Page 25 of Magic Touch
"I'm fine." She draws a long breath and meets my gaze. "Can you see that the earth protected you, wrapped you in its embrace and kept you from harm, even as the cannonball maimed it with its power?"
Strangely, that was exactly how it felt. I was an inch under the dirt and mud, and above, my people were barely recognizable. It wasn't possible, but it had happened. Magic. "I've never told anyone that. Even Henry Dove, who was my closest friend in war, and a loyal man to me now, does not know that story."
She drops her hands to her lap. "I'm honored by your trust in me, William. I cannot tell you how much I wish I could take all these pains from you."
"Who would I be if my memory of pain were gone, and who would I be if I didn't remember the men who fell that day?" I swallow down the ache of it and focus on the time before the cannonball, when we were all laughing and joking together.
Esme looks as if she might lean forward and kiss me, but she brushes passion aside an instant later. She sits up straight and looks me in the eye. "Find your magic and set it free, William. Then we will see about water magic."
She's right, of course. I know we can only be friends, and friends are nothing to scoff at. I lost so many in the war, I'm extremely covetous of a good friend. While I have a few, I feel at my core that Esme's friendship will be the most significant of my life.
I take a deep breath, let it out, and close my eyes. Behind my heart, the bubble of blue light shakes and bounces like a puppy that knows it's about to be let out for a run. I give my permission, and lights explode behind my eyelids. Energy blooms in every drop of my blood. I'm frozen and on fire all at once. Pleasure and pain merge as magic fills me until I'm taut with it.
When I open my eyes, I’m on my back, floating, staring into the blue sky. Solid earth bangs against my back, and the grass tickles my skin.
"Easy now, go slow. I thought you'd fly off for a moment there, and I'd have to show all of the neighbors what we're about."
Pressing against my elbows, I sit up. "What happened?"
"You shot blue light for an instant, floated about five feet in the air, then settled down to the ground before your magic slid back inside you." She shakes her head.
"Is that normal?"
Raising both hands, she shrugs. "You are the first I've seen with repressed magic, William. But I'll tell you this, it was a sight to see."
Feeling more myself, I look around, and the world seems crisper. My senses are more acute. I let a blade of grass slide between my thumb and forefinger and can sense the life inside. "I think the world has changed for me."
"How do you mean?" She studies my hand then my face.
A squirrel dashes from the trunk of one tree, across the grass and up another. It's tiny heartbeat echoes in my mind, and I know it’s searching for nuts. "I feel life all around me in a way I never have before. Do you hear the trees and animals all the time, Esme?"
"I don't, no." She closes her eyes and breathes in until her breasts stretch the front of her dress.
Forcing my eyes to her face, I hear her heart beating and the blood flowing through her veins.
She smiles, and I hear the pulse of the trees, flowers, a deer close by, and so much more. I hear it all through her mind.
It feels wrong to know more of what she feels and thinks, so I push back from searching her mind.
"It's lovely to open to the world around you." She opens her eyes. "Perhaps I should do so more often. In the city, it's hard to open one's mind without hearing humanity for all it lacks and suffers, as well as the good."
"I can see how that would be uncomfortable." I set aside the fascination with all the life around us. "What would you have me do with my magic now that it's free, and I'm happily not glowing?"
She taps her finger on her bottom lip.
That lip is completely distracting. I long to pull it between mine and kiss her until we're both senseless. I don't know how I'll bury these feelings if we're to be together all the time.
"Perhaps you might try to lift a drop of water from the pond. Water magic is usually a good place to begin, as you won't burn down the county." She grins.
Confused, I stare at the pond. "I don't know how to begin."
"Focus on the water and ask for one drop to rise out of the whole. The water is part of you, as are all the elements. When you ask, the water will respond." Her voice is soft, like a lullaby.
I want to wrap myself in that tone for a lifetime. Lord, but she's a distraction.
Staring at the water, I think about one drop, and in my mind, ask for that drop to rise up.
The pond rises out of the ground as one.
