The other mages were all there when Lewis and Curtis went down to the entry hall. Miriam, Blake, and Lorna stood close to Dale, Tanya, and Priya, as though to protect them from the seven knights crowded into the hall. Martin stood in front of the doors, his arms crossed. He seemed like the kind of man who would consider any amount of waiting too much. Lewis stopped with distance between them. Curtis stood next to him.

  Martin stared at Lewis for a moment before saying anything. “The miners in Whisperstream had interesting things to say about what happened. They said you were clearly wounded in the fight against the shadow wolves, but you wouldn’t see an apothecary, and you kept your hood up. It wasn’t up when you went in. They assumed the wound was somewhere on your face.” His eyes narrowed. “There was no sign a battle involving water magic took place in the mine. How did you banish the shadows?”

  “Maybe it dried,” Curtis said.

  Martin glared at him. “The miners entered right after the supposed battle. There wasn’t time for water to have dried, much less blood, which they also didn’t find. Neither did anyone see blood on the High Mage’s robes. The supposedly wounded High Mage.”

  “Not all wounds cause bleeding,” Lewis said. “The wolves weren’t natural, and neither was the wound.” At least that was the truth.

  Martin smiled unpleasantly. “That is not the only thing I find suspicious, or I would not have come. You left Palegrove when you were sixteen. What was a magical prodigy doing in Whisperstream, unable to keep a job because he had no useful skills?”

  Lewis didn’t know what to say to that. He heard the other mages whispering, but couldn’t make out what they were saying or who said it. He didn’t look back at them, didn’t quite dare look away from Martin even though no one could see his face with his hood up.

  Martin took a step closer. “I don’t know why you were in Whisperstream, but I have a theory about why Stewart never brought you to Birch Hall to be trained. You are not a water mage.”

  “He fixed the well in Leafvale,” Miriam said.

  Martin nodded. “Or so it appeared. It could have been Curtis.”

  “You think I could do difficult magic and give no outward signs of concentration?” Curtis asked. “I’m no High Mage, and even Stewart couldn’t do that. Ask anyone who was in Leafvale. No one would doubt it was Lewis who fixed the well.”

  Martin crossed his arms, pursing his lips. “Very well. Maybe his magic allows him to manipulate water. I don’t care. The issue is that Stewart practically kept his own son a secret, a son who was supposedly so skilled with magic as to become High Mage at age seventeen!”

  “I’m nineteen…” Lewis muttered.

  Martin moved fast, pushing back the hood of Lewis’s robes. Two of the knights gasped. Lewis stared at the floor.

  “I knew it.” Martin looked completely disgusted. “You’re an Afflicted Mage.” He sneered. “Are you too much of a coward to face them even now that your lie has been revealed? I doubt they knew what you were, or they would not have suffered your presence.” He glared at someone past Lewis. “Though I’m sure Curtis knew. He and the former High Mage were always close.”

  Lewis didn’t doubt Martin would force him to face the others if he didn’t do it himself. His heart had never felt so heavy as when he turned to face the other mages. His mind went blank, blocking out the looks on their faces. He didn’t know if they were as disgusted as Martin. He was afraid to know. The knights grabbed Lewis, tying his hands in front of him with rope. He could tell they didn’t want to touch him.

  “Deceiving the queen is treason,” Martin said, sounding pleased. “You will have a trial, but I guarantee you will be found guilty.” He sighed. “I cannot prove Curtis knew what you were. For now, only your guilt is assured.”

  Only his?

  “And my father,” Lewis said, looking at Martin.

  Martin blinked, then he quickly waved a hand. “Of course. As soon as he’s found, he too will be on trial.”

  Lewis tensed even more. Was Martin involved in his father’s disappearance? Most people’s first thought would be that Stewart, former High Mage, had deceived the queen. He had sought to make Lewis the High Mage despite his cursed magic. But that was an afterthought for Martin. Lewis’s guilt was the point of this.

  “It is not a crime to be an Afflicted Mage!” Miriam said.

  “He portrayed himself to be a water mage—” Martin started.

  “If he can do water magic, then he it wasn’t a lie,” Lorna said.

  Lewis couldn’t bring himself to look at either of them.

  “Why would the queen execute him for being cursed?” Priya asked, her voice louder than he had ever heard it.

  “There will be a trial in Palegrove!” Martin said, talking over the mages.

  A knight grabbed Lewis’s shoulder, leading him roughly outside, following Martin. The other knights stayed close, glancing at him as though he were a dangerous animal. Lewis heard shouting behind them, heard the mages follow them outside, but he didn’t look back. The shouts died out, the mages not following the group away through the trees.

  A knight reached over and pulled Lewis’s hood up roughly.

  “That’s not natural…” another knight muttered.

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  Lewis looked up only enough to avoid tripping. The next three days all blurred together. He was given the bare minimum of food and water. The sun was setting the night they passed through the gate of Palegrove. He was taken straight to the dungeon, on the side of the city opposite the castle. The dungeon was a single corridor underground. Only two cells they passed were occupied, one by an older man who glared at the knights, and the other by a woman who threw herself at the bars as they passed. She screamed obscenities, only stopping when the knights were out of sight. The knights led Lewis down another, shorter corridor.

  There was only one cell in there, a small one in the left wall. The knights shoved him inside, but two followed him in after Martin whispered to them. They stripped off his robes and boots, leaving him in the cold cell with just his shorts. He didn’t look up at their disturbed mutters at the sight of his body. He didn’t look up until he was alone in the now locked cell. The only light was from the dim torch near the door. Lewis sat against the back wall of the cell.

