“How are you doing?” Ahyana asked.
“Good. The pain is here, but not as intense. I can take it,” Zalira said. “I’m trying to maintain control over the rain as well.”
“How do you do that?” Io asked.
“I think of it, picture it, and it happens. But I have to concentrate. And ignore the pain.”
We stood there quietly so as not to distract her, and I watched as her limbs started to shake. I could see from her expression that the pain was increasing.
“There has to be a way for her to stop besides passing out,” I said.
Io nodded. “Maybe you can think and make it end. Like you were just talking about.”
Zalira shook her head. “That didn’t work.”
“If we speak a command to start, couldn’t there be one to stop?” Ahyana asked. “What if it’s the same phrase?”
“Dea Maimaktes,” Zalira said, and the rain ceased while she sagged down to the ground.
I couldn’t tell if it had worked or if she reached the end of her endurance. But then Zalira lifted her head and grinned at us.
“That did it!” she exclaimed.
We could turn the magic off and not let it consume us. We could make it stop before it rendered us unconscious. I could see on my adelphia’s faces that they felt as relieved as I did.
“My turn,” Io said. She took a few steps back from us and drank the fortification potion. “Dea Khloe.”
A single green plant began to come up through the seams in the concrete floor, slowly growing and moving toward Io. She shifted her gaze toward us.
“You are all covered in that white light, but Suri’s is the strongest,” she said.
“They were all the same when I saw it,” Ahyana responded with a slight frown.
Io held her hand out to Suri, who quickly came over and took it. Io immediately gasped.
“The pain is gone. I feel invigorated, like I could go on forever. As if she’s charging my power.”
I saw the grimace on Suri’s face. This was taking something out of her, and I wanted to know what it felt like. So I went over and took Io’s other hand. She gasped again, and this time instead of feeling the white light entering me, I felt it going out.
Into Io.
Without being told to join in, Zalira and Ahyana came over and held on so that we were all touching.
I could see the white light surrounding Suri and my other sisters. Suri’s was exactly the same as the others.
But none of them were as bright as the light I’d seen around Xander.
“It’s like my power has increased tenfold,” Io said, breathing hard. “Like I could ...”
The pain had started to set in for me. Suri was trembling but she didn’t let go.
Thick roots suddenly shot up through the seams and began wrapping themselves around our ankles.
“Should we be concerned?” Ahyana asked, peering down at her legs.
“No,” Io said. “I wanted to see if it would work.”
The roots slithered off our legs and began to move along the floor, like snakes.
