King Hall (30 page)

They glared.

“That’s your great idea?” Jack asked sarcastically, wiping his brow, and then his eyebrows slammed together and he looked at the ground.

My smile dimmed. “It’s not a bad one.” I pointed at the lounging Kings. “They do it that way.”

Pearl’s lips thinned, but she didn’t say anything.

“Maybe,” Ezra straightened, cracking his neck, “we should try it.”

Jack arched, popping his back. He had dirt on his cheek, and his brown, glowing eyes lifted to mine. “That was rude of me. I’m sorry. It’s not a bad idea.” A sheepish expression. “I’ve never failed this much before. I’m not used to it and I’m not handling it well.”

My grin brightened once more. I reached to pat his shoulder but quickly yanked my hand back, remembering I couldn’t touch him, plus, he wouldn’t want it now with only my pure power in my palm. “That’s alright, but let’s try it. Remember, do it quick.” I held out my hand to him, feeling hopeful.

He nodded, and grabbed my hand.

His power connecting with mine, I had to grit my teeth as his water currents fought with my wild animal, but I instantly turned my head, holding my other hand out to Pearl.

She grabbed it, and I barely stayed on my feet as an added power bombarded me, spells and time pushing at my wild animal, but Pearl sucked in a harsh breath, ignoring my wolf’s growl, and immediately held out her other hand.

Ezra quickly slapped his hand on hers, holding tight, ignoring that Pearl almost crumbled, and slammed his other hand down on Jack’s already extended free one.

Sizzling warmth instantaneously suffused my entire being, the kind that makes you want to curl up and slip farther into it, and a groan slid past my lips.

“That’s more like it,” Pearl sighed heavily.

“Hold!” King Venclaire shouted, suddenly next to us. “Don’t let go.”

We blinked, staring. As if we were going to do that. This feeling was unworldly. As bad as our powers touching had been, this was worth the torture. Unbelievably cozy and relaxing and exhilarating, all at once.

In one word: perfect.

“We’re not planning to,” Ezra said softly, even though he scowled at his King. “Why the hell didn’t you just tell us to do it quickly?”

“Because you needed to learn, and experience is priceless,” King Venclaire answered, glancing to the other Kings, who were slowly making their way to us…exchanging money with each other. He pointed at King Fergus. “You owe me a grand. They did it within three hours.”

“And, you owe me a hundred,” King Fergus retorted. Grinned. “They didn’t beat our time.” He and King Kincaid high-fived. “Running champs still!”

“Fine. Nine hundred.” King Venclaire’s twinkling blue eyes swung back to us. “In five hundred years — it’s recorded — no one has beaten our twenty-minute time.” He looked downright smug about that.

“They’re freaking betting on us,” Pearl sputtered. Her golden eyes were on King Nelson. “I can’t believe you’d bet on us!”

“It’s not the first time,” King Nelson pocketed his cash, “and it most assuredly won’t be the last.” He shrugged when we glared, pointing between himself and the other Kings. “It’s our thing.”

“Wonderful,” Jack muttered, but his features were still relaxed in our power.

It didn’t really surprise me, so I asked King Kincaid, my tone sleepy, “Did you win or lose?”

“A little of both.” His lips curved. “Although, I did win big, betting you’d be the one to figure out the trick.” His grin conveyed,
Attagirl
. Nice.

“Glad I could help the coffers,” I mumbled, letting my head fall against one of my shoulders. “So, what’s next?”

King Nelson pulled a quarter out of his pocket, and then flipped it in the air.

King Fergus rapidly said, “Heads.”

On this went, until only King Kincaid was left the loser of their quarter toss. The other Kings walked away, snickering, and King Kincaid sighed, turning back to us, and said, “The next thing you need to learn is this.” His eyes glowed dark and he rested his hand on the back of Pearl’s neck.

And…
boom
.

Away went our sizzling warmth, and in came an explosion of our powers.

Again, we flew through the air.

At least one of the Kings went with us this time.

The first week of our lessons with the Kings, we learned a few basic rules.

First, make the connection quick.

Second, do not let only one other Mys power into our group. It has to be all four, and quick, or
boom
.

