Page 22 of Anchor

The woman kept her sword down, resting against her leg, the tip of it touching the floor.

I turned to Madeline because I was scared and confused and absolutely refusing to believe that any of this was even real, and I said, “Grandmother.”

As if I were asking her for help.

As if I had forgotten who she was.

As if, for a moment there, I really thought she might have something to say to this Whitefire woman, get her to back off with her strange sword and leave me alone.

Silly, silly Rora,I thought, but I got myself back together again quickly.

Madeline simply repeated, “Do as you’re told.”

What she didn’t say out loud was,don’t embarrass me,but I read those three words in her eyes just fine.

“So, you’re just…” I turned to the others, to the Mud, to the Whitefire holding that sword still, so calmly. She was slightly shorter than me, but she somehow managed to look down at me anyway, like she was still standing over that platform. “You’re just…you’re just going tokillme if I can’t do a spell?”

Was that what they were saying? Because that’s what I understood.

“Please, proceed,” said the Whitefire, and I continued to look at her, blink and wait and expect her to start laughing, to say,hey, no, of course not, just kidding! I’m not going to cut your head off with this sword—it’s a joke! You should see your face! So funny…

Except nobody laughed. Nobody made a single sound, only continued to watch me. Continued to wait.

This woman was really going to kill me with a fucking sword if I couldn’t do a spell, and nobody was going to stop her.

Get it together,I told myself in my head, and my instincts were already fired up. I’d won the Iris Roe, for fuck’s sake. I’d won a game of magicwithoutmagic.

Granted, I’d done it with Taland by my side, but I’d still done it.

Better yet—now, when it felt the threat nearby, my magic jumped at the opportunity. It heated up, prepared to unleash into the world like it used to. It wasright there,and even though some part of me insisted that it was different, that it wasn’t how my magic was supposed to feel at all, I ignored it. Right now this was what I had and I was going to do the best I could with it. These people werenotgoing to kill me before I found Taland. Before I knew that he was okay. Before I made sure that I hadn’t cost him everything once more.

My heartbeat calmed down. I raised a hand, even though it was shaking.

“Which spell?” I said, and I was surprised again to find that I sounded…not freaked out.

That’s because I wasn’t, not anymore.

“A simple one—take your pick. The spell itself isn’t important,” the Whitefire said.

I looked at her.Then why the hell are you making me do a fucking spell?!

“What is?”

She raised a brow as if she just became irritated. “Your magic.”

“All we need to see is your magic. Please proceed, Rosabel,” said the Mud councilman. Yes, he was definitely the only one in this room who didn’t hate me. Who was simply curious to see if my head would remain on my shoulders.

I don’t understand anything,I wanted to say, but bit my tongue. Every instinct in my body wanted me to turn and run and never look back, figure out a way to disappear into thin air if I had to—just get the hell away from these people.

But I knew I couldn’t. The only way out of here was if they actually let me go.

The words of the most basic spell I knew were at the tip of my tongue. I raised my left hand, and I felt the heat of the ring around my finger as if it wanted to comfort me. Four Iridian words left my lips in a whisper, and something inside me snapped.

Wrong.

In that moment I knew for a fact that my magic was not at all what it used to be. Because I remembered with clarity how it had responded to my call before, andthiswasn’t it. This was far,farfrom normal.

It wasthick,like oil moving inside me, not water. It was heavy, like falling rocks instead of floating feathers. It was intense, like bright sun rays instead of slivers of moonlight.

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