Page 180 of The Shadow Wand

“Yes, well, he seems to be sourcing his magic from a new place,” Lukas states.

Valasca blows out a frustrated breath. “Time for an alternate plan, then.” A stubborn light sparks in her eyes. She looks me over speculatively, cocking her head. “We’ll train her in the use of runic weaponry.”

“I think that’s the best we can do right now,” Lukas agrees.

Chi Nam leans heavily on her staff as she gives Lukas a keen look. “She might be able to amplify the runes that line up with her affinities. Much like you can.”

“Won’t that make me explode?” I snipe, glaring at the trees.

“No,” Chi Nam says. “You wouldn’t be directly accessing your magic. Just firing up runes with the auras of your affinities.” Her eyes flick toward Lukas, a knowing light in them. “Much like you two send magic through each other.”

Valasca’s brow creases in thought. “Have you ever used a weapon, Elloren?”

I shake my head in frustration, feeling terribly daunted. It may well prove impossible to break free of the entire unified forest of the entire of Erthia.

So, I’m powerless. Yet again.

Possibly for good.

Because the trees are ignorant fools who have just sealed their own fate along with ours.

Lukas and Chi Nam and Valasca have all grown quiet and are looking at me with concern as my troubled affinity fire knifes out from my knotted magic in slashing rays.

“Elloren...” Lukas touches my arm but I shrug him off.

I don’t deserve his comfort. I’ve put him in terrible danger. I’ve put themallin terrible danger.

For nothing.

Chi Nam clucks her tongue, then steps toward me. She wraps her arm around my shoulder, doggedly holding on when I stiffen, my emotions overcome with fierce remorse.

“Toiya,” Chi Nam says, the word firm but kind, “you need to decide right now to simply never give up.Ever.”

“Well, that’s not so easy,” I say, my voice fracturing.

She chuckles under her breath as she squeezes my shoulder. “Did any of us promise you ‘easy’?”

I cough out a bitter sound as Lukas’s and Valasca’s mouths twitch up. “No,” I begrudgingly concede. “You most certainly did not.”

Chi Nam smiles slightly. “We have a saying in Noilaan—when fate locks a door, sometimes it’s the most unlikely key on the ring that reopens the lock, hmm? Don’t forget that.”

A ripple of fire shivers through me, and I glance at Lukas, who’s watching me with a subtle, knowing look. The heat from his invisible, fiery embrace cuts into my frustrated anger and despair, prompting me to rally slightly.

The odds just went from terrible to impossible, but still, they’re all here. Believing in me.

Not giving up.

“All right, then,” I capitulate, moved by their collective support, “let’s try a few keys.”

“We’ll just have to jump in and start somewhere,” Valasca says, rapidly shifting gears with her usual tart efficiency. She unsheathes one of her rune blades, the weapon’s onyx handle marked with three rotating runes that glow Noi sapphire. “Here,” she offers, holding the knife out to me handle-first.

I take it from her, the runes buzzing with a static sting against my fingers.

“Let’s see what level of novice we’re dealing with.” Valasca flicks a finger toward a cluster of dead Baobab trees, their leafless branches browned and splintery against the brightening rose sky. She points to the largest and closest one. “Throw the blade at that trunk.”

I glare at the living trees who are holding me prisoner and briefly consider throwing the blade at one of them instead, but my instinctual reluctance to harm them flares.

We could be allies, I mentally lash out at them, frustrated beyond belief.

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