Page 62 of When Storms Awaken

Nik shook his head. “Not a good idea, Firecracker. Alastir is a very old, and very powerful witch. He might be able to sense you are a Stormshade, even if you haven’t been using your magic here. I trust him…but not with this. Not something I’m willing to risk. Stay with Tess.”

I nodded as he and Puck turned the knob and left us alone on the street outside the shop. I peered at the sky, wondering if it would continue tothreatenrain, or if it would storm at some point tonight.

Now it made more sense to me, but I hadalwaysloved storms. There was something so peaceful about falling asleep to the patter of rain on my windowsill and the soft roll of thunder off in the distance. The excitement I would feel when I would catch lightning spark over the barn at Tess’ house. Or the feeling of comfort I would get when the dark clouds would roll in. As if they could wrap me up and keep me safe. I had never met anyone who loved thunderstorms as much as I did. I had always said it felt as if they were re-charging me, and once they had died off and dissipated, I always felt refreshed. Renewed.

This part of the city was more along the outskirts, and it was much quieter than the city center that housed Eight Bells. The streets here on the top of the hill were too narrow to allow for travel by horse and buggy. Patrons remained either on horseback or on foot.

“How are you doing?” Tess asked, leaning her back against the stone wall behind her and propping her foot up against it, “I have to say, Istmere is quite incredible.”

“I love it here. It feels like…home,” I told her, and she nodded in understanding.

“For me, too. The energy here…it feels…connected to me somehow.” She rested a hand over her heart and took a deep breath.

“That’s exactly how I feel. As if I was always meant to be here. Nik said it’s probably the magical tether Istmere holds, the latent magic in the very being of the earth here. It’s tied to everything. The trees, the dirt, even the water. When we get back home…I’m going to ask my mom about my magic,” I told her, setting my jaw in determination. It was not a conversation I looked forward to, but after seeing this place and everything it held, it was something I knew I needed to do.

“I am too,” she agreed with a nod, her voice thick with emotion. “Seeing this…I can’t believe they kept this from us. Why would they do that? Hide this from us our entire lives?”

I nodded, meeting her bright green eyes under the dark shadow of the clouds. “I know there is a dark side to magic, and from what Nik has told me there have been dark times here recently. I understand why my family may have had to flee, if I wasn’t the only Stormshade in our lineage. To keep us safe and protect us from the queen and her hatred of us. But I still would have wanted to know who I was. Where I came from. That this place even existed at all.”

“I wish we were staying longer than the weekend. I’m not anxious to get back to our realm and deal with school, Fletcher, Ms. Finch and everything else,” Tess said with a heavy sigh. I couldn’t agree more. It felt as if we were free of those problems here, at least for now. I desperately wanted it to last longer than two days.

While Nik and Puck were inside Alastir’s the sky had begun to darken, and night had started to descend upon Prins. I could hear the soft roll of thunder off in the distance, moving towards us. Perhaps we were going to get a storm after all. How much longer would Nik and Puck be? I was anxious to get back to Eight Bells before we were soaked through our cloaks, this being the only one I had. I couldn’t wear the clothes I had packed without the cover of the cloak, I would stick out too much.

“Are you ok sharing a room with Nik? Because if you aren’t, I can share a room with you. Nik and Puck can duke it out for the second bed. I thought you might want to spend the night with him,” Tess asked, meeting my eyes with a question in them.

“I do”—I swallowed hard—“want to spend the night with him.” My voice was thick. “I’m not saying anything is going to happen—” I started as I saw her mouth curve into a smirk, “but I am ok sharing a bed with him. And I’m sure youcan’t waitto get your paws all over Puck.” I laughed.

“I can’t. You know me so well,” Tess laughed. “I am going to ruin that boy. He is surprisingly…innocent.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, and we both burst into a fit of laughter.

Tess was glancing over my shoulder with a confused expression, and I turned to see what she was looking at. A young man was approaching us quickly, a stern expression creasing his brow. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen, and he was heading right for us. Was he going to check out Alastir’s shop? He appeared awfully angry, the set of his jaw tight.

He came to a stop right in front of me, his cloak whirling around him. Tess stood up straight, coming to stand by my side.

“How dare you,” the young man snarled, quickly glancing down the street each way to make sure we were alone. “I happened to have beenusingthat grimoire.”

“Grimoire?” Tess echoed from my side.

“Yes, grimoire,” the young man replied through his teeth, not sparing Tess a glance. “You entered that lab and just…took it. Maybe itwasyours to begin with, but I was in the middle of deciphering a spell. A very important spell, mind you.”

Who was this person? I had never seen him before. How could he have seen me? How could he know I had the grimoire?

“I know what you’re thinking,” he started, growing more frustrated by the second, “I am a dream walker too. And now that you took the grimoire, it is…gone.”

“If it’s mine to begin with…what’s the problem?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I remembered seeing a beaker full of bubbling liquid, as if someone had been in the lab when I had entered. Had he heard me coming, and hidden? Or left the dream entirely to avoid being caught?

He lashed out faster than I could respond, his hand around my throat, dragging me into the alleyway between the charm shop and the blacksmith. He pushed me back, my head cracking against the stone wall behind us hard enough for me to see stars.

“I need that spell, and you are going to give it to me,” he snarled, his face inches from mine, his hand tight around my throat. I was racking my brain but couldn’t think straight with his hand pressing down on my windpipe, cutting off my air. The grimoire had required a spell to open it, and not justanybodycould open it. Tess couldn’t, onlyIcould. How had this young man opened it himself? And what spell was so important that he was willing tostrangleme for it?

His hand left my throat as abruptly as it had lashed out in the first place, and I could hear his body slam against the wall opposite us.

“You’d better start talking. Now.” Nik’s voice was cold dread, suffocating and terrifying all at once. I couldn’t imagine being on the other end of that wrath.

The young man sputtered and tried to speak, but Nik held him against the wall so tightly with his forearm that he couldn’t move. The young man’s hands came up to claw at Nik’s arm, but he didn’t so much as flinch. He pushed him harder into the wall, his jaw tight.

“How dare you touch her,” Nik snarled into his ear, the young man’s face was quickly turning a deep shade of purple.

---