Sure enough, there was only about a meter of fire magic between my palm and the black smoke, and she was gaining centimeters on me each second.
Suddenly, red light flashed in the corner of my eye.
Two plumes of dark smoky magic shot out from where the light had been and smacked into the mages who were attacking me and Mira.
They fell to the ground.
Dead.
The final mage must have been shocked, because Ethan cut through his dark magic and burned him to ash.
I wanted to jump in victory.
Instead, I pulled back on my magic and turned to see where the surprise dark magic had come from, ready to defend myself against whoever had wielded it if they tried to attack us.
Two people.
A girl around my age with long auburn hair, and a guy with jet black hair and skin so pale that I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d grown up underground in Utopia.
Judging from the magic they’d used, they were mages. Dark mages.
So why did they help us?
“Gemma,” the girl said, as if we’d met before. “Mira. I take it the dragon is with you?” She motioned to Ethan, and I stared at her blankly.
Ethan lowered himself to the ground. Blood dripped out of the holes in his wings—I had a feeling it wouldn’t have been long until he needed to land, anyway—and he shifted back to human form.
He looked exhausted, but his human form wasn’t wounded. Thank God.
He hurried over to me and Mira and faced the dark mages. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Torrence,” the girl said, then she pointed to the dark-haired guy next to her. “This is Reed. Long story, but we’ve met the twins before. And we definitely weren’t expecting to see you when we landed in Ember.”
I stared at her, confused. Because how was Selena’s best friend here? And why was she acting like she knew us?
“We haven’t met before,” I said simply.
“Yes, we have,” she said. “Twin Pines Café. We dropped in a few months ago, but you don’t remember because we made you forget. Well, Selena made you forget.”
“The Queen of Wands?” Mira asked.
Torrence’s eyes went hard, and she said nothing. Because of course she meant the Queen of Wands.
The Queen of Wands, who was currently on a mission to find Torrence and free her from Circe’s island.
If Torrence had been thrown into Ember, and Selena wasn’t with her…
“Selena didn’t save you,” I guessed. “Did she?”
“She tried,” Torrence said. “But she shouldn’t have. She should have known I could handle myself.”
I glanced at Reed. He’d been silent so far, and from his intense expression, I had a feeling he wasn’t going to be as open as Torrence.
“Something happened to Selena,” Ethan guessed.
“It did.” Torrence’s voice was flat.
“Did Circe take her?” I asked. “Did Selena offer herself as a trade and take your place on Circe’s island?”
It sounded like something one of the Queens would do. Something noble, to save someone they loved.
“Selena’s not here because she’s dead,” Torrence said, her eyes so empty that it put me on edge. “The Supreme Mages killed her.”
13
Gemma
“Selena has the most magic of anyone in the world,” I said, shocked. “That’s not possible.”
“Six Supreme Mages were there,” Torrence said. “And they didn’t just kill Selena. They killed Selena’s soulmate Julian, too.”
I shivered at her empty stare. Because Selena was Torrence’s best friend. How was Torrence so unemotional right now?
It had to be shock. Selena’s death must not have sunk in for her yet.
“Tell us what happened,” Ethan said. “From the beginning.”
Mira looked around, worried. “Shouldn’t we get out of here?” she asked. “What if more of them come?” She tilted her head toward the charred remains of the dark mages and fae.
“They rotate the portal guards at nightfall.” Ethan glanced up at the sun, which was high in the sky. “We have a while until then. Enough time to hear the two of you out.”
I could practically hear the subtext in his tone.
Enough time to figure out if we can trust them.
It seemed crazy to not trust the Queen of Wand’s best friend. But there was something off about Torrence. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.
I barely remembered when she came into the café, but a gut instinct told me she was different than she was then. And if there was anything I’d learned since getting my magic, it was to trust my intuition. It hadn’t steered me wrong yet.
“How do you know the guards’ schedule?” Mira asked.
“I’m the King of Ember,” Ethan said. “There might not be many dragons left, but this is our realm. We know what goes on in it.”
She nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer.
I hadn’t even thought to question him, because if Ethan thought we were in danger, he never would have suggested staying put.
There were only two people he thought could be putting us in danger right now—Torrence and Reed.
So I turned my attention to them, waiting for them to explain.
“What do you all know?” Torrence asked. “Because the last I’d seen the two of you, you were witches with barely any magic and no knowledge of the supernatural world. Now, you have elemental magic. Strong magic, from the looks of it.”
“Dragon magic,” I said.
“Right. Your mom said you were supposed to get dragon magic on your seventeenth birthday. I guess she was right.”
I held up my hand and ignited a flame in my palm. “Dragon magic is elemental magic,” I said, and I closed my fist, snuffing out the flame.
“Impressive,” she said, although she looked anything but impressed.
“We’ve learned a lot since getting our magic a few months ago,” I said. “We were educated on the entire supernatural world. We know you bargained with Circe, lost, and ended up a prisoner on her island.”
“For all eternity,” Torrence sneered.
“Right,” I said. “You made the bargain to help save Selena from the Otherworld when she was held captive there. So, she felt obligated to save you in return. She, Julian, and Reed—” I paused to look at him when I said his name. He stared straight back at me, and I shuffled my feet uneasily, refocused on Torrence, and continued, “They created a search party with the Supreme Mages to find you and save you.”
Torrence curled her hands into fists when I mentioned the Supreme Mages, and inky blackness swirled in her eyes.
The same inky blackness that I’d seen in the dark mages. And then, I realized…
“You used mage magic when you helped us fight the dark mages,” I said. “But you’re not a mage. You’re a witch.”
“Half-witch,” she corrected me. “Half-mage. Apparently, I take after my dad.” She paused, then clarified, “He was the mage. Well, he is the mage. Apparently he’s still alive. And he’s here, in Ember.”