Author's Note: Alright, so this story starts off at the end of Chapter 29 "Middlebranch" in Sky Raiders. The kids have already met Greta, and Jace's fight with the slave in the tavern still happened. Only instead of having a talk with the tavern owner, Mira and Jace have a shouting match instead. Yeaaaaaa, so here we go! Talking will be regular text, while their thoughts are italicized. 

Second Author's Note: I'm making some small edits for clarity, but the overall story is still the same! To clarify, this novel takes place in a fantasy realm with five kingdoms, and  slavery is still a widely used system in this fantasy world. All credits for the characters go to Brandon Mull, this story is all from my own creativity. Comment anything you think I should consider changing, I'd appreciate it!! Enjoy! 

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Mira's POV

"What was I supposed to do, let Baldy get away with it?"

Exasperated, I threw my hands in the air, nearly swatting Twitch's head by accident. My mind was still reeling from what happened, but I hoped my annoyance masked the shock I felt. As soon as Jace had walked through those doors, he immediately began fighting with a rude slave. Okay, so even though 'Baldy' (Jace's idea, not mine) had been out of line, our priority is to lay low and prevent unwanted attention. Jace's decision to  start a fight, in a public place no less (even if we were the only ones there), could've alerted the authorities! Authorities meant my father, and if he found us, then where would we be? All our work would be in vain. I turned to face my best friend with stormy eyes.

That was everything I was planning to say at that moment in a nutshell. The perfect speech, and all I had to do was gather my wits and say it. There's no way I could screw that up, right? 

"Who, in their right mind, pours a bowl of soup on someone's head using a HAT?!"

I mentally facepalmed. 'Seriously, Mira? Who cares about the hat? Well, Jace probably did, since he bought it. Ugh, I really need to think before I speak,' I scolded myself.

Jace scoffed in disbelief, his chair skidding across the floor as he towered above the table. His eyes darkened from brown to obsidian, as he tightened his iron grip on his golden rope, easily looking scary and attractive at the same- 

'Did I just....? No, no way. What was I thinking? Jace, attractive? Yeah, right...' The sharp irritation in Jace's voice snapped my attention back to the conversation. 

"Baldy was completely out of line! I thought you of all people would understand that. Some people at Skyport acted the same way, and we couldn't do anything about it when we were slaves. He was treating us like dirt, so I did what a free person should've done sooner and fought back. There was a chance to do something right, so I took it," Jace shot back, eyes flashing with annoyance.

I should've taken that as a warning sign of trouble, but my fierce side fed off of Jace's fire. 

"Look, I know that he was being rude, and I'm grateful that you care so much to stand up for us. But look at the consequences, okay? You almost started a full on battle in here! That slave was huge, you could've gotten injured. Even worse, what if they got the authorities involved? I don't think telling my father where we are is the best way to be subtle," I snapped sarcastically, my annoyance getting the best of me. I stood up, staring right into Jace's darkening eyes. 

"What we need to do is-"

"Right, leave it to you to take control of the situation. Because all we're nothing but semblances to you, doing everything you say like puppets. Isn't that correct, Princess?" was his reply, his voice simmering with rage. He spat out the last word as though it were poisonous, and it hit me harder than I expected.

I stared at my best friend, shocked by the sharpness of his words. He had never been so recklessly angry before, especially toward me. This was a completely different Jace entirely.

"You must miss being a princess, having the power to force people to do whatever you wanted." He forced out a bitter laugh, shaking his head in disgust. 

"Expecting peasants to bow to your will, suffering in exchange for your own comfort. Driving families apart without a care in the world. Well, I'm not like that, so I'm sorry if you expected me to be something you could control, Your Majesty-"

"Don't you dare call me that!" As I broke free of my previous shock, I could tell my voice was wavering as I retaliated. "You have no idea what I went through. I suffered just as badly for almost a century!"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you suffered a lot in a palace of riches," he rolled his eyes, disbelieving. "Have you seen what he's done to all these people? He destroyed their lives, their happiness. And you just sat back and let it happen, you didn't even try to fight back."

My anger flared. 'Keep it together, Mira,' my conscious commanded, but I ignored it as sixty years worth of worry and misery clouded my mind. My hands slammed against the table, the vibrations startling Twitch and Cole from their silent observance. 

