I let out a frustrated breath as I leant against the wall behind me. Anita's dark eyes were on my face and she was combing her wet, brown hair with her fingers –we were in the banya. It was late at night, probably around eleven, and we had been talking about this and that for the past hour as we sat in the hot water.

"He is the one people should gossip about!" I snarled, I was complaining about Vasily the rack-faced prince. "You should have seen the expression on his face when he talked about the Shadow Summoners, Anita –he sees my power like some kind of an infection!"

That ugly rat. I wish I could let him have a glimpse of that power he despised. Maybe he would wet his royal pants and I'd laugh about that for the rest of my life.

"I understand why you're so angry at Vasily, Val." Anita said, she was giving me a sympathetic look. "But you have to bite your tongue around him, you have to act politically. That's how the Darkling became the Second in Command in Ravka. I'm sure he had to wear fake smiles a lot of times when people frankly insulted him for who he is."

Anita had a point –I could only imagine how hard it had been for him not to unleash all his power on the King or the others whenever he had been blamed for the Black Heretic's mistake. I remembered the sadness and tiredness falling in his grey eyes when he told me about the Black Heretic and the creation of the Shadow Fold.

Which made me realise how much I missed him and the realisation immediately brought anxiety –I didn't like missing him, it made me nervous.

I dived into the hot water to wet my hair since the hot steam inside the banya was causing it to dry right away. When I surfaced and wiped away the water from my face, I saw Anita drawing small circles on the surface of the water. She had a thoughtful look in her eyes.

I playfully splashed some water at her, "Hey, don't zone out –tell me what's bothering you."

She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around her chest –well, we both were naked but since the water was reaching Anita's chin and my neck, it wasn't much of a problem. "People used to exclude me because of this," she said and pointed at her slanting eyes, which were the biggest proof about her Shu descendance. "Because I was part Shu. I was extremely lonely when we were at the school here, when we were kids."

I listened to her with a soft expression on my face, I didn't want to interrupt.

"Iwona was the first Grisha to approach me in a friendly way," Anita spoke with a small smile on her thin lips as she recalled her memories with Iwona. "She has always been a good friend; she never judges a soul based on the stuff that they don't have any control over. That's why she was your very first friend as well –the others were intimidated and prejudiced because you were both a Shadow Summoner and a Fjerdan."

Now, I was smiling as well –Iwona really was pure of heart. "What about Radoslaw, Leon and Shura? Were they like Iwona as well?" I asked.

Anita shook her head as she laughed. "Well, not exactly –Radoslaw never really cared about me being part Shu but Leon and Shura haven't always been that friendly towards me. Leon thought it'd stain his reputation if he was seen hanging around with a Shu girl."

"That bastard!" I muttered angrily, which made Anita laugh once again but I noted it down to punch Leon for his inconsiderate behaviour against Anita. Maybe I could also beat his ass with one of my boots. "What about Shura?"

"Well, it takes time for Shura to see someone as a friend and that period took longer with me since she was quite prejudiced against me but once we broke the ice, we became like sisters." Anita responded, then she nudged me with her elbow upon seeing the expression on my face –I didn't believe someone so nice like Anita could be close with a nightmare like Shura. "Hey, I know that look –don't you believe that Shura sees me as a sister?"

I shook my head quickly; I didn't want to offend Anita. "No, of course I believe you, it's just… Shura seems like she only cares about herself." I admitted. "It's hard to imagine her actually showing love towards someone other."

Anita pursed her lips as she shrugged, "Well, she did show love towards the Darkling." she said but corrected herself when I raised a sceptic eyebrow at her. "I mean, I believe so –her interest could be solely physical and because of the Darkling's position but I saw how upset she was when…"

I finished Anita's word as I felt her voice fading. "When he turned his attention to me." I said and Anita nodded. "But… But that's not my fault –I didn't ask for any of this and yet, she thinks she can bully me whenever she likes! I never wanted to hate her but she gave me every reason to."

"I know Shura can be a hell of a nightmare," Anita said as she placed her hand on my shoulder with an understanding look inside her dark eyes. "But give her some time to get over the Darkling –then you'll see how her behaviour changes. In fact, I think you two can get along even better than we do."

