Zoey Wynter sat quietly across the table from her apparent soon to be fiancée, a boy named Leo Fowler who was the son of a well-connected merchant. He was an Earth Abjurer who seemed to have the makings of a polite man except for one detail: he was shopping for a wife.

Being four years older than herself, Zoey was incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of being forced to marry the man. Alas, she had no choice in the matter. She was but a child, and she was not nearly talented enough to worm her way out of this by beginning a more powerful mage to help her. As far as society was concerned, it was best she produce offspring as soon as possible to help increase the mage population of the Frontier city because even though she was a mage, she was weak and her children might be much stronger.

At least that’s what high society thought of her. The thought of being expected to bear children was something that made her sick to her stomach.

An arranged marriage was presenting itself in front of her, one that couldn’t be avoided. She’d hoped this day would never come, but if she didn’t let her father wrap her in chains, he would go after Ren again. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She’d eaten little of her dinner, and didn’t feel like she could stomach any more of it.

If only she weren’t so weak. She was absolutely useless without her friends, and it made her feel foolish for relying on them so much to get stronger. Now she wished that she could have one more chance to get strong enough and stand on her own two feet., not just for her sake but for her friends’.

“You look pale, are you alright,” Leo inquired from across the table.

Currently, the young man was finishing off his wildland vegetables. He seemed ravenous, both in what his ideal wife would be and in his appetite. Had he not had proper training in upper class etiquette?

“I’m fine. Thank you. So you attend Sydney University?”

“Indeed, but do not fret, I wouldn’t put such large expectations on you. Merely graduating from high school with honors is good enough for me.”

What if it wasn’t good enough for her though? She had her own dreams and aspirations, yet the entire time they spent together Leo seemed to think nothing of them. Instead, he seemed to believe his goals should be hers as well. That she should support him and help him achieve what he desired. All she was expected to be, was supposed to be, was a model housewife.

It was a sickening thought. To be denied the chance to achieve her dreams while assisting her friends in achieving their own. If only her wings could have grown stronger. Instead, she was born both with mediocre talent, and her affinity was another matter.

“I understand,” she lied, trying to keep up a modest appearance lest her father want to hurt Ren again.

Hopefully he would consider that a satisfying answer.

“Wonderful,” he said. “I don’t want to overstay my welcome, but it was delightful to finally meet you. Thank you for dinner, my future bride. Tomorrow we’ll finalize the paperwork and begin preparing for our wedding.”

The man reached out with his hand and gently lifted her up out of her seat, pulling her into a hug and getting a feel for her body.

She wasn’t sure how much more she could take without breaking, but Zoey knew she wasn’t far from it.

Next to her ear, she could hear the man inhaling her scent briefly before breaking the embrace.

“I must say, you smell absolutely delightful. I look forward to getting to know you in a much more personal way,” he said sultrily. “Alas, for now we must part. Good night my future wife.”

He firmly planted a kiss on her forehead, then quickly made his way out of the room, likely to find her father.

“Good night,” Zoey stammered as best she could, trying to keep the fracturing pieces of her psyche together.

If he’d pressed any further, she wouldn’t have been remotely able to hold it together.

For a moment, her mind went blank as it tried to hold itself together. When she came to, she realized she’d begun to clean the table. She was doing exactly what she didn’t want to be doing. Immediately, she set down the plates and made her way from the dining room to her bedroom.

There wasn’t much she could do about her situation on her own, but she was hopeful a note would be waiting there to reassure her that help was on the way.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t so lucky as to return without her father intercepting her. The man briskly walked out of the living room and into the hallway, right in front of her.

“He’s a wonderful man, isn’t he? I know he’ll take good care of you,” her father said smugly.

When she didn’t respond, his attitude returned to its natural sourness.

“You honestly think you can just remain silent like this? Very well, you’ll get over it soon,” he said, making way to allow her to pass through unabated.

That wasn’t like him though. There had to be a catch. Whatever it was, she could already feel the malice radiating through the air.

“I assume you’re going to say something snide?”

“Why would I do that? I merely have your best interests in mind.”

“I’m not certain you do father.”

“I assure you that I do. Tomorrow, you'll sign the marriage contract and then go to live with your new fiancée as you two prepare for the wedding. It’s exciting, isn’t it? The thought of having children in a couple of years?”

That wasn’t exciting, it was disgusting. Why would she want to foster a parasite in her body for nine months and then nurse it for years while her ‘beloved’ would get to go off galavanting and doing whatever he wanted.

