Page 55 of When Storms Ruin

“We don’t let them get their fangs into us,” I replied with a half-smile. “I don’t know if they have true magic of their own anymore. They have been so corrupted by the darkness of Donika’s magic. She said their abilities were amplified tenfold, but maybe that’s only their strength and speed. I find it hard to believe they still possess magic. I think they are simply a vessel now. With the training we have been doing with Warrick, I think we stand a chance. I only need to get a handle on my own magic.”

“You heard what Isaac said,” Tess reminded me. “We have combed through this grimoire day and night, and we haven’t found a spell to help you control your magic yet. What if…” she trailed off, not meeting my gaze.

“What?” I asked, grabbing the grimoire and joining her at the foot of the bed.

“What if there isn’t a solution? What if your magic is too much to handle, and you can’t do more than parlor tricks?” she asked.

“We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” I replied.

“Honey, I think we have come to it. You have to admit, there is a possibility you won’t be able to use your magic against her.”

“I’m not ready to believe that yet,” I told her, shaking my head. “I will exhaust every resource before I give up. I can’t simply give up after one bad storm.”

Tess’ eyes moved to the scar on my shoulder, the red burn streaking partly down my arm towards my fingers.

“It wasn’t merely a bad storm.” Her voice was solemn.

Liss had applied skin spell after skin spell, but the wound was still puckered and angry. I applied the salves she had given me, but I knew that the permanent reminder of that storm would remain with me forever.

I swallowed hard. “I know.”

“I only want you to be careful. I can’t lose you.” Tess gave my arm a squeeze.

“You won’t,” I reassured her.

I wasn’t sure if that was a promise I would be able to deliver on, but I was going to try my hardest not to let her down. To let any of them down.

If there was a way to defeat Donika and her Noctani while learning to control my magic, I was going to find it.

And soon.

Time was ticking down and as always, it was not on our side.

Another week passed, and I was feeling much better. Liss’ healing had done the trick, and though I still had a scar on my shoulder, all residual pain was gone. I had full mobility in my arm again, and since Warrick had gone on a scouting mission with Puck, I was meeting Nik to train with my dagger.

Isaac had cleared out one of the rooms at the new safe house to lay down training mats, the far wall covered in weapons of all types. The windows were barricaded shut, allowing no natural light to pass through, despite the room being located on the third floor. Even if our wards did fail, nobody would be able to see us in here.

This safe house was much larger than the last, and also more hidden in plain sight. It was only a few blocks away from Eight Bells, and every time I walked here with Tess she begged to stop and grab a short stack at The Giddy Griddle. Icould practically smell the savory flapjacks from the doorway as I pressed my hand to it, reciting the spell under my breath.

“Ego sum resistentia. Instrumentum sum in hoc bello.”

The door swung open beneath my touch, and I cast a glance left and right to make sure no one had followed before passing through. Stormslayer was strapped to my thigh, and I had worn my training leathers today. I knew Nik wouldn’t go easy on me, despite only recently recovering from my injury.

I scaled the stairs to the third floor and found that I had arrived first. I dragged one of the punching bags out to the center of the floor, the chains holding it to the ceiling jingling as it slid across the tracks. I might as well get warmed up while I waited for Nik.

Tess was spending the day with Puck, and it had been the first time I had made the walk from the townhouse to the safe house by myself.

Things had died down in the last week. There had been no more sightings of Fletcher or Donika’s other Nightshade guards, and for that I was thankful. I tiny voice inside my head said it was too good to be true. That there was no way they had stopped searching for us, and that this was the calm before the storm.

I took all my anxiety and uncertainty out on the bag, pounding it with my fists until my knuckles came away streaked with blood. I would have to ask Nik if he could wrap them for me before we returned to the townhouse.

Without being able to work with my magic, my current priority was becoming the strongest I possibly could, physically. I had been running with Liss and Saanvi every morning, andI had been lifting weights with Isaac and Warrick. Nik and I had been training with the sword and dagger, and I was beginning to feel confident in my fighting abilities.

I added a kick to the combination, the bag spinning away from me on the tracks as it gave way behind the force of my boot.

“Now what did that bag ever do to you?” Nik asked, shouldering the door open with a first aid box in his hands.

“How did you know I would need the wraps again?” I asked, my eyebrow raised. “Am I that predictable?”

---