I moved past the glass partition, crossed the mats, and stopped in front of the last row of weapons, the ones that pulsed with magic, the ones that Devon and Felix had just brought in here less than an hour ago. A heavy padlock secured the grate and it was actually locked. Of course it was. Devon would never be so careless as to leave the weapons unprotected.

Finally, a small challenge. Grinning, I slid my chopstick lock picks out of my hair, bent over, and went to work on the padlock. It snicked open less than a minute later, and I unhooked it from the grate and slid it into one of my coat pockets. I opened the grate, wincing at the faint creak it made, then reached inside to grab the first sword—

“You’ve gotten awfully good at picking that lock,” a voice called out behind me.

I tensed, then hissed out a breath and turned around. “Really? Because I think I’m losing my touch. I keep letting people sneak up on me tonight. First Deah and now you.”

The overhead lights snapped on, revealing Claudia Sinclair standing by the double doors, the training room’s only other entrance, besides the window that I’d shimmied through.

“Oh, Serena showed me a few of her tricks,” Claudia said, locking the doors behind her so that we wouldn’t be discovered. “Besides, I knew that you’d come down here as soon as possible to move the weapons. It’s the same thing your mother would have done.”

She smiled, her green eyes soft and warm with memories. Claudia and my mom had been best friends back when they were about my age, and Claudia still missed her just as much as I did.

“Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me move the weapons?” I asked. “This was your idea, after all.”

Claudia arched her eyebrows at my snarky tone, but she stepped forward and helped me strip the swords and daggers off the pegs on the wall. I placed the real black blades into the same two duffel bags that Devon and Felix had used to carry them down here, since the guys had left the bags behind after they’d finished hanging up the weapons. Then Claudia moved behind the rows of seats and dragged out two more bags of weapons that she’d hidden back there sometime earlier today. More fakes from Mo’s pawnshop spray-painted to look like black blades.

We switched out all the magic-filled weapons for the fake ones; then I closed the grate, locked the padlock over it again, and stepped back, scanning everything with a critical eye.

“How does it look to you?” Claudia asked, knowing that my sight magic let me examine every little detail.

“Exactly the same as before. No one will know the difference. They haven’t noticed so far, have they? Not even Devon and Felix, and they’ve been bringing weapons down here for the last two weeks.”

She shook her head. “No, they haven’t noticed. But it’s a necessary precaution.”

It had been Claudia’s idea to switch out the weapons again and hide them somewhere else. A lot of people and pixies lived and worked in the Sinclair mansion, and folks were constantly roaming through the halls. With all the tension between the Families these days, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility to think that someone could be a spy for Victor or had seen Devon, Felix, and me carrying bags of weapons around the mansion. So Claudia had wanted a little extra insurance that the black blades would be safe.

That’s why I snuck into the training room every time we came back from the Draconi compound and took the weapons we’d stolen to another hiding spot. I was actually storing the weapons in a couple of different places, along with some other supplies. Victor would strike out against the other Families soon, and I was going to be ready to protect my friends and myself when he did.

“Are you ready for the next step?” Claudia asked.

I nodded, braced myself, and held out my hand. “Hit me with your best shot.”

She rolled her eyes at my flip response, but she took my hand in her own. Claudia stared at me, making sure that I was really ready.

And then she blasted me with her magic.

Most magic fell into three categories—strength, speed, and senses. People who could lift cars with their bare hands, or move faster than I could blink, or hear a quarter hit the floor from a hundred feet away. But there were also other people like Claudia who had more unique Talents. People in the other Families called Claudia the Ice Queen, since she was always so calm, cool, and in control. But in her case, the nickname was literally true as well, since she had the power to freeze people with a mere touch of her hand.

Just like she was doing to me right now.

Claudia kept her gaze steady on mine even as her magic washed over me, the chilly wave of her power zipping up my hand and arm.

But it was nothing compared to the cold that exploded inside my own body.

In addition to my soulsight, I had another very special, very rare Talent—transference magic, the ability to absorb any magic directed against me. Whenever someone tried to knock me out with their strength or trip me with their speed, my own transference power flared to life, and I felt the cold burn of the other person’s magic running through my body, as if I had ice in my veins instead of blood. Not only that, but I could actually use that magic in different ways, like making myself stronger or quicker or even healing a horrible stab wound that someone had inflicted on me.

In a way, I supposed that I was just like Victor Draconi. He used black blades to rip magic out of monsters, while I used my Talent to steal power from other people. The thought made me frown, but I focused on Claudia.

Her frosty power blasted over me in intense waves, making me wince, but almost immediately it congealed into an even stronger cold, one that roared through my body like an icy fire. Oh, magic affected—and hurt—me just like it did everyone else, but thanks to my transference power, magic almost always made me stronger too. And I would need all the extra strength I could get to carry the heavy bags of weapons over to my hiding spot.

Not even Claudia knew where I was keeping the weapons, and she said that she didn’t want to know. I supposed that it was better this way, although part of me hated lying to Devon, Felix, Oscar, and Mo. But I’d rather have them be safe and angry at me than dead, and that’s exactly what would happen if Victor ever got his hands on all the magic-filled blades.

After about a minute of dousing me with her power, Claudia dropped her hand from mine and stepped back. “Is that enough?”

She stared down at my hand, which had turned a dark blue—almost black, really—from frostbite. But even as she looked at my hand, the blue started to fade as my body quickly absorbed all her magic. In a few seconds, my skin was its normal color again. I flexed my fingers, then curled my hand into a fist, enjoying the sudden surge of strength.