Page 58 of Tangled Power
“I suppose that is what we need to test.” Rose looked at Luc. “It took multiple tries to familiarize myself with the connection to Juliette’s magic while using the same element. I might need a little longer to find a connection to yours.”
Luc nodded.
Rose laughed a little, nervous herself. “Ready?”
“With you? Always.” His smile was sinful as he raised his hands.
The sand in the opposite corner of the field started to lift. Coalescing into a spinning storm, it swirled its way over to them. Fire and wind flared over by the wall where Carter and Juliette stood.
“Well, that works.” Rose called her water again. All four elements active. She suspected their shared wind made it easier for Rose to find Juliette’s door. But Luc and Rose shared something deeper than an element. The core of their magics reached for each other at every opportunity. She didn’t want to say this in front of the others, in case she was wrong, but she didn’t think she’d have a problem finding a connection to Luc.
She closed her eyes and quickly found the lake at the center of her power. Observing the lake’s perimeter, she wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking for. Luc’s power was falling through a dark tunnel the one time she’d evaluated him—is that what she’d find? She felt him here, felt his magic reaching for hers. She only needed to find the source and open it.
No new doors or other connection points surrounded the lake. But she felt him nevertheless. It had to be close. She stared into the lake’s depths, thinking where else she could look. A slow smile crossed her face as she found her answer.
The lake was deeper than usual. A dark pit in the center where it was previously a deep blue. Luc wasn’t on the peripheryof her power, he was a part of it. She dove into the lake without hesitation, needing to find a way to open the connection. Reaching the pit, the darkness didn’t seem to have an ending, an echo of the hole in Loch. There was no door to open, nothing to unlock. She wasn’t sure what the tunnel needed from her to allow power through.
Rose did the only thing she could, and threw herself from the comfort of her lake into the pit. She plummeted like the first time she fell through Luc’s magic. But she didn’t fall through his tunnel of memories. His power only needed her to cross the threshold willingly, to prove she wanted its connection. It held her at the precipice between their magics as Luc’s power flowed around her, overflowing her lake.
Rose opened her eyes, the sandstorm Luc had created still dancing across the training field. Power burst forth, echoing the first thing she’d seen. A spinning funnel of elements moved to meet Luc’s. Rose’s funnel was earth and water, the twisting forces of their elements intertwined and flowing through her.
Luc’s smile was pride mixed with caution. He hadn’t doubted Rose either. He was as much aware of their magic’s connection as she was. Luc didn’t drop his sandstorm, but he let her spinning mix of elements consume it, leading the merged elements left and then right across the field.
Their shared power was hers to control.
Pushing their connection, Rose wanted to see what else they could do. Luc’s power was bottomless as she flung herself further into the pit in her lake. No longer hovering between the powers, she wholly submerged herself into Luc’s.
The flashing images on the tunnel walls were back—moments, scenes, episodes of his life flying by as she fell. She opened her eyes, and instead of plummeting further into Luc’s magic, she was back on the training ground, floating above thefield. She looked down and saw Juliette, Carter, and Luc staring up at her, their eyes wide. What was she?—
She was plummeting again. Not through magic, but literally toward the solid ground. Unable to grasp what was happening, she didn’t even think to call her wind. Luc stepped beneath her, raising his arms and magic to catch her. As he safely tucked Rose into his chest, she looked up at him. His brow furrowed, and his lips pressed tight together.
“That was fun,” she said.
His eyebrow lifted. His mouth opened like he was about to tell her how much the opposite of fun that was. This did not bode well for her getting another opportunity to work on his weapon. But before he could say anything, a black bird flew onto the field.
“Never fear. Lord Arctos is here,”Arie said into Luc and Rose’s minds as he perched himself on the wall next to Carter and Juliette.
That was enough to break Luc from whatever he was about to say regarding Rose’s fall. “He didnotjust say that,” he murmured to Rose.
She couldn’t cover her laugh.
“There’s no need to bemoredisrespectful. I’m back, and I have news. Gather round, Compass Points.”
Luc set Rose down with a look that said they would continue the conversation later. They walked to where Arie had landed.
“Welcome back, Lord Arctos,” Carter said formally.
“I’ll speak to everyone, shall I?”Arie said into the minds of all the Compass Points as his bird head swiveled.
“Did you find Zrak?” Rose asked.
That caught Juliette’s attention. Her spine straightened as she waited for Arie’s answer.
“I located him, but we weren’t able to speak. I’m not sure how to get to him.”
“Where is he?” Luc asked.
“If you would stop interrupting and just let me tell you, we would all find out a lot sooner, wouldn’t we?”Arie said.
