Page 46 of Tangled Power
Luc knew Carter was cautioning him not to get his hopes up, that he didn’t know what was in these journals. But Luc realized he had his own goal. Rose’s assessment was correct. He wasn’t intended to save the continent alone, but there had to be a reason his power was different. It should be able to do something that could help them. If he could hold a god, even for a moment, what else could he do?
CHAPTER TWENTY
There was no path now as the Compass Points rode their horses slowly through the forest. Occasionally, they would encounter a hiking trail or path they could use, but most days, they made their own way.
Rose and Juliette took the opportunity to speed up the trip north whenever possible. They practiced their magic together, spinning their wind around the Compass Points and their horses’ feet to push everyone forward faster. But Rose still couldn’t find the door connecting her to Juliette in her magic stores. Even when they practiced at their campsites, and Juliette readied herself for Rose’s approach, the wind blowing across her internal lake of power led her nowhere. Juliette was right. They were missing something.
She couldn’t help but feel like they were flailing in their efforts. They had a plan—they were going to Sandrin to try to learn more about their powers and how they were meant to unite before attempting to confront Aterra again—but was that enough? The continent was still slowly falling to the mist plague, and its leaders were going to read books.
When not practicing her wind, Rose tried to understand Carter’s magic. The Vesten Point had just come back from a runin his shifter form. His hair was extra shaggy as he pulled his shirt over his head, coming out of a thicker patch of trees near their campsite.
Rose, Luc, and Juliette were already around the campfire eating. Carter filled a bowl before sitting at his customary spot around the fire. It was funny to her how Carter tended to sit at the western point and Juliette always at the eastern. She and Luc seemed to take turns sitting at northern or southern points. They always sat next to each other, though, so they ruined the appearance of each Compass Point sitting at their cardinal direction around the fire. She liked that they brought change to this group. It was good for them.
In her more dramatic moments, she worried about how none of it would matter if they couldn’t stop Aterra when they found him. The weight of the problem sat heavily on her chest. Combining their magic had to be the answer, but did she have time to keep learning the others’ powers before their next encounter with Aterra? She didn’t know if her exhaustion was from magic use or the days of travel, but she was too tired to act like she knew what to do next.
“I know we’re going to Sandrin to try to learn more, but does anyone have ideas on what else we should try to fight Aterra? I don’t feel like we’re doing enough.” Her fingers instinctively reached for the compass beneath her tunic.
She felt the three other Compass Points look at her. Luc pulled his hand across his face and spoke up first. He was quick to respond. Too quick, as if he’d been looking for an opportunity to talk about this, and she’d handed it to him on a silver platter.
“I think we all owe you an apology, Rose.” He glared at the other Compass Points. “It’s okay not to know, and our next step is to try the Vesten archives to learn more.” He spread out his hands, gesturing to the three of them. “It’s not like we know either. Frankly, we have been at this job longer than you, sowe shouldn’t let you carry all the weight of figuring this out.” His gaze met and held each of the other two Compass Points—a silent reprimand for taking advantage of Rose’s tendency to carry the weight of the continent on her shoulders. “I know we’ve made you feel you had to come up with the answers for fighting Aterra, and it isn’t okay. You’ve been the fastest to understand all of this.” He gestured generally to everything around them. “But we forget that you are newer to the power of the Compass Points than we are.”
Rose let out a breath. She hadn’t realized how much she’d needed to hear those words, though they were met with silence from the other two.
The scent of pine and cinnamon started to build, overpowering the smell of their food in her nose. Rose looked at Luc, and to her surprise, so did Juliette and Carter.
Carter coughed into his hand. “Yes, well, we’re sorry for making you feel like you have to carry the burden alone. We’re going with the best plan we have.”
Rose stared at Carter, dumbstruck.
In her peripheral vision, she saw Juliette’s bowl of food shake. Juliette held it steady with both hands and glared at Luc.
“We’ll help you brainstorm to have more ideas ready after Sandrin,” Juliette said. No apology, but even the help offered made her feel it wasn’t up to her alone to solve this.
Rose looked at Luc, who wore a self-satisfied smirk. The scent of his magic eased, letting the smells of the stew and fire fill the space again, but tendrils of it still seemed to wrap around Rose where she sat. She laughed to herself as she realized that he’d created mini earth shakes for each of them until they offered an apology of some kind. Her insides warmed at the consideration, and her shoulders sagged with relief as a little of her stress abated.
She’d been carrying the burden of finding out how to make their powers work together. This was different than what she’d chastised Luc about only days ago. He thought his power alone could solve the problem. Rose thought she was responsible for finding a way to unify the Compass Point’s magic. Both were incorrect. She could lean on the Compass Points—they would all work on the problem together in Sandrin.
A thrill ran through her at the weight lifting. They would help her—though she’d continue to do what she could to ready them the only way she knew how. “Can I try to further evaluate your magic?” she asked Carter.
Luc shook his head at her, a fond smile curving his lip like maybe she’d missed the point of his speech. Ignoring his look, she wondered if it would be easier to learn about Carter’s magic the closer he was to having shifted.
Carter shrugged his consent.
She didn’t wait for him to move closer or for them to build a forge before she sent her magic searching. The repetitive movements helped but weren’t required. Last time, she hadn’t even made it to the heart of his magic—she’d been too distracted by life and death. They could go back to a forge when she was sure she could get to the heart of him.
A light, curling wisp of her magic stretched toward Carter. It circled him—just barely sinking into his skin—feeling for the recent shifter form. Even on the surface, she recognized the inconstant affection, the indelicate grace of not entirely giving your full attention to those around you, and the uncanny ability to see what others could not. She thought of Arie’s black cat form. All the times he licked his paws instead of looking at her when she spoke. The way his head tilted when she saw nothing new in the room. Whatever Carter was, it felt feline.
She pulled her magic back. While still distracted with information about his shifted form, she made it a little further,and she was satisfied for tonight with what she found. At least it connected to something she understood, something about Arie she could relate to.
“What?” Carter asked. “Are you stopping?”
“Yeah, I made it past the surface cycle of life and death. I got a little bit about your shifted form. I think to go deeper, I want a forge again—but we don’t have to set one up tonight.”
Carter reached in his pocket. She was sure the coin was there. “Do you have an idea of what kind of weapon you’ll make?”
Rose smiled. That was a question she did have an answer for. She had already been thinking about the duality of the Vesten nature—Flame and Shift—but the concept of existence, the cycle of life and death, had thrown her at first. The more she thought about it, the more the weapon came perfectly to mind. “How do you feel about a double-headed ax?”
Carter’s lip tugged up at the corner, a smile starting.
