Reed reached for me, steadying me as I breathed through it. “You said you wouldn’t try to fight.”
“I didn’t do that on purpose,” I said. “Besides, I never said I wouldn’t try to fight. I just asked if you were going to answer my questions.” I looked back at the mysterious silver-haired people, who’d been silent since pushing me to the ground.
The man in the center—the tallest of the group—stepped forward. “We’re six of the twelve Supreme Mages,” he said. “Reed came to us three months ago and told us about your situation. We’ve been trying to free you since. After several unsuccessful attempts to locate Circe’s staff to offer her a trade, we’ve been discussing other options with her for the past two weeks. We’d nearly reached an agreement, but then…” He pressed his thin lips together and looked around disapprovingly at the destruction surrounding us.
“I saved myself,” I said darkly, trying with every last bit of effort to push down the magic trying to rise up within me.
“That you did,” said a harsh-looking woman with short hair that brushed the tops of her shoulders. “And in the process, you killed a sorceress and hundreds of helpless men.”
“You mean the pigs?”
“Those weren’t their natural forms,” she said. “They were human men. All of them murdered by your dark magic.”
“I did what I had to do to free myself from Circe,” I said. “And it worked.”
“You killed hundreds of innocents.”
Six pairs of disapproving silver eyes stared down at me. None of them looked like they were going to budge.
In their eyes, I was a stone-cold killer.
Maybe I was. Maybe I should have felt guilty about killing those pigs. Those men.
But I didn’t.
I straightened my shoulders and glared right back at them. “They were necessary casualties for ridding the world of Circe,” I said. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
The woman who’d given me her cloak frowned. “You’ve gone dark,” she said simply.
“Hey.” Reed scooted closer to me, although from the way he looked up at the mages, he looked scared. “We don’t know what Circe was doing to her in there. She’s been through a lot. Give her some time to process. I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
“There’s only one explanation for this.” The tall man motioned around the scorched island. “And it’s exactly as we feared. She’s followed in the footsteps of her father, and succumbed to darkness.”
Reed stiffened next to me. “No,” he said. “You don’t know—”
“Hold on,” I cut him off, focused on tall mage. “My father barely had any magic, like most male witches.”
“Wrong.” He smiled, although his smile was more evil than anything else. “Do you truly think you could access so much magic if your father was a mere witch?”
“I can access so much magic because Reed and I did spells together.” The moment the words were out of my mouth, I glanced over at him.
But he stared straight ahead.
“Mages—and witches—can’t share their magic with each other.” The short-haired woman laughed and looked to Reed. “Is that what you’ve been telling her?”
“I haven’t told her anything.” He still refused to look at me.
“Interesting,” she said, and she looked back down at me. “Your father is a mage. He’s one of the most dangerous criminals in the history of Mystica.”
“No.” I shook my head, since my mom wouldn’t have lied to me about something so huge. “That’s not true.”
“About eighteen years ago, he succumbed to dark magic,” she continued. “He tried to hide on Earth, but we found him. And it appears he had a bit of fun while on the run, too.” She paused to eye me. “When Reed told us about you and showed us your picture, we suspected this might be the case. You look just like him.”
I swallowed, since I looked nothing like my blonde-haired, blue-eyed mom.
She’d always told me I’d gotten my looks from my dad.
“What happened to him?” I asked.
“We captured him and sent him where we send all mages who go dark,” she said. “To Ember.”
Fear prickled down my spine at the name of the prison world Selena had told me about.
A fiery hellscape full of monstrous, flying beasts.
“You’ve heard of it?” the tall man—the one who seemed to be their leader—asked, and I nodded. “Good. Because you’ll be joining him there.”
My body numbed.
“What?” Reed stood up, and his eyes flashed black. “You were helping me find her so we could bring her back to Avalon.”
“Change of plans,” the short-haired woman said. “Her bloodline is tainted with an addiction to dark magic. There was a chance she could fight it, but she’s given in, just like her father.”
Rage built inside me.
How dare these people act like they know my mind?
“You’re wrong.” I stood up, but the cuffs jolted me, and I fell back down to my knees.
“You killed one of the most powerful sorceresses in known history,” the man said. “Some go as far as saying Circe was a goddess. Nothing but pure, dark magic could have done this.”
“She deserves a trial,” Reed said. “At least give her that.”
A man with a long silver beard who’d been quiet so far stepped forward. “She’s going to Ember,” he said. “You can’t fight us on this, boy.”
“Watch me.” Reed’s eyes flashed black, and he raised his hands to shoot dark magic at the bearded mage.
The mage easily held off Reed’s magic with his own, at the same time as the tall mage and the long-haired woman snapped cuffs around Reed’s wrists.
Reed’s magic stopped, and he screamed. The mages forced his hands behind his back and pushed him down onto his knees next to me.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I told him. “They’re obviously stronger than you.”
“That’s not why I did it.”
“Then what were you trying to do?”
His eyes were back to their normal dark brown, saddened as he looked at me. But he said nothing.
“She asks a good question,” the short-haired woman said. “What were you trying to do?”
“I’m not letting her go to Ember alone,” he said, and then he turned back to me. “I’m going with you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped.
“I’m not being ridiculous,” he said. “I promised Selena I was going to get you home. If that means going with you to Ember, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
“No.”
“You can’t fight me on this.”
We sat there, staring at each other, locked in a standoff. “I don’t want you there,” I finally said. “I can handle myself. I don’t need a knight in shining armor to save me.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not a knight in shining armor.”
The tall man cleared his throat loudly, and we both looked to him. “Are you sure about this?” he asked Reed. “You’re from an aristocratic family in Mystica. You’re able to control your dark magic. You owe this illegitimate, half-breed girl nothing.”
“Wrong,” Reed said. “I owe her everything.”
“Very well.”
The two quietest mages who’d been standing on the sides pulled matching syringes out of their pockets and disappeared.
Their feet crunched in the rubble as they teleported to stand behind us. Then there was a sharp prick on the back of my neck, my vision blurred, and everything went dark.
I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to Selena’s story! If so, I’d love if you left a review. Reviews help new readers find the books, and I read each and every one of them :)
A review for the first book in the series is the most helpful. Here’s the link on Amazon where you can go to leave your review ➜ mybook.to/faeriegames
Torrence’s ending was pretty intense, but don’t worry—her story will continue in the next series in the Dark
World universe, The Dragon Twins, coming Fall 2020! (As always with the Dark World series’, The Dragon Twins will feature characters you don’t know much about yet. But I promise that Torrence won’t be forgotten ;)
In the meantime, I’ve written a BONUS SCENE that happens when Torrence and Reed wake up in the place the mages sent them. (Ember? Mystica? Somewhere else entirely?)
How will Torrence react when Reed finally confesses his feelings to her?
To find out, CLICK HERE or visit michellemadow.com/faerie-plague-bonus-scene to grab the bonus scene!
Go to michellemadow.com/subscribe to get an email from me when The Dragon Twins releases!
Are you new to the Dark World universe?
Then you’ll want to check out the two other series’ in this world—The Vampire Wish and The Angel Trials. These series’ are about the Queen of Cups and the Queen of Swords. Read on to learn more about them! (You may have to turn the page to see the covers and descriptions.)
Meet Annika: The Queen of Cups
Magic. Romance. Adventure.
And twists you’ll never see coming.
Binge read the now completed Vampire Wish series! At over 1,200 pages in print, it’ll keep you turning the pages late into the night.
For Annika Pearce, spring break with her family was usually a boring affair. Not this year. Everything changes in an instant when vampires attack Annika’s family and abduct her to the hidden kingdom of the Vale.
In the Vale, her normal life is turned upside down. Her role? To give blood whenever vampires demand.
As Annika desperately searches for a way to escape, she meets a mysterious stranger named Jake who just might be her only hope. At first, Jake seems like a dream come true. But as Annika peels back the layers of the mystery surrounding her abduction, she learns that things aren’t as they seem. Everyone seems to be hiding a secret. Including Jake.
With time running out, Annika races to unravel the mystery of the Vale—and decide who to trust. With her heart pulling her in one direction, and her instincts in another, she faces an impossible decision.
How far is she willing to go to escape the vampire kingdom?
Start the journey today and experience this *completed* series with over 6,000 reviews on Amazon and Goodreads—and millions of pages read in Kindle Unlimited.
Get it now at:
mybook.to/vampirewish
Meet Raven: The Queen of Swords
Magic. Romance. Adventure.
Experience the *now completed* bestselling series with over 6,000 reviews on Amazon and Goodreads—and millions of pages read in Kindle Unlimited.
Raven Danvers has problems.
There’s college. Her social life. (Or lack thereof.) And then there’s her mom’s store—the most popular new age shop in Venice Beach. It has it all: tarot cards, palm readings, and healing crystals.
The trouble is, Raven doesn’t believe any of it. But that all changes one fateful night when her life is turned upside down.
While out celebrating her twenty-first birthday, a demon pulls Raven into an alley and tries to kidnap her. He almost succeeds. But luckily, Raven is saved a mysterious, sexy wolf shifter named Noah. Unfortunately, her white knight vanishes before she can ask him any questions.
Panicked and confused, Raven returns home to yet another shock: her mother is missing. The mystery deepens when Noah arrives at her house moments later. He claims that Raven’s mother has been taken by the same demon who attacked her in that alley—and that the demon will soon be returning for Raven.
It turns out, despite his heroics in the alley, Noah isn’t particularly interested in Raven’s safety. He was only after the demon chasing her. But Raven, however, needs Noah. He may be her only hope of saving her mother.
Grudgingly, Noah agrees to take Raven along on his demon hunt. He reasons that using her as bait might be his best chance of drawing out the demons.
But things don’t go as planned. As secrets from Raven’s past emerge and the demons close in, Raven and Noah discover that there is more to the mystery than they ever imagined. The key to saving Raven’s mother and stopping the demons is a shock to both of them. With time running out, Raven must put her faith in Noah. But trusting him proves almost as hard as escaping the demons.
