Page 19 of When Storms Awaken

“I knew it,” I told Tess. “But what do we do now?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she replied, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Not much we can do.”

“You’re probably right.” What did I think I was going to do with this information once we confirmed it was the same wolf? It’s not as if I could go out and trap it or perform genetic experiments on it. I could ask Nik…he seemed to know more than he was letting on. I would have to ask him the next time I ran into him, which would probably be very soon if this week was any indication. Running into him when I least expected it was starting to feel like a pattern.

“What did you do to kill time while I was at The Daily Drip?”

“I checked out that new little bakery down the street from your work. It’s super cute, we should go there some time,” I replied, thinking of how in reality I had donevery littlestudying due to an unwelcome visitor. “I also ran into Nik,” I admitted as she took a large bite full of pasta.

“You waited until my mouth was full to spill those beans!” she accused, chewing furiously to try to get it down. “What! When? Where? Woman, we have talked about this. You can’t just come out with something like that, I need the details!”

“I was studying at the bakery, and he came in. He sat at my table and we talked for a bit. Then his friend came in and they left,” I took another bite of food to buy me some time.

“Afriend? What did he look like? Was he cute? How old is he?” she asked excitedly as she slammed her hand on the table with each question.

“He looked like Nik. Same height, but with brown curly hair and green eyes,” I told her. “He had the same bad boy thing going on, leather jacket and all. He also had a British accent.”

“ABritish accent?!Oh, this is good. This isreallygood. One for you and one for me.” She laughed, nudging me with her elbow.

“No…none for any of us. Nik is trouble, and so is his friend.”

“What did you guys talk about, anyway? How long did he stay?” she asked, prying for more details.

“Only a few minutes until his friend showed up. He teased me about being a boring nerd, then invited me to the new dance club downtown, Elixir,” I confessed.

“HeWHAT? And you weren’t going to tell me about this? Why are we not goingright now,” she asked, standing up and putting her dish in the sink excitedly.

“Because, we have more important things to attend to.” I gave her a pointed look, motioning to the witchy materials she had laid out across the table. “I cannot be distracted by a cute boy right now.”

“So, you admit it…finally. You think he’s cute,” she gave me a not-so-subtle wink.

“Fine, I admit it. I think he’s cute. But that’sall. I don’t like him I just think he’s cute. We don’t even know anything about him, Tess. And when I went to the library, the other night to do research in the archives, I googled him. There was nothing.Nothing. Not a trace of a Nikolai Dragovya ever existing,” I told her.

“That certainly is interesting. I would have expected an arrest record or something,” she said with a laugh as she gathered her bag of magical items. “Are you done yet? I cannot wait another second before we find out if we are both absolutely losing it, or if there is something else going on here,” she said as I took my last bite of pasta.

“Finished,” I replied with a swallow, bringing my plate over to the sink. “I’m…nervous,” I admitted.

“Don’t be. Either we made it all up, or you are a witch. Either scenario would be hilarious if you ask me.” I fixed her with a glare as I washed up our dishes and followed her into the living room.

“So, neither of us know what we are doing. Where do we start?” I asked, settling down on the floor across from her and crossing my legs.

“I say we start with something super simple. Like the opening spell you did on the locker,” she replied, setting the candles down on the ground around us and lighting each one.

“You said you’ve felt as if you have pent-up energy you can’t release. My theory is that it’s your magic trying to work its way out,” she finished lighting the candles and tossed the lighter back into her bag.

She placed the black feather between us and sat back, crossing her legs. The candles circled us on the carpet, illuminating our faces in the darkness of the living room. “Try to lift the feather,” she suggested.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the feather and lifting it off the ground. I peeked an eye open to find the feather still sitting on the ground where Tess had laid it.

“Nothing happened,” I said, peering up at Tess.

“Try harder,” she insisted, placing her hands on her knees with her palms turned upwards. “Try it like this, this is how I meditate.”

“And since when do you meditate?” I asked, shooting her a questioning glance.

“Focus.”

I mimicked her position and focused on the feather again. Instead of only thinking about the feather lifting off the ground, I imagined what it would look like floating in the air. I imagined it moving under my command, slowly drifting upwards. I peeked my eye open and checked the ground before meeting Tess’ excited eyes. The feather was gone.

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