You can find Chapter Two here.
“You’re trusting me with your secrets, so I will trust you with mine. Close your eyes.”
Sonja wanted to close her eyes, but Rael’s knife hilts were gleaming blue in the half-light. The other girl seemed to sense what she was thinking, because she took out both sets and tossed them at Sonja’s feet.
“I will not hurt you,” she said. “Close your eyes.”
Sonja did as she was told. She heard Rael’s feet treading softly on the ground, and listened for the sound of the latch clicking or the door creaking open.
There was nothing.
After a few moments, she opened her eyes. Rael wasn’t standing in front of her anymore. She glanced around and saw nothing but trees and blue shadows.
She should have expected Rael to leave…but the knives were still lying on the grass.
“I’m here.”
Sonja gasped and spun around to see Rael emerging from the interweaving shadows. “But I just looked there and I didn’t see you!”
“I was invisible. The fire belongs to you; the shadows belong to me.”
“How did you learn to do that?”
“The first time it happened, I was trespassing in my father’s study. When he walked inside, he didn’t see me; I pressed myself against the walls and kept repeating to myself that he could not see me. I willed myself into the shadows and then they were all around me, like a smoky haze. My father walked right past me, glanced in my direction, and looked right through me. The second time I tried it, I crept into a room that was going to be used for one of my father’s business meetings and turned myself invisible again. I kept the illusion for over an hour.”
She smiled at the memory.
“Is that how you got through the Wall?”
“Yes. I crept through when the guards were distracted by traders approaching the gate.” Rael brushed some hair out of her face.
“But…why would you want to come to Eraune?” Sonja stepped away from the knives as Rael moved to pick them up. “You must have heard about what it’s like here.”
Rael looked down at the floor. She didn’t meet Sonja’s gaze for a long while. The two girls stood in silence while the blue light slowly shifted across the floor.
Then Rael raised her eyes. “I didn’t come here of my own volition. Lady Medeya - my employer - summoned me and asked me to take something to an acquaintance she has in Eraune. In return, she said she would end my servitude early. I said yes without thinking.”
“Do you think she might have known about your power?”
“No. I never told anyone, and I never used it to wander around her estate.” Rael sheathed the final knife and said: “Once I’d given the package to Freidman, I was unsure where to go. It did not seem worth it to travel back to the Black Wall and I did not wish to risk my life a second time. Then I met Brigit, who said her former mistress was looking for a maid. What else could I do?”
Outside, the leaves rustled in the wind. Sonja shivered in response. “Shall we go back to the house now? It feels strange talking here without any light.”
They slowly walked back towards the shield. After Sonja had opened a door, both girls stepped through and started down the path again. Neither of them said a word.
A soulfire.
Sonja had always known who she was; now it seemed she was a what as well. How was she supposed to wield this power? What was she supposed to do with it?
The cottage came in sight almost before Sonja knew it, but before they could reach it they saw someone marching up the path towards it.
Sonja froze. She wasn’t sure why she did it, but before she could even react she felt a hand on her arm. Rael shook her head slowly, her gaze intent. She inhaled deeply and the next moment there was a thin veil of smoke around them.
“Hello?” The woman knocked on the door. “Sonja?”
Sonja held her breath, watching and waiting. Even the birds had fallen silent.
The woman stepped away from the door and looked around. Her gaze passed over Sonja and Rael; she even met Sonja’s eyes briefly, but she passed right over them.
After a moment, the woman moved away, back towards Wildkeep. Sonja turned to Rael in astonishment.
“She didn’t see us,” she breathed. “How did you…”
Rael let out a half-laugh. “I did not know I could make someone else invisible as well.”
“Do you know anything else about soulfires?” Sonja glanced the way the woman had gone.
“Nothing I can remember, but maybe there is something in the library at Ivy House. I know we are no longer employed there, but I will have no trouble getting in.”
Her eyes were gleaming with mischief.