away from you entirely. You’ll be training with me for the remainder of the summer while Deidre stays at your home posing as you. During the school year, you’ll attend our academy. You may return home on weekends and holidays.”
“Great.” My shoulders sank. “Only weekends and holidays, huh?”
“Sorry. It’s me best offer.”
The stern look on his face told me he meant it.
“I can live with that,” I lied. Besides, I probably didn’t have much of a choice. “At least I can still see Pop and my friends, I guess.”
He grinned. “Good. Now then, do you have any questions?”
“If my brain wasn’t in overdrive, I’m sure I’d have plenty,” I said. “The only one I can think of is…well…What if I suck?”
“Do you mean at fighting or magic?”
“Did you say magic? I can’t do magic.” I fisted my hands, my nails digging into my palms. I debated whether I should mention the magical episodes—or rather, disasters—I’d caused before.
Carrig looked amused. “Of course you can. You’re a Sentinel. Your magic just needs summoning, is all.
“Okay. No pressure, right? It’s not like I’m the one and the fate of the universe rests in the palms of my hands or something lame like that.”
No pressure? Seriously. Pull it together, Gia. Breathe. Breathe.
“Well, ’tis sort of like that, you know. You might be the one,” he said all serious.
My stomach flipped as I studied his face. “Are you messing with me?”
A smile reached his eyes. “Indeed, I’m messing with you. I believe we will be needing many to face what be before us, not just one. The coming be more terrifying than any nightmare you’ve ever imagined. And it won’t stop with the Mystik realm. It will destroy the human one, as well. Everyone you love will be in danger.”
So I had no choice. “One more thing. Brian Kearns is my father, so I’d prefer you treat me like a student and not a daughter.” I could’ve sworn hurt flashed in his eyes, but the smile stayed on his face.
“Deal. However, you might regret those boundaries. I’m a harsher teacher than I am a father.”
The bell jingled and Nana rushed to the table. “Got them.”
Carrig stood. “Shall we be on our way, then?”
I faced Nana. “You’re going, too?”
“I would never let you go alone, dear.” Her eyes did that warming thing when she smiled. “I’m sorry, Gia, I hated lying to you. I believed I was protecting you.”
I swallowed back the emotions clogging my throat. She had always been there for me. Always there to give me a hug when needed. Always at every match. Always.
I wasn’t sure I was ready yet to forgive her, but I understood what she’d done.
“I know you were,” I said, my voice quivery. “I love you, Nana.”
“I love you, Bug,” she said.
She hadn’t called me that since I was little. It meant more right now than it had at any time before. I held it in my heart as we headed to the Athenæum. A dark gloom hung over me like a reaper waiting for a corpse, the anticipation of the unknown scratching at my nerves.
Chapter Eight
The clouds stuck to the tall brick buildings like gray cotton candy. Rain chased down the gutters and clapped the ground, drenching the red cobblestone sidewalks, making them look glassy. It felt good to stretch my legs after sitting at the café table so long, even though it was hard to keep up with Carrig’s long stride. “So where is Asile?”
“We go through England to get there,” Carrig said.
“How?”
“Through a hidden tunnel behind a bookcase in an Oxford library. The Wizard Council had the tunnel systems constructed to connect all havens to a nearby library.”
“The havens. Are they in this world?” I asked.
“No. A different realm connected to this one. Created by wizards, but it broke into pieces by unstable magic and made the havens sort of like islands—isolated from each other.”
Okay. Mind blown. I decided that maybe asking questions wasn’t such a good idea. Each answer was unbelieveable. And made me question my sanity.
“You’ll love Asile,” Nana said as she kept pace with me. “I’ve been to other havens and it’s just like visiting European villages. It’ll be like you’re studying abroad.”
I smiled. She had a way of always looking on the brighter side of things. Even in the middle of an apocalypse.
“You know,” I said. “Haven means safe place. And these places you’re talking about don’t sound very safe to me.”
“It be an old name,” Carrig said. “When created, they be