“Are you certain that this is the man who kidnapped you?” My father holds up the memory gem I made a month ago. I avert my gaze to the floor and nod. After a moment of silence, he sighs. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Nova. It’s that none of the search magic worked.”

I peek up at him. “None of the search magic worked? You used magic based on physical appearance?”

“Exactly. There were no traces of magic use, or rather of him at all, in the warehouse. We couldn’t trace him through any other means.”

“But he used a spell on me.”

“There are spell trace destroying potions.” He places down the gem onto his desk and walks over. “Besides, spells having to do with erasing and recreating memories are mostly extremely intricate. He has to have been a high level mage, and most high-level mages can erase their own tracks.”

“I can’t remember anything or anyone else besides him taking my blood.” So far, most of my memory about that time has come back to me through my dreams. It’s mainly being alone in that dark cellar, having my blood drawn—yes, it was multiple times—or eating a bland meal. I theorize that the spell or potion used to make me forget went faulty because I have memories of my past life.

My father brings a hand up to his chin. “What usage is there, taking the blood of a young girl? As far as the information from the Magicians’ Tower goes, there are no other similar kidnapping cases.”

I go to sit on the couch and pour myself a cup of tea. “Papa, how did you find me? You used search magic, but it must not have worked.”

“Indeed, we had men on foot searching as soon as we realized that search magic couldn’t detect you, but one day the search magic detected you. We speculate that magic jamming was used.”

“Jamming? Aren’t jamming tools extremely expensive?”

“Not only are they expensive, but they are also extremely rare.”

“Papa, am I some sort of special being?”

“Of course. You are Mama’s and Papa’s only daughter, the daughter of the House of Allandis.” He responds immediately, seriously, and shamelessly.

Facepalming, I sigh. This father of mine… “I mean besides being your and Mama’s daughter. Do I have some sort of connection to something else? Do you or Mama have the bloodline of something else, like elves or nymphs? Or else why would that man go through all the trouble just to take some of my blood?”

“I don’t know either, honey. I’ll look into it, but as far as I know, we do not have any sort of blood connection to another race.”

“Then could I be a priestess of some sort? Was there a prophecy about me?”

“Only the Temple of Light knows about all prophecies, and they haven’t released any in recent years.”

“The Temple of Light?”

“They are the descendents of the Oracles, the tribe that used witchcraft to gain prophecies of the future. It’s possible that this has something to do with a prophecy. I’ll have Viscount Florian look into it.”

While I swirl around my tea with a spoon, I watch the whirlpool form. “What if we are in the eye of the storm?”

“If your incident was one of many events that are going to happen, then it will be chaos soon enough, whether that’s tomorrow or in twenty years. We need to start preparing now.”