I didn’t have the capacity to contain the same level of magic as a vampire who was centuries older.
When that power had started to turn on me, my system reacted, much like white blood cells would with the introduction of a virus.
If it hadn't, the medusa's power would have eaten through me, leaving nothing but carbon and atoms behind.
Maybe if I'd been a few centuries older, I would have suffered little effect. I wasn't, and this was the price I would have to pay.
Good news was, the twins had been right. Even if I did nothing, eventually my system would use up the power and I'd revert to my flesh and blood self.
However, that could take a decade or two since there was still a lot of it swarming through my veins.
I didn't have that kind of time. Even if the twins weren't currently forcing the issue, I wouldn't have been content to let myself sit useless for so long.
I needed free. Now.
I pushed to no effect. Yanking and shoving in the hopes something would make it budge. The strain threatened to send my only recently gathered thoughts scattering.
Nothing. No reaction from the magic suffusing my being.
What good was being able to see if I couldn't bend the magic to my will?
Lifting the enchantment on Connor had been child's play compared to this.
Viewing the problem like it was happening to someone else, I took another look inside, feeling for the differences in power.
Interestingly enough, the medusa's power had already incorporated with my essence, seamlessly interweaving with my own power until it was impossible to tell where one began and the other left off.
Huh. I didn't even know that was possible.
No wonder my attempts had been largely unsuccessful. I was treating the magic keeping me encased in stone as something external to my own power. When really, it had already made a nest for itself before circling and lying down for a good, long rest.
Lovely.
Pain sparked at the edge of my senses, courtesy of a blazing spear of pure power trying to breach my natural defenses.
Seemed the twins had thought of a new avenue of approach.
They simply couldn't leave well enough alone, could they?
I gritted my teeth, throwing my will behind my magic as I resisted their intrusion with every scrap of my being. I'd come so far. The answer was within reach.
The spear eked closer by a millimeter. Pain rocketed through my psyche as it sought to burn out what didn't belong.
Only problem—it was going to tear through me too, until I was nothing more than a vegetable. If I was lucky, I'd retain enough to be a puppet someone could sometimes play with.
That was if I didn't die in the attempt.
Which was looking more and more likely.
The spear skated closer.
I gave more of myself to my shield. I wasn't going to lose this.
A scrap of the power I'd stolen from Callie winked out of my mind's eye. Not gone—simply dormant.
Hope flickered.
Defending myself was causing me to use up the power keeping me in stone.
