The Lightning-Struck Heart (13 page)

“I like your eyebrows,” I told him. “Way to buck societal norms of how eyebrows should normally look. Down with the system and all that.”

“Sam,” Ryan said in warning.

“What?
Look
at them and tell me you didn’t think the same thing.”

“We are here to have our revenge!” the Dark wizard snapped.

“Oh no,” I groaned. “He’s going to monologue.”

“You have taken one of our own from us. Lartin the Dark Leaf was a magnificent wizard who had grown up with the weight and expectation of a father that—”

“They do this,” I told Ryan. “Villains. Every time. Whenever they capture me, they monologue. I don’t understand
why
.”

“You need to stop getting captured,” he said, flourishing his sword like a badass. “I don’t think my heart can take it anymore.”

“Are you even listening?” the squat wizard asked. “I have this whole thing to say before the revenge part happens.”

“It’s not like I do it on purpose,” I said to Ryan. “I can’t help it if people want to get all up on this.”

He rolled his eyes. “That must be it. They just can’t stay away from all of that.” His eyes traveled up and down my body.

“So much
sass
,” I said in awe. “You’re like a sass master. You and Gary should have a sass-off to see who would be crowned Queen Sass. Fair warning: he would win. But you could be Princess Sass.”

“Guys?” the Dark wizard said.

“I’m not a princess,” Ryan said with a scowl.

“I notice how you didn’t say anything about being a queen,” I pointed out.

“I don’t like losing,” he said.

I smiled at him. “You can be the queen,” I allowed. “Just don’t tell Gary I said that. Friendships have ended for a lot less than that.”

“They do know we’re here, right?” Squat Wizard asked his fellow Darks. “Like, I’m not invisible? I didn’t accidentally cast an invisibility spell on myself while walking over?”

“I can see you,” one of the Darks said. “You’re not invisible.”

Squat Wizard looked relieved. “That would have been embarrassing. You know? Like barging in here and saying ‘I’m here to have revenge’ and not realizing I was invisible. And then having to make myself visible and say it all over again. It wouldn’t sound as realistic the second time around. Very forced and unbelievable.”

“This is almost worse than monologuing,” I told Ryan. “One time, I was kidnapped by a group of thieves when I was fifteen. They thought they could use me to break into the castle vaults. The leader went on for four hours about how perfect their plan was. But he’d forgotten to bind my magic and I turned them into deck chairs on accident.”

“On accident?”

“I was trying to turn them into lawn chairs,” I explained. “There’s a difference.”

Ryan laughed quietly. “I hadn’t heard that one.”

I tried to ignore just how awesome his laugh was. “It was before you came to the castle. A few months, anyway.”

Fifteen-year-old Sam had seen twenty-year-old Ryan for the first time and had immediately run upstairs and jerked off. It had been a revolutionary and enlightening experience that essentially answered the question that yes, I was indeed very, very gay. I didn’t share that with Ryan and the Dark wizards because now was not the time or place. Or never. Never sounded good too.

“Maybe they’re trapped,” one of the Darks said. “Like in a fog of magic. And they can’t hear you anymore.”

“You think?” Squat Wizard asked. He raised his voice and called out, “Can you hear me?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m trying to have a conversation here. I’m on a date.”

“With a knight?” Squat Wizard asked.

My face felt hot. “Uh. No? No. With Todd. Say hi, Todd.” I pointed back at Todd, who looked like he wished I hadn’t done that. He gave a small wave to Squat Wizard and said, “Heeeeyyy.”

Squat Wizard frowned. “Sorry. I just thought you were with the knight. You haven’t said a single thing to Todd since we got here.”

“I’m protecting him,” I said defensively. “He’s nice.”

“Nice?” Squat Wizard said. “That’s not a ringing endorsement.”

“You’re nice,” I told Todd. “That’s totally ringing. I like your ears.”

Todd blushed.

Ryan said, “Everyone has
ears
, Sam. Gods.” He was all growly.

“I’m aware of that,
Ryan
. I am being complimentary!”

“Is that what you call it?”

“Hey, just because
you
—”

“Oh boy,” Squat Wizard said. “I totally get it now.”

“Get what?” I asked.

The Dark wizards laughed.

I cocked my head at them.

They stopped laughing.

Squat Wizard said, “You’re being serious.”

“About what?” I was confused.

“Wow,” one of the Darks said. “That’s gotta be super uncomfortable. For everyone involved.”

“It’s so obvious,” Squat Wizard said. “Like, the most obvious thing I’ve ever seen.”

His Darks agreed.

“What is?” I asked.

“My head hurts,” Squat Wizard said.

“People say that around me a lot,” I told Ryan. “Must be my magic or something.”

“Or something,” Ryan agreed. “Like all the talking.”

“Her Majesty, Queen Sass,” I announced to everyone in the room.

No one seemed to get the joke because they didn’t laugh.

“Tough crowd,” I muttered.

“I think they’re more concerned with imminent death,” Ryan said.

“Oh. Right. Well. Can’t have that.” I looked back at the Darks. “This has been fun. Maybe come back and see me some time? You guys seem nice.” I gave them the ol’ Look-How-Precious-Sam-Is big eyes and big smile at full blast. Ryan made a strange noise at my side, like he’d been punched in the stomach.

Squat Wizard smiled back and said, “Aww. You too, Sam. We’ll just get out of your hair and let you enjoy your evening. So sorry for interrupting. Remember—”

One of his Darks tugged on his shoulder and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“What now?” Squat Wizard said. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh…. You don’t say…. We did what…? Uh-huh. Uh-huh…. Oh.
Right
.” He turned back and glared at me.

