Page 98 of The Starlight Savior

Saige’s heart ached at the emotion in his voice. That was why he had been so excited when Saige used her magic in the greenhouse. He had seen it done countless times with no results.

“I didn’t know the mist did this to people,” Conor said quietly. “I knew the way it morphed animals into monsters…but this…I-I thought it just killed us.”

Saige forced herself to look at the body, the distortions from mortal to creature.

“I will have to inform my father. There have been no reports of encounters with creatures like these.” He lowered his head. “Gods, this is a lot more than land dying.”

Saige felt like she was floating as she walked to Conor and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“No,” he said gruffly, “you don’t have anything to apologize for. I’m the one who should be sorry. I took you here thinking we’d be safe. We weren’t. This is all my fault. And now”—he pointed towards the mirror—“we have no way of getting home.”

“There must be a way,” Saige whispered. “We can’t be stuck here.” She didn’t know what they would do if they were. They couldn’t go outside. There was no food or water. What if the wards had gone down? Her stomach lurched at the idea of turning into something like Sybil.

Conor’s hands raked through his hair. “Without that mirror, we are.”

“I don’t believe that.” Saige knelt beside Conor, taking his hands away from his head. “Let’s just think. Is there a way to somehow travel through the mist? Maybe using magic as a shield?”

“It would take days to ride to Athalos, and we don’t have horses. I don’t think it would be possible for either of us to hold a shield for that long. Even if we switched off.”

She tried to ignore her sinking heart. He was right. She had never even formed a shield bubble before. Being in the mist was not the time to test that.

“What about another mirror? If we can use a shield temporarily, is there another mirror to open a portal through?”

Conor’s back straightened at the idea. “Maybe…” His face was lost in thought. “One of the neighbors may have one. But we’d have to wait until my magic is replenished. If I use the last of it for a shield, I won’t be able to open the portal. I don’t even know if I have enough to open it now.”

“What about my magic?” Most of the time her power lasted for mere minutes.

“It’s not the same. Once you gain more control, you can use it more resourcefully. You’ll learn what it feels like to hit burnout.”

“Then I can open it.” Saige tried to not feel offended by the look Conor gave her. “I can. I can do it.”

“I don’t want to underestimate you, witchling. But that”—he pointed towards the shattered mirror—“didn’t give me much hope that you can accomplish this on your own.”

“We have no other options,” Saige said sharply. “So if you have a better plan, I’d love to hear it.”

“We could die here.”

“Very funny.” Saige scowled. “Do you have anything else you’d like to contribute?

Conor sighed, shaking his head. “I suppose that is the best we got. Gods, my father is going to be angry.”

“We better get started then.”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Conor stood over a large table in his father’s war room. A faded map laid across it. Conor’s home was circled in red ink, a handful of others circled in blue. His finger trailed along the roads, pointing towards the different paths they could take.“The Geralson’s home is most likely to have a portal mirror. But there’s no guarantee. It’s also farther away than the other possible manors.”

“What makes you think of them?”

Conor shrugged. “Wealthy. Liked fancy things. He was the northern banker, and sometimes he’d collect artifacts to diminish someone’s debt.”

Saige raised her brows. “I can’t even imagine what that home looks like. What is the other option?”

He pointed towards a circle closer to their location. “The Nimbil’s home possibly. Their eldest daughter went to Nasala to study. The stretch through the desert would be too difficult for them to constantly travel through.” He lingered on the last word, tapping the map slowly.

“But?”

“I’m not confident. We could show up and have no mirror, no magic, and possibly no wards.”