Emily stood dutifully with her "sister witches" in the salon of the subterranean boy's school, glancing here and there. She was desperately trying to read the room. Tension was high, but no one cared to explain why. Instead, she felt like a toddler watching her parents get a divorce without the needed schema to even understand marriage
God, she missed college. At least there, things were actually explained to her. All Cordelia said was they were here to perform a ritual of the Seven Wonders. The name sounded familiar, but other than that, she knew nothing.
What she did know was that the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men was the counterpart to Robichaux. Why they separated the coven based upon gender alone was… perplexing. Emily imagined prestige had something to do with it, a concept that made her roll her eyes at the sheer absurdity of it all.
Emily had never been to California. One of her friends had moved there after high school, but they weren't particularly close and the contact between them was now non-existent. It wasn't as if she could reach out to the girl — duty being what it was and the fact that they were now in the least hospitable place in the entire state.
It was a pity, Emily hoped she would have at least seen the beach or LA. More to say she had than out of actual desire.
She looked up as Myrtle shimmied beside them, keys in hand. Quietly, she bestowed them upon the group — first Zoe, then Queenie, and finally Madison and herself.
"We'll be doubling up in the broom closets they call rooms," Myrtle said, keeping her voice low. "Make sure you check the sheets before you lay down."
She spared a pointed look at Madison, "and don't go about wandering in the night. God knows what these little perverts will do."
Madison stood with her arms across her chest, an unconvincing smile more a smirk than anything else. She leaned forward and flashed a grin. "Just because I get more than anyone else in this coven doesn't mean I don't have standards."
Myrtle smiled in a way that made the blonde frown and turned back to the center of the room where Ariel and Cordelia were still talking logistics. The Seven Wonders required careful planning. With the stakes being life or death, there was no room for even the smallest of errors. They also had to assure that the greasy little weasels weren't cheating them out of their throne.
Madison leaned in towards Queenie, eyes flickering from the boy wonder.
"I have dibs," she said.
A brow shot up Queenie's forehead, "On what, bitch?"
"The bed."
"Girl. I am not sharing a room with you."
Madison turned to Zoe. The brunette's eyes were trained ahead, purposefully not meeting Madison's eyes. The ex-movie star rolled her eyes which came to settle on Emily. She shook the key with a painted "6" on the fob.
"Looks like we're bunk buddies."
Emily spoke before she could think, "Joy."
"Whatever."
Across the room, Michael watched Emily. He didn't stare, but blue eyes frequently dashed to the girl. She stood stoically a few steps away from her sister witches with a stern expression on her face. As soon as she was brought into the light, however, it disappeared. Furrowed brows relaxed with the rest of her expression, only to return as it was but a moment before.
Her companions seemed not to notice, treating her as a bumbling and anxious thing. No, this girl was but a cat waiting to pounce from the shadows.
Emily's eyes dashed to his as she felt his stare. For a moment they locked eyes, but she quickly averted her gaze and focused on anything but him. He watched a moment longer.
Madison whispered something and she rolled her eyes, but a blush crawled up her neck. Her eyes flickered back to him, but he quickly turned his attention to the conversation at hand.
Days before, all Emily had been able to glean from her conversation with Cordelia was that this important ritual would determine who the next Supreme would be… whatever that meant.
For all the useless information the others had given her, they did not explain what the Seven Wonders entailed. "You'll see," was the closest she had gotten to a response.
Either way, Cordelia wanted her help. What she could help with, she wasn't quite sure. The witches seemed to find pleasure in keeping things vague.
Thus, long story short: Emily was in an underground all-boys boarding school doing occult shit straight out of a Steven King novel.
Green eyes flickered to a nearby bookshelf, her eyes trailing over the titles instinctively. Most of them were old, books having that rough binding with wrinkled spines that only came from constant use and gold inlaid titles. There was one, however, with no name.
Looking about, she carefully made her way over to the shelf. It wasn't far from where she was standing — a few feet at most. Gently, she eased the large weathered tome into her arms, balancing it upon her hip as if it were a child.
It was a grimoire written in Latin. It was the one subject she had made traction in, reassuring her whenever she couldn't conjure small objects to her hand or make butterflies out of roses.
That being said, she was far from fluent. Some words and basic sentences popped out at her, but beyond that was incomprehensible. Emily wished she had her pile of references with her. It would at least give her something to do while the adults tackled the issues at hand.
