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I knew I was going to die. I had always known, somewhere in the back of my mind, that this power would kill me. I had lived in fear of it, but now it was there, and I wasn’t going to look away, even as my body shook and hot tears escaped my eyes. I clenched my jaw, tears streaming down my cheeks as I stared right back.
“Waiting for us to kill.” The Fae’s hot hand tightened around my neck, cutting off my air enough that I gasped.
Something in his voice snapped through me, the vile greed mixing with the sobs of my mother and my sister and mixing all of that fear into something more.
“Don’t touch me.” I tried to sound brave and strong as I pushed his hand away, but my voice caught, the shake clear even as the feel of his magic lingered against my skin.
“Oh-ho-ho!” he laughed, the others joining him in chortles as dangerous as their uniforms. “The rat has claws. Well, let me tell you something, little rat,” he spat the last word, drops of saliva falling over my face as his fingers wrapped around my chin to lift my face to look at him. “You are vermin. Rodents. Useless, dangerous creatures that we will wipe out. We will destroy every one of you.”
“We’re not vermin,” I snapped again, Lily’s sobs becoming shrieks as I glared at him defiantly. “We are children.”
I tried to bat his hand away again, but his fingers dug in deeper, pressing painfully against my chin.
“Yes. Disgusting, vile children who stole power that is not theirs. Which is why, by order of the Queen, we have come to strip you of it.”
“No!” The word hissed between my lips thanks to the pressure from his hand against my chin.
I should have thought better about saying it, about standing up to an adult, especially one with a sword, and eyes as hard as stone. I promised Lily I would protect her; and now it wasn’t just her. It was Ma and Da as well. It was our home. It was everything.
So, I glared at him, I glared at that snake that had been everywhere in my life. I glared at the hatred and the disgust. I glared at death.
I didn’t even know what life was like without the banners. When there was food for everyone and the armies didn’t come to take our fish. When the soldiers didn’t hunt and leave people to rot on the side of the road. I didn’t know what it was to not be afraid. Lily and I pretended sometimes that everything was normal. But looking into this Fae’s eyes, I knew nothing was normal, and it never could be. He was going to take everything away.
I was going to stop him. I may be small. But I knew I could. Well, I knew I could try.
“You can’t have my magic.” I could fight him. I could.
“I can’t?” he questioned with a laugh, all of the soldiers joining in as Ma and Lily continued to cry, both of them jumping as the man grabbed the front of my nightshirt and lifted me to stand.
My head spun with the quick movement, but I didn’t look away from him. I locked my jaw and tried to scowl back as best I could. Da always did say I was too stubborn and that it might get me killed, but I was going to die either way.
“No!” I was louder that time, the shout cutting across the laughter that picked up.
“Cute little rat thinks he can win a fight. Well, let’s see what you can do against me.” They all laughed louder as the man tossed me toward where my family was trying to hide in the shadows. I fell to my knees, splinters cutting through the bare skin as pieces of broken door cut apart my palms, pieces of it skittering away at the impact. I grabbed the biggest piece of broken wood I could, jumping to my feet as I faced the Fae.
He stood with his palms out, the tips of his fingers sparking as he called magic from somewhere, creating a white cracking firelight from nothing. The loud bang and blast of light suddenly made sense. It came from this man, and now he was going to explode us all.
I had no magic of my own. I was the Catalyst. I only gave my sister the key to use her power, but that didn’t stop me from screaming, from holding the piece of wood above my head as I rushed the blond man. I swung the wood toward him, the end scraping against his face and leaving a trickle of blood behind.
But not red blood like what flowed through my veins.
Purple.
His blood was purple.
I couldn’t look away from the color, even as that light on his fingers moved to his palms and became blinding.
I raised the weapon again, the wood slamming against his chest before clattering to the ground. Pivoting, I grabbed his wrist, trying desperately to move whatever was about to explode from his hands away from my sister. The second my hand made contact with his skin, however, I was met with a chill so cold it sliced against my skin like the waves in winter, when everything on the Qit turned to ice and it cut and burned with a powerful chill.
The ice shouldn’t have been possible with the heat radiating from his palm. Everything else was hot. What in the world was happening?
“Poor little rodent. I’m going to enjoy killing this one.” He laughed with a sound I had only heard come from the Wave Walkers, the traveling dock workers of the Qits. The other soldiers joined in, the sound growing, even as the feel of the cold in his skin shifted to something warmer, something familiar.
It felt like Lily, when her hand pressed against mine and our magic united so she could use it. Except this was strong, powerful, and his. It was his magic, and it was moving into me.
No!
I wouldn’t let him take me; I would take all his power before I would let him end me.
