Page 33 of Skyblossom
“Hey—don’t touch that.”
“Ma’am—is there a problem?” the attendant said, and I pressed my jacket against my chest again, turning back to him.
“No—no, no, it’s just Knot.”
He paused, waiting for more. “It’s just not a problem? That’s not too reassuring.”
“No, notnotlikenot,KnotlikeKnot.”
He looked at me like I was talking to exters. I felt myself sweating bullets. Inside my jacket, I felt Knot move to grab the potion again, and I reached into my jacket to swat him away from it.
“Sorry. Uh—familiar acting up.”
“Keep it under control in the car,” he said, going back to his spot by the door.
“Yes, sir.” I leaned back into my jacket. “Knot. Knock it off.”
He reached for the potion again, and I shoved him back into the pocket as the doors sealed shut. Jeez… I’d have to get in touch with Cadence somehow to get him back to her. I had no idea when he’d done this. Going after that potion…
I found my heart racing as I slipped my hand back into the jacket and clasped it around the potion, warm to the touch. The one he’d been after—that extra Arcane Conduit extension.
I only had that potion because of Cadence. I felt like, as long as I had it with me, there was a bit of Cadence that would stay with me.
Except that once the car started moving, I felt a stab of longing, watching the streets move until we passed by the South Gate, the Citadel shrinking away behind us, and I suddenly felt desperately like a bit of Cadence would never be enough. Notjust in memory or just inwaiting,anticipation that maybe I’d see her again and maybe one day it would work, but in that I loved her and I wanted to see what would happen if we gave us a chance. I wanted to see what other kinds of potions we could make together.
I didn’t care about true love. I cared about Cadence.
“Excuse me—sorry.” I pushed past the person sitting next to me, standing up, and I quivered in anxious anticipation as I opened the luggage compartment door, my luggage rolling out with an expectant air, like it was curious what was going on. I didn’t know what was going on right now either. I wanted to find out.
Knot had always been a sensible little vine. I got now what he was trying to tell me.
I slipped the potion from my jacket, popped open the vial, and I didn’t think twice—I knocked it back, the shimmering taste sour on my tongue as I swallowed it back, magic instantly shimmering through my body and out to my fingertips. I felt it lifting me up, bright and awake and alert and alive, and I felt the eyes of the tramcar on me as I drew my wand, a ripple of magic running through me.
Fate could decide what would happen from here.
“Sorry,” I said, to the car at large, by way of explanation. “Gotta handle this familiar situation.”
“Ma’am,” the attendant said, giving me a weary look now, but I didn’t give him the time to complain this time—I pushed the window open, and I cast a spell I’d tried a million times before, except this time it reacted with the flame of magic that rippled through my veins, the potion empowering me, and I climbed out the window.
I heard everybody moving in the car behind me as I went, the attendant calling after me, but I picked up in a swirl of magic, and I pushed off from the ledge, my heart racing fasteras I dropped—and in a flare of magic energy, I lifted, the force sweeping up from below me and catching me before I hit the ground, and I—well, I screamed a little bit.
I had no control over it. I streaked forward too fast, nearly colliding with a tree, and I gripped my wand with white knuckles and veered off to the side, kicking and flailing my hands and feet like that would help me move, and I steered myself very nearly into the side of another tramcar moving back in the other direction, and I pitched once it went past, nearly nosediving into the grass. I pulled up a surge of magic that swirled around me and picked me up in the last instant, lifting my course until I rocketed upwards towards clear, blue sky, and I laughed wildly, my heart racing faster than I’d ever felt it before, as the tracks got small below me and then, soon after, the Citadel came back into view, buildings looking like dollhouses.
“Holy shit, I’m flying,” I laughed. Knot climbed up from my jacket, curling to look at me curiously and back down at the ground, and I laughed wildly. “Knot! I’m flying!”
He snaked fully out of my jacket, curling around to wrap over my shoulders like he always did with Cadence, and I didn’t know if I was wrong to take it as a sign, but I took it as a sign, tilting the magic forwards and sending myself careening towards the Citadel. Towards the clock-tower face that stood at the center, Cloudless Tower, and in its shadow, Scorpion House.
I managed to pull my phone out, and I didn’t overthink it—I called Lumi, who picked up right away.
“I could sense you were about to call,” she said. “Did you forget something?”
“Yeah, I’m flying back for it now.”
“What? Why is it so windy where you are?”
“Well… mostly because I’m flying back for it now.”
“Oh, saints, you’re being literal—what are youdoing,Summer?”