"Finis venit," she muttered under her breath, eyes narrowed as she read the handwritten note on the inside cover of the book, "ante initium."
The end comes before the beginning?
A burning sensation in her hands nearly made her drop the tome with what would no doubt have been a very loud, attention-drawing thud. Biting her lip to keep from crying out, she eased the book back to its place.
Her eyes darted around the room as she shuffled away from the bookcase. No one seemed to notice her faux pas, too engrossed in their own thoughts and tasks. Eventually, her gaze was drawn to the blonde boy who stood next to Ariel, Hawthorne's headmaster. His hands were positioned behind his back, fist clenching as he continued to pay attention to the discussion before him.
Glancing back to her hands, she found a small circular burn mark around her right middle finger. Red irritation bloomed brightly upon her skin but quickly faded into nothing.
"God, I need a cigarette," Madison whined beside her, crossing her arms and leaning back on the wall. Bored, her eyes trailed back to her new Sabrina. "Why are you here, anyway?"
"Cordelia asked me to come."
Madison scoffed, "What does she want you to do? Throw up on them?"
"Who the fuck knows," Emily said with a sigh. The reaction gained her a small, cheeky smile from the blonde. The amusement didn't last long.
"If you know you're not a witch, why the hell do you even stay here?"
"Cordelia thinks I have potential."
"Ha!" Madison said, "What a load of crock."
Queenie rolled her eyes as she stood beside the two, Madison sandwiched between the human voodoo doll and the powerless newbie.
"Can you stop being a bitch for, like, five seconds?" Queenie snapped at the blonde.
"Whatcha' gonna' do? Kill me?"
"Don't tempt me."
A small smirk crawled onto Emily's lips at the banter, but quickly vanished the second she felt Madison glance towards her. From across the room, Michael couldn't help but be amused at the scene. He did his best to hide a smirk of his own, covering it with a hand in an attempt to save face.
Madison rolled her eyes and scoffed before shuffling away from the pair to put as much distance between them. Emily glanced at Queenie and they both snickered.
"Like I said," Queenie said, "I got you, girl."
"I'd hate to be on your bad side."
"Damn straight."
Emily pushed off the wall and stood a little straighter as she noticed Cordelia turn. The warlocks retreated to their side of the room save for Ariel and the curly-haired angel. Green eyes met blue and the two simply stared at each other for a long moment before diverting their attention back to the reigning supreme.
There was something about that boy… something Emily couldn't quite place.
"Today we take part in an ancient ritual used by our coven for generations," Cordelia spoke, "The new must be ushered in and the old ushered out to maintain the strength of our coven."
Finally, she turned to the boy-wonder, "Are you ready to take on this momentous task."
"I am."
Emily jumped as a loud chorus of cheers erupted above them, boys stomping their feet and yelling as loud as they knew how. She forced her eyes back on her headmistress and tried to quiet her racing heart.
Cordelia didn't look pleased, everyone else too preoccupied with the noise to notice. It was a slight difference: the near imperceivable furrow of the brow and thinning of the lips.
Her eyes then trailed to the boy. He was smiling up at the crowd, basking in their adoration. It was a genuine smile — not the one he had shown when they first arrived.
The rowdy boys were quickly silenced with a well-aimed look of their headmaster. Emily could hear the shuffling of feet above her head as they skittered off into the halls, leaving the room feeling tense and lifeless.
"Like little roaches," she heard Myrtle whisper to Zoe. The girl's response was drowned out by the voice of their headmistress.
"Let the test of the Seven Wonders begin!"
.
.
.
The Seven Wonders was a test of seven magical talents… or at least that is what Emily observed.
Telekinesis was the first wonder, an easy enough skill for those who could actually use their magic. She felt a surge of jealousy at that thought. It was easy for Cordelia to say magical talent didn't matter when she had more than Emily could hope to possess.
Michael held up his hand and a book crossed the room as if it had a mind of its own. The grimoire was a heavy tome in her arms, but the boy made it look as light as a feather.
He opened it to the first page, brows furrowing as he read the hand-scribed dedication. Closing the book, he looked to Ariel. The man was grinning ear to ear, clapping the boy on the back and praising him for a job well done.
"This is but the first test," Cordelia reminded, voice stern, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
The fair-haired woman turned to Michael, "The next test is Concilium. Control the minds of someone in this room."
That wording did nothing to ease the tension in Emily's body. She quite liked being in control of her own thoughts and actions. The thought of someone being able to override her autonomy at will made her palms sweat.
