Page 25 of Anchor

Liar,I thought.

“Show me—one more time. Show me, girl,” said the Blackfire.

“Ferid, leave her alone, won’t you? Can’t you see she’s pale?” said the Mud, but the Whitefire shrugged.

“I don’t see why not. Show us your Redfire again, Rosabel.”

It’s not mine, it’s not mine, it’s not mine—yet at the whisper of my new spell, one that created currents in the air that mimicked the wind, those red flames tore through my skin painfully and came out in the world, dancing as if they, too, were trying to prove to the Council members that they were real and they were mine and they had always been like this.

Liars, all of you…

But the Council members had no idea because the Council member had neverseen my magic before.

“Lucky,” the Blackfire said, convinced now. Fully convinced. “You were very lucky, indeed. The things that Rainbow could have done to you.” A deep sigh. “I thought for sure she’d turned into a?—”

“Ferid.”

At the sound of the Mud’s voice, the Blackfire clamped his mouth shut and looked at me like he was suddenly mortified. Like he had just said something I wasn’t supposed to hear.

Turned into what? Mud—is that what you wanted to say?I asked him with my eyes.Turned intowhat?!

“You may take her away, Madeline. She can keep her title; our assistants will be in touch about the rest,” said the Whitefire, taking a step back.

My grandmother curtsied deeply, and the Mud and the Blackfire all stepped back, their eyes on me.

“Thank you, Council. We will not forget the kindness you’ve shown us here today.”

Madeline turned to me. In her eyes I saw…emotion. A lot of raw emotion, mostly pride.

And when she made for the doors, it was all I could do not to startshouting,screaming my guts out, demanding somebody tell me what the hell was happening here. Demanding they tell me why my magic was different, and what did that mean, andturned into what, Ferid? Turned into what?!

“And Madeline?” said the Redfire from her seat, her hands over the table, her chin raised as she looked down on us.

My grandmother turned.

“If this happens again,youwill be responsible as much as her.”

Oh, goddess…

“Noted,” Madeline said. “Come, Rosabel.”

One last look at the Mud. Ibeggedhim with my eyes to talk to me, tell me what the hell was happening because he had to know. He was Mud, too—whyhadn’t he drained the magic of the Rainbow himself? He was Mud and he was a councilman. If anybody had access to that kind of power, it would behim,and he wouldn’t even need to complete a deadly game to get to it.

So, why hadn’t he done it himself?

The thing was, I knew these people wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if they got even a hint that something was off. That my magic wasn’t what it used to be. The fact that Madeline had lied to their faces about it said as much.

And I didn’t really care about those questions haunting me right now, not close to how much I cared about Taland. About seeing him. Making sure he was okay.

So, in the end, I curtsied, too, just like Madeline had done.

“Good luck, Rosabel,” said the Mud.

I followed my grandmother out the door, praying that I never saw any of these people again.

Chapter 5

Rosabel La Rouge

---