As they made their way up through the lower level and to the main level of the councilrooms, they didn’t pass a single other person, mage or otherwise. Alara had never seen the halls so empty in all her years at the Haven. It was… an unsettling sensation.

“In all your years, how many city-wide bruya searches have there been?” Runeo reasoned with a smirk.

It was a good point, and given how many others in their party remained, having even the lowliest of magites involved in the search made sense.

“I, for one, won’t question our luck,” Tony said from behind her.

Alara shot a glare behind her, still unsure of if she trusted the other man.

Though regardless of how much an empty Haven made sense, Alara knew she wouldn’t be happy until they made it out of the Haven. They needed to keep their guards up.

The magite sent her awareness out ahead of them again, keeping a feeler out for mages or magites heading their way. She realized as they walked quickly through the halls just how easy it was to tell the people she felt apart. She felt every movement and use of their powers, and could even differentiate the magia being used. From the heat of a fire mages magia to the cool breeze of a wind mage, each one felt distinct. It was as though she was seeing the world through her powers for the first time, every sensation crisp, clear, and so very full. For the briefest of moments, she wondered what else she could have done had she allowed Emaru to train her from the start.

She snapped back into the moment, and her mind-stalking abilities snagged the presence of a few mages around the next corner. There would be no easy way to avoid this group. The corridor they were in led to the worship hall, and any other route would have them circle the entire Haven, putting them at further risk of running into other mages.

She raised her arm as they approached the corner and the group slowed to a fast walk. Alara pointed in the direction before holding up four fingers. Runeo and Tony both nodded, the grips on their weapons shifting. Runeo pulled his bow and Tony tightened his fist along the wood of his spear. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to use their weapons, though, as both Runeo and Tony were dressed in councilguard attire. They couldn’t afford to waste anymore time on unnecessary fights.

Still, she held her hand steady on her spear, and they turned the corner at a casual walking pace, heads down as they approached the small group.

“Are you kidding me?”

A stone sunk in Alara’s stomach and her head whipped up, eyes meeting Raquel’s.

“Sol,” Runeo cursed, recognizing the wind magite as she rounded on them, the three other magites behind her now alert to the threat.

Raquel squinted for a moment, a finger touching her forehead right as Alara felt the mage’s magia flare.

Son of a bruya.

She was sending an envia.

Fugitive Alara Ayar has been spotted. She is in the Haven by—.

Before she could finish the message, Runeo had sent a burst of wind, knocking Raquel to the ground. The other three magites moved forward, weapons at the ready.

Alara ducked as a swinging bolas whipped just over her head, smacking hard into the stone wall behind her. She scrambled back to her feet and threw her spear around, the shaft crossing with an enemy’s own spear with a thud.

The magite gave a small twist of his hand, and Alara felt the pull of his magia, though she couldn’t do much as the ground beneath her shifted. A root snapped around her ankle, and she stumbled sideways, trying to keep her balance.

With every moment, she only felt the roots tighten around her calf. Frustrated, she sent a spark of fire from a nearby torch at the root and it burst into flames. The heat of the fire, though intense, didn’t burn her as it ate the root away. With a scream, Alara pushed back at her opponent, who fell back, eyes wide as the flames sizzled around them. There was fear in his eyes that she had never been at the opposite end of. Though, for the first time in her life, Alara didn’t care. She raised a hand to send the flames in the magite’s direction, but was thrown to the ground by a gust of air, her spear clattering to the floor.

Her bruised body protested at the jarring movement as she tried to catch her breath. What she saw wasn’t a surprise: Raquel coming at her, a look of pure loathing twisting her face. The girl was always looking for an excuse to pick a fight with her.

Alara moved her hand and threw the flames of a torch toward her charging enemy, but the wind mage quickly batted the flames away with a burst of air.

“You still suck at this, you know?”

Alara winced at the look of satisfaction on Raquel’s face. The hollowness in her chest threatened to suffocate her as she looked into her eyes. Alara knew the mage was right. She was still untrained and untested. Her eyes searched out her spear, but the weapon was too far for her to reach.

