“You sure that this is the way?” Esther asked glumly as Sesuuk scampered to the edge of another, glowing tunnel.

  He put his head down it and took a good, deep sniff. “It is,” he said confidently, attempting to climb into the tunnel with his bound hands before he grimaced and offered them to her once more. “Will you please use your powers to unbind me now? It would make everything so much easier!”

  Esther shrugged. “A bit further, snake-boy,” she said with a wicked smile, watching as the small scales around Sesuuk’s cheeks flared again in utter fury, but then he clearly had no choice but to climb over the rocks into a larger tunnel beyond.

  She had to admit that it felt good to have such power. The feeling reminded her of when she was actually releasing the qlippothic energies. She felt strong and invincible.

  In fact, it reminded her of when she was back on Old Earth, hanging out with Kano as a part of his gang. She had been cruel then, too.

  There was a flicker of self-doubt in her. She didn’t want to be a cruel person. She knew Finn would be disappointed in her as well…

  But Finn’s not here! He left and I have to take care of myself. She climbed after Sesuuk, finding him in a much lighter tunnel.

  She was annoyed and hurt. Could it be true what Sesuuk had told her, that her brother, the Knight-Defender and Founder of Blackwood, had much greater problems now? That he would weigh the needs of Blackwood and Malvas against his responsibility to just her?

  What was her life worth anyway, against thousands?

  Esther’s mood soured even further as she realized that she couldn’t bring herself to ask Finn to make that choice. She wouldn’t.

  If she was going to get out of this mess, she would need to do it on her own. Maybe with a little help from this Lamakai, but mostly on her own.

  “You will need another potion,” Sesuuk said quickly, producing one.

  Esther was irritable, but she wasn’t particularly weak or exhausted from their rambling underground hike. She looked at him quizzically. “Really, I feel fine. Let’s save it for when we get out the other side,” she began.

  Sesuuk hissed in a low, threatening way. “You will need it, I promise you. Take the potion,” he said in a deadly serious voice, pressing the vial into her hands.

  She took a swig, and once again felt the surge of confidence, strength, and power. She felt ready for anything. “Alright, how much further?”

  Sesuuk nodded to the turn in the corridor just ahead and started idling forward. There was a fierce orange glow illuminating his scales and it seemed to make them dance with a fiery light.

  “Fiery…” Esther frowned.

  Then, she realized.

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  “This doesn’t lead out, does it? This leads to your damn prism!” She stopped, planting her feet on the rocks below.

  “The way out is through,” Sesuuk whispered.

  “Or back. You seem to forget that option,” Esther pointed out.

  “Through a battle?” Sesuuk countered. “And can you even remember the way back?”

  Esther felt a surge of anger. “Why, you little…”

  Toxic green fire burst to life around her hands, yet it did not hurt. She knew that she could obliterate him if she wanted, and she very much wanted…

  “This is your chance to not only be whole, but to be stronger than you have ever dreamed, Esther Callahan,” Sesuuk hissed, not flinching as she raised her qlippothic-drenched hands. “If you are powerful enough, then people like Laurie Marr or Captain Goreth or even Sister Alharrow won’t be able to deny you. They won’t be able to rule over you. They won’t be able to limit you. They will have to accept you, if you choose to live in Blackwood or not, because they won’t be able to stop you.”

  Esther held her hands in the air, feeling the pulsating wave of power course through her body.

  “I am already powerful, Sesuuk,” she said.

  “But not for long. My potions will wear off, and you will return to being the young girl who will likely wind up killing herself because she cannot control the gifts she possesses. If you do this one thing for me, then you will become truly powerful. You will be like this, and more, all of the time, I promise you!” Sesuuk hissed.

  Very slowly, Esther started to lower her hands. The green light slowly faded to a dull glow, but it kept burning.

  “Explain,” she said flatly. She watched Sesuuk’s forked tongue lick his lips, and he nodded to the turn in the passage, from where the red light was streaming.

  “The Prism of Fire has been cracked. It has been infected with qlippothic power, weakening it and the Asai of Fire himself. I want you to try something new. Instead of throwing your powers at it, I want you to use your affinity to call on the qlippothic energies inside the prism. I believe it will suck all of that energy out of the prism, liberating it, and you will be more powerful than ever.”

  “How can you know I won’t just die?” Esther asked fiercely, the green fire brightening.

  Sesuuk hissed before speaking. “Because I am far, far older than you, Esther Callahan, and I am far, far wiser! Your problem has never been that you aren’t strong enough to contain the Qlippothi, but that you will not allow yourself to control it! Do you know what it is my potions actually do to you? Really do?!” The prophet spat the words, advancing toward her. “They give me Health, Mana, and Stamina. They heal my body, feed me power…” Her voice faltered a little.

  Sesuuk laughed. “Healing potions, that is all, with an enchantment that removes fear. That is the secret to your strength! I have just made you unafraid of yourself!”

  Esther rocked back and forth on her feet. She knew he was speaking truth because of the way her heart stilled for a moment. All of that confidence and power, that wasn’t anything to do with Sesuuk’s concoctions. It never had been.

  It was her. This was what she was like. Finn and everyone else had always said that she was confident and self-assured, reckless, even back on Old Earth. It was a side of her that she had lost since she’d been imprisoned by Kano and the qlippothic Asai…

  Esther dropped her hands to her sides, and the green glow faded to almost nothing.

  “Why didn’t you tell me before?” she asked.

  “You would never have believed me,” he said, his tongue flicking out. “And Sister Alharrow was trying to sedate you, thinking you were ill. The truth was, you were never ill. You were just more powerful than they are. Or can be, if you step forward with me and into your future…”

  He offered up his manacled wrists, and Esther knew what she had to do.

  There was no denying who she was, not really. Hadn’t Finn always encouraged her to just be herself, anyway?

  Esther shot a small spurt of green flame at his bonds, and the links between them melted away. With a flash of white light, the manacles fell off.

  Sesuuk stood up a little straighter, flexing his shoulders as he seemed to stand taller and broader, and even his scales shone a little brighter. He sighed with relief. “Come with me, Esther Callahan, into your future.”

  They turned the corner and stepped into the brilliant glow of the bright and burning light.