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I’m in control. Give up.

Through gasps, Rakkley’s voice emerged in her head.

Silly girl. You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re simply weakening me. You can’t kill me like this.

Every word from your tongue is a lie.

Spells continued to fly around her. Harrington and Amelia took breaks, but Aidric didn’t. Dark veins spidered along his eyes and lips.

Amid the chaos, Rakkley remained focused on her. You’re not a Wielder. Dark Magic has never been yours. You’re clever to have found a way to separate Synth from your powers, I’ll give you that. But there is no way to take all of my magic. Either live with Synth until the day you die, or give it back to me.

Wouldn’t that be convenient for you?

It’s the truth and you know it. You can feel it. The last bit of power will never leave me. No matter how hard you try.

Mira didn’t want to believe him, but it was becoming increasingly hard to convince herself of anything else. Who was to say Synth was so bad? She could keep the majority of Rakkley’s powers and keep him crippled in a dungeon forever. She was in charge. She could torture him daily so he’d never recover. Why would she give up this power? This feeling.

“Mira?” Ella asked below her.

They wouldn’t understand. They had never experienced this power before. She could make everyone obey her now if she wanted to. The council. Ivercrest. It was all for the taking.

From across the room, Aidric’s silver eyes landed on her. His mouth formed her name, but she couldn’t hear him. He shook his head, and his mouth formed the word Don’t.

Rakkley laughed and Mira felt increasingly lost in the sea of chaos, power, and darkness. Dark Magic whirled around her, consumed her.

It was about control. But even this powerful, she wasn’t in control. Rakkley was.

His laugh echoed in her mind as she watched her friends fight an endless army of Feeders.

Rylan was out of explosive potions, and the Wielders would soon be out of powers.

Ella and Oliver sent shackling spells, but more Feeders kept coming. On the other side of the room, a Feeder jumped on Harrington and bit into his shoulder. Mira’s heart stopped as Amelia screamed his name and ran, panicked, through a horde of Feeders.

Aidric jumped in front of the injured Harrington and killed several Feeders with dark spells.

Screams from her friends mixed with the snarls of the Feeders and the zaps of flying spells. The air was heavy with spent magic.

Rakkley’s eyes glowed bloodred.

You never had a chance, he said in her mind. You cannot take what isn’t yours. Now watch them all die.

There was a cluster of dark veins along Aidric’s neck, and she saw him sway on his feet before he collapsed to the ground.

47

Everything slowed as Mira watched her friends fight against teeth and claws. Ella had a shield around Harrington and Aidric. Her crystal necklace glowed bright orange. Amelia kept defending them with all her might, but the Feeder attacks kept coming.

Oliver and Rylan ducked behind one of the pews as wood splintered and cracked.

Aidric stood back up on shaky legs. Despite Amelia’s protests, he lifted his hand and dark spells ripped through two Wielders.

Even this powerful, Mira felt hollow and numb because it wasn’t her power. The dark strand of Synth was interwoven with Rakkley’s magic, dancing in her mind like a storm above water.

She tried to focus on her powers, but when she closed her eyes, she was suddenly back in her nightmare, standing at the bottom of the stairs that would lead to her dead parents. The bright lights of the clinic flickered on and off. Her fingers wrapped around her scar, her nails digging into her skin. Her heartbeat thrashed in her ears. She stared up the flight of stairs and couldn’t bring herself to walk up. Even in a vision she was terrified of what she would find.

She tried to move her feet, but her muscles were locked in place.

“I can’t do it,” she whispered, staring at the bodies lining the stairs.