The prophecy

Chapter One

The wind screamed as the van barreled down the endless stretch of road, flanked by towering trees that looked more like shadows than pines. Inside, Raven stared blankly out the reinforced window, her breath fogging up the glass. Her wrists still burned from the cold metal cuffs they'd snapped on her an hour ago—some kind of suppressant, they'd said, to keep her from lighting the world on fire. Again.

Brooklyn sat beside her, silent but wide-eyed, clutching her fingers in her lap like they were the only thing anchoring her to reality. Her normally fierce green eyes were dull now, lost beneath the weight of too many unanswered questions and the constant thrumming fear that they weren't going to survive whatever came next.

Neither of them had spoken since the agents took them—black suits, no names, no answers. Just a flash of a badge, a needle to the neck, and then darkness.

Now, hours—or maybe days—later, they were driving into the unknown.

"They're taking us to kill us," Raven finally whispered, her voice raw like she hadn't used it in years. Brook blinked in response, slowly turning her head. "If they wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already."

"Maybe they're waiting until we're out of reach. Somewhere no one will find the bodies."

"You really know how to comfort a girl, Raven."

Raven smiled, but it didn't touch her eyes. The weight of what she'd done back home still clung to her like smoke. The fire. The screams. The silence that followed.

Two hundred and seventy four dead.

Brook had been the only one left standing near her. Somehow untouched. Somehow always untouched.

The van slowed. Tires crunched over gravel, and both girls leaned forward, peering out the tinted window. Ahead was a gate, a massive, black iron, etched with symbols that shimmered like molten gold. Beyond it, a town. Not like the ones they'd grown up in. This one looked like a page torn from a storybook. Quaint, eerie, too perfect.

Silverwood, a wooden sign read. Painted in dark crimson, it creaked as the wind pushed against it.

An agent opened the side door, face expressionless. "Out."

"Tell us what we're doing here first!" Brook Exclaimed, sitting firm on the cold metal bench.

"You both know what she did." The guard answered before continuing, "Out. Now."

They stepped onto the gravel, their legs shaky, the air unnaturally still. The gate groaned as it opened behind them, and something passed over them as they crossed into Silverwood. A pulse. A tingle beneath their skin.

Magic.

They knew it instantly.

A woman stepped forward, her posture military-straight, long white coat fluttering in the breeze. "Welcome to Silverwood. My name is Director Wynn. You're here because the world no longer knows what to do with you. But we do."

Raven's stomach twisted.

Brook narrowed her eyes. "So we were kidnapped."

Director Wynn offered a tight smile. "Rescued. There's a difference."

Before either of them could respond, a girl with bright dyed red hair sauntered up behind the Director, hands in the pockets of her black cargos. She raised an eyebrow at the new arrivals and gave a slow, crooked grin.

"So these are the elemental and the time bender?" she said. "Cute."

"And you are?" Brook snapped.

The girl smirked. "Kai. I'll be your tour guide to hell."