Chapter 23 Thayla #4
My eyes drift shut as he commanded, and the weight of his finger keeps me grounded. It stays there for a second, then he moves it down, laying it against my tingling lips.
They twitch with the desire to apply pressure, but he moves once again before I can.
His entire palm rests against my throat, and his fingers grip my pounding pulse. His hand flinches in rhythm with my thuds, then he slides it down until it rests underneath my breast.
A sharp exhale escapes me as he moves lower. He stops an inch below my pants button, and I throb with need for him to go lower.
He does, but he travels right past where I want him.
He grips my right knee, then my left ankle.
Each place he’s laid his hand, he’s left behind a weight. My blood rushes to those spots spread across my body.
“Spread your power everywhere I just touched.”
“I don’t—”
“Don’t say you don’t know how or you can’t. You can. You are a goddess. You can do whatever the fuck you want. Tell your power to spread. It’ll listen.”
I want to shake my body out, but fear that doing that will erase his lingering touch halts me.
So I stand statue-still.
With my eyes closed, facing the darkness, I exhale.
A desperate desire for this to work overwhelms me.
“Spread.”
It’s not a request or a command. I beg.
A sob works its way up my throat, but it vanishes as part of my power takes its place.
A stream connects through my body from my head to my lips, throat, stomach, pelvic area, knee, and ankle.
Everywhere he touched, my power finds its place.
“Good. Now you’re going to starshoot.”
“What?” My eyes fly open, but I slam them back shut and refocus as my power twitches.
“V isn’t coming back for us. I told him if we didn’t succeed, we’d trek through the woods until we found our way. He’s not going to tell the others where we are. So unless you want to spend hours, possibly days finding our way back home, delaying our trip, you’re going to starshoot. Right now.
“Your power is spread. Now make it surround you. Imagine you rolling yourself up in a blanket. If that doesn’t work, picture my brothers and me crowding around you.
Feel our bodies pressed against yours from all sides.
Once you do that, think about the sacred hot spring and tell your power to take you there. ”
My breathing becomes erratic as nerves take hold. Doubt, fear, and a little anger ambush me. I can’t believe he and my Vedarya are ganging up on me like this, but at the same time, I realize, nothing has worked so far.
My time to learn, grow, understand is taking far longer than I have patience for.
If scaring me with the possibility of being lost in the woods is the push I need to figure this out, then figuring it out is what I’m going to do.
I don’t want to worry the others or potentially mess up our quest that everyone has worked so hard on.
I release a long, slow breath as I open my palms beside me. I spend a second focusing on the tingling spots on my body. Each power point responds to me in a way it never has. The buzz doesn’t feel chaotic, out of control, or ready to take over.
With my heart pounding in my ears, I don’t picture a blanket wrapping around me. I think about my Valtrue.
How they surround me protectively.
How they each, in their own way, match a part of me.
In my mind, they walk a circle around me. They don’t stand in a singular position because at times they fulfil different things for me.
Sometimes Creed leads, ready and willing to jump in and protect or put me in my place.
Sometimes it’s Kyzen, ready to listen or be my voice of reason.
Sometimes it’s Amick, ready to guide me and make me realize I can be more.
And sometimes it’s Riven, with his unconventional methods, ready to push me into my storm or my calm. He’ll embrace either one.
Those points in my body split, going in opposite directions from one another until they wrap around me and meet once again.
I’m cocooned in power.
“Starshoot, Thayla.”
I picture myself standing at the edge of the sacred hot spring, staring into that powerful, beautiful blue. The sound of a mystical hoot and a majestic neigh fills my ears. Words of encouragement from four different voices pierce my mind.
“Starshoot.”
Power that…I still don’t truly understand, and that honestly still kind of frightens me, responds.
Warmth spreads through every cell in my blood.
My body becomes weightless.
Time ceases to exist. The darkness isn’t so dark anymore.
A breeze blows across my face, and light from the outside changes the colors of the back of my lids.
I blink, and a watery laugh escapes me as I gaze down at the hot spring about five feet away from me.
Gods…that’s really my power.
My body whirls around as a voice clears behind me. I’m prepared to jump Riven the second I spin, but my footsteps freeze.
My eyes roam over the surprised but…proud faces of Kyzen, Creed, and Amick. There’s even an elated energy pouring off V and Seismet.
“I did it.”
Kyzen steps forward with a massive smile on his face.
“You sure did, gorgeous.”
The air behind me shifts and I spin on my heels, coming face-to-face with Riven.
“How did they…” I trail off, peering over my shoulder.
“I told V to get them. Did you really think I’d let an opportunity to rub it in their faces that I helped you pass me by?”
“Do they…”
He steps impossibly close and raises his hand between us. He sticks out his pinky finger, and I look at it before meeting his eyes again.
“Our secret?”
I lock my pinky with his.
“Our secret. You’ll explain it to me later?”
My question is full of hope and layered with a request that’s deeper than wanting an explanation about how his power just did what it did.
“Yeah, angel. We’ll have our moment later.”