And then, she and I were no longer in the class.
I stood atop a snowy hill with Esme/Vi by my side, looking down at endless white trees beneath us.
She smiled at me. “Hell’s too hot. I thought you’d appreciate some snow for a change.”
Snowflakes fell from the sky, drifting onto our heads.
I loved snow, but I wouldn’t allow her to deceive me by any means anymore.
“I’m fine with Hell’s temperature,” I said. “I’ll take gritty, bloody reality any second of the day over a beautiful, useless illusion.”
I threw my hands up, pushing my magic through her glamour. Esme gasped and resisted, but I was stronger. Hellfire powered me. I tossed her magic aside and stomped on it. Through the tear of the fabric of illusion, I saw all the other students on their knees with stupid, dreamy grins on their faces.
She couldn’t influence me anymore, but she still held the others enthralled.
I waved a hand, releasing her magic, and the illusion she’d created for only her and me swayed for a second before returning.
Snow fell from the white sky.
Maybe I would stay in the land of pure ice and snow for a little longer and hear what she had to say.
“You’ve been growing into your power faster than I thought possible,” she said.
“What’s your true face: Vi, Esme, or this one?” I asked. “I thought you were the descendant of Athena. The magic of glamour doesn’t come from the house of the Goddess of War and Wisdom. Does anyone other than Loki know you’re a master of illusion in addition to being a telekinetic mage?”
“I’m Vi, Esme, and Finvarra,” she said, talking fast as if we were running out of time. “I wear as many faces as I need to, but you’ve become so powerful you can see through any of them. I’m sorry for leaving you behind in Crack. But I’ve never abandoned you. I went to the Half-Blood Academy to pave the path for you, just as I came here to prepare you. Glamour will be my gift to you and you alone. It doesn’t come from my Olympian power but my witch and fae bloodlines. I thought we’d have more time to train you, but the god and the devil took you out from under our noses. All I’ve done is for you. I’d do anything for you. One of my biggest regrets was being unable to tell you who you were and who I was when I was Vi.”
“You serve Loki. All you’ve done is make me a pawn and hone me as a weapon for him.”
“All of us are pawns to a degree,” she said. “But you alone can rise above that, Marigold. You haven’t learned how to absorb any power and take it for your own yet. Right now, you’re like a baby Titan, too young to assimilate Lucifer’s and Ares’s powers. However, you can take mine.”
She lashed out, her palms slamming into my chest before I could throw her off.
“No, don’t do this!” I cried.
A wild rose blossomed in my magic well. It would never wither. It would never fade, despite the ice and fire twirling at the bottom of the well.
“You’ll need the power of illusion to win this war,” Esme/Vi said as her magic finished transferring to me.
And then she vanished.
I stood alone for a long moment, letting snow fall on my face.
Then I walked through the veil and stepped back into the class. Vi wasn’t in the room either, yet her illusion still held.
The students walked in circles like lost bulldogs.
I woke up Lisa, her band, and all the half-bloods, leaving the purebloods in their wonderlands or Hell.
“They’re coming for you,”Vi had said.
Loki had sent her to warn me that Lucifer and Ares were coming to collect me before I was ready, before I could break their dark spells, before I could ignite the Living Flame.
I cut a lock of my hair and offered it to my witch friend.
“If I don’t survive,” I said, “find the demigods on the surface, show them this, and tell them that I want them to take care of you and your sister.”
“You must survive, Icy Dagger,” Lisa said in a mist of tears, “please.”