Alara pushed open the oversized doors and saw the large empty hall spread out in front of her. In her time in the Haven, she was used to seeing the sun shining through the glass at the top, lighting the floor below with a thousand colors. Now the roof was shadowed, the bronze and gem decorations hollow in the blackness, and only a few small torches were flickering along the walls.

But there was something else glowing. At the center of the hall, where Wila usually stood for her sermons, the spire that marked the top of the Haven swirled down into a column. At the base, a small divot of stone circled it, and around that, a white fire sparked, fueled by nothing but the stone itself.

Her eyes widened as she took in the spire stretching above her and to the ceiling. She had seen it a hundred times before, but never really looked at it closely. It was carved of white and pink quartz. This was no ordinary fist-sized receptive. The spire itself was the receptive.

“Oh,” she said.

“We need to destroy that?” Tony asked, his voice holding the same awe she thought her face might. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Runeo didn’t waste anymore time. He ran toward the center of the room, hands up, ready to send an attack at the column. But when he was only a few yards away, Alara felt a familiar tug of magia threads behind her. The very next moment, Runeo’s feet left the ground, and he skidded across the wooden floors of the worship hall.

Alara’s head whipped around to see Emaru silhouetted in the doorway they had just come through. Her face was stretched into something resembling a smile. “I’ve been underestimating you all these years.”

“You’ve forced me to underestimate myself,” Alara said, taking a step toward Emaru, the spire behind her forgotten.

“You’re the one who insisted on never using your powers to their full extent. I saw your potential, and I tried to raise you to embrace your powers. You don’t know what you are capable of and now…” She stopped and shook her head. “Then again, perhaps that was my failure.” Emaru looked at Alara, eyes pleading. “Stop this before it goes too far. You’re smarter than this. I raised you better.”

“You raised me with lies and fear.”

“I protected you.”

“My whole life, I thought we were helping bruyas. I thought we were just trying to show them a better way; to teach them. But you were wiping their minds, turning them into mindless zombies for your own gain. For the Council.”

“Not for the Council,” Emaru said. “For all of Sombria. For all of Sombria, we take the measures we need to keep the peace. History has shown us what happens if we let magia run wild. I know you know the history. You’ve seen the Ruinedlands. Death, destruction, deformities. That’s the alternative. The Council is the only thing standing between our realm and a perpetual civil war. In order to save lives, I am willing to keep this delicate balance.” Emaru’s face was red as she spoke, her voice full of the passion that Alara knew so well.

For an instant, Alara pictured them sitting at the dinner table, debating the use of magia in Sombria. It was a conversation they had had a million times, but Emaru’s eyes never shone brighter as she made her point. Alara used to admire that.

She shook her head to rid herself of the memory. “Don’t lie to me!”

“Lie to you?”

“It’s what you’ve been doing to me my entire life.”

“Alara, I have never lied to you,” Emaru said. “Kept you in the dark, perhaps. But with good reason. Not everyone can understand why we do what we do.”

“Then maybe you’re just lying to yourselves, then. But I know the truth. You do what you do to stay in power. It’s what the Council has always wanted. It’s what you’ve always wanted.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Emaru said, almost in a whisper. “But we only stop those who would seize power without thought of the consequences. Perhaps we suppress more than we should. Perhaps we could do better. But the realm is full of bruyas who care nothing for the lives of the blameless. Just like your new friends. You don’t understand how fragile this country has always been.”

Something along Emaru’s belt flashed in the light of the receptive, and Alara saw the white and bronze dagger—her dagger—tucked in the councilwoman’s belt. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she looked up at her old mentor. “You stole my dagger.”

Emaru’s eyes flickered down to the blade at her waist and her eyebrows shot up, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Your dagger? Where did you get it?”

Alara bit her lip. “I… found it.”

“You have no idea what you had, did you?” She took a step toward Alara, and the magite moved back without thinking. “This is why we need each other. I have so much more to teach you. And you. You still have a mountain of untapped potential. That is why I saved you. Why I took you in and raised you out of all the children in your village. These wild, untrained bruyas can do nothing for you. You are so much more than them.”

Alara’s fists clenched. “I am so much more than you.”

Before she could question herself again, Alara gathered the heat that was seething through her blood. Flames shot out from the surrounding torches, swirling toward Emaru. The hall suddenly lit brightly in the firelight.

