I smirked wickedly. Lighting candles was one of the first things I’d mastered.
“Relax, find your center, and concentrate on what you want to happen.” With my powers on the tip of my tongue, I bent forward and gently blew on the wick of the candle closest to me. It glowed a bright tanzanite blue —the color of the flames I produced—and then lit. I winked at Kaylee, and the rest of the candles flickered to life.
Kaylee’s gaze roamed the room.
“Creating fire where there is none is the most difficult part, but once it exists, you can manipulate it.” Josh held his hand in front of him, palm up. His fingers curled into a fist. The simple gesture extinguished all the candles at once without so much as a wisp of smoke. He opened his hand to show he’d captured the flames in his grasp.
“Hold out your hand,” he told Kaylee.
She bit her bottom lip and followed his instructions.
“Call the fire to you,” he directed.
She stared at his hand, but nothing happened. Only a hint of stargazer lilies—the sweet scent of her powers—could be detected amongst the strong taste of chocolate-covered strawberries that was my powers. If Kaylee had properly managed to call upon her magic, we would have smelled a dozen bouquets of the vibrant flowers.
Isaac held his hand up as if he had on a catcher’s mitt. “Find your center,” he repeated, reminding her of the first step to any spell. “Focus on what you want and imagine it happening.”
The fireball soared into Isaac’s waiting hand.
“Is it hot?” Kaylee asked.
“It’ll feel warm like a freshly baked cookie, but it won’t burn you,” I assured her.
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and sat a little straighter. Her gaze fixed on the fire suspended an inch above Isaac’s palm. The taste of her magic slowly grew stronger. A few seconds passed. She squinted, mouth pulled into a tight line. Her hand bounced a couple times as if she was thinking,
“I did it!” Kaylee laughed. “I actually did it. Now what?” she added excitedly.
“Put it out,” Josh said.
Slowly, her fingers bent upward. Flames licked her pinky. She hesitated a moment before snapping her hand closed, smothering the fire. I’d almost forgotten how fun it was to cast the simple spells as a group.
Next, Kaylee tried to light the candle closest to her by blowing on the wick. She had about as much luck with that as a stove without gas. The strong scent of hot apple cider wafted past me. I glanced at Josh, knowing that was the taste of his powers. He mouthed
Kaylee didn’t notice that Josh had helped her with the spell, and I let her have the small victory because one of the most powerful tools a witch could have was confidence. If Kaylee believed she could harness the powers given to her to light a candle, then eventually she would be able to.
We continued to practice, taking turns summoning the fire to us and sending it back to the candles. By the time we called it a night, Kaylee had lit a candle on her own. She wasn’t able to get them all to light like I had, but she could pull a flame from one candle and send it to the wick of another.
“That was incredible,” she said as we gathered the candles and put them back in the box. “I feel… energized.”
I knew that sensation all too well—the trickle of magic dancing over my skin, awakening all my senses, allowing me to see things with more clarity than I had before I’d embraced the powers.
She and Josh left shortly after we had the family room put back together.
“Are you sure you won’t stay?” I asked Isaac. We were in the foyer.
“Can’t. I have to get up early tomorrow.”
“Not even five minutes?” I hooked my index fingers through his belt loops and rose to my tiptoes, my lips a breath away from his. “I thought we could do a little practicing of our own.”
Isaac wet his lips. “Your father’s right upstairs.”
“Passed out. A freight train speeding through his bedroom isn’t going to wake him.”
Isaac’s mouth covered mine. A tingling sensation tugged at me from behind my belly button. I pushed it back and wound my arms around his neck. Isaac’s fingers followed the curve of my back down to my butt cheeks and back up again. I could feel my powers struggling to break free, but squeezing my eyes shut tighter, I tucked them away. To my disappointment, Isaac broke our kiss.
“I’m going to need more than five minutes,” he said in a husky voice.
I was going to need a double-insulated titanium room to control my emotions and my powers for more than twenty-three seconds.
Isaac pinched my chin, tilted my head up, and gave me one last peck of a kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
With a wave of my hand, I turned off the lights and headed upstairs. Kaylee had done really well for her first time playing with fire. I was thinking that I’d show her how to capture the wind next. Or maybe that was too advanced. She’d probably like to be able to will the lights on and off or make changes to something written in ink or warm a cold cup of coffee.
At the top of the stairs, I paused mid-thought to watch the glimmer of violet light that crept from beneath my closed bedroom door.
I took a tentative step forward, then another and another, peeking in my brother’s room as I passed it. He was sound asleep, flopped across his bed on top of the covers like every other night.
My eyes journeyed back to the iridescent glow seeping out of my room. I took the last few steps and stopped, my hand hovering over the doorknob.
“It’s your room,” I reminded myself. Although when I’d left that morning, my room hadn’t glowed.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I wrenched open the door. Several tiny orbs floated above my bed. I focused on the lamp on my nightstand, pushing out a small amount of power. It clicked on. Brea lie curled on top of the covers on my bed fast asleep, still wearing my boots.
She looked so peaceful. Instead of waking her, I turned the light off and pulled as much of the comforter over her as I could and then grabbed my old sleeping bag from the closet. I spread it out on the floor at the foot of the bed and crawled inside. My eyelids grew heavy as I watched the purple orbs drift around my room.
I dreamed I was with Isaac. The gymnasium at school had been transformed into a makeshift ballroom. Sparkling snowflakes dangled from the beams in the ceiling. Twisting columns of red and white balloons added a Christmas feel to the place. Matching streamers draped in flowing currents from the ceiling to the walls. A beautiful waltz serenaded everyone in attendance. Isaac wore a black suit with a black dress shirt. I had on a red velvet strapless dress complete with white fur around the top and bottom. We twirled around the makeshift dance floor with the rest of the dancers.
Kaylee and Josh were there, spinning through the crowd as effortlessly as Isaac and I were. Kaylee and I exchanged smiles. Everything was perfect.
The next song was a slow ballad. Isaac held me close as we swayed to the music, yet I could hear the conversation of others.
“What’s wrong with the one you have?” a girl asked, her voice soft, almost whimsical.
“She doesn’t make a statement,” a guy replied in a tone that had goose bumps rising on my arms.
“You’re doing this for vengeance, aren’t you?”
If he answered, I couldn’t hear him. Isaac pulled me closer, wrapping his powers around me. I snuggled into his hold and continued to listen to the conversation next to us.
“Please, for me, leave her be,” the girl said, sounding exasperated.
“Fear not, Sister. My interest in her extends beyond revenge. She intrigues me.”
I scanned the faces around us as Isaac and I continued to dance, unable to see whose conversation I was eavesdropping on. The slow song then gave way to something more upbeat. Isaac held my fingertips as he twirled me once under his arm. The song was nearly over when someone tapped his shoulder.
“May I cut in?” the guy I’d heard earlier asked.
I couldn’t see his face with Isaac standing between me and Mystery Voice. The vanilla and spearmint that
