Remember.
The word changed everything.
The shadows around us deepened, and suddenly the room filled with images that weren’t solid enough to touch but clear enough to steal the breath from my lungs.
Students standing in underground chambers, frightened and eager…
Professors arguing in candlelit rooms…
A younger Priestess with ambition blazing in her eyes as shadows curled around her hands…
Then Barlen, younger by years, kneeling before her while a black mark burned into his wrist…
His ears went flat.
“Maeve,” he breathed.
I glanced at him, and my heart squeezed. “I see it. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
The vision shifted to my mother, trapped behind iron bars, her hands wrapped around the cold metal as she looked toward a door that never opened.
Rage struck me so hard I nearly moved forward, but the Academy pulsed beneath my feet, steadying me.
The shadows weren’t only showing me.
They were showing her.
The darkness that had become her had never been forgotten by the shadows she thought she controlled.
The Priestess shook her head, hair whipping around her face as the wind inside the hall grew stronger. “Stop this.”
Remember.
The whispers multiplied until they filled every corner of the room.
Remember.
Remember.
Remember.
The Priestess clapped her hands together, and a violent crack split the air. The shadows scattered across the floor, but not for long. They gathered again almost instantly, sweeping up the fragments of her power.
The Priestess’ gaze snapped to mine.
“You,” she hissed. “You did this.”
“I really didn’t.” I glanced around the hall, watching the shadows ripple with silver and black light. “I’ve never claimed to control the shadows.”
“You opened my Academy.” She pointed her finger at me.
“I used a charm.” I held up my hand slightly. “And the lock responded.”
“But I wouldn’t call ityourAcademy,” Barlen added.
Her lips peeled back from her teeth, and she thrust both palms toward us. She might not have the shadows behind her, but she still had magic running through her veins.
Her fingertips glowed as Barlen shouted and yanked me sideways.
