All the horror she must’ve suffered to have scars like that, but remain as kind as she is, astounds me.
Mina is a rare soul.
She turns so that she’s sitting cross-legged in front of me, and I mirror her actions. She clasps my hands and stares into my eyes. The breeze floats between us, bringing with it the salty air of the sea.
The tightness of my chest eases slightly, and Mina talks softly.
“I want you to focus on where your wings protrude from your skin for a moment.” I shift my focus to the area she’s talking about. “Focus intently, but don’t get discouraged. Magic is less strong here, so this will take even more concentration than it should normally take,” she whispers. I focus on her words, my attention locked onto her face. “Now I want you to visualize the empty space between your wings, the very air itself, andwillyour wings into nothing.”
I focus with all my might, my abs tighten, and my eyes strain as I focus on everything from the silvery-white of my feathers to the air between them.
Mina smiles. “Remember to breathe.”
My breath whooshes out of my chest, and I work to inhale slowly.
We try for an hour before I’m mentally and physically exhausted.
“Let’s call it a day. We have plenty of time for you to learn.” She rises and stretches out a hand to me.
As she pulls me up, the temperature plummets. We look at each other in alarm.
“Do you feel that?” I ask, looking around for any cause of the temperature drop.
My words come out in puffs of steam.
Frost grows on the ground beneath us. Mina looks up into the sky as her teeth begin to clatter together.
“Lena, look,” she stutters out between shivers.
Snowflakes float down from the sky. I look from the sea to the castle as snow begins to fall. We share a look before we turn and sprint down the path that takes us back to the castle. The snow falls harder, and flowers freeze over in our wake, their petals shriveling up and dropping.
Warriors on the training ground pause their training to stare up at the sky.
Snowflakes clump in their beards and stick to their eyelashes.
Lachlan and Evander are on the edge of the grounds, racing towards us when we finally cross paths.
“What is happening?” I ask, looking around.
Lachlan shakes his head. “It never snows this far south,” he says in between pants.
“Or this out of the blue,” Evander mutters, his hands on his knees.
“So, this is another sign?” I ask, my teeth chattering as I work to catch my breath.
Mina nods. “This isn’t good.”
“We need to finish going through the books Marcus brought with him.” I stutter out between shivers. I hold my palm up to catch a snowflake.
“It’s worth trying.” Lachlan nods.
Snow begins melting before it hits the ground, the temperature rising rapidly. Heat caresses my skin, and my teeth stop chattering. I brush off the snow that had begun piling up in my hand against my pants, the wetness darkening the brown of the leather.
“If we can just solve our magic problem, then everything else should fall into place.”
***
The castle is a thrum of energy as the final preparations for Midsommar are in full swing. Flowers are placed on every flat surface, and the smell of sugary goodness wafts from the kitchen.
