Chapter 4 #2
The hand on my back shifted, and instantly, everything became muted. I could hear my heartbeat fluttering in my ears, strangely loud as the noise abated.
“Lexa.”
I startled as I heard my name clearly spoken in my thoughts.
“Lexa, it’s Finn. Do you want to get out of here?”
I started to look toward him.
“Just think it, Lexa. You’re broadcasting you want out of here. We can make it happen. Give you some time to adjust.”
“Yes!” I thought desperately.
“Hold on tight to Griff.”
Before I could blink, Griff had his arms around my waist. Finn reached over and touched his shoulder at the same time.
“Don’t you dare, you—” cried Zachariah as we blurred out of the clearing.
This time, the teleporting was not nearly as difficult.
We moved fluidly, instantly through the ether to land in the woods, a gorgeous light shining through, illuminating the autumn colors.
Everything was shades of red, orange, and yellow.
I only had a moment to appreciate it before the nausea hit and I stumbled forward to retch.
The quiet in the forest was almost as jarring as the noise had been—silence after a storm.
“Interesting,” Finn said, looking around at our unfamiliar surroundings. “Where are we?”
“Does it matter?” Griff replied curtly. I could feel his attention on me as I fell heavily on my ass, leaves crunching beneath me, and drew my knees under my chin, arms wrapped around them. I breathed in and out through the nausea, my whole body shaking.
What the hell had just happened?
A hand came to my upper back, rubbing circles, and a cooling sensation radiated through me.
“You know,” Finn was saying, “you normally give some sort of warning before you hurl us into the unknown.”
“It was your idea,” Griff pointed out, his gentle motions never ceasing.
“I was suggesting getting her out of there, not necessarily casting ourselves into the first place you could think of, nice as these trees are. We’re in the forest of Valerion, right?
” Leaves crunched as Finn investigated. He didn’t wait for Griff to answer before continuing.
“Not one of your brighter ideas, Griff. She looks like she’s about to vomit again.
Could have given her some time to prepare. ”
“You felt her panic. And Zachariah was being an ass.”
Finn snorted. “You sound surprised. He’s been an ass ever since we were kids. That’s never caused you to fling us into the unknown before, no matter how much you enjoy getting away from Valdris. What changed?”
“Maybe I’m a bad influence on you?” I croaked out, my voice muffled by my knees.
Finn laughed. “I like her already. But seriously, Griff, since when do you care?”
“Since now, apparently,” Griff replied with wry surprise. “We’re going to need wards. They’re not going to be pleased we absconded with the lost princess.”
“Who is this ‘we,’ brother? We may be twins but I’m not a teleporter. I just came along for the ride. But fair point. It’ll be stronger if she does it.”
“How do you know that?”
“Can’t you feel that power?” I could hear the wonder in Finn’s voice.
I felt like I should be offended by them talking about me like I wasn’t there, but I was still focusing on breathing in and out, the evening air chillier than I was used to this time of year.
It was better than focusing on the rolling of my stomach.
But regardless of where we were, at least I could breathe out here in nature, away from the populated capital.
Finn approached me delicately. “Can you ward us, Lexa?”
I looked up hesitantly, the nausea starting to abate. “Ward…?”
I was only just now debating the wisdom of letting two strange men take me off into the middle of the woods, with no signs of any civilization around me.
Cormac would be so pissed right now. I could practically hear his growls, echoing the thoughts tunneling through my head.
Great decision-making here. You leave the protective confines of Fairhaven for the first time and what do you do?
Go off into the unknown with strangers. Really smart.
My head screamed at me about the stupidity of this, especially since one was clearly a warrior who could snap me in half with a look, and the other looked like a scholar but moved with an innate grace that implied he wasn’t as harmless as he appeared.
Sure, let’s go off into the wilderness with two men I met a minute ago. What could possibly go wrong?
The truly maddening part was that, from deep inside, I kept hearing I could trust them implicitly—which was either my instincts, which I had always prided myself on being correct, or I was losing my damn mind.
But Nana had trusted Griff. And she didn’t trust easily, so he was either incredibly persuasive—something I doubted given his lack of communication skills—or she knew something I didn’t.
