“Telluris, Aida! Telluris, Phoenix!” I tried calling out to them again, but I was only met with silence.

Two hours had passed since Draven and I had returned from Marton with the young Druids. Two hours since we’d found Stonewall besieged by Sluaghs. Two hours since the horrifying revelation that Azazel had gotten what he’d been looking for since the day we’d first set foot in Eritopia—the Prince of Destroyers had used Sluaghs to attack and distract our group while sending Destroyers in to snatch Phoenix and Aida.

The hate brewing inside me burned with the fire of a thousand suns as I channeled it toward Azazel. It felt like I’d passed through every stage of mourning by this point, and had now settled on this rage broiling in my chest. That rage and Draven’s reassuring presence were the only sources of energy I had left.

Bijarki and Vita’s attempt to escape from Luceria had most likely been thwarted. It was the only conclusion I could draw, given that I hadn’t been able to get hold of the incubus via the telepathy spell. The best thing we could do was focus on what we knew now: Azazel had the Oracles and the little Daughter; the Allies were moving into position around his castle; and we had the young Druids joining us, ready to take the monster down.

Field and Jovi’s expressions were eerily similar. Darkness had settled over their eyes, and muscles twitched in their jaws. They stood next to me, watching quietly as the Bajangs and wards nursed the wounded. The young Druids retrieved herbs and powders from the archive hall cabinets and brewed healing pastes, which they applied to the deeper wounds, covering them with large waxed leaves from the potted palm trees decorating the inner courtyard.

Draven was a few feet away, staring at the thick column of black smoke rising from below, his back toward us. The four mutated shifters we had left kept watch around the funeral pyre, where dozens of incubi and succubi still burned, their bodies until recently occupied by Sluaghs. I hoped the two shifters that had followed Aida and Phoenix were still alive and able to help once we got there, if not sooner. I couldn’t tell what they would do because we still knew next to nothing about the new behavior Viola had caused in them.

Rebel stood at the bottom of the steps, gazing at the fire with teary eyes. She’d been forced to add some of her own garrison to the pyre, just to make sure there weren’t any bodies left for Sluaghs to sneak into.

“Do you think there are any Sluaghs left?” Anjani muttered next to us, wiping her blood-smeared face with a wet cloth.

“If there are, I’m pretty sure the shifters are eager to chomp down on them,” Jovi replied, his voice low and chilling.

“We need to move things along. I need to get them ready,” Draven said, turning to face me and nodding toward the young Druids.

“Agreed,” I replied. “How? When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow morning, at the latest.” He sighed. “It will take some time before Azazel realizes his Sluaghs aren’t coming back and sends more troops over here—at least another day. The Destroyers who took Aida and Phoenix won’t know how this siege ended since they didn’t stick around to watch it unfold. We need to use this to our advantage and go through the higher level dark magic before we can rely on our Druid strength.”

“I thought Druids usually take a lot of time to learn each level.” Jovi frowned. “How much do you think you’ll be able to cover before the morning?”

“I actually found a way to bypass the timeframe,” Draven replied, a faint smile passing over his face.

He gathered the young Druids and took them inside. Jovi, Field, and I quietly followed, leaving Hansa, Anjani, and Jax with the others.

Draven had stirred my curiosity, and I wanted to see what he was going to do with the young Druids. One of the Bajang cubs came with us and used a droplet of his blood to let us through the cloaking spell as we entered the concealed part of Stonewall.

“Azazel has enough power coming from the little Daughter, the volcanoes, and Asherak to even break the cloaking spell,” Draven said as we reached the grand hall. “Of that I’m certain. The only thing that kept Stonewall safe until now was the fact that everyone thought it was abandoned and nobody bothered to check. But things have changed. Azazel tracked the Oracles here, then sent Sluaghs to attack. He will soon understand, once the worms fail to return, that there are more creatures hiding here than he probably expected, creatures that are able to fight back and shatter his offensive, so he’ll most likely send even more troops our way. Stronger, fiercer, more destructive forces. The only thing we can do is speed things up and get out of here before they arrive, most likely tomorrow.”

“I’ll send the cubs to Marton, then,” Rebel announced as she joined us.

I hadn’t even heard her coming from behind. To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention anyway. My mind was racing between Luceria and Stonewall, between my brother and best friends and our group here.

Draven stopped in the middle of the hall, and pulled several crystals and some chalk from his satchel. I’d forgotten all about them. He’d packed them for Marton, thinking he might need to use them, but he’d never specified for what.

“Sending the cubs to Marton would be wise,” he replied as he drew a wide chalk circle with a diameter of about fifty feet on the marble floor. “I think the ship can hold them all, along with supplies.”

“I’ve instructed my garrison to get everything ready. They’ll set sail first thing in the morning,” Rebel said, watching him curiously.

Draven placed the crystals along the circle line, matching north, south, east and west. He then straightened his back and looked at us, while the Druids stepped closer to squint at the crystals.

“This was in a forbidden scroll,” he explained briefly. “The spell isn’t that difficult to put together; it just requires a lot of live energy to jumpstart, after which it functions on its own. It looks small, but the space inside will be infinitely bigger. We’re going to create a miniature world, with some natural resources and a stream. We’ll use growth spells to produce food, and drink the water for sustenance.”

He then looked at Jovi.

“I left a trunk with spell supplies by the forbidden section in the archive hall. It’s black, with brass handles. Can you bring it over here, please? We’ll need the supplies for our practice inside the circle.”