  There was no escaping this. Even if he somehow escaped the city, the knights would search for him. All he could do was wait for his trial. Lewis didn’t doubt Martin was right, that he would be found guilty and executed. Especially if they brought him before the court how he was now. He didn’t know how long he sat there before he heard voices outside the door. The door opened, Miriam, Curtis, and someone wearing a black cloak with the hood up coming inside. No knights followed them in. The person in the black cloak unlocked his cell door.

  “Time to drop the act,” she said. It was Esther’s voice. At least, it was how she had sounded in the mine before she made herself look like a male mercenary.

  “Yes, it is,” Miriam said with a hard scowl. “Curtis told me about you, Esther. I wondered what happened to you when you left Birch Hall.”

  Esther snorted. “I was never welcome there. I was no more welcome there than I was in Leafvale. My magic was not like yours or the other students.” Was she Miriam’s age? “After I left that dreadful place, I discovered the truth about my magic.” She looked at Lewis, but her face was hidden in the shadows of her hood. “The truth about our magic. Our master has lent me his power, and I will use it to bring him back to this world, with your help.”

  Curtis took a step closer. “You will do no such thing.”

  Esther laughed, the sound unpleasantly high pitched. “You have no say in this. This is between me and Lewis, and the time has not yet come. He isn’t ready, and nor will he be if Martin has him executed.”

  “I don’t see a way around that,” Lewis said. He hesitated when he looked at Miriam. “I’m sorry we hid all of this from you.”

  “I had enough groveling from Curtis,” Miriam said with a small smile. “I understand why you hid it. I don’t like it, but I understand. This is a complicated situation, and it’s hard to know who to trust, but I think we can safely guarantee none of us mages are responsible for your father’s capture.”

  “I think it’s become clear this is Martin’s doing,” Esther said. “But I doubt he’s working alone. We have convinced the court you were cursed in the mine in Whisperstream. The only reason Curtis and Miriam were allowed to see you is because they were given a chance to try again to break this supposed curse. You see, they’ve been trying all this time, and now they’re going to figure out how to break it just in the nick of time.” She sounded amused.

  “I can’t appear more human than this,” Lewis said.

  “You don’t have to,” Esther said. She became shorter, his height, then she lowered the hood of her cloak. She looked exactly like him, except fully human. When she spoke again, it was with his voice, sending a chill through him. “We have little time.” She opened the cell door.

  Lewis hesitated, but only for a moment. He didn’t know if they could trust Esther, but this seemed to be his only chance of getting out of there alive. She untied the rope on his hands and gave him her cloak and her boots, which were too small.

  “Thank you for bringing me clothes,” Esther said to Miriam and Curtis with Lewis’s voice. “After all, as High Mage, I should be allowed some dignity during my trial.”

  Lewis pulled the hood of Esther’s cloak up, never having felt more uncomfortable. She looked and sounded just like him, but at least she didn’t talk like him too. She hadn’t managed to copy how he spoke or acted. It should still be enough for the trial.

  “I will stay for the trial,” Miriam said. “I’ll tell them Curtis broke the curse and needed to rest after.” She looked at him. “I’ll meet you where we said we would meet if things went wrong. Get Lewis out of the city.”

  “Amnis will try to eat you eventually,” Esther said suddenly, staring at Lewis. She had said it with her own voice, despite still using his appearance. “When the time comes, he will use the pact against you, will try to stop you from fighting back. You will have to consume him instead.”

  “But I’m not a spirit,” Lewis said.

  “You have their magic and his essence,” Esther said. “You must consume him, or be consumed. Now go.”

  Lewis and Curtis left the dungeon room, walking back along the hall quickly. Every step was a painful one. Esther’s boots were too small for him. He couldn’t take them off without revealing the salamander skin on his foot, or the fact that he wasn’t Esther. The knights at the top of the stairs nodded politely, believing it was just Elder Mage Curtis and the queen’s adviser leaving. The two left the city, going out among the trees, away from the road. When the road was out of sight, Lewis took the boots off quickly.

  “Keep the cloak on for now,” Curtis said. “In case we’re followed.” He grimaced. “Those boots are tiny.”

  The two of them continued through the trees in silence for a while.

  “I don’t know how much we can trust Esther,” Lewis said.

  Curtis nodded. “She wants you to help her free her master. We need to find out more about that being. For now, we have little choice but to trust her with this. That doesn’t mean we have to trust her with anything else until we know more.”

  They walked until the sun had gone down, stopping at a moss covered boulder.

  “This is where we’re supposed to meet Miriam?” Lewis asked.

  Curtis nodded, sitting on the ground and patting the bag that had been behind the boulder. “We left some supplies here just in case. I’m sure those knights didn’t feed you properly.”

  The two of them ate and drank in silence. They weren’t waiting much longer before Miriam joined them.

  “Did it work?” Lewis asked, he and Curtis standing quickly.

  Miriam smiled. “It did. It was very satisfying to see the look on Martin’s face, and we’ve shaken the queen’s trust in him.” Her smile vanished as she looked at Curtis and Lewis. “I will take over Lewis’s training.”

  “He’s been learning quickly—” Curtis started.

  “You are going too easy on him,” Miriam said. “I don’t need to know what you’ve been doing to know you won’t push him as much as you need to. We must uphold the lie that Lewis is the High Mage.” She looked at Lewis sharply. “You must learn to use your magic faster, so that you will be prepared when that spirit tries to eat you.”

  “The stronger my magic gets, the stronger he gets,” Lewis said.

  Miriam nodded. “That is why you must learn quickly. You must gain knowledge faster than he expects you to if you are to have any chance against him.”