Her words caused me to let out a loud and sincere laughter. "Well, this is highly unlikely but I always trust your judgement."

[Time Skip]

After another frustrating and discouraging lesson with Baghra, I hit the library even without eating my breakfast. Her words had already made me lose my appetite. I knew I was strong and I knew I was doing my best but apparently, nothing seemed to satisfy Baghra. She was driving me insane every day.

On my way to the library, I decided not to read about the Grisha theory that day. Instead, I finally found the courage to do some research about Svartkonst –maybe I could come across something that would help me get stronger. But apart from that, I also wanted to discover what I could do more, what I could accomplish without my shadows.

Ever since I had read my mother's journal, I had been wondering about the practice but I couldn't bring myself to find out my true strength. Lucky for me, Baghra had successfully made me overcome my doubts and fears. With every insult I heard from Baghra, I became closer and closer to accepting my identity as a Necromancer, as a witch.

And today was the day. Today, I overcame my fears and went to the dustiest section of the library.

There weren't many books written in Fjerdan; however, I hadn't been able to find much information about Necromancy from books written in Ravkan. Apparently, Necromancy wasn't a favoured practice here in Ravka and no one could blame the Ravkans –people looked at the Necromancers the same way they looked at the Shadow Summoners.

I'm the worst combination ever –a Shadow Summoner coming from a Fjerdan bloodline of Svartkonst practitioners.

I almost let out a cry of victory when my jade-green eyes found an old book with a silver-grey cover. Svartkonst - Alt pe må veta. Necromancy – All you need to know. As I took the book into my hands, I quickly sat down and placed it on the desk. A cloud of dust rose the moment I opened the hardcover of the book, which made me cough as I waved my hands in the air to disperse the dust.

Once I began to read something in Fjerdan after a long while, after Evan gave me my mother's journal, the indescribable feeling of home surrounded me. I didn't know for how long I sat there, reading the pages of the dusty book but when I left my tranced state, my back was hurting pretty badly.

I stood up and stretched my body, at the same time I was trying to summarise everything I had read so far. Svartkonst had a lot of practices and most of them were equally horrible and dreadful but there was also some normal stuff, which I intended to try myself in an appropriate time.

They were things like contacting the dead or trying to get a vision about the future or about someone particular. For example, I could try contacting my mother, seeing Ravka's future or my own future. However, the future was changing every second, hence the visions about it were in most cases a blur.

Then, of course, there was the scarier stuff. Svartkonst practitioners often placed curses on people –just like my grandmother, who had cursed my mother. Since they worked with the dead and their spirits, some of these curses could lead their victim to be terrorised by the souls of the dead to insanity.

Yep, my family was pretty creepy.

Still, I was determined to try out contacting my mother –the spell seemed simple and harmless. Therefore, it was the perfect starting point for me.

"Good morning, Miss Nørgaard."

I leapt up in my place when I heard the Apparat's voice coming from behind me –that creepy man always snuck up on me and I was beginning to get really, really annoyed. I was even considering continuing my reading hours in my own room to have some privacy because the Apparat disturbed me. Every. Freaking. Day.

I stopped stretching my arms and tidied my black kefta as I put on a fake smile. "Good morning."

The Apparat pointed at the book on the desk, "Your thirst for knowledge never ceases to amuse me, Miss Nørgaard." he said and placed the books he held in his arms on the desk as well. I tried my best not to roll my eyes –he was never going to leave me alone. "Has my recommendation been helpful for you?"

It took me a while to understand what he was trying to mean –he wanted to know whether I found something about the Amplifiers in Istorii Sankt'ya. Well, truth to be told, I had gone over the story of Sankt Ilya in Chains a few time more but still, I couldn't see what he wanted me to see.

I shook my head, "I regret to say this but I can't find the connection between Sankt Ilya and the Amplifiers." I said as I leant the desk with my arms crossed over my chest. "You told me that Sankt Ilya was the man who created the most powerful Amplifiers but his story only features him resurrecting a child and the local villagers throwing him into the lake in shackles."