Emaru didn’t even flinch as she raised her arm, wind blowing the fire off course before it could touch her. Her eyes lit up with anger and all pretense dropped from her face. “I guess we’re doing this, then. It’s clear you didn’t learn your lesson the first time.”

She threw her hand forward just as Alara ducked, the air still hitting her like a wall and throwing her back against the floor. Her already-bruised body ached, but she stood back up, quickly. She saw that Runeo and Tony had been thrown back with her, and they, too, were recovering. Tony quickly summoned a cloud of fog as Emaru took aim toward them again. The thick fog wrapped around her, obscuring her from view, the group scattering while she was blinded. Emaru only struggled for a moment before the fog was blown away. But the second gave Runeo a chance to take aim. The arrow darted straight toward Emaru’s chest, and Alara felt her own heart squeeze at the sight.

At the last moment, Emaru flicked her wrist, and the arrow streaked to the side. Alara ran at Emaru without thinking, throwing her hands toward Emaru as flames shot from the torches to her left. As the councilwoman dodged the attack, Alara flung the flames from her other side and felt a small jolt of satisfaction as the second attack seared and lit Emaru’s sleeve. The woman’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Tony was beside Alara. He threw his spear as Emaru quickly put the fire out on her sleeve. Alara thought it might hit, but Emaru barely moved her hand as the spear jutted off course and clattered to the ground.

Alara let out a scream of frustration as fire shot toward Emaru once again. The air in the room whipped Alara’s face and a strand of her hair came loose as her fire swirl around Emaru’s body, flames licking the air uselessly around the councilwoman. The flames buzzed in the room, circling like a tornado. And then it flew back toward Alara, Tony, and Runeo.

They flattened themselves to the ground as the inferno danced over their heads. Sweat beaded across Alara’s back. Wind howled through the room and the torches blew out, throwing them into darkness. The only light in the room remaining was the glow of magia that sparked along the base of the spire.

Alara jumped up as the darkness fell, throwing her hand out as she felt for her magia. But the cool darkness of the room was all that met her. There were no fires left to manipulate, and she had lost her flint somewhere along the way.

Emaru’s face looked skull-like in the wane lighting. Shadows and dull light danced across the ridges of her face, and her eyes glimmered with satisfaction. Alara’s stomach turned.

A gust of wind blew Alara off her feet. She skidded along the wooden floor, stopping when she hit the spire. She pulled herself up, using the warm crystal behind her.

Emaru strode across the room, not toward Alara, but toward where Tony scrambled to his feet. Before anyone could move, Emaru picked up a spear laying abandoned on the ground using a gust of wind. She snatched it out of the air and hurled it at Tony, piercing him through the chest in an instant.

Alara didn’t move or make a sound as Tony fell to the ground with a brief grunt. She watched as Runeo shot toward Emaru, dagger in hand. He countered her wind as she tried to blow him off course. Alara didn’t even see her hand twitch as the bolas lifted from Tony’s own belt and whipped at Runeo’s head. She had never seen such a precise use of wind magia before. The ability to lift objects and control them using air required a finesse that few took the time to learn.

The bolas cracked as they hit Runeo’s skull and he fell, stumbling to the ground. Emaru swiftly pulled the dagger from his hand, a grim smile on her face.

“Stop!” Alara screamed before she could stop herself. She walked toward Emaru, eyes shining with tears she wish she could stop. “What’s the matter with you? I thought of you as a mother. You were my family.”

Emaru straightened, her eyes narrowed as she looked down at Alara. “And you were a disappointment of a daughter.”

Alara stabbed the spear in her hand forward, but Emaru parried the blow easily. Alara twisted again and swung the weapon down toward Emaru’s knee. The wood of the spear hit her, but the mage only stumbled back slightly, bringing the dagger slicing down toward Alara. She fell back, the sharp metal brushing against her tunic, just barely breaking the threads of the weave.

Emaru looked at her as she fell back. “I thought you’d be worth something. Look at you. After years of trying to convince me you were better without your magia, and you can’t even fight me without your fire.”

Alara jumped up in one smooth motion and shifted on her feet, the spear in her hand cool under her touch.

“You were always useless,” Emaru said, breath heavy. “Just like your parents.”