Emily didn't know what to expect until Madison and Zoe started dancing at random. Their faces betrayed their true feelings, Michael's powers not strong enough to make the pair like one other. A small smile flickered to Emily's lips at the frowns carved into their faces, but it quickly vanished when she felt the boy's eyes on her.
They danced and danced and danced some more in a silent room. If not for the circumstances it may have been poetic. The strings of the puppet-master were far too visible, their bodies too stiff. It made her skin crawl.
Just as the dance ended, Emily felt a sudden presence behind her followed by a feather-light tap on her shoulder. Her hair stood on end and a shiver ran up her spine. Hands instinctively curled into fists which swung back towards the sudden presence.
The problem with instinct was that your body moved before your mind could decide to. Her fist was mere inches from his face when she finally realized what she was doing. Michael's hand swung out to block the blow, fingers curling around her hand as he caught the punch mid-air. Emily's heart was racing in her chest and the boy-wonder could feel her heartbeat through her hand.
Power flickered through the air. Michael feeling like he was on the other end of an electrical shock. Gently, he let her hand go and it pulled back to her side as if his touch was fire.
"Careful," He warned, a crooked smile curling at his lips. Emily's eyes narrowed ever slightly. "You'll end up giving someone a black eye."
Emily's eyes narrowed ever slightly, biting back a retort. If someone didn't want a black eye, they shouldn't sneak up on others. She was tempted to throw the other fist… but she doubted her headmistress would approve.
"You have conquered transmutation," Cordelia noted, the pair turning back to the current supreme. Michael stepped back from her charge with the expression of a content cat. The Supreme's frown was more prominent now, her eyes filled with annoyance she could no longer hide. "Now it is time for you to conquer the next task."
She spared a glance at Ariel who stood beside her. He beamed at his student, looking to the woman beside him with an air of smug contempt. He was comically shorter than the woman, but her own expression did nothing to squash his silent gloating.
"One of your mentors has hidden something in this room. Find it using divination."
Michael stepped around Emily, the girl taking a step away from him as he made his way towards the blonde woman. Stopping before her, he held out a hand palm-up. After a moment, Cordelia placed a dozen or so runes and bones into his hand.
Turning on his heel and taking a few deliberate steps, Michael crouched in front of the fire. He tossed the objects onto the floor. Emily stared at them, trying to sense their meaning. She had read tarot cards before — accurate readings, too… or so her friends had said. Runes and bones, however, were another beast entirely.
The bookshelf. Her own thought startled her as if she had heard another's voice inside her head. She watched Michael's eyes flicker up to one of the many bookshelves.
Then he was gone, vanishing into thin air. Emily moved closer to the wall, hairs standing on end once more. The next thing she knew, the boy-wonder was standing next to his headmaster who jumped as a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"I believe this is yours," Michael said to the man. Ariel grinned and laughed, patting the boy on the back as he took back his pocket watch.
With every task, Cordelia's mood soured. Anyone outside of Robichaux wouldn't have been able to tell the slight difference in her demeanor. Her posture straightened into a thin line, her eyes growing sharper and sharper until her gaze could cut stone.
Pyrokinesis and Vitalum Vitalis. Michael made them look easy. Flames roared when drops of his blood hit the wick of a candle. He made a mouse come back alive after snapping his neck.
The latter disturbed Emily more than the former. Emily realized she had never seen anything die before. She'd experienced death, naturally — old pets and family members passing to the other side. There was something about the sharp cracking of tiny bones accompanied by a shrill shriek that made all her hairs stand on end. Her body buzzed and she felt a momentary pressure on her forehead.
Zoe turned at the sudden snap of power which echoed through the room. Emily stared at the sight before her, her eyes distant. It unnerved Zoe, the way the other girl stared. It felt like a black void had curled around Emily.
The second the mouse was brought back to life, the spell which entranced the woman broke. Clarity came back to Emily's eyes and she finally felt the presence of eyes upon her. Zoe averted her gaze, pretending she had seen nothing.
"And so, we arrive at the final test," Cordelia announced, "Descensum."
Slowly, Michael's hands came to rest behind his back. The more wonders he accomplished, the more contempt he held. Cordelia worried what his plans for the coven were. There was something about that boy that sat her on edge.
Her eyes flickered to Emily for but a moment, watching her whisper something to Queenie. Green eyes widened at the senior witch's response.
