Naelin looked at Ven. "And you'll agree to this? You'll help me leave if Headmistress Hanna says so?" Please agree!
His expression was blank. Finally he said, "I will."
She studied his face and decided she believed him. He wouldn't lie to her, she felt certain of that. She had a chance to end this right now, return to her life . . . or start a new life, with her children, far away from where everything went wrong. Maybe in the west, a small outer village near the unclaimed lands, someplace no one had ever heard of her. All she had to do was show the headmistress she wasn't anything special, and then this whole nightmare would be over. She'd never have to convince the queen she wasn't worthy.
"Now, Candidate Naelin."
Taking a few more deep breaths, Naelin closed her eyes. She stretched her mind out as she'd been practicing and felt the crinkle in the air of tiny spirits: fire spirits that writhed within the lanterns, air spirits that flitted through the clouds above, tree spirits that crawled up the walls of the academy, and earth spirits that burrowed with the worms beneath her feet. She settled on the earth spirits-they felt closest-and did as the headmistress had instructed. She shaped the command in her mind and pushed it out, imagining herself calling her children home:
Come!
And they came.
Little spirits clawed their way through the soil, pushed aside the moss, and sniffed around the practice ring. They looked like moles, with pointed noses and soft black fur, but their eyes and hands looked human. Behind them, busting through the holes they'd made, were larger spirits. These looked like clumps of rocks, with rock faces, arms, legs, torsos. Rock grated together as they moved, creeping closer to Naelin.
Voice even and calm, the headmistress asked, "How many did you call?"
"I don't know," Naelin said, backing toward the stairs as the spirits shuffled toward her, sniffing the air and pawing the ground. "I said, ‘Come.'"
More continued to pour through the holes in the ground. Reaching into the folds of her robes, the headmistress produced a silver bell. She rang it sharply. "It's customary to begin with a single spirit."
"Untrained, remember?" She hadn't meant to call so loudly. She hadn't even known there were different ways to call, or a way to call only one. There was, as Alet had pointed out, a lot she didn't know. She felt her heart sink. This wasn't the act of someone with minimal power.
"Ask them to return to the earth."
Leave, Naelin thought at them.
"With conviction, please," the headmistress said. Above, from the stairs, Naelin heard the pounding of footsteps, but she couldn't make herself tear her gaze from the spirits, who kept clawing their way out of the holes. She hadn't known there were so many. She'd only ever seen one or two at a time, but here . . .
She tried again. Leave!
A few of the smaller ones scampered back into their holes. Emboldened, she walked toward them. Leave! Quailing from her, the spirits retreated, pulling the moss in after them. By the time the other masters had poured into the practice ring, every spirit she'd called had vanished again, retreating into the earth. Her head buzzed. Her blood buzzed. Smiling wildly, she turned back to Ven and the headmistress-
And then it came.
Tentacles burst through the soil on either side of her, and she felt the ground shift, knocking her onto her knees. She felt the spirit beneath her, as broad as the entire practice ring, its tentacles reaching beyond. It felt hungry, a vast yearning emptiness beneath her.
The headmistress yelled, "Earth kraken!"
It flexed its tentacles, and the academy walls began to shake and splinter.
Leave!
Lea-
Chapter 14
Hamon stood as straight and stiff as the guards. He was sweating beneath his healer's robes, the summer's humidity so thick in the air that it curled on his tongue, but he didn't move from the spot where he'd planted himself as he watched his mother unload herself from a basket. When the basket conveyor held out his hand for payment, his mother waved her hand, holding a kerchief, toward the palace, and launched into what looked like a monologue-style explanation. Hamon made eye contact with one of the palace caretakers and nodded, and the caretaker scurried down to the bridge to pay for his mother.
Seeing him, she beamed and waved enthusiastically.
"I regret this already," Hamon murmured.
"At least that saves time later," a cheerful voice said behind him-Daleina's sister, Arin. "With low expectations, you can't be disappointed."
"You should be with the queen."