Arielle and I exchanged smiles.
“Come along now. I have much for us to do today. I’m so excited you unlocked your time magic.”
“Me too.” Though I’d always had some element of time magic, I never knew what it was.
She took us to another hall. A much smaller hall that looked like it was built for magical training. There were a few rows of tables lined with books and other …experiment-lookingthings like plants and insects in petri dishes.
Arielle quietly muttered to me that I’d been in here before.
Magdalena waved her hands and the doors we’d come threw closed. The lights also dimmed and the shutters at the windows snapped shut.
“Time magic is very sensitive. It likes peace and less light.” Magdalena smiled. “Take a seat and talk to me about what you’ve done so far. That way I’ll be able to establish what we need to do next.”
Arielle and I sat next to each other. I set my satchel down next to me and I thought about everything I knew.
Magdalena’s gaze traced over my face, as if she were already studying me. It should have felt invasive. Instead, it felt likebeing seen. As though she could see straight through to the parts of me that I couldn’t access.
“The first time I did it I was about twelve. It happened by accident. It was winter. The coldest I could remember and all the flowers had died. I was simply looking at a patch of grass, yearning for spring. My father… he’d gone on an expedition and I missed him.” I glanced at Arielle, who offered me a look of sympathized. “He was set to return in the spring. I couldn’t wait. That day I thought what if I could make spring come quicker. As soon as I thought about it, a flower rose straight out of the earth. I was so excited, but then it withered and dried up within a few seconds.”
Magdalena smiled. “You tried the same conjuring spell in class a few weeks ago. It had the same result. But we were wrong weren’t we? Things were not as they seemed.”
“No they weren’t. I made the mistake of thinking I couldn’t conjure anything stable. But really I was speeding up time.”
“Did you notice anything else affected by time? Did the world speed up too?”
“No. It just affected the thing I was focused on.” I’d done the spell enough times as a child to recall it. The end result was always the same.
“Interesting. I can’t believe I missed this. When did you first realize what was truly happening?” She held my gaze with keen interest, awaiting my answer.
I wished I could remember—that the curse hadn’t stolen that memory from me.
Perhaps it was better I didn’t remember, because it was Zyrra, Wolfe’s sister who discovered what no one else could see.
Her trickery and deceit made me drop my guard and trust her. She knew I was Wolfe’s tracker and got close enough to me to learn the one thing the dark forces needed to find the ring—that it was hiding on a time plane.
“I was here. It was my last visit,” I replied, sounding like I truly remembered. “I was in the library. I would have pursued it, but then my royal duties took charge and I had to go away.”
Arielle looked pleased with my answer. I wished I could tell Magdalena more.
Like the simple truth and the fact that my ability to master this power was of great the urgency because the next reset was upon me.
Magdalena was an archmage, a fountain of all knowledge shared from the Fray. She would also have a deep connection with the Blessed Mother. All signs that should make her trustworthy. But I’d made the same mistake with Zyrra.
I’d assumed I could trust her because she was Wolfe’s sister. I ended up trusted a demon wearing her face.
So caution was best. It was the surest way to protect our plans.
“I wish you had contacted me,” Magdalena said with a gentle lift of her delicate shoulders. “You had an important breakthrough. We could have taken our time to work through it together.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think
“That’s okay. You are here now. And Arielle has informed me that you’ve mastered the basic of time magic.”
I nodded. “Yes. At the moment I can slow it down and speed it up immensely by years.”
She straightened instantly. “Years? That’s quite a bit more than the basics.”
“I wasn’t even aware of it. But um…I don’t know the mechanics of how time magic works. I can feel it, feel the connection with the Fray, and something happens but I can’t tell you how I do it. I’ve used spells to guide me, but every time I try to use it without them, I’m uncertain of what might happen. Or how strong the spell may be.”
