“Yes, you were,” came a familiar rasp from the doorway.
I shoved Loken in the chest, and we leapt apart. We both turned toward the doorway.
Filling the entry stood Elder Kohler and three other people who could be best described as his “muscle.” Two men and a woman. Kohler beckoned his companions forward. They fanned out around us. The woman settled behind us, and one man took a place on either side.
The three of them towered over me, and stood even a couple inches than taller than Loken. They were silent, except the tallest of the men. A low hum vibrated from his chest like a growl. I inched away from him and toward the man on my other side.
“Loken,” continued Kohler, in his low, gravelly tone. Without a microphone, his voice reached barely above a whisper. I strained to hear him. “I read your report from yesterday.”
Loken didn’t answer but stepped between Elder Kohler and me, as if to shield me from what was coming. I looked back and forth between Kohler and the other three, all of whom stared at me. Loken’s muscular arms crossed over his chest. His posture straightened, pulling him up to his full height of a couple inches over six feet.
“Ah, I see you’ve already determined what this means,” said Kohler. “That’s good. It means we won’t have to debate the matter.”
Elder Kohler still blocked the doorway. He wasn’t a large man, maybe five-ten. His thin arms were lean, not thick with muscle. I wondered if I could knock him down by throwing myself into him. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“Ashara,” Elder Kohler said in an official-sounding voice. “I have a warrant for your arrest.”
The largest of the three guards, a bald man with sweat beaded on his forehead, reached for my arm. Loken shoved him away and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. “On what charge?” he asked.
“There’s no charge,” said Elder Kohler. “In these times, the only cause we need is the greater good. We have reason to believe the Mages are coming here for Ashara.”
My hands trembled at my side. “Just because a few Mages veered off course yesterday?”
“And the fact that they started toward here in the last timeline—immediately after your ability manifested for the first time.”
My jaw dropped open. I snapped it back together, but not before Elder Kohler had time to register my shock.
“So you understand,” he said. “Good.” His gaze shifted to Loken, although he continued to address me. “We’re taking you into custody now.”
Loken drew his sword and let it hang at his side.
“You don’t want to do this, Loken,” Kohler said.
“Where will you take her?” Loken asked. He pulled me closer to him. His gaze jumped between Elder Kohler and the two other men, while his arm shielded me from the woman behind us.
“To a safe place.”
“You’ll lock her up?”
Elder Kohler nodded. “She’ll be surrounded by Council members. Safe from the Mages.”
“And what happens if you decide we’re all better off if she’s dead?”
My muscles tensed at his words. Loken stroked my waist with his fingertips, trying—unsuccessfully—to keep me calm.
Instead of answering, Kohler shot back another question. “You think we’d be better off if she were dead?”
“That’s not what I said.” Loken squeezed out the words through gritted teeth.
Elder Kohler grinned, a wide smile with no joy. “But you asked that question for a reason. Because you know what Ashara is only beginning to understand—that her potential for power is the reason the Mages are targeting Vallara.”
“No,” I whispered. I hadn’t planned to speak, but words spilled out before I could stop them. “No. I . . . I hardly know what I’m doing. My ability just manifested. If I were powerful, it would have . . . a long time ago.” I shook my head back and forth, back and forth.
I stared up at Loken, who refused to meet my eyes.
“Loken?”
His jaw twitched. My heart stampeded against my chest.
“If Loken resists,” Elder Kohler said, “we’ll have to contain him as well—which would be detrimental to everything we’re trying to accomplish here.”
He was right, of course. Regardless of my alleged potential, Loken was the one with the experience. He was an integral part of the team, and the Ethereal task force would likely fall apart without him. I tugged on Loken’s shirt, silently urging him to step aside so I could give myself up.
I studied Elder Kohler’s three companions. They stood ready for action, arms tensed, legs spaced apart. If Loken was going to fight, I was going to fight with him.
Still feeling the prickle of ether against my skin, I summoned it to my palms. The effort knocked the breath out of me. I gasped. My head spun for a few seconds, and then righted. A small ball of light whirled around each of my hands, visible to everyone in the room.
Elder Kohler made the first move. He shot a stream of fire from his hands at Loken’s sword. Smoke curled from it, and Loken dropped the sword with a shout. He barreled toward Kohler. The two of them went down. Loken’s knees pinned Kohler’s arms to the floor.
The man on the right rushed toward me. I raised my arms and shot a series of ether balls. The white-blue light streamed toward him. He lunged to the side to avoid it. His large body slammed into the wall. Some of Loken’s pages of notes scattered to the ground. I shot another ether ball at my attacker, but willed this one to expand. When it hit him, it morphed into a shimmering blue cage, trapping him against the wall.
The woman slammed into me, tackling me to the ground. She pinned my wrists above my head and sneered. Her lips pulled back, baring her teeth. I thrashed against her grip, but she pressed my wrists harder into the floor.
With the help of one of her male companions, the woman flipped me over and cuffed my hands behind my back She yanked my arms upward to drag me to my feet. I cried out as pain ripped through my shoulders.
Loken lay on the ground with both arms up in surrender. His right arm was covered in patches of welted red skin. Kohler stood over him, his arms pointed toward me. Fire swirled around his hands. Loken lay obediently still.
“Is he going to be okay?” I inclined my head toward Loken.
Elder Kohler waved a fiery hand in Loken’s direction. “He’ll be fine. His punishment for insubordination will have to wait until this crisis ends.” His soft voice dropped to a lower pitch. “But it will be harsh.”
With a backward glance at Loken’s prone form, I followed Kohler’s muscle out of the office. We walked in a diamond formation, with Elder Kohler taking up the rear. The woman led the group. The two brutes locked me in on either side.
When we reached the main floor, the many practitioners there stared as we passed. I kept my head held high.
Elder Kohler led us to the metal door to the basement. Below was the glass cage that had secured the three captive Mages. My footsteps slowed as we approached. “You’re putting me in the cage?” My voice squeaked.
Elder Kohler nodded and pressed his hand against the security panel next to the door. The door slid open with a deep whirring sound, revealing the empty, dimly lit basement.
“Why?” I asked, hopefully. “If the Mages are all attracted to me, wouldn’t it make more sense to send me away?”
He beckoned for me to follow him down the stairs. “If they really are following you, then they’ll continue to do so. We don’t know what they’ll do when they find you. Maybe it’s what they’ll do that will end us. Maybe it’s what you’ll do. Either way, it’s best if you remain where we can keep an eye on you.”
Our footsteps clanked on the stairs as we entered the dim basement. I dragged my feet toward the glass. No Mages stood behind it today. Still, I didn’t relish the idea of being trapped in there for the next seven days—until the end of time.
Another metal door led into the glassed-in area. Elder Kohler activated it with his hand, as before. He reached for my waist and removed my comm from my waistband.
“Hey!” I said. He ignored my protest and shoved me toward the open doorway.
I took a final glance at each of my four captors, trying to determine whether I could escape. I was still handcuffed, and I didn’t know how to use my ability without channeling it through my hands. Plus, I really wasn’t in the mood to be burnt to a crisp. I trudged through the door.
Elder Kohler pressed something on the security panel, and the door slid almost closed. Six inches of space remained between the edge of the door and its frame.
“Face away from me and stick your hands through the crack, if you want me to remove your handcuffs,” he said.
I obeyed, and he removed the cuffs. The door slid closed the rest of the way, issuing a metallic clank as it trapped me inside.