Zoey felt the seams of her mind beginning to snap once again and watched as her father’s smile grew twisted.

“Oh and I wouldn’t think about rebelling if I were you. If you cause any trouble, Julia will be the one taking the punishment for you. It would be such a shame if she were to have to disappear. We can’t have you damaged after all.”

The stoked flames that almost became an inferno suddenly were quenched by the deluge her father had poured on her. First Ren, and now Julia. What was he thinking? Was he so foolish that he would earn the ire of Magister just to get his way? Surely he couldn’t be that far gone, could he?

If she called him on his bluff, he might just hurt her friend as an example of what he would do should she really misbehave. However, if he was actually bluffing, she’d look like a child who’d been caught flatfooted. It was a double-edged sword that she had no chance of parrying. Furthermore, just because he had Julia didn’t mean he wouldn’t go after Ren.

The verbal knife against her throat had the pressure of an anchor. It would cut with any slight misstep. Any mistake would have a horrible outcome.

She had no choice but to bend. If she didn’t, he’d do horrible things to Julia, who had nothing to do with this to begin with.

As she nodded, she could feel the knot in her chest tighten so much that it became asphyxiating.

“I understand father,” she begrudgingly said while trying to hold back her desire to vomit her stomach’s contents

“Good girl, now go to bed. I want you looking your best when your future husband gets here. You need to leave as good of an impression on him as possible for the benefit of our family.”

For the benefit of their family? Would a family throw their own to the wolves as if they were worth nothing without hearing their say?

Her mind and heart were a mix of rebellious desire and restraint. She couldn’t simply let her father get away with this, but how would she retaliate when he held her in a corner with no room to breathe? It was impossible. There was no way she could overcome this.

“Yes, father,” she said, quickly walking past him to walk up the stairs to the room she’d been given on the second floor.

When she entered her room, she closed the door behind her and collapsed onto her knees, preparing for the surge of emotions that would wreck havoc on her mind.

A minute passed.

Then two.

Then three.

Four, five, six and so on until she lost track.

Nothing came to her mind. No self-hatred, no desire for self-harm. Nothing.

Instead of the anger and misery she should be feeling, she felt hollow. Like a pumpkin that had its guts scraped out.

This mess was all her fault, and she was willing to take the blame for it. She knew that crying and regretting her past actions wouldn’t do anything for Julia nor Ren. She’d let her father control her, and now her friends were the ones who were going to pay the price.

How could she just stand by and let things happen as they were? Their suffering was caused by no one other than herself. While her father was just as much at fault, she couldn’t forgive herself if she caused them to be injured because of her father’s disgusting desires.

She felt sick to her stomach. She was a terrible friend and a terrible person. This whole time she’d said she’d cared about her friends, and yet blew over like a piece of paper when it came to backing it. When Iris was about to be dragged back to London, she’d done nothing but stood by and offer words of support. She should have done more if she really cared.

Inside her mind, her inner voice posed a simple question.

“Will you bloom into a beautiful rose with thorns, or will you be trampled like a fallen wallflower?”

For so long she’d been as a wallflower, something pretty to stare at, but nothing more. A rose, though cliché, wasn’t just a beautiful flower. It had thorns with which it could retaliate and attack those who’d bring harm to it.

Enough was enough. This time she wouldn’t take the situation facing her friends lying down. It was time to cast away her weaker self, and become someone who her friends could rely on. The first step to doing that would be getting Julia out of this situation. She just needed an opening to do so, and a way to pick the lock on her door.

Since he’d threatened her with Julia’s safety, it could be assumed that she was currently in one of the nearby rooms, where she could quickly be brought in front of her to receive any punishment her father would deem appropriate. All she would need to do was find the right room, lockpick the door and make her escape with her friend.

There was a way she could pick the locks as well. Control Water was a versatile spell after all, and with a little finesse, she would be able to open any door. She knew just how she could produce enough water as well.

Luna and Iris casually tossed a ball between themselves. The purpose of the exercise was to burn time off while they waited for either Nathan to contact them or Zoey to return.

Every few minutes, Iris found herself receiving a Message from someone, asking what she was thinking or what was going on. Such was the price to be paid given she was well known throughout Syndey. That wasn’t to say all the attention was a bad thing, as it allowed her to perpetuate the rumor by manipulating those who were Messaging her.

By tomorrow morning, the entire city may know of the ongoing feud. If Nathan didn’t cave then they’d have a daunting task ahead of them. Retrieving Zoey with more illicit methods was something that could get them in serious trouble, but it would surely strike her father like a weighted glove if they got away with it.