Third, amplifying our power — not just a little pure power in our palms — is awful. At first. Then, when we’re all touching, it’s perfect.

And fourth, which wasn’t really a rule, but it still deserved its definite place in my memory log, was that the Kings were sadistic SOBs with a major gambling problem between the four of them.

The second week, we learned how three of us touched just one for funneling.

Hmm.
I would like to forget that week. Never in our friendship had we yelled — if that was all we did — at each other so much. I lost count of how many times we flew through the air. It wasn’t until the fourth day that we understood — no thanks to the Kings — to put only the teeniest, tiniest spark of our pure power in our palm, and then let it build inside ourselves once three of us were joined with the fourth. More money had been exchanged between Royal hands with arrogant expressions on their handsome faces, since we hadn’t broken their record on that one, either.

The third week, which was now, we were to put into action the touching for funneling that we had learned to control.

My throat was dry, and I felt like I was going to puke. Antonio had decided to join us today, and watched silently from his perch on the grass, where he rested against a tree. I knew why he was here. This was kind of monumental. It wasn’t an Awakening, but it was proof that, if I could do it, a hybrid could actually
push
only one of their powers into another to help with whatever the point individual was trying to accomplish.

And, today, it was…

“Jack, you’re going to be first on point,” King Fergus stated. “Antonio gave us this idea, and I think it’ll be marvelous if you guys can pull it off.” King Fergus pointed to the pond about a football field away. “You’re going to pick up that entire body of water and spread it wide and thin, and then raise it above all of us.” Our jaws dropped, including Jack’s, which wasn’t a good sign, since he was supposed to be the expert. “Then, you’re going to hold it there for as long as you can.”

Jack swallowed grandly and shut his gaping mouth, staring at the large — yes, large — pond. “You’re serious?”

“Yes,” King Fergus stated. “This is your test for funneling. The others will have their
test
, too.”

Uh-oh.
A glance at King Kincaid showed he was grinning, and my eyes gradually traveled back to the King directly in front of me as I asked slowly, “What did you do during your training?”

King Fergus smirked and pointed to the pond once more. “I created that with a small earthquake. It’s extremely deep.” He turned his grin on Jack. “Lots of water in there.” He paused, and then added, “There’s also fish, so don’t drop them or Pearl, Lily, and Ezra will be running around trying to save them while you fill the pond back up with water.” His grin widened. “Have fun.”

The Kings left us so as to sit on their lawn chairs in the shade. They hadn’t given us a whole lot of instruction. Just said to
push
once we were all touching Jack. Thank you very much, Kings. We were left to figure it out ourselves once more.

I would like to “push” them. Into a shark’s tank. Silvered. Surrounded by Coms.

“Quit scowling,” Ezra grumbled, lifting a hand, where it hovered in front of my face before he fisted it and quickly lowered it. “Plotting their demise isn’t going to help right now. That comes later.” His eyes dipped to my lips, then back up. “You’ve got tomato sauce on the corner of your mouth.”

I snickered, wiping it away. “I’m not the only one.” The spaghetti today for lunch had been wonderful. Three bowls wonderful.

Ezra glared, rubbing at his mouth. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought it was funny.” I smiled, chuckling. “The Vamp with red-something on the corner of his mouth.” A few students had stared in the hallways, making it a hilarious inside joke, one-woman style.

He finished swiping with the back of his hand, smearing red over his mocha skin, and glowered at the evidence before bending toward me so we were eye-to-eye, and whispering, “I’m meticulous when it counts, and you know it.” Yes, he was. He never let a bead of blood drip. He grinned. “I’m going to get you back for this.”

Thankful he was keeping my mind off my worries, I pointed at his nose, careful not to touch him. “Just try it.”

He chuckled softly. “Oh, I will.” It sounded very much the threatening promise.

I had better watch my back. He could be pure evil when he wanted to be.

“Can you all begin, please?” King Kincaid called loudly.

Ezra and I turned our attention to him.

He was staring right at us, his lips thinned.

King Venclaire was sitting next to him, also staring at us, but with a particularly amused mien, since he had been able to hear our whole conversation.

Jack and Pearl were also talking, bickering, actually, about the best way to
push
.

