Page 46 of The Princess of Portals

I watched the Polymages train. One of them looked like a younger version of the Rebel Vivi. She must have been Vivi’s little sister. Her eyes looked so familiar. It took me a moment to realize why. I’d stared into those eyes that day in the Park, when her armor had fallen away. She’d worn a head-to-toe bodysuit under that armor, so I hadn’t seen her face, but she couldn’t hide those eyes: dark and powerful and haunted. Vivi’s little sister was the mysterious female Techno Knight. She was the one who’d grabbed Kylie’s body and disappeared through the Spirit Tree.

Fenris caught me looking, and he smiled. “Evie is my greatest accomplishment, my finest Polymage thus far.” He waved his hand at Evie, and she trotted over. “She is a fine warrior. The Polymage magic took to her fastest of all the candidates. The process works better when they are young and pliable. Directly after the Blending is best. The Blending to prime their magic, then heavy doses of all six kinds of magic over the course of several months. The older ones can’t take the magic so well. They aren’t very flexible. But the young can take a lot of pain before they break.”

Fenris patted Evie on the head, like she was a pet dog, then waved her off. She rejoined the others in the training formation.

I felt my fists clench up, anger boiling inside of me. “They’re people, not pets or slaves or dolls. You can’t snatch them away from their lives and everyone they know, bombard them with dangerous magic, train them until they break, and force them to serve you until they die.”

Fenris’s brows lifted. “Why not? Isn’t that precisely what your Government does to you? They remove teenagers with potential from their homes and chain them to the Spirit Trees, where they’re bombarded with magic. Then they subject you to hard training until you break. They make you swear to serve them until you die.”

“That’s not the same⁠—”

“Isn’t it?” he cut me off. “Do Gaian sixteen-year-olds get to choose whether they get magic?”

“No, but everyone wants⁠—”

“And would you describe the Blending as a painless experience?”

It was supposed to be, but it had been anything but painless for me. According to Conner, that was because I’d already had magic before the Blending. I wasn’t going to tell Fenris that, though. I settled for giving him my icy glower.

“You are an odd girl, Savannah Winters. So argumentative one moment, so quiet the next. What are you hiding?”

“What are you hiding?” I countered.

His lip twitched, betraying a hint of amusement. So he thought I was funny—or maybe being evil just put him in a good mood. “I will learn all of your secrets, of course.” He glanced at Seriana. “Yours too, Mother. It’s only a matter of time now that you’re here.” He focused on me again. “You are an enigma, Savannah Winters: a Polymage that I did not create. You will help me make better Polymages. Stronger Polymages.”

“I won’t help you.”

“You have no choice. Polymages are the ultimate mystery—and the ultimate solution. An army of them would change everything. No one will be able to stand against me.”

I squared my shoulders and stood up taller. “I will stand against you.”

He laughed. “You? You can’t even save yourself! How do you expect to save others?”

“I can⁠—”

“Do nothing against me,” he cut me off. “You are naive, Savannah Winters. You have all this power, but you have no idea how to use it. You’re here because I need a Polymage to perfect my formula, and you were an easy target. Kato and Conner would be difficult to catch, but you…” He moved in closer, triumph lighting up his eyes. “You are a clueless, helpless novice. And sure enough, you walked right into my trap.”

My fists clenched. I unclenched them. He was trying to get me angry. I wasn’t going to let him. There was too much at stake. I needed to keep my wits about me.

“But why abduct Apprentices from Gaia?” I asked him calmly. “Surely, there are more than enough people in the Many Realms who want to join your Polymage army.”

“Many would like to be a Polymage, but so few can be. Apprentices are prime candidates. They have just the right amount of magic,” Fenris replied. “I can’t make Polymages from humans. And the spirits won’t blend with supernaturals.”

That last one wasn’t entirely true. I’d had magic before the Blending, but no way was I going to tell Fenris that. I wouldn’t do anything that might help him. Like Seriana had told him, what he was doing was unnatural.

One of the three Apprentice cages rattled. Dirt-crusted hands clutched the bars. A pair of haunted eyes met mine. Kylie. I’d found her.

I had to hold myself back to keep from running to her. I couldn’t let Fenris know she was my friend. He’d find a way to use that against me, to force me to help him. So I glanced into the other two cages too. I didn’t recognize the boy inside either one. They must have been last year’s Apprentices.

I didn’t see Asher anywhere. I hadn’t expected to see him—he’d been catapulted into another realm, after all—but finding him here certainly would have been convenient. I could have rescued him, along with Kylie and the other Apprentices. I didn’t know how, but I was going to get us all out of here. Somehow.

At the moment, my magic was only a dull, muted trickle. The teleportation spell that had brought me here had drained me dry. It was so…frustrating. The Apprentices were right there in front of me, and I couldn’t do anything to help them.

I had to wait for my magic to return before I made my move. And, even then, even with magic, it wouldn’t be easy. I watched the seven Apprentices running through their drills, their movements in sync, their faces devoid of emotion.

“You brainwashed them,” Seriana said.

I’d noticed that too. Fenris had them completely under his control. The other three Apprentices, the ones trapped in the cages, were still hanging on, but who knew how long that would last. Time was running out.