“The entire supernatural world is derived from the five elemental families in one way or another. Always with a bloodline crossed with the humans, of course. The humans were the melting pot for the elementals and all their offspring.

“From the elementals of the earth, you get werewolves, brownies, leprechauns, and necromancers. From the elementals of the air, you get harpies, my namesake the griffins, fairy folk, and psychics.

“From the elementals of fire, you get witches, automatic writers, Readers, and fire drakes. From the water elementals, you get mermaids, naiads, and sirens. And from the Spirit Elementals, you get only one offshoot: Trackers.

“Of course, the list isn’t inclusive, there are many, many more creations, but they all are derived from the elementals somewhere in their family branches.”

I opened my mouth to question him more but he held up his hand. “I ain’t done yet, yeah?”

He branched off more circles from the second set he’d drawn. “Some of those creations were powerful enough to make species of their own. Like the necromancers learning to make zombies and vampires, or the witches learning to make trolls and goblins. Now there are a few creatures outside of the elemental world in terms of creation. Unicorns, dragons, the Kracken, and firewyrms come to mind. A few others, but they don’t matter much at the moment.”

His hands hovered over the original five circles. “Now, here is where the story gets interesting. The first four families of elementals got jealous of the fifth-born because of their ability to control others.” He put his palm over the fifth circle and slowly rubbed it out.

“They took out their own siblings, cousins, and family because of fear, and the bloodline thinned, leaving only a few still in hiding. Those few kept moving, never finding a home. They married, had children, and all were caught and killed, yeah?”

My throat tightened and I struggled to swallow. “Just killed? For no reason?”

Griffin leaned closer to me, his dark eyes filling the sphere of what I could see. “For what they could do, little witch. For their strength.”

Heart beating wildly, I stared hard at him. “And how do I fit in here?”

He flashed a smile and pulled back. “You, you’re a blend of all five families, with a bit of everyone residing within your blood. It’s why you can heal, why you can use the elements with such ease. You’ll never be an elemental in truth, but you are strong like them.”

A dash of fear zipped through me. “But . . . then a part of me is still human?” I wasn’t sure if that was good or not. To me, humans were weak. They were blind and most times foolish in their choices. An easy example was how willing they’d been to believe Orion and his games.

Griffin nodded. “That’s what dilutes the power and makes you stronger than the other witches, but not so strong that the elementals here want to wipe you out. It’s a bad trait of theirs, killing what they can’t control. It’s why Lark has had such a difficult time in her life.”

“Fear. They kill what they fear,” I said, looking at the ground. Peta sat at my feet, looking up at me. I reached for her and she leapt upward.

Burying my face into her thick fur, I was no longer sure I wanted to know more about the elemental world. If they killed what they feared and I was stronger than some of them . . . I looked up in time to see Griffin nod.

“That’s right, little witch. You should be afraid. You should be, yeah?”

Yeah, indeed.

CHAPTER 30

LARK

I RAN THROUGH THE Rim and deep into the redwood forest. The northern edge was where my story truly began.

A place where I’d lost my family, my memories, and my childhood in a single fell swoop. The place that only two other people knew had any meaning to me, and Cactus sure as hell didn’t know about the sword for Rylee.

My father had taken it from me, saying it wasn’t needed. I had no doubt Ash would have recognized the sword as something I made, and if he’d seen it, he would have done his best to take it from my father.

Which would explain why Ash was also banished or more likely in an oubliette.

Ash would’ve defied my father and buried the weapon in the woods. A part of me wasn’t surprised. Ash always had kept a step ahead of me. Even though I didn’t realize it until after I’d been banished.

The clearing opened in front of me and my feet stumbled, despite trying to move faster. It seemed that my body remembered the place too.

“You know, I’m surprised you’d come back here.”

I dropped to a crouch as I spun around, swinging my spear out in a wide arc. The figure who’d spoken drifted through the forest toward me, hidden underneath a solid black cloak. Not one of his features visible, but I wasn’t surprised. We’d met more than once, and the bastard always seemed to be around when things went wrong.

“What are you doing here, Blackbird?”

He laughed softly. “Not what you think. The sword is deep within the ground and encased with several spells. Your friend, Ash, did that to protect it from me.”

Ash’s name on his lips was like a blow unto itself. I clenched the haft of my spear tighter and started toward him. “We end this now, Blackbird. You’re the reason Ash and I were banished.”

“Ha! You did that on your own; you didn’t need my help. But I think you need it now, little Larkspur of the Rim. Half-breed princess. Ender. Destroyer.” My many names rolled off his lips with an intimacy I didn’t appreciate. He moved with me, keeping always the same distance between us.