Miriam asked Blake, glancing briefly at Priya, who had hardly spoken in the last few days.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Not yet,” Blake said. “All we know is that they’re gathering students and other mages, and they believe there was something more to magic in the past, which was lost.”

  “Do you think…” Lewis hesitated. “Maybe there’s more than one old god?”

  A heavy silence settled over them.

  “Perhaps,” Stewart said. “We will search for anything we can find about old gods of our world, but I’ve never read any such thing in the books I’ve read so far.”

  No one said much more during dinner. The next day was the usual classes, with Lewis going to the library during magic lessons. Now he searched for anything about old gods. He didn’t find that, but he finally found a mention of a blight. Two hundred one years ago, in the year 457 of the Age of the River Lily, there was a blight in Ferax. It swept across half the country before vanishing without a trace. The book said nothing about a chimera, or how the blight was stopped. With a sigh, Lewis closed the book and slid it back onto the shelf. Maybe he should ask his father if he could look at the books in the tower.

  “Searching for something?”

  Lewis turned sharply.

  Esther stood in front of an open window, the hood of her cloak back. She was using the appearance with the black hair and blue eyes again. This time, her hair was tied in a loose braid.

  “Is that your real appearance?” Lewis asked, taking a slow step back.

  Esther grinned. “Maybe. Maybe not.” Her grin vanished. “It’s time to stop delaying this. We both know you can’t resist much longer.” She drew her dagger, rushing at him.

  Lewis moved to the side, the blade barely missing him. There was no water he could use against her, even if he could use his magic without becoming the chimera. Esther struck again, and again she barely missing him when he moved. He couldn’t keep this up for long. The darkness within him stirred, as though sensing the threat. Had this been her plan? He backed away from her further, holding back the darkness as hard as he could.

  “The mages I have gathered believe everything I have told them,” Esther said with a sinister smile. “They think there’s more to magic, a secret we’re going to uncover.” She laughed. “With enough mages and my power as priest, I can free our master. Of course, it will be the death of all the mages involved other than me.” She stared at him. “Including Tanya. But you could save her, could spare all of them if you become the chimera.”

  “Not if the blight kills them,” Lewis said, her words and his own too much of a distraction.

  The darkness inside of him rushed forth, coursing through him. He screamed, the sound becoming the terrible cry of some sort of beast. Esther’s grin returned. Lewis struck at her with his talons and claws, her grin vanishing and her eyes going wide. She stepped to the side quickly, dragging her dagger across his side. The wound wasn’t deep, but Lewis let out the bestial cry again as the darkness threatened to wash him away entirely. A blue robed mage swept between Lewis and Esther. Blake pulled a Firerock from his pocket, but before he could use it, Esther lunged.

  Her dagger pierced deep into his shoulder. Blake cried out. Esther yanked her dagger out, only to slice him across the chest with it. The Elder Mage collapsed onto the ground. Lewis was breathing hard, barely holding on to his sense of self. Stewart, Miriam, and Curtis came running from the other end of the corridor of books. Esther scowled, trapped between them and Lewis, but Lewis was in no shape to do anything right then. Esther climbed back out the window, running away into the forest.

  Miriam knelt beside Blake while Stewart and Curtis moved closer to Lewis. They both looked uncertain. Lewis let out another terrible cry. If he was going to do something, he had to do it now. There was only one thing he could think of, one chance of not losing himself and doing what Esther wanted. He climbed out the window, running into the forest, but not in the direction Esther had gone. He heard Stewart and Curtis calling his name, but he didn’t look back.

  He passed the garden, going deeper into the forest until he couldn’t go any further. He sank to his knees, closing his eyes. The darkness was all he could feel, almost all he could think about. He had to focus, or it would be too late.

  “Amnis…” Lewis thought. He called out to the spirit in his mind. “Amnis!”

  When he opened his eyes, he wasn’t in the clearing with the pond, but he saw a flicker of it in the darkness all around him. A small salamander climbed out of the darkness, onto Lewis’s leg. The spirit flickered in and out of sight, or maybe in and out of existence.

  “We are both running out of time…” Amnis said, his words strained.

  “Can we make a pact?” Lewis asked. “You said you had a plan.”

  Amnis sighed. “We cannot make a pact so long as even a scrap of my essence remains in you, which it does. And I am too weak.” He flickered out of existence longer this time. There were no longer even glimpses of the clearing with the pond in the darkness. “There is no avoiding this any longer. I must give you all that remains of me, to protect this world.”

  Lewis hesitated, then felt guilty. If this was the only way to prevent the blight, he was going to do it, even if it was the last thing he did as himself.

  “It won’t be how it would have been had you absorbed all of my magic and essence,” Amnis said. Perhaps he guessed why Lewis was hesitating. “There isn’t enough of my magic left for it to change you like that. I will give you the last of my essence. This way, you will never become the chimera. You will no longer be an Afflicted Mage, or a mage at all, but neither will you be human.”

  “What will I be?” Lewis asked.

  The salamander crept further along his leg. “Perhaps you will be something entirely new.” He became water suddenly, seeping through Lewis’s robes and into his leg.

  The spirit’s essence coursed through Lewis just as the darkness had, seeping into his entire being. The darkness faded away, but the essence was so cold it burned. Lewis cried out as it joined with him, and as the darkness that had been a part of him for so long burned away.