Wild Knight (Midnight Empire: The Tower #1)(12)

I kicked and punched in an effort to loosen the serpents’ grip. My resistance only made them tighten their hold on me. Any tighter and they’d cut off my circulation. I’d lose half my limbs.

Like my mother, I had elemental magic, although I didn’t have a reason to use powerful water magic very often. My needs were more basic, like filtering my drinking water so I could hydrate without falling ill.

I focused on the water until I felt a connection form. The sensation was like fitting a key into a lock and twisting until you felt that satisfying click. As soon as I felt the click, I pushed the water down and around—down and around—until a small water cyclone formed and caught the serpents in its spiral. They’d been so focused on securing me that they hadn’t noticed the aberration.

I slipped free and propelled myself to the surface for a gasp of air. I could hold my breath under water longer than any human I knew, but I didn’t have gills.

My head crested the water and two serpent heads bobbed up next to me less than a minute later. I’d have to work on my water skills. As my mother would’ve said, this was what happened when I didn’t practice.

“We meet again,” I told the serpents. “Not to worry. I can do this with one hand tied behind my back.”

Two more serpent heads broke the surface.

“Okay. I might need both hands.” And both legs. Treading water was great for exercise but not so great when you were trying to conjure magic. It was akin to trying to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time.

If I spent too much energy dealing with the serpents, I’d have to regroup before I handled the selkie or I’d end up causing more harm than good. Some magic users felt depleted after expending too much energy. I was the opposite.

I became dangerous.

Despite my effort to remain calm, my body betrayed me, switching to high alert.

My magic flared. No, no, no.

Most magic users had it easy. They had one set of skills like telepathy or power over water, which they mastered and then controlled with the same effort they employed for breathing and sleeping.

As I discovered early on, I was not that kind of magic user.

On the one hand, I was fortunate because I possessed multiple skills. On the other hand, I sucked because I possessed multiple skills. Ever hear that phrase Jack of all trades, master of none? Pretty sure that was written about me.

My magic swirled inside me like a tempest that only calmed when I expelled some of it. It was exhausting to carry around with me all day every day. As a child, magic had a tendency to overwhelm me and my mother devised coping strategies to keep it contained. It couldn’t have been easy for her—my mother’s magic wasn’t like mine. Hers wasn’t as straightforward as other witches and wizards we knew, but it wasn’t the illogical mess that mine was.

My mother did everything she could to make me more comfortable. She didn’t want my magic to leak at an inopportune moment. Illegal use of magic risked getting the attention of vampires which, in turn, risked revealing what I was.

Losing control of my magic was a death sentence.

I had to deal with the serpents swiftly so I could find the selkie. Why did she have to be so stubborn? There was an entire ocean awaiting her. Then again, there were very few nutritious children in the middle of the Atlantic.

I made one final effort to reach their minds. Nope. Nada. Some creatures just weren’t sentient enough to get them to submit. I’d have to resort to a different type of magic.

All four serpents cut a line through the water toward me at the same time. Time for a minor bit of spell magic.

“Levitas.”

My body lifted out of the water as though pulled by an invisible giant hand. I hovered a foot above the water and watched as the serpents undulated beneath me, their scaly black bodies crisscrossing in the water. Levitation wasn’t my strong suit and I knew I could only hold this pose for less than a minute.

Perched on a rock in the middle of the lake was the selkie. Smiling, she waved and dove into the water.

This was embarrassing. Outsmarted by a common selkie. Not my best showing.

I released a bit more magic, careful not to allow too much to spill out. Other than Kami, the banner had no idea how hard it was for me to control my magic. If they suspected that I was a loose cannon, I’d be ejected from the knighthood faster than you can say Boudica. It didn’t matter how much they needed my skills, if I was a security risk to the group, I was out. Just one more reason to hide my true self. It was a wonder I managed to form relationships with anyone at all.

I had to nip this in the bud. As the levitation spell expired, I dropped back to the water and pushed. The muscles in my neck strained as I fought to contain the rest of my magic. The water parted, creating an oblong gap for me to land in and dividing the serpents just shy of six feet on either side of the lake bottom. Landing on solid ground, I extended both arms and grabbed the two closest serpents by the neck, wrenching them from the water. I spun them as dual lassos until they collided in front of me. I reached for the other two serpents, but they’d wisely disappeared.

The selkie poked her head through the curtain of water and bared her teeth, taunting me. I caught a glimpse of small, sharp teeth before she closed her mouth and said, “Catch me if you can.”

I wasn’t in the mood for games. I was in the mood to go home and shower and buy a hot meal with the money I earned today.