Find parts One through Five on my author’s page.

Calum fell back into a chair as if the weight of my confession had knocked him over. He was processing my words, turning them over in his mind, considering what they meant. His absent gaze seemed to stretch for an eternity.

“Please say something,” I pleaded when I couldn’t stand his silence any longer. His head snapped to look at me. The quick movement was a stark contrast to his quiet from before. He narrowed his eyes, scanning me closely. It was hard to pinpoint the emotion in his gaze. It teetered between confusion and anger.

“How long were you going to keep this a secret?” His question startled me. That was not what I was expecting.

“I wasn’t going to tell you,” I answered, my eyes to the floor. “I never wanted anyone to know.” Yet another secret he knows, I thought, my fingers clenched around my walking staff.

“But why?” Calum sprang up from his chair and began pacing again. His arms flailed wildly with his frustration. “You are the last surviving member of the Sorcery’s First Family! Your family brought Magic into the human realm!  Your family—”

“And it’s why they were killed—while I watched!” I yelled over his tirade. I sank into the bed, my body heavy again. “I don’t need a lesson in my family history.”

Calum stopped in his tracks. His anger deflated. He turned to look at me, and he reflected the anguish I felt. My family name inspired awe and admiration among the Magical kind. For me, it only inspired more wretched melancholy. As if I need more of that.

“You should be proud,” he whispered. He rushed over to me and knelt beside the bed.

“Why? I never learned Magic from them. I have no memory of a life with them.” The only memory I had of my family was the memory of their deaths. Or rather, the memory of their massacres. The memories aren’t as vivid as they once were. Their blood used to be a brilliant, shining red. The wind used to carry their dying cries into my dreams. There was a hand stretched out towards me, and I could see the glimmering stones on each ring. I heard her voice, like a bell ringing in my heart, begging the King and his soldiers not to harm me. Their faces, drained of life, were always there when I closed my eyes. Now, the visions were faded, the sounds muted. New nightmares haunted me now.

“I was made to suffer because of who they were, and because of who that makes me,” I said, still looking away from him. I, the last Grimoire, was nothing but the shell left behind after years of torture and ruin.

“The prophecy,” Calum said, the light of epiphany in his eyes. “By destroying the Grimoires, and tainting the Magic of their heir…”

“There would be no guide for Magic’s champions,” I finished. “He wanted Magic’s greatest adversary. He wanted to me to help snuff it out from the world for good.”

“Well that settles it then,” Calum said with a ring of finality. His voice lost its somber tone and resonated with a promise of fresh tenacity.

“Settles what?” I looked at his face, and his eyes had grown darker, steeled over with new resolve.

“I must heal you the best I can. I can heal your body, mend your wounds. Perhaps I can also reawaken some of the dormant magic in your body.” Calum sat back in his chair, leaning his body toward me.

“Like turning a twig into a walking staff?”

“Yes, exactly. We’ll have to be careful, as we still don’t know what triggers the Affliction or the Curse. But that’s why I have to get you strong enough to travel. You must find a good Healer, but you’ll never survive out there in this state.”

“I can’t just stay here?” I felt safe under his care. It was not a feeling I’d ever known, and it frightened me how much I’d grown to depend on it so soon. Were there still people like Calum left? Magical people in hiding, willing to take in an ailing young man and care for him?

“No, my dear boy. Your destiny lies somewhere far greater than a dusty old shack hidden in the woods. You have to live. You are The Guide!”

“What about you?” What if they find you? What if he finds you? What if something happens to you because of me?

“Me? It seems I found my destiny half-dead and wounded in the woods. And it is my duty to ensure he goes forth and finds his.” He put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. His face looked much younger, less haggard. I caught a glimpse of the happy sorcerer he once was. Living in his village, surrounded by people that he cared for, and cared for him in return. I saw the man an entire village died to protect. And now he was protecting me. “Now sleep. We’ve had quite a long and heavy day. I’ll need you rested for the morning.” He leaned away from me and stood. He made his way toward the sack where he’d collected all the things I managed to destroy.

“What’s happening in the morning?”

“It’s time for you to start healing.”