“Probably not. Is that your power? You steal nightmares?” Kelly shuddered.
“Honestly, I don’t really know. The guys have powers that relate to the four elements. Flynn manipulates water. Rowan can grow things and command the earth itself, Arthur’s fire burns along with his rage and passion. Corbin…” I swallowed. “He controlled air. He was breath and light. All their powers I kind of understand in a scientific sense. Everything in the universe is made of energy, and those energies come together and bounce off each other in different ways, That’s what we’re doing all the time, when we walk and talk and pick up objects. But my powers are ripped straight out of a dorky fantasy novel.”
“Tell me, Maeve. I really want to understand.”
“I have spirit magic. It’s quite rare among witches, so it’s a genetically-recessive trait. You remember me telling you about natural selection and genetic traits in a population can change over time because of bottlenecks and catastrophic events and other?—”
Kelly rolled her eyes. “Sure, Einstein, I remember.”
“The witches put on trial or burned or forced into exile are usually spirit magic users. The ones who see things theyshouldn’t see or manipulate the world in a way that isn’t natural. Honestly, I can see why people are afraid of us.” I stared down at my hands, the nerves twitching as the hot magic coursed through them. The chair arms warmed up, and hummed with strange energy, as though the fabric were somehow alive. “This power is scary, and a little bit pointless unless you’re an evil person who enjoys inflicting pain on others.”
“What does it do?”
“Harnesses the power of spirit, supposedly. I’m not sure if that means spirit in Mom and Dad’s Biblical soul-sense, though. Apparently, spirit magic manifests itself in different ways. Some people see hallucinations that supposedly predict the future, manipulate emotions, or move objects with their minds. I’m a dreamwalker, which means I can manipulate dreams.” I turned my palms over. “I can also touch someone and force them to experience their dreams, or their nightmares.“
“You’re right,” Kelly said. “That is kind of useless.”
“There are some spells that only spirit users can do. I can bring the guys into my dreams and then project us into another place. That was the first real spell I ever did, when we travelled to the fae realm to save Connor and another baby, and we ended up bringing Blake back with us.”
“Blake uses spirit magic, too. What’s his special power, apart from being gorgeous?”
I grinned. Of course Blake’s ethereal, otherworldly beauty wasn’t lost on my boy-crazy sister. “Blake’s all… messed up. He’s human, but he was raised by fae and exposed to their magic and teachings. His spirit magic gives him the ability to use a bit of fae magic, like compulsion, and the ability to cast glamour. He can’t do it as well or as powerful as a fae, but it comes in handy. When we combine our powers, we create a brutal force. That’s what we did last night – we used Blake’s compulsion and my ability to show dreams to send the fae a message to head back to thecrack without hurting anyone else, and we gave the villagers the message to run toward the house.”
“And now they’re all arrested.”
“Yes.” The word came out in a harsh hiss. “They’ll be held accountable for Corbin’s death.”
“But they didn’t kill him, did they?” Kelly looked stricken. “I mean, the fae were the ones who did that.”
“Because the villagers were calling for his blood! They chased him out of the house and right into the waiting fae army.”
Kelly’s face darkened. I braced myself for a lecture about how Jesus turned the other cheek and forgave. Instead, she said, “Maeve, I’m so sorry about everything.”
“Me, too.”
“I know, but let me go first. I messed everything up. I tried to pretend I was okay when I came here – that I was going on this grand adventure with you and the guys. I wanted to be the Kelly you remembered who was fun and zany and flirts with everyone. But it’s like I’m wearing this cloak of sadness and it’s so heavy and I have to drag it around everywhere. When you were in Arizona with me, and Arthur was there, I felt like you understood what I was feeling, but when I got to England you just seemed like you were living your life, and it made me so angry?—”
“I know. It’s okay to be angry. It might not look like it, but I’m still dealing with the pain of losing them, too.” Spirit magic slid through my fingers. Beneath me, the chair vibrated. I let out a breath as my body relaxed its grip on my magic. “So much has happened since the night of the fair and I’ve barely had time to process it all. Having you here made me think of them, and every time you spoke about them or their beliefs, I thought about the magic and the guys and how I was betraying them.”
“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” she whispered. “I didn’t even mean half the things I said. I guess I thought if I was justlike them, if I was good enough and believed hard enough and made everyone around me good enough, too, then I’d get to see them again. Isn’t that crazy?”
“It’s not crazy at all,” I whispered. “You’re a much better person than I am.”
“That’s not true. You’re trying to save the world.”
“Oh yeah,” I grinned, as the last of my magic drained away. “I forgot about that.”
I slid out of the chair and we hugged, squishing Connor between us. He opened one sleepy eye and blew a raspberry. Kelly and I burst out laughing, clinging to each other as tears rolled down our cheeks.
“It’s weird,” Kelly said, wiping the corner of her eye. “As soon as you touched me, I got this flood of sensations – sort of like memories, but not a complete picture. Just flashes of sound and scent and touch. I think they were from our childhood.”
“I’m sorry.” I drew my hand away from her. “I thought it was all gone, but?—”
Kelly grabbed my wrist.
“Nope. No apologising for who you are, big sister. I got used to you being a weirdo science nerd who totally cramped my style. I can deal with you being a badass magic bitch, too.”
“We’re in England now,” I beamed back at her. “You have to learn how to sayarse.”
