The ballroom was massive, but with my giant size, I had to crouch to avoid colliding with the ceiling. I loomed over Rosalina, whose face had turned bone-white as she gaped at me.
But my attention wasn’t on Rosalina. It was on Adira, who stood far below me, like the tiny figure of a doll. She staggered back, her eyes bulging. “M-Marek?” she squeaked.
“Addie.” My voice was booming compared to hers, and she flinched from the intensity of it. “Addie, you have to focus. This is your dream. Your palace. If you created this, then you can create us a way out.”
“I—I don’t know how!” Adira wailed, spreading her hands in utter helplessness. “I’ve never used magic before!”
“That’s not true. You use magic all the time. It’s why you drink your tonic; to stifle those powers. To keep them contained. This magic is a part of you, Addie. You just have to access it.” I gritted my teeth as her face crumpled in anguish. She didn’t understand. How could she? She had spent her whole life believing she was human. Magic wasn’t an instinct for her.
How could I help her see?
“Trust yourself, Addie,” I said. “Trust what is flowing through you. Just like I trust my instincts as a soldier when I fight, you have to trust what has been a part of you from the very beginning.”
Something heavy crashed into my skull, and I stumbled, my head reeling. I barely caught myself before I fell straight through a wall. Disoriented, I straightened to find Rosalina clutching her crown in both hands, her face a mask of fury. She had recovered from her initial shock and had struck me with the metal edge of her crown.
Her hands lifted for another blow, but I raised my arm to block her. She drew a dagger from within her skirts—which, at this size, looked like a massive broadsword—and slashed it at me.
I shot her a wild grin. She wanted to fight? Then, we could fight. I wouldn’t even need a weapon to best her.
She swung both arms, flinging her crown and dagger at me again and again. I ducked, blocked, and evaded. When she swung again, I aimed a jab with my elbow straight into her stomach. She doubled over, wheezing. The floor rumbled as she sank to her knees. She raised her dagger, but with a twist of her arm, the blade crashed to the ground. Adira screamed, jumping backward to avoid getting smashed. I kept twisting the queen’s arm until it was fully behind her back. She screeched in anguish, her body angled in her efforts to keep her arm from breaking.
With Rosalina disarmed, I glanced down at Adira. Her arms were spread, her eyes closed and her brow furrowed with concentration. I could sense something shifting in the air, my magical senses picking up on a new presence.
Her magic.
That’s it, I urged her. You can do this, Addie.
White sparks shot in the air, and at first I thought it was Adira’s magic coming to our aid.
Then, white-hot pain shot through my fingers, jolting up my arm. With a shout, I released my hold on the queen, staggering back as white blisters formed on my skin where I’d touched her.
“You are a skilled fighter, I’ll give you that,” Rosalina growled, climbing to her feet and advancing on me. “But I am a far more skilled mage.” She cupped her hands together, and a blinding ball of white light burned from between her fingers.
Several screams erupted from below me. My heart jolted as I glanced down to find Adira’s sisters cowering in fear, eyes wide with terror as they glanced from me to Rosalina.
She’d woken them up. Somehow, she’d broken the spell Rosalina had cast on them.
As the princesses frantically darted around the ballroom, searching for a way out, I realized this was not necessarily a good thing. At least when they were dancing, they weren’t getting in the way of my battle with the queen.
But now, I feared one of us would step on them by accident.
“Addie!” I bellowed just as Rosalina released her magic, sending it spearing straight for my chest.
I dropped to the ground with a deafening crash, making the floor and walls tremble. The girls screamed again.
“Addie, find us a way out of here!” I roared. “You have to do this!”
She said nothing, but I knew she had heard me. I knew Adira better than anyone. When faced with an impossible task, panic was her first reaction.
Then, utter and complete focus.
She was homing in on that power, trying to summon it. I couldn’t glance at her, but I knew if I did, her face would be scrunched up in concentration, her eyes full of that determined glint I loved so much.
Rosalina was wielding another ball of light in her hands. I tried to dodge it, but she had me trapped. Behind me stood the princesses, backed into a corner. If I dropped to the floor again, I would crush them.
Think, think, think! I shouted at myself. How can I defeat her?
My mind scrambled to come up with a solution. In battle, when faced with an enemy who was more powerful or wielded stronger weapons, I needed a tactical advantage. Something that would catch the enemy by surprise.
I blinked, my eyes widening in shock. Of course.
She might be more powerful than me, but I wielded a weapon just as strong as hers.
My magic.
It had already caught her off guard before. I just needed to do it again. Like Adira, this wasn’t my strong suit. But it was a part of me, and I needed to summon it now. I needed to trust it.
