Chapter 20 #2
I secured my footing, cementing myself firmly to the ground in preparation for harnessing my powers. “You have to drop your shields,” I reminded him.
Sawyer raised an eyebrow. “I would if they were up.”
“Oh. Sebastian usually—” I cut myself off. Keeping your mental shields up around the clock was not typical. Sebastian had a personal reason for why he felt the need to do so.
Probably because of his damn father.
“Never mind,” I said. “Give me a second to think of a command.”
Stick to the basics.
Although I no longer needed to, I clamped my eyes closed and brought my mind into a state of deep relaxation, focusing on the things that granted my soul tranquility.
Usually this step required me to imagine the ocean, but today my mind jumped straight to Sebastian.
I didn't fight my subconscious, letting the thought of him consume me.
I relived the feeling of his hands in mine.
The way it felt to be wrapped in his arms while he embraced me.
How his clothes smelt like snow and pinewood when I wore them.
I soaked in the reminders of him and felt all the tension in my blood vanish.
When content, I spoke my order into the air. “Throw your dagger at the practice target.”
Succumbing to my trance, Sawyer unsheathed his weapon.
He spun his torso and threw the blade straight at the chest of the mannequin to his right.
He stared at the dummy, then at me with his mouth agape.
He'd never been on this end of my power, so even the simplest compulsions were bound to amaze him. “That's a badass gift, Willawood.”
I shrugged off his compliment and got back into formation, just wanting to get this lesson over with.
Sawyer retrieved his dagger, and I tried a few more simple commands on him.
I made him run a lap around the arena like I had Sebastian do before.
I also compelled him to use his magic to make a rainstorm fall over himself, finding quite a bit of joy in knowing that he’d have to spend the rest of our session soaked.
We'd been going at it for over an hour, and although I was exhausted, my body wasn't getting weak yet. Hopefully that meant my plan to use simple magic would keep me conscious for the rest of the week.
“Let's try one more before we call it a night,” Sawyer told me, water dripping from his forehead.
“Haven't we done enough?” I groaned.
“What's wrong, Willawood? Tired already?” Sawyer taunted.
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “Actually, I am.”
“Seb must be taking it easy on you if you think this is hard.”
“I guess so.”
“One more then we can be done. I swear.”
I reluctantly agreed, and racked my brain for another command to use on him.
Sawyer didn't give me any time to think before his sapphire magic blasted me with a forceful stream of water. The pressure knocked me off of my feet, and I fell to the mat with a force so strong that I felt my tailbone bruise at the contact.
I tried to scold him, but couldn't speak.
I could barely breathe from the flood of water in my face.
I fumbled around on the mat, trying to get away from the lake, but the water followed me.
I knew that his intention behind this was to have me harness my powers to stop him, but I didn't comply. I couldn't risk it.
Crawling around on the mat, I tried to position my back towards Sawyer so that I could get some air in my lungs.
He moved with me, keeping his magic aimed at my face.
It became evident that he wasn't going to stop unless I made him, and if I didn't want to drown, there were no other options but to use my power to retaliate.
Searching for a sense of peace within the chaos, I grasped hold tightly to the minuscule amount I could find and commanded Sawyer to, “STOP.”
The wave came to a sudden halt, dripping to the mat before disappearing completely, leaving me drenched from head to toe.
I spit out a mouthful of water and clutched my chest, gasping for air. I tried to rise to my feet, but decided from a brief moment of dizziness that I would stay down.
“Sawyer, what the hell?” I gasped, scowling up at him.
He smirked, and looked awfully devious as he did. “Nice job. I didn't expect you to be able to gain control of your magic that easily.”
An ache in my temple started to form, and I took the pain as confirmation that stopping someone’s magic did not count as a simple use of my power. I’d have to keep that in mind for the rest of the week.
I furrowed my brows at Sawyer as he approached me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me to my feet. We were both sopping wet—the walk back to my dorm was going to be dreadful.
“You could have killed me,” I snarled, taking my hair in my hands and twisting it, wringing the water out over his shoes.
He stepped back. “Oh please, do you really think I would let the girl my best friend fancies die?”
My jaw went slack. “What did you say?” I asked, my cheeks flushing at his accidental spill.
Sawyer's eyes widened and he smacked his hand against his mouth. “I didn’t say that,” he sputtered, his face filling with panic over his unintentional admission.
I strained to hide the smile that fought its way onto my face. Did Sebastian tell him that he had feelings for me, or was Sawyer just making assumptions? Either way, I obviously wasn’t meant to know that information.
“It’s okay.” I waved my hand in a gesture that disregarded what he said. I tried to act nonchalant, though everything inside of me was screaming and giddy.
Sawyer combed his hands through his hair. He looked way more stressed about this than he should have been.
“Sawyer, it’s really fine. You were just messing around. Right?” I knew that he wasn't, but if he agreed with me, maybe it would help kill the fire inside of me.
He gulped and nodded.
“Alright so let’s just forget it,” I told him—and myself. Because for all the reasons I told Pia earlier, I really needed to forget this.