She led me into another large room. This one was brighter and warmer than the sleeping area. The other girls were all sat in different groups, spaced into circles where one of them seemed to be demonstrating to the others. I stepped closer and watched mesmerised as one girl flickered a flame in the palm of her hands while the others sat with their hands up, expressions of sheer determination painted on their faces.
“You are all trying to learn?”
Zafina shot me a wry look. “Unfortunately, not all gifts can be learnt, but we are working to try to get out of here, and for that we need as much combined power as we can summon.”
My mind skipped back to Scotland and the tree roots who had willingly performed my commands. The wooden sword which had slid out of the earth just when I needed it.
How much could I help these girls if I could control my power? How much could I learn here?
Maybe this was where I was meant to be after all.
Gut instinct and all that.
“The general who brought me here, he told me my power was connected with desire.” I flushed a little. “That he had been able to unlock it.”
Zafina pursed her lips tight together while she contemplated her answer, her head tilted to the side. “As is the way with a lot of our skills, as we have found. But.” Her gaze settled on mine, direct and unforgiving. “If you can resist the charms of the Emperor, you may be able to keep what you have to yourself.”
I humphed.
“He killed my soulmate, well; his harpy Mage did, and instructed douchebag Augustus to trick me into sparking my energy.”
“Oh, so you do have magic!” Zafina grinned and threw her head back.
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s confusing. I wanted to learn it.”
Something I said must have been very amusing because she started chuckling until her body was almost shaking, and considering she contained about ninety percent muscle that was a whole lot of laughing.
“What?” I demanded.
“You came to Rome to learn your magic?”
“Sort of. It’s a long story.
“You couldn’t have come to a more wrong place. None of us here know what are doing. We are all just trying to survive one moment to the next.”
“That sounds like my entire life.”
“Come. Where is your natural instinct? Let’s get some training in before you get taken back upstairs.”
I swallowed hard, she made it sound like it was inevitable.
Zafina patted my hand. “It will happen. But the more you know about yourself, the more you will be able to control and hide it.”
“But if I hide it, he might kill me anyway.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “What if you have what he wants, and he uses you to kill lots of people?”
I hadn’t thought of this. Or anything.
“I seem to be good with plants and trees.” I shrugged but didn’t miss the light in her eyes.
“We don’t have any of those yet.”
Well that didn’t fill me with reassurance. I was just on my own. Again.
“But maybe you can work with water?” She pointed to where a group of about fifteen girls were all sat, a shallow dish of water in front of them.
For a moment I longed for the river of home, the rush and power that would fly through my fingertips.
I remembered when I’d sat by the water with Alana and it had pulled me in. I’d been safe though; I’d never had any doubt.
“Water could be a good start.”
“As I thought.”
I went to walk away, ready to go and introduce myself to the water witches, but I stopped with a question burning the tip of my tongue. “So, you’re our leader?”
Her face, beautiful and strong was deadly serious. “No. We’ve been waiting for her.”
My stomach dipped again, reminding me I hadn’t eaten, but also that I had no clue what I was doing.
“I hope she comes.”
Zafina chuckled to herself and then walked around cross-legged girls until she found a circle where small flickers of flames danced in the air.
I stared at the vast room for a moment. Lots of women, lots of concentration. So many girls with no homes, no life; all sat here, sold or traded, stolen even.
Tristram’s last cry echoed in my head one last time and then I stepped closer to the girls with the bowl of water.
In a room full of possible witches, maybe, just maybe, I’d finally found my people. I thought of Phil and how she would have loved this, how her eyes would have been wide behind her glasses as she nudged me hard in the ribs. “Looks like you weren’t imagining things after all, Mae.”
I smiled to myself. Looks like I hadn’t.
Chapter Eleven
I slept restlessly, the pallets uncomfortable, but now more so than the hasty camps on the way here. Rolling over, I stared at the ceiling, throwing my arm above my head.
I thought he would have sent for me by now. It unnerved me knowing the Emperor was up above plotting my future. My dreams here were muddled, part my life before, part Tristram. Fire Stone weaved in and out and just before waking I would dream of stepping back through the stones and finding it all gone. Everything gone.
“You didn’t sleep again?” I lowered my arm at Zafina’s gentle tone.
“No. I wait for the door to bang and for my name to be called.”
“Normally it would have been. He’s playing a different game with you.” She raised herself onto an elbow and met my gaze. “It means you’ve got to be more prepared.”
“The Mage who brought me here. She said he’s been looking at me for a long time, but he seemed young to me. How long can he have been looking?”
Zafina shrugged. “I don’t know. Come, if you aren’t sleeping and you are lying there thinking so loud, let’s get up and start
