Page 2 of Blood Brother Cursed

Evander crouched down again, taking her left hand in his, and then he placed the wet rock into her tiny hand. “First, look at the shape of the rock and how smooth it is.”

Astrid moved it around in her hand and noticed that there was nothing sharp or that stuck out, but there were plenty of mostly smooth rocks around her. “So?”

“This is a nearly perfect skipping rock, and I’ve had it since I was slightly younger than you. Now, I’m giving it to you.”

Her eyes widened. “Do you mean you are giving me a gift before you go?”

He smiled softly at her. “Yes.”

“Then I don’t want to throw it. What if I skip it all the way to the waterfall like you? How can I get it back?”

“Like this,” he took the rock from her hand and stood up in one smooth motion. After he released it, the rock flew from his hand, and even from the other side of the water, Astrid could hear it hit the rocks on the other side of the waterfall. This time, it was more of a hard knock instead of a faint pinging sound.

“Hey!” She started to run after it.

“No, no, no, my impatient little Astrid.” He knelt on the ground and pulled her toward him. Her back was against his broad chest as he extended her arm as far as it would go. “Think about the water around it. Let it move the rock.”

“I can’t move rocks!”

“No, but you can control the water. Focus on that. Find the rock, then bring it back here. I’ll help you.”

She felt warmth run down her arm and knew that he was letting her borrow some of his powers. Not wanting to let him down, she stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth and focused on the rock. Her brother was making it vibrate just a little so that she could find it amongst everything else on the pond’s floor.

Her eyes were wide when she turned to look at him. “I feel it!”

“Very good.” He beamed at her, his eyes sparkling in the early afternoon sunshine. “Now, focus on the water around it. Pull it back.”

Scowling at the water like she was ready to challenge it, Astrid thought about the water. She could feel it unsettled by the moving rock. Try as she might, though, she couldn’t quite get it to move the rock.

After several minutes of focusing, she had only managed to get the rock to flip once. Her lower lip quivered. “I can’t bring it back.”

Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Evander pulled her close. “It’s ok. That’s something you can work on until I come back.”

He kissed the top of her head, then stretched out his hand. As if thrown, the rock shot out of the water and landed in his hand. “Here you go. Take good care of this and we’ll practice some more then next time I’m on leave. Deal?”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“Believe me, kitten, I don’t want to go, but my job is making me.”

“Can’t you just leave and get a new job?”

“I wish I could, but not yet. My time is up soon enough, and I’ll come back for you and Dad. Until then, you keep being good. And practicing your skills.”

Not wanting him to see her cry, Astrid mumbled out an unenthusiastic, “Ok.”

“Promise you’ll be good for Dad? No more showing off at home?”

“But my friends loved playing in the water. We have a fun game. If I don’t move the water, we can’t play.”

“I know, kitten, but we have to keep our gifts hidden. It’s a special secret that you can only share with a very few people.”

“My friends are special people.” She didn’t like hiding things from her friends, especially since she had always had a hard time making them.

“They are. But your gift is only something you should share with family.”

“But that’s only you and Dad.”

He nodded. “That’s right. Maybe someday you’ll be able to share it with someone else. When you are old enough to think about marriage.” He made a face that she didn’t understand.

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