Emily's attention darted between the line of witches now standing before the fire. Queenie had chosen to stay with the younger witch to explain what was going on.
"What's Decensum?" Emily asked
"To prove you are the next supreme, you have to go to hell."
"Hell?"
"I didn't believe it at first, either." Queenie said, "but, then again, I'm a human voodoo doll so anything is possible."
Emily's lips twisted as she took in the information, trying to decide how she felt about the concept of hell existing. She had never been a particularly religious person… agnostic at best. It was an existential conundrum — one existing thus implying the other did as well.
Closing off her thoughts, Emily forced herself to save the existentialism for after their little trip. Hopefully, by then she would forget about it entirely.
Cordelia's voice pulled them from their whispered conversation. Their headmistress's voice rang loud and clear throughout the room, demanding attention.
"But today I am not asking you to perform this wonder," The Supreme continued, dragging her eyes back to Michael, "I am asking you to conquer it."
Emily's eyes flickered back to Queenie as she shifted to her other foot, eyes narrowed at her supreme and brows furrowed.
"What is she doing?" Queenie muttered. Emily pulled her eyes away from her companion and looked to the scene before her. The wizards shifted uncomfortably, lips pressing into thin lines. Emily's eyes then settled back on Cordelia.
"I'd like you to retrieve my dear friend, Misty Day," the blonde woman continued, "who lost her own battle with this very task."
"That's impossible!" one of the warlock's snapped, an African American man — Behold — dressed to impress in the same black color they all donned. "Those who don't return from Decensum are gone forever; property of the underworld.
"But even Orpheus was able to challenge Hades to bring back Eurydice," Emily muttered. She felt eyes upon her, but when she looked to the boy-wonder his attention was solely on Cordelia.
Queenie spared the girl a glance, "What was that?"
Emily slowly removed her eyes from Michael, "Nothing."
""No other Supreme's been made to do this, ever. This is not only unfair," Another wizard — Baldwin — noted, angry eyes encased by thick-rimmed glasses, "this is suicide!"
Cordelia cut them off with ease, "Which is why I offer a compromise."
The Supreme looked to Emily expectantly. The brunette glanced about the room, unsure of what was coming. Finally, after a good moment, she stepped out of the shadows. Cordelia offered her a reassuring smile as Emily came to stop by her side. She could feel the warlock's eyes on her and she found herself focusing on the floor after meeting their gaze.
"Emily is a catalyst," Cordelia explained to the warlocks. "One of the strongest I have ever seen. While she has yet to show any magical ability, we have found that others of our kind can tap into her magic and use it to power their own."
"This is sabotage!" Baldwin said, his pose reminding Emily of a hungry wolf. What was Cordelia thinking? She wasn't ready for this. She didn't want this. She didn't—
"Michael will need all the help he can get," Cordelia reminded.
All this while, Ariel had been quietly fuming. He should have known the witches would try and undermine the alpha. Jaw clenched and expression sour, he did his best to keep his cool.
"Enough." He said, head turning to his fellow warlocks before his gaze returned to the blonde witch, "Cordelia—"
Cordelia's head cocked ever slightly to the side, waiting for him to speak.
"I need a word." He finally concluded, words rushing past his lips. Cordelia simply nodded, and he led the way back into the shadow-filled halls of Hawthorne.
.
.
.
"You're changing the rules!" Ariel exclaimed, voice rising and anger taking the forefront as soon as they were out of earshot. He paced back and forth in his office, trying to contain his rage. "Michael should only have to descend as you did!"
Cordelia stood calmly at the center of the room, poised with her hands resting in front of her. Her stillness was unsettling… more similar to a snake than a woman. It only served to anger Ariel more, waving his hands as he talked just to keep from imploding.
"You didn't see what I saw," the woman noted, voice stern and unwavering. Stubborn. Just like her mother. "Our world hangs in the balance. There is darkness coming and, if Michael is going to be the one who leads, us he needs to be able to withstand anything."
Ariel stopped in his tracks.
"Bullshit."
Cordelia's gaze was as cutting as a knife, her hushed tone betraying her surprise, "excuse me?"
"I saw you drop. I know what's really happening here." Ariel said, satisfied as Cordelia's face fell into a frown. "You're fading, but you're afraid to let go."
"And you've hit a wall. Grand Chancellor is as far as you're going to get," Cordelia spat, "You and your powers have reached their limit. Your kingdom will only just be this hole in the ground."
