“None of this is your fault, Elisa. Don't you think if Roman knew how to stop Faydra without losing his life in the process that he would've done so?” Dawson, my youngest living brother, asked from his position outside the cave.

“He couldn’t, but I could have,” I called out, picking up the black rock again and etching out another one of my visions on the wall of the cave.

”If you had gone to Roman's aid that night, Faydra would've taken you away. Or worse, you would've been dead.”

I frowned. “You’re not making this any easier, Dawson.”

“Can you just come out? It’ll be easier if you come out. You can’t do anything stuck in a cave. You once told me you needed nature or the elements or whatever to be at peace. This isn’t helping you.”

I exhaled and dropped the rock to the ground. “You know, brother…I have this urge to trace Faydra back to wherever the heck she came from and kill them all right now while I have this rage still pent up inside me.”

“You can’t go alone, but how would you do that, anyway? Faydra’s dead.”

“Her ashes,” I stated, leaning back on my folded legs and looking at the spell I’d unconsciously written on the wall.

“I thought you needed blood. You told me once that it was your main connection to the spirit…your one way to access the source and your powers.”

I turned, glancing at the pile of rocks that barricaded the entryway. At that moment, I wanted to see Dawson. He did understand after all.

“You’ve been listening, brother. Yes, I’ve come to realize my specialty involves blood magic, but within the ashes of Roman’s burnt home, there could still be something left that I can use.”

“No, sister. It’s too dangerous.”

I rose off the dusty ground and paced the cave. “Yet, you want me to come out even though I’ve told you I might not be able to control my magic.”

“We want you safe. Please…” Dawson pleaded.

”Yesterday, you wanted me to draw out the memories of an alleged spirit stripper, and now you want me safe. Which is it? Do you want me safe or do you want to use me for my powers?”

“Elisa…”

“All of his life, Roman did everyone’s bidding. He did what they asked. If they were sick and dying, he helped them. If they wanted to get back at their enemies, he helped them. If they wanted to know what the future held, he helped them. He used his gifts to help everyone but himself. He…”

I knelt down again. This time, I collapsed on the thick quilt Dawson had left for me the other night.

“I’m sorry,” Dawson said, almost in a whisper. “I can’t begin to understand how Roman must have felt or how you must feel now. The truth is that we do need you, Elisa. Not for your gifts, but you’re our only sister. If anything happened to you…please come out.”

“I will, but it’ll be on my terms.”

“Okay. You set the terms. Just know that you don’t have to do this alone. You’re just fifteen. Don’t try to fix this alone. We’ll help you.”

“I’m fifteen with centuries of magic at my disposal. And who else besides Roman can help me understand all of it?”

There was silence on the other side, and then, “Maybe he believed that you were capable of understanding it all. He wouldn’t have wanted you to do it stuck in here. I’m certain of that. You told me you wanted to travel the world searching for clues about our history and our heritage. You can’t do that hunched over in a cave twenty-four seven.”

“Fine. But once I leave this cave, I’m not sure I’ll be the same person.”

The quickest way to move around on Caedmon lands without much detection was right before sunrise and in wolf form. And ever since I was allowed to roam on my own as a child, I’d been doing just that—venturing off into the forest to be alone.

Before my eldest brother Devin claimed the Alpha title, I worked as a kitchen maid in the old Caedmon mansion. They had no idea I was the bastard child of Daniel Caedmon. Roman had kept that a secret too, only revealing my bloodline when Devin came forth.

When I wasn’t washing dishes or mopping floors, I would slip away from my appointed guardian. I would run as wolf all the way to the other side of our land where Roman lived. But at the time, I thought he was just a mentor. He was also the closest thing I had to a father. I had no idea he was keeping a secret as big as this one. Not even a week had passed since Roman died, and he left me with more than just the truth. He left me with a legacy to untangle.

I brought my wolf to a halt near an oak tree, dropped the satchel of ashes to the ground, and then shifted into my human form. My shoes were right where I left them, and I put them on quickly before emerging out from behind the tree.

Somehow my brothers thought the presence of bodyguards could deter me from doing as I pleased, and they had taken great care to install three of them around the perimeter of my cave.

I walked up to one of them where he stood unmoving looking out into fields and beyond, oblivious to the spell I put on him. The guard didn’t move a muscle. Not even an eyelid twitched.

I grinned and then picked up a slow burning candle near the entrance of the cave. I recited a spell and blew the candle out.

The guards woke up from their trance. One of them spun around and glared at me in confusion.

“Do you need an escort to the stream?” he asked.

He hadn't even realized I'd left.

“No, I just needed some air,” I told him, then disappeared into the cave.