Iris sighed as she finished another conversation and tossed the ball back to her adoptive sister Luna. The light blue toy nearly flew higher than the elf could reach. She knew she should have had a late training session with Luna. That would have been great for destressing and passing the time. Then again, she had to wait for a Message from either Nathaniel or Zoey.

“Is everything alright sis,” the elf asked.

“While I enjoy the fallout that’s currently happening all around us I don’t enjoy answering the same question over a dozen times in the span of an hour. It gets a little annoying, especially when people are only Messaging me to get dirt on what’s going on.”

“It could be worse. We all could have lost and had people messaging us,” Luna tried to reassure her.

“Yeah but if we lost then we’d have people talking behind our backs..”

Catching the ball once again, she tossed it up in the air a couple of times before tossing it back.

A message spell bloomed in her ear from Magus Stone. Great, just who she wanted to talk to. There was no way she was going to sit through a lecture about why she should stay away from Julia. She already knew she caused quite a bit of trouble for Julia by showing up at Rosebay earlier and had no intention of digging that hole any deeper.

After declining the Message, she sighed and tossed the ball back to Luna.

“Stone just tried to Message me. I would have accepted it if I were in the mood for a lecture but who’d want that?”

“Iris I think you two are misunderstanding one another. Maybe if you were to be honest with one another you’d both be able to put your best intentions toward Julia without fighting with one another.”

As if that were possible. Ferris and Stone were possessive of Julia because they saw a rarity, a talent which they believed they could gain something from by nurturing it. While she was grateful they were helping Julia, she was also bitter because they believed she was a terrible person when in reality she was just an ordinary teenage sorceress.

“We both know that Magister Ferris only is interested in her because she’s a Magma mage. If it weren’t for her rare affinity then it wouldn’t matter how talented she was, Ferris wouldn’t be interested in her.”

“Still that doesn’t mean that you can just drag her away from them. Not after all they’ve given her.”

Luna was referring to the Wyvern Spirit their friend currently possessed, wholly thanks to the Magister and Julia’s master. It was an incredibly rare gift, one that should not be squandered nor taken lightly. It wasn’t worth thinking of what may happen if Julia tried to forsake her master, but her overactive mind nonetheless thought about it for a moment, causing her to shudder.

“I just wish there was a way everyone could be happy, that’s all,” the elf continued, tossing the ball back to her.

Iris thought back to what Julia had asked her just before Stone interrupted them.

Iris, be honest. Do you think I made the right choice?

Now that she thought about it, did she truly know what was right for Julia, or was she just bitter about her friend being whisked away from her? While she adored her friend, she also wanted what was best for her. She’d been acting like a mentor to her friends to a degree thanks to all the tutors she’d received, but that didn’t mean she had any right to act like she knew what was best for them, Julia included.

Perhaps Stone had the best intentions for her friend and she was just a wedge in the woman’s side.

On the other hand, wouldn’t Julia be better suited with a Magma Transmuter as her master? She supposed that wasn’t exactly feasible, as Julia was a Frontier student who just so happened to awaken to a rare affinity and had a deep understanding of transmutation. Perhaps that’s why Stone was insisting she was the best.

Another thought that she wasn’t proud of came to the forefront of her mind: what did Julia want? As a friend, she should always put her friend's goals ahead of anything she wanted for them. Perhaps the Magus was right; it was best she stay away from Julia.

While it pained her heart, if it was best for her friend that they didn’t see each other anymore but allowed her to achieve her goals, then so be it. At the same time, she couldn’t abandon her friend like that. It was no different than running away. She would have to go down the difficult route of trying to make amends with Stone in that case, and if they couldn’t reconcile and the Magus seemed to have the best intentions, then she’d have no other choice but to take that route, for the sake of her friend’s future.

Iris sighed as she looked toward her sister and realized she’d spaced out with her thoughts mid-conversation.

“Earlier today Julia asked me if I thought she made the right choice but before I could answer her Magus Stone interrupted us. I would have said no at the time, but now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’m not certain. I guess I can’t say I disagree with Stone being her master even though I believe someone out there is better suited because they’re also a Magma Transmuter.”

“Didn’t you just say Ferris would care less about her if she wasn’t a Magma mage?”

“I did but it’s also not my life to live. While I deeply care about my friend just like the others do, I need to remember that there is a line which I cannot cross.”

She tossed the ball back to Luna, who smiled warmly.

“I’m sure things will work out. While I don’t know Julia well, I do know you care about each other. And I think Stone knows that too. You all just have to be honest with each other.”