Ariel sputtered, unable to find a single retort. The woman was a scorpion and she was more than ready to sting him with her tail.
"Unless, of course," She continued, "you use Michael to extend your influence."
"This is pathetic — accusing me to cover your blatant attempt at his life. I won't lose that kid over some sad, futile cling to power."
"I'll remind you that I am also risking one of my own girls in this venture."
"An inexperienced whelp!"
"Who has more untapped potential than you can ever dream to have!" Cordelia snapped, "You may insult me, but I will not let you insult one of my girls."
"But you would send her to her death… What a supreme you are."
"You actually believe I am trying to get them killed?"
Ariel took a step towards the woman, then another, "What I think, Cordelia, is that you are your mother's daughter, who I knew fairly well. You may come with a kinder facade, but deep down, you're nothing more than a weak, frightened woman… just like Fiona."
He watched as Cordelia's eyes betrayed her fear, her insecurity. Ariel had hit the pressure point, the Achilles heel. Cordelia's sad eyes hardened, her own rage boiling in her belly.
"With a flick of my finger, I could crush your larynx and tear it from your throat." Cordelia warned, "Do not think for one second I am weak. I have humored you men, and coddled your fragile egos, but in no way does that mean you actually have a say."
The woman took a step towards the man, forcing him to step back in turn. "I outrank you. I can destroy you. So, I suggest you fall in line because I am still your Supreme."
A creaking interrupted them, their eyes trailing to the door which now stood open. Michael stood, doors moving without his touch. His hands sat behind his back with a solemn and resolute expression.
He locked gazes with Cordelia. There was something about his eyes that made her hair stand on end. He looked human, but his eyes seemed off and his presence made her stomach churn.
"It's okay," he said, "I'll get your friend back."
.
.
.
The warlocks and witches had divided themselves in opposite corners of the room, leaving Emily to stand aimlessly in front of the fire. Their whispering was a roaring sea in her ears, an annoying buzz to a mosquito she couldn't squash. She found her head quirking just to free her ears from the sound.
Sparing a glance at the warlocks, she was met with narrowed and sharp glances. Baldwin spared a look in her direction before turning back to Behold to whisper something. They turned their backs so she wouldn't read their lips.
The gaze of her fellow witches was less than reassuring, themselves whispering about the circumstances just as the warlocks. Zoe looked up and the younger witch quickly averted her gaze. Cordelia's announcement blind-sided them all. Emily had always said she was going to go to hell… she just never expected it to come this soon.
"Cordelia's sending her to her death!" She heard Madison hiss.
"Keep your voice down, bitch!" Queenie responded, slapping the girl's arm before they also turned to keep Emily from hearing their conversation.
With a sigh, the brunette turned her gaze back to the fire. Curling her arms around herself, she stared into the flickering flames. Fire had always comforted her, its warmth and snapping flames. She could stare at it for hours, trying to make meaning out of the chaos.
Higher, she commanded in her mind, watching a single flame sputter higher before returning to its place. When she was small, she'd amuse herself for hours with the instances of coincidence, commanding waves to rise or wind to howl and pretending she had any control over it.
It was the silence Emily noticed first. It pulled her from her mulling like ice water poured over her head. Slowly she turned to find Michael standing behind her. He watched her eyes dilate at his sudden presence before returning back to normal, allowing him to watch the colors of her hazel eyes switch ever slightly. The girl practically vibrated with anxiety.
"Cordelia says you are a catalyst."
"Try a charger hit with lightning," Emily noted with a scoff. Michael's head turned slightly to the side, analyzing her response. The gusto behind her words quickly faded, hand moving to fret with her bracelet. "Or… at least, I've been told."
Holding out a hand, he watched it as she regarded it. Eyes once wide in doe-like fear narrowed into calculating pinpricks. Blue eyes stared at her, judging which piece in the puzzle she was. She didn't look him in the eyes for very long.
"Shall we?" Michael asked.
Hesitantly, her hand rose from her side and her eyes flickered to his face. She was searching for something. Neither of them knew what, but whatever she saw was satisfactory enough for her to place her hand in his own.
Emily had never been one for physical contact. Her high-school years had been spent perfecting the art of walking down a crowded hall without brushing a single arm. Michael's hand was warm, somewhere between natural and unnatural. It was as if the boy had a fever.
Her hand, in contrast, was unnaturally cold. Her fingers were like ice against his flesh and twitched slightly at the contact.
