Page 46 of When Storms Awaken

“Yes, my dream.” I took a deep breath to steel myself. I jumped into the story and told Nik all about how I had dreamed of the long dark corridor again. The same one I had been sketching on my notebook in class. The same one he had drawn that day in art class. I told him about how when I followed that long dark corridor it wasn’t endless as I had initially thought, but rather it led to a long spiral staircase that wound down to a room, a laboratory of sorts. His brow furrowed as he listened.

“The odd thing is, when I reached the room, I found a book inside. A book that snapped shut at my touch. A book that required a special spell to open it. A spell that I spoke withouteverremembering the words before.” Nik took a step closer.

“When I did open the book, I realized it was my family’s grimoire. My book of shadows.”

“You dreamed of your family’s grimoire? Do you remember ever having seen it before, maybe when you were younger?” he asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “It felt familiar, somehow. But I didn’t recognize it. Not until I felt its energy. It was open to a spell of awakening, and when I said the words aloud, I felt…different. As if something had been unlocked inside of me. As if the storm that I then created right there in that room had an energy all its own.” Nik’s lips parted slightly, his eyes darkening.

“Who else did you tell about this?” he asked, taking another step closer and closing the distance between us, his hand on my shoulder.

“Just Tess.” I met his intense gaze. “Why?”

“Listen to me carefully, Diana. You cannot tell anyone else about that awakening spell. Do you understand?” His eyes were serious, his grip on my shoulder tight.

“I understand.” I nodded, biting my lip. His eyes traveled down to that lip before slowly traveling back up to meet my eyes again. “What’s the big deal about that spell?”

“That isn’t just any spell.” He shook his head. “Thatspell awakens a witch’s dormant storm magic. It proves what I already thought…that youarea Stormshade. And a dangerous one, at that. Dangerous enough for someone to spellbind you when you were too young to remember.”

“Dangerous?” I recoiled, his hand falling from my shoulder as I took a step back. How could I be dangerous when the worst thing I’d done thus far was break some glass and burn a carpet. And that wasbeforemy storm magic had awakened. Would I even have been able to access my storm magic before I had performed the awakening spell?

“You don’t realize how rare the power is that you have.” Nik shook his head. “You can’t let anyone know, or they will want it for themselves. Do you understand? You need to keep this between us. I wish you hadn’t told Tess.”

“Tess is my best friend, I tell Tess everything. She won’t say anything, I promise,” I replied defensively.

“Good.” He nodded. “You need to be protected. If Fletcher ever found out…” He trailed off, his eyes on his feet.

“He won’t,” I assured him. He nodded again, deep in thought.

“Not just any witch can create a storm and then pull energy from it. The witches who were thought to be able to do that…well…they were killed a long time ago.”

“You think I’m in danger?” I asked, a clear edge of panic in my voice.

“Yes, I do. If anyone were to find out,” he replied. “This is serious. Your magic has awakened now, you can’t tellanyone. You have to keep this hidden.Thatmagic is what makes you dangerous. With that type of magic, you will never run out of power.” He confirmed what I had already suspected, that the Stormshades might have been hunted for an entirely different reason than we originally thought. That others coveted that endless power for themselves.

“We didn’t even get to the best part of the story,” I teased.

“And what might that be?” A soft smile reached his lips, but it never reached his eyes. Did he honestly think that other witches would be after me if they found out? With this newfound magic, wouldn’t I be able to keep myself safe? Protect myself?

“After the awakening spell, I woke up. When I lifted my pillow, the grimoire was right there, as if I had it in my possession the whole time.”

“You have the grimoire?” he asked, his eyes widening. I nodded in confirmation. “You took it from the dream?”

“I mean, I didn’ttakeit. Not on purpose, anyway. It was just…there. When I woke up.”

“Where is it now?” he asked, taking a step towards me again.

“My room,” I replied simply as he took another step forwards. I could smell the scent of coffee and cinnamon on his breath.

“Do you know what this means?” he asked, breathless.

“Obviously not…” I quipped.

“Diana, you are a dream walker.” He ran a hand through his mess of hair.

“A dream walker?” I repeated.

“Yes, a dream walker. When you walk in dreams, you have the ability to take things with you, totouchthings as if they were real. To visit places as if you wereactuallythere.” He shook his head in astonishment.

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