“Get away from him,” someone begged. It was all a blur now, they were all faceless enemies to him. “Haven’t you done enough, bringing evil to our village?”
“He’s evil as well,” another anguished voice cried out. A rock bounced off the side of his head but he barely felt it. The next one was bigger and thrown with much more gusto. He gasped as it hit his shoulder, sending him staggering backwards.
“Enough!” Sorin commanded. Or tried to command. A hail of small stones rained around them both. Sorin hissed and dragged him away, around the corner of someone’s hut. “Go and hide for now,” Sorin said, sinking to the ground from exhaustion. “Find her and take her far from here and then sneak back to my cottage. I’ll make them see you meant no harm.”
Before he could reply, one of the old men from the council scurried around the corner, eyes wide. “Gregor has them under control for now,” he gasped. “But they won’t be satisfied until this boy is far away.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Sorin said, one last feeble attempt at defending him. “He needs to learn.”
“I agree with you, but it won’t be here. Not after that display. Not after bringing that—”
“Is- is that man all right?” Owen interrupted, feeling his throat constricting. Why had he asked? He didn’t want to know. He already knew.
The old man shook his head, refusing to look at him. “He’s breathing, but won’t wake up.”
“Get him to the healer,” Sorin said.
The old man didn’t move. He was winded, clutching his sides. Owen could hear the young mother and her child sobbing hysterically in the courtyard. The only one who’d stood up for Maria.
Sorin shook his head in dismay. “I was throwing everything I had at it and it just…”
“Couldn’t be killed,” the elderly councilman added after a long pause. “I wonder if that means…”
Owen couldn’t stand it anymore and turned and ran for the forest. He didn’t want to know what it meant. He had to find Maria and get her out of the village walls before they recovered their strength and wits. Before Maria got angry at them again. He couldn’t think too hard about that and let his mind go blank. He was so frazzled, it wasn’t a difficult feat.
Thinking she might have gone to the spot where she caught her disgusting suppers, he stumbled through the forest toward the creek. When she wasn’t there, he turned in a circle and closed his eyes, trying to gain control of his senses. The sound of grunting and leaves rustling off to his left made him run in that direction. Forty or so yards away, Maria knelt in the dirt at the base of a tree, digging up the undergrowth like a truffle pig.
A nauseating wave of revulsion swept over him, nearly knocking him to the ground. All he wanted to do was turn away and run for the village gates, flee this … this thing. What was it? What had she become?
No, he thought. What did you turn her into?
He knew he couldn’t leave her, not if Maria was still in there somewhere. Not if there was the slimmest possible chance he could make all his mistakes right. But what he’d done to that man— he had to make that right as well. He had to stay and learn how to control his awful power. Ah, he had so many mistakes under his belt, he didn’t know where he should start.
He thought all the way back to childhood and pinpointed the source of his problems. That bloody book. No wonder his and Ariana’s parents had lied to them. The horrible abilities they had were a curse, not a gift. How innocent they’d been, thinking they could make their lives— no, the world— a better place with magic.
Maria gave one last supremely unladylike grunt and heaved a ruined silk bag out from the roots of the tree. The once delicate tassels were clumped with dirt. But inside was a veritable fortune.She turned and smiled at him as if she hadn’t nearly killed someone. With a grubby hand, she wiped some stray hairs out of her face, leaving a smudge of mud on her jaw. He felt a tear slither down his cheek and wanted more than anything to turn away from her. But he was transfixed by her glittering gaze.
“Now there’s no need to walk. Not far, anyway. I’d wager no one here will arrange a carriage.”
A tortured laugh escaped his tear-clogged throat. “I’d wager you’re right about that.” He sighed. “Where will you go?”
She tucked the bag under one arm and looked somewhere past him. “I’m staying with you.” She stood and walked backwards for several steps. “I came for you.”
“Maria, I’m sorry I made you think I needed you. You should go back to London. I can help arrange passage for you, whatever you need. You know your parents are probably sick with worry.”
She shook her head. “They’re not.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“They’re not.”
“Goodness. They most certainly are.”
“They are most certainly not.”
He gave up the argument, thinking she could probably continue on that way until nightfall and he wanted her to be far from the village walls by then. Shrugging, he held up his hands beseechingly.
“But you still have to go. I’m sorry but don’t you understand what just happened? The entire village wants you to go.” He lowered his voice, not wanting to bring up the fact that she’d tried to kill two of them with a mere glance. If she was aware she’d done such a thing it didn’t look like
