Chapter fifty-seven
Seren
Our combined mágik, bolstered by the blessing of the Celestial Goddesses, was a sight to behold. It was like nothing we had ever seen. Like nothing anyone had seen in generations.
Glittering silver and gold light rippled across our bodies from head to toe giving us the effect of having been coated in dripping mágik. The power of the moon and the sun danced behind our eyes and flitted through the growing dark of dusk.
I wielded my newly strengthened powers in every spare moment. Ayla trained with me, just as hungry as I was to explore the bounds of our new abilities. We knew, too, that the days were racing by. Soon we would have to face Lady Adiran.
Time was precious, and not a moment could be wasted.
Harkin and Théo aided us too, giving advice on how to summon and utilize our mágik most efficiently.
We had a few accidents along the way, unused to the expanded bounds of our abilities. I lashed out with a glittering silver wave. I raised my arms above my head, and the water followed. The tide to my moon. It rushed toward Ayla, a looming wall, but with a wave of her flaming hands, it erupted into steam.
The heat was a balm to our frosted bones.
“Oh Goddesses, do that again,” I laughed. “The heat is delectable.”
I flopped on my back, and Ayla followed.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Ready,” she confirmed.
I summoned the wave again, sending it high into the sky above us. Ayla reached for it again, but her flame spurred past it. She sat up, tongue between her teeth as she wrestled for control. “I’m losing it!”
“You’ve got it—” I began, but it was too late.
Her mágik caught hold of a copse of trees, spitting white flames setting them ablaze.
“Fuck…” I summoned another wave, pushing it hard to quench the flames, but it was far too large. In my panic, I managed to put out the fire but not before first drenching myself and my friends in a deluge of freezing water.
“Seren!” Ayla groaned.
“You’re the one who lit the forest on fire!” I shot back.
We dissolved into a fit of giggles, laughing through the chattering of our teeth.
Changing our clothes as quickly as possible, we trembled in the frigid air as our garments began to ice over with rapidity. We huddled close to one another around a much smaller, more controlled fire, and resolved to hold off any further attempts at mágik until the following day.
The next night, I attempted to harden my silver-white moon mágik into a tangible thing, something that could be used as an additional limb. I overcompensated, intending to nudge a boulder to the side and instead creating a blade of pure energy. It reachedmuch farther than I anticipated, effectively slicing Ayla’s tent into ribbons.
“Damn it!” I shouted. “Sorry, Ayla…”
I was thoroughly chagrined, outwardly cringing, and entirely grateful that my cousin had not been inside the tent. There might have been a very different outcome.
Ayla only stared in horror before bursting out in hysterical laughter. I joined her, to the dismay of the rest of the group.
We sorted through the tent, rescuing her pack, which had remained largely unscathed, while Safiya looked on hopefully.
“Théo, can I share your tent?” Ayla batted her lashes at him, hands clasped together as if she were a small child begging for an extra slice of pie.
He rolled his eyes playfully. “Of course. What’s mine is yours.”
The disappointment was visible on Safiya’s face when Ayla settled her things in Théo’s tent, choosing to bunk with her best friend over her former lover.
When the stars emerged on our final journeying night, I settled in to contact Lady Adiran. I had spent the previous nights entering the dreams of my companions with varying levels of success, but I practiced again and again, knowing it was vital that I master my ability.