"Just because I'm his daughter doesn't mean I didn't suffer. He STOLE my powers, a part of me I can't live without. He staged my death, for crying out loud! I was left to rot in a dungeon, and without my mom's help I wouldn't have even had a chance to escape. I had to leave behind the only life I ever knew. He took everything from me, just so he could satisfy his greed."  

"Ever since I had to leave my family, I never seemed to find someone who would accept me, care about me, as my own person. The people I met when I was in hiding only cared because I was royalty." I swallowed, a knot forming in my throat. 

"When I met you, all those years ago, I was so afraid of all the terrible things that could happen. I was so alone, and I thought that was how it was going to be forever. But you changed that, and for the first time I remembered the girl I used to be, the girl I could've been, before that carriage rolled into the river. Before I had to die."

"When Durny told me we had to leave, I thought I could finally trust you with my secret, hoping that you'd care. I didn't want to leave you without an explanation, but I never got around to it because of the legionnaires' arrival. So if you seriously think I just want to control you, Jace, then you're as oblivious as you seem. It's not because of power, it's because I can't lose someone that means so much to me. Not again." I pushed back my seat, the chair scraping roughly against the floor. The world began to look blurry, but I didn't care. 

"You know what, Jace? This was a terrible idea. I never asked you come with me, because I knew I'd put you in danger. So maybe we should just split up, if that's how you really feel. ALL of us," I added, facing Cole and Twitch.

They were still frozen, scared of saying anything in fear of worsening the situation. Seeing their personal turmoil caused all my rage to melt away into crushing despair. I looked at Jace, who's expression had went from angry to speechless. 

"So come find me when you figure out what you want to do. Because I don't know if I can do this anymore," I finished, words cracking with emotion. And, slapping a few ringers down as a tip for our server, I ran out the tavern doors and into the night, leaving three silent boys behind.

I stopped running after what felt like eternity, finally sliding down a brick wall once I was far enough. Time was either too fast or too slow; everything had faded together into indiscernible shadow. The chilly wind nipped at my exposed cheeks, hot tears streaming down to the pavement.

Drip,  

drip,    

drip.

The tears shattered on the hard ground. Breathing as slowly as I could, my heartbeat gradually slowed to a bearable pace. As I did, my stormy grays swept across the shadow-lined buildings next to me. No one else was out, which was comforting, knowing that it was just me and the silence. After the teary streams trickled away, I reluctantly got up and began walking again, my mind consumed with thoughts.

Jace and I had never fought as hard as we did just now. His temper had always been short, that was obvious after five years of friendship. But something about this fight felt different. The way he talked about everything sounded less hypothetical, and much more personal. More vulnerable. I would know; those first few months, after leaving my old life behind? The world tearing me away from Mom, Ella, Nori, Costa, and Tessa? Yeah, I wasn't exactly the cheeriest sunflower in the meadow. The walls took me years to build, hardened over by time and the fear within my heart. All these years, and I was afraid of getting close to someone, knowing that I'd put them in danger simply by being friends with me.

That's why it was so surprising when someone truly began to care for me as a friend. Jace was actually one of the few people who made me feel safe, which was strange at first. But eventually I began to trust him more, and we became really close. Hearing those words come from someone I cared about hurt, but my misery felt deeper than that. I know for sure I wouldn't have felt that emotional if one of my other friends had said it, like Twitch. At most, I would probably be angry, but I wouldn't cry over it. So what made this one different?

The anger in his eyes was still burned in my memory, but I was struck by how beautiful they looked, even then. They always seemed to glow like twin amber stones, and I could read his thoughts so easily every time we glanced at each other. 

My heart sped up again. I remembered that little thought that popped up during the fight. 'How he was scary and attractive at the same time....'  Was the answer really that simple? 'I'm acting like this because I have FEELINGS for him?! That's impossible......right?' 

I heard someone call my name a few blocks away, but I ignored them and walked faster, my pulse speeding a little more.

I mean, yeah, I knew people were interested in him romantically. When all the girls at Skyport would giggle and flirt with Jace, he'd normally just brush them off and hang out with me instead. Of course this got me some dirty looks, but I stopped caring about that after a while. Why would they care if he was talking to me or not? We were best friends and nothing more. 

But after escaping Skyport, I saw how he did his best to protect me, to help me get my powers back.....and something changed. It sparked a stronger affection for him, something different from what I felt for everyone else that I cared about. Even more than Twitch and Cole, even though they're two of my closest friends. Having him by my side made me braver, and I never doubted that he was there for me. 

