Aaron and I ran, trailed by the witch soldiers and a dark Phantom force. Something inhuman. Something frightening.

I stole a glance over my shoulder and saw the whirlwind of magic, tearing through the trees like a tornado. It tossed the witches aside. When they turned on it, pummeling it with bullets, it turned those bullets around and spat them back.

The witches fell dead to the ground. Ethan fell, plummeting face-first into a pond. Not thinking, just moving, I spun around and ran toward him. I waded into the pond, pulling Ethan out of the grassy water. I laid him down on the shore, my hands shaking as they moved across his chest and face, searching desperately for a way to save him. Even knowing that he’d betrayed me, I didn’t want to see him die. Deep down inside of him, he was still my friend. And I didn’t give up on friends.

I lowered my ear to his mouth. He wasn’t breathing. My tears poured down on him, melting into the blood oozing out of the hole in his chest.

I’d slid past the whirlwind of magic, but it changed directions now, honing in on me. It slammed into me with the force of a truck, throwing me across the pond. I hit the ground on the other shore, my shoulder taking the blunt of the impact.

The whirlwind dissipated, revealing a bronze-eyed Phantom inside. He strode toward me with menacing purpose. “You are going to die now,” he told me, his voice etched in ice.

Magic hit the Phantom hard from the back, blasting him aside to reveal Jason standing behind him.

“Jason?” I said, rising to my feet. “How did you find me?”

“We are still linked.”

Jason whipped around to face the Phantom’s running charge. Their mind blasts collided in the middle, the force of the exploding magic shooting them both backwards. The Phantom jumped up, running toward me.

Aaron was waiting for him. He slammed his armored fist against the Phantom’s chest, forcing him back. Again, the bronze-eyed mage tried to get to me, but Jason caught him and slammed him against the ground. Jason and Aaron continued to circle the Phantom, attacking from two fronts.

The Phantom stumbled, bleeding, staggering. He evaded them and pushed on toward me, his eyes burning. When I looked into those eyes, I saw death. My death.

Jason and Aaron circled around him, trying to cut him off, for once united in a single cause: to protect me. Aaron jumped into the Phantom’s path, pushing him away from me. Jason’s magic caught him, trapping him behind a telekinetic wall.

“What is he doing?” Aaron demanded as the Phantom raged like a wild animal, pounding himself against the magic wall. “Why does he keep going for her?”

“I don’t know,” said Jason.

And then there were two identical bronze-eyed Phantoms: one in Jason’s cage, one running out of the woods, headed straight for me.

Aaron’s gaze flickered between them. “There are two?”

“One is a Chameleon,” Jason said. “A shapeshifter.”

“Which one?”

I grabbed my Taser and thrust it at the behemoth mage who’d charged at me. Electrical sparks sizzled across his body like a silver net. He froze. A bright light flared inside his bronze eyes, and they slowly faded to crystal blue. The hard lines of his face softened, shrinking and shifting into a diamond shape.

At the same time, his body was changing, growing shorter even as his clothes morphed. Leather became silk, black faded to cream. His massive muscles shrank, taking on a leaner, more feminine shape.

He was actually a she. Her complexion paled, losing its bronze undertone, and her skin took on a distinctive sparkle, as though she’d been lightly dusted with silver glitter. Her hair slid down her face, darkening to indigo as it lengthened to a slanted, jaw-length cut.

“She’s the Chameleon,” I declared as the woman dropped unconscious to my feet.

Roaring in fury, the Phantom slammed his magic against Jason’s barrier, shattering it. He pushed through Aaron and Jason in his mad dash to reach me. His eyes were an inferno of gold flames. Fear closed its icy fingers around me, choking me.

You’re going to die, a small voice said inside of me.

I shook my head, refusing to listen to it. I drew on my connection to Jason, to his strength and magic. It tore through me like a lightning storm, swirling and sizzling, building and banging. And then I let it loose.

Magic shot out of my hands, encasing the Phantom, choking him. His body shook as my magic zapped him over and over again. I could feel his life force seeping out of him. This was the monster who’d kidnapped and hurt Cameron. This was the monster who wanted to kill me. Fury raged inside of me, and I tightened my magic’s grip. Blood poured out of his nose.

“Stop.” Something brushed against me.

I turned my head. Jason had his hand locked around my arm.

“This isn’t you, Terra,” he told me, his voice low, soothing.

“He wanted to kill me. He hurt Cameron.” My anger burned, fueling my magic. I only had to let it go, and it would consume me, flooding me with power. I could make him suffer for the evil he’d done. I could make all the evil people suffer.

