The Legend of the Eight: The Hunted (Book 5)

Prologue: Experiments with Magic

PROLOGUE: EXPERIMENTS WITH MAGIC

SHE WAS THE KIND OF girl whose curiosity could never be satisfied—no matter how far down into the rabbit hole she went. At the ripe age of eighteen, she had explored so many magical mishaps yet believe there was so much she had yet to see.

While her classmates spent their nights cozied up in their dorms practicing enchantments and being teenagers, she spent hers in an empty potion's lab.

The table was a mess with vials, dishes, and notes with her chicken scratch all over them. It was nearing three in the morning and she was on track to her fourth all-nighter that week. Usually, she worked through the night and then slept during her classes. Especially History of Magic. What use was knowing a bunch of information from the past when she was focused on everything in the future. She wanted to change the future. She could do it.

Carefully measuring seven ounces of purple zinnia, she flicked on the burner and placed a large pot on it to boil. She turned to her notes and began jotting down everything she did.

Add purple zinnia (7 oz.)

Stir counterclockwise 10x at medium speed

Mix in 2 sprigs of jasmine

Sprinkle 2 oz. white salt at .5 oz increments

Stir 4x clockwise at half speed

The mixture began bubbling, oozing a strange gray foamy substance. She paused to watch the reaction, fascinated. Last time, she added only three ounces of griffin saliva and the reaction was a liquid one—the solution turned from yellow to black. It was incredible.

She reached for the vial with a purple, gel-like substance in it and waved a finger, summoning a small amount out and guiding it over to the pot.

"What are you doing here?"

The unexpected visitor startled her and she dropped the gel somewhere on the table among any number of dangerous, unstable substances. She turned and there at the door, she saw a familiar face. He was in pajamas—red plaid with his initials embroidered on the cuffs—and he looked like he'd just woken up.

"What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going to stop this."

She dropped her pen in the crease of her journal and then placed her hands on her hips.

"You weren't supposed to follow me. You're supposed to be asleep."

He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You can't keep doing this. You're going to get caught. And if you do, that's it. The Council doesn't care that you're just a student or who your parents are. They will Banish you."

But she was shaking her head at him. "I can't stop. I know that sounds ridiculous but I can't. I'm so close. I can feel it."

"But this is illegal. Manipulating magic like this is unnatural. It's risky and reckless and—"

"Why do you have to make it sound so ugly?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest stubbornly. He hated when she did that. "Babe, magic is beautiful and incredible. We should be celebrating it, exploring it! We shouldn't be fearing it."

"Maybe but the Council is clear about stuff like this—"

"Screw the Council! They may dictate every aspect of your life but not mine. No way. Not me. The Council can kiss my Pilates- ass."

He laughed because no matter how much she frustrated him, he was in love with that girl—every frustrating, at times infuriating, magical part of her. But then the laughter faded and he sunk with the realization that the wild heart he was so in love with was about to cross a line even she couldn't come back from.

"Please," he begged because begging was the only thing he had left. Begging and pleading and falling to his knees to ask her to bury that need to do something wild. To stop before she crossed that line.

"You should go," she said—exactly what he didn't want to do. "I—I have a lot of work I want to finish and you'll just get in the way. So go. I'll find you tomorrow."

He walked out of the lab, regrettingevery step he took. Normally, she might have watched him go but that night, shecared more about her work—the only thing in the Three Realms that she lovedmore than him. And just like that love, her work would come to destroy her.