The Kelloris owed the Yarrows a favor, and Erinna was inclined to collect.
She fell in step with Kane and cleared her throat. “The Initian Islands. That’s where you’re headed next?”
Kane glanced at her, one eyebrow raised. “Yes. Why?”
Erinna’s fingers tightened on the strap of her bag. Just say it.
“I need to speak with a friend.” She paused, the next words tasting strange in her mouth. “I was hoping I could travel with you. With your crew. For just a little longer.”
The silence stretched long enough that Erinna started mentally preparing for him to say no.
Kane studied her face in the flickering light, something unreadable passing across his expression. Eventually, his face softened, and he opened his mouth to speak.
The sound of moving stone echoed off the walls as they made it to the end. Then a shout erupted from ahead.
Then another. Then unmistakable clash of steel on steel.
Afton had already broken into a run. Kane swore under his breath and took off after him, one hand going to the blade at his hip, the other summoning fire.
Erinna kicked into a sprint behind them, the satchel bouncing painfully against her side. The narrow passage opened up ahead, pale daylight spilling in—and with it, the sounds of chaos.
The academy wason the island. Smoke and screams filled the air. The static of arcanum was suffocating.
They had run out of time.
Stone ground shut behind them, nearly clipping Erinna’s heel as she stalled.
At her side, Afton moved his hands in a blur. His body shimmered into nothingness. The Minor Apprentice had turned himself invisible. Another rare feat only the most practiced enchanters could perform.
“Two of them made it in!” someone cried.
She and Kane were spotted.
Dread curled around her legs and froze her body.
Kane was a blur of shadow as he leapt into the fray. Erinna was left alone, where she stood. Watching as her worst fear unfolded.
“Get your head on, Yarrow!” Lila’s voice cut through the din of battle.
Erinna sprinted for the dense thicket at the edge of camp, branches whipping at her arms as she dove into cover. Her father had taught her enough to defend herself—how to fall without breaking bones, where to aim if someone grabbed her—but nothing that would help againstthis. Academy-trained mages didn’t brawl. They obliterated.
A concussive blast tore through the air behind her. The shockwave hit like a wall, lifting her off her feet and slamming her into the ground. Her palms scraped against dirt and rock as she tried to catch herself, the impact jarring up through her wrists. Ears ringing, she twisted to look back.
Another spell lit up the camp. Bright, vicious, and powerful. High-level casting. The kind that left craters.
She pressed herself lower into the undergrowth, heart hammering against her ribs. There was no way the academy mages could sustain such power for long. If they continued, surely one of them would be forced into Burnout.
Through the bushes, Erinna saw pirates sprawled across the ground, struggling to get up. Some didn’t make it to their knees before a dagger was plunged into their backs or swiped across their throats. Two academy mages wound through the chaos in the courtyard. One of them with an unmistakable mop of light brown hair.
Damien mumbled incantations beneath his breath, mage armor glinting in the sun. He must be fresh from initiation.
Erinna’s heart sank to the bottom of her feet. More cries and shouts joined the cacophony of aggression. A flash of fire and smoke raced across the courtyard. In one hit, Kane sent a mage into the wall. The loud cracks were from either the cracking of stones or splintering of bones. Erinna figured it was both and cringed.
She turned her attention back to Damien. For a moment, she wondered if there was a world in which she could reach out. Ask for assistance.
But then he raised his hands.
Arcanum shimmered like a haze of heat around his body. So quick, Erinna nearly missed it, he lashed out with his Talent, paralyzing a few pirates before calling to his fellow mages.