Jovi nodded, and Field joined him as they rushed to the archive hall.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Consider it a time cheat,” he replied. “Anything that goes on within this circle is not subject to the passage of time as we know it... Everything is slowed down. A minute in normal Eritopian time will be a day within the circle, basically. If we go and learn our high-level spells in there, we’ll have months at our disposal, while only hours go by here. Once we go in, we cannot come back before we finish our training. If any of us leave before we’re done, the spell breaks, and time is a precious commodity for us right now.”

He looked at me intently, his steely eyes flickering black as a feeling of longing and anguish poured out of him. He was locking himself in that spell for several months, and he was pained by how much he was going to miss me. I could feel his thoughts poking at the back of my head in the form of deep emotions. It would only be hours for me.

“What do you mean by ‘live energy’?” Jovi asked as he and Field returned with the trunk and left it at Draven’s feet. Field stepped back and stared at the crystals, his brows drawn close and his mouth flattened into a thin line.

“Energy from living creatures, such as yourselves,” Draven replied, looking somewhat guilty.

“What will it do to us?” Field looked at him, holding his side. His wound from the Sluaghs’ attack was still healing. The young Druids had patched him up quite nicely, saying he just needed to rest and he’d be good as new by morning. It did nothing to soothe his pain at losing Aida to Azazel, though.

“All dark magic inherently draws energy from living beings. According to the notes I found on the back of the scroll, it will most likely cause fatigue and nothing more. You can regain your strength with food and sleep. The darker, more evil spells kill the creatures they feed on, but this one isn’t like that. From what I read in the Druids’ records, this spell was forbidden to prevent it from being used by lawless Druids trying to hide away from justice. We are a good-natured species by design, but even we have our rotten apples.”

A moment passed in silence as Jovi, Field, and I looked at each other, eventually nodding.

“Do it, then,” I told Draven.

“Are you sure?”

“We need you Druids to be at the top of your game when we face Azazel tomorrow.” I sighed. “We’re more than happy to help you get there.”

“Besides, you said I can sleep it off,” Jovi added. “I’m fine with that, just like I’m fine with eating for three.”

“You always eat for three,” Field mumbled, prompting the corner of Jovi’s mouth to move slightly. It warmed me to see them unwilling to let Azazel ruin their jovial nature. We couldn’t let him mess with our emotions. We couldn’t let him win.

“Good, then I’ll need you to hold one of these,” Draven replied, and handed each of us, including Rebel, a clear, round crystal. “Close your fist around it, and hold it against mine.”

He wrapped his fingers around a blue crystal and reached out. We all did as he said, gripping our crystals, then touching his hand with our knuckles. He muttered something under his breath, presumably the dark spell he needed to draw energy from us, because I instantly felt my limbs buzzing, and a wave of exhaustion came over me. The crystals in our hands lit up a peculiar shade of amber, our energy pulsating from within before it all vanished, while Draven’s blue crystal became an incandescent turquoise.

“Thank you,” he said, then turned around to face the circle.

He muttered something else, then tossed the glowing turquoise crystal into the middle. The crystal splattered into a bright bluish liquid that spread out over the floor until it covered the entire surface encompassed by the chalk circle, then swelled, until we found ourselves gaping at a large dome made of turquoise light, buzzing and flickering like a neon tube. I couldn’t see through it.

“Well, you weren’t kidding about the tired part.” Jovi yawned and rubbed his face with his palms. “Not that bad, though. I’ve still got some hours left in me!”

The spell had taken some energy out of me, but it hadn’t drained me completely either. Field stretched his arms out and stifled a yawn, but he, too, seemed pretty much okay. Rebel, on the other hand, looked quite tired.

The Druids stood around the light dome, waiting for Draven to say something. He came up to me and took me in his arms, pressing his lips against mine in a tender, knee-melting kiss. I felt his love trickle through me like warm sunshine.

“I’ll miss you in there,” he sighed, his gaze locked on mine.

“It’ll be over before you know it,” I whispered encouragingly.

He gave me a weak smile, then planted a kiss on my forehead before he took his satchel, filled with spell scrolls, and walked into the dome. The young Druids followed, and they all disappeared inside.

I took a deep breath, partly impressed by how much he’d been able to learn over the course of a few days, and partly eager to see how much they’d manage to cover while inside that time-cheating spell.

A couple of minutes went by before Rebel walked out of the grand hall, heading toward the living quarters.

“I’ll go get the cubs ready,” she said over her shoulder. “And get some shut eye.”

“We can’t just stay here and wait for the Druids,” Field grumbled. “We should get ready for tomorrow.”

The Hawk was right. I could replenish my energy from anyone willing to “donate” in Stonewall, and Field and Jovi just seemed too restless to sit still.

“We could train a little,” I suggested.

“Read my mind,” Jovi replied. “Anjani, Hansa, and the others will want to join in.”

“Do you want to go get them? They’re still outside,” I said. “Field and I can bring some more weapons from the armory, and there’s plenty of room here for sparring.”

Jovi nodded and closed his eyes for a moment.

“Telluris Anjani!” he called out. “We’re about to do some training here in the grand hall. Do you want to join us? Okay, cool, and get anyone else who’s feeling up to it. We need to be ready for tomorrow.”

He smirked, probably in response to whatever Anjani had told him, then exhaled.

“Really, Jovi? Telluris, when they’re literally outside on the front steps of the citadel?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m trying to preserve my energy.” He shrugged, an innocent expression on his face, making me smile.

I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for what was coming next. I’d attempt Telluris later in the evening—hopefully either Aida or Phoenix would be conscious and able to respond. But until then, I had to train. I had to get ready. The fight of our lives was tomorrow, and we had a demented overlord commanding an army of bloodthirsty Destroyers to obliterate.