16. ZARA #2
“What? No!” Yes. “Of course not. I think it’s lovely that you have each other. It makes a lot of sense.” The words slipped from my tongue easily enough, so maybe I was more okay with it than I thought.
“Good. Alissa was worried you’d think she was completely lacking in morals – her words, not mine.
I’m glad it’s not going to make things weird between the three of us.
Getting back to your siren powers, I’d be very happy to start teaching you how to use them.
Or if you prefer, I can see about getting you enrolled in the Academy. ”
“Academy? You mean like a magic school?”
“Exactly that. But to be honest, I don’t think that would be your best option.
Dream walking and the siren battle cry are both rare gifts, so it’s not likely that they could teach you anything about using them that you couldn’t learn for yourself from the ancient texts.
With my help of course. In my opinion, attending wouldn’t be of much use to you at all.
Will you trust me to undertake your training? ”
“Please.” I certainly didn’t like the sound of going back to school.
“Do you think you can teach me how to control the battle cry thing? It frightens me when it feels like it’s going to get away from me.
” Although I very much liked the idea of being able to call on it when I chose to if I could learn to control it.
“We can definitely work on that, although I’m no expert.
Like I said, there hasn’t been anyone with that ability for generations.
I’m assuming controlling it will be similar to controlling the siren song, but I will have to do some research before we start.
Have you had any success in manipulating the element of water yet? ”
“Should I have?”
He smiled. “Sirens have an affinity for water. It replenishes our magic, so being able to control it is usually the first ability that emerges when a siren comes into their power. You seem to have skipped that step, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the ability isn’t there.
Let’s try an experiment.” He stood and held out his hand, and I let him pull me from my deckchair and lead me to the edge of the waves. “Watch.”
I gasped as the water rose up in the shape of a dolphin, leaping gracefully into the air before disappearing below the waves. “Can I do that?”
“I don’t know. Can you?” Amusement danced in his voice, turning into laughter as I scrunched up my face in concentration.
“Relax. You need to connect with the water, not try to impose your will on it. Let your mind reach out towards it and touch it, then, when you have its attention, show it a picture in your mind of what you want it to do.” I spent the next five minutes trying to create first a dolphin, then a much smaller fish, and then just a basic ball of water, all without success.
“Maybe this is one power I didn’t get. I can live with that. I’d much rather learn to use the battle cry anyway.”
“Learning to bend the water to your will is a basic skill all sirens have, and it’s an important one to master, Zara.
Then if you’re ever under attack and going full battle siren isn’t an option, you’ll be able to call on any nearby water to come to your aid.
Plus, all our powers are linked together, so gaining control of one will only improve your control of others. Hold up your hand.”
“Ow!” The fist he’d formed from the small rockpool a few feet away rose up and slammed into my palm like a solid object before losing its form and splashing onto the sand at my feet.
“See? That was just a tickle compared to what I could have done with it. And you don’t even need to be within reach of your enemy to attack them, just close enough to water to be able to draw on it.
A puddle, a bathtub, even a bowl of dishwater can become a weapon.
You can use it to form a shield too. Does that sound like something worth working on? ”
“Hell, yeah.” I tried reaching out to the water again and huffed with frustration when nothing happened. Again.
“Come on. That’s enough for your first lesson. Alissa will be getting impatient. Before we go up to the house though, I have something for you.” He delved into his pocket and pulled out a delicate bracelet made from pieces of polished sea glass. “May I?”
I held out my wrist and let him fasten it for me. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
“It’s something to connect you to your element when you’re away from the ocean. Shall we?”
I tucked my hand into his elbow again and we ambled up the beach in companionable silence. “Thank you for agreeing to teach me,” I said before we went inside. “I really do appreciate you doing this for me.”
“Finally! I thought you were never going to get here.” My grandmother’s excited exclamation put an end to whatever response Taryn had been about to make.
“Let me look at you – oh! You’re wearing a glamour.
” She sounded disappointed and I realised it was silly of me to insist on keeping it up inside when the only people here already knew who I was.
“Sorry,” I said as I let it drop. “Force of habit. But please don’t let me forget to put it back before we go to the palace.”
“That’s better,” she approved. “You’re so much like your mother, but I think perhaps I can see just a little of your grandfather in you too. Nothing of your father, thank Mab. Those frowny brows.” She gave an exaggerated shudder and I couldn’t help chuckling.
“They’re not that bad,” I protested. “They’re… authoritative.” That was about the best I could come up with to describe Gideon’s scowls, but I wasn’t about to get drawn in to being mean about him.
“I’m just teasing you, darling. Gideon’s a very handsome fellow when he remembers to smile, and he’s a good man too.
Alara wouldn’t have given him the time of day if he wasn’t.
” Phew. “Now, I hope you’re hungry, because I may have gone on a little bit of a baking spree.
” Maybe that was where I got my stress baking habit from then.
“I’ve always got room for cake.” I’d also been calling on my siren power, even though it hadn’t answered me, so I was craving calories for that reason too.
“Come on then. Let’s get you fed, and you can tell me all about what’s going on with you, and how you met Seth, and, oh, everything. I want to know everything.”
By the time I’d answered all Alissa’s questions as well as I could without giving away anything about the Prophecy and where Seth was, and had convinced her I couldn’t possibly eat another sandwich or slice of cake, I was mentally exhausted.
The woman was relentless, and Taryn hadn’t been any help at all, just sitting there in silence with an amused smirk on his face while she interrogated me.
I just about remembered to put my glamour back in place when he surprised me by opening a portal to the palace. I hadn’t known sirens could do that, but I’d definitely be asking him if he could teach me how to do it too.