It’s Not Yours 

A suffocating feeling permeated the secret passageway outside the High Priestess’s office, nearly robbing Mildred’s breath. Evelyn’s low voice murmured in the background, but as the maids reported, Mildred saw nothing through the peephole in the painting.

She closed her eyes and mentally searched for her powers, worried when she found them faint and struggling. Her magic felt tenuous and weak with the Resistance communicating constantly through the silenda. Her own silenda faded into a new message every four seconds, changing so often her skin burned. Sharp tingles ran through Mildred’s skin when she dropped her hand back to her side. Could she fight Evelyn and win?

Don’t think about it, she told herself. Just do it.

Be a lioness, Marten’s voice whispered in her ear though he was nowhere to be seen.

“I will always love you, Marten,” she murmured, a hand pressed to her heart. No matter what, from here on out, she’d be lost to him. Either in death or in a life promised to the Network for the rest of her life. This wasn’t about her anymore. This was about the Resistors, the Central Network. The future.

I am a lioness.

Her powers expanded from a fickle flame to a blooming fire in her chest. Finally ready, she drew in a breath to prepare for the biggest fight of her life, then spoke an incantation. The painting that acted as a door into the High Priestess’s office disappeared, exploding across the room and skewering itself on a statue.

“Merry meet, Evelyn,” Mildred called, stepping out of the passageway. “I’ve come to congratulate you in person.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. She stood over a small, carved wooden box lined with gold. A shuffle of movement caught Mildred’s eye. May stood off to the side, arms folded across her chest.

No doubt the box held the Esmelda Scrolls. What else would be so old? But Mildred saw no sign of the famed law, which meant Evelyn hadn’t removed the scrolls from the box yet. If she had, she’d replaced them to speak with May. Or she may have already destroyed them, and Mildred was too late.

“Mildred,” Evelyn said, eyes flashing like bolts of lightning in a storm. Her presence crackled with power. “How kind of you to think of congratulating me at such an opportune moment. You haven’t been around in a while.”

“I’ve been busy,” Mildred said, moving carefully into the room. “Trying to save the Network from the plans of a tyrant.”

Evelyn smiled. “How noble of you. Wasteful, but noble. What are you really here for, old friend? I don’t have time for chitchat, you know. A Network to rule as Highest Witch, and all. Is this one last attempt to get me to see the light of your ways?”

The cold tone of Evelyn’s voice sent a chill through Mildred’s spine.

“Evelyn Ringer,” she called with a voice of strength and steel, “I’m here to challenge you to a Magia.”

An explosion of light blew apart in the middle of the room. Mildred ducked and covered her face, turning away from the blinding flash. It threw her back into the wall, stealing her breath. Glimmering swirls of light bloomed in the air, encircling Evelyn and Mildred at waist height. If Mildred or Evelyn cast any purposeful magic inside the Magia circle, they would forfeit the fight and die.

May had been thrown against the wall, her hair singed and smoking from the explosion. Her eyes flickered as she edged toward the door, fear swimming in their icy blue depths.

“You think you’re stronger than me, Milly?” Evelyn asked, hissing her name.

“I don’t think it, old friend,” Mildred replied. “I know it.”

Evelyn laughed, letting it build on itself until what little sanity she had seemed to possess fell in shreds. Her black irises burned as hot as a bed of coals against her pale skin. Mildred didn’t even recognize her anymore.

“You who couldn’t even defend yourself as a child?” she asked. “Who couldn’t render enough magic to levitate a feather?”

“We were friends once, Evie,” Mildred said, thinking of her empty pinky finger where the Witches’ Oath once lay. “Do you remember that? Do you remember our oath, our sleepovers, our times together? Or have you chosen to forget?”

“Friends?” Evelyn sneered. “That’s what you think, is it? That I would be a friend to one as unsupportive as you? That I’d care what you think of me? All of this fighting is because of you, Mildred. We could have been great together, but you chose to break us.”

“Your greed wouldn’t allow it.”

“You didn’t trust me!”

“No,” Mildred said. “Eventually, I didn’t.”

Evelyn snarled. “Then let’s do this Magia right, friend.”

They released magic at the same moment. Two waves of power collided, thunder hurling them off their feet as if they were rag dolls. Evelyn slammed into a bookshelf, Mildred, the wall. The windows shattered in a spray of glass, admitting a wind into the office that swept a stack of papers into the air like a flock of creamy white birds. Mildred forced herself to her feet, black dots swimming in her vision.

“I’m improving the Network, Milly!” Evelyn cried, clutching a shoulder. “I’m fixing all her flaws, don’t you see? Just like Esmelda in the ancient days. She wrote a new law. She fixed the problems. Why can’t I? Don’t you see I want the best for the Network? I’ve given up everything to serve these ungrateful witches.”

A wild gust of sultry wind stormed through the room. Mildred stiffened, finding her balance again. Her power struggled to rebuild itself like a dying flame. She forced her concentration on it, willing it to grow.

“You’re not fixing anything. You’re oppressing your citizens.”

“You would coddle all their faults.”

“No, but I wouldn’t oppress the poor just to support an Elitist lifestyle.”

Sparks rose from the fireplace, ripping through the office like a tornado. They spun past Mildred on a rampage of fire, burning hot and red.

“I’ll set the poor free!” Evelyn yelled. “No more murders of innocent witches in uprisings. No more riots, no more misplaced currency.”

Mildred released magic again, scattering away the scalding particles on her skin by sheer force. Books soared off the shelves. Evelyn ducked away from the shower of heavy tomes.

