Trial By Fire (Schooled in Magic Book 7) Read Online Free Page A

others think it’s something far older.”
    Emily frowned. “Maybe someone tried to build another school like Whitehall on a nexus point and something went wrong.”
    “It’s a possibility,” the Grandmaster agreed. “If there was a nexus point here, it must be dead. Shadye wouldn’t have needed to go to Whitehall if he’d had one right next to his fortress. But there is clearly magic, ancient magic, in this place. Perhaps Shadye was too scared to try to tap it for his own use.”
    “Maybe,” Emily said. It didn’t seem likely. Shadye hadn’t shown any fear, as far as she could recall; in truth, he’d never had any reason to feel fear. What could harm a necromancer with his power? “Why was so much forgotten?”
    “They might not have wanted to remember,” the Grandmaster said. “Aren’t there things in your life you would give a great deal to forget? Or to rewrite?”
    Emily nodded, slowly. She’d always had the impression that there was something wrong with the Nameless World’s history, at least the version presented to the students, although she’d never been able to put her finger on it. She knew from Earth that history was often a matter of conjecture, of putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle when several of them were missing and then guessing at the final image. And, on the Nameless World, history could be rewritten to suit the people in power. She had a feeling that King Randor’s ultimate version of the coup in Zangaria would minimize her role while giving most of the credit to Alassa.
    “I suppose,” she said, doubtfully. Truth was more important than lies, particularly lies that suited the people in power, but what was truth anyway? “I...”
    She stopped as she saw a ghostly image in front of her. A young girl - it took her a moment to realize she was looking at her own face, so thin and emaciated it had become - was standing in front of her, staring at her with hopeless eyes. Emily stared back, unable to tear her gaze away, unable even to blink as her doppelganger fell to her knees, bowing her head in fear. Time seemed to slow down...
    ...And then everything changed. The broken girl vanished, to be replaced by a taller version of Emily, wearing a long dark dress that exposed the tops of her breasts. There was a thin smile on her face Emily didn’t like at all, a smug assertion of superiority over the entire world...and, when her doppelganger looked up, bright red eyes bored deep into Emily’s. A necromancer...
    She stumbled backwards in shock. The images vanished.
    “Emily,” a voice said, urgently. It took her a moment to realize it was the Grandmaster. “Are you all right?”
    Emily hesitated. “Did you see that?”
    The Grandmaster caught her arm and swung her around to face him. “See what?”
    “I saw...I saw alternate versions of myself,” Emily said. She’d seen something similar in the Dark City, she recalled now. “Didn’t you see anything?”
    “Nothing,” the Grandmaster said. He looked uncertain for a long moment, then shrugged thoughtfully. “It could be a sex-specific charm, perhaps, or...or you may simply be more sensitive to certain types of magic than others.”
    He cleared his throat as he turned back towards the Dark Fortress. “If nothing else, this is an excellent lesson in the importance of understanding where your talents lie,” he added, absently. “If you don’t have a gift for certain kinds of magic, you’ll never be as good with them as those who do.”
    Emily rolled her eyes at his retreating back - she’d heard the same thing over and over again, from just about every tutor at Whitehall - and then followed him, feeling a dull unease in her breast she wasn’t able to suppress. The visions could have been images of her greatest fears, plucked from her mind, but there had been a reality about them that chilled her to the bone, as if they were real on some level. And yet, she knew they could easily have been enhanced with magic, just