Page 46 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

Much later, after several orgasms, I was asleep and in Talant’s cave. He was helping me practice my magic. I’d dropped the brother bomb on him as soon as I arrived, telling him about Sommerton’s claim to know his brother. I’d also shared that I was certain his “brother” was slowly possessing the warlock and taking control.

Talant remained silent for a long time before he finally said that he would handle it and protect me. He wouldn’t say much else, even when I asked and pushed, which was infuriating. Still, I hadn’t refused when he insisted that we practice gathering my power. Because I knew that I would need the power and the control to free him from this mountain.

We’d been working for at least an hour now and I was struggling.

“Ally, magic is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets,” he said, walking around behind me as I tried to gather a ball of light into my palm.

He called it basic magic, but it felt like freaking difficult magic to me. My power responded a bit better than it had the night before, but it was still sluggish and thick rather than smooth and fluid.

“You sound like Minerva,” I grumbled, a bead of sweat dripping down my temple.

“Your aunt?” he asked.

“Yes,” I murmured, focusing all my attention on the ball of light in my palm.

“She sounds like an interesting witch. I’d like to meet her someday.”

“Well, if I can ever figure out how to make my magic respond like it’s supposed to, you will,” I answered.

With my attention split between Talant and the ball of light in my hand, the magic began to dissipate. The bluish-white glow faded, and the ball disappeared.

“Dammit!”

Talant put a hand on my shoulder. “You’re doing fine, Ally. Getting frustrated will only slow the process down. You must remain in control of your emotions in order to master your magic.”

“If that’s the case, then how do all these damn teenagers manage to harness their power when they’re practically emotional basket cases,” I grumbled.

Talant chuckled behind me. “It’s a little different then because a young mind is a malleable one. While their emotions vary more wildly than an adult’s, they also have no concept of boundaries or limits, so they’re able to adapt to those bursts of magic more easily. As an adult, your brain has set pathways that it likes to take. Adding new pathways takes a lot more time and effort. Now, try again.”

I dropped my hands to my sides and groaned. “Talant, I’m tired. I need rest. Can’t we continue this tomorrow? Or the next day?” I asked.

I’d discovered that practicing my magic when I dreamwalked with Talant wasn’t as exhausting as doing it when I was awake, but it still took a toll on me. I was tired when I woke up, as though I hadn’t slept much.

“I wish we could, Ally,” he answered. “But my brother won’t wait. He has a plan, and it involves using you and your magic if you haven’t learned enough to wake me yourself. I fear what he might do to you during his quest to bring me out of my slumber.”

And there was the confirmation I needed. His brother was taking over Sommerton. Great. Just one more problem to face. One more thing that Dax and my aunt would have to protect me from.

I sighed. “Okay. One more time.”

A little while later, I’d finally managed to pull a ball of magic into my hand, the blue light pulsing with white. I cradled it in my palm, feeling how the power danced against my skin.

“I did it, Talant!”

“Excellent job, Ally. Now, I want you to look at that boulder over there,” he said, gesturing to a big rock in the corner. “Imagine it shrinking to the size of a pebble, something small enough to fit into your pocket. Keep that image, that thought, in your mind and hit it with your magic.”

“You’re kidding,” I said.

“No. You’ve harnessed your raw power. That means you can use it for whatever means you wish. Tonight, we’re going to start with shrinking a boulder. Tomorrow, we’ll move on to something a little more difficult.”

Difficult? Shrinking a two-ton boulder wasn’t considered difficult?

I bit back a smartass comment about gods and their impossible standards and stared at the boulder. In my head, I saw it shrinking until it fell onto the ground, so small that I would have no trouble picking it up and sticking it in my pocket.

I tried to keep it in my mind as I threw the ball of magic at it.

I realized as soon as the magic left my hand that it was going to miss the boulder. I’d never been very good at throwing things. Or aiming. Or anything sports-related. At all.

The ball of magic seemed to hover as it approached the boulder. It was clear that it was too high.

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