It felt stupid going without weapons, but I couldn’t exactly stroll into the training room without being seen. I knew there were always a few late night trainees, and the idea of bumping into Juku or something wasn’t appealing.

The explosive fire power in my fingertips would have to be enough.

The door clicked shut behind me, and I shoved my hands into my pockets and marched down the dimly lit hallway, hoping I wouldn’t meet anyone on the way out. My footsteps echoed off the walls, making it impossible to tell if anyone was coming down the hall behind or ahead of me. I kept glancing back over my shoulder, expecting someone to pop out. Maybe Asher, asking where I was going. Part of me badly wanted to go find him. To ask him to come with me. But I’d be damned if I let him get hurt. I was valuable to Kari, she wouldn’t kill me. Asher though…I had no doubt he was disposable to her, or that she would try to use him for a hostage. If he got killed over me…well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

I came to a screeching halt in front of a solid brick wall. Crap!

Obviously I still wasn’t quite sure of the castle layout and I’d gotten myself turned around. I ground my teeth together and stomped back down the passageway, taking the left fork instead of the right. Scuffling noises from the end of the hallway made me freeze in my tracks, straining to listen in the darkness. Nothing.

This is a castle, I told myself. There’s probably all kinds of weird noises. Do brick walls settle?

Nobody was jumping out to stop me, so I kept going, feeling relief when I passed the doorway of the great hall. I knew where I was now.

There was only one guard at the door tonight, which was weird. He gave me a sleepy nod, and I stammered that I was going to walk around the garden. I don’t think he cared though, because he just shrugged, pulled one of the doors open for me and went back to staring at nothing.

The night air washed over my skin, cool and crisp, and I breathed deeply. It helped calm my nerves a little bit, but my hands were still shaking at my sides. The sky was black and studded with stars, stretching endlessly above the tree tops. I stepped off the winding driveway, moving towards the tree line. Walking was easy, since the forest floor sloped under my feet. It grew darker the deeper I walked into the forest, and I paused for a second to let my eyes adjust.

Eerie hooting made me jump. A pair of yellow eyes hovered above the branch of a tree just to my left. Shit!

My shoulders sagged when I realized it was just an owl. My pulse was thundering in my ears now. A freakin’ owl had just given me a heart attack.

I stayed quiet, listening to the forest. Screeches and chirps. The trickle of running water from somewhere up ahead. The crackle of branches breaking in the darkness made my heart stop, and then begin beating in double time, so loud I was annoyed with it. How was I supposed to hear someone sneaking up behind me if all I could hear was the sound of my own cowardly heartbeat?

It happened without me noticing. An orange glow beside my left leg made me look down, startled. My hand was on fire.

Well that works.

At least I had some light now. I held up my hand up, letting the fire tickle my palm. A small circle of the dark forest around me was bathed in flickering light. Enough for me to see by. It also occurred to me that I was giving away my position, but…that’s what I’d come for, hadn’t I?

A voice behind me said, “Hello, Jess. Turn around slowly.”

My entire body was rigid, and it actually took me a few seconds to move at all. At last I turned, slowly. My hands were shaking so hard that the light in my hand jiggled wildly, making the shadows jump and dance against the velvety darkness.

Kari was standing under a scraggly branched pine tree. She had one pale arm looped around Kloe’s neck. There was a knife in my mother’s other hand, and the tip was pressed against the underside of the girl’s chin.

Kloe’s dark eyes were wide in the light of my fire, glittering with fear and anger.

Kari’s red lips stretched into a smile. “Hello daughter. I’m so delighted that you accepted my invitation, and I didn’t have to cut one finger off her either.” She smirked. “Though it was tempting. She really is a pain in the ass.”

Rustling in the forest around me made me jerk around, searching the darkness. Shadowy forms appeared from behind trees, stepping into my circle of light. Familiar faces. Maria was one, and I recognized Louis with a surge of hatred, and a someone I didn’t recognize, a short, black haired man with a long, roman nose.

A tall slender form emerged from the trees next, and my heart dropped into my boots as he stepped into the firelight.

Trent.

He had dyed his long blonde hair back to brown, and he was dressed in chainmail instead of his casual t-shirt and jeans, but it was unmistakably him. My throat tightened, and I swallowed sick bile back down, feeling my face burn at the sight of him.

“Hey Jess.” He actually had the nerve to smile at me. Like we were just bumping into one another at the mall or something. I turned back to Kari, telling myself that I was simply going to ignore him.

“You can let her go now. I’ll go with you. Just don’t kill anyone over me.”

Kari did let her go, but to my surprise Kloe didn’t move away from her. In fact, she didn’t even move. A sly smile inched across her face.

I looked from her to Kari and realization hit me. It felt like I’d been sucker punched. God, I’m stupid.

“You’re a rebel.” I glared at her, fingers tightening into fists at my sides. More than anything I wanted to lung at her and smack that look off her face. She looked satisfied, like she was proud of herself.

“No, not a rebel.” She folded her arms across her chest, apparently not in a hurry to go anywhere. “I just want you out of my hair. You’ve been nothing but trouble. Now there’s nothing keeping Asher and I from ruling happily ever after.”

My gaze snapped immediately to Kari. Was Kloe really stupid enough to think that my mother would let her go back and marry Asher? Did she think she was going to be Queen?

“You’re so stupid.” I shook my head, almost feeling sad for her.

She scowled. “You’re the one that came out here trying to save me. Who’s the stupid one, huh?”

Kari moved fast. Before I had time to think. She stepped sideways, bringing her knife across Kloe’s throat in a slashing motion. My mouth dropped open.

Kari grimaced. “She’s right, Kloe. You are stupid.”

Kloe stood where she was for a second, and then a line bloomed across her throat, like a dark red choker. She gurgled, eyes wide, and blood bubbled from the gash, trickling down her pale throat like scarlet party streamers. She fell sideways, body hitting the dirt with a graceless thump, arms spread open like she was welcoming her own death.

The sky was spinning overhead in wide, looping arcs. My chest constricted to the point where I couldn’t breathe. It was stupid, but I staggered forward, hand outstretched toward Kloe, like I could help her somehow. What was I planning to do? Resurrect her?

I was faintly aware that Kari was laughing. “Oh Jess, honey. Have you never seen someone die before?”

Louis laughed too, a guttural and unpleasant noise and it seemed to work as a shock to my system. A strangled scream ripped out of me as I launched myself forward, swinging at Kari in a deranged fit of anger.

I must have caught her off guard, because she fell over backwards and I went with her, landing on top of her with a grunt as it knocked the wind out of my lungs. Rage made me crazy, clawing at her face, screaming at her, “What the hell did you do? You killed her! You killed her…”

Iron hands closed around my upper arms, and I was jerked backwards, shrieking. Someone pinned my arms to my sides, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around me, restricting my movement. I could smell the sharp scent of cologne, and it made my eyes water with a surge of rage and humiliation. It was Trent holding me back.

The thought of him touching me gave me the strength to struggle wildly, and I howled in rage, trying to bring my arms up. I wanted to punch him. I wanted to claw his eyes out.

“Jess,” his voice was low and shaky in my left ear. “Jess, stop.”

“You stop!” I shrieked. “What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you were a good person and you’re with her? She just killed someone…”

“We had to…” he grunted as I managed to get an arm up and elbow him in the side, tightening his grip on me.

Kari was climbing to her feet. Anger flickered on her face briefly, and then she smoothed it away, replacing the emotion with a blank mask. Cool and collected again. “Honestly, Trent. Can’t you control her? She can hardly be very strong.”

“Stronger than she looks,” Trent gritted out.

I stopped fighting long enough to glare at Kari. “You’re disgusting. You’re both disgusting.”

Kari glanced down at the still form at her feet. Blood was spreading out in a wide pool around Kloe’s body. My stomach shifted, and for a moment I thought I would be sick. I just hoped I could turn around enough to throw up on Trent.

I fixed my eyes on Kari’s face so I didn’t have to look at the body. That wasn’t Kloe anymore, it wasn’t anything. It was just a shell.

“Now you think I’m gonna come with you willingly?” I spat at Kari. “You didn’t keep your word. You killed her. I’m not going with you.”

“I didn’t promise you anything.” Kari put her hands on her hips and grinned around at her posse. Clearly she thought she was exceptionally clever. “And I think you misunderstand me, darling. You either agree to come with us and behave yourself, or you’re of no use to us at all.” She looked down at Kloe’s body with a pointed smirk. “Just like she was of no use to me anymore. Understand?”

My mouth dropped open. Trent’s arms tightened around me, but he said nothing. Another surge of hot rage hit me, and tingles shot up and down my arms. A roar, a flash of warmth across my skin, and Trent yelled, releasing me. My sweatshirt was blackening, and I gasped. I’m on fire.

Not just my hands this time. My entire body.

I looked back to see Trent beating at the material of his pants, which had apparently caught fire around the crotch area. It would be funny later, but right now I was still concerned that all my clothes were blackening. I tried to remember the feeling I’d had when Asher and I had linked, when he’d calmed me and I’d been able to turn off that spot in my mind that created fire. Somehow I had to do it again, or risk setting the forest on fire around me.

I shut my eyes, breathing deeply. I imagined that Asher was here with me, that I could feel his mind touching my own. The way he felt when we linked. If I tried hard enough I could almost imagine he was here with me, that our minds were connected. I could almost feel him.

The fire fizzled out, and I glanced down at my clothing. My sweatshirt was hanging in rags, black and shriveled, revealing large gaps of my skin. I wasn’t burnt at all, but I still glowed hotly, because I was standing there half naked in front of the rebels. Luckily my jeans were mostly in one piece.

Now that the fire was gone it was hard to make out the expression on Kari’s face, but she stepped forward, and her voice was eager. “You’ve grown more powerful, Jessica. And even more out of control. You need me.”

I backed up a step, getting ready to run, but someone grabbed my wrist and wrenched me sideways. Louis’ voice said near my ear, “Can we just kill her already? She’s obviously not going to come quietly. And she’ll try to run back to her spoiled little prince every chance she gets.”

“It’s true,” Trent’s voice was dull. “You know the reports are that she’s with him now. We can’t risk her running away and telling them where we’re hiding out.”

My mouth dropped open. Was he really encouraging her to kill me? I spun around and hammered on Louis’ chest with my free hand, knocking him back a step. “Trent!” I shrieked, “You bastard! I hope Kari kills you when she’s done with you as well! I hope she kills all of you!”

“Fine.” Kari’s voice held no emotion. Her face was in shadows. “Trent, you do it.”

There was silence. Only the rustle and squeak of nocturnal creatures could be heard. Kari chuckled, a low unpleasant noise. “What’s the matter, Trent? You told me last night that you’d do anything for me. All I’m asking is this one little thing.”

My entire body was shaking. Louis grabbed my other wrist now, holding me in place.

“I’ll do it,” Louis snapped. “Because he’s clearly too much of a coward.”

In the darkness there was the scrape of steel as someone drew a sword.

I held my breath. Trent stepped forward. Was he really going to kill me now?

“Louis,” he said. “Don’t.”

More silence. I frowned, trying to figure out what was going on.

“What?” Louis sounded confused.

“I don’t think we should kill her.” Trent stopped where he was, and I squinted at his form, trying to see more clearly. He had both hands by his sides. He hadn’t drawn his sword at all.

“Put it away,” Trent said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Louis sounded cross.

Louis hadn’t drawn his sword either. He was holding onto me.

Then what…

A gasp behind me. Louis’ fingers tightened on my wrists so hard that I felt my bones grind together, and then he released me. I whirled around to see him slump sideways, landing with a grunt, clutching his stomach.

There was a form looming out of the darkness, sword clutched in one hand. My heart jumped as a low voice said, “I’m afraid she won’t be going anywhere with you.”

Asher.