King Kincaid stated, “You can
talk
later.” His voice held a little growl.

Ezra and I turned our faces back to each other, wearing blank expressions.

He swiftly straightened, moving to stand next to Pearl.

Ugh.
King Kincaid and King Venclaire still thought we were doing the deed. It was annoying, to say the least. Ezra and I couldn’t even have a conversation without them watching us, making sure our “love affair” wasn’t too obvious. If Ezra wasn’t one of my best friends, I probably would have thought it funny but, as it was, it was more irritating than anything.

Pearl motioned for me to come over, so I walked the couple of steps to them, listening as she said, “I thought about this last night when we were babysitting. We’re supposed to
push
, right? Well, there was this one brat I wished I could have
pushed
my will on, but I figured the parents wouldn’t appreciate it, so I didn’t.”

I motioned for her to get on with the point, so she clarified, “I think that’s it. We’ve all
pushed
our will on our subjects at some point this year training with the Kings. That’s all we’ve got to do. Focus our
will
on the task, even if it is foreign to us.” She paused when we stood mute, only blinking. “Think of it as if you were an Elemental for this task. It’s not just Jack that’s supposed to raise the pond. Our power is supposed to help him raise it. So, just
push your will
, thinking as if you had his power.”

I debated that internally.

Jack said, “This is hard. I still don’t see how you’re going to think like me.”

“Oh!” I knew this one. “Talk out loud. Tell us what you’re thinking. We’ll copy it.”

“Be specific,” Ezra stated slowly. “Otherwise, we might picture one thing while you’re picturing something else entirely.”

Jack’s lips slowly curved until he was grinning. “That might work.”

“One more thing,” Pearl quickly murmured when we began turning toward the pond. “
Push
slowly at first. Anytime we’ve increased our power, we’ve had to do it slowly. I don’t see how this is any different.”

“We probably will, anyway, trying to break through that haze of perfection,” I mumbled, nibbling on my lips, all my nervousness hitting me again now that we were about to begin.

Jack whispered, “You’re going to do fine.” He sounded like he believed it.

Rolling my shoulders, I nodded, ready to see if I was screwed. “Thank you.”

Ezra rolled his index fingers in circles. “Let’s raise this pond.”

We turned toward said pond we needed to raise.

We rapidly made our link, the sensations uncomfortable at first, but then, heavenly.

Jack raised his arms, saying, “Imagine picking it up by the outer edges, like it’s a pizza. It’ll droop at first in the middle, but then imagine the water running like a faucet, but opposite. The water going up, but only until the top levels off flat, so it’s no longer drooping. We should see all the water at that point. When that happens, imagine the outside, not the inside, stagnant. Not frozen, but just absolutely still in place.” He inhaled deeply. “
Push
.”

I imagined exactly what he had said, the outer edges lifting first, and started
pushing
a tiny spark of my will into him. Just my will, held steady only by my Shifter power. It was hard, like I had said, because I didn’t want to do anything but enjoy the perfect, warm fog I was in, but I shoved through it. My tiny
push
of will deliberately grew larger, and I watched as the edges of the pond started to tremble. Sucking in a harsh breath, I tried to stay focused and continued
pushing
even more of my will into Jack, whose gaze was glowing so brightly it overrode the sun, making the area in front of us turn a shade of brown, the same color as his eyes.

Squinting through the brown hue, I saw the pond’s edges lift a few inches into the air. Breathless in my excitement, I rolled the remainder of my will into him, only thinking about pulling those edges up. I watched as a miracle happened before me. A hybrid, me, someone who should have been killed at birth, had done the impossible. I had funneled only my will, backed by my wild animal Shifter power, into Jack to help lift the water completely out of the ground, doing exactly as he had said and following his previous directions until it was stagnant on the outside.

Jack’s shoulders were tense, but he whispered in awe, “I knew it. I can feel you.”

That comment almost broke my concentration, because I was already practically bouncing behind him, between Ezra and Pearl. This was incredible! It was something that could change the way Mysticals think altogether. If I could just do an Awakening, I could burn that fucking Law to the ground.

I did bounce a little. Who wouldn’t, if they were me?