Chapter 18 Together #2
She laid the wisps back down on the floor in front of her and focused her energy back on the flame in the bowl, still barely flickering against the stones beneath it.
As she focused, the flame intensified, growing brighter and brighter as her hand began to tremble.
As it grew brighter, Ember could feel Killian and Fen’s eyes on her.
“How did you do that,” Fen whispered, eyes wide.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “It just happened.” She didn’t mention the wisps or the way it felt like their strange magic had melded with her own—strengthened it. Something about the way their light seemed to whisper told her this was their secret.
“Easy there, Starshine,” Killian whispered, placing his hand gently on her arm. “Don’t do more than you can control.”
Ember ignored him as the flame grew bigger fast, and before she knew it, it was billowing above her head, threatening to spill from the bowl and onto the marble floor. Odette laid a hand on her shoulder, trying to coax her out of whatever well she had fallen into, but she was falling too fast
Professor Eid shot up from the center of the room, racing to Ember and the flame that threatened to engulf the rest of the class. “That’s very good, Miss Lothbrok,” she said cautiously. “Now try to make it smaller. Power is easy to gain, but learning to control it is another thing entirely.”
Ember nodded, squinting her eyes in concentration as she willed the flame to grow smaller.
But it wouldn’t.
Ember’s heart raced as the flame grew higher, and she could feel sweat trickling down her forehead—more from the fear than the heat.
The little wisps of light danced around the floor, floating through the air and wrapping themselves tightly around her wrist and hand like a glove, traveling up her arm to her shoulder.
She felt her magic pulse stronger, running like molten lava through her veins.
The flame didn’t falter, not until Fen and Killian grabbed both of her wrists, squeezing tightly, and Professor Eid sent water spraying into the basin in front of her.
Ember sank back into the pillow, closing her eyes tightly as whispers circulated around the room. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes as memories from her childhood hurtled back to her like a train, knocking her down and sucking the breath from her lungs.
“Did you see what she did? What a freak!”
“She’s so odd.”
“You can’t play with us. You’re far too weird.”
Fen squeezed her hand, bringing her back to the present, and gave her a comforting smile.
You are not alone this time.
“That was very good, Miss Lothbrok,” Professor Eid said gently. “Let’s just work on our control a little more.”
Ember gave a half smile with a nod, and the professor made her way around the room, pulling the students’ focus back to their own work. Ember stared down at her arms, the little blue wisps vanished, and her skin was left completely unblemished, like they had never existed.
Maybe they didn’t. Maybe I’m finally losing it.
Class ended shortly after, and Ember quickly threw her bag over her shoulder and made her way toward the double doors.
She didn’t bother to look, but she knew Fen and Killian weren’t very far behind.
She made her way to the cafe, throwing her bag on the ground beside her, and buried her head in her arms on the table.
Killian set a cup of tea beside her and took his seat across the table without saying a word.
Fen was not so quiet.
“What the bloody hell was that?” he asked, as he sat down across from her, stuffing a biscuit in his mouth. “Are you some sort of Elemental Magic Mage now?”
Ember cut her eyes at Fen. “No,” she sneered, sighing as she ran a hand down her face.
“I don’t know what happened. I just know I couldn’t make it stop.
I haven’t felt my magic that out of control since I lived in Galway.
” Ember felt her throat constrict as memories from her childhood came flooding back, memories she was sure she had buried deep enough that they would never resurface.
“How about a change of subject?” Killian asked, as he began rummaging around in his bag.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Fen said, as he also began rummaging through his bag.
Ember cocked a brow as she watched both the boys pull small boxes out of their backpacks, both wrapped in some form of green wrapping paper—her favorite color.
“We missed your birthday—our birthday—with all the madness going on,” Fen said, as he slid the box across the table. “Felt like now was as good a time as ever to go ahead and give you your present. It’s from Mum and Dad and Maeve too.”
“Fen, you didn’t have to do that,” she replied with a grin, reaching down to dig in her own bag, “but I brought yours too.” She smiled as she pushed it toward him, taking his gift in her hands and shaking it lightly.