'Except now,' I realized, my heart dropping as our argument echoed in my head. 'I can't imagine my life without him in it. But what if he never wants to speak to me again? If I really do have feelings for him, what if he finds out? What if that ruins our friendship forever? What if-'

BOOM!

A massive explosion shattered my train of thought. Across town, fire shot up into the inky sky, sparks showering the dusty rooftops. Shielding my eyes, I saw what seemed to be a huge dark mass of shadow, raising a dark fist that shot blue light into the flames. Everywhere, crowds swarmed into the streets from homes and buildings, running around in confused chaos. The monster turned its head to the sky and released a deep roar that left the ground shaking from its volume. But the most terrifying part of it all were the screams that followed, shrill cries of fear that could only be from a child. My heart pulled with nostalgia, memories of my sisters' and their suffering filling my mind as the child's scream seemed to echo within me.

'This is my chance to save someone. Jace may have hurt me, but he was right about one thing. I never tried to fight back, and I failed to keep my family safe because of it. Now's the time I fought back,' I thought, and determination washed over me.  

As I quickly drew my Jumping Sword from the lacquered sheath, I cleared my mind of everything except the battle ahead. Pushing past the panicked townspeople around me, I sprinted not away, but straight toward, the fiery destruction.

 
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Cole's POV

"Mira!" Cole ran outside calling for her, minutes after she had rounded a far bend. 

Jace and Twitch were close behind, and three sets of eyes frantically searched for a shock of brown-bronze hair. After Mira had left, the silence had been deafening. None of them knew the toll their journey had taken on Mira, and her outburst had shocked them all. After a few minutes, Jace's anger had burned away, and all that remained was a boy ridden with guilt over hurting the one he cared for the most.

"We should split up and look around here. She couldn't have gone far, right?" Twitch suggested, and Cole nodded. 

They both turned to Jace, but shadows seemed to hang over him. There was no sign of his confident personality, only sadness. Before Cole could comment on Jace's uncharacteristic silence, a blazing inferno erupted on the other side of town. As the startled threesome narrowly avoided a screaming cat running down the alleyway, a thought occurred to Cole.

"Guys, you don't think Mira....?" Cole gestured to the fire before them. "She couldn't have gone there, right?" he asked, but his fear was confirmed when Twitch's face went pale.

"Knowing Mira, she would've headed across town so that she didn't have to run into us when she was still upset. That's our best bet on her location at the moment," Twitch answered. A man ran past them swinging a pitchfork, and the three boys ducked to avoid getting speared. 

"If she saw the danger ahead, why wouldn't she just come back?" Cole asked, running a hand through his hair. "Why would she stay there?"

"Because someone else wasn't able to." The response came unexpectedly, Jace's voice strained. He was staring right at the distant flames, as Cole and Twitch shared a glance. This was the first time he had spoken since the fight ended. 

"Mira must've heard someone screaming for help. We weren't allowed to help anyone outside of our group at the Sky Raiders. That was the hardest thing for her when she started doing missions," Jace confessed, eyebrows furrowed. "Seeing people she could've saved left behind made her feel so helpless. Now that she has a chance to do something, there's no doubt in my mind she'll take it. We have to go after her."

He straightened, and Cole thought he saw a different look besides guilt in his friend's  eyes. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, but he knew one thing for sure; there was no arguing with Jace when he was like this. Secretly, he was glad Jace was back to being his determined self, if only for a moment. 

"How are we going to beat her there? It's all the way across town, and she's got a head start on us."

Twitch looked around, finally spotting an alleyway he walked through before. "That alley is a shortcut! We can be there in five minutes if we hurry. Trust me, it'll be a lot faster. Come on!" He slipped on his ring, as glimmering wings shone in the illuminating glow of fire. 

After Twitch transformed into his grinaldi form, the threesome ran (or hopped) into the dark alley, hidden from the clenches of flaming light. 

