10. Ten #3
“Power is power. Pure and simple. It’s how you wield it that makes it good or bad. Your ancestors thought the Light of Illora should be destroyed, but you used it to save me. Should I never shift again because Omen used my ability for his own dark ends?”
“I don’t know,” Nova murmured, nervously spinning her ring. Bryn turned to face her, her impish features fixed in a solemn expression.
“If it comes to it, Omen will use any power at his disposal to end your life,” she said firmly. “If you’re smart, you’ll develop any abilities you have, wherever they come from.”
Nova considered for a moment, eyes tracking a single wispy cloud as the wind chased it across the sky. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” she said finally.
“You can practice on me.” Bryn sat upright, settling into a position with her legs crisscrossed. “Block out everything else and focus your mind on my thoughts.”
Nova sat up and shifted on the stone to face her new friend, shaking out her arms and closing her eyes.
Her mind fought her for several minutes, trying to latch onto anything and everything.
The wind blowing freely across the meadow.
The sun warming the dark fabric of her cloak at her back.
Nova squeezed her eyes tighter. Her inability to quiet her thoughts had often hindered her sessions with Nox.
A blocked conduit. Remembering her uncle’s instruction, Nova focused her attention on the steady rhythm of her own breath.
In and out. In and out.
After a time, the noise of the world around her faded until all that remained was a low hum. Nova envisioned herself sitting across from Bryn and imagined the bright light the healer Eir had seen swirling around her. Finally, Nova pictured her light reaching out toward Bryn, like a hand.
For a moment, there was nothing.
Then, suddenly, a flash of vibrant green. A dense canopy of leafy green trees. The scent of wet soil and the soft patter of a gentle rain. The twang of a bowstring pulled taut.
Nova’s eyes shot open as she returned to herself, breathing fast. She gripped Bryn by the forearms. The sensations were so vivid; Nova had felt as if she’d been transported to another place.
“I saw a forest—not like this,” Nova gasped, gesturing wildly at the evergreen trees with their coarse needles. “Green leaves.”
“Hunting in the forests of Maedwen,” Bryn said, one corner of her mouth quirked up at the memory.
“May I try again?” Nova gripped Bryn’s arms tighter.
“Have at it.”
Nova repeated the process, and all at once, the roar of wind rumbled in her ears. The steady pressure of it beneath her wings, keeping her aloft. The world stretched out like a vast oil painting far below.
“Flying,” she said with a short, giddy laugh as she snapped back to herself.
“You’re a quick study,” Bryn said.
“It’s only flashes.” Nova waved a hand dismissively. “I wouldn’t say I’m actually reading your mind.”
“Yet,” Bryn said, holding a finger up in the air.
Nova held back her smile and tempered the excitement building within her chest. “What was it you said my father could do? Portal?”
“Yes. It’s how he spirits his prisoners away to Raven’s Isle.”
“How does it work?”
“Have you traveled by portal before?” Bryn asked.
Nova nodded, recalling the odd sensation of passing through the trunk of the great tree in Pyralis.
“The principles are the same, traveling quickly between two points. But rather than relying on an existing portal, Omen conjures portals by calling shadows to him.”
Nova glanced at the far side of the meadow where the morning sun cast tall shadows of the evergreens, stretching like fingers over the grass and snow along the edge of the forest. She locked eyes with Bryn, who nodded in silent agreement.
They sprang up off of the rock as one and strode to the opposite side of the field, where Nova positioned herself in the cool shade of a towering pine.
“What now?” she asked, eyeing the shadows painting the ground before her.
“I don’t exactly know.” Bryn shrugged.
After half an hour of coaxing the shadows as if they were aloof cats, Nova’s mind wearied, a painful ache blooming behind her eyes. She’d accomplished nothing. Huffing a frustrated breath, she muttered a curse, digging the toe of her boot into the yellowed grass at her feet.
“Don’t give up already,” Bryn said. “Try once more, and then we’ll head back to the hall for breakfast.”
Nova’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food, and she resisted the urge to call it quits.
Quieting her mind a final time, she focused on the cool sensation of the shade surrounding her. An odd noise filled her ears, a low droning cutting in and out, but, as before, nothing happened.
“Enough,” she grumbled. “It’s useless.” She spun around and stalked toward Bryn, who had been observing her from a distance.
Her friend stared at her wide-eyed.
“What?” Nova asked, looking down and self-consciously scanning her body.
“The shadows.” Bryn shook her head and blinked hard. “They were rippling. With a proper trainer, I think you might be able to conjure shadow portals.” Bryn clapped Nova roughly between her shoulders. “But for now, let’s eat.”
Nova nodded, a dazed smile on her face as a surge of exhilaration ran through her.