Frick.
The year I was born.
I ran back to year 1999 and opened the book. I flipped through pages marked air, fire, water… There! I found spirit.
Master Mage: Geoff Drudner
Heir:
It was blank.
Blank?
The muffled sound of voices carried to me, and I crept to the end of the row to see Kian and his son marching back inside.
“What a fool,” Kian snapped, his eyes narrowing.
I raced back and grabbed the books marked 1998 and 2000 and then bolted down a few rows in hopes of avoiding the mages. I just needed to sign… Crap! I needed a pen.
“Do you think she’s here?” Kian’s son asked.
My heart thundered against my ribs as they stepped past the reception desk, coming deeper into the records hall.
Kian slapped the young male mage upside the head. “Of course she is,” he growled. “Now, let’s find her.”
They each ducked into rows closer to this century, and I ran for the reception desk, sliding around it just as Kian popped back out of the row I’d been in.
“Where is that child! I know she’s here,” he snapped.
My hands shook as I cracked the spine of the 1998 book. Was this the last year my mother had spent training? Maybe she didn’t put her name in the 1999 book because she was preggers with me. Is that what stopped the legacy of heirs? I didn’t know how this worked, but Gramps had said to write my name under my mom’s. I found the spirit page once again, and my gaze snapped to the names.
Master Mage of Spirit: Geoff Drudner
Heir: Elia Drudner
Initiation: completed August 2, 1998
YES!
Spinning, I spied the pen on top of the desk and grabbed it.
“Weird how heartburn and a heart attack have such similar symptoms,” Reyna said as she stepped into the room.
“Where is she!” Kain hissed as he ran down another aisle.
I tuned them out and, with a shaky hand, scrolled my name in cursive font.
Nai Crescent, and then, on a whim, added a hyphen, Drudner.
As soon as I lifted my pen from the page, light flared from the paper, and the heat of it blasted me in the face. I closed my eyes to keep from going blind as magic poured over me.
“No!” Kian screamed, and the panic in his voice made me grin.
The light died out, and I blinked. Kian, his son, Gramps, and Reyna all stared down at me, peering over the desk from opposite sides.
“Oh, hey, guys.” I smiled. Hopefully, the light display meant I was in as the heir of spirit.
“Check the books,” the high master of water snapped to his son.
The young male mage ran to the shelves and started pulling books. After opening three in a row, he shook his head and said, “It’s done.”
I flipped open the 1999 book I’d already looked through, and my eyes bugged when I spotted my inscription declaring me as Gramps’ heir. Were they all filled with my name now, all the way up to the current date?
Judging by Kian’s pissed expression and his son’s declaration, the answer was yes.
Whoa.
Gramps grinned. “Well, I guess we’ll be having an initiation after all.”
Kian whirled on my grandfather. “Initiations are in the beginning of the year. We’re in the middle. She’ll have to wait until next year.”
Gramps stilled, and his expression went from jovial grandfather to unhinged, angry old man with a single blink of my eyes. He clutched his cane, glaring at the high mage in blue robes, and stepped toward him menacingly. “Initiations are whenever a new heir is claimed. I’ve claimed Nai Crescent as my heir, and her name is recorded before the deadline. We’ll have an initiation for her or it’ll be documented that you overrode the need for one and she can just be fast-tracked into admission.” Grandpa raised his gaze to look at Kian’s in an epic staredown, and the water mage paled.
“Fine,” Kian spat. “I’ll alert the others, and we’ll ready the test for her at first light.” He snarled to his son and then spun on his heel and stomped away.
After the door slid shut behind them, Gramps leaned heavily on his cane. “I think it’s time for some shut-eye. I’m exhausted.”
Reyna and I both surged forward, each catching one of his arms as he wobbled. Somewhere in the bowels of the records hall, a clock chimed midnight. I needed to get some sleep too, but there was something else I wanted even more.
“Can I pop over and see Rage now?” I asked.
Gramps shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. Now that you’ve been recorded as my heir, you’re stuck here until you pass or fail the initiation. The test will start first thing in the morning.”
Ugh. Rage was going to straight-up murder me.
I blew out a long breath. Mother Mage, please let him understand.
“Okay.” I forced a tight smile and nodded. “Morning, then. He’ll have to wait.”
I grimaced, hoping Rage wasn’t completely losing his mind over my absence.
After helping Reyna get Gramps to bed, she escorted me to the central landing of the second floor of the castle. “That is Donovan and your aunt Sariah’s wing.” She gestured to a hallway off to the right. “This is my room.” She motioned to a door next to Gramps’ “wing” of the house. “Annette sleeps downstairs. She’s a lower-level mage, but her family’s been loyal to the spirit mages forever. Annette tends to Donovan and the household duties.” She pointed across the hall to a hallway with a bunch of doors. “Your wing will be over there.” Then she winced. “But tonight, to be safe, you should sleep in the old man’s office so Kian can’t pull any tricks.”
Her words registered, but all I could do was nod. Of course, Kian would be a high mage douche. After all, he’d been BFF’s with Declan when he was the alpha king.
Not that I cared where I slept. Besides, this way, I’d get to see Honor.
Reyna yawned, looking bleary-eyed and tired. “I’ll walk you over there, and then I’m gonna hit the hay.”
As I followed her back through the house and down the dark lacquered hallway to Gramps’ office, my mind raced ahead … to tomorrow, which made nervous energy crawl through my insides.
When we reached the door, she opened it, and Honor hopped off the sofa and ran to greet me.
‘All good?’ he asked.
I nodded, even though everything in me wanted to say no. ‘We can’t go back until tomorrow, but my name is in the scrolls, so I guess we’re all good.’
As Reyna turned to leave, I called, “Hey, Rey?”
She raised her eyebrows but didn’t protest the nickname, so I continued. “What’s in the initiation test?”
“I’ve never seen one,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve been with your grandfather almost ten years, but they don’t allow anyone to see the tests.”
“Oh.” My brow furrowed, but before I could ask my next question, Reyna spoke.
“His last shield…” She drew a line across her neck. “Probably from one of those old bags of evil. Which is why we’ve spent a lot of time in here.”
Wow. Sorry I asked.
“Anyway, goodnight, Nai.” She strode down the hall, chin held high and whistling like knowing evil mages were out to murder her and my grandfather didn’t bother her.