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“THAT’S PATHETIC, YELENA,” Dax complained “An all-powerful Soulfinder who isn’t all-powerful Where’s the fun in that?” He threw up his long thin arms in mock frustration

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not the one who attached the ‘all-powerful’ to the title” I pulled a black strand of hair froical abilities without success As we practiced on the ground floor of Irys’s Keep toell, iven ravation interfere with the lessons

Dax was atteic He had rearranged the furniture, lined up the plush armchairs in neat rows and turned the couch over on its side with his power My efforts to restore Irys’s cozy layout and to stop an end table fro— to my sweaty skin

A sudden chill shook s and the closed shutters, the living roo the hot season, sucked all the heat froined the roo outside

Dax Greenblade, ed his tunic down Tall and lean, his physique matched a typical Greenblade Clana sharp edge—his tongue

“Obviously you have no ability to ht a fire!” Dax placed a candle on the table

“A baby? Now you’re really exaggerating Again” A person’s ability to access the power source and perforic manifested at puberty

“Details Details” Dax waved a hand as if shooing a fly “Now concentrate on lighting this candle”

I cocked an eyebrow at hiht I could heal hts and even see his soul, but when I reached for a thread ofhappened

Dax held up three tan fingers “Three reasons why you should be able to do this One, you’re powerful Two, you’re tenacious And three, you’ve beat Ferde, the Soulstealer”

Who had escaped, and was free to start another soul-stealing spree “Re me how…?”

“It’s supposed to be a pep talk Do you want me to list all the heroic deeds you’ve—”

“No Let’s get on with the lesson” The last thing I wanted was to hear Dax recite the latest gossip The news about ician’s Keep like dandelion seeds carried by a strong wind And I still couldn’t think about the title without a cringe of doubt, worry and fear touching my heart

I pushed all distracting thoughts aside and connected to the power source The power blanketed the world, but only athered a strand toa flame to form

Nothing

“Try harder,” Dax said

Increasing the power, I aiain

Behind the candle, Dax’s face turned red and he sputtered as if suppressing a cough A flash seared nited

“That’s rude” His outraged expression was comical

“You wanted it lit”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to do it for you!” He glanced around the roo the patience to deal with an unruly child “Zaltanas and their weird powers, forcing ht the candle Pah! To think I wanted to live vicariously through your adventures”

“Watch what you say about ood threat

“You’ll what?”

“I’ll tell Second Magician where you disappear to every time he pulls one of those old books off his shelf” Bain was Dax’s hted in ancient history, Dax would rather learn the newest dance steps

“Okay, okay You win and you’ve proved your point No ability to light a fire I’ll stick to translating ancient languages” Daxsouls” He teased, but I sensed an undercurrent to his words

His uneasiness over my abilities was for excellent reasons The last Soulfinder was born in Sitia about a hundred and fifty years ago During his short life, he had turned his enemies into mindless slaves and almost succeeded in his quest to rule the country Most Sitians didn’t react well to the news about another Soulfinder

The aard reen eyes “I’d better go I have to study We have a history test tomorrow Remember?”

I groaned, thinking of the large to for me

“Your knowledge of Sitian history is also pathetic”

“Two reasons” I held up ers “One, Ferde Daviian Two, the Sitian Council”

Dax gestured with his hand

Before he could say anything, I said, “I know Details, details”

He sust of arctic wind as he left The fla I drew closer, warhts returned to those two reasons

Ferde was a roup of the Sandseed Clan The Daviians wantedstories On a power quest, Ferde had kidnapped and tortured twelve girls to steal their souls and increase his ical power Valek and I had stopped him before he could complete his quest

An ache for Valek pu froo, but I etsituation He had a knack for showing up when I most needed him

Unfortunately, those tier and there hadn’t been ned a boring diplomatic mission to Ixia

The Sitian Council wouldn’t approve the trip until they decided what to do with icians coued about my new role of Soulfinder all this past ician, was ician, was est detractor

I stared at the fire, following the dance of flaered on Roze The randomness of the blaze stopped The flae

Odd I blinked Instead of returning to norrew until it filled ht patterns of color stabbed e re ic around me

Caught, I watched as the fire scene transformed into a lifelike picture of me Flame Me bent over a prone body A soul rose from the body, which I then inhaled The soulless body stood and Fla, the body stalked the new person and then strangled him

Alarmed, I tried to stop the fire vision to no avail I was forced to observe myselfspree An opposing army attacked Fire swords flashed Flames of blood splattered I would have been iician’s level of artistic detail if I hadn’t been horrified by the blazing carnage

In tiht in a net of fire Flaed, chained to a post and doused with oil

I snapped back tonext to the hearth, I still felt the web of ic around me It contracted and tiny flames erupted on my clothes

And spread

I couldn’t stop the advance withmy lack of fire skill, I wondered why I didn’t possess this ical talent