Ensnared (Sorcery and Science Book 5) by Ella Summers Page A

Passing,” Cameron continued. “For every Elition twelve-year-old, there comes a day when he or she is summoned to the temple. It is the day each of us is tested.”
    “What kind of test?” asked Everett.
    Isis raised a trembling hand to her cheek. “A difficult one.” She dropped her hand quickly, hiding it behind her back. “But we do not speak of it.”
    “To humans?”
    “To anyone,” she replied. “Even to other Elitions. It is a deeply personal experience. The only other people who know the details of an Elition’s Trials of Passing are the priests overseeing it, and they are sworn to secrecy.”
    “Based on the results of the Trials of Passing, the priests give us a power name that’s supposed to represent our abilities,” Cameron said. “Any Elition who hears the name Mythos will instantly identify me as a Prior.”
    “Really?”
    “Really, really.”
    “As a very strong Prior actually,” Jason added. “The name not only identifies the talent but the strength of said talent.”
    “Huh.”
    “Jason is Magus. You may have heard Elitions calling him that,” Cameron said.
    Everett nodded.
    “Magus is a strong name. It is absolutely fitting for the Elite Phantom,” Cameron explained further.
    “If you say so. They all sound much the same to me. I have a hard time even identifying the talent from the name.”
    “Prophets are the easiest,” Jason told him. “They have names like Fate and Serendipity. Or Isis’s friend Destiny. Or…”
    He looked at Isis. She bit down on her lip and said nothing. For a while, Cameron thought she would not, in fact, answer him.
    “Oracle,” she finally whispered.
    Jason stared at her. “That is a powerful name.”
    This time, she actually did remain silent.
    “Well, I think that’s all the Elition sociology I can absorb for this day.” Everett rubbed his temples, as though it hurt to think. “Or this year,” he added under his breath.
    “Then let’s eat,” suggested Cameron. “And enjoy it while we can. Soon it will be nothing but sandwiches.”
    Everett frowned. “I thought you liked my sandwiches.”
    “I do. But not three times a day for weeks at a time.”
    “You don’t have to come,” Isis pointed out.
    “Yes, I really do,” Cameron insisted. He couldn’t just sit there while his sister was being hunted. It would drive him mad.
    “It’s not safe,” she repeated.
    “I think Cameron has handled himself quite well these past few months. Besides, he deserves to go, to finally meet his sister,” Everett voiced.
    Cameron smiled. “Thanks, Everett.”
    Isis’s smile bore icicles. “Yes, thank you, indeed.” She turned to Jason. “Jason?”
    Cameron held his breath. For as long as they’d known each other, Jason had insisted that it was better for Cameron to be safe than to be free. ‘Safe’ to Jason meant high stone walls and posted guards. After the tenth or so time of tracking him down inside the Wilderness and depositing him back at Black Moss, he’d even threatened iron bars.
    “It is his right,” Jason said to Isis.
    When his shock had faded, Cameron grinned. Isis crossed her arms against her chest and sighed. She didn’t look by any means pleased that she’d been so overwhelmingly outvoted.

CHAPTER NINE
    ~ Broken Prophets ~
    526AX August 20, Eclipse

    THE STORM CLOUDS were nearly black when Isis came to see Jason at his cabin. Leaves rustled in the wind and rain rattled hard against his roof, the autumn sounds masking the steps of her approach. It was only the gentle tug at his mind that preceded the knock at the door. Jason set his book down on the side table and stood from the sofa.
    Her dark silhouette stood framed against a smokey-grey sky as he opened the door. Isis must have retreated several steps back since knocking, and she now stood exposed to the rain. She wrung her hands and shifted her weight uneasily between her feet, oblivious to the shower of water droplets bombarding her hooded head.
    Jason motioned her