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Mira's POV

Blending into the few shadows around me, I peeked at the catastrophe destroying the town. Wooden structures crumbled and smoked, streams of flame taking flight in the gusting whirlwinds. The shadow mass I saw before looked vaguely like a pile of ashes, the only thing not consumed with orange brilliance. It was chasing a little blond child, not older than seven, gaining on him with every enormous step. Crying, the little boy was running to the safety of his mother, whom was calling frantically from a root cellar. Suddenly, he tripped and fell just feet away from safety. The monstrosity gained ground at an alarming pace, and just as it was reaching out a hand (or what I guessed was supposed to be one) to capture its prey, I jumped from the shadows, sword in hand.

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" I yelled, catching the creature's attention. The hand paused inches away from the boy, who was cowering in fear. "Seriously, you should've just stayed in bed today. The whole fire monster look isn't working for you."

Slowly, it turned toward my direction, and stared, before throwing its head up and making a deep rumbling sound. The sound vibrated through the earth, almost causing me to lose my balance. Confused, I suddenly realized the monster, a being straight out of a never-ending nightmare.....was laughing. Finally, the vibrations stopped, and the monstrosity cast its sights on me. 

"Well, for someone with such an interesting reputation, I expected you to be past such childish insults, Miracle." Its menacing voice rumbled deeply through the broken pavement, threatening to knock me off balance.

"How do you know my name?" I yelled back, dread settling inside me. The monster seemed to roll its eyes at me- well, if it had eyes.

"I know everything about you, Miracle. I also know that you seemed to have lost something significant of yours. Specifically, your power," the monster boomed. "I'll admit, I'm impressed with how far you've gotten on your own. I take it you've been searching desperately for it, and you haven't found a thing."

"That's none of your concern," I said, gripping tighter on the hilt of my Jumping Sword. "You've caused enough destruction here, and unless you end this now, you'll see just how capable I am in battle, powerless or not."

"Blah, blah, blah, always the same monologue with heroes. And for the record, it is my concern, because the power you're searching for is right here. Don't you recognize me, Miracle?" the monster asked, and I stared at it confusedly in response. It began to shrink and change shape until I was staring at a carbon copy of...me. I stumbled back in surprise, and my reflection boomed "I'm YOU. Well, your power. You might know me as-"

"Carnag," I whispered, my face turning pale. 

My reflection smirked, clapping its hands mockingly. "Finally, you've figured it out! I knew you had some intelligence left, Miracle. You must have heard that our father has become less powerful the past few years, yes? Well, as his control over me weakened, I began manifesting into a separate being, until finally there was almost nothing left for him to control. Ever since then, I've been searching for you to finally take you down, and truly earn my freedom." The smile Carnag gave me had no warmth, and it sent a chill down my spine.

"Well, you found me. And I think you're smart enough to know only one of us will survive this fight." I said confidently, yet my heart was pounding. This just got a whole lot more complicated. This wasn't just some mindless monster; destroying Carnag completely meant putting my own life in danger. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the little boy had ran to safety, and his mother had sealed the cellar door shut with him in her arms. 'Good, with the civilians out of the way, I could battle Carnag without worrying about anyone getting hurt.'

The semblance in question smirked. "Indeed. Now the only thing is, I can't kill you, otherwise it's game over. But there are other ways of getting what I want, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. It shouldn't be too difficult, though. You didn't have to courage to fight back when Stafford did all those terrible things to your family, and I doubt you'd have the courage to fight back now." Carnag walked closer, and its gray eyes turned pitch black with greed. 

"Face it, Miracle. You've lost."

"Not yet," I replied, pressing the blade of my sword against my throat. Carnag hissed, clutching onto its own throat as I applied more pressure on the sword. 

"I may have failed to do what's right in the past, but there's always the chance to do better in the future. It's true that I used to believe I was weak, helpless without my powers. But I'm a different person than I was sixty years ago. I've learned how to defend myself without magic. I've grown stronger, and I'm not backing down this time," I said confidently.

"So bring it on, if you're so sure that you'll win. But I'm not going down without a fight," I finished, drawing the sword away from my throat. Carnag let go of its throat, a renewed vengeance in its eyes.

"My my, courageous are we? Well, I suppose I should give you a chance to try and defeat me. Though you should be aware of how foolish you're being. Mm, must've gotten it from our father. But anyhow, it'll be a shame to destroy you," Carnag sighed with fake disappointment, as blue energy swelled in its palms.

"We'll see about that," I growled. Mention of my father sent energy coursing through my veins. It was now or never. So, yelling my sword's command, I ran straight into battle, as flaming ribbons scorched the blackening earth in my wake.