"Tell me what I need to do."
"Just focus on my words," He told her, true meaning lingering in the air.
And don't mess up.
.
.
.
Emily's nose itched and her head buzzed, but she did her best to ignore it. It was as if there were a hundred bees in her body, all batting their wings at once. She had yet to get used to the infrequent thrumming of her bones.
The silence was oppressive, sounds of breathing and footsteps more akin to howling wing and roaring thunder. Cordelia knelt beside them, muttering spells as she slowly wound a ribbon to connect Emily's hands with Michael's.
When she looked up to the warlocks, they were whispering one another. As before, they shielded their faces from view, glancing back at Cordelia every few seconds.
Emily found herself speaking before she could think, the monotonous silence far too overwhelming, "So which underworld do you have to conquer?"
Michael's voice was somewhere between bored and annoyed.
"Does it really matter?"
"I mean… different religions have different tales — Greek, Christian, Egyptian — it changes based upon the culture."
"I wouldn't worry too much about that, dear," Myrtle spoke with a small chuckle. She did not even try to mask her contempt of the boy. "it's all semantics."
"Until you have to have Anubis weigh your heart," Emily muttered to herself. A smile flickered to Michael's face and left just as quickly.
The boy-wonder laid on the floor, his head in Emily's lap. Her hands were placed on his chest where his arms crossed like he was buried in a casket. His golden hair tickled her arm. She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look at him.
What did Cordelia expect her to do? Even if she was a catalyst, she couldn't control that power. Emily's hands felt clammy in boy-wonder's. Suddenly the ribbon felt itchy and his hands too warm.
Apparently, the binding was supposed to channel her magic into his own. Emily just thought it made her look stupid. Cordelia gave her a reassuring smile as she finished tying off the brunette's right hand. Touching the girl's cheek, the Supreme pretended Emily's jaw wasn't tense beneath her fingers.
The coven gathered, standing around the pair. They were like giants, looming over them. Emily was less than pleased about having someone at her back. Michael felt her fingers twitch against his own.
"Ready?" Michael asked the girl, forcing her to finally meet her gaze. Emily nodded and his eyes looked past her and towards the ceiling.
"Repeat after me," He told her, "and focus on the words."
"Got it," Emily said, voice barely louder than a whisper.
"Deduce me in tenebris vita ad extremum," He began to chant, "ut salutaret inferi."
"Dedice me in tenebris," she repeated, doing her best to put weight behind every word, "vita ad extremum…"
"Decensum." They spoke in unison.
Myrtle stood by Cordelia, a hand on the woman's shoulder as the blonde fretted at her necklace. Emily would alright, she reasoned. The transfer of power did not mean she would be lost to the underworld forever.
The rest of the witches looked towards their fellow sisters. Eyes shifted between their companions and the girl on the floor, gaging their reaction to what was occurring before them.
"Deduce me in tenebris vita ad extremum," Emily continued to mutter, Michael's voice already falling silent as he descended. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, hands squeezing the boy's. "ut salutaret—"
Her breath left her like a sigh. With a dull thump, Emily fell limp to the floor. Her body curled around Michael's head; hands still outstretched towards his. The rope that bound them together burned until it was ash. Their hands were still connected, holding onto each other as if their lives depended upon it.
Zoe lurched forward instinctively, a spell already on her lips. Cordelia's hand shot out, her arm keeping the other woman from taking another step.
"No," she said, voice betraying her concern, "we must not interfere."
"She's not ready for this!" Madison said, rounding the group so Cordelia was forced to look her in the eye. The ex-movie star gestured towards the sleeping girl. "She can't even make a flower change colors and you expect her to find her way out of hell?"
Cordelia was less than impressed with her student's reaction.
"You underestimate her power."
"And what would that be?" Ariel demanded, voice raised and hands clenched to fists at his sides. The Supreme could feel his eyes boring into the side of her face.
Slowly, Cordelia turned to regard him.
"Emily's power is entangled between this dimensions and the next," she said, trying to convey her urgency with every word. It was getting hard to keep her anger from overflowing. "A rare gift. There is no one more suited to this task than her."
Brown eyes flickered to the slumbering girl, her body lacking its previous tensions. It was the calmest Cordelia had ever seen her. A small, proud smile claiming her lips.
"When she is finally able to pull that power into the waking world," Cordelia noted, eyes boring into Ariel's like a knife, "she will be a force to be reckoned with."