I changed into my pajamas, turned off the light, and slipped into bed. It always messed with me how cold the sheets were whenever I’d first get in bed. I didn’t remember it being this way at home.

  I turned onto my side and noticed the door slowly open without a sound. Crap, did I not close it all the way? And why was it opening? Was there a draft?

  The bed shook a little as a twenty-pound bundle of fur curled up next to my feet.

  “Go away,” I called out, kicking the mutt with my feet. “You being a human makes this weird. Go away.”

  No response.

  “I’m not sleeping with you.”

  The fur ball turned so that he was now facing me. The little bit of light coming from my window allowed me to see his big, sad eyes. To sell the act, he added a whimper.

  “Nope. Not falling for it.” I crossed my arms. “You’re a big stinky human, not an adorable helpless dog.”

  The whimpering loudened.

  “If you don’t leave, then I will.” I began to shuffle out of bed when the dog leapt off and headed to the door. …Just to curl up by my shoes instead. “Leave,” I demand.

  His head faced away from me, ignoring my demands.

  Well, at least he wasn’t in my bed anymore.

  I turned around, pulled the covers over me again, and tried to forget that a human boy was sleeping in the same room as me. I wondered what Finn would do if he could read my mind from that far away. Or better yet, Aidan. …Part of me wanted to text them.

  Morning came, and I woke up to the stupid mutt sleeping on my bed again! I picked him up and dropped him off the bed, causing a soft plop as the animal dropped less than two feet.

  “Get out so I can change,” I snapped.

  The dog yawned, a whimper sounding at the end as he slowly walked out of the room. I quickly ran to the door, closed it, and locked it—something I would be doing every night from now on.

  Once I was dressed, I met up with the others for breakfast. Dimitri still seemed uninterested in returning to his human form. As soon as I arrived, Finn balled his fists and glared at the four-legged creature. The latter stared up at him with his tongue out, an innocent expression that would have worked had he actually been a dog.

  “What is it?” Zephyr asked, concern evident in his voice.

  “Nothing. Just thinking about how appetizing this creature looks,” Finn replied, forcing himself to sit at the table. Dimitri whimpered at his comment.

  “Once we’re done eating, Elaina, Zephyr, and I will be training,” Maverick announced as we began eating breakfast.

  “W-won’t you draw attention?” Aidan asked.

  “We’ll be fine,” Maverick answered pointedly.

  Breakfast flew by in the blink of an eye. Aidan retreated to his room, and I had to practically beg Finn not to skin Dimitri, even if a part of me wanted that.

  “Ready?” Maverick asked.

  I nodded my head as he grabbed onto my hand with his left hand, and Zephyr’s hand with his right hand. A nauseating sensation later, we were in an open field that stretched as far as the eye could see.

  “Where are we…?” I asked.

  “Away from civilization. That’s all that matters,” Maverick answered. I could tell by his expression that he didn’t care to elaborate, so I simply nodded.

  The breeze felt nice, and the scenery was beautiful, if a bit plain. I forgot how nice the green grass looked—especially in this quantity.

  “Have you tried using magic since Sylvis returned?” Maverick asked.

  “Only to test if it’s there,” I answered. “It’s not.”

  “Do you feel anything different here? There’s less ether. No ether, I should say. Your magic is behaving the same?”

  “I guess? It’s still manifesting any time I can’t control my emotions.”

  “Then you should suppress them while we’re in your world.” He crossed his arms—his eyes telling me he was dead serious.

  Zephyr cleared his throat. “I believe it would be possible for Elaina to suppress her magic without suppressing her emotions. And far healthier.”

  “She’s evading capture, not going on a diet.” Maverick rolled his eyes.

  “I think I agree with Zephyr on this one.” I held up my hands defensively and backed away.

  “Fine. We’ll try Zephyr’s method first. If that doesn’t work, we try mine.”

  “Deal.” I nodded, relaxing a bit more. He was actually taking my opinions into consideration this time instead of forcing some insane, deadly training regimen on me.

  Silence filled our makeshift arena, save for the gentle whisper of wind. Maverick seemed lost in thought, wrestling with the idea of whether or not to tell me. Finally, he spoke. “Sylvis has no intention of ever letting you return home, even if you learn to control your magic.”

  “What?” My hands froze.

  “What did you feel in your hands just now?” Maverick asked.

