PROLOGUE
NIGHTSBRIDGE ACADEMY - SELINA
“Herbaceous magic is a most satisfying skill to master. Tricky for those not attuned to the nature threads of the Weave, but possible with tenacity and determination…”
ARCANE BOTANY
I’d jumped out of my fourth-floor window every night for the past week, rehearsing my escape. Slept fully clothed, just in case. But a big part of me hadn’t believed the precautions necessary.
Tonight proved me wrong.
“Go,” the voice inside the mirror urged. “They’re coming.” His misty form undulated behind silvered glass, but I caught the impression of dark, flowing locks and the flash of needle-sharp teeth.
The pulse in my throat throbbed painfully. “I’m scared.”
“Good. Fear will give your feet wings. Get to the circle and stay inside it, no matter what happens. Now go!”
I shoved open the window, wincing at the creak and pop of the swollen wood, then climbed out onto the sill while maintaining a death grip on the frame. “Light as a feather, floating on a breeze, carry me safely, hold me with ease,” I whispered the words into the wind before stepping into its embrace.
My scream lodged in my throat as I dropped sharply before the spell took hold and my body grew light. The ground rose to meet me, the crash and thunder of the sea a distant companion to the rapid pulse of blood in my head.
I fixed my gaze on the woodland beyond the neatly clipped quad as I drifted to the ground. Even its wild embrace couldn’t protect me fromthem.
They’d follow.
They’d find me.
But not before I reached the circle.
My boots touched earth, and the essence of nature reached for me through leather and cotton, promising sanctuary.
Above me, a raven screamed.
I ran.
Don’t look back. Don’t slow down. Don’t stop.
The air crackled with abrasive power that skimmed over my skin and clawed at my scalp, snagging in my hair as if desperate to haul me back, but the woods beckoned, and I leapt into its arms.
The shadows beneath the canopy guarded and shielded me, while the scent of nature soothed, urging me on, guiding me over bracken and tree roots to a clearing where sanctuary waited in the form of a circle made of shrubs, small white blooms, and large toadstools that gleamed silver in the moonlight.
I hurried into the circle and dropped my pack to root for the supplies needed to activate the spell I’d been working on for the past three weeks, ever since?—
Crack.
No, no, no. I grabbed the pouch holding the powder and the vial filled with tincture. The hum oftheirpower grew stronger, and my stomach bloomed with gnarly knots of fear.
Focus. There’s time.
I drank the tincture to connect me to the circle, then sprinkled the powder all around to activate my protection spell. Quick sticks, work fast. “Hidden from every eye but mine, blessed circle, bring the enemy close and forever bind.”
A calm fell over me, the thrum of panic ebbing, leaving me still and silent as shadowy robed figures drifted into the clearing, surrounding me.
“There is nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.”The voice rose and fell like the wind, the timbre unfamiliar and alien.
“What do you want? Why are you doing this to me?”
“You’ve never mattered to anyone. But you matter to us.”One of the figures glided closer, its cloak trailing across the silver-washed blades of grass.
