"What in heathens was that?" Nilsa demands, taking a seat in one of the chairs Willa keeps on the other side of her desk. I take the other one, resting my head in my hands.  A headache is blooming.g

"I don't know," Tabitha answers. Her brow forms a deep downward arrow as she tries to figure it out, likely recalling every book she's ever read to try and remember a mention of something like this.

"I thought that she was supposed to have nothing of great influence," I say, looking at Willa.

"Forget that," Kathika snaps. "What we should be worried about is what it was. The strength of a gift like that means nothing if it's near useless."

Mak nods. "She's right."

"Energy." We all turn to Inna, her head shaking in a way that tells me she wants to be in denial. Serephina can siphon one's power from them and easily identify it once she's near it or felt it firsthand. It's why I brought her to see what was wrong with Darius and the elemental bond. "With the way it felt, the amount of strength that it gave, and the way that it pulsed so far so quickly...Roseia has the power of controlling energy. With that kind of power being at that strength..."

"She could drain someone's life force by simply touching them," I finish.

"Or give someone the ability to double their own power force – quadruple it or maybe more if they drain her dry," Mak adds.

"That'd kill her."

"I wasn't saying we should do it, Inna, only that if someone with a certain hunger for eternal power got a hold of her-"

"He wouldn't need an army to take whatever he wished." Willa's face is paler than I've ever seen it. She's the one person aside from the elementals who could face Xaxias and not die, but quadruple his power...well, then we'll all find ourselves staring into the darkness.

"Great," I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose with my thumb and pointer finger. "Another thing to add to our list of why today was shitty."

"Wait." Shit. That wasn't supposed to come out of my mouth. "There's a list?"

I open my mouth to plead my case to Willa, only nothing comes out and I find myself exposing my hands as nine pairs of eyes hone in on me. It's not often that my sisters look at me as prey, but I always find myself understanding why the Thralian teenagers fear us so much.

"What else is on that list, Ro?"

"Well..."

Gods keep me from getting my head bashed in.