For several long heartbeats, Jez just stared at her, only dimly aware of everyone else doing the same thing. Mirel c.o.c.ked her head, seemingly unable to understand their shock. Jez tried to speak, but his mouth had gone dry, and it took a few seconds for him to work moisture back into it.

Can we do that?

Of course. Why would you not be able to?

He glanced at Linala, but she seemed content to let him speak. She had spoken of being able to summon the fires of the abyss, so obviously, beings werent the only things that could be summoned, but an entire library?

But Gayel put the library there. We cant stand up to the power of a high lord of the pharim.

Youre forgetting the fact that Gayel is a pharim.

No, Jez said. I dont think I am. Thats the problem.

Mirel narrowed her eyes. The library was built by humans. He could skirt the rules in taking it because the library was about to be destroyed, but he cannot stop a human from calling it back. That would be interfering with mortal choice, and he would not be capable of that if he wished to be.

How would we do such a thing? Linala asked.

Mirel raised an eyebrow. The same way you would summon anything else. You know its name. You know where it is located. Craft a ritual and summon it.

She gaped at the afur. I have no idea how to craft a circle powerful enough to summon something as ma.s.sive as a library... Her voice trailed off, and she looked to Jez. What was it made of?

What?

The library. What was it made of?

The question caught Jez off guard, and it took him a second to gather his thoughts.

Stone, I think. I didnt really pay attention to the walls.

Yellow stone, Mirel supplied. There was a fair bit of iron in the structure as well.

Stone and metal. She spoke more to herself than to anyone else, but she looked up at Jez. How many floors?

Jez gave Mirel a helpless look, and she smiled. Four stories up and two below ground level.

It went on like that for a long time with Mirel patiently answering whatever Linala asked as she tried to puzzle out the construction of the proper circle. Jez wondered why Mirel didnt craft the working, but when he asked, she pointedly reminded him that she wasnt a human and that Gayel would have no trouble stopping anything she did.

It wasnt long before Linala realized they would need a circle far bigger than the ones they had in this room, and this was no mere task that would take a few hours. To further exacerbate the situation, there was nowhere to put a new building of that size, and s.p.a.ce would have to be made. As for the circle itself, it would have to encompa.s.s the entire Academy.

At Baluds command, the Academy was emptied, though few knew why. Then, a few trusted students aided the masters in the construction of the ma.s.sive circle. Runes were carved into the buildings to strengthen it, and Linalas students ground the white sand into the rock. It was a painstakingly slow process, and in the end, it took nine days to craft it. It wouldve taken even longer if Mirel hadnt been there, correcting any mistakes they made. Linala went on and on about the complexity of the circle and how it was utterly beyond her ability. On sunrise of the tenth day, Mirel walked the edge of the circle, along with Jez and the Masters.

It will do, she said as she came to a stop in front of the gates to the Academy grounds.

Jez knelt down and examined the runes that glowed on the ma.s.sive stone walls. It looked like little more than a tangle of lines to him, though if he squinted and c.o.c.ked his head a little, he thought he could make out the symbol for earth. Other runes were scattered on the buildings, but according to Mirel, those werent part of the circle. Rather, they would strengthen points of fracture. She had explained what it was that could be fractured, but the explanation had gone over Jezs head.

This will take a lot of power, wont it? Linala asked as she touched one of the runes. It pulsed beneath her fingers.

Yes, a significant amount. Thats why we have the points of convergence.

Points of convergence?

Mirel rolled her eyes and indicated a point several feet away where a dozen lines intersected. Each glowed with a slightly different color, though they became uniformly orange where they met. Places where other mages can stand to join their power to yours.

You mean a contingent?

A contingent is only of use if the ones youre sharing with have strength in the dominion you need to use. No, this is something entirely different. This works best if each of those at a point of convergence has strength in a unique dominion and has the freedom to use their power.

Linala let out a low whistle. I didnt know such a thing was possible.

