Julia is giving me a hard look, with her bushy brows pinched together. I want to jump down and talk to her. The rest of the apprentices continue to perform, but I can hardly focus on them except to watch Willow release bubbles from shaky fingers. All I can think about is the power under my skin. It feels like a dam has broken where before there was only a trickle, but it also feels like there’s more to come. It’s almost as if there’s too much magic inside me, like it might wash me away if it all escaped at once. I swallow.

Nothing pulls me out of myself until Ethan says, “You need to see this.”

Whatever he wants me to see is definitely going to hurt, not help.

I glance at him, and he nods down the line at the gorgeous girl in the velvet cloak. I was really hoping she wasn’t an apprentice because she looks like she undoubtedly belongs here.

“Her name’s Nadine. With the mentalist gone, she’s the second best here.”

“Let me guess, you’re the first?”

“Naturally.”

Nadine clutches the edge of her cloak in her hand and pulls it as she spins until she’s lost in a green cocoon. After a few seconds, the cape drops to the ground in a heap. A small rabbit the color of her dress hops out and sits for a second before burrowing back under the cloak. The forest-green velvet spins and rises until the edges peel apart and Nadine stands there, brushing back one stray lock of hair.

“She’s number one,” I say to Ethan.

He doesn’t answer. He knows it as well as I do. Neither of us are the best.

I zone out again. I’m worried that what little confidence I have will vanish if I watch anyone else.

My limbs shake when we’re finally allowed to hop down. Xander practically has to lift me from the table.

“I need more training,” I say.

“Tomorrow,” he says.

I nod and search for Julia, catching a glimpse of the back of her head as she slips from the room. I’ll find her tomorrow too. Lucius knew my mom, but if Julia is who I think she is, then she did too. I know which one I’d rather talk to.

I search out the two apprentices who failed: the mentalist and another boy who just stood there for a long time until Lucius moved on. Annalise leads both of them away.

“What’s she going to do with them?”

“Annalise is a mentalist too. She’ll wipe their memories and have them taken home,” Xander says.

“Annalise is a mentalist too? So that boy did have the power?”

Nobody says anything.

“What happened to Edgar?”

Xander frowns like I shouldn’t know his name or something. “He was separated from his troupe.”

“It all seemed so… dramatic.”