“Why does Rahab keep falling for his lies?”Cam asked.
“What choice does he have?”Zoe pointed out.“Anarchy is just as powerful as Fate.He just doesn’t care if his minions live or die.”
“I’m so glad Fate severed the paternal bond our pops had with us,” Grace said with a shiver.“Imagine being forced to obey their orders for the rest of our lives?”
The cambions shared the same dread at that prospect.Tori and Wynter were the only ones who were safe from facing that horrible destiny.
Oaklie knew a way she could lighten the suddenly morose mood.“I have something else to show you,” she said.“I worked out how to incorporate my magic into my art projects,” she said and stood up.
Crossing to the back of the great room, Oak poured her magic into the bookcases.Far stronger now that her mind was linked to Ark’s, it was easy for her to manipulate the frames of the bookcases.Curious, everyone left their seats to watch what she was doing.
Grace gasped in wonder when animals, birds, insects and plants formed.“It looks like they’re alive!”she exclaimed.
Ark had seen his female perform this trick before.He was still blown away by her talent.“My mate is amazing,” he said proudly.
The animals frolicked together as trees, shrubs and vines sprouted flowers.Birds seemed to fly from one bookcase to the other, chasing insects and each other.It was a magical scene equal to the ice sculpture at the front of their base.
“Can you leave the library like that?”Grace asked.
“Sure,” Oaklie said with a shrug.“It doesn’t take much power to keep it going.”
“Just like my fairy lights,” Xanthia mused.“I gave them orders to switch on and off whenever someone is in here and they obey me.”
Oak concentrated, then grinned when she felt her magic responding in the same manner.“Now the bookcases will come to life whenever someone is in here, too,” she said.
“We’re living in a magical stone castle,” Qiana said in amazement.She’d always been practical and unfanciful.It was an adjustment to be living with people who could perform supernatural feats on a daily basis.She’d hidden her power deep inside herself and was still astounded that she could use magic sometimes.
“Do you really think you’ll be able to install windows and doors here if we steal them from the resort?”Cam asked Oaklie.A budding carpenter, he was eager to assist her if she needed some help.
“I just watched Oak turn a sheet of plywood into a real door,” Grace told him.“She somehow fused it to the stone without using screws.”
“It’s just temporary and it isn’t meant to last forever,” Oaklie said.“It’s hard to fix wood to other surfaces permanently.We’ll need nails, screws or glue to make them hold forever.”
“We’ve got plenty of tools, nails, screws, bolts and other gear we stole from a hardware store,” Jac said.
“It’s only nine o’clock,” Oak said, checking her watch.“I could do a test run on adding a door now if someone wants to teleport me to the resort.”
“I’ll do it!”Cam volunteered, surging to his feet.
“Cam likes to build stuff,” Vic said.“He’ll mope around like a big blond idiot if you don’t let him help you.”
“I’ll go with you,” Arkas said, eager to see the resort he’d heard so much about by now.
Oaklie and her new mate took Camriel’s hands when he held them out.He whisked them a few miles to the north into the foyer of the resort.“Sheesh,” Oak said as she looked around the sparse dark reception area and nearby lounging space.“You’ve cleared it out pretty well.”
“We need a lot of chairs and couches for our great room,” Cam said.“We actually already have some doors from here,” he divulged.“But I was hoping we could steal the entrance door.It would look awesome at our base.”
“It’s too big to fit into our entrance,” Ark said as they turned to look at the dark, wide door.
“I can adjust the size,” Oaklie said as she sauntered over to it.She put her hand on it to delve into the wood.“It’s nice and solid,” she said in approval.Her magic infused the door and the frame, then the frame came loose.Arkas and Cam leaped forward to steady it before it could fall.
“How did you do that?”Camriel asked.
“I just made the holes around the screws bigger and thinned the frame so it’s no longer connected to the building,” the artist said.
“Isn’t she amazing?”Arkas said in a loving tone.His expression changed and he suddenly hunched over.“Something weird is going on again,” he complained.
“I know that look,” his brother said wisely.“You need to pizz.”