Much knowledge was lost when Zandra burned.

Maybe it wouldnt have been lost if the pharim had been willing to teach us. Linala narrowed her eyes. Or the afur.

Gayel cast me from the Keep of the Hosts for interfering with mortal choice, human. Do you imagine I would be so quick to repeat the error? What would the punishment be if I did it a second time?

Then why are you helping us now?

Perhaps I finally tired of h.o.a.rding knowledge. Perhaps I am simply tired of this existence, and I am willing to take whatever punishment comes of it, if there is anything at all.

Linala gave Jez a sidelong glance, but he could only shrug. She let out a breath. Where are the points of convergence? Linala asked.

The afur narrowed her eyes. You drew them.

At your instruction.

You drew a circle without knowing what you were doing?

I followed the instructions of one millennia older than I with more knowledge than I could ever comprehend.

And you a.s.sume I can be trusted?

You are an afur, she said. More than that, you were a Lightgiver. We dont have many records from when your kind walked openly among us, but those that do agree that those who fell from the Lightgivers cannot lie. Mirel inclined her head. Will you stand in one of the points of convergence? Youre stronger than anyone else here.

I dare not. My power would make the summoning be something other than mortal. Pick your strongest.

Mirel briefly told them where each of the points of convergence were and which one was attuned to each dominion. Linala looked at Balud.

The Masters then?

No, Besis said before the chancellor could respond. Not me. Jezreel.

But hes just a student, Linala said.

Im nowhere near as skilled as you are, Master Besis.

This isnt about skill, Jez. This is about power, and in terms of raw power, youre stronger than I am.

As I suspected, Mirel said. Youre no ordinary human. A human does not have the memories I saw in your mind.

Im a limaph, Jez said before she could reveal any more.

Those memories are too coherent to be the fragments pa.s.sed down through a hundred generations.

Jez shrugged and tried to appear nonplussed. Were not sure how many lines I come from. I dont have any living family, so I cant find out.

She stared at him for several long seconds. No, she said.

This isnt relevant, Besis said. We should get on with the summoning.

What about the weakening of the barrier? Linala asked. Wont summoning something this big weaken it further?

Mirel shrugged. The weakened barrier is the only reason youll be able to find what Gayel wished to hide.

Linala nodded and the masters scattered. Besis walked with Jez as they moved to the convergence point attuned to protection.

Youd better not change, Besis said. That might corrupt the working just like Mirels power would.

Are you sure I wont do so anyway?

From what youve told me, Sariel has said youre completely human. I wouldnt want to risk it with a change, but we should be safe enough as long as you stay human.

I still think you should do this. I couldnt even have made it past your barrier if the imps hadnt weakened it.

That was a matter of knowledge, not of strength. Believe me, inside a decade, youll outshine anything I can do.

They reached an intersection of lines like the one Mirel had shown them. It lay near the eastern edge of the Academy where a series of blue lines connected right next to the wall. Jez stood at the point where they intersected and waited. After a few minutes, faint light pulsed along the lines of the circle. They tugged at him, and he felt like he was being stretched out. He let out a deep breath and released his power into the circle. The lines forming the point of convergence flared to life as energy ran through them.

He could just see the area on the northwestern edge of the Academy, a place they had cleared out to house the library. The air above it rippled and twisted. It seemed to part, and Jezs breath caught in his throat.

The creature that stepped out of the hole was at least fifty feet tall and so dark it seemed to suck the light from all around them. It looked like a ma.s.sive wolf that stood on two legs. It was entirely black aside from its eyes. Twin points of pasty whiteness that made Jez think of a rotting corpse scanned the area with a hungry look. The summoning circle went dark as Jezs power snapped back to him. He barely noticed though. His eyes were locked on the creature.

