Didn’t want to disturb you. Have to meet with the real estate lawyer in Portland. We can talk when I get back. Love you, honey. It’s all going to be fine. Somehow.
I’d known about the appointment, but I’d forgotten all about it. Now I felt my heart sinking as I watched her drive away. That feeling I’d had over the last few days, like she was avoiding me, began to intensify. I’d woken up this morning realizing I had to face my new reality head on, but it seemed like my mom wasn’t quite there yet.
Luckily, she wasn’t the only witch in the house who could help me.
Rhi was sitting in the kitchen when I walked in, a cup of tea by her elbow and a book open on the table in front of her. She looked up at the sound of my approach.
“Wren! I wasn’t expecting to see you so early,” she said, marking her place in the book and setting it aside. “Would you like some tea?”
“Sure,” I said, sliding into the seat beside her with my own stack of books.
“How are you feeling? After yesterday, I mean?” Rhi asked, her eyes probing me anxiously as she spooned tea leaves from a mason jar into a little metal infuser.
I smiled weakly. “I had a kind of… existential crisis last night, I think. But I think I got it out of my system, at least for the moment.”
“I’m sorry you faced that alone,” Rhi said.
“I wasn’t alone. Freya stayed with me.”
Rhi smiled and nodded. “None better than a familiar for a job like that.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Anyway, I’ve decided to stop feeling sorry for myself, and start learning what I can. I don’t want to be an easy target anymore.” I patted the books.
“We came to similar conclusions, then,” Rhi said, setting the steaming cup of tea down in front of me, and taking her seat again. “After listening to the Conclave last night, I’m also determined to focus on your magical education. But I’ve also come to the conclusion that I’ve been going about it all wrong.”
I frowned. “Rhi, you can’t blame yourself just because I suck at baking.”
“That’s not what I mean. And you don’t suck at it, Wren, you just need practice,” Rhi snapped. “But your cooking skills aren’t the issue here. It’s me. I’ve started in the wrong place. I’vestarted you out the way I would any young witch who hadn’t yet shown any predisposition towards a certain kind of magic. I didn’t even really think about it. It just seemed natural to begin at the beginning. But the truth is that you’re much further along in the development of your powers than a mere child would be, and I ought to have taken that into account.”
“I’m glad you think I’ve developed somehow, becauseI’mnot seeing it,” I said.
“Wren, if the events on the beach haven’t convinced you that you are a Vesper witch through and through, I’m not really sure what else can.”
She said the words gently, but there was steel in them, enough to make me lift my head and look her in the eye. She was staring at me with such intensity that I could feel her intention as clearly as I could when I bit into her baking. She was willing me to believe in myself the way she believed in me.
“It’s not that I think I have no power,” I finally said. “IknowI have it. I felt it coursing through me that night. The problem is, it seems to be hiding from me. It feels like it only appeared to save my life, you know? Like an adrenaline rush or something. I feel like one of those people who lifts a car off an injured person in an emergency, but can hardly open a pickle jar the rest of the time.”
Rhi laughed —the sound was hearty and hoarse and comforting.
“I’m not trying to make a joke,” I pointed out.
“I know you aren’t, honey, I’ve just never heard anyone explain it that way before,” she said, still chuckling. “And you’re exactly right. Our powers often manifest themselves when our instincts take over. It’s almost as though we have to stop thinking in order to connect with them, and of course, when you’re trying to learn, it’s very hard to do that.”
“Learning without thinking,” I repeated. “Yeah. That basically sounds impossible.”
“Well, I promise you, it isn’t,” Rhi said, squeezing my arm. “Which brings me back to my original point. Yesterday, the Conclave said we ought to consider an affinity study. Did you understand what that meant?”
“I think so. They want to test me for my natural magical talent, right?”
“Exactly. When I set out to teach you, I started with my own affinity because that’s where I’m most comfortable. But that’s backward. I need to start with your affinity because that’s where you’re most comfortable. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, I guess so. But how do I find out what my affinity is?” I asked.
“You already know it,” Rhi said.
I just blinked at her. Rhi smiled again.
“You are most likely an elemental witch,” she said.
