Trial by Fire (Worldwalker 1)

Sleep.

* * *

Lily sat up in Rowan’s bed, miffed. She felt like every time she used magic, she woke up twelve hours later wondering what bus had hit her. There had to be a way to do magic and remain conscious—and out of Rowan’s arms.

She made his bed and thought about how he had treated her last night. Like he cared about her. It was misleading of him to rub her back, tuck her in, and still think she was evil. Or maybe he was only nice to her because he needed her to do magic. The thought made Lily go still for a moment. She set aside the small, chilled feeling that settled in her heart and got dressed. Whatever Rowan thought of her, she’d still done something good. Her magic had given people clean water.

She washed her face in the bathroom and thought about the water purification ritual. She knew what herbs they’d used—bay, rosemary, thyme, hyssop—and which elements—carbon, chalk, sand, and silver. Lily knew enough chemistry to know that none of these things would really treat dirty water and make it drinkable. She could see the change she’d made in the chemicals, though. She hadn’t created any new elements. She’d only recombined them. It had to be some sort of science, she figured, just not one she had ever encountered before.

Lily went out to the main room to find Tristan, Caleb, and Rowan sitting around the kitchen table, the remains of a big breakfast spread out before them. Rowan’s shirt was unbuttoned at the collar and his hair was pushed up funny in the back, as if he’d been rumpling it with his fingers. Lily looked away quickly when he noticed her watching him.

Caleb lifted his mug to salute. “There she is!” He grinned at her, and Lily found herself grinning back. Caleb looked big and scary when he just sat there, but when he smiled he looked like a giant teddy bear. If teddy bears had muscles like sacks of coconuts, that is. “The sachem thanks you for your donation to the rebel front and would like to encourage you to—wait, what did he say?” He looked at Tristan, who shrugged. “Something fancy about doing well.”

“I take it Alaric’s okay with me learning to be a witch?” she asked. Lily went into the kitchen and poured herself some tea.

“I made pancake batter for you. You hungry?” Rowan asked, standing. Lily nodded and took a seat on top of the island in the kitchen while Rowan crossed to the stove. She could tell he was trying to change the subject.

“The sachem is very happy you’re learning to be a witch. Especially if you keep the water purifier coming,” Caleb said. “Even better? We could really use some of those tabs that rid the body of infection. There’s a fever going aro

und.”

“It’s bad,” Tristan added, looking at Rowan. Lily saw Rowan’s brow pinch with worry before Caleb continued.

“And he wants you to know that he understands that you need to go home, and in exchange for your help, he’s trying to locate the shaman for you. I’ll let you know when we find him.”

“Thanks. Why do I need the shaman?” Lily asked over the edge of her mug of tea. Rowan poured four dollops of batter into a skillet and sprinkled blueberries in them. “I love blueberries,” she whispered. He smiled to himself—he already knew as much—and picked up a spatula.

“Rowan and I are Coven trained. And so is Caleb—well, a bit,” Tristan said, waving a hand to include Caleb and Rowan. “None of us have any idea how to spirit walk. Maybe two people in the whole world do, actually. You have to see a shaman for that, and there’s only one full shaman left.”

“What is spirit walking?” Lily asked. “I’ve heard you all talking about it, but I don’t think I understand it yet.”

“It’s where you separate your body and spirit and send your spirit elsewhere,” Rowan replied. “Even other universes.”

“Is it like astral projection?” Lily guessed. No one understood what she was asking. “No one knows how to spirit walk except for the shaman? Aren’t there more than one?”

“No,” Caleb said. “There’s a kid out on a vision quest on the Ocean of Grass who’s trying to become a shaman, but right now we only have the one. We need to find him before we can get you going.”

Rowan flipped a pancake. “So you can find your home world, Lily,” he said. “Right, Tristan? That’s why we’re doing this, isn’t it? So she can go home?”

Everyone was quiet. Tristan and Caleb didn’t move a muscle as they watched Rowan cook for Lily, and she got the sense that they were all sharing mindspeak. From what she could gather from their flashing eyes and tight mouths, the three of them seemed to be arguing intensely.

“Why does Lillian hunt scientists?” Lily asked. Her voice sounded uncomfortably bright in the quiet room.

“Because she believes they’re going to destroy the world,” Rowan replied, not looking up from his task. “She says science is corrupt.”

“But that man. The one the soldiers killed in the woods,” she said haltingly. “You said he was a teacher. Why lump him in with the scientists?”

“Because she’s a power-hungry bitch who wants to rule the world with an iron fist?” Tristan offered. “A bitch we need to overthrow,” he added, dart-like, at Rowan’s back.

“That’s an oversimplification, Tristan,” Rowan countered calmly. He took the pancakes off the skillet and put them on a plate. “Lillian is killing teachers because most teachers teach their students critical thinking. And doctors, her other target, have to use the scientific method to diagnose and heal their patients. Both of these things promote free inquiry and, ultimately, science. Which she thinks is the devil. Do you want maple syrup?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Lily said, taking her plate and the fork Rowan handed to her. There was so much going on in the room, so many hidden conversations that she could almost hear, but not quite, that she was getting dizzy. “But why does she think that? I’ve been noticing that magic is kind of like science. No—it is science. It’s just a different way of manipulating the natural world. We use machines; you use magic.”

“Magic is a science only people who are born with a particular talent can do,” Rowan said. He poured maple syrup on Lily’s pancakes. “Actual science can be done by anyone. Repeated by anyone. And there’s no way for Lillian to control what people do with it or how far it spreads.”

Caleb guffawed. “Like Tristan said. She’s a power-hungry bitch who wants to rule the world with an iron fist.”

Rowan rolled his eyes. “She’s much more than that.”