I closed my eyes tighter and tried to focus. When Ana began to chant, Violeta and I joined, and the world seemed to fall away. We spoke in a language that had memory in my soul. I could feel the words moving around beneath my skin, twisting in the bottom of my stomach. I felt my magic roar to life—a stream of energy that tore me open.

I began to sob, to shake, to scream.

And then I was hit hard on the head, and I fell into the water, which was just as shocking as the blow. My hair was yanked back as I broke the surface only to hear Violeta’s and Ana’s screams.

I gasped for air as another two people grabbed my arms.

“Get her out!” a harsh male voice ordered.

I was dragged from the water, my ribs cracking against jagged rocks.

“Bloody witch!” another awful voice spat.

When I felt the earth beneath me, my attackers dropped my hands and began to beat my body. The first blow was a kick to my stomach. It stole my breath and made me nauseous, and as I rolled to protect myself, gasping desperately for breath, another blow landed on my back, knocking me flat to the ground. After that, it was a barrage of kicks to all parts of my body. I tasted blood and then I could not feel anything.

But that was not what scared me most; it was the peace that suddenly overcame me. I had felt it before when Dragos’s men set fire to the tinder at my feet. My body eased, sinking into the ground. I could not feel pain. I did not even need to breathe.

I rolled onto my side, and as I did, I saw Ana only a few feet away, her battered face aglow in the torchlight.

Suddenly I was in another time, running through these very woods, the ground uneven beneath my feet, the limbs of trees striking my skin. My breath shuddered out of me, my lungs burning.

“Ana!”

Her name left my mouth, a choked cry. I hoped it would make her stop, but she only seemed to run faster.

“Ana!” I begged, wheezing her name. “Ana, please!”

She stumbled and fell and stayed where she landed, her body shaking with sobs. I fell to my knees and held her.

I had no idea what had happened. I just knew it was horrible because I had caught her fleeing the castle, battered and beaten. I didn’t know how long we sat there, but eventually she sat up, her face swollen so badly, I didn’t think she could even see me. There was a gash across her cheek, and her nose was broken, her lip split.