“Yeah.”

Silence befell the two for another moment before suddenly a Message from Ren bloomed in her ear, which was odd because by now they were supposed to be headed back to their parents’ house or starting to make their way there.

“Hey Ren, what’s up,” she asked.

“Eriza just ran off. I think she’s headed to Nathaniel’s North Shore manor!”

Iris felt her heart drop.

“She what?”

“We just finished dinner and came outside to hail a cab when she got a Message from someone. After it ended she bolted down the street, telling us it was an emergency and she had to deal with it immediately, as well as something about Zoey’s father. I’ve tried Messaging her, but she’s not responding.”

If Nathan wanted to pick them off one by one this was a prime opportunity to do so. What was she thinking taking off like that and not answering her messaging device? They had to stop her before she recklessly charged in and ended up being held hostage or turned over to the proper authorities.

“Ren, tell your mother to be watchful while you’re out and about with her. We’ll try to make it to North Shore before your sister and hopefully avert our plan falling apart.”

“Iris are you sure? My mom could help you two out and get to her quicker than you.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this. She’s on foot right? That’s going to take her some time to reach Nathaniel’s place. If our cab is fast, we can catch her before she reaches his house.”

“I-If you’re certain. Please be careful and keep us updated.”

“We’ll be safe and message you soon, I promise.”

Iris slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand as soon as she ended the Message. Not only was their plan at stake, but Eriza likely wasn’t thinking straight. The girl had just talked about how she was less prone to being angered and yet she was acting like she hadn’t changed at all.

“Eriza just took off on her family after she got a Message. She looked panicked and didn’t say anything other than ‘I have to go,’” she explained to her adopted sister, who disapprovingly frowned.

“A Message from one of Nathaniel’s goons threatening Ren maybe?”

Iris, however, had worse thoughts in mind. Nathaniel already had Zoey in the palm of his hand, and one well-aimed threat could drive Eriza over the edge with everything that happened. She couldn’t be blamed either, especially with all that Zoey’s family had put her through. She quickly stood up and materialized a pair of running shoes from her storage ring. Luna followed suit.

She needed to quickly begin eliminating possibilities of what drove Eriza over the edge.

“You don’t think he has a clue you’re an elf, does he?”

“No, I’ve been careful to make sure that no one aside from our circle of friends knows my identity.”

“That narrows it down the possibilities.”

As if on cue, another Message spell bloomed ion her ear. Once again, Magus Stone was trying to get ahold of her. While she felt like she didn’t have time for this, she also knew that if the Magus tried to Message her more than once, she wasn’t likely going to give up so easily.

“Luna I need to talk with Stone for a moment, can you hail a cab for us?”

“She’s Messaging you again? It must be pretty important if she’s trying this hard to get in contact with you.”

Accepting the Message spell, she prepared for the initial onslaught of lecturing to begin.

“Iris Fitzgerald, what did you do with my apprentice,” Stone said coldly, trying to hide the anger within her.

Ignoring the Fitzgerald part, Iris responded instinctively.

“Yes I know I made a mistake and I’m sor-,” she said before registering what the Magus had said. “What do you mean? Julia should still be at Rosebay.”

“Don’t play games.”

“I’m not playing games. How do I know you weren’t the one who Messaged Eriza and sent her on a warpath toward Nathaniel’s home?”

“This again?”

“This is between his family and the Isozaki’s. We’re just helping to even the odds.”

“Really? By flogging his extended family in public.”

Iris did a double-take. The Magus hit her plan where it hurt most. They were harassing people unrelated to the matter in hopes that it would draw pressure onto the man and force him to return Zoey with no strings attached as penance.

“That’s…”

“You children seriously don’t consider the effects of your actions before you act, do you? I understand Ren was assaulted and while I’m appalled by it now that I have a better grasp of what happened, there are better ways to go about this. This is exactly why I don’t want you associating with Julia. Now where is she?”

The Water Transmuter couldn’t respond. Stone was right. There were better ways to go about this whole situation. She honestly didn’t know how to respond.

Quickly making her way out of the room and down the stairs, she prepared to apologize and explain that she’d be willing to talk once she’d intercepted Eriza. However, it was the Magus who spoke first.

“I’m guessing this is more than just about Ren then? I’ve heard rumors about your friend Zoey but it can’t be so bad that you’d go this far.”

If she couldn’t collect herself now, then how could she collect herself in front of Nathaniel? If she intended to protect her friends, she couldn’t afford to fall apart at the seams now. Not when everything seemed to not be going her way.

