“I heard that,” Moeller warned. “I’m closer than your guards, and you aren’tmyqueen.”
They ignored his threat.
“Close your eyes,” Damien directed.
“Why?” Evelyn asked nervously.
“Because you have to focus on listening. Your eyes only distract you.”
Evelyn did as she was told. “Now what?”
“Think of something you can hear clearly in your mind. A sound, a voice, anything. Repeat it in your head as many times as you need. Then push it into the air.”
The silliest memory popped into Evelyn’s mind, but the sound was short enough to practice easily.
Here.
Here.
Here.
Here.
“Here.”
Evelyn jumped. When she said the word for the fifth time in her head, she heard it whispered back to her, like the wind echoed her thought.
Her eyes flew open. Damien was watching her with a crooked smile.
“Was thatmyvoice?” he asked.
Evelyn nodded. “We were at the hospital. You took a cookie off my plate and licked it, then offered it to me.”
Damien barked out a laugh. “Why did you pickthatof all things?”
“It was the first sound I thought of. But it worked? It only sounded like a whisper to me.”
“It was loud enough for the rest of us. You can create illusions!”
Rory and Simon clapped and cheered as loudly as they could, just to make a fuss.
“Do it again!” Moeller demanded.
Evelyn managed two more Auditory illusions. First was a tea kettle whistling, which is apparently quite unpleasant to hear amplified in a courtyard. Then she shared her brother’s laughter, making herself homesick.
“That’s enough noise for today,” Moeller announced, getting up to leave.
“Evelyn proved she can do Perceptual magic,” Damien boasted. “You don’t have anything to say about it?”
Moeller bowed to Evelyn. “I wish you the best of luck using tea kettle screeching in battles, Your Majesty.”
Damien glared at him, but Evelyn burst out laughing. Moeller went back inside, officially concluding the lesson.
“Fuck that guy,” Damien grumbled. “He disrespected centuries of Gryon military strategy!”
Evelyn laughed harder.
“It’s your kingdom he’s insulting now,Queen Evelyn!”
