As soon as Esther discovered that she could do more with her dark magic when she ate the strange fruit from the tree that had grown from Alexander's blood, she smiled. To be sure of what she had just discovered, she picked another fruit and ate it. Powers surged through every vein in her body. She felt her dark power reverberate through her blood and her heartbeat in excitement.

She closed her eyes and opened them again to focus her attention on a little rock in front of her. She made a mental command at the rock to get even bigger than it already was. When the rock tripled in...