“Dammit,” I muttered. “I thought that would work.”

Ryan choked out a laugh. “I can’t believe it almost
did
. Has it ever?”

“Once? No. Four times.”

He sighed. “You have got to stop putting yourself in these situations.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll get right on that.”

“Sam of Wilds!” Squat Wizard shouted. “You took the life of Lartin the Dark Leaf. A fine, upstanding Dark wizard who loved long walks through the forest and the smell of vanilla-scented candles and eating pudding. You have taken his life, and now we shall take yours. And that of the knight since he has chosen to stand with you. Maybe even little Todd there.”

Morgan was going to kill me.

A flicker of green off to the side. Maybe some gold.

There was a reason I didn’t use my magic much out in public, something that he and I had agreed upon when he’d tested me shortly after finding me with the boys of stone. He didn’t want people knowing the extent of my power. Ryan hadn’t heard about the thief-chair thing because Morgan had gotten there first and changed them back. No one knew about it, and I was a bit foolish to have spoken of it. Because I was strong. Very strong.

Stronger than Morgan.

Stronger than the Darks.

In fact, Morgan thought I might have been the strongest wizard he’d ever heard of.

And that
scared
him.

And it scared me too.

It scared
him
because he was always worried about what people would try to do to me if they found out. There were always others out there that wanted nothing more than to harness all the power they could get their hands on.

It scared me because I was always worried about what
I
would do to
people
. I had turned a group of boys to stone with just a
thought
.

So we agreed to keep it quiet as much as we could. Until we knew more.

It’d been ten years. The only thing we’d really learned was that we still didn’t know where my limits lay. There was always a ceiling to magic, a point where it could go no further. Magic is bound by laws much like physics or mathematics.

The problem is those laws didn’t seem to apply to me, and I hadn’t yet found my ceiling.

Which is why I needed a cornerstone.

A cornerstone is the first stone set in the construction of a foundation. All other stones are set based upon the placement of the cornerstone. It determines the position of a structure.

Magic is the same. It needs a set foundation in order to properly grow. It was possible I didn’t know my ceiling because I didn’t know where my foundation began. I could use Morgan or Gary or Tiggy. My parents. And I did. But it was getting harder and harder to use them the older I got.

Hence the matchmaking.

“It’ll be worse,” Morgan had told me once. “When you feel threatened. Or when those you care about are threatened. It’ll be harder to control.”

The Darks were threatening me. That was fine. I was used to being threatened. I could deal with it.

But they had also threatened
Ryan
. And that was not okay.

Oh, and Todd. They had threatened Todd too.

That was important.

Still.

I stepped forward, and Ryan said, “
Sam
.”

People moved then. They must have seen something on my face because they just
scattered
out of the way, shoving their chairs out, scrambling until there was no one between us and the Darks.

I said, “You can leave now. Or I’ll make you leave. Your choice. To be honest, though, you won’t like it if I’m the one to make you leave.” I could see the green clearly now. And the gold.

Squat Wizard laughed. “Says the apprentice.”

The other Darks smirked behind him.

Ryan came up to stand beside me. He pulled his shield from off his back and took a fighting stance next to me, eyes narrowed.

Something settled somewhere in my head, locking into place. My shoulders eased and my magic felt tighter. More focused. More in control.

Through the haze of green and gold, I thought,
Oh no.

But the thought was lost as I pulled the green and gold to me. They were the top colors, the earth magic. Other colors shifted in and out (reds and blues and purples and indigos).

The Darks moved. They muttered to themselves and magic began to build.

They were broadcasting. Every single move. Like I wouldn’t know.

There were people here, I reminded myself. Innocent people.

And Ryan. Ryan was at my side, and nothing could happen to him.

Which is why when the Dark on the right launched a blue fireball at me, I held my hand out in front of me and pulled it in. It hovered in the air, inches from my palm. It would have been so easy to fire it back at them tenfold, igniting their hair and clothes and skin. But others would get hurt. Others would suffer.

So I pulled it into myself.

It felt odd, another’s magic mixing with my own. But mine consumed it, making it a part of me. There was a bright flare in the green and gold and then it settled.

The fireball was gone.

I lowered my hand.

And the Dark wizards just
stared
.

“Um,” Squat Wizard said. “What?”

I closed my eyes. I tilted my head to the side, stretching the muscles, popping my neck. Took a deep breath. Let it out slowly.

I opened my eyes.

The Darks took a step back as one.

“I gave you a chance,” I said. “You should have taken it.”

I could have killed them easily. It was well within my right to do so. They had attacked us first and there would be no repercussions for such actions. I would be justified and no one would say a thing against me.

My fingers tingled and I thought just how
easy
it would be. A couple of old words I’d never spoken aloud before, a flick of my wrist, and I
knew
their hearts would explode in their chests.

But I was not that person. I was not a murderer.

So I thought
tae
and
dao
and
fie
and raised my hands to conduct my symphony.

There was green. So much green because the earth was green and the earth was all around us. I moved my hands down, then
up
. There was a crack of wood as columns of rock shot up through the floorboards, molding up and around each Dark before they could move. I curled my hands into fists. The rock covered their legs and arms and went up to their necks and I almost thought to just
keep going
or maybe
collapse the rock in on itself
and it’d be over, all over for them. But then Ryan was
right there
and I could hear him breathing, could feel his hand coming to my neck and squeezing just once so I
stopped
.