Chapter ONE - Weebly

would shatter. Red-hot iron flowed like blood through
his limbs, his body, his head. He wanted to scream
again, but couldn’t. He wanted to tear his skin open to
get the iron out, to let that rainwater cool him. He could
imagine it sizzling, turning instantly to vapor. He could—
Breathe. He could breathe, again. He opened his
mouth to let in a few drops of rain, coughed, and sat up
too quickly. When his head stopped spinning he
climbed to his feet once more.
Tegimen, he thought. Ex verbasco evocatum.
Warding, conjured from mullein. He used more of the
leaves this time, hoping for a more potent casting.
“Another warding won’t help you,” the girl said. “It
doesn’t matter how many leaves you use. My power
flows too deep for the likes of you.”
More than anything in the world just then, Ethan
would have liked to punch this conjurer in the mouth.
Obviously he was enormously powerful. But how did
he know so much about Ethan’s gift? The conjurer had
to be close. The last time Ethan had seen the little girl—
far from here at the town gate—the conjurer had barely
been able to maintain the illusion. That wasn’t the case