From below, Adira muttered a soft curse. White sparks ignited along her fingertips, then vanished. She was unpracticed. She couldn’t do this on her own.
Thinking quickly, I shouted to her, “Remember the symbol for the portal! The four overlapping rectangles. Picture it in your mind, Adira.”
Adira’s eyes closed as she focused once more. I tried to move toward her, but the queen blocked my path, baring her teeth in a savage smile. The light between her palms intensified. The ball of magic was now larger than my head. It would sear a hole straight through my chest.
Shield spell, I thought, sifting through my memories of replicated spells. I had once replicated a shield spell to defend the queen’s armies in battle.
I flexed my fingers, using muscle memory to weave the spell my body remembered even if my mind did not. Green threads pulsed between my fingers, sketching an elaborate pattern.
When the queen flung her ball of magic at me, I was ready. My hands raised, and our magic collided. The green pattern of my shield formed a net, and the white magic bounced off it, hurtling toward Rosalina. Her face slackened in horror for a brief moment before her own spell slammed into her. She went flying, crashing through walls. The ceiling rumbled, and debris rained from above. The princesses screamed, and I immediately fell on all fours, using my body to shield them from the crumbling palace.
“Addie!” I shouted. Heavy chunks of marble and concrete struck my back and shoulders, and I grunted, struggling to keep myself upright to protect the princesses.
Then, an eerie stillness filled the air. Only my heavy breathing and the wailing of Adira’s sisters punctuated the silence. Blinking through the haze and dust in the air, I slowly lifted my head, my jaw dropping.
Purple strands of magic were gliding through the air, knitting the palace walls together as if someone were magically stitching pieces of fabric. The rubble on the ground floated upward, connecting to the ceiling like puzzle pieces.
Awestruck, I glanced down to find Adira’s face hardened with determination, her hands twisting in the air as she repaired the walls and ceiling of her castle. The world shifted as my body began to shrink, and I realized I was too exhausted to keep up the spell. I was falling, falling, falling, collapsing in on myself. With a jolt, I returned to my normal height, dizzy and slightly nauseous.
Irene flew into my arms, followed by Beatrice and Juliette. One by one, Adira’s sisters surrounded me, crushing me in an embrace that was full of giggles and sobs.
“Marek!”
“Oh, Marek, you did it! You saved us!”
“How did you get here? And look at Addie!”
“What are we wearing?”
“Who was that woman?”
That woman.
My blood ran cold as I quickly extracted myself from the frenzied princesses, searching the ballroom for Rosalina. The walls were fully repaired now, but the queen was nowhere to be found.
Frowning, I turned and found Adira on her knees, sweat pouring from her brow as she gasped for breath.
“Addie!” I surged toward her, catching her just before she collapsed. Her eyes rolled back, her head lolling in my arms. “You’re all right. I’ve got you.”
“There.” With a trembling hand, she lifted her arm and pointed across the ballroom. I looked up and found an open door on the opposite wall, through which a silk purple curtain rippled like a veil to another world.
An exit. Adira had created a portal out of here.
My gaze darted around the room once more, searching for Rosalina. But it was clear she was no longer here.
Adira’s body became limp in my arms. I looked down and found her unconscious.
It didn’t matter where Rosalina was. We had to leave now. If the queen was dead, then good riddance. But if she had somehow survived, we couldn’t risk her coming back, not with Adira passed out.
“Come on!” I urged the babbling princesses, but only a few of them glanced my way. The others were still crying out in wonder or fear, with some gazing around the ballroom in amazement. Juliette, the youngest, was sobbing.
Desperate, I said, “Beatrice, Cleo, help me!”
The two older princesses straightened, their eyes wide and alert with fear. They were wise enough to understand the urgency required in this situation, unlike their younger sisters, who were caught up in their emotions.
Beatrice hurried to the triplets and crouched to their level, whispering encouraging words. I distinctly heard the phrase “frozen cream,” which made the three sisters perk up. Even Juliette stopped sobbing to look at Beatrice with interest.
Cleo rallied up the other sisters, talking about the “bad woman” who would return if they didn’t leave right away. I exhaled in relief as the eleven princesses hurried toward the portal Adira had conjured. I dallied behind them with Adira in my arms, my leg throbbing and my limp worsening with each step. But I was determined to carry her through, even if it killed me.
And I had to be last. The back of my neck prickled, but as I looked around, I found the ballroom empty behind us.
But Rosalina was still out there somewhere. I was sure of it.
After one last uncertain glance, I followed the princesses and stepped through the shimmering portal.