He looked at me another second, then turned around as though he were going to walk away. I knew it was a trap, but he was giving me an open shot at his back and it was too good a chance to pass up. So I raised my sword high, ready to bring it down on top of his head.

But I hadn’t taken three steps toward him before he whipped back around and reached for his magic. A ball of lightning popped into his hand, and I barely managed to duck out of the way as he sent it streaking through the air toward me. The lightning hit one of the streetlamps at the end of the bridge, making white sparks shoot up into the night sky.

Claudia, Devon, Mo, and all my other friends ducked out of the way as well, along with the Sinclair guards, and several hoarse shouts rose up in surprise. The sparks had barely winked out before the wind started to pick up, and more and more lightning flashed in the sky. A low rumble of thunder sounded, and a few raindrops spattered against my cheeks. The storm was almost here.

But it was nothing compared to the power that Victor was calling up.

White lightning crackled in both of his hands now, and I could feel the cold burn of magic in the air, even though I was still standing five feet away from him. His magic was stronger than any I’d ever felt before, but I supposed that was to be expected given how much power he had running through his veins. I wondered how many people he’d killed just to make himself stronger. So many people and creatures dead, just because of one man’s relentless thirst for power.

Victor kept calling up more and more magic. Then he unleashed it, hurling ball after ball of lightning at me, as though it were winter and we were having a snowball fight in the middle of the lochness bridge. With all the Talents he’d stolen, I expected him to be faster, to throw so much magic at me so quickly that I wouldn’t be able to avoid it, but Victor kept his movements slow and steady. And I realized that he wasn’t trying to kill me. Not just yet. No, he wanted to play with me first. I was the mouse to his cat right now, another creature caught in one of his traps with no hope of escaping.

I ducked the lightning and tried to move forward so that I could hit Victor with my sword. But he easily held me at bay, the lightning getting closer and closer with every blast and making static electricity gather around my own body. My transference magic stirred in response, eager to soak up Victor’s magic, and I could feel myself getting stronger with each ball of lightning that zipped past me. But I could also feel exactly how powerful he was. Sure, I had my transference power, had the ability to absorb magic, but not that much magic. Not at one time. It would kill me outright.

Still, I had to try. So with every blast of lightning, I forced myself to bob and weave and duck, creeping closer and closer to Victor all the while. A few more raindrops spattered against my face, but the storm seemed to be waiting to see who won our fight, just like everyone else gathered around the bridge.

Victor knew I couldn’t get close enough to hit him with my sword, much less actually kill him with it, and he threw back his head and laughed, the lightning in his hands crackling in time with his dark chuckles.

“What’s the matter, Lila?” he called out over the spark, hiss, snap, and sizzle of his lightning. “Not what you were expecting?”

Instead of answering him, I eased forward another step, then two, then three. He realized what I was up to and he shook his head.

“You stupid, stupid girl,” he said. “Thinking you could actually beat me. All you’ve done is gone and gotten yourself killed, just like your mother before you.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but Victor summoned up even more of his power, so that his lightning fully illuminated the lochness bridge, blazing brighter than the noontime sun. And he finally did what I’d been dreading all along. He added his speed Talent to the mix, drew his hands back, and hurled his magic at me before I could even think about ducking out of the way.

A second later, the lightning slammed straight into my body.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The lightning hit me square in the chest, knocking me back five feet and making me lose my grip on my sword, which clattered to the cobblestones. I landed flat on my back in the middle of the bridge. For a moment, I didn’t feel anything. Not heat, not electricity, not pain, nothing.

Then the lightning zipped over my body, sinking deep inside me, and I started screaming.

And I didn’t—couldn’t—stop.

Every single part of me burned with hot, unending, electrical pain. My legs flailed, my fingers twitched, and my teeth chattered together from the shocking jolts of power. I bit down on my own tongue by accident and blood filled my mouth. Sweat streamed down my face, and I felt like every nerve ending in my body was on fire. White stars flashed on and off in front of my face faster and brighter than they ever had before. Or maybe that was just the lightning flashing over me again and again. I couldn’t really tell.

It wasn’t that the lightning just hit me and that was the end of it. Oh no. That would have been too easy. The lightning crackled over my body again and again, never stopping, never weakening, not even for an instant. It coiled around and around me like a copper crusher, as though it were a monster with a mind of its own and it wouldn’t be satisfied until I was burnt to a crisp.

Through the dazzling white flashes, I realized that Victor was slowly advancing on me, the lightning streaking from his fingers, through the air, and straight into my body. But all I could do was writhe on the ground and scream and scream and scream some more.

I was dimly aware of my transference power flaring to life, and the familiar chill of magic surging through my body the way it had so many times before. But it had never, ever been this intense, this painful before, and I realized that Victor’s magic was greater than my own. He was going to kill me, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Right now, it was all I could do to suck down air between my screams, much less actually get to my feet and fight back.

Victor kept coming closer and closer to me. Even through the lightning, I could see his golden eyes, glowing brighter than any monster’s. He was a monster all right, through and through. His power might be pure white energy, but his heart was as black as the darkest night.

I kept screaming as the lightning flashed over me again and again. I was dimly aware of people yelling, Devon and the rest of my friends, most likely, but they couldn’t do anything to help me. They couldn’t even step onto the bridge right now without getting electrocuted themselves.