It's morning, and we're in Dr. Saltzman's office, the air thick with tension as we try to figure out what to do with the black magic trapped inside the sandclock. Its ominous ticking fills the room, a constant reminder that time is slipping away. Lizzie has been throwing every spell in the book at it, hoping to freeze the dark energy inside. So far, no luck.
"Okay, that's enough. We're trying to stop it from exploding, not speed up the process," Dr. Saltzman sighs, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "You've tried twelve different spells, Lizzie. This isn't something magic can fix."
Lizzie huffs, crossing her arms in defiance. "It's better than your idea of covering it in concrete and tossing it in the ocean."
Josie shifts uncomfortably, her gaze dropping to the floor. "Maybe I deserve the black magic boomeranging back to me," she says, her voice tight with guilt.
"Hey, cut yourself some slack," I say, nudging her shoulder gently. "You made a mistake. We're going to fix it—together." Josie nods, but her downcast eyes tell me she's far from convinced.
Suddenly, Lizzie's face lights up with inspiration. "Wait! What if we try Dad's idea—but better. Instead of dumping the sandclock in the ocean, we drop it somewhere magic can't escape."
"That'd be great," I reply, doubt creeping into my voice, "if we actually knew a place like that."
"The prison world," Lizzie blurts out, her tone triumphant. Dr. Saltzman's face falls, and he shakes his head immediately.
"Absolutely not," he says firmly.
"But this is perfect," Lizzie argues, her eyes gleaming with determination. "There's a celestial event tonight—a meteor shower. Isn't that what we need to make the Ascendant work?"
"Yeah, and Bennett blood," Josie adds quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. I blink, caught off guard. Clearly, there's a lot about this magical process I'm missing.
Dr. Saltzman sighs again, his tone stern as he tries to reassert control. "I said no. I'll figure this out, okay? Don't do anything while I'm gone." With that, he walks out, leaving the three of us staring at the sandclock and then at each other.
"It's bad enough that Sebastian ghosted me," Lizzie says, flopping into a chair with an exaggerated groan, "but now Dad's acting like an annoying control freak."
"I'm sorry about Sebastian, Lizzie," I offer, trying to sound sympathetic. "I really thought he could change." After Dr. Saltzman's office closed last night, I'd found out that Sebastian had left. Apparently, following the school's rules was too much for him, so he vanished without a word.
"He's never going to let us anywhere near that prison world with our psychotic Uncle Kai," Josie chimes in, her words dripping with bitterness. My confusion only deepens.
"Wait, your uncle—the one who killed your family and tried to kill both of you—is in this prison world you keep talking about? Okay, now I'm officially on Team Dad."
Lizzie, unbothered by my concern, leans forward, her face animated with excitement. "What if we send it to another prison world?" she suggests, her voice filled with hope. "We could make a new Ascendant and create a prison world with no homicidal uncles."
"Can you even do that?" I ask, glancing between them, my heart racing at the thought.
"It's gonna take a lot of magic," Josie says, her brow furrowing as she starts weighing the logistics.
"We did it when we were five," Lizzie counters confidently,
"With Aunt Bonnie's help. I mean, we can't do this alone," Josie adds as an afterthought.
