Caged in Darkness (Caged #1)(35)
“Oh.”
“Alright, I’m going to test you the way witches normally test their children. First, I want to show you what it will look like when the element responds to you.” I was an expert at directing the elements. Simultaneously, I lit the candle, caused the water in the chalice to spin like a whirlpool, ca small bud to grow within the bowl, and made the feather float.
“Oh my God, that is so cool!”
I let go of my control and the elements reverted to their inert state. “Now, since it would take too long to teach you to do this on your own. I am going to merge our minds so that I can pull on your power and show you how to direct it. If you close your eyes it’s better, because you won’t be distracted.”
Izzy nodded and closed her eyes. I tuned my inner self to focus on my surroundings. I reached out to touch the life forces nearby. Tiny specks of energy flittered, but I was focused on the bright beacon within my circle. My aura enveloped me with a silver sheen. I hesitantly directed a small portion of it to reach out towards Izzy. The silvery strand connected with Izzy’s bright orange aura to create a bridge between us.
Izzy gasped at the bond, but she didn’t fight it. The bridge between our auras sparked with electricity, while it strengthened. Concentrating, I allowed my conscious to merge with hers and led her to the pathways within her. She became a maze of intricate paths, but I turned her towards concentrating on the ones that led outside of her body.
I guided Izzy to sing her energy into a spun web, which expanded into delicate strands she could pluck and project towards the objects in front of her. Through those strands, she would be able to manipulate the objects.
Silently, I encouraged her to direct her will, which would cause the element to respond. I let go of the reins and separated our auras. Watching her with my eyes, I could sense her struggle to use the barest amounts of magic. The objects didn’t move, flutter, or spin; they simple were.
I was about to tell Izzy to pull back, when the feather twitched on a breeze and floated in the air. Izzy opened lost concentration when she opened her eyes. The feather plummeted to the ground, but we were done. The element that responded to her was air. That was all we needed to know.
The next few days went by in a whirlwind. Willow prepared the ritual we would use to summon the demon, Izzy practiced manipulating air to affect the world around her, and I stayed home from school. My ascension was close and it felt like it was taking over my life.
My hormones were out of control. Each time I saw Liam, I felt an invisible pull that was harder to ignore. Ash deliberately avoided me and his easy acceptance of mine and Liam’s growing relationship bothered me. Ash hadn’t tried to kiss me again, but at night when I wasn’t having nightmares about the demon, I dreamt of his kiss on the stairwell.
The evening before my ascension Izzy and Willow came over. Their visit was meant to cheer me up, but it only worsened my discomfort when they came with bad news. Jessica, a girl who I had calculus with, died in her sleep the night before. The doctors couldn’t figure out what caused her death, but she had been weakening over the past week and a half. If that news wasn’t horrible enough, Willow came to my home with a theory.
Willow’s research turned up some interesting information about demons gaining power. Her theory was that the demon was trapped in the bloodstone box, long enough to weaken him, and now he needed to resort to stealing the life force of others. Humans were easier prey than witches, which is why Willow though he killed Jessica.
“Willow, I love you, but I think you are jumping to conclusions. Why would his first victim occur now? Wouldn’t he have done this sooner?” Willow nodded at Izzy’s logic.
“I guess so. I’ve been reading about demons too much. I think they are rotting my brain.” Willow sat on the bed, next to me, and across from Izzy.
“We can’t have that! You have the best brain in our trio! If yours goes, who is going to keep us from doing something stupidly dangerous?” I nudged Willow and the three of us settled in to a girl’s night filled with movies, popcorn, and a mini spell to appease Izzy.
Izzy watched the movie, The Craft the night before and got it in her head that changing her hair or eye color would be a fun activity. Willow and I schemed, and when Izzy looked in the mirror, she stood in horror at the spotted leopard print hair on her head.
“Oh my God! This is so not cool! Turn it back!” She threw her pillow at Willow, while I laughed so hard my abs became sore.
“Okay, come here. We’ll fix it.” Izzy hesitantly came forward with a distrustful expression. When we were finished, she no longer had leopard print or her normal dishwater blonde shade, but instead she was a gorgeous platinum blonde.
Izzy wanted all of us to change something about our appearance, and giving into her excitement, we agreed. Willow made her hair curly and added a red tint to her chestnut brown shade. I was hesitant when my turn came. I knew it was merely play and that I could revert back to my normal appearance at any time, but I had difficulty accepting myself as it was. If I changed my appearance, would I ever want to change back? Instead of following my friend’s examples, I choose to add something rather than alter myself.
“Done!” I smiled at them, while they examined my face, hair, and skin for my transformation.
“You didn’t change a thing!” “Did you forget how to do it?” They spoke at once and I laughed.