My eyes snapped open. It wasn’t Snow. I would recognize her voice anywhere. I had no idea who it was, but this voice was deep and distinctly male, and a sense of calm washed over me as I listened.
“Rise, Aurora,” said the voice that only I could hear. “You are a fae-mage. The amulet doesn’t control you; you control the amulet.”
I tried to make some sense of this in my already fuzzy mind. “What do you mean?” I asked the voice, still trying to push myself up from the floor. “My hands are bound. I couldn’t take off my amulet if I wanted to.”
I had long since ceased being surprised by mind communication, and this voice seemed to know what it was talking about.
“Your powers are different from others. You can do what no one else can,” said the voice. “You don’t need your hands for magic. It is your mind, your will, and your innermost soul that control your power. Imagine the amulet disappearing from your neck and put it somewhere else.”
“How?”
The deep voice was calm. “Do not try to pull the magic to you. Open yourself to the power around you, and you will see what I mean.”
I pushed myself to my feet with all the energy I could muster.
Morgana looked at me with her eyebrows raised. “Back for more, little niece?”
But I ignored Morgana and concentrated on the unknown voice that spoke only to me. “Imagine the amulet has disappeared from your neck. Push all your magic and your will into that thought.”
I did as I was told; I gathered my magic and pushed my will into imagining the amulet disappearing. Nothing happened, and I tried again.
“Who are you?” I asked in my mind, but the voice was gone, and I got no answer.
Morgana hit me with a fire strike. The pain was excruciating, and my skin was burnt all over. Angry red welts had formed on my arms and legs. I was in agony, but I concentrated harder. I calmed my mind and imagined the amulet gone from my neck. I pushed the last of my magic into that thought.
I glanced at Morgana, who was now raising her hands and gathering all her magic to deliver the final blow, the magical strike that would kill me instantly. But I didn’t break my concentration. I held the thought firmly in my mind and braced myself for whatever Morgana had in store for me.
Suddenly, much to my utter astonishment, the chain around my neck started to get hot, as if it were resisting my magic. It vibrated faintly, and the amulet disappeared from around my neck.
It was like a veil had been lifted from my magic. I quickly drew my shield around me and searched outside myself for fae magic. I was not surprised this time to find the power that lay around me just waiting to be tapped.
I gradually opened myself to it, careful not to force it. Magic started flowing into me in gentle waves, filling me with power and reinforcing my shield.
Morgana pushed her hands forward to deliver the final blow. Lightning sizzled in her palms. She hit me with a crushing lightning strike, which would have killed any who stood before it. But my shield was resilient, and it was still growing.
Morgana looked surprised for the first time. “How is this possible?” she said faintly, more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes narrowed and flashed with fury as she shot numerous fire and lightning strikes at me. Morgana was powerful, but her magic didn’t even shake my shield.
In the same way as I had done with the amulet, I imagined my ropes gone. They immediately disappeared, and my hands were free.
“No, no, no!” Morgana screamed. “This is impossible. I was watching you. You never removed the amulet. How did you free your hands?”
I shrugged, offering her no more explanation as my power expanded, and an old magic, wild and dangerous, began to awaken.
I gathered it within me and lashed out at Morgana, shattering her shield and hitting her with a powerful push strike. She flew backward and landed in a heap against a crumbling stone wall.
Morgana shrank back under a hastily constructed shield. I could see from the look on her face that she was getting worried, and my power was still growing.
Magic was seeping into my very pores, flowing into me in waves of potent power. My feet left the ground. I could feel the magic all around me, lifting me up, and it was all mine to command.
“No, no, this is not possible,” Morgana kept saying over and over again. “You were wearing the Amulet of Auraken. It is impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible,” I said without emotion, advancing on her slowly, a ball of silver fire growing steadily in my palm.
“Kill her, kill them, kill them all!” screeched Morgana to the Shadow Guard as she scrambled backward and away from me.
I turned from Morgana for the briefest of seconds to see Kalen being hit on the head by one of the guards. He fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. I looked on in blood-chilling horror as another Shadow Guard slit Snow’s neck.
Fresh crimson blood streamed down the pegasus’s beautiful white mane and coat, and she collapsed onto the moss-covered floor of the ruined castle, the life slowly draining out of her.
“No!” I screamed, and moved to run to them.
In the split second that I was distracted, Morgana took the opportunity to disappear.
I was left alone with the Shadow Guard, who had slowly started advancing on me. There were more than twenty of them, but now, suddenly, I had no fear. I had faced my greatest enemy, Morgana, and won.
My mind shut off the rising tide of despair that grew inside me. All I wanted to do was to get the Shadow Guard out of the way so I could attempt to heal Kalen and Snow if they were still alive.
I gathered all the power swirling within me.
