Page 58 of Love Lives
Well, that was one goal accomplished.
Go me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I didn't seeAldrich for the rest of the night. I had no idea where he’d gone, either, but anywhere away from me would be safer for him. I reminded myself of this fact every time the guilt crept in.
Besides, I had other things to worry about. When I emerged from my room, I found the rest of my family waiting downstairs. I told them about my plan, and where I was going to meet with Vlad the following day. Predictably, they all wanted to come. We decided together, though, that Jared wouldn't because he was pregnant and because someone needed to take care of Nix. He grumbled a bit, but acquiesced in the end.
"The important part is that we get the spell right," I said, turning to Puck.
"You don't have a lot of time to learn." He looked at his hand instead of me, the way he sometimes did when he was thinking. "I'll teach you, but I'll also see if there's any other witches who might want to accompany us tomorrow night."
I shook my head. "If there's too many of us, he'll grow suspicious and leave right away. He's not stupid."
"They can hide," Puck said.
"It wouldn't be bad to have some back-up," Crimson added. "A plan B. Don't be like me and Luke."
Luke opened his mouth to protest, then only shook his head as if thinking better of it.
"All right," I agreed, turning back to Puck. "Only witches you can trust, though." Truth was, this plan hinged on so many low probabilities already it could hardly be called a plan A at all, but beggars couldn't be choosers, right? If this was our only shot at getting Caspar back alive and maybe saving our own hides too...
"We should go to your room," Puck said. "It's not easy to learn a new spell in a place full of distractions."
I didn't consider my family 'distractions' but I got what he was saying, so we retreated to my bedroom. It felt kind of odd, knowing that Aldrich wasn't standing right outside the door trying to listen in.
We really hadn't spent much time apart these past couple of weeks, had we? I joked when I called him my Velcro vampire, but the truth was, I'd gotten very used to having him around.
"Something wrong?" Puck asked.
I shook my head. "Let's just get started."
"Perfect." He sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor and I joined him. "We're going to have to start with the very basics, I assume. Let's start by figuring out what we have to work with. Your innate magical talent, so to say."
"How do we do that?"
"Close your eyes," he instructed. "Focus on your breathing, on the way energy flows into your body with every breath you take. Picture it."
I felt a little bit awkward doing as I was told, but I did it anyway. As calmly as I could, I took several deep breaths, trying to visualize energy flowing through my body. It was such an abstract concept, though. When I opened locks, I just... thought about it and it happened. I never had to focus on any sort of mystical power.
"Your energy just spiked," Puck said.
It had? I opened my eyes. "I can't feel it. I was only thinking about the locks."
"The ones you open with your magic? How exactly do you do that?"
I described it for him as best as I could, although it really boiled down to, "I don't know. They open because I want them to."
Puck thought for a moment. "It seems to be effortless, yes?"
I nodded.
"Very well. Let's do something different. Close your eyes again."
Like a good boy, I did as instructed.
"Don't feel for your own magic now," Puck said. "Try to sense mine."
