Flames burst in the coyote's fur and its jaws split with a howl. With a wave of her hand, Halen snapped the canine's neck to silence the torturous cry. She folded, clutching her stomach as she tried to calm the trembling within, but her sparks gathered for another strike.

Dax! she shouted.

He stood wavering in the flames; his eyes alit with rage.

Stop. She begged as her magick charged. Please.

A coyote lunged, and she rolled into the fire, screaming until she woke with a start. She bolted upright, only to be pulled back by the thick cuffs pinning her to the ground. She wriggled, the straps burning her skin. What the hell? Her legs caught as well, her ankles bound by the same unforgiving material.

Where am I? Her thoughts raced. The last thing she remembered was... She let her head fall back against a pile of brush. The shifter boy—the owl gliding beside her in the smoke-filled night.

Above, a candelabra hung with crimson candles; the flames flickered, casting shadows along the dirt walls. The putrid scent of rot thickened the air. When Halen turned her head, she flinched, but her magick did not rise to greet the boy with the hungry stare.

"Who are you?" Her voice cracked.

"Danik, Danik, Danik..." His sharp yellow gaze darted to the ceiling, to the left, to the ground, and back to Halen. "My name is Danik." The boy crouched, crossing his arms over his feathery chest.

This couldn't be who bound her with these shackles—the scrawny boy could barely steady his shaking hands—but there had been another in the desert; a shifter with powerful magick.

"Where are we? Why am I bound?"

"Too much power, too much, too-too-too-too much."

Of course, she was tied—she was a murderer. Chills pinched her skin and her stomach cramped. She just wanted to curl up and rest.

"I'm cold. Can you please just loosen the bindings? I'm not feeling well." She tugged the strap attached to a gold chain and followed it to the dagger stabbed in the ground. Three more ruby encrusted daggers attached to gold chains held her in place.

"What is this place?" Her stomach rolled with her words. She swallowed, but the rising acid fought harder. She turned as the hot bile spewed from her lips.

Danik leaped up, gathering her puke in his hands. He sipped, swishing the contents of her stomach back and forth between his cheeks.

This alone churned her stomach once more, and she gagged, throwing up all over his feet.

He stepped back, still swishing her vomit in his mouth. Danik blinked, casting his gaze to the candelabra, and then spit. He swiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Your magick is dirty. We must cleanse."

"Cleanse?" Her throat burned with the forced words. "I need elixir. Do you know what coral and bone is? There was a box in my car. If I just..." She pursed her lips to keep from throwing up again.

"No more G-g-g-uardian." He shook his head and feathers sprouted along the part in his hairline. He clasped his hand to the new feathers, smoothing them out.

"What?" She yanked against the restraint, but it wouldn't budge. "What have you done with Dax?"

"Safe. Safe, like you, and you, and you, and you." His head jerked, bending his neck at a curiously odd angle.

Halen didn't see anyone else in the tight alcove. Perhaps he was confused. "Dax is here?"

"Safe." He rubbed his dirty hands along his pants, leaving fresh stains on the muddied suede.

Closing her eyes, she breathed through the next wave of nausea. At least they didn't leave Dax in the desert. The water stone. She turned toward him.

"Where's my car?"

"Gone, gone, gone."

"What does that mean? Gone where?"

He pointed to the ground. "Pria hid it. No one will find the stone."

Her mind flashed with an image of the young woman, a brown spotted feather cape draping her broad shoulders as she captured Halen with the breeze of her sparkling breath. "You hid the water stone with my car?"

"Can't touch it-t-t-t." He held up his hands; Danik's right hand was bandaged and soaked in dirt and vomit.

"I can't believe this." She rested her aching head. Coming to the desert was a disaster. She should have taken her chances at the beach house. At least there, she was free. There, she had elixir. "I'm sick. I need what was in that car. There was a box."

"The elixir is sweet." He licked his lips. "The money makes a comfy nest." He knelt and padded the cushioning beneath her.

Panic twisted her aching bones. She didn't care about the money, but not having elixir was a death sentence.

"You drank the elixir—all of it? You don't know what you've done!"

"Danik is not a fool. We needed to make sure the elixir wasn't tainted." A woman emerged from the shadows. A garland of rubies adorned her head, her yellow stare piercing. A feather cape draped her shoulders, resting over her tan hides and a small sword rested at her hip, housed in an elegant leather embossed sheath.

"The elixir isn't tainted," Halen said.

"If the elixir was harvested after your unfortunate binding"—she nodded to Halen's arm—"then it wouldn't help, anyway."

"Sister, sister." Danik leaped up, hundred-dollar bills stuck to the grime on his pants. He brushed the money away. "Her fever is worse."

"Can you check on the Guardian for me?" the woman asked. "I will look after her."

"Yes, I will taste his blood." He clapped his hands.

"That won't be necessary, Danik. Just make sure his pulse is steady." She tapped her wrist. "No need to draw blood."

He scrunched his brows as if this command disappointed him, but he nodded and departed.

"My brother had an unfortunate accident with a spell last winter. He hasn't quite been the same. But despite his speech, his magick is quite sharp."

"You're shifters." Halen knew this already, but she was hoping the woman would fill in the blanks.

"Burrowing owls." As she crouched, she swept her cape away from the vomit and side-stepped it before placing her cool hand on Halen's forehead. "We reside beneath the desert and lake. My name is Pria, and you already met my brother, Danik."

