Keisha couldn’t tell whether or not it was morning. The Dark Woods made it impossible for light to break through. Verona had to shake her awake to pull her from her sleep.

“Can’t I sleep in, mamma?” Keisha moaned and buried her head into the pillow. The woody sweetness from it reminded her of maple syrup and made her mouth water. “It’s too early.”

“The earlier, the better. We want to make good time to catch a blacksmith,” Verona replied.

Realizing that the voice was not her mamma, Keisha sat her head up and looked around. It took a moment to remember that she was a Legacy in the Inferno, and her mamma was nowhere to be found.

“Oh,” Keisha mumbled. She flopped on her back, and tears welled in her eyes. Her big wild hair sprawled out as she stared at the ceiling. She wished that the other night was a nightmare, and she, and her mamma, were on the internet looking up staffs.

“Hey.”

Keisha looked from the corner of her eye. Verona stood above her with something in her arms. “Don’t let the despair linger; that can affect your Malia. You’ve got to keep moving, or else you’ll never be able to help yourself and find your mamma.”

Keisha sniffed, wiping her nose and tears with her arm. Verona was right; Keisha knew this. If she wanted to find her ma, she’d need to drag her butt out of bed and learn to fight so she could save her.

“Yeah…yeah, you’re right!” Keisha exclaimed, jumping from the bed. She fist-pumped the air, almost tripping on the long gown. Had Verona not been there to hold her upright, she would have busted her face on the wooden floor.

“Mmm, energy, good. You’ll need it. Here are some of my clothes you can change into. You can get ready in the washroom; I’ve already drawn the bath.”

“Okay. You’ll teach me more about our magic…I mean, Malia, right?”

Verona nodded. “Yup, and Maleficio.”

Keisha scrunched her face. “Male-who?”

“It’s the opposite of Malia and used for evil. I’ll explain more when you get ready,” Verona told her before leaving back downstairs.

Keisha shivered, but she was eager to learn. She headed toward the washroom to get clean from the dirt, sweat, and grime from the day prior. After the bath, she got dressed and went downstairs to meet with Verona.

***

THE NEAREST VILLAGE WAS a quarter of a mile away, but the Dark Woods was always changing, and it would take them fifteen minutes to get to their destination.

“I don’t think I’m used to this kind of material,” Keisha mumbled and tugged at the burgundy tunic on her. The long white puffy sleeve were loose-fitting and the black leather pants were slightly big, but she was still able to move easily.

Keisha decided she would stay with her Timberlands since they’d be useful for the journey. Verona had given her a black, hooded cloak to wrap around her shoulders to conceal her identity.

“Stop complaining and stay close,” Verona said. She grabbed the hood and tossed it over Keisha’s head. Two portions of her big hair stuck out on each side. “We can’t have you sticking out like a sore thumb—your eyes will give you away.”

“My eyes?” Keisha pointed to her face. “What about them? Don’t people have different color eyes?”

“Not like human eyes, no.”

There was a large fallen tree trunk that blocked their path. Verona jumped and grabbed the trunk's edges, placing one foot in front of the other. She placed one foot in front of the other to climb over it.

Keisha gaped at Verona’s prowess and flexibility. She admired her strength and her ability to stay nimble.

Verona reached out a hand for Keisha to grab to help her climb. Verona grunted as she pulled Keisha’s arm.

One last tug and Keisha flailed over to the side and bumped into Verona, the two almost falling off the trunk. Verona secured her arms on Keisha’s shoulder so she wouldn’t topple over.

Keisha’s heart jumped. She looked down, seeing how far she would have dropped and broken her leg.

“Maybe be a little more careful? We can’t afford any mess-ups.”

Keisha’s cheeks reddened, nodding. The two eventually found their way back to the ground.

“Alright, let’s continue with a bit of training. I told you I’d explain more about Malia and how it aids our Stanza to use Verses.”

They walked the dirt and rooted vine path. The dark forest was on either side of them. Keisha stayed close to Verona while keeping an eye out for any more Demi’s that lurked in the darkness.

“The Stanzas had something called Circuit Gems?” Keisha asked, keeping her balance from tripping over upturned roots.

“That’s right. Circuit Gems are based on the seven elements, and the stronger the Legacy, the stronger your Malia, the more potent your Verses will be. Legacies can learn five: Water, Fire, Earth, Air, and Light. Spirit can only be mastered by Shikari—and their bloodline, if they’re strong enough.”

Keisha counted on her fingers and named all the elements. “So that means…Darkness is left, right?”

“Good, and that’s where Maleficio comes in. For us, that’s when Verses are turned into Wild Verses and used for evil that cause negativity. That’s the only enchantment that can perform the Darkness element.”

“That’s amazing! I mean, not about using Maleficio for evil, but how you know so much. Did you learn all this from your papà? You must be very proud of him and have all kinds of stories about him. Did you two do anything together? For fun, me and papà would have a contest to see how many words we knew in different languages, like Latin, Greek, Russian, Spanish, Romanian, Kaixana, Chinese, and Japanese.”

Keisha prattled on about the different languages as she counted off on her fingers and smiled as memories of her papà came into her head. Verona stared at Keisha and the way she smiled so carelessly. For a moment, Verona’s eyes gleamed before disappearing.

“But of course papà always won. He said I was getting better. What did you and Mr. Virgil do?”

Verona raised her brow. “Mister?”

Keisha shrugged. “Well, yeah, I’m being polite, but I guess by how close our papá’s were….” Keisha stopped mid-sentence to jump over a branch in her way. “I guess he should be ‘Uncle’ Virgil.”

Keisha chuckled. However, Verona said nothing. Keisha's lips pressed staring at the back of Verona’s head, wondering if she might have gone too far.

“We…wrote several books together,” Verona mumbled. “He was a great Shikari but didn’t care that Dante received the attention, he preferred to be in the background. He was a simple man, who loved a simple lifestyle, but when he wrote the Aeneid, that changed—” Verona suddenly stopped and peered around the forest.

“What changed?” Keisha asked. “Did something happen to it?”

“Keisha, shh,” Verona hushed her. She held her hand in the air to signal that something was lurking in the woods, watching them.

Keisha’s eyes grew wide, and she chewed on her lip. It wasn’t until a low growl sent both girls on high alert when two creatures stepped in front of their path—a lion, with a scorpion stinger for a tail, and a leopard with spikes and scales.

“Demi’s,” Verona said with gritted teeth.