“Go ahead.” Killian smiled. “Don’t make the poor lad wait any longer, or he might crawl out of his skin.”
Ember laughed as she gingerly started to pull back the wrapping paper, exposing a light brown box. She pulled the lid off, pulling out a few pieces of paper inside, and her eyes went wide.
“Fenrir James,” she whispered, “did you get me a phone?” It looked a lot like his. A glass touch screen with a camera on the front and back, and a picture of the three of them on the home screen. It was in a forest green case with a little fox running to and fro on the back.
“Like I said,” he shrugged, cheeks tinged pink, “it’s from all of us.
But I put my own personal touches on it.
” He laid out his hand, and she set the phone gently in his palm.
He quickly got to work swiping on the screen.
“I downloaded a few of my apps, though, just to personalize it a bit.” He swiped a few more times and then smiled, clicking a few buttons. “Ah, right here we go.”
He turned the phone in her direction and began swiping through pages filled with tiny squares.
“This is a tracking app. It acts sort of like the spell, but it leaves no trace—quite dangerous if you’re on the other end.
” Fen grinned mischievously as he swiped again.
“This one is a database I’ve been putting together for different plants and herbs and where they’re located.
It’s also got a spot to record any potions or elixirs you come up with and preloaded standard recipes. ”
“Are books going to become obsolete?” Ember laughed as she shook her head, thinking about the piles of Herbal Magic and magical plant books she had in the library at home.
“Of course not,” he replied, a little more serious than she expected, “but you can’t very well stick twenty books in your pocket, can you? This just makes it a little easier to store information.”
Ember nodded—he was right, this did seem very convenient.
“This is one of my personal favorites,” he said quietly, clicking on a glowing blue app on the home screen.
“Helios are notorious for not being received when you’re off the island—something about the wards around the island and the disconnect between here and the mainland make it nearly impossible to get through.
This will send Helios outside of the island, even completely overseas, as easy as if you were sitting next door.
” He beamed as he handed her the phone and let her scroll through it, very proud of the hard work he had put into her gift.
“It’s lovely, Fen.” She smiled, clicking on a small app at the bottom of the screen. “What’s this one do?”
“Oh, that,” he grinned, “that’s for texting. I’ve got my number programmed in already.”
“Mine too.” Killian smiled, pulling his phone out of his pocket and waving it in front of him. “Thought it would be best if we all had a more discreet way to communicate. Buzzing balls of blue light tend to catch the eye.”
“It’s perfect.” She smiled. “Okay, now your turn.” She laid the phone down on the table, bouncing eagerly on her chair as Fen opened his gift.
“Oh wow!” he beamed. “Em, I love it!” He pulled a sweatshirt out of the box, sporting his favorite Rukr team on the front.
A majestic grey horse with backwards hooves danced across the fabric, the stitching from the embroidered animal moving back and forth like water.
“The Ykur’s are going to dominate Worlds this year. ”
“So you’ve said.” Ember smiled, rolling her eyes as she shook her head. “Now you can properly support them.”
“Thank, Em.” He grinned. “It’s perfect.”
“Speaking of Rukr,” Killian said, as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, “I have a bit of a birthday surprise of my own.” His grin sent goosebumps trailing down her arms as he tilted his head. “Are you ready for your first game this week, Starshine?”
Ember’s stomach did a flip as she swallowed dryly. “I made the team?” she asked with a smile.
“Aye,” he nodded, “You are officially the newest member of the Heksheim Wyverns.” Her grin broadened, and then her stomach sank. She wanted to be ready, wanted to be cool, calm, and collected as she prepared for their first game, but the truth was she was anything but.
“Are you excited?” Fen asked with a smile.
“Of course.” She nodded, failing to act more confident than she was. Fen reached across the table and squeezed her hand, quelling her anxiety in a way only he seemed to be able to, like he could read her mind.
“You’re going to do great,” he whispered, “and you’ll have me and Killian there. Win or lose, we’re going to be fine. We’ll do this the way we do everything else.”
“Together?” Ember smiled.
“Together.” Killian grinned in agreement.