Although I’d agreed, I knew it would not be soon enough.
* * * * *
Ten days later
“It’s your crystal ball.”
I stared with some distaste at the large, shining crystal sphere sitting on its bed of sapphire velvet that Valentine had just presented to me.
A crystal ball.
How cliché.
Was this really what magic was about?
Disappointing.
“There will be many implements you’ll acquire to assist you in brandishing the magic you have inside you. You’ll find your way with all of them. You’ll find your favorite. This,” Valentine indicated the crystal, “is mine.”
I looked from her back to the globe.
Well, this was my journey. This was who I was. And one could not say I wasn’t utterly delighted to experience the minimal magical experiences I’d had and the time I’d spent with my sister-witches.
In other words, I needed to keep an open mind.
Therefore, I lifted my hand and did so only to touch the cool glass.
When I did, a frisson of pleasure started at the small of my back and chased itself up my spine, over my shoulder, down my arm and through my fingertips, and inside the crystal ball I saw a wisp of the most beautifully-hued azure rise of smoke inside it.
Everything about me grew warm, inside and out.
Never, outside the color of Noctorno Hawthorne-of-the-other-world’s eyes, had I seen anything so exquisite.
“Indeed,” Valentine murmured. “You’re a natural.”
I stared at the smoke curling and suddenly had the uncanny desire to wrap my arms around that shining orb and hold it to me close, warm it with my body, memorize the feel of it against my breast.
I couldn’t deny it.
Even as cliché as it was.
I’d fallen in love.
* * * * *
Two weeks later
“Oh. My. That’s quite interesting.”
I spoke these words and continued to look in my crystal ball as I did, delighted I’d learned this very useful skill from Valentine.
I was right then watching the Dax Lahn of the other world. He was wearing clothing that was unusual, but not unattractive. His hair was short, cut to a length it curled around his collar. And he didn’t have a beard. But there was no mistaking he was as his twin by the forbidding look on his face.
“Is he angry?” I asked.
It took a few moments to realize I did not receive a reply.
I looked to Valentine who was sitting with me but her eyes were distant and aimed at the carved leg holding up the table.
“Valentine,” I called, and her attention came to me, then to my crystal.
She looked back to me. “It seems you’ve mastered that.”
I had. It wasn’t difficult.
It was, strangely, second nature.
As Valentine instructed, all I had to do was what I’d always done in the little experimentation I’d attempted.
Tap into the current that was continuously vibrating through me, allow the quickening, and for crystal ball gazing, simply send out to the ether what I wished to see. Then, with a swirl of sapphire smoke, it appeared.
“I have,” I replied, wishing to whisk away the other world Lahn from my orb and conjure up visions of Noc, who would undoubtedly have set sail on Frey’s galleon by now and be nearly to Hawkvale, if not already there.
But this I would not do. It would be intrusive. I would not wish someone watching me without my knowledge. Thus I would not do that to Noc, as much as I wanted to see his face, share in his adventure, even if I had to do it gazing in a crystal ball.
Valentine made no reply and again seemed distracted, something that was out of character for her.
From the moment we’d arrived in Älvkyla two weeks ago, she’d attended me six times.
In those times, I’d learned what an astral plane was. I’d learned how to put myself in a trance to travel along it in order to communicate with her as well as Lavinia. I’d been given my crystal ball and taught how to use it. I’d learned how to focus my thoughts (through chanting in my head, this Valentine shared was casting spells) and my power in order to move small objects, at first lifting them from where they lay, and advancing to moving them across the room to me.
It was not slow going. I felt the instinct born, if not bred, in me, and Valentine sensed it as well.
She was just teaching me how to manipulate it. She was teaching me how not to let it control me. She was also teaching me not to fear it.
This last was important, for with each passing lesson, I felt the power rising in me and it would be easy for it to grow out of control.
However, I was safe with Valentine. And I was safe with my power. I simply needed to become accustomed to it, nurture it…
And wield it.
In our other sessions, she’d always been fully engaged.
Now she was not.
“Is there something on your mind?” I asked.
Her eyes tipped to me. “Perhaps our session will be short today,” she replied, not, I noted, answering my question.
This I found annoying.
And oddly insulting.
“Are you my sister?” I requested to know rather abruptly.
“Of course,” she replied immediately.
I nodded. “I do sense we have somewhat of a kindred spirit. I’m independent and had to be due to life circumstances. You’re quite the same for reasons you haven’t shared and do not need to if you don’t wish. What I wish is to make certain you know, should you need to discuss anything, I’m not only here to be trained. I’m here to offer anything you need of me, and you’ll have it if I can give it.”
Her distraction cleared, she studied me closely and came to a decision.