Parts One through Thirty One can read here.

Cyrus woke me at sunrise and took me to the spot where I had fallen asleep behind his home. He offered no explanation but insisted I follow him. We pushed through the short distance silhouetted against the silvers and pinks of early morning. The amber light from my staff played with the sunlight and bathed us in a hazy orange glow. I basked in its smoky radiance and the warmth it emanated. It was a sharp contrast to the chilly morning, and I could tell that Cyrus was grateful for it as well.

“Why are you leading me out here?” I asked as we approached our destination, breaking the silence wrapped around us.

“Just wait,” he replied while shoving vines and overgrown hedges away. “We’re almost there.”

We came upon the clearing after a few more minutes, and Dasha was waiting for us.

“What’s going on?” I asked looking between them. I don’t like this.

“We wanted to talk away from town, where no one could hear us,” Cyrus responded. My alarm bells were ringing.

“Please sit down,” Dasha added. She was seated on a smaller boulder off to the side. Cyrus and I sat on the center boulder, the one I fell asleep on what felt like an eternity ago.

“What’s going on?” I repeated.

Cyrus and Dasha looked at each other, and I knew something was wrong.

“We need to talk about what happened last night,” Dasha spoke to her hands.

“What about it?” You shouldn’t have told them. Regret settled in the pit of my stomach.

“No one can know about you,” Cyrus answered, also speaking to his hands. “Part of the reason that Haven’s End is so peaceful is that even though we are remnants of the war, it hasn’t touched us since arriving here.” And now I’ve shattered that.

“If people knew who you really are, and where you really came from, it would cause panic and upheaval,” Dasha continued, still speaking to her hands. It’s your fault Mara is gone.

“I hadn’t planned on telling anyone.” My response was clipped and icy. I didn’t want her words to hurt, but they did. Because I knew they were true. I was the reminder of the world beyond the enchantments. Disaster, wreckage, and massacre lived and breathed outside of Haven’s End. And no one wanted to know that. This was a place where the outside was not allowed in. This is a place where you should not have been allowed in.

“I hadn’t planned on making a life here either,” I continued. I could feel my blood rushing as the hurt gave way to anger. I stood up from the boulder and looked at both of them. “You two knew there was more to me. You knew that I was dangerous! I told you as much! I told you that I was not safe and that I wanted to leave. You made me stay! You promised me a life here!”

Despair pooled inside me. It coiled like a snake deep in my core. Pain pulsed through my body in place of blood, and air came to me in the form of ice. Molten fury and frigid agony began to take hold.

“That’s not what we meant,” Cyrus whispered. Both of them continued to speak to their hands. And it only served to enrage me more.

“Look at me!” I exploded. Two pairs of eyes met mine. One pair was bright with water, the other pair was stony and determined. “I wasn’t going to tell either of you anything.” Why does this hurt so much? “Because I know that no one wants to know about me.”

“That’s not what we meant!” Cyrus stood up and yelled back at me. “We need to protect our home, Nox. Magic is free here.”

“I want to be free too!” Hot tears rolled down my face, and I could feel the turmoil getting ready to bubble over. That potion Cyrus gave me seemed to be working. Cyrus stood and placed a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off and stepped away from him.

“Don’t touch me!”

“Nox, it’s not what you think!” Dasha cried from her perch.

“This world can’t be free until you fulfill the prophecy. Magic is free here. Just here. You have been predestined to free it everywhere. It’s you, Nox. You have to set us all free. And you can’t do it if you’re living a quiet life hiding in Haven’s End.”

“You want me to leave,” I whispered.

“Please just listen to us!” Dasha called out.

“I should leave. I’ve brought nothing but darkness ever since I’ve arrived. What happened to Mara was all my fault. Dasha cries every day.”

“This is the Curse speaking for you. You need to let us finish. Please,” Cyrus said. He kept his emotions in check. “Sit back down and listen.”

 I wanted to run away from them. Raw emotion simmered within me, but I complied.

“I’m sorry for attacking you the way I did.” His tone was serious and steely. His presence filled the meadow, and waves of power rolled off of him. “But this is vital. You are the Last Grimoire, and the fate of the world is in your hands. We’ve lived under an illusion of safety for a long time. Your arrival here is not chance. Fate has delivered you to us.”

Dasha’s expression shifted from an apologetic, teary mess to one of unshakeable resolve. Whatever they had decided, I had no say in the matter.

“I promised to train you as my apprentice, and I shall honor that. But our time is limited. Because you can’t stay here. And when you leave, we will go with you.”