Drip.
Drip.
When Domenic’s pace finally slowed, he wasn’t sure if he was breathing, if his heart was beating. For once, his panic was absent. He felt nothing but the heat, as hot as a wildfire.
On the final cabinet against the farthest wall, a puddle pooled. The twin set of torches burning above it rendered Domenic’s lanky reflection in a halo of gold.
His gaze dragged up the case to the wand within. Vines twisted around the gnarled white shaft and bristled with thorns, a weapon designed to harm even those who wielded it. At the base of its handle, those vines splayed out as if freshly ripped from the earth, and at its other end, blackness singed its tip. The faint lines that patterned it first appeared like the natural grain of the alban wood, but upon closer inspection, they were fingerprints, documentation of every great magician the wand had ever Chosen.
Encasing it was a hazy sheath of ice.
Meltingice.
Domenic’s heartbeat returned painful and all at once.
Valmordion was awakening.
IIELLERY
SUMMER
Ellery Caldwell was utterly devastated—not that she ever would’ve admitted it.
On the surface, she was every inch the model young magician. Her navy uniform blazer and skirt were perfectly pressed, her patent-leather shoes gleamed black, and her training wand peeked out from her satchel, stowed sensibly in its sheath. She tipped her head back, ash-blond waves swinging, and studied the massive calendar in the students’ lounge.
The enchantment was gorgeously done, a twenty-foot-high stone wall subdivided into carved panels, one for each day of the year. Each square denoted academy events and future wand vigils in a tidy, businesslike script. At the top fluttered an illusion of the green-and-white Aldrish flag.
Ellery withdrew her training wand and aimed it at Alcoria’s sign-up list.
“What are you doing?” Julian Norwood asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m registering for the next wand vigil.”
“But Iberiad’s is a week later. And it’s much more powerful.” Julian cracked his knuckles. “You should wait for it.”
“Power isn’t everything,” Ellery countered. “Alcoria’s wielders have consistently made a bigger impact on Aldrish history.”
“Yeah, well, either would suit you better thanWelk.” He gestured at today’s date on the calendar. A congratulations message flashed alongside it, proclaiming the name of the wand paired with its wielder—some fifth-year Ellery barely knew. For therest of the month, the message would serve as inspiration for younger students, pressure for older ones, and a constant reminder that by bonding with Welk, the wand’s new wielder had officially graduated from the academy to the Magicians Order.
Ellery had tried to bond with it—and failed.
Normal students expected to test several wands before finding a match. But today was the eleventh time she’d failed. And it wasn’t normal for Ellery Caldwell, top of her class, to fail at anything.
“Don’t spare my feelings,” Ellery said.
“I’m not,” said Julian. “I’m glad you failed that vigil. You can do better. We both can.”
Ellery’s hand twinged with phantom pain. She clenched it into a fist. “Careful. Talk too loud and people will say you’re cocky.”
“People have said that for years. Also, being cocky implies I’m overestimating my abilities. It’s not bravado if I can back it up.”
“Little do they know, you’re so much more arrogant than the rumors suggest,” she said affectionately.
He shot her a grin. “Somehow it hasn’t stopped you from hanging out with me.”
“Well, what would I even do without you?”
“Die of boredom, probably.”
