Rude.
“So…” I offered them a tentative smile. “You’re going to teach me how to master spirit?”
Raiden checked his watch again and frowned. “We can start lessons tomorrow—after you’ve finished initiation.”
“You meanifshe finishes,” Zia muttered, her back still to me.
I narrowed my eyes at the young woman but decided to ignore her passive aggressiveness—for now.
“So … what do I need to do for this initiation?” I tried to move this along. “I want to make sure I get back in time for Grandpa—”
“The initiation comesafteryour name is in the scrolls,” Than said, shaking his head. “You’re here for our blessing.”
Right. I was almost too tired to care.
Can we just get on with it?
Aine sighed and stepped forward. “Geoff must be very sick to not have accompanied you. I can’t believe he’s not here.”
Okay, they were legit freaking me out about Grandpa, and my patience was wearing thin. I pulled the black satchel out of my pocket. “He gave me these”—I shook the bag—“had me get in the hot spring, and then tossed a crystal into the water.”
All five of them flinched when I shook the bag of stones.
“Be careful with those!” Lucia grabbed my wrist with one hand and pressed the other to her chest like she might faint.
I winced. “Sorry.” I withdrew my hand from Lucia and then gingerly placed the bag back in my pocket.
Than shook his head. “Geoff has obviously told her nothing,” he muttered, his gaze jumping from one member of their group to the next. “The girl just shook our soul stones like they were dice.”
“Soul stones!” I gulped as the air whooshed from my lungs. Then, with an epiphany, my eyes widened. “Yoursoul stones?”
Wait a minute. Hadn’t the Keeper said something about soul stones … before he swallowed the stone my grandfather gave me to bargain my way out of the Realm of the Dead?
Oh mage.
Where did Gramps get it?
“All right,” Zia snapped, whirling on all of us. “Geoff clearly isn’t coming, so we best get a move on! The girl still has a deadline, and all this blathering doesn’t change it.”
Even though Zia was rude, she took initiative, which I could respect. The others nodded and then pressed in on me, hands outstretched.
“What exactly does this blessing entail?” I tried to back up and bumped into Raiden, who caught me around the upper arms.
“Think of it as a power activation,” Raiden said.
Aine grinned. “Plus, we’ll bind our souls to yours, so you can call on us when you need us.”
Bind their souls! Wasn’t that a bitoverkill?
“This is…”weird. I glanced from one to the next, but what were my options? “Will it hurt?”
Hadn’t Gramps said this might be dangerous?
“Maybe,” Than said. “Maybe not. It depends on how much capacity you have.”
Capacity for what?
One by one, they laid their hands on me, and immediately, my skin buzzed and tingled. “You were born with a certain amount of power,” Aine said with kindness in her voice, “and our blessing will activate all the power of spirit in you.”
