best. I stroked Quartz’s neck, content to leave Thunder Valley behind. The sunshine warmed my new cloak and the cool air held a crisp scent of earthy pine. For once, I looked forward to returning to the Magician’s Keep.
The day passed without incident. When the light faded to gray, Zitora scanned the surrounding area, and decided to make camp off the main east-west road, which led straight to the Citadel. An abandoned quarry was on the other side, and a thin wood occupied our side.
“Gather wood for a fire, and I’ll take care of the horses,” she said.
I picked up enough dead branches from the edge of the wood to get a fire started, but would need more for the rest of the night. Before searching deeper into the forest, I hesitated. Reluctance pulled. Every time I had been alone, something bad happened.
Determined not to let my fears rule me, I pushed through the underbrush and collected a few bigger logs. Every sound caused my heart to jump and sweat dampened my shirt, but I persisted until my arms were full.
Zitora lit the fire and cooked us a pot of beef stew. The yellow glow from the flames cast shadows along the ground and in the woods. Multiple times I sought the familiar black shape behind Zitora as if I was a child checking the presence of my mother.
I wondered if Yelena’s time as the Commander’s food taster made her instinctively test each meal for poisons before she ate or if she avoided hugging people because they might prick her with Curare. Thinking back to the first time I had seen Yelena after I had tricked her, I remembered being so happy to see her I hugged her without thought. She hadn’t recoiled. In fact, she hugged me back.
Her advice about not letting the past ruin the future proved impossible to follow. How could I stop checking Zitora’s shadow? Wasn’t I supposed to learn from my past mistakes? How did Yelena do it? How could she relax by a fire without worrying about a Fire Warper jumping from the flames and burning her?
Magic, of course. She was a powerful Soulfinder. If a person approached her with Curare, she would sense the intention and counter with ease. In my case, I don’t think an attacker would wait while I fired up the kiln and gathered a ball of hot glass.
Zitora retrieved our bedrolls from the saddles. I stared at the flickering flames, wishing I could do more with my magic.
“What’s this?” Zitora asked. Instead of our rolls, she held the spider-filled glass orb.
“One of the orbs Ash made. I grabbed it when I escaped.”
She arched an eyebrow, but remained quiet.
The silence drove the story from me. I told her about Tricky’s magical attacks, and how I countered the second one. “I really haven’t had the time to wonder where the glass spiders came from. Filling the orb with magic, I can understand. But for the magic to convert into actual glass is beyond my ability to explain.”
“Or mine,” Zitora said. “Magical illusions are really just visions in your mind. A magician will send you images that cause your body to have a physical reaction, like feeling the beetles’ bite and eat your flesh. Once the magician stops, the vision disappears and so does the magic. I’ve never heard of a magician able to turn magic into an object. Perhaps Bain would know more.”
She tipped the ball and shook one of the spiders into her palm. “Are these the creatures that attacked you?” She handed me the piece.
Spider-shaped and fingernail-sized, the clear glass encased a single brown spider. The glass felt thin and brittle as if I could crush it between my fingers. “Yes, but they were bigger.” My skin crawled with imaginary legs. I resisted the urge to swipe my arms.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
I searched for the right words, but no matter how I phrased it, it would sound strange. “The spiders want to stay with me.”
“They do?”
“Yes, and I was afraid the authorities would confiscate them. And we really haven’t had time to discuss it yet.”
“So you planned to tell me?”
“Of course.”
Her dubious expression turned into a smile. She shook a handful of spiders from the orb. “There must be hundreds of them.” Concentrating on the ones in her palm, Zitora hunched over them. “There’s magic inside, but I can’t use it to communicate or to do anything else. Perhaps you funneled Tricky’s magic into the orb and trapped it.”
I considered. If I could do it again, I would have a potential defense against a magical attack. Many questions circled my mind. Would I need to use the exact same type of orb? Or could I use any glass container?
“Very interesting.” She poured them back into the ball. “I can’t wait to get back to the Keep and try a few experiments.”
“Experiments?”
“Yes. Don’t you want to explore this new power?”
“I do, but I’ll have classes.” And tests to fail. Class-mates to injure.
Zitora waved her hand. “Your curriculum so far has been geared for a standard magician. Since Yelena’s arrival, we have realized that not all students match the standard. When we get back, I want to change your focus.”
“You can do that?”
“Of course. Especially since you’ll be my student.”
I blinked.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she said. “Your powers have always intrigued me and I think it’s about time I mentor a student. Although—” Zitora frowned “—since you’ve been ambushed, attacked, incarcerated and kidnapped while in my company, perhaps you’ll want another teacher.”
I rushed to assure her of my honor in being chosen.
She gave me a rueful smile. “My first mission without guards and I made a mess of it. The Sitian Council will never let me go alone again.”
At least she didn’t run home to her father. My first mission wasn’t a success, either. I thought about Kade’s instructions to be confident when I left the coast. Despite my boast of being an all-powerful glass magician, now I could think of another who might have done the same thing with the glass orbs and magic. Ulrick.
I counted how many days it has been since we left him in Booruby. Twenty days. My body ached as if seasons had passed.
But my mood lightened. Twenty days meant Ulrick should be waiting for us at the Keep. A potential friend and a potential colleague. I could be working closely with Zitora and Ulrick. My desire to return to the Keep increased threefold.
The sight of the white marble walls surrounding the Citadel made me whoop with joy. After three days on the road, I was more than ready for a warm bath, a hot meal and a soft bed.
Zitora shared my enthusiasm and we raced our horses to the Citadel’s west gate. The guards at the entrance gestured for us to slow down, but otherwise waved us through. We maneuvered around the crowded streets and were soon inside the Magician’s Keep located in the northeast quadrant of the Citadel.
At the stables,