With one simple command and the flick of my wrist, the rocks floated up off the ground and moved in to form a barricade over the entryway of the cave. The candles I had strategically placed on the ground and other flat surfaces of the cave lit up instantly.

I hadn’t slept since the previous night, but I was eager to get to work. Tracing Faydra’s origins would no doubt lead to certain death. But doing nothing and letting the enemies live would also lead to the same outcome.

I sat cross-legged on the ground, entering meditation mode. But before I could begin the spell, I heard the cries of agony from the guards outside. I sprung upright when a moment of silence fell over the area followed by the scent of freshly spilled blood.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are, you little evil witch child,” the woman’s voice was low and quiet.

I shrank backward, moving deeper into the cave.

“I hear your heart beating. You’re scared. I know you’re in there.”

“Who are you?” I shouted.

“Who do you think I am?” she countered.

“Did you send Faydra after me? Did you send Faydra to kill Roman?” I asked.

“Yes and no. Your mother killed Roman DeSanto Caedmon on her own accord. I guess she was just a resentful bitch after all.”

“You’re a witch, aren’t you?”

The woman chuckled. “Come out of the cave and we can talk about who and what I really am.”

“You’re here to kill me.”

“No, I’d never kill a child. All I want is some of your magic.”

I swallowed, shaking my head. “I…I don’t know how…”

The woman laughed and the rocks barricading the entryway shook. One of the rocks fell to the ground. She was trying to get inside.

“Of course you don’t know how to give me your magic, little witch. That’s why I’m here to free you from your burdens.”

“Free me?” My fingers trembled.

“Yes. Isn’t it so overwhelming? To have so much power and not know what to do with it?”

“What if I don’t want to be freed?” I asked.

“Then that would be your choice. I could hunt down your brothers and wipe out the entire Caedmon Alpha line all in one day or you can give me what I ask for and no harm will come to them. Not by my hand anyway…”

“I don’t even know who you are. I don’t trust you.”

“Come out and see for yourself,” she said.

“No.”

“Very well…”

The next thing I knew, the scheming witch used her magic to blast through the rocks. Everything came tumbling down in a heap on the ground. When the dust settled, a woman I'd never seen in my life before stood in the clearing. She had long flowing black hair with a streak of gray down the left side and her eyes were overcast with shades of silver.

The woman had barely taken two steps toward the cave when I uttered a terse command. A fire erupted around the entrance and she shrieked and hopped back.

“Oh…you know more than you’re letting on,” she sneered.

“Don’t come any closer.” I held my palm out. “If you do, I’ll burn you alive.” I demonstrated, manifesting another fireball as big as my hand.

She laughed at me and then her irises clouded over in darkness until her eyes were nothing but black orbs. “Little witch child, let me show you how it’s done.”

She waved her arm from left to right to put the fire out and then came into the cave at me. Some invisible force gripped me, squeezing the life force right out of me. My heart slowed. I clutched at my chest. Right before I lost consciousness, I attempted to unleash more of my magic on her, but she was just too strong for me.

The last words I heard her say before she stopped my heart was, “Foolish little witch child, you’ll learn to respect your elders.”

My own screams jolted me awake and I sprang upright in the bed.

Tristan jumped up with me. “Elisa? Is something wrong? What’s the matter?”

I panted. My hands on my chest as I tried to gain control of myself. I looked around me, realizing that I just had some dream. No. Not a dream. My reality. I’d tried to suppress that memory for so long, but now my past was haunting me in my most vulnerable moments.

“What happened?” Tristan repeated.

“A dream,” I said. “Just a dream.”

“You’re burning up,” Tristan said, pressing his palm to my forehead to test my temperature. He pushed some hair back from my face and tugged the bed sheets off of us.

“I’m okay,” I said.

“No,” he said, reaching for my hand, turning it palm up to examine the skin which had suddenly gone red and blistered. “What were you doing in your dream?”

“Magic,” I replied. “That’s all. I must have overexerted myself.” I fell back on the bed. “Let’s just go back to sleep.”

Tristan collapsed on the pillow beside me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. I’m not afraid of my own magic. I’m fine.” I grabbed his hand. “Just don’t let go.”

“Never. I’m here for you. Always.”

As Tristan drifted back to sleep, I looked over his shoulder through the window and at the moon fading into the background making way for the sun.

Over three years had passed since that horrifying day, and this was the first time in a long time that I’d recalled the ordeal with the witch Shanhah. What had caused the sudden outpouring of this memory? Why was I seeing a young woman with long jet-black hair and silver hair just like the witch who had nearly stolen my life?

I wanted to be done with the madness. I was tired of wondering what our enemy’s next scheme would be.