Chapter 16 #3
It was no simple first rune, but a complicated series of movements.
A rune of warding. A protection to cast between yourself and anything dangerous.
When cast, the summoner would see a brilliant shield appear to block the harmful runes.
I don’t know if I ever did cast it as a child. If I did, I didn’t remember.
I opened my eyes, not surprised to see Thalienne watching me closely. Why did it have to be this rune? Of all those to learn to cast without movement . . . no, this was the one. My heart whispered the truth – for good or ill, this was the rune I would do silently. Or not at all.
“Okay. I have one.”
The Sage didn’t smile. She dipped her head. “Your eyes must remain open. See the steps, as if your hands were doing the movement, then cast it.”
Honestly, it sounded simple, but I knew the truth. The movement of casting a rune was what pulled the magic up and out of a Dwimmer. The faster you were at casting, the quicker you could pull the magic out, the better.
I imagined the three main components of the rune.
The universal sign for warding off the evil eye.
Twist the hand around while holding that position – honestly, it made me think of Spiderman shooting a web, then flicking your two middle fingers to the direction you wanted the shield ward to appear. Smooth, it had to be smooth.
Over and over, I went through the movement, seeing it in my mind but feeling nothing of my magic rising.
“Your hands are twitching. They must be still.”
“Trying.” I bit back. I paced a small circle, then came back to the stone. “Any other tips?”
“You must find the way to your Fae magic yourself, Hannah. Each of us has a different path. I can tell you mine, but it does not mean it is yours.”
“Fine. Tell me.” I knew that I wasn’t acting like a teenager afraid of her Sage, but I couldn’t be bothered to hide who I was, not in this moment when I was doing all I could to cast a silent rune.
“For me, it was a force of nature that allowed me to make the connection. I fell into a river and nearly drowned, my hands trapped beneath a log deep under a series of rapids. As my life began to leave me, my body was limp, and in desperation I cast a rune to save myself.”
I stared at her. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“How long had you tried, before that near drowning?”
“From the time I was twelve, so nearly ten years.”
Fuck. I didn’t have ten years. At best I was working with weeks – whatever time I had here.
Maybe even days before I was thrown into the line of fire and would be far too busy to train in a discipline of magic that was illegal and forbidden everywhere but here.
Liam had said to learn all we could . . .
had he known that I would find this part of me and need to train?
It didn’t seem possible when even I hadn’t known I had Fae blood.
“Could we try something similar tomorrow? You know, hurry things up.”
Her eyes widened and her eyebrows climbed to her hairline. “You wish for me to try and drown you?”
I shrugged and looked past her to the creek. How did I explain this, while not giving myself away. “I feel like I don’t have time to waste. Like . . . something is coming, and I want . . . need to be prepared.”
There. That was all truth.
She tapped a long finger against her chin. “Hmm. True, when our life is in danger, it is then that our magic calls to us the strongest. A last desperate attempt to save us and the power within us.”
I thought about the Coliseum, and the fight after and how each of us in House Phoenix had dug deep, and found strength that we didn’t know we had until those moments.
I nodded. “I can see that.”
“Can you now?” She stared at me for a long moment, our eyes locked, and a slight pang in the back of my head.
Her eyes widened. “Are you aware of that curse living inside you?”
My pulse thumped in my ears. “I . . . Yes.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Come closer, child. Let me look inside you. It’s a nasty one, but maybe there’s something I can do.”
I shook my head vigorously, feeling numb. “I’m okay, really. Someone is already helping me with it. It’s blocked off for now.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me, looking confused, but relented. “Very well. I suppose it makes sense to not want me digging around in your brain, given that we just met. I’m a big proponent of free will, so I won’t press you, but let me know if it gets any worse though, yes?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I answered.
She turned, her skirts swirling. “As for our studies, if you have a feeling of . . . impending doom, then we will heed it. It seems we are in a rush, so be prepared to get wet tomorrow.” She motioned at the creek.
A sigh slipped out of me, not of resignation, but of relief. I really didn’t want to try drowning to open myself up to this side of me, but I also didn’t want to die because of untapped magic.
Thalienne didn’t look behind her, but the door opened out into the hall. “Breakfast will be served in a few minutes. Here is your schedule for the rest of the day.”
An envelope floated over to me. I took it and stuffed it into my back pocket.
“Thanks. For . . . everything.”