Rival Demons by Sarra Cannon

big, but maybe the
difference needed to start somewhere smaller. Closer to home. Maybe
the change needed to start within me. No one cared to listen to a
young human witch without any real battle experience or knowledge
of how to fight with magic. Yes, I had managed to end a few lives,
but only in the most desperate of situations and only with help
from Aerden or Jackson.
    If I truly wanted to make a difference, I needed
to learn how to fight.
    What little training I'd had with Zara back home
in Peachville was so minimal, it hardly counted. Besides, I knew I
couldn't trust anything the Order's witches had taught me. After
what Lea showed me in Aldeen, I knew the High Council of the Order
was capable of a lot more than they ever taught their fellow
witches. They preferred to hold on to the secrets of their most
powerful magic so that if need be, they could use it against anyone
who dared to voice opposition.
    They were afraid that if everyone knew just how
powerful they could be, they would rise up and overturn the leaders
of the Order. So instead, they taught their Primas just enough to
scratch the surface of their power, but never enough to make them a
real threat. Never enough to allow them the strength to fight
back.
    Well, this was one Prima who had her eyes wide
open. I knew exactly what witches like me were capable of, and I
desperately needed to learn how to access that magic and power
within myself. I might not have the same kind of strength and demon
power as a Prima who had already passed through initiation, but I
knew there was a reservoir of untapped power inside me.
    I had seen it that day we came through the
portal. I still didn't know what had come over me when I killed the
sister tiger. I wasn't thinking. I was only acting on instinct, but
the power that had raged inside of me was foreign and terrifying
and incredibly strong. If I could find a way to access that kind of
power but still have control over it, I would be capable of so much
more.
    I touched the strip of white cloth around my
wrist, feeling a rush of certainty fill me.
    No matter how helpless I felt down here, there
was one thing I always had access to. My own power.
    It was time I learned how to use it.
     
     
The Information You Are Seeking
    Alone in my room, I started working on my magic.
Nothing fancy, just learning how to reconnect to my power. I
practiced glamours, lighting candles, going invisible, moving
things from one side of the room to another. My skill had
definitely gotten rusty, but slowly, it all came back to me.
    When I'd nailed down the basics of what I'd
learned in Peachville, I started experimenting with slightly more
daring magic. For example, I spent a few hours learning how to make
my leather jacket hover high in the air, then quickly dive-bomb
into the floor at breakneck speeds. Of course, a soft jacket was
harmless at those speeds, but what about a brick? Or a knife? If I
could learn to control both the speed and direction of any item,
then I could almost always find a weapon no matter what situation I
found myself in. Hell, what would stop me from learning to lift an
entire person high into the air and then send them into a wall or a
rock?
    Despite hours of practice, I'd still been unable
to match the speed and power of the rocks I'd thrown at the tiger.
I was making progress, though, and that was all that mattered.
    With my limited materials and space, I was only
able to get so creative with my own magic. What I needed was a good
teacher and a good place to practice. Essex said they had training
grounds here in the Underground where they took their best students
of the Resistance and taught them techniques to fight against the
Order. I wondered if there was any way I could find those classes
and watch what they did. I doubted the demons would want me
learning their fighting techniques, but what if I could make myself
disappear and observe them from some hiding place?
    Then again, all demons seemed to have their own
unique