Phoenix Academy - Lucy Auburn Page 0,71

my sister," I tell her, heart in my throat that it ever occurred to her I might leave her there with him. "I'd do anything for you."

"Yeah. Yeah."

Towers' keen eyes are watching us, and I don't want to fall into a puddle of tears and trauma on her expensive rug, so I just silently reach out to squeezes Lizzy's shoulder. We can get into the nitty gritty of everything later. For now, there are details to figure out and arrange, so she can stay here and stay safe.

"Elizabeth Wolfe. Good to have you here."

"Thanks for having me." Lizzy cranes her head towards the desk as Towers pulls two small objects out of one of the drawers. "You can call me Lizzy, by the way. My mom only called me Elizabeth when she was mad at me."

"Very well."

I blink back tears at the brief mention of our mother, who we haven't yet jointly mourned together. Sucking in a sharp breath, I force myself to stay calm and collected. Mom is free now—her spirit has been taken care of, and I know she'll feel peace, seeing us together. It's a comforting thought that keeps me together as Headmaster Towers lays the golden bowl and small gold knife on her desk.

"This bowl," she indicates it, "reveals certain things about a phoenix: what type you are, and how many lives you have. It does so," a motion to the knife, "with a little bit of blood. Usually I prick new students' palms and squeeze a few drops out myself, but I thought given all you've been through when it comes to knives, you might appreciate getting to do it yourself."

The mention of how we were both killed makes me look sharply to Lizzy, but she laughs, like she's put it all behind us.

"Thanks for the forethought, but I don't really mind blood or pain." Scooting forward, she reaches for the knife with curious fingers. "If you have any answers for me, I'd love to hear them. My time since being reborn as a phoenix hasn't really been full of forthright information."

"So I gather." Towers picks the bowl up and holds it out as Lizzy gamely slashes the base of her thump and turns her hand over, bleeding without even so much as a flinch of pain. "I don't know how much your sister has told you about the academy, but I can promise that your life will be different here. You'll have safety. Freedom—at least, as much freedom as any students can have. And most importantly, you'll be trained to use your powers, to make you stronger and more capable."

I chime in, "All I really told Lizzy was that this is an academy for phoenix, and that you kept me safe from our father all this time. I also mentioned that I would've come for her sooner if I hadn't been gone for so long. But we didn't really get into any details."

"Very well. I'll give a brief history lesson on the academy itself, for your benefit." Tilting the bowl back towards her, Towers stares into its depths with keen eyes. "Though I have the feeling I won't need to tell you much, Lizzy Wolfe, given what the bowl is now informing me."

"What is it?" I lean forward, a little eager, while Lizzy just pokes at her quickly-healing palm.

"Your sister," Towers says to me, "has seven lives, a healthy number. But what's more interesting to me is that she is in fact, as we suspected, a very rare Grey Phoenix. Specifically, she has the ability to see into both the future and the past—an ability linked to touch and physical presence, which means no doubt that she saw much about me when she shook hands, and even more about the academy the instant she stepped onto campus."

My sister smiles slightly, while I reel at the news that she's even more powerful than I first understood.

"Guilty as charged," she murmurs. "This place really does have quite a history. And more than a little bloodshed inside it's gates. Though my powers aren't as clear as you might expect—most of what I see about the future or the past is muddled. It's instinctual feelings and certain strong emotional residues that I pick up more than anything. Violent deaths make the biggest impression."

Suddenly I'm wondering if my sister knows when I'm going to die. As if reading my mind, she adds slyly, "Though I don't know any one person's entire future. That is harder. Most are able to