“Whoa, it’s real!” the second boy exclaims. “I thought it was a trick.”
The girl glances at the fire and back. “Can you make fire too?”
“Yes, although my friend Harlow is much better at it.” It’s been a while since performing fire magick, but for the sake of the children, I focus on a different pull inside me. This one buried further away; the one that controls other elements when needed. Three chords intermingle in a knot so rarely unwound, but I find the hottest one, yank on it, and power emits from my hand until the fire roars a few feet taller. It’s unnatural, wanting immediately to be sucked back inside and cooled by my mist.
The roar of the flames gains more attention from nearby adults, so before anyone reports me to Ryder, I lower my arm, killing the fire back to its normal height.
“More, more!” they yell, and soon I find myself also smiling, forgetting why I’m in this camp.
I twirl my finger and create a small wind vortex that wraps around them. Nothing big or dangerous, since my abilities with air only extend to essentially this much. It makes it challenging for them to catch the water balls I also toss at them.
After a few more moments, I lower all magick before any of the many observers has reason to believe I’m corrupting kids. Once the wind dies down, all three are panting. The boys run off with a wave, but the girl lingers, fiddling with the ends of her hair.
“I thought witches are scary. You don’t seem scary.”
“Depends on your definition of scary, I suppose. I thought shifters were dangerous, but you don’t seem dangerous.”
It’s a joke the girl highly takes offence at by scrunching her nose and stomping her foot dramatically. “I’m very dangerous!At least, I will be when I’m grown-up. My name’s Claire. What’s yours?”
“Carina.”
“Both our names start with Cs!” She spins towards the woman observing this whole time. “Mommy, guess what? Her name also starts with a C.”
Mommy.Oh shit.
“I saw. Carina’s powers seem pretty cool.” Her eyes, judgement-free, slide towards me. She smiles tentatively, making me believe she isn’t lying for her daughter’s sake. “Sorry ’bout her.”
“It’s fine.”
The woman gets up to shuffles closer. Claire kisses her mother’s cheek, waves to me, and then takes off towards the far end of the camp.
“You’re good with them. You have any?” She leans forward to rest her elbows on her knees.
At twenty-four, I barely manage to get myself ready in the morning. A child would break me.
“Nope. We just have quite a few in the coven, and I often stay behind from gatherings to watch them. Kids of any species seems easily amused by magick, so it’s a go-to for entertainment.”
She sits a bit straighter, tipping her head slightly. “Don’t they have their own? Sorry, until seeing you, I didn’t realize how little about your kind I know.”
Ditto.“Witches don’t come into their powers until puberty. Since our powers are closely tied into emotions, we get slammed with all that hell at the same time.” Humans believe their teenagers are hormonal, but they have nothing on us.
“Same with shifters. With puberty comes our first shift.” Her gaze drops from me to the ground, distant, probably recallinghers. After another few seconds, she blinks and twists more my way, offering her hand. “I’m Leah.”
Her act of kindness throws me for so long, it takes a moment to realize what exactly I need to do in response.
“Carina. Though you probably know that already.”
“Yeah, you’ve been quite the topic of conversation since last night.”
“I imagine.”
She glances around the camp at the various observers who’ve returned to work. “No one’s been mean, I hope? Mention it to Ryder, if so. He’ll take care of it.”
Yell at one of his own to save the feelings of an enemy? I’m sure.Not wanting to insult her confidence in her leader, I simply nod. “Being mean would involve talking to me. Anyone I’ve come into contact with looks the other way.”
“They’re nervous.”
Her use of ‘they’ separates herself from it. “You’re not?”
