A Spiritual Expedition
Two weeks later, I sat cross-legged upon a smooth rock beside the decorative pool in the back garden, trying and failing to grant my element full sway over my body to set my spirit free. Out of all possible uses for elemental magic, this was the one I needed to perfect first. Once I could separate my spirit from my body at will, I could infiltrate my father’s compound and learn whether my mother wished to escape from beneath her husband’s authority.
I could also find out if any of my younger siblings still lived—whether they, too, were trapped in the shackles of crime. I was the eldest of four, my younger sister a mere infant the day my father sold me to the p**n producer. Time had blurred my memories of my brothers, Faruk and Murat. Had my father roped them into h