Given how this day had gone so far, I was betting the latter.
“No one is going to be happy that we removed you from the castle grounds,” Finn explained. “They’re going to have their farsight wielders looking for your position. We need to create wards to stop them. And other things.”
I stared at him.
Understanding dawned on his face. “Oh. You don’t know anything about what you can do?” His tone was gentle, softening the incredulity behind his words.
Was this the magic thing again? I guessed I believed it, given I had teleported twice and heard people’s thoughts in my head.
Could you say what the fuck too many times in one day?
“I didn’t get a chance to explain while we were beyond the Veil,” Griff told him, rising from where he had crouched next to me. “Thought it might be too risky to explain it out there.”
Finn rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I can see that. Okay, that makes this a bit harder, but not impossible.” He turned to me with a gentle smile. “I can show you, if you’d like. And then once we’re warded, I can explain what’s happening.”
Hesitantly, I nodded.
Griff left my side as Finn reached out and touched my forehead. I heard the snap of a fire, felt a zap of power, and recoiled, scooting backward on my ass, more leaves crunching beneath me, until I hit a tree behind me. My hands pressed tightly into the ground, a churning feeling beneath them.
“Easy there.” Finn’s voice was cautious, as if dealing with a skittish horse.
Griff came back to my side instantly, a look of concern breaking through his expressionless face.
I breathed deep to calm the racing adrenaline coursing through my veins as a gentle breeze rustled my hair.
My head swung back and forth between the two of them as I attempted to make sense of what I was feeling.
When Finn had touched me, something inside me had started bubbling up, threatening to explode with my rising panic.
Griff sat at my side, his back against the tree. I startled as he reached a hand out, and he stopped. “May I touch you?”
I nodded, still trying to quell whatever was rising through me.
His hand came to my shoulder as my heart pounded. A cooling touch flowed through me, the same one that had made the nausea ebb before. Able to take a deep breath again, I breathed in and out, the panic slowly abating.
“Easy, Princess. What Finn is about to do can be a bit disconcerting. I’ll keep you grounded while he shows you what to do.”
“Oh sure, now we get to the disconcerting part of the day,” I muttered. “And don’t call me Princess.”
Finn looked like he wanted to say something, but instead just crouched in front of me and gently placed his fingers on my head, barely touching.
He closed his eyes, and I followed suit.
I felt him inside my head, diving down to those weird bubbling channels.
He picked a specific one, oddly purple in color, and showed me how to twist and direct the power through the purple channel, and out into the world around us.
I did what he told me to do, twisting and flinging the power about, wondering again why I instinctively trusted these two as much as I did.
Someone better start giving me answers soon.
Something settled over us like a warm blanket. Sounds were fainter now, the air slightly thinner.
Finn showed me how to twist the power to seal it, before I released it, letting it settle into itself.
“What was that?” I breathed, shocked to my core at what I could now feel. There was a whole well of power down there, and now that I had touched it, it was dancing and clamoring for me to use it again.
Finn rocked back on his heels. “That was the quickest I’ve ever seen someone pick up their channels for the first time.”
“People keep mentioning channels,” I said with a glare at Griff. “Can you finally explain it?”
Finn blew out a long breath as he rubbed a hand over his smooth chin.
Rightly deciphering my frustrated look, his eyes crinkled.
“I’ll explain. I’m just trying to think of where to start.
I’ve taught plenty of people how to use their channels, but never someone who had only heard of them for the first time that day.
I guess we’ll just drive straight in. Channels are how we access our power.
Our magic. Everyone here beneath the Veil has access to some of them. You have access to—”
“Seven.”
Griff stiffened beside me. I realized I was leaning heavily against him and quickly shifted to put space between us, praying my cheeks weren’t as red as they felt.
“That’s right,” Finn continued. “Seven. And they’re all wide open. It’s very rare to have access to all seven, and even more rare for them to all be open.”
That didn’t make any sense.
Clearly it showed on my face, because Finn sighed. “I’m not explaining this well at all, am I?”
I shook my head, staring him down with a look that was half confused, half pissed.