“Getting your revenge on the poor won’t bring your mother back!” Mildred shouted over a burst of wind. “She’s gone! Just like Nell! May left you as well. All of them are gone except for me and Stella.”

“You don’t know anything!” Evelyn shrieked. “Nothing!”

“It’s not too late! Stop this madness.”

“I’ve given my life to this, Mildred. I won’t let it go now.”

“You can’t control the Network. The poor rise up in rebellion against you right now. They’re following my commands. We will win!” Mildred stumbled to her knees when the floor vibrated and bucked. A fresh wave of magic sent her flying into the wall. Her ribs cracked against a statue.

“I’ll never allow a rebellion!” Evelyn screamed. “You and those rats are going to die tonight. You brought it to this.”

“You can’t stop us!” Mildred yelled into the howling wind, gasping for breath. She put a hand to her side, feeling a sticky dampness. “We’re taking over the castle. The Council Members will be thrown into the dungeons, and you will die.”

Evelyn cackled.

“You’ll never kill me. You don’t have the power. I’m the Highest Witch! Donovan is gone. My law will reign supreme, and all of you shall see the truth of my ways. I’m right, Mildred. I know I’m right!”

Mildred sought for her magic again, but it had shriveled inside her. Her very bones ached. Her heart stuttered in exhaustion.

“The poor must be led,” Evelyn said, her eyes alight. “Don’t you see? I’m the new Esmelda. I’m here to change the world!”

Mildred leaned into a mighty gust of wind to keep from falling over. Evelyn released her magic so frequently that it collided with itself. The fire flared. The wind swelled. Everything scattered into a blinding chaos.

“You’re losing control, Evelyn! You’re going to kill yourself if you keep this up.”

Evelyn tipped her head back and threw her arms wide. The edges of her ebony dress flapped in a mad dance around her ankles, the long skirt billowing in blooms of darkest silk.

“I’ve done it, don’t you see? I’m Highest Witch. I possess the scrolls. I’ll destroy them and finish the job I started fifteen years ago: saving the Network.”

Magic left Mildred of its own accord, and she was too exhausted to prevent it. A blaze of heat ballooned into the room from the fireplace, forcing her to shrink away from a wall of flames. Wind caught the fire and carried it higher. An inferno raced across the bookshelves, burning the hairs on the back of her arms. Paintings melted into rivers of ink in the waving heat.

“Everything is ready for the New Central Network. Everything except for you.” Evelyn’s hysteria calmed for just a moment, betraying a flash of sadness that made her appear even more out of control. “And now you must die at my hands for the good of the Network.”

Smoke and ash fell into Mildred’s eyes. She tried to release magic again, but nothing happened. Her muscles twitched when she attempted to stand. “No!” she whispered frantically, stumbling. “No!”

A muggy wall of hot air knocked both of them to the ground. Mildred lay on her side, trying to catch her breath through broken ribs. Evelyn leapt back to her feet, her skin glowing as she levitated off the floor, flying far above Mildred. The ground shivered, drawing chunks of stone and dust from the rafters. A rock pelted Mildred on the crown of her head, and blood leaked from the gash.

“Don’t do this, Evelyn,” Mildred cried, climbing to her hands and knees. Her arms trembled with the effort. “You’ll destroy yourself and the castle. Rein your magic back in! You’ll break the Network, not save it.”

A cyclone spun around Evelyn’s floating body. Chairs groaned as they slid across the floor, and the pages of unburned books fluttered in the air as the wind caught them up. Mildred crawled into the eye of the storm, not strong enough to do more.

“I am the Highest Witch in all of the New Central Network,” Evelyn bellowed, her voice booming through the torrent. “I have prevailed!”

A fissure cracked the ceiling, freeing a slab of rock. The ground rippled under the crash, knocking Mildred off her knees. Blurry images whipped past her in the storm. She lay trapped in the heart of Evelyn’s deranged frenzy, gripping the cracks between the floorboards as an anchor.

Her body begged for darkness, for silence. She had no more power left for herself. Burrowing deep inside herself, she turned to the things that strengthened her. She saw Marten’s face. Then Stella, and Jorden, and Mother, and all the Resistance. Perhaps her burgeoning power originated not inside herself, but in the influence so many witches had on her life. For herself, Mildred could not muster the power. But for many she could.

Be a lioness.

Oh, Marten. The magic in her heart expanded once again. I shall love you forever. Another chunk of stone fell from the ceiling, smashing Evelyn’s desk into splinters that fluttered into the storm. Mother’s voice rose from the innermost chambers of her heart.

You’ll change the world. You’re made of steel, you know.

The last of Mildred’s power flared to life.

I am a lioness.

Tingles flooded her skin and legs.

I will not fail.

Mildred grabbed onto a flare of magic and forced it to grow. It bloomed, pulling the last of her physical strength. Her vision dimmed. Her left hand slipped from between the cracks, and she nearly fell into the screaming whirlwind.

“Are you ready to die, Mildred?” Evelyn called, her hair forming a red halo around her head. “Are you ready to die for the Network?”

The wind tunnel tightened around Mildred, yanking off one of her shoes. The fingers of her right hand cracked as if they were about to break off.

“No,” Mildred cried, a sob in her throat. The magic inside had built so quickly she couldn’t hold it in. “I’m ready to live for my Network.”

With a final breath, Mildred released the last power that tied her to consciousness. A great rending split the air, followed by an ear-splitting crack and then a groan. Boulders rained from the sky in a sudden deluge. She crumbled into darkness and knew no more.