While the other future rulers of Grimere got up to start their day of weapons training, Thisbe sat on her cot and stared at the paper in her hand, trying to comprehend the words from Florence. Artimé was in a civil war? How could that be possible? What did it mean? And Florence had done something Thisbe had never imagined could be possible. It was unthinkable. She had denied Thisbe’s request for help. With a sinking heart, Thisbe knew things had to be terrible there for that to be the case.

Granted, Thisbe hadn’t sent a double seek spell, which would have indicated she was in grave danger and needed help immediately. Perhaps if she’d done that, Florence wouldn’t have said no. And it was true that Thisbe was relatively safe at the moment, hidden in this house. So there wasn’t a huge sense of urgency. It was just that Thisbe had been counting on her friends to help her in Grimere. Even if they hadn’t been excited about going back so soon, like Thisbe had been, they all wanted to see the Revinir destroyed, and they had a much better chance at succeeding if they worked together.

She tried to push back the hurt feelings, even though this felt a little bit like she was being abandoned again. She tried not to think about how Fifer and Seth had been more interested in staying in Artimé than in coming back here. And she tried not to be mad at Aaron, even though the whole civil war thing probably had to do with him being—or not being—the head mage.

Once she got over the initial shock of Florence’s note, Thisbe felt ashamed about her earlier feelings. Then concern for the safety of her family and friends grew in its place. This had to be a very serious situation for Florence to decide no one could come to Thisbe’s aid. They needed everyone. Including her. That Florence would even ask for Thisbe to return when she knew how precarious things were in Grimere was shocking.

“Oh dear,” whispered Thisbe, picturing a war-torn magical world, family against family, friend against friend. Artimé was the last place anyone expected to be engulfed in war. What was happening?

Thisbe read the note again and hesitated when she got to the part where Florence said they could really use her help right now. That was so unlike Florence—they must be in dire straits for Florence to ask Thisbe for help. Thisbe was just a kid! Though it was true that Thisbe was one of the most powerful mages in Artimé. Especially now that she could control her magic and use Artimé’s creative magic too. And she was getting more skilled every day.