  “Who cares! You just dropped a bomb on me! What do you mean Sylvis won’t—”

  “I was lying to trigger your magic.” He rolled his eyes. “Sylvis doesn’t tell me anything, remember?”

  “Oh…” I bit my lip, feeling slightly embarrassed that I’d fallen for that.

  “What did you feel in your hands before your magic manifested?”

  “Cold,” I answered, unamused.

  “Was there a delay between your hands feeling cold and the ice appearing?”

  “Uh, not that I noticed.”

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  “Then Zephyr’s hypothesis won’t work.”

  “How do you determine that?” Zephyr asked, walking closer to us instead of standing on the sidelines observing, like he was before.

  “Her emotions and magic are inextricably linked. They happen at the same time. So, unless Elaina can somehow predict when she’s going to feel a strong emotion, there’s no way for her to even begin trying to suppress her magic,” Maverick answered. He seemed both frustrated and annoyed, his eyes darting around frantically, and his hands not knowing what to do.

  “Perhaps it’s simply the initial onset of magic that cannot be prevented. Once the magic has manifested, she could perhaps dispel it faster than she can her emotions.” Zephyr looked me up and down as if I were some sort of test subject or unknown species.

  “And this helps her how, exactly?” Maverick laughed humorlessly. “People will already see her magic. There’s no point in trying to hide it after the fact.”

  “She can perfect it with practice. She has likely already associated sensations in her hands with her magic. Once she feels the initial onset of magic, she can deploy precautions to dispel it.”

  “Can you guys stop talking about me as if I’m not here?” I asked, getting slightly annoyed at all the pointing and gesturing at me.

  “Would you like to try my theory, Elaina?” Zephyr asked earnestly, a small smile replacing his usual stoic expression.

  “Please. It’s at least worth a try.”

  “Fine.” Maverick crossed his arms, his expression well hidden, even if I could tell he was still annoyed. “Fear won’t work this time because you’ll expect it. How did you feel when you learned that I was stalking you?”

  "You were what—" Zephyr was quickly cut off.

  Flames engulfed my hands this time. I thought I had made my peace with it, but something about Maverick’s agitation mixed with bringing up a topic for the sake of angering me did just that.

  Zephyr shook his head, seemingly shaking his previous question off along with it.“Now, picture ice wrapping around your hands melting the flames,” he instructed, a gentle hand on my shoulder.

  I closed my eyes and tried to picture just that—a coldness strong enough to mirror, no, devour the fire wrapping around my hands. The fire disappeared for a moment, sparks flying every which way but flying no further than half a foot, before the fire returned.

  “It’s working,” Zephyr whispered in my ear.

  I searched my body for any energy—any ether I could find and call upon. My whole body felt energized—my soul screaming to be let loose as I focused my whole being into the idea of quelling the flames.

  A burst of ice shot forth from my hands, nicking Maverick in the shoulder. He clenched his hurt shoulder and stepped aside in case any stray ice continued to come forth.

  Zephyr quickly ran to Maverick’s side, using his ether to heal him. In the meantime, I felt all the strength in my body leave me as I collapsed to the ground. The overwhelming craving for sweets flooded me as my head pounded.

  “You know you don’t need to use your entire supply of ether to dispel your magic, right?” Maverick narrowed his eyes at me, and I suddenly felt guilty that I had hurt him.

  “I couldn’t figure out how to do it otherwise.” I crossed my arms.

  “Leave it, Maverick. She’s learning.” Zephyr offered me a sympathetic smile from where he stood at Maverick’s side.

  I sighed, leaning back into the comfy couch, my feet on the coffee table, my shoes removed. I had to lean on Zephyr’s shoulder as he sat me on the couch and quickly supplied me with as much sugar as he could find. Unfortunately, all we had were some leftover cronuts from the other day.

  The familiar pitter-patter of nails against the hardwood floors sounded, and Dimitri was quick to shift to his human form. “What in Alina’s grave have you done to her?!” he snapped at Maverick and Zephyr. “You’ve pushed her too far!”

  “We didn’t do anything. She chose to push herself,” Maverick answered, his eyes narrowed and his posture stiff.

  Dimitri quickly ran over to me, taking my hand in his. He released it just for it to ungracefully drop back down, only for him to catch it again. “How do you feel?”

  “Hungry,” I answered.