A sharp stab of pain shot through Alara as she felt the heat of her magia rising in her. She sneered at Emaru and dropped her spear. It clattered in the hall.

Alara felt as if her skin might start glowing as the heat shimmered just underneath the surface. The darkness still settled around them, but heat flickered in the distance. The torches’ burning embers sparked at the edge of the room. She looked down and met Runeo’s eyes.

He was still on the ground, looking bruised and pale, but his eyes were hard and focused on her and she saw his fist clench. She nodded her head and wished she were a mind-talker. But he seemed to get the message. A soft breeze whistled around the room and Alara stretched out her magia to meet the embers of the torches.

Fire and heat flared, and this time Alara didn’t feel like she was commanding it, but that she was the fire. She willed it toward Emaru, hands still clenched at her sides. Runeo jumped to his feet, bolting away from Emaru before the flames hit. The room roared. Alara’s eyes focused only on where Emaru had been before she disappeared behind the wall of flames.

“Alara! We need to destroy the receptive.” Runeo was behind her. She glanced back to see him hacking at the quartz spire with a heavy spear, his wind batting at it uselessly. She turned and focused on Runeo, sending a stream of flames to meet with his wind. The magia hit the spire and sparked, an enormous chunk of quartz falling from the column as Runeo hit it again with his spear.

Alara felt a surge of strength as she sent another wave of fire with Runeo’s wind spiraling around the quartz receptive. She could see the cracks forming and the magia at the base wavering.

She didn’t hear the whistle of air over the roaring of their magia and didn’t see the arrow until it struck its target. The arrow pierced deep into Runeo’s shoulder, blood blooming almost instantly. He fell back with a cry and Alara reached for him, trying to catch him as he fell.

The roaring of fire and wind suddenly stopped as Alara lost focus. The temperature in the room plunged and Alara’s blood turned cold as she looked up, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Emaru was a few yards away, her hair charred and robes blackened, but she was breathing as her eyes flashed with an odd mix of hatred and glee. Alara saw where the arrow had come from. A magite stood, bow taunt and pointed at her, a smile on his face. Around them, more mages and magites were entering the hall, spreading out to circle Alara and Runeo.

Alara didn’t move, but the fire seemed to obey her thoughts. Fire shot from the torches around them and spun toward the center of the hall. A wall of fire sprung up, circling Runeo, Alara, and Emaru in the center, preventing the mages from coming any closer.

But as Alara watched, more magites and mages filtered into the room. The array of colors made Alara dizzy as she watched them file into the room. Beside her, Runeo breathed unevenly, a hand gripping the shaft of the arrow in his shoulder, trying to keep it from moving.

“I don’t know what to do.” Alara’s voice was hoarse as she and Runeo looked at each other. He was silent, but he reached for her hand, squeezing it as he trembled at her side.

She took a deep breath, feeling the fire as it danced through her, wondering perhaps for the last time what having her memory cleansed would feel like. Or perhaps she had gone too far for that to be a viable option.

Then she heard screaming, and she wondered for a second if it was her—if she had lost all sense of herself. But then the energy in the room shifted. She heard another scream, sharp and rich in her mind.

We’ve cowered in the shadows for too long, apologizing for sins that were not our own. The Council does not fight for us. They fight for the blameless, they fight to control us like l’lamas for their will.

Alara was briefly confused at how she could hear her so clearly amid the roar of fire before realizing the voice had come through an envia.

A look of recognition and fear flickered across the mage’s faces around them. Emaru stood, head swiveling sharply as she looked for the source of the envia. For Councilwoman Lena Cruz.

Alara watched as a new group of magites and mages filtered into the room—surrounding the others. And at the front, Senye Cruz stood, her eyes glowing as she met Alara’s own.

Behind her, Alara felt a wave of relief and joy as Quenti stepped forward, smiling with Khuna by her side. Beside them both, Alara caught a glimpse of Lili and Mitteo.

Alara almost laughed when she recognized the small boy they had knocked out in the study rooms standing among the rebel magites. And there were even more teachers and fellow students that she vaguely recognized from her time wandering the halls.

“Today,” Senye Cruz’s actual voice echoed in the hall and even the shuffling of bodies seemed to fall silent in response, “We are done hiding!”