The Apparat smiled in a way that made his yellow teeth visible and it caused an urge to vomit rise in me. I took a deep breath and turned my eyes away from his face. "The illustrations are sometimes even more helpful than the story itself." he said as he took a book from the pile he had placed on the desk and opened a certain page. A frown appeared on my face. "Here, I've given you enough hints already. Now, it's your time to solve the riddle, Miss Nørgaard. I'll leave you to it."

I was quite surprised when he just left on his own after taking the books in his arms again. Normally, I'd make up an excuse to run away from the Apparat but today was different. Maybe he had things to do, I had no idea but I was glad that he didn't take much of my time.

Running my right hand through my raven hair, I took a look at the page of the book. It talked about an ancient and magical creature called the Morozova's Stag which only appeared at twilight. There was also a children's story written there, which depicted the stag as a creature that talked and granted wishes for its captor.

I heaved a sigh –why was the Apparent trying to fill my head with useless children's stories? I didn't have time for this!

Still, I took that book and the book in Fjerdan about Svartkonst and went straight to my chambers –I didn't want to be disturbed while I read about Necromancy. As I was about to place the book Apparent had given to me next to Istorii Sankt'ya inside the drawer, I stopped for a moment. Then, I took the children's book with a red cover and quickly found the page featuring the story of Sankt Ilya. There was also an illustration of him, of Sankt Ilya, and my jaw dropped when my jade-green eyes found the elegant stag resting in front of Ilya's feet.

"Saints," I muttered as I ran my index finger over the illustration of Morozova's Stag. The stag was white as a pearl but its antlers were depicted as if they were golden. It was beautiful and even from a simple drawing, one could tell it was also magical.

So this was what the Apparat had been trying to tell me all along –the stag was an Amplifier. And judging by the stories, it had to be an awfully strong Amplifier. Then, I recalled what the Apparat had told me about Sankt Ilya.

If you're interested in Amplifiers, Miss Nørgaard, then you should first read about the man who created the most powerful of them all.

So Morozova's Stag was created by Sankt Ilya himself?

I shook my head as I put down the book on the dresser. It was not possible –we, the Grisha, didn't create from nothing. That was not how the Small Science worked! The theory explained the Small Science as manipulating matter at its fundamental level. Just like everything else in nature, our Small Science, too, had to abide by physical laws. Creating something from nothing was not our way.

I didn't have much information about the topic; however, while I had been reading about the Grisha theory, I had come across something called merzost, which meant abomination and magic in Ravkan. The book I had read didn't provide much about the topic except for describing merzost as the power of creation –basically conjuring something from nothing.

Maybe what Sankt Ilya did was using merzost, I could never be sure but the Apparat had successfully managed to confuse me. I needed to find out more about merzost and any known Grisha to practice it but first, I had to eat something and go train with Botkin.

[Time Skip]

"I want you to teach me how to fight using knives."

Botkin shook his head, "The Grisha don't use weapons, girl." he responded as he gave me a questioning look. "Why do you want to use knives?"

I shrugged, "I'm already good at this, I want to learn something else!" I insisted like a little girl and I was right –I had been able to beat every single Grisha Botkin had made me fight with.

"You can learn something else once you beat Botkin!"

I rolled my eyes at him, "No one beats Botkin except for Botkin."

Botkin eyed me, then he sent me to train with a bulky Etherealki, who was a young man wearing a blue kefta with silver embroideries –he was a Squaller. I had already beat his ass twice this week and I knew he hated me but since the two of us were the best among the Etherealki, Botkin always ended up matching us.

At first, no one thought I could possibly stand a chance against that bulky Squaller but during the time I had been training with Botkin, I had learnt how to use the weight and the size of my opponent to my advantage. Plus, being thin made it possible for me to act a lot agiler.

Once the combat training was over, the Squaller sent me a glare and quickly left the training rooms –I had, once again, beat him. As I was waiting for Iwona, Radoslaw and Shura outside, Botkin called at me.

"Nørgaard," he said as he approached me with a small knife in his hands. Looking carefully, I saw that its blade was made of Grisha steel. However, I wasn't really expecting him to hand the knife to me. "Keep this on yourself at all times and meet me after dinner if you still want to learn how to fight with that."

Well, do you guys have any ideas where this Amplifier-topic will lead to? (: I'd love to hear your theories!!

As always, thank you all so much for your support and don't forget to leave reviews (: