by Mary Fan
His words rang in Aurelia’s ears, echoing everything she wanted for the world. But she couldn’t forget the question that had popped into her mind after encountering the thorndevil. “What about the Underworld?” she asked. “Without the Sentinels and Defenders, who’s gonna protect people?”
He turned his gaze back to her. “Fair question. And the answer’s simple: same people as before, except they’ll be given rights, whether they have magic or not. We’re not looking to dismantle this nation—we’re looking to fix it from the top down. Get rid of the Triumvirs and change the rules everyone lives by without destroying the infrastructure. Believe it or not, we’ve got a few Sentinels on our side, hiding in plain sight and acting as our spies and sleeper agents. That goes for the Defenders too—and there are even more of them. Trust me, kid, I’ve been planning this for a long time. Ignoring the dangers of the Underworld would be foolish. But we can’t let them stop us, either.”
Sounds about right. Those words, too, were echoes of her own thoughts, and Calhoun’s straightforwardness gave her confidence. “People shouldn’t have to choose between being stomped on by Triumvirate slime balls or being killed by supernaturals,” she said.
The very fact that she could say that out in the open—not behind closed doors and surrounded by a silencer spell, terrified that someone would overhear—sent an excited shiver through her.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Calhoun said. “Which is why we’ll create a new nation that will protect them without demanding their freedom in exchange. So what do you say, Firedragon? Ready to join the cause?”
“Are you kidding? Yeah!” She could scarcely keep from jumping with enthusiasm.
Finally she could fight for something, instead of just following orders from people who considered her property. She’d fight for freedom, for justice, for equality—all those great ideals that had been denied the people of the Triumvirate for far too long. People could say what they wanted to say, think what they wanted to think, without fear. The Gold Triumvir would finally be forced to pay for all his evil deeds—for killing her mother and countless others whose names she’d never know, and for trying to kill both Connor and herself. When she was finished, no one else would have to spend their lives as she had—enslaved by a lying government.
The Rising would make it all possible. The rebellion represented the better world she’d dreamed of. Already, she could see it manifesting. Calhoun was a Norm, and yet Tamerlane, an Enchanter, took orders from him. She was somewhat thunderstruck, but at the same time, it made so much sense, she wondered how she’d ever lived in a world where such a thing was unheard of. She’d only just arrived, and there was still so much she had to learn about the Rising, but she already knew that it was everything she’d been waiting for. As one of these rebels, she could change the world for everyone. And it would all happen soon.
It wouldn’t be easy, defeating an enemy as powerful as the Triumvirate. She had a feeling that as perilous as the journey to reach the Rising had been, she’d only just begun. And there was still Storm and his dark magic to worry about. He’d surely strike again, and she’d have to keep her eyes open for him.
But no matter how many dangers lay ahead, she’d face them each with the same fierce determination that had freed her from the Triumvirate’s shackles. Now, it was her duty to free the rest of her people from theirs.
Aurelia had never been more ready for anything in her life.
Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now she tells them through books—a habit she began as soon as she could pick up a pencil. Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil follows a well-received debut novel, a space opera titled Artificial Absolutes (2013), and is the first in the Flynn Nightsider series. Mary would like to think that there are many other novels in her bag, and hopes to prove that to the world as well.
Mary lives in New Jersey and has a B.A. from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and blogging about everything having to do with books.
