Radiant, p.1
Radiant, page 1
ACCLAIM FOR
COLOR THEORY
“Compelling magical fare for early teens. Innocent romance . . . and the hint of a battle to come will hook readers . . .”
—Kirkus Reviews
“The sequel I’ve been waiting all year for did not disappoint! It’s simply magical!”
—S.D. Grimm, author of the Children of the Blood Moon series and A Dragon by Any Other Name
“Vivid first captured my attention with an original, fascinating premise: a young girl coming of age in a world divided into different colors of magic: Augmentor Red, Shaper Blue, and Mentalist Yellow. But it was Bustamante’s brilliant cast of characters—led by the determined Ava Locke and the unforgettable, charming Elm Ridley—as well as her exquisite worldbuilding, snappy dialogue, and fast-moving plot, which sucked me into the story and wouldn’t let go. With echoes of Divergent, Inception, and The Story Peddler, this first installment of The Color Theory series is sure to leave readers begging for more!”
—J.J. Fischer, author of The Nightingale Trilogy
“This rich fantasy is bursting with romance, mystery, and characters both dark and delightful.”
—Jessica Arnold, author of The Looking Glass and The Lingering Grace
“As rich and colorful as its title suggests. The land of Magus blooms to life from page one, drawing you into an addictive world of irresistible—and forbidden—magic. I simply couldn’t put it down. Readers will swoon over this fantastical debut.”
—Sara Ella, award-winning author of the Unblemished trilogy, Coral, and The Wonderland Trials
“Vivid truly lives up to its name! With some of the most vivid imagery and heart-racing tension, Ashley has written a story that kept me turning pages till I had finished the entire thing! This book will take you on an incredible, twisting, driving plot with some of the most unique and clear world-building that will leave you begging for the second installment!”
—Victoria Lynn, author of the Chronicles of Elira
“Captivating. Ashley Bustamante expertly draws the reader into the Magus world where Red and Blue magic thrive and Yellow magic is outlawed . . . If that isn’t enough, the relationship between Ava and Elm kept me flipping pages for more.”
—Candice Pedraza Yamnitz, author of Unbetrothed
Radiant
Copyright © 2023 by Ashley Bustamante
Published by Enclave Publishing, an imprint of Oasis Family Media.
Carol Stream, Illinois, USA
www.enclavepublishing.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, digitally stored, or transmitted in any form without written permission from Oasis Family Media, LLC.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
ISBN: 979-8-88605-042-4 (hardback)
ISBN: 979-8-88605-043-1 (printed softcover)
ISBN: 979-8-88605-045-5 (ebook)
Cover design by Emilie Haney, www.eahcreative.com
Typesetting by Jamie Foley, www.JamieFoley.com
Printed in the United States of America.
To Mom and Dad—
you have given so much
to help me create these stories.
Thank you.
Table of Contents
Cover
Acclaim for Color Theory
Half-Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Map of Magus
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Other Fantasy Series
1
“They’re like locusts, aren’t they?”
I elbow Blake’s side and hold a finger to my lips. There could be other Mentalists working for the Benefactors besides Jace. I’m not willing to take the chance of someone hearing us, even if we are using Elm’s invisibility devices. Supposedly we’re the only ones who can hear and see each other while we’re invisible, but how infallible is this illusion?
Blake is right, though. Compared to last time, there must be at least twice as many Benefactors around Prism’s grounds, and they’re certainly plaguing us. How many of them are aware of what they’re doing?
A chilled breeze breathes down my arms and stirs the dead leaves at our feet. Every move we make could be betrayed by the crunching of those leaves. Thanks to Jace’s cowardice, the Benefactors still don’t know about the secret entrance to the school through the oak tree—the last thing Jace would want is to reveal his one escape route if things went south. But getting to it unnoticed with so many Benefactors is another story. We weren’t prepared to circumvent this many people.
I scan the area, knowing I’m looking out not just for myself, but also for those with me. Besides Blake, our group has four other former Prism students present: Blanca Valencia, Kaito Hayashi, Sarah Fischer, and Jazz Robinson. This visit is especially important to Jazz—we’re here to get his little sister. He twitches and fidgets, eyes darting in every direction. I haven’t ever seen him this jittery. Bringing him might have been a mistake.
Then again, we all look pretty bad, resembling wide-eyed statues as we strive to remain undetected. Nobody questions the importance of getting Jazz’s sister out of Prism, but we all wonder when our luck will run out. When we might trust the wrong person. When somebody won’t come home.
No time for wondering about that right now, though. Right now the only thing we need is a diversion. Something to clear the area around the oak.
In the fading light, a squirrel scratches its way up a tree a few yards to my left. Would an erratic woodland creature catch their attention? Maybe not, since the animals have been a bit jumpy lately anyway, but it’s worth a shot. I focus on the squirrel, remembering what Elm taught me. I imagine myself flowing into the mind of the squirrel. Merging our wills together . . .