Thats no library.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

Besis snapped his hand forward, and a whip-like band of light lashed toward the creature. Though it was at least two hundred feet away, Besiss working sliced into the shadow. It didnt do any good, though. The shadows congealed around the tip, and darkness ran back toward him along the whip. The protection master cursed and released the working just before the darkness reached him.

Go. His hands were already crafting another working, and he didnt look at Jez as he spoke.

But...

A golden arrow streaked forward, leaving a flaming trail behind it. It embedded itself in the wolf, though the shadow creature seemed not to notice. The arrow burned for a second before exploding, but the wolf didnt even flinch.

I dont know what that is, and I dont know what kind of binding will work, but you have something that will work regardless of what that is.

Jez glanced down at his newly forged sword, but that wasnt what Besis meant. He stared at the wolf for a second. A trio of b.a.l.l.s of light impacted the wolf as it stepped over the wall and into the healing district of the Academy grounds, but it had no more effect than the previous bindings. Jez nodded and reached within himself to tap the power of Luntayary. Wings emerged from his back, and a crystal sword appeared in his hand. His clothes transformed into sapphire robes. The power no longer burned him as it might have, though he couldnt hold much more without damaging himself.

He spread his wings and leaped into the air, covering the distance in the s.p.a.ce of half a dozen heartbeats. His sword sliced into the creature, cutting through dark fur that hadnt been visible from afar. The attack released a gout of sulfuric smoke. The wolf raised its head and let out a cry that sounded like thunder. It shook the ground all around it. Fina, whod been at a point of convergence nearby, fell to the ground. A second later, Ziary dove out of the air, his flaming sword burning as bright as the sun. He drove his blade, point first, into the creatures head. It barely flinched. Jez zipped through the air and stabbed it in the bottom of the jaw. The creature tore its head free of the blades, ripping holes in itself. The smoke was so thick Jez couldnt see.

Light flashed as the smoke burned away in a fire so hot it singed Jezs skin. Ziary was in the air next to him, surrounded in a whirlwind of flame. He threw his hands forward, and a great blast of fire enveloped the creatures head. Jez raised his hands, pulling water out of the air and forming bands around the creature that were stronger than steel. With a jerk, he pulled the wolf to the ground. It slammed against the earth so hard cracks spread out from the point of impact.

As one, pharim and scion rushed down, driving their blades into the creatures neck, just behind the head. Their blades impacted within the inky darkness. The wolf expanded and contracted several times. Then, it exploded, filling the area with solid shadow that faded a second later, though a chill remained in the air. Both Jez and Ziary floated downward. As soon as they had their feet on solid ground, they shed their forms and appeared to be nothing more than ordinary humans. Something touched Jezs shoulder, and he jumped and turned around. Mirel stood right behind him with a smile on her face.

Youre no limaph.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.

For a second, Jez just gaped at her. She wore her wings and yellow robe, and the light she shed made the obsidian of the ground and the nearby buildings shimmer. Jez looked around. Fortunately, no one else was close enough to hear, though Fina and some of the destruction students rounded a corner onto the street they were on and started jogging in their direction. They had, at best, a minute of privacy. Jez said the first thing that came to his mind.

Yes, I am. Im just like Osmund.

She glanced at Osmund and shook her head. No, I dont think so. His weapon did little more than distract it. He could never have beaten a void beast on his own, but I think you might have won even if he hadnt come to your aid. Though I dont know how this could be, youre a pharim.

Jez lifted his hand. This is human flesh.

She sniffed and frowned. Your flesh was burning. I can still smell it.

Though the chill left behind by the creature was swiftly fading, Jez shivered. Osmund narrowed his eyes.

I thought you said that wouldnt happen anymore.

I said it would happen less, but thats not the point. I just have more blood of the afur than you. My flesh cant contain it.

A clever lie, she said. It comes so easily to you. You mustve been using it for a long time.

Jez almost denied it, but the deadpan look on Mirels face told him it would do no good. He let out a breath. Nearly two years now.

I take it the masters dont know?

Besis does. None of the others do, though.