place, why would I do something like that?”
Doctor Ambrosius’s frown became even more thunderous, if that was possible. “Ms. Smith, go and finish up with young Master Spears. I shall get to the bottom of the situation here.”
Ms. Smith didn’t glance at Spirit as she walked quickly from the room. When the door closed behind her, Spirit swallowed hard, trying not to feel as if she’d just been trapped.
Doctor Ambrosius began to pace. “I am certain Ms. Smith explained to you that magicians’ powers are linked to the elements. It is from these we draw our power. It is these that shape our essential natures. Denying what you are will accomplish nothing. It will only leave you defenseless—helpless—in the battles to come. Dark times are coming, Spirit White. Do not doubt that for an instant. Do not allow fear—or anger—or weakness to stand in the way of embracing what you were meant to be.”
Listening to him talk was like listening to a Shakespeare play. Only creepier. She wished he’d stop pacing around. It was making her nervous.
Suddenly he turned back to the table and slapped both hands down on it. “Here are your choices! One of them is your chosen path!” he all-but-shouted at her. “You must try again! Now!”
Spirit reached out and grabbed the first thing her hands touched, mostly because she was afraid not to. She was trying, but this wasn’t like her math homework or learning to sew or climbing trees or anything else she’d ever done in her life. It wasn’t even like choosing which flavor of ice cream you wanted. What was she supposed to do with a candle? Maybe it was the wrong candle.
Her hands shook as she set it back on the table and reached for the stone. She’d done this over and over in the last two hours. Ms. Smith had said she’d know when she reached the right one, that these were just symbols but that was okay, that magic worked in symbols and this was just the first step to discovering what her Gift was.
But the stone was just an ordinary stone in her hands, and now her head was starting to hurt, and the room seemed hot and airless. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest; she had the panicky throat-closed feeling of being about to cry, and the thought of crying in front of Doctor Ambrosius simply made her angrier.
“Try harder,” he barked at her.
Spirit’s hands curled into fists, and she glared at the objects on the table, feeling a combination of anger and frustration and panic. The lights in the room seemed too bright. What should she try next? What would make him stop glaring at her? All she really wanted to do was pick up the little potted plant and hurl it to the floor. The glass bowl of water, too. She wrapped her arms around herself and gritted her teeth, squinting her eyes against the glare. There was no point in handling any of the things again—nothing would be any different than it had been the last dozen times—
“How dare you defy me?” Doctor Ambrosius shouted.
The sudden sound of his voice made Spirit jump, but it also cleared her head a little. Enough to let her know how horribly sick she felt. Enough is enough. This place had to have a school nurse somewhere.
Anything to get out of this room.
She pushed herself to her feet. The room seemed to spin crazily around her, and she felt a drop of moisture spatter onto the back of her hand. Her first thought was that—somehow—she’d started crying without having noticed, but when she looked down—forcing her eyes open, because they were almost completely closed now—it wasn’t water on the back of her hand.
It was blood.
What a strange dream. Spirit was so convinced that she was still in the hospital back in Indiana—the drugs they gave her made her have really weird vivid dreams sometimes—that it was a horrible wrenching shock to open her eyes and see Loch sitting beside her bed.
“Oh, you’re awake!” he said, sounding relieved. “Are you okay?”
Spirit stared at him, breathless, knowing she must look more than a little wild-eyed, still trying to get over the shock of all this being real. As she did, a woman in a white nurse uniform with a cardigan over it folded back the privacy screen around her bed. Once it was gone, Spirit could see she was in a large, airy, open room. There were two