Ember stood in front of the furnace.
‘Try it,’ Antonia said. ‘See for yourself. It truly is quite harmless to you. I promise you.’
She glanced over her shoulder at them both, their eyes silently willing her on.
‘See how close you can get,’ Antonia added. ‘Feel it.’
It was their final test. That was why they had agreed to taking her there. Antonia wasn’t one to be held to ransom – it had been their intention from the moment she had arrived. And, for her, that made it all so much easier. If she could find the courage to do as they asked.
Ten minutes had to have already passed. In the time they took to explain, in the time she took to deliberate, at least that much time must have passed. The clock was ticking down.
But there was one more thing she needed to understand.
‘I don’t get it,’ she said. ‘Surely it would have been good news if the furnace had gone out. If that’s the only thing blocking you from getting to the prehnite for yourselves.’
‘Ember, that fire is the only thing that keeps the gateway open. If that fire goes out, the prehnite will be locked within the rock forever.’
Unable to lose any more time, Ember stepped up to the archway.
She’d had no idea what to expect: whether for the flames to dissipate, the fire to go out, or the flames to part around her. What she hadn’t expected was to feel a chill instead of heat the second she reached inside, as though she’d put her hand in a fountain of cold water. She’d known at the time that it could have been her brain playing tricks on her to counteract the pain, like feeling cold when running a hand under a scalding tap. But as she’d stared at her hand, there was no sign of blistering or melting or peeling of skin. There was no sickening scent of burning human flesh. She hadn’t burned at all. Instead, the flames that encompassed her hand ignited in violet before becoming ethereal wisps that felt like a cool breeze against her skin, caressing her hand instead of scorching her.
If she’d ever doubted what she was, that doubt had melted away in those moments.
As she’d caught her breath, as she withdrew her hand again, she felt Antonia and Jonah’s tension ease behind her.
She’d looked back across her shoulder at them. Their exchange of smiles, their smile at her, told her she had further passed their test.
She turned to face them. She needed to find a moment of opportunity. She needed to make her move when they least expected it. She needed that moment of distraction. She needed their guards down completely.
‘I go in there and then what?’ she asked.
‘You want to try it?’ Antonia asked.
‘Yes.’
Jonah placed the case he’d brought with him on the floor. He clicked it open. He removed a wooden goblet from within.
‘Made of ash,’ he said, handing it to her. ‘The most magical of all the woods: the channel between our world and the next. Inside, central to the furnace, is a pool of water. That’s where the prehnite is. You place the goblet in the pool and you bring the water to us.’
Ember glanced from one to the other. ‘That’s it?’
‘That’s all it takes,’ Antonia said. ‘As I said: quick, painless, simple.’
She accepted the goblet from him, took a moment to study the greed and eagerness behind his eyes.
‘In time, you’ll come to understand all of this,’ Antonia said. ‘You’ll have time to learn, to practise. And once you start, it will take hold of you. You will become at one with your ability. Thirsty for it, just as all your kind become once it begins. You’ll want to become the best you can be, just as your father and your brother did. And, one day, you’ll become as powerful as them. As proficient as them. It all takes time, but you’ll get there.’
She gripped the stem of the goblet. It was perfect. It would give her the best chance, the opportunity, she needed.
Ember turned to face the edge of the furnace. As the heat swamped her, she held her hand forward, just as had last time. And, again, the amber flames felt cool to the touch as opposed to scalding her skin. As hues of violet burst around her hand and then her arm, she took a steadying breath and stepped fully into the flames.
The silence that consumed her was like one she’d never known, like stepping into a vacuum. Violet flames licked and curled around her, ethereal wisps caressing her skin, the sensation of a refreshing shower encompassing her fully.
She glanced over her shoulder to see two figures in the distance, nothing more than shadows now, as if belonging to another world.
The threat of them seemed a lifetime away, her surroundings as soothing as the comfort of her own warm duvet. The shimmering violet hues were mesmerising, the smoke-like wisps dancing languidly around her. Like teetering on the edge of pre-sleep, she knew she could have easily lost herself in there; could have dropped to the ground and rested, slept even, everything beyond the cocoon suddenly feeling irrelevant.
But it wasn’t irrelevant. And time was slipping away.
She jolted herself back to reality, back to her task.
Ahead of her, a few feet away, deep in the core of the furnace, was the pool Jonah had mentioned. A pool that glowed a vibrant, luminescent green against the violet hues of the flames.
Stepping up to the edge, she gazed down into the never-ending tunnel of translucent green crystals, extending deep into the earth, the water that encompassed them so still as to be like staring down through a sheet of glass.
Crouching down, she lowered the goblet into the water, and scooped enough to almost fill it to the brim. The water she removed had that same vibrant glow, as if the essence of the crystals had leaked into the water itself.
But half-full. That’s what she needed. If her plan was to work, she needed to take it out there half-full. She poured some of it out before standing again.
Ember turned and made her way back through the flames, back out, ironically, into the humidity of the room beyond.
Like maniacal twins in perfect synchronisation, Antonia and Jonah beamed as she emerged.
‘It’s incredible in there,’ she said, sharing a smile with them. ‘Like nothing I’ve ever experienced.’
Antonia stepped up to her. She rubbed Ember’s upper arm. She smiled again. ‘I told you it was nothing to worry about. Your magic is nothing to fear, Ember. And, in time, you will come to embrace it. You’re going to help us do incredible things. Wonderful things,’ she added, removing the goblet from her hand.
Antonia closed her eyes. She lifted the goblet to her lips, captivating Jonah’s full attention. And, just as Ember hoped, only having the goblet half-full necessitated Antonia to tilt her head back a little as she took her first mouthful.
And that was her chance. Maybe her only chance. And she took it.