Page 28 of When Storms Awaken

“I may not be a storm witch, but I can help you,” Nik offered.

“You would do that?” I swallowed hard. “You don’t even know me…” I replied, my eyes downcast. I could feel the nail on my thumb begin to bleed and I tried my hardest to stop picking at it.

“From what I do know about you, I like you, firecracker. If it stops you from breaking glass and setting things on fire, I’m happy to help.” He grinned, giving me a playful nudge, his hand warm against my cool skin.

“I appreciate that,” I answered sincerely. “Where do we even start?”

“Simple magic. Looks like you’ve got opening and closing all set for the most part, we need to work on other things similar to that. Locking and unlocking. Moving things…but maybe we will stay away from feathers,” he laughed softly.

“Did you grow up in Istmere?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine what the other realm might look like, but I wanted to find out desperately. I wondered if that would ever be an option for me, given what I was.

“Yes, I grew up in Istmere. In a city called Akra, fondly referred to as The Stone City.”

“Why is it called that?” I asked.

“The entire city is built into the side of a mountain, all the houses and walkways made of the same tanned stone. The only way in or out are the winding roads that lead up the mountain to the castle, then back down again.”

I wondered if I would ever get to see The Stone City someday. My thoughts traveled to the other unanswered question I had, about Nik and the mountain landing the other day. “Why were you in the woods the other day, when I first saw you in your wolf form?”

“I was patrolling. Occasionally, there will be a witch in the mortal realm who wants to stir up trouble. Some other witches I know got a lead, and we were checking things out.”

“In the woods?” I asked, suspicious. What trouble could a witch stir up in the middle of nowhere?

“As I said…we were patrolling. And the witches that came here last night, they won’t be bothering you again. I took care of that.”

“What did you do to them?”

“I took care of it,” he repeated, his mouth hard. “They probably smelled your scent and came to investigate. Since you’ve started using magic, your scent has…changed.”

“You can smell me?” I asked, sniffing the hair at my shoulder inconspicuously.

“In my wolf form, yes.” He smiled. “And you smell just fine, firecracker.”

“That doesn’t sound like a rave review,” I pointed out, but Nik only rolled his eyes and leaned back again, propping himself up on an elbow.

“So, when do we start practicing?” I couldn’t wait to have someone show me how to use my magic and control it, to test the limits and find out what I could do.

“This weekend?” He offered with a shrug. “No time like the present. Plus, if you don’t get a handle on it soon your mom might need an entirely new house.” He laughed.

“Who else do you know here that is a witch?” I asked.

“Other than Puck, nobody. Just acquaintances, Puck is my only friend in this realm,” he responded.

“Puck is a witch?” I hadn’t imagined he was wrapped up in all of this, too.

“A shade.” Nik nodded in confirmation. “Not a Nightshade or a Stormshade, but still pretty damn powerful if you ask me.”

“This is…a lot to take in. My head is spinning.” Only yesterday I thought I was living a perfectly normal life. Perfectly ordinary, possibly a touch delusional. Now I found out that not only was the new guy at school a witch, but I was too, and there was another realm with cities full of witches which I had possibly descended from.

“Is my family the same as me?” I asked.

“That’s the thing,” Nik mused, “one parent has to be a witch in order to pass the magic on, but it isn’t something we typically hide. We areproudto be magic wielders, if one of your parents was a witch, I would think they would have told you. And if you were around another magic wielder all your life, your powers would likely have awakened much earlier. Unless they were a storm witch, and they were hiding who they were themselves. If you or the witch in your family was spellbound and unable to access their powers, that could explain why you didn’t manifest until I came to town.”

“My mom and I weren’t close until my dad passed. Maybe it was my dad. He was always busy working, I can’t picture it.” I sighed. Was one of my parents spellbound? Which one of them was hiding this big of a secret?

“As I said, it usually manifests much earlier. I think someone spelled you, and I’d really like to know who.”

“Yeah, you and me both,” I huffed, laying back against the pillows. My eyes were starting to feel heavy again.

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