Chapter 24
I was standing on the deck before the sun broke through the night, channeling my magic down the smooth handle of the whip, wincing as I urged it to flow all the way down to the tip I’d just added. My head throbbed with pain, but I pushed it back, focusing in on a single thought.
Ca’an Saas.
My home, outside this story I was in, and the place I desperately needed to get back to.
The magic snaked down the whip a little further, slipping through the coarse, woven leather. I could feel every nick and scratch, as if I was rubbing a hand across my own skin. Just a little further…
My vision went white as a searing pain spiked through my skull; a dozen times worse than what I’d felt a moment earlier. The magic kicked back into me in a wave, as if the whip and I went from being a single, unified, thing back to being separate once more.
I tossed it to the large crate at my side, panting heavily.
I’d been just inches away from imbuing the whole thing with my magic, far closer than I’d ever gotten before.
But it wasn’t good enough. Not when I was beginning to understand what Almira was capable of.
If I was ever going to be able to return home, I simply had to do better.
Almira. I had a name now, a name to focus on, a name to hate. The reason I was cast out from my real home.
We’d left town the previous morning, and I’d spent every waking hour between that, and this fixated on getting strong…growing my magic. My destiny was becoming clearer with each passing second, but the road ahead seemed to grow more daunting in equal measure.
Just a few weeks earlier, I’d never even seen a Whisper stronger than a potions vendor or show magician, and now I was here and there was magic everywhere I looked. There was magic in me .
Relyk’s power had been incredible, and he wasn’t as strong as the witch hunting me.
What did that make Almira in terms of a threat? She had the strength to manipulate entire worlds. Perhaps even enough power to destroy them, given enough time.
As for me?
I was out here, struggling to channel my new-found magic into a whip, while doing my level best to not think about Captain James-Fucking-Hook.
Our last meaningful conversation played over in my mind
“You can run but you can’t avoid my questions forever,” he called as I rushed ahead toward the Inn.
We’d left Gayelette’s place and the last thing I’d wanted to do was talk. Not when I had so much thinking that needed doing.
She knew my father.
My mother .
I was a fucking princess ? Molly would absolutely die when I told her. Maybe I wouldn’t tell her for that reason.
Once I made my way back home to Ca’an Saas, would I meet the real Gayelette? Would she tell me all about my parents? Did I dare to hope that there might even be pictures? Keepsakes?
Nope. I’d drive myself crazy letting thoughts like that take hold. Instead, I thought about the back and forth with Hook as I ran from Gayelette’s.
“Running away isn’t going to change anything,” he drawled, far closer than I’d expected him to be given that I was basically sprinting down the cobbled street. “I need to know what she meant about the bookworms. And who is this Almira?”
I didn’t slow.
“Listen, Princess. We have no choice here. We have to combine our magic and work together to get the clock. She said it herself.”
“Fine,” I shouted, wheeling around to face him and wishing I didn’t as he hulked over me, nearly blocking out the moon behind him.
“I’m perfectly willing to do that. But she dropped some life-changing stuff on me back there, and I could use one fucking minute of silence to process it all. Is that really too much to ask?”
“You don’t want to talk, we won’t talk,” he said with a shrug.
“I’d prefer it that way. But then you need to stop getting in my business.
No more following me or breaking into my quarters.
We work together to meet our own ends. We don’t need to be friends, and I don’t need you tailing me like a stray dog with a bad haircut. ”
Stray dog…bad haircut indeed. I cursed softly, sucking in a breath of the fresh ocean air, as I did my best to stop thinking about those biting words and the man who’d said them.
As unsettling as it had felt at first, I was starting to actually enjoy the gentle rocking of the waves.
And the sky…The brilliant oranges, reds, and purples of the rising sun shimmered across the endless expanse of sea, more beautiful than any painting.
“You’re early.”
I spun, my adrenaline spiking as I caught sight of Xander standing a few feet away. “Gods, how the hell did you get so close without me hearing you?”
He flashed a cocky half-grin. “Good to know I haven’t lost my touch.”