  “Good. You need to eat.” He pulled me up carefully into his arms and began walking out of the living room.

  “Where are you going?” Maverick demanded.

  “To get her something to eat, naturally.” Dimitri narrowed his eyes at him.

  Maverick quickly glanced at me—a silent message I quickly nodded to. I’d feel safer having Maverick follow us.

  Being too tired to protest, let alone stand, I allowed Dimitri to carry me out the door.

  Once we were outside, I noticed people staring. “I’d like to walk,” I requested.

  “Are you sure?” He looked down at me, concern written plainly on his face.

  I nodded, and he carefully placed me down. I was quick to grab onto his arm to keep myself steady, and had to unfortunately rely on his help to get to…wherever we were going. The only thing making this tolerable was picturing Maverick’s annoyance and frustration at the situation.

  Dimitri led me to a cafe less than a block away. He helped me to a table and insisted I order anything I’d like. I wondered if he had money to pay for it.

  This was the first time I really got a good look at him, besides when he was hovering over my face. He wore a light blue button-up shirt with a black and white tie, almost similar to what Finn wore at our magic show. I vaguely remembered that he was wearing dark blue pants.

  I quickly glanced around, checking to see how many people were within earshot. Once satisfied, I asked him the one question that had been on my mind since last night. “Why do you care about me so much?”

  He smiled, exhaling a chuckle before turning away from me. “You were a noble pried away from her home as an infant, only to return sixteen years later, unable to return to the life you built here. You’re also an Ethereal. To top it all off, you’ve somehow brought together four unlikely friends. To say I’ve grown interested in you is an understatement.”

  “H-how do you know so much?” I winced. My hands would have completely frozen over by now if it wasn’t that I knew Maverick was quietly watching us.

  “My former master is rather skilled at getting information that she wants.”

  “Then your former master is interested in me?”

  “What she desires, I’m not privy to.” He smiled humorously. “Perhaps we might talk about something else?”

  “All right. Tell me about yourself. Your life before you joined the Magus of Historia,” I suggested.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m the first son of the Lord of Venerabilis. I grew up alongside my six siblings—four sisters and two brothers. I enjoy fencing and guardiansmen.”

  “Guardiansmen?” I asked.

  “A board game. I believe this world’s equivalent would be chess? No matter. My father also possesses magic. It’s something of a family secret. Though I am firstborn, it was decided that whichever child possessed magic would be next in line. Two of us did—myself and my sister, Iliana.”

  “Was that what you wanted?” I asked, wondering if his lineage was a burden.

  “Of course. There’s no greater honor than to become a lord or lady. It’s something I trained my entire life for.” Suddenly, his fixation on me being nobility made sense.

  “What magic does your father have?” I asked, suddenly curious.

  “He’s also a shifter, his most prominent form being that of a pantheria—what you would call a lion, according to your TV.”

  “How does shifting work?” I asked. “Can you turn into anything you want?”

  “Goddess no.” He chucked. “Shifters are given control over one species. For my father, it’s the feline species, while mine is canine.”

  “Aw, so you can’t turn into a clock?” I frowned.

  “Err, why would I want to do that?” He smiled, confused.

  “It was the first object that came to mind. But like… it would be so cool if you could turn into, like, a bracelet, a rug… Oh! You could be a literal fly on the wall!”

  “Are you implying you’d like for me to be crushed with that second one?” He chuckled.

  “Uh, no, that’s not what I meant.” I frantically waved my hands. “I was just thinking of unassuming objects. But if your father has magic, does that mean he’s met Sylvis?”

  “Correct. I can’t say that the two of them get along. Thus, his desire for me to attend the Magus of Historia to get a better understanding of my powers.” He looked bored at this. He was leaning an elbow on the table, his free hand tracing the design of the tablecloth.

  “You didn’t want to go?”

  “Why should I? Father was a shifter and could have taught me just as much, if not more. I eagerly accepted, thinking I might glean information about Meridia and its politics, but I was sorely mistaken. The only ones with that information are the Master and her 'friend'.”

  “Friend?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I’ve said too much.”

  The waiter finally came by to take our orders. Dimitri ordered a cup of tea while I ordered way too many sweets… We continued our conversation, and I found myself enjoying my time with him. He didn’t seem like a bad person, and I had a hard time believing he was really a spy for the Magus of Historia.

  Perhaps Maverick had noticed something I had not.