45 ❤ Brenda
I breathe in and out, my heartbeat, the blood pulsing through me, all of me a part of the connected circle of power.
Outside the circle, people are talking, and Kat is there—I can’t hear her anymore, but I can see her, and I’m happy she’s here, glad I got to talk to her, that our last words weren’t full of anger.
Alvarez, the center cornerstone, is reading the framework of the Ritual from her runebook, but she’s rigid, her eyes glowing as the words themselves seem to be reading her.
Everything that led up to now feels so far away: dancing at prom with my friends, the venomous creatures attacking, rushing through the portal and catching the streetcar to the library.
It didn’t take much to convince the council that we wanted to volunteer, and now we’re here. There’s no turning back now.
The Ritual’s energy rises up through us, and I can feel the origin of the spell, the echoes of the two lovers, desperate to save everyone, who couldn’t save each other.
I focus my energy on their love, what I felt in the memory, and what I feel now. I pour all my love for the world, for my family, my friends into the circle. I can feel the intention from the other cornerstones: stabilize, protect, stabilize, protect…
Our minds are connected, and I can feel Jenn’s and Erica’s determination, their support. Now? Jenn’s mind whispers around my own.
I take the focus from Alvarez, whose presence is the strongest anchor of us all, and try to show the cornerstones that the Ritual is only protecting a corrupt system.
With the flooding energy all around us and multiple thought processes rising everywhere, it’s difficult to project any sort of thought, but I fumble through my explanation, showing them memories as best I can about Jìngyi and what she discovered.
That’s all very interesting, child, but we have a job to do , Alvarez’s stern voice echoes.
We must change it , I push. I concentrate on what Clarabelle and Jìngyi did together, and try to circle back to what it meant to protect others, and to reconnect the worlds.
Love , I think, trying to bring the focus forward.
Around me, I can feel Erica and Jenn projecting their intentions, too.
The mana pulses and flows around us, then it falters and starts to sway toward just filling the cracks in the dam again.
The energy changes.
Something new rushes through the connection, a stubbornness I recognize—
I open my eyes.
Kat has stepped into the circle, her hands open and her arms outstretched as the mana welcomes her, swirls around her.
Alvarez opens her eyes as well, alarmed, but no one dares to move.
What are you doing? I fight to ask against the waves of magic still rushing through me, trying to follow the outline that Alvarez is setting.
“Changing my destiny!” Kat says aloud, her words echoing throughout the circle. “I’d wanted to do this properly and rewrite everything, but I guess it wasn’t the time, so channeling the mana raw will have to do!”
“Thought you said never to do that,” I say. My voice sounds strange, every word said aloud taking ten times the energy than a thought.
Kat grins at me, headstrong and cocky. “Yeah, but we’re not alone.
” I can feel her presence in the spell, her energy ready to anchor all of us.
Her mind rushes toward mine, and it feels so right, her soul entwined with mine.
Every thought I had about our last conversation at the museum, my plan, what we said to each other—I can feel her betrayal, her distress when I talked about the prophecy, and I’m so sorry, how much I hurt her.
She sees what she missed, too, as she sees my plan to enact her mom’s change in the Ritual during the Ritual itself, what I asked Jenn and Erica to do with me now.
“Yes,” Kat says aloud. “We can do this.”
Alvarez stops reading and looks at Kat. The other cornerstone, a nervous-looking young man, pauses as well, his gaze respectful, curious, regarding. The mana wafts around us, waiting, as the intentions we’re projecting pause.
Kat’s thoughts bring forward the image of Jìngyi and Clarabelle again, holding on to each other—their love tying the universes together in their last moments.
Kat shows the ineffectiveness of the current Ritual with equations and theories, and I can feel the other two in the spell start to shift in understanding.
“We must change the Ritual,” Kat says. “It isn’t sustainable to keep doing this.”
“But how?” The young man next to me looks afraid. “I’ve never done any magic without a framework or diagram!” he shouts.
“Just feel it,” Kat guides. “Follow Brenda’s lead. I trust her.” She looks at me, her eyes sparkling.
“Magic is about intention, right?” I say, grinning at her.
“You’re the worst mage I’ve ever met,” Kat says, shaking her head, fondness lighting up her eyes.
The wind picks up, and I know it’s not just wind. It’s the very force of energy keeping us all together, keeping us all apart.
My feet leave the ground, and all of us in the circle hover in the air, the flow of the universe around us, waiting.
