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“No.” My mum’s voice was firm, but her hands were clutched to her chest. “Not Sadie. She’s not like that. She’s not like one of us, not really. She’s going to university next year. She’s getting out.”

“Well, she won’t need all of her magic then, will she?” Gabriel replied.

My father didn’t speak. Probably because if he stopped focusing all his attention on keeping his fury—and thus his magic—in check, he’d blow the whole house up around us.

“Please,” Chrissie pleaded. “Take me.”

Gabriel tightened his mental grasp on Brendan. The power started to flow out of my brother again, and the screams that had almost fallen silent intensified.

Each scream physically pained me. I had to make this stop. My siblings had volunteered themselves, I needed to be strong enough to do the same. But my heart was beating so fast it had to be audible to everyone else. Gabriel was utterly terrifying. How could I possibly do what he was asking?

I closed my eyes. “I’ll go,” I shouted, hysteria in my voice. “Anything for the family. Always.” It was the closest thing to a moral code we had.

Brendan rallied at my words. His reaction when sweet guys from school hit on me with my utmost consent was not pretty. It wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that the concept of his sister being ravished by a psychopath for his sake would be enough to break the spell. I felt him fight, but it wasn’t enough.

“Stop draining him.” I dashed towards him on shaking legs. “I said I’ll go with you.”

Gabriel smiled. My brother collapsed, truly unconscious now, but he was no longer in pain and no more magic was being leeched out of him. The connection narrowed to a thread just strong enough to prevent my father from trying anything stupid.

“Marvellous. Though… you could at least dress for the occasion.”

He clicked the fingers of his right hand, and my comfy pyjamas turned into a rose-gold 1950s-style tea dress, while my hair sprang into a complicated up-do.

“I don’t think so.” I was on the verge of tears, but I had to maintain some semblance of control. I clicked my own right fingers. Panic made the gesture clumsy, but the magic in the air still did my bidding, and the clothes were replaced with tight jeans and a clingy white T-shirt with embroidered black swirls. The sort of thing I’d wear for a night out if left to my own devices.

“Fair enough. Now, Jag or shall we traverse?”

This didn’t feel real. My breathing was too rapid. If I didn’t calm down, I was either going to pass out or let my magic get completely out of control. Gabriel was staring at me intently, waiting for an answer, and it was almost impossible to block him out—or stop my mind from throwing up lurid and horrifying images of what might happen to me once he got me alone.

I forced myself to breathe in deeply, and let my mind join with the earth.Inhale, exhale.With each breath, I went deeper into myself and into the ground. At its simplest level, the exercise was merely calming. Go deeper, and it started to get dangerous. Push through that, and you could literally move mountains.

“Your eyes are turning black, Sadie. No damned core meditation on my watch. Jag or traversing?”

I didn’t want to come back to reality. I longed to linger in this passive state. But mess around too much and Bren would be screaming again within seconds. So, I breathed faster, and drifted up to the surface, into my body and into the room. As soon as I did, all the panic retuned like a tidal wave.

“Do you even need to ask the question?” I choked out the words. “Do I look like some impressionable human girl you’ve worked your charms on? I’ll traverse there myself.”

“For the record, it’s a really nice car,” Gabriel said. “But hell, let’s do this the easy way. You’re coming with me, though. Not a hope I’m letting you travel by yourself.”

I wrapped my arms around myself. “Fine. Expend your energy on posturing, see if I care.”

I was aiming for confident and nonchalant, but my voice cracked on the last few words, showing just how much I actually did care.

None of my family had spoken for at least five minutes—pretty much a world record for them. No one wanted to break the fragile equilibrium.

I looked at each of them in turn, trying to read their expressions, trying to understand what they wanted me to do. My dad had clenched fists and a set jaw, but was somehow holding himself in check. Tears were running down Mum’s face. Chrissie and Liam were wide-eyed with shock.

They had different ways of expressing it, but the same conflict played out on all their faces. They couldn’t quite believe I’d volunteered. I was the baby of the family. Everyone had always tried to protect me. They wouldn’t accept this in a million years, if they had the choice.

But Brendan was the family’s hope—its heir. His magic was strong, and he had the ruthlessness to go with it. He could make us a true force to be reckoned with. We could strengthen our hold on Mannith, defeat our rivals, and expand our reach into other towns. Apparently, we might even be able to expand the Dome. But not if Gabriel leeched all the power out of him while he was in this unusually vulnerable state. So, for Bren’s sake, they needed me to go through with it.

Or perhaps I was just projecting my own swirling thoughts onto their tortured expressions. Unlike Chrissie, my empath skills were half-hearted at best.

“Take my hand,” Gabriel whispered. “The second you do, I’ll release your brother, and we’ll disappear.”

Anything for the family. Always. But for all my attempts to be brave, this felt like more than I could bear.

Gabriel’s eyes had never left my face, but now, I finally made myself return eye contact. He had diamond-shaped irises, not just the usual diamond-shaped pupils. And his pupils were currently red, too.Don’t look him in the eye,practitioner classmates had whispered.