The dark shadow closed around her more and more, and she knew it was trying to swallow her up, but her whole being and her own ancestors fought off the evil. She struggled against it in vain. Accepting her powers and knowing how to use them were two different things.

She had no idea how to face something as strong as the being who held her.

"Stop!" she asked, as if that could contain it, and she heard laughter in her mind.

The smoke took the form of a faceless man, and Emma trembled in fear.

"My daughter was very clever to hide her entire bloodline from me, but she...