"Yes, and he drank my elixir. Please, if you have more, I need it."

"Let me loosen the bindings." She unsheathed her sword and Halen gasped. The etched steel glimmered against the candlelight. Pria touched the hilt of each ruby dagger with the tip of her sword, and the gold chains fell to dust. She secured the sword back at her side. "We had to be sure when you woke, you didn't kill us all."

"I would never..."

"But you would if you had the elixir. The drive for survival is strong in you. You could have been born Etlin."

Halen sat, rubbing her wrists where the bindings pressed into her bones.

"We'll leave those on, in case you need the chains again."

"I won't." Halen brought her knees up to her chest, and she flinched when her hair cascaded over her shoulder. She grasped a fistful of inky black locks—her once cropped hair now curled at her waist, and her hands were deep azure. "What's happened to me?"

"Death changes people—inside and out," Pria said.

Despite Halen's shocking physical appearance, this new ravenous desire twisting inside her concerned her more. Away from the wand, her body trembled with a craving to be near the water stone once more.

"Where's the stone?"

"Safe."

"You don't understand." She steadied her tone, as to not appear so desperate. "No one can find it—ever. I need it."

"We buried the stone where no one will ever find it."

"Where the hell is it?" Her voice cut with anger, and this surprised her. She wasn't attached to the stone; she had only agreed to protect it from the Tari. Otherwise, she didn't care about Galadia's wand. Still, the water stone had warned her, singing into the night before the coyotes had attacked.

"Calm down." Pria blew and the same sparkling dust, which had lifted Halen in the desert, floated around her body.

The dust swarmed Halen's mouth, drifting deep into her lungs. A calmness spread over her, soothing her frantic thoughts.

"Better?" Pria brushed the glitter off her cape.

She nodded. "But I still need the coral and bone."

"Chew this." From the lining of her cape, she pulled out a drawstring pouch. She dug inside and brought out a disk the size of a penny. She handed the purple disk to Halen.

Halen examined the tiny disk. It was much like a chewable vitamin, only the fibrous ingredients were pressed together with fine threads of shimmering gold.

"It will help with the pain."

When she touched the disk to her tongue, her mouth watered for more.

"Go on, it's not poison. I'm not an idiot. I know if you die, Etlis will open."

"Then you also know I can't stay here."

"Chew it."

Halen popped the mysterious disk in her mouth. As she chewed, the disk dissolved into a creamy sweet center.

"Good." Pria swept her braid off her shoulder. "I can't give you elixir, but Danik's potions will make the withdrawal easier."

"What?" She swallowed the rest whole. "I need to find the others. My sister and Asair, do you know where they are?"

"They aren't important." She shook her head. "Your focus is to be free of your Guardian. Otherwise, your magick is useless. Look at your arm. You've killed many." Her voice held no tone of accusation.

Halen studied her new birthmark; the patterns were no longer soft curlicues and starbursts. Now, dozens of sharp silver lines slashed her arm, same as the one that formed when Peter died. Her breath rushed out all at once. "This is their lives—the shifters I killed?"

She nodded. "Death also never lets you forget."

"This is not who I am." She choked back the rising tears. "This not who I want to be."

"You were born a warrior. Sometimes, to win battles, lives must be sacrificed. Don't be ashamed."

"You don't understand. Dax harnessed my magick. He made all of this happen."

"Then you have much to learn." She guffawed.

"I need to be with my sister and Asair. They can help me."

Pria dropped a handful of purple disks in Halen's lap. "They will help with the pain."

"You can't keep me here."

"If you want to find your way out, go ahead. But we can't help you if you're lost. The tunnels stretch for miles."

"Now is not the time to wean me off Dax. I don't even think it's possible." She held up her arm. "We're bound."

"We'll see."

"Rania is coming for me. I need my magick."

"We are aware of the situation. For now, we'll protect you and your Guardian. That was the deal."

"Deal? What deal?" Her pulse raced. Who would speak on her behalf? Whoever it was sure as hell didn't like her. Halen would never send a friend here.

"The deal we made with the Elosian girl from the lake." From her pocket, Pria withdrew a silver necklace with two interlocking loops; the parting gift from Quinn.

When Asair gave the necklace to Nelia, Halen had thought it odd, especially when Asair told Nelia she would know what to do with it. Is this what Quinn had in mind? They couldn't have known it would all come to this. Still, Nelia hadn't hesitated when she had written the destination on the scrap paper.

"You're protecting me for a necklace? There has to be more. What are you getting out of this?"

Pria smiled the same twisted grin as her brother's. "Your magick."

"What do you mean? My magick isn't transferrable." She clasped her hands against her racing heart.

"But each part of you is powerful, every single cell. Every,"—she wrapped her finger around a lock of Halen's hair—"part of your body."

Halen's eyes widened.

"Even those beautiful green eyes will be mine once we separate you from your Guardian."

"Etlis will open." Halen shrunk back from Pria.

"I don't need your soul. I only want parts of you. It's a shame your heart must beat. So much power in one organ." She turned with a sweep of her cape. "Take your medicine. You're going to need it." She disappeared down the tunnel.

Halen's fear stirred. Could she really cut her to bits and use her magic? Had this been part of Nelia's revenge? Her breath quickened. No way was she staying to find out. She would take her chances in the tunnels.