Start the journey today and experience this *completed* series full of magic, romance, adventure, and twists you’ll never see coming! At over 1,800 pages in print, this series will keep you up late into the night binge reading, promising yourself, just one more chapter!
Get it now at:
mybook.to/angeltrials
HAVE YOU READ MY OTHER NOVELS?
If you love young adult fantasy with Greek gods, then you need to read my USA Today recommended series, Elementals!
Check out the cover and description for Elementals below. Then, keep reading for a sneak peek of the first few chapters! (You may have to turn the page to see the cover.)
MAGIC. ROMANCE. ADVENTURE.
Experience the *now completed* bestselling series that fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are raving about.
“A must read!”
-- USA Today
* A Top 100 Amazon Bestseller in the entire Kindle Store *
Nicole Cassidy is nervous about her first day at a new school. She’s worried about her outfit. And her hair. She’s imagined the teacher introducing her to the class, only to hear snickers around the room.
It turns out, things at her new school are going to be a lot harder than that. At Kinsley High, there’s something new on the curriculum: magic.
It’s not just the other students who have magic. So does Nicole.
She’s a witch.
Not only is she a witch, she’s descended from Greek gods.
It’s almost too much for her to process. Luckily, one of her new classmates is more than happy to take her under his wing to teach her how to use her magic. His name is Blake, and he’s sort of her type: mysterious, possibly trouble.
The connection between Nicole and Blake is instant. There’s just one problem: Blake has a girlfriend, Danielle. Rumor has it she harbors a penchant for using dark magic. Especially on anyone who gets near Blake.
As Nicole tries to navigate her mysterious new school—and stay out of Danielle’s crosshairs—a new threat emerges: the Olympian Comet. The comet hasn’t been seen for thousands of years, and it’s about to change everything.
With the Olympian Comet burning bright across the night sky, Nicole’s sleepy town is turned upside down. Ancient monsters emerge, wreaking havoc on everyone and everything.
An ancient prophecy may hold the key to stopping the monsters and surviving the comet, but time is running out. As Nicole and her new classmates race to unravel the clues left by the prophecy, they soon learn that it’s not just their town that’s in danger. The Olympian Comet may be far more deadly than they ever imagined.
Start the adventure today and escape into this world of magic, romance, and mythology!
This five book series has been a perennial bestseller since its publication and has garnered over 2,000 reviews on Amazon, 10,000+ ratings on Goodreads, and millions of pages read in Kindle Unlimited.
Get it now at:
mybook.to/elementals1
Turn the page for a sneak peek of the first few chapters!
ELEMENTALS
THE PROPHECY OF SHADOWS
1
THE SECRETARY FUMBLED through the stacks of papers on her desk, searching for my schedule. “Here it is.” She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “I’m Mrs. Dopkin. Feel free to come to me if you have any questions.”
“Thanks.” I looked at the schedule, which had my name on the top, and listed my classes and their locations. “This can’t be right.” I held it closer, as if that would make it change. “It has me in all honors classes.”
She frowned and clicked around her computer. “Your schedule is correct,” she said. “Your homeroom teacher specifically requested that you be in the hon
ors courses.”
“But I wasn’t in honors at my old school.”
“It doesn’t appear to be a mistake,” she said. “And the late bell’s about to ring, so if you need a schedule adjustment, come back at the end of the day so we can discuss it. You’re in Mr. Faulkner’s homeroom, in the library. Turn right out of the office and walk down the hall. You’ll see the library on the right. Go inside and head all the way to the back. Your homeroom is in the only door there. Be sure to hurry—you don’t want to be late.”
She returned to her computer, apparently done talking to me, so I thanked her for her help and left the office.
Kinsley High felt cold compared to my school in Georgia, and not just in the literal sense. Boxy tan lockers lined every wall, and the concrete floor was a strange mix of browns that reminded me of throw-up. The worst part was that there were no windows anywhere, and therefore a serious lack of sunlight.
I preferred the warm green carpets and open halls at my old school. Actually I preferred everything about my small Georgia town, especially the sprawling house and the peach tree farm I left behind. But I tried not to complain too much to my parents.
After all, I remembered the way my dad had bounced around the living room while telling us about his promotion to anchorman on the news station. It was his dream job, and he didn’t mind that the only position available was in Massachusetts. My mom had jumped on board with the plan to move, confident that her paintings would sell better in a town closer to a major city. My younger sister Becca had liked the idea of starting fresh, along with how the shopping in Boston apparently exceeded anything in our town in Georgia.
There had to be something about the move for me to like. Unfortunately, I had yet to find it.
I didn’t realize I’d arrived at the library until the double doors were in front of me. At least I’d found it without getting lost.
I walked inside the library, pleased to find it was nothing like the rest of the school. The golden carpet and wooden walls were warm and welcoming, and the upstairs even had windows. I yearned to run toward the sunlight, but the late bell had already rung, so I headed to the back of the library. Hopefully being new would give me a free pass on being late.
The Faerie Plague (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 5) Page 25
