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Abyss.” She indicated Ravyn and the other Bringer woman. “My sisters Ravyn and Juna were there too. We are the Trilation. Three to battle the darkness.” She shrugged. “You were our first successful attempt.”
    “I’m very happy you succeeded.” Rell glanced at the other sisters. “I owe you my life.”
    “You owe us nothing,” Gregory said. “It is us who owe you. This is a great day for the Bringers. We would not have known if the conversion would be successful without your cooperation. You were strong as a Bane and will be even stronger as a Bringer.”
    She had been a strong Bane, but not nearly the strongest. His praise left a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. The line of Bringers blocked her view of the other table. “What happened to my demon form?”
    The quick glances exchanged between some of the Bringers were not lost on her.
    “Come.” Siban held out his hand. “We will say good-bye to her together.”
    She hesitated only a second before accepting his hand. With an arm around her waist, he helped her stand. The Bringers parted to reveal the table on which she’d lain at the beginning of her healing. Her steps shuffled forward until she stood at the edge of the wooden slab.
    As if created by a master sculpture, her demon form appeared to be only sleeping. No longer the pearlescent green, the skin had turned gray. When Rell reached out to touch a talon, the claw crumbled to ash. She jerked away. Like a row of children’s blocks that had been lined up and then pushed over, the ripple moved along the demon body.
    First the hand she’d touched, then the arm and shoulder. The ash dropped and lay in neatly formed piles. Rell didn’t move, only watched as the body that had been her for thirteen years, disintegrated into gray powder. She wanted to scoop it up, to try and stop its destruction. Logically, there was no reason to want the reminder of all she’d been through, but the demon body had been a part of her—had protected her in a ruthless world.
    When the last trace of her Bane form had fallen to ash, Rell turned away and looked at Gregory. “What now?”
    He inhaled and scanned the crowd of Bringers. “Now we train.” He paused. “We have more Bringers to save.”

Chapter Three
    Rell stared at herself in the mirror. The black wool-and-leather pants and tunic Ravyn had given her hung loose on her thin frame, but she liked the ease of movement that the clothes allowed her.
    It had been three days since she’d retaken her human body—three days to become accustomed to its weaknesses. When she’d first been shown her image, she’d looked about sixteen. Meran had told her she would change until she matched her present age and then grow older almost imperceptibly from there on. Rell appeared to be around eighteen years old now. Still fresh-faced, but she no longer possessed the childlike roundness.
    She smoothed her hand over her cheek. Even though she appeared nearly the same as the day she had been taken, the face that stared back at her was practically a stranger. Soon she would look her full twenty-eight years. She sighed, a twinge of vanity pinching her. Most women had the luxury of aging gradually. She would gain ten years within the next month. At least from that point on she would have centuries to grow used to her appearance.
    Her finger traced the single black line running from her lower lip to the dip above her chin. The stark Tell tattoo lay dark against her still slightly gaunt complexion. Though she looked young, her soul felt old.
    A knock sounded at her bedroom door and Jade peeked inside. “Good morning.”
    Rell turned from the mirror and smiled. “Good morning.”
    “You’re up early.” Her sister strode across the room and wrapped Rell in a brief hug. “How are you feeling?”
    It was a question Rell had been asked a hundred times over the last three days and one not easily answered. Physically she was getting stronger. Her coordination was back and her