The eyes of my companions turn to me, darting between me and the squirrel and waiting for some kind of direction or clue as to what I’m doing next. But the squirrel continues to make its way up the tree and out onto a limb, its mind still its own. Shoot. I don’t have that skill down yet.
CRACK.
The squirrel goes flying—branch and all—right over the heads of a cluster of Benefactors. That wasn’t me, was it? I make eye contact with Kaito, whose face relaxes out of his state of concentration from moving the branch. He gives a sheepish smirk and shrugs. Well, I guess there’s more than one way to move a squirrel. Nice job, Shaper.
The Benefactors jump, eyes wide and fearful, then rib each other and laugh with relief when they see the squirrel, now grounded and scrambling wildly away. They are human, after all, some of them not much older than we are. It must feel good to have a moment to laugh about something ridiculous.
I motion everyone forward as the Benefactors wave their friends over to share their hilarious squirrel anecdote. One crank of the right branch on the oak tree opens the secret entrance, and I wait, allowing everyone else to slide in before me. I pause as a stunning red butterfly lands on the bark of the tree, hesitantly fluttering its wings.
What are you doing out so late, little butterfly? I wonder as I follow my friends inside. It’s as out of place as we are.
Being inside the chamber doesn’t placate me at all. The air is cold and musty, and my eyes fixate on the device that held Elm captive for so many years. The unforgiving gurney with yellow stone shackles. I’m glad he isn’t here now for the painful reminder. How did he survive this place? Thankfully, one of my fears hasn’t been realized, at least for now. Selene hasn’t restrained a new prisoner in Elm’s place, and if I have any say in the matter, she never will.
“You okay?” Blake asks quietly. As always, he notices everything I’m feeling.
“I’ll be better once we get out of here.”
“Well, let’s get to it, then.”
I amplify my voice just enough to make sure everyone can hear. “Jazz, Kaito, and Sarah will go get Brie. Blake and Blanca will come with me to the cafeteria storage.” While getting Brie is our main purpose, there are now 37 of us living in the cave—38 once we rescue Brie. It’s getting harder to feed everyone. Elm has been working on maximizing his garden space, but of course that takes time.
We huddle around the door that leads into the main corridor. Kaito pulls out a flat, circular piece of brassy metal with a blue stone in the center and a tiny lens just above the stone. He presses the device against the door
“Guess you and Elm have been busy,” Blanca says to Kaito. “What’s all this stuff?”
“It detects people by sensing their magic,” Kaito says. “The dot projections represent people within a 30-yard radius.” In the hallway on the other side of the door, five dots—most likely Benefactors—keep a close eye on the faculty hallways.
“How do we know where everyone is?” asks Sarah.
Kaito produces a sketch pad and pencil from the bag he wears over his shoulder, and we huddle around him, the dots in the projection moving as we do.
“This weird little orange dot is Ava,” he says, giving me a slight grin. “So here’s where we are.” He holds the paper beneath the projection and sketches out an approximation of the room. He glances at the door and holds up two fingers on either side of it, then scales them down and starts sketching on the paper again. He scribbles out a map of the L-shaped faculty hallways and holds it so that all the dots lie on top of it.
“This should be about where everyone is.”
Nobody has to say it—we all know it’s going to be impossible to open the door of this room without those Benefactors noticing.
“There has to be a way to do this,” Jazz’s anxious voice breaks through the heavy silence. “We have to get my sister out of this place.”
“We’ll get Brie. Don’t panic.” I speak with confidence, though it’s all bluffing. I’m not sure how we can pull this off. But we can’t have come this far just to get set back by something as minor as opening a door.
We stare at the dots, as though watching them long enough will make our options clear. Odd, though . . . the room to the left of us currently has no dots inside.
“Does anyone know whose office that is?” I ask.
Kaito’s eyes widen. “Oh, actually, I do. That’s my mentor’s office. Well, former mentor.”
“Students move in and out of this area all the time,” Blake muses.
“And,” Jazz adds, “the Benefactors probably don’t know who everyone mentors. So if we can get into that office from here . . .”
“How would we get in there without going through the door?” Sarah wants to know.
Blanca grins and grabs Kaito’s pencil. She smashes it down into the sketch of the wall between our room and the office next door.
Kaito sighs. “Please stop breaking my pencils.” He pulls a spare from his bag.
“Relax. I’ll swipe you another one.” Blanca laughs, tossing back her dark ringlets.
I redirect to the task at hand. “Okay, we break through the wall. But how do we do that without alerting every Benefactor in the area?”
“I don’t think we can,” Sarah says with a frown. “It would just be too loud.”
Blanca is noticeably disappointed. The pencil remnants in her hand take the weight of her frustration and are now merely dust.
