“The bad ones,” Muraco continued. “Well, they made evil things. Very evil things. We tried to stay away, but they attacked the village. We couldn’t stand for that. For a few years, there was war. Light and dark. We helped fight these dark casters. The light won, but at a high cost. So many lives gone. And in the end, those white mages… They disappeared. The fight had taken too great a toll. I’m not sure if they lived on. If they had a quiet life in the wilderness or not. But their magic lives. At night, during the new moon, you can see it lighting up the mountain. This magic is what you all need now. Their white energy is the only thing that can fight the coming darkness.” Muraco took a drink of his coffee. “This is the hard part. The finding of them. They might have left behind magic. Books. Or they might themselves be there. It was so long ago that I doubt they live now, but there’s no way to be certain save to look, Claudia de Santos.”

A shiver rolled down my spine at my name, and Muraco continued. “Your power may let you find them where I and others could not. All that is certain now is that dark magic was used to bring back your Daniel. I haven’t seen the like of that in more years than memory recalls, but that is very much what those evil mages did. It took many years before the white mages found a way to fight such power, but they did. We do not have years this time. So you must go. Now.”

Mr. Dawson cleared his throat. “What about her oath to Luciana?”

“What about it?”

“Do you think they can break it?”

He sighed. “As I said, they might not be there. She might find bits of their magic left behind. And I hope that is enough. From what I know of oaths, what the girl needs to break the bond is already inside her. She gives the oath more power by believing in it.”

He was wrong. Dead wrong. “No. She has a hold over me. She made me—”

“Oh, I’m not saying that the oath has no power. I’m saying that to break any oath you need either good magic to override it or the sheer force of will to overpower it. That’s why some are easy to break. If the witch who did the binding didn’t make it so strong, when the person leaves… Poof.” He motioned with his hands. “It’s gone.”

“He’s right,” Shane said. “That’s why I’m no longer bound.”

“Exactly. Others, the witch wants to hold tight,” Muraco said. “You have to overpower her. Or find some way to override it.”

“Override it?” If this was the whole mating thing again…

“A bond like theirs will do it.” He waved his hand toward Tessa and Dastien.

Yeah. Like that was going to happen. “So how do I find the temple of these white mages?” If they had a temple. I suspected it would be more of a ruin by now.