He jerked back, and the energy dissipated. “Then I should avoid getting burned again.”

I masked my disappointment as he escorted me to my room. His distant demeanor returned and he remained business-like and brisk.

“Please inform me if there’re any new developments with Sir and Blue…Devlen. Have a safe journey home.”

“You, too.”

He nodded and left before Zitora opened the door.

Since there was nothing more to do in Thunder Valley, Zitora and I set out for the Citadel the next morning. Even though she acted normal and knew information only Zitora knew, I still checked her shadow on occasion. Each time the black shape matched her figure, I released a breath I hadn’t known I held.

Helping the Stormdancers had gotten me into more trouble than I cared for. I convinced myself that staying far away would be for the best. I stroked Quartz’s neck, content to leave Thunder Valley behind. The sunshine warmed my new cloak and the cool air held a crisp scent of earthy pine. For once, I looked forward to returning to the Magician’s Keep.

The day passed without incident. When the light faded to gray, Zitora scanned the surrounding area, and decided to make camp off the main east-west road, which led straight to the Citadel. An abandoned quarry was on the other side, and a thin wood occupied our side.

“Gather wood for a fire, and I’ll take care of the horses,” she said.

I picked up enough dead branches from the edge of the wood to get a fire started, but would need more for the rest of the night. Before searching deeper into the forest, I hesitated. Reluctance pulled. Every time I had been alone, something bad happened.

Determined not to let my fears rule me, I pushed through the underbrush and collected a few bigger logs. Every sound caused my heart to jump and sweat dampened my shirt, but I persisted until my arms were full.

Zitora lit the fire and cooked us a pot of beef stew. The yellow glow from the flames cast shadows along the ground and in the woods. Multiple times I sought the familiar black shape behind Zitora as if I was a child checking the presence of my mother.

I wondered if Yelena’s time as the Commander’s food taster made her instinctively test each meal for poisons before she ate or if she avoided hugging people because they might prick her with Curare. Thinking back to the first time I had seen Yelena after I had tricked her, I remembered being so happy to see her I hugged her without thought. She hadn’t recoiled. In fact, she hugged me back.

Her advice about not letting the past ruin the future proved impossible to follow. How could I stop checking Zitora’s shadow? Wasn’t I supposed to learn from my past mistakes? How did Yelena do it? How could she relax by a fire without worrying about a Fire Warper jumping from the flames and burning her?

Magic, of course. She was a powerful Soulfinder. If a person approached her with Curare, she would sense the intention and counter with ease. In my case, I don’t think an attacker would wait while I fired up the kiln and gathered a ball of hot glass.

Zitora retrieved our bedrolls from the saddles. I stared at the flickering flames, wishing I could do more with my magic.

“What’s this?” Zitora asked. Instead of our rolls, she held the spider-filled glass orb.

“One of the orbs Ash made. I grabbed it when I escaped.”

She arched an eyebrow, but remained quiet.

The silence drove the story from me. I told her about Tricky’s magical attacks, and how I countered the second one. “I really haven’t had the time to wonder where the glass spiders came from. Filling the orb with magic, I can understand. But for the magic to convert into actual glass is beyond my ability to explain.”

“Or mine,” Zitora said. “Magical illusions are really just visions in your mind. A magician will send you images that cause your body to have a physical reaction, like feeling the beetles’ bite and eat your flesh. Once the magician stops, the vision disappears and so does the magic. I’ve never heard of a magician able to turn magic into an object. Perhaps Bain would know more.”

She tipped the ball and shook one of the spiders into her palm. “Are these the creatures that attacked you?” She handed me the piece.

Spider-shaped and fingernail-sized, the clear glass encased a single brown spider. The glass felt thin and brittle as if I could crush it between my fingers. “Yes, but they were bigger.” My skin crawled with imaginary legs. I resisted the urge to swipe my arms.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”

I searched for the right words, but no matter how I phrased it, it would sound strange. “The spiders want to stay with me.”

“They do?”

“Yes, and I was afraid the authorities would confiscate them. And we really haven’t had time to discuss it yet.”

“So you planned to tell me?”

“Of course.”

Her dubious expression turned into a smile. She shook a handful of spiders from the orb. “There must be hundreds of them.” Concentrating on the ones in her palm, Zitora hunched over them. “There’s magic inside, but I can’t use it to communicate or to do anything else. Perhaps you funneled Tricky’s magic into the orb and trapped it.”

I considered. If I could do it again, I would have a potential defense against a magical attack. Many questions circled my mind. Would I need to use the exact same type of orb? Or could I use any glass container?

“Very interesting.” She poured them back into the ball. “I can’t wait to get back to the Keep and try a few experiments.”