“It’s time to end this cycle,” I say.
Alvarez nods. “What do you need?”
I lead everyone off their anchor points toward the edge of the circle, my instinct guiding me to have us be a part of the framework. By either intuition or some mage training, Alvarez takes my hand, and the mage next to her takes hers and Jenn’s.
Kat’s warm fingers interlace with mine, all of us now floating above the original spell diagram, forming a new circle.
As soon as the entire circle is connected, I feel a surge of new strength rush through me. The energy called by the Ritual is still waiting, the force of two universes torn apart, expectant, impatient.
We just have to ask the right question. Move with the right intention.
Outside the circle, I can see that the earthquake has started again, stronger, and the rotunda seems to spin.
In the hallway, a new tear forms, screeching into existence as the ceiling opens up.
Beyond it I can see another library equally affected by the earthquake—the other Central Library, in my world.
The portal glows, the edges rippling with a dangerous curl, like the universes are unraveling exponentially now.
It feels like all the power in all the worlds is now rushing through my veins, surrounding us in the air—life screaming, pulsing in every direction, looking for a place to take root.
It’s too much to take, and I can barely stay upright.
Those of us in the circle are the only solid piece of the world left, and I hold on to them like a lifeline.
Through the connection, our intentions rush through—still protective, still hoping to stabilize, but Alvarez is guiding us to stabilize the Ritual itself, not the mana surges or the unstable connection between the worlds.
Now, shaken free of the confines of the written framework, every cornerstone’s intentions are focused on the lives of our worlds—protect them, help them, keep them safe.
Intention.
I find the question in my heart. Can we bring the worlds together again? Create a bridge and heal the rift? The bond in the original Ritual between Jìngyi and Clarabelle was so strong that it kept the two worlds together despite the magnitude of power that tore it apart.
Love.
That’s what has been missing in this spell all along.
That’s how the two women did it.
I think about the first time I cast that Lightning Bolt, how it felt when I connected with Ana, and what I want most right now from the universe.
Love.
I think about the world and all those living in it, and all those who haven’t had a chance to live yet.
The new spell takes hold, energy sweeping and curling around me, and now it’s looking for the anchor, what it’s going to take in return. It sweeps me out of Alvarez’s and the circle’s hold, lifting me up, higher into the air, rushing through my veins as it searches.
I give it all my love.
For everyone in my family, Má and my aunties and uncles and annoying cousins, my love for the bright sun and all growing green things, for my friends, for Jenn and Erica here with me, ready to dive into the unknown just on my word, for the earth itself and my love to keep it going.
Kat is still holding me, floating with me, her hair suspended in air as mana cascades around us.
The other mages have formed a new circle around us as Kat and I hold on to each other tight, as we begin to float up toward a new rift, creaking open wider and wider with every second.
Above us, I can see my own Los Angeles, the buildings and parapets suspended upside down, the city stretching and starting to fall apart, threatening to crash down upon us.
I think about Kat and her determination, her ferocity not to be defined by that prophecy, how incredibly kind she is—the way she first smiled at me back at the coffeeshop, the way she pretends not to care about magic but is such a huge nerd about it, the way her eyes light up when she talks about matrices, how she deserves to have everything she wants—to love and learn and explore and uncover all those geeky things about magic she wants to do.
And she’s right; I think so much about the future that I forget about the present, and right now—right now, there’s a chasm between us.
Love was what kept the universe from imploding this whole time, the tendrils of Jìngyi and Clarabelle’s connection hanging on for over a hundred years.
And love is what will fix it.
“Kat,” I say softly. “You were right—we should live in the present.”
“No, I was the one who never thought about the future at all, and I was afraid!” Kat shouts into the chaos.
“I was afraid of what I was feeling and I’m sorry, I’m sorry, we’re here and we’re stuck and I don’t know how to fix it.
I mean, if I had a year’s worth of research and practice and time, I could figure it out—”
My heart surges with affection. Even now, her passion for problem-solving shows itself, and I smile despite the chaotic situation. It’s a nice moment to latch on to.
Below us, I can feel the other cornerstones’ focus, too, all their love poured into the spell, for their families, for their friends, for their hobbies, anything and everything, including Alvarez’s three dogs.
I can feel the energy on the precipice, rushing through every aspect of our question, everything slotting into place, rushing faster and faster as it finds exactly the answer it needs.
“Hey, Kat,” I say. She’s the world now, everything else just a rush of clouds and magic. “I love you.”