“No that’s right. I know it was a childish idea, but there wasn’t any other way was there to force Nathaniel’s hand. I’ve poured my heart and soul into building my team. Zoey’s not just a part of that team, she’s a dear friend who I can’t bear to lose. I know it’s childish, but I can’t stand him marrying her off, especially given she’s underage.”

By the time she finished, she was already on the side of the street, standing next to Luna. On the other end, Magus Stone sighed.

It was best to change the topic to Julia. There was nothing Stone would do to help them, but if Julia was in trouble, they’d have to work extra hard to find her once they stopped Eriza.

“What happened to Julia?”

“About an hour ago after I’d finished lecturing her about associating with you someone saw a woman who appeared as myself leading her across campus to a black car and then driving off. As far as we know she’s been kidnapped and we’re scouring the city for her, but I figured you might have something to do with this. You’re so overprotective of her after all. It’s unhealthy.”

“I understand but I don’t personally know any illusionists and the dining hall workers can verify I was here finishing dinner around that time. Do you know where they took her?”

There was a brief pause, followed by Stone swearing under her breath.

In front of her, Luna had waved down a cab and opened the door for her. As soon as she and the elf were in the car, Luna gave the NoM driver directions and told them to step on it. With a loud roar, the car sped away from Lilith’s in the general direction of North Shore.

“You said Nathaniel was going to marry off his youngest, right?”

“Yes.”

There was another pause. In the meantime, the cab they’d gotten into was speeding across town, and instead of taking the highways it was cutting through side streets, making substantial progress compared to what it would have if it had taken the main routes through the city.

“I don’t know who’s making stupider decisions, you or him. Since you’ve gotten yourself into this mess and you care about Julia, I suppose I’ll help you get yourself out of it, only because it’ll allow this matter to be dealt with quietly. It’ll also serve as good experience as to why you should never get on Magister Feriss’ bad side. Meet us about four blocks south of his manor on the same street. You said Eriza was on her way?”

“That’s right,” she replied, realizing exactly why Eriza was headed to Nathaniel’s North Shore Manor. “Stone I don’t know what you have planned but you have to hurry because she’s close.”

“Don’t worry about that, child. Get over here as quickly as you can.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Zoey calmly fiddled with the lock from her side of the door. Thanks to Create Water, she’d conjured up enough water for optimal lock picking. By no means did she understand pick a lock, but she had to find her way to Julia. If she could reach her friend, not only would she have a way out of here, but she would be able to get back at her father for what he’d done. She could apologize to her friend after and try to make it up to her, but for now there were broader issues that needed to be dealt with.

With another quiet ping, she tried the handle of her door. Unlike her previous attempts, this time she found that the knob moved from side to side. Now all she had to do was hope there wasn’t a guard standing right outside of her door waiting for her to try and break out.

Slowly she opened the door and waited for it to slam closed. When nothing happened, she dared to peek out and upon seeing no one in the hallway, slowly sneaked over to the guest bedroom across the hall.

After carefully observing it to make sure it wasn’t trapped like Iris had taught her to do, she slowly opened the door and peeked into the room. To her disappointment, Julia wasn’t inside.

Checking the room next to it proved fruitless as well, leaving only one more possible room on this floor that her redhead friend could be in. Upon checking the door of the room sharing a wall with hers, she discovered it was locked, just as hers was.

“Julia,” she whispered loudly.

No response came, but she could see the light was on underneath the door, which meant someone, likely her friend, was inside.

“Julia.”

Again, no response came. Seeing no other option, she once again cast control water and began to pick the lock on the door. After about five stressful minutes of fiddling with it and looking over her shoulder, she heard the sound of the door unlocking and quickly made her way into the room.

Inside, Julia was lying on a bed, with a chain and lock holding her to the bed. Whoever had tried to make sure she wouldn’t escape had a terrible education when it came to magic. The fact they’d used a regular chain to try and restrain her showed theey had no understanding of elemental affinities.

Gently kneeling next to Julia, Zoey began to slap at her face gently.

“Julia wake up, we need to get out of here.”

Despite her attempts to wake the girl, it didn’t seem was though she was going to so easily wakeup, as she hadn’t moved whatsoever upon being slapped.

“Julia come on this is no time to be sleeping.”

Still no response came. Whatever had put her to sleep had to have been magical, and now she could only hope that she wouldn’t be caught while she continued to attempt to wake up her friend.

In the meantime, she supposed she might as well pick another lock. With how many she’d already picked, she was beginning to feel like a thief.