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I spend a few tortured hours thinking about edy which separated theht me into the world Torin called ht I’ a killer’s daughter Surely, of all the current MacGrigor crop, I must be the most likely to turn into awhat it would be like to lose control of e, becoht death was the worst thing I had to fear but now I know better With worries like these, I doubt I’ll ever be able to sleep again But eventually tiredness overcoravest fears and I drift off into a fitful sleep, one filled with dreairls and dead children

I awake late in theThe others are already up but most have only risen within the last hour so I don’t feel too guilty for sleeping in

I expect theround and the threat of what I ht become But it quickly becomes clear that they think of me no differently than they did yesterday I suppose there’s too much else to worry about After all, what’s one potential half-deenuine, fully-forht yet have to face?

Ronan and Lorcan have caught another hare, which Fiachna roasts on a spit Along with the leftovers fro ain we offer to share it with the MacGrigor, but again they refuse They have too much pride to eat from another’s fire

When we’re finished, they point us in the easiest direction to the coast, then wave us off Aideen looks like she wants to wish lowering Torin I wish I could stay here and work on Torin, earn his respect and love But even if he wasn’t so hostile to h it’s shrouded in secrecy and I’ us, it would be wrong to quit now Perhaps, if I survive, I can return and seek a place here in my true home-even if it’s only so that they can chain e

One of the wretched wolf-hu madly as we leave, as if it senses a kindred spirit and is singing to the beast I or- ill happen if we fail and the Demonata overrun the land Will these poor excuses for humans be all that remain of our people? Will they alone be spared, kept alive because of their poisoned blood, the only human faces in a land of twisted demons?

My lessons resume as we ht me and learn some new ones, like-

How to hold ers so cold that anything I touch turns to ice

How to create an ie of myself, to confuse a hu only ic, to fashion a crude knife or spearhead for those tih

I’ Under Banba it would sometimes takeso how they work And although they tire me, they don’t drain me and I recover rapidly

Drust is surprised too He keeps co on how fast I aht, how deep ned to keep or

But as the day wears on I realise he’s actually worried about ?" I snap as for the twentieth tilad that I’ quickly?"

"Of course," Drust says "Any teacher would be pleased to pass on so much with such little effort But it’s not natural Of course all ic is unnatural We bend the laws of the universe to suit our needs Each student is different, learning in a unique way, developing unlike any other But there are si steps all must climb patterns they share

"Except you" His eyes are heavy "When we started out, you were like any student Slow to learn, stubborn to abandon your old ways, gradually opening yourself up to a neorld of ed in every iinable way and I’m not sure what to think of it"

"It’s not that strange," I mutter "Once I perfectedstarted"

"No," Drust says "There’s more to it than that I" He hesitates, then says it "I want to look inside your mind I want to join spirits with you and see what inspired this change"

I go very quiet I shared my mind and spirit with Banba ht I’d have to do the same with Drust, but there’d been noone’s spirit is a personal, private thing To do it with a woman is hard, but to share with a man

"It won’t be easy for me either," Drust says quietly "If you refuse, I won’t force you But I have good reason for asking There’s sorowth I suspect I knohat it is But I need to go within your mind to be sure"

"Can’t you just tell roan "Why all this need for secrets?"

"Druids and priestesses are creatures of secrets," he says "We live in worlds of mazes and mysteries Secrecy is part of e are and hoe live It should be enough for you when I say I need to do this My reasons are unimportant You either trust me or you don’t"

I want to pull a face and say that I don’t, to annoy hi too Now that I think about it, I realise no apprentice should advance this far, this fast Banba told ician ever faces If you don’t know yourself intiic you wield-sooner or later you’ll fall victih "But I don’t want you rooting around inside et out If not, I’ll fight"

Drust nods, s, he takes hold of hts towards me I feel his presence immediately, as if he’d opened a door intothrough ers but it cos, chest, head His power is like a cloud wrapped aroundone body My thoughts are his, ic