The whoosh of powerful wings beats down from above, and Ariel and I jerk our heads toward the sound. Ariel springs to her feet as three Shadow dragons fly into our clearing, glowing-gray-eyed Mages on their backs.

Dread strikes through me as Ariel darts forward, pulls her wings in tight and lifts her taloned hands. Her fingers ignite to gold, the glow of the Mages’ corrupted eyes burning bright as they lift their wands in unison.

With a growl, Ariel throws her hands forward, a stream of fire coursing from her palms just as the Mages blast streaming bolts of Shadow forward to collide with her flame, yellow sparks exploding sideways as she halts the bolts midair. Dark branches tendril out from the relentless streams of gray magic to form a tangling wall, and Ariel’s fire rises against it to form a counter-wall of golden flame as they push mightily against each other’s power. Ariel skids backward, arms extended, leaning into her blazing power as the Shadow wall ignites with steely fire.

The gray-fire wall crackles unnaturally downward, burrowing into the forest floor. The ground beneath Ariel’s feet begins to buckle as the Shadow advances against her fire, a crevasse filled with dark flame forming just behind her.

Ariel looks at me over her shoulder as she’s pushed toward it. “Run,” she says.

Heart slamming against my ribs, I set off at a sprint into the forest, hands bound and straining against Vogel’s press of power. I’m devastated to be leaving her, but horrifically clear that all is lost if those Mages get hold of me. The trees’ hatred and fear pour down on me from all sides as I speed over branches and brush, the dark Forest increasingly illuminated by my eerily silvered vision.

Black Witch. Black Witch. Black Witch, the Forest pulses at me as I run, the crackling roar of the battle behind me spurring me on.

My foot slams into a huge root, lodging under it, and I pitch forward, a cry escaping me, my trapped ankle twisting so hard I can hear the bone crack. I fall facedown on the loamy ground, pain lancing through my leg. Pulse thundering, I jerk my head toward the direction of the Mages, knowing that there’s only one way out now.

Gritting my teeth, I thrust my bound hands against the broad trunk before me, a huge Noilaan Spruce.

The Forest’s hatred turns seismic.

Tangle my lines, I plead. Tangle them, and I’ll send a spell through them that will double back and destroy me.

A collective pause. As if every tree in the world has suddenly set its focus directly on me.

Please, I beg the Forest as Vogel’s power bears down on mine.

Vast elemental power surges toward me from all directions, all of it converging on a single target—the Black Witch.