“You don’t want to do that.” Jason’s hand brushed against my cheek. “You’re not a monster.”

“Stand back,” I snapped.

Instead, he moved in front of me, putting himself between me and my prey. His eyes lightened, shifting from obsidian to dark copper. “Release him.”

“Why?”

“You don’t kill people.”

A shrill cackle burst from my lips. “A morality lecture from an assassin?”

“You are not me,” he said, his voice as hard as granite. “You are better. Now, let him go.”

His magic melted into mine, tugging me back from the brink. My anger began to subside, and it was only then that I realized how close I’d come to the edge. I looked at the Phantom’s bloody face and gasped in shock. I reeled in my magic, releasing him. He fell to the ground.

“Good,” Jason said, kissing my cheek softly. “Now, stay there.”

He turned from me and grabbed the Phantom. “Why are you trying to kill her? Why did you abduct her brother?”

“I took him to lure her in. To kill her.”

Jason’s eyes pulsed with cold fury. “Why?”

“You are dooming the galaxy,” the Phantom choked out. “Both of you.” His gaze flickered between Jason and Aaron. “She will bring death and destruction upon us all. Worlds will burn. The Selpe imperial palace.” He sneered at Aaron. “The forests of Elitia,” he hissed at Jason. “Because of her. You must kill her, or we are all lost.”

His eyes cold, Jason broke the Phantom’s neck.

“Why?!” I shouted.

“Because he had to die,” Jason said, his words burning like dry ice. “He wouldn’t have stopped until he killed you.”

“Neither of them would have,” Aaron added as he shot the sleeping Chameleon in the head.

“You,” I growled at both of them. Acid scorched my throat; tears burned my eyes. “You.” No more words would come.

“We are monsters,” Aaron said. “You are not.”

My shoulders shook. “They thought so.” I glanced at the dead mages on the ground.

Jason captured my face in his hands. “They were crazy. Don’t listen to them.”

“But what if they’re right?” My voice broke. “I’ve seen things…a dark future. Jason, there’s a monster inside of me.”

“No.” He met my gaze. “You are the light in the darkness. Self-sacrificing. Good.”

“You said you saw it too,” I reminded him. “The foresight. I will become a monster.”

“I was wrong,” he said roughly. “You are not evil. You could never be evil.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I know you, Terra.” His hand tightened around my back, pressing me to his chest. “I swore to my father that I would protect you,” he said in a lowered voice, his forehead touching mine. “And I always will.”

I pulled away. “But can you protect the world from me, Jason? I’ve foreseen those things the Phantom described.”

“No more of that,” Jason said, his voice harboring no room for dissent. “You know better than anyone that the future is not set. You must not obsess over it. Down that path lies only madness.”

He was right. This was the reason so many Prophets went mad. They couldn’t discern reality from the foresights. And the foresights only showed possible futures. Maybe I could escape that fate.

“I never thought I’d agree with that rogue, but he’s right,” said Aaron. “The Phantom had clearly lost his mind. You aren’t capable of the things he describes. You are too good. You are everything we’re not.” He looked at Jason.

Jason nodded in agreement.

“But you need to stay away from him,” Aaron said. “Phantoms are unstable and dangerous.”

“Your power comes from drinking our blood, vampire,” Jason shot back. “That dangerous, unstable force runs through you as surely as our strength and speed.”

Aaron’s jaw hardened.

I shied away from the scathing disapproval in Jason’s eyes. He knew. He knew I’d allowed Aaron to drink from me.

“He is dangerous,” Jason told me.

“So are you.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “I am. Which is why I must go now.”

As Jason moved to leave, Aaron lifted his gun.

I stepped between them. “Wait. Stop.”

Jason’s face was cold, unreadable. “If he wishes to die, don’t stop him.”

“You’re not in the Wilderness this time, assassin. My armor works here.”

They must have recently met in battle.

Jason stood there, silent. His hands dipped to his throwing knives. They wouldn’t go through Aaron’s armor, but even vampire armor was not without its weak spots. And Jason had excellent aim. Even as a child, he could have hit those spots.

“Get behind me,” Aaron told me, grabbing my hand.

Jason’s eyes phased obsidian. “Don’t touch her.”

“Everybody, just calm down.” I shifted so I was standing between their weapons. “There’s no need for anyone to shoot or throw knives or die.”

“He is a rogue mage. A criminal,” Aaron said coolly. “It is my duty to apprehend him.”

“Jason might be a rogue, but he just saved our lives,” I told him bluntly.

I turned to look at Jason, but he was gone, like a whisper on the wind. A Phantom indeed.

“More Spirit Reapers are coming,” Aaron said. “We have to go.”