The Serpent's Shadow

good on his word, putting up a shield to surround the entire house, cleverly using (or at least he thought he was being clever) the electrical wiring and the pipes to carry his protections. Things like copper wire and copper pipes carried magical currents as readily as they carried water or electricity.

Since he'd discovered that, Peter'd had a much easier time of casting shields.

Ah, but she must have discovered the same thing, for he sensed the flow of energies out even as his own poured in. Unmaking was always quicker and easier than making, if the thing you were tackling happened to be your own.

'Now we'll go about this the correct way,' he told her, as the Earth power around the perimeter faded from his perception. He picked up a stone and placed it right at her feet. 'We'll be using that in a moment, but for now, look beyond the surface and read the energies under your garden. See how strong they are?'

She nodded slowly.

'Don't just look at them. Touch them. Then when you've touched them, let them flow into you from the soles of your feet.' He gave her an encouraging smile. 'You can do it; you already have, a little. You can't help it.'

'If I relax . . .' she muttered, then took several slow, deep breaths. Meanwhile, he watched her like a cat at a mouse hole, waiting for the mouse to poke a whisker out. And after two false starts, he watched as the warm yellow-gold of Earth energy crept upward and engulfed her, leaving her haloed in light.

She laughed with delight and surprise. 'My word! It's like—like gulping down an entire bottle of champagne!' she exulted. He chuckled, recalling the first time that Water energies had flowed into him. It had been very like being drunk—the giddiness, the increased pulse rate—and yet he'd remained perfectly sober.

'Now concentrate on that rock,' he continued. Immediately, the little pebble glowed with an inner life, glowed with the power she had taken from the earth. He would have used a clear glass of water—glass being a kind of liquid, and so akin to water—if he needed a focus, which he really didn't anymore. 'Think of it as the world in miniature, and weave a single protection around it. Like this —'

He quickly shielded the rock with his own, Watery energies. These were the most basic, but basic did not mean 'lesser.' 'Watch closely,' he warned, and slowly expanded the shields in all directions, exactly like blowing up a soap bubble. But unlike a soap bubble, this one remained just as tough and strong as it got bigger, for he kept pouring energy into it as it expanded. And when it met the shields he already had on the place, they merged immediately into a seamless whole.

'Now it's your turn,' he told her. She bit her lip, and started as he had.

By Jove! She's a fast learner! It only took a single false start, and her own shields began to expand from the point where they'd begun. The movement was painfully slow at first; she couldn't expand and increase the energy going into the shield at the same time. No matter, that would come in time.

When her shields touched his, they did not merge. Instead, they layered, hers overlaying his. She looked nonplussed when that happened; she had probably thought that they would become a single entity.

'Is that right?' she asked, with a sharp look at him. 'Are they supposed to do that?'

'Put earth and water in a jar and shake them together; no matter how hard you shake, the earth separates from the water once you stop agitating the jar,' he replied. 'And that is how you build proper shields. Layer them, don't try to braid them until you have more skill and practice. Bring them up on a central point, then expand them to meet your perimeter. Again?'

'Absolutely!' Now she seemed eager for the task; as Peter watched her establish her initial shield, he recognized it as the Tm not here' camouflage, and paid close attention to how she spun it up. When she expanded it—more smoothly this time, but by no means as quickly as he had—he was pleased to see it layer into the previous set. It was stronger now than it had been. That was part of being better integrated, but was also due to having more energy behind it.

'Feeling tired yet?' he asked her, once the shield was up and established. He knew she wouldn't be, because she wasn't using her own power, but it was time to call her attention to that fact.

'Why—no!' She was astonished by her own answer, and looked down at her hands with a quizzical expression, as if looking for the reason there.

'That's because you used the energies of your Element, and not your own personal power,' he replied. 'Now you don't need to depend on yourself to work magic; you have a source of energy outside yourself. So think about that for a moment. What is that going to mean to you, and not just here and now, but outside these four walls?'

'That—Can I use this for healing as well?' she asked instantly. 'Oh, of course I can! There's no reason why I couldn't, is there, and every reason why I should?'