To Kill a Wizard: Rose's Story (The Protectors of Tarak Book 1) by Lisa Morrow

but we did.
    “It was hard enough following them without this fog,” Sirena murmured.
    “Perhaps they made it in hopes of leaving us behind.”
    Yara’s comment made me pause as I squinted, trying to identify the women hurrying ahead of us.
    “Maybe this is just a test,” I answered, trying to reassure myself as much as them.
    “Then we better not fail it,” Bethenny said, without moving.
    I continued forward, hating the way the fog swallowed my feet. Sirena’s hand clutched at my cloak, lifting it just enough to give the chilly air more access to my flesh.
    We came to two wooden posts. I studied them closely, wondering at their significance. A memory of something flittered just beyond my comprehension, and I inched between the posts with hesitation. The others followed closely behind, silent except for the sound of heavy breathing. The snow beneath my feet felt different in a way I couldn’t understand, and the wind picked up, battering us with its icy claws.
    I curled into myself, trying not to let the hostile environment break down my defenses, and into my mind to muddle my thoughts. But trembles racked through my body. My breathing grew labored.
    At last the fog thinned just a bit, revealing a bridge, no wider than five feet beneath us. I grasped for railing, but my fingers found none. Sirena crashed into my back as I froze, unable to continue.
    Glancing out over the edge, the fog swallowed all views of the ground, creating the illusion we were walking over clouds. But I wasn’t fooled, land was somewhere beneath us, perhaps just a short distance, perhaps miles.
    Sirena gasped. “They could have warned us.”
    “Unless they hoped we’d fall to our deaths,” Yara mumbled.
    My muscles tightened with nerves, but up ahead, dark shapes moved slowly, indicating The Protectors hadn’t completely abandoned us.
    “They wouldn’t have Chosen us just to let us die,” I told the others, willing myself to believe my words.
    The girls were silent. For a long time we crept forward, seeing little else but our feet and the bridge. And then just as suddenly as the fog came, it dissipated.
    “Goddesses’ breath!” Sirena cried.
    The others joined in her sounds of terror, but my mind filtered the noises out, too overcome by the sight before me. Far below us, a cavernous valley complete with trees and a swirling river came sharply into focus. I stepped forward on shaky legs.
    And lost my balance.

Chapter Four
     
    The stone at my neck warmed as I stumbled. I reached for it, taking comfort in the familiar. My dizziness faded, and I turned my attention from the deadly drop on either side of us, to what was ahead.
    We stood on a bridge nearly as long our village. It stretched out to meet an island of land, rising from the valley as if called forth by The Protectors for their purposes alone. The island was formed from massive, flat slabs of stone, varying in color from deep red to soft brown.
    My gaze followed the impossible height of the slabs of stone up from the valley to where they connected with our bridge, and it was upon this that I knew our destination stood. It was a castle made of glass.
    “Rose. Did you look at the bridge?” Sirena’s voice wavered as she asked.
    I frowned and almost answered her, but then looked down at my feet. Dreading what I was doing even as I did it, I kicked snow off the bridge, allowing it to fall into the abyss below.
    My breath came in rapid bursts. The bridge, it seemed, was also made of glass. Glass so thin it looked as if we might fall through it at any moment. Thin and clear, it could’ve been the same glass used in our windows back home. I wanted to touch it, to see if it radiated any kind of magic, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
    Nausea washed over me.
    “For goodness sakes!” Bethenny yelled. “Let’s keep moving.”
    “Is the bridge really made of glass?” Sirena asked hesitantly.
    “Perhaps,” I said, my voice coming out higher than I intended. “But the