“I’m still working on finding mine.” I let out an exasperated huff as I picked up the whip once again. “I feel like I’ve put so many hours into this, but I still can’t fill the thing with my magic.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How far did you get?”
“Around here.” I gestured to a spot a few inches away from the end. “And it takes so much of my concentration that I doubt I could wield the thing without leaving myself defenseless.”
He held out a hand and I passed it over, a little surprised by how weird I felt about parting ways with it. There was a long pause as he just stood there, tracing the weapon with his fingers, but he eventually grabbed it by the handle.
“Watch.”
I groaned internally, but focused my vision on him, pushing the magic into my eyes just in time to see his energy beginning to flow into the whip. The gentle glow flowed into it like poured honey, moving slow and steady through the first foot or so of the whip before coming to an abrupt halt.
“Right around here is the benchmark for the first year,” he said. The rest of the twelve-foot whip remained untouched by his magic.
“What?”
“The average student would be able to imbue the whip to about here, given a year of practice,” he said, meeting my gaze.
“A year?” I asked, incredulous.
“You’re no average Tideblessed, of course.” He grinned. “And I’m no average teacher. But you need to realize that this all takes time—and you are pushing hard.”
I nodded, speechless as I let the magic flow back out of my eyes. Surely, he was exaggerating.
“I won’t ask you to show me what you managed just yet, since I’m sure you’re tired, but we can get into some of the basic forms, if you like.”
“Forms?” I blinked stupidly, and the fatigue of practice made me slow. What was he talking about now?
“Sets of choreographed movements, for learning the proper technique to use when swinging your weapon.” He gave the whip a final squeeze before handing it back to me. “You’ll be able to incorporate magic into it with time, but it’ll still come in handy without that.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Come.” He turned, waving for me to follow as he strode toward a more open spot on the ship’s deck. “Carnies and whips go hand in hand, monster tamers before there were monster hunters.” He faced me as he reached into his pouch.
His two hands flashed into motion in unison, with one blurring toward his pocket and the other tearing his own whip from his pouch. Fetch cawed overhead, hardly audible through the thumping in my ears as I braced for an attack that never came.
Instead, a flash of gold burst into the air, almost too fast to see with the naked eye, and his whip disappeared entirely, shooting through the air like a bolt of The Speaker’s purple lightning.
Thunder seemed to crack overhead as the whip snapped, blasting directly into the glint of gold. He eased the end of the whip down somehow, and I pressed magic into my eyes instinctively, watching as he guided the whip’s tip right into his open left hand.
I stared down, heart pounding as much from shock and excitement as from the scare he’d given me. The coin was still there, impaled on the barbed, iron tip of the weapon. He tugged at it and the now-ruined coin popped right off.
“Bullseye.” He flashed a smile as he flicked it over to me.
I fumbled with it for a moment, managing to catch it in the end. It was still warm from the impact, and, as he’d said, the face of whatever man had been pictured on the thing was pierced straight through the center, as if by a dart. “That was…amazing.”
“The crowds liked that one. So did—” he broke off, a familiar sadness washing over his features. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s get started. It’ll take some time, but you’ll be able to do the same, once you master everything I have to teach you.”
“This isn’t your favorite coin, right?” I asked, glancing up at him in horror as the thought occurred.
“Lucky Lucy? Gods no.” His hand shot back to his pocket. “Hmm…I can’t seem to find her, though. Could you check your pockets, too?”
I reached down to do as instructed, despite my confusion. “Why would it be in—?” I cut off as my finger rubbed against a cool piece of metal. I pulled it out, as taken aback as I was impressed. “When did you do that?”
“A magician never shares his secrets.” He took it and slipped it back into his pocket with a grin. “Now let’s get into the basics. If we move quickly, I’ll have time to show you one of the forms so you have something to practice in your free time.”
He launched into a long lecture, explaining everything from the start.
The proper grip, the way I should stand, and even how I should breathe as I worked my way through the form.
I stayed captivated throughout, still awed by his demonstration.
If I could replicate such a feat, I’d at least be able to defend myself against some pretty serious foes.
Nobody wanted a metal spike through the face.