“Could we cut into it?” asks Jazz. “It would take longer, but wouldn’t be as loud as breaking through.”
Blake shakes his head. “Getting the tool through the wall to start with would still require a pretty loud hit.”
We fall silent once again. We should have come in the daytime. We thought it might be easier to get around in the evening with fewer students wandering about, but it also means unusual noises are a lot more noticeable.
“If we just had one loud moment to get a good hit in . . .” I murmur.
Jazz suddenly perks up. “I have an idea. The last time we were here scoping things out, we noticed a bell signaling the Benefactors’ shift change. If we can get a hit on the wall right during the signal, it might go unnoticed.”
“When does the shift change?” I ask.
“Seven p.m.”
I check my watch. “So we have around 20 minutes.”
“Can I be the one to hit the wall? Please?” Blanca begs.
Everyone looks to me, waiting for an affirmation. “It’s risky,” I say finally, “but it’s the only chance we have right now. Blanca, make sure you’re ready to go so you can land that hit exactly when the bell goes off.”
“Piece of cake!” She grins.
Every ounce of her is Red to the core. “Everyone else, be on alert. Watch those dots on Kaito’s map. We need to scramble if they start moving this way.”
Kaito closes his eyes for a moment, visualizing. He points to his diagram again. “If I’m remembering correctly, I think there’s a rolling bookcase right here. If we make the hole there, we can keep the case in front to cover our tracks.”
“I’m still not exactly sure what we’re doing once we’re in there,” Sarah says hesitantly.
“If Kaito pretends he’s meeting with his mentor, he can open the door while the rest of us sneak by invisible.”
“Won’t they recognize him?”
“I doubt every single Benefactor is keeping track of each student that left,” Kaito tells her.
“We should disguise you a little,” Blanca announces. “Ooo! There’s something I’ve always wanted to do to you. Come here!” She yanks Kaito over forcefully, spits in her hand, and ruffles his mop of dark hair, attempting to spike it in the front.
“Gross,” he sputters.
We spend the remaining time before the shift change going over the specifics of our plan and nervously watching the dots to be sure nobody approaches our room. I twist Elm’s silver locket around in my hands, grateful for the modifications he made. Now it simply cloaks me, as everyone else’s devices do. This mission would be a lot more difficult if I was still running around in that ridiculous yellow dress. Today I’m wearing a much more practical green button-up shirt and black jeans. It still feels odd to wear my favorite color instead of the red that would be expected from an Augmentor. Strange that such a small thing would feel so rebellious.
“Thirty seconds,” Sarah says.
Blanca positions herself, and we all brace in case something goes wrong. Beads of sweat shimmer on Jazz’s brow.
“It’s for Brie,” he says to himself over and over. “For Brie.” He’s definitely not the combative type.
“This is it,” says Blake, and Blanca pulls her fist back. “Three, two, on—”
The bell shrieks through the air, making us all jump, except for Blanca, who delivers a punch to the X Kaito drew on the wall. Her fist goes through the drywall as easily as if it were an eggshell. Her aim and force were perfect, making a hole straight through without going too far.
“All yours, Blakey Boo,” she says, batting her brown eyes at Blake and stepping aside.
Blake smiles nervously and steadies himself in front of the hole. He concentrates, and we all watch in awe as the hole expands, bits of drywall crumbling and flaking off in the process. Now, the hole is plenty big enough for a person to crawl through.
Kaito was right about the rolling bookcase. Jazz pushes it aside, and one by one, we work our way into the office. We do some quick cleanup and move the bookcase back where it belongs.
“Go-time, Kaito,” says Blanca. “I hope you’re a good actor.”
“Remember,” I warn, “we only have 25 minutes of invisibility left. Get Brie and go. If we’re cutting it close on time, just leave, even if we’re not all back.” Please, let everyone make it back.
We use our devices, and Kaito approaches the door. He takes a deep breath, then opens it and steps out. We quickly follow. Once in the hallway, he turns back and says loudly, “Thank you, Mr. Miley. I promise I’ll submit the makeup work on time.” He closes the door and moves down the hallway as we tiptoe behind. So far, so good. The Benefactors look bored.
“Hey,” one of the Benefactors says suddenly. We freeze, but Kaito manages to maintain his composure.
He looks at the Benefactor squarely. “Yes?”
To my surprise, the Benefactor smiles. “I just wanted to say hang in there. I struggled, too, but I made it.”
Kaito flashes a wide, appreciative smile. “Thanks. I’m working hard!”
As soon as we hit a gap in Benefactors, Kaito becomes invisible. We split up from there, Jazz, Sarah, and Kaito going to get Brie, and Blake, Blanca, and me in charge of food. We each came armed with two large duffle bags, waiting to be stuffed with pilfered goods.