Raquel followed her gaze. “You always thought you were better than us. That rejecting your magia made you special. But you’re nothing without your stupid weapons.”

Alara felt her chest flare with heat at Raquel’s words—because of their truth. Alara had thought she was better. But she wasn’t nothing without her spear. Not anymore.

Alara threw her hands forward, pulling tight on the threads of her magia that swirled in her blood. The torches on either side of the hall burst forward, filling the air in front of her. Alara crawled back in surprise. She heard Raquel’s strangled cry through the flames, but couldn’t see her through the wall of heat.

Alara stumbled to her feet, pulling on the flames, a little queasy as she pictured Adelmo’s burnt face again in her mind. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be responsible for more deaths today. But as the fire dissipated, Raquel remained unscarred on the other side, a small shield of wind blocking the flames from her face. As their eyes met again, Raquel moved quickly. A ribbon of wind lifted Alara and threw her against the wall.

She caught her breath and Alara pulled at the torch flames behind Raquel and sent them soaring toward the other girl’s head. Her brown hair sizzled as it caught and she screamed, dropping to the ground and using her shawl to put out the flames.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Alara said, noticing the burns along the side of Raquel’s face. They almost mirrored Alara’s own scars.

The girl let out a growl and leapt toward Alara, air throwing Alara back to the ground. Before she could catch her breath, the mage lifted her again and Alara felt her body, like a rag doll, being thrown against the other side of the hallway.

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long!” Raquel screamed.

Alara fell to the ground, sharp spikes of pain pricking her ribs. And then Raquel was on top of her, eyes flashing and teeth showing in a wolfish grin. The wind mage had her hands around Alara’s throat, her thumbs pressing into her windpipe, magia forgotten.

Alara scratched futilely at the girl’s hands, trying to lighten the grip. She stretch a hand out beside her and weakly tugged at the threads of her magia, trying to pull the torch flames toward them, but she couldn’t keep a grip.

Blackness creeped along the edge of her vision.

This was how it would all end. At the hands of one of her former magites…

And then Raquel’s hands fell away from her, an explosion of blood splattering across Alara’s chest. The point of a spear was sticking out of the girl’s chest, Runeo standing behind her.

With a swift pull of the spear, Raquel’s body collapsed on Alara. Her stomach roll as she tried to push herself out from under the weight of the other girl.

Alara expected Runeo to scold her—to yell at her for being weak or not fighting better—but he simply wiped the blood from the spear and gave her a nod as he handed it to her.

It was only then that she realized the carnage of those around her, brought on by her fellow bruyas. Was that was she was now? Was she considered a bruya now?

Tony was cleaning the blood off his own spear as he stood over the body of the last magite, red blood on red cloth. There was a moment of silence as Alara took in the surrounding bodies. They belonged to students of the Haven. Students she had dined with and studied with.

Whether or not she wanted to believe it, in the eyes of the Haven, she was a bruya now.

“It isn’t easy killing, but sometimes it’s necessary,” Runeo said, as though reading Alara’s thoughts. She nodded, the truth still making her stomach churn. The safety of her world had been shattered to dust the second she and Emaru fought and Adelmo had fallen. But looking into Runeo and Tony’s eyes now, at the cold indifference to what had just happened, Alara realized that the world had never been safe—not for them. They’d always seen it for what it was.

Alara stood up from the ground, no longer shaking and queasy. She glanced down at Raquel’s body one last time, squaring her shoulders in determination. She couldn’t pretend the world was perfect anymore.

Bruya or not, it was time she learned how to survive this world, too.

They were only a few turns away from the worship hall, but time seemed to slow and stretch as they ran through the corridors. At each turn, Alara expected to find a group of mages ready to fight, but each time they rounded the corner, the emptiness of the hallways only left Alara unsettled. It was only a matter of time before the envia that Raquel had sent brought the mages and councilguards back toward them, even if Raquel couldn’t communicate their location. Someone knew where the mage was stationed, and they’d know exactly where to send their troops. The trail of blood left behind by their battle would only serve as an easy guide to bring the mages to them all the quicker.

But then they turned the last corner and Alara saw the intricately carved, blue doors of the worship hall, unguarded and ajar.