As I came closer, Beth straightened her shoulders. “We were talking about that, and I had an idea. Why don’t we take a simpler path and turn her into a toad? I mean, I could keep her in a tank at the office, so she wouldn’t be hurt or anything.”
I smiled. “Probably not.”
Carol jumped out of her chair. “It doesn’t have to be a toad. We could use a spell to turn her into yarn, and I could knit her into something. Like a noose."
I laughed. My friends were seriously the best. “No, no yarn.”
Deva lifted a brow. “Do you like Shakespeare?”
Where was she going with this? “Maybe…”
“We could turn her into a vegetable, and I could cook her—”
“We’renoteating this lady,” I said, and then everyone laughed for a minute before the mood shifted to somber again.
Bryan released a slow breath that came out super loud in the silence. When gazes turned toward him, he spoke awkwardly. “Maybe we could just send her away? Teleport her somewhere far from here.”
“Or shrink her?” Daniel volunteered.
I smiled, even though it was a sad smile. “I can’t do any of those things as long as my powers are telling me she’s a good person. If I ignore that and try to hurt her, I don’t think I even deserve these powers.”
“What are you going to do?” Deva asked softly.
“You can’t give away your powers,” Carol said. Bryan pulled her into a hug, and sadness hung over the room.
It took me a minute to speak, not because I was unsure of what to say, but because I know they wouldn’t like what I had to say. “Yes. As much as I don’t want to give away my powers, I will if I have to, because something inside of me is saying that these powers are bigger than me or her. It isn’t about the chosen person, it’s about what’s best for the world.”
“There’s no way she’s what’s best for the world,” Deva muttered.
I didn’t say it, but I agreed. I just wasn’t sure I had a choice in the matter.
21
EMMA
The full moonhung bright over the water, casting everything in a ghostly glow. Daniel and my friends sat around the living room with various glasses of liquor in their hands, not really drinking. Nobody wanted to be tipsy when this happened. The mood was as surreal as the glow from the moon. They wanted to argue with me some more about doing something awful to Alma, but I couldn’t bring myself to go against my powers. At the same time, I couldn’t imagine a world with that woman having these powers. It would be chaos.
"Do you have some spells ready?" I asked. "In case things go wrong." "Yeah, we've got a few things up our sleeves," Beth said. "I have an ancient spell of binding which would limit the activities Alma could partake in once I cast it on her.
Carol grinned. "I'm armed with a fetching spell. It's quickly forgotten by anyone who witnesses it yet still powerful enough for quiet attacks against unsuspecting enemies.
Deva handed out tiny candies. "These chocolates are potent. They'll give you clarity, speed of thought, and as much protection as I could muster. My magic doesn't work on command like yours, so I can't cast spells. I'll mainly be there for moral support." She nodded toward the candies in our hands. "Eat those on the way down to the beach."
It had felt wrong to not include them in this decision if they might be hurt by Alma’s powers too. The butterflies in my stomach doubled in size as I turned away from the moon. “She said all of you would suffer if I made the wrong choice.”
Deva smirked and lifted her glass. “Tell her to bring it, witch.”
Her words didn’t make me feel any better. “I’m serious. I don’t feel like I can hurt her. I also don’t feel like I can give her my powers. I might just wait and see what happens, as stupid as that sounds, but then if something happens to any of you I won’t be able to forgive myself.” My voice cracked as I spoke the last few words. "That's the thing. I wait, I risk you guys being hurt."
Daniel set his beer down and came to wrap me in one of his epic hugs. “I’m not worried.”
“None of us are worried,” Carol said from behind him. “Not about ourselves anyway. Do what you feel is best for you and the powers. Besides, this is probably what she wants, for you to believe you have to give them to her.”
For some reason, tears began to pour down my cheeks. Not full-on sobbing, but I felt the tears and my throat tightening as I tried to keep it together. To my surprise, everyone came to me, and then we were in a massive group hug. All of them were saying reassuring things, but the thoughts in my head were louder than their words. I wasn’t just putting myself at risk if I didn’t give Alma my powers, I was putting all these amazing people at risk. If I was wrong, and this was simply the way of Karma, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.
I thought back to the day I'd become Karma. Yes, I did something heroic. I'd pushed the other Karma out of the way of an oncoming car. We both could've been seriously injured. Back then I hadn't known about magic, or what I'd receive from saving her, only that on that day she gave me her powers. I remembered the smile on her face when she'd done it. There'd been no hesitation in her expression. Nothing to say that what she was about to do would change her life forever, much less mine.
This wasn’t like that. This was a woman who created a situation where she could be a hero. A situation where she saved lives to get something she desperately wanted. If Karma had passed on her powers in my situation, was this really the same? It didn’t feel the same.
