I opened my eyes. The sun blinded me, warm on my face, while cool air smacked me like it was in on the joke.
You’ve got this, Quinn.Ezra’s encouraging voice came back to me. It didn’t matter what I lifted last night. He believed I could do it, and I had every time.Breathe.
I took one controlled breath after another. The sound of wood clashing against wood drifted to my ears from across the coliseum. A steady back and forth. I found myself tapping my finger along to the even rhythm.
I didn’t want to touch the pebble in case I destroyed it like the Wundarboard. Maybe if I thought about what I wanted really, really hard, it would work.
I envisioned the pebble floating.
Nothing happened.
I stared at it until my eyes burned before pleading. “Please go up.”
Nothing happened.
‘You shouldn’t be asking your magic for things; you should be telling it specifically what you want and demanding it,’Cayden had said.
I struggled to demand or ask for things. Questions drew attention to me, which was not ideal.
Professor Holiday looked right at me and jerked his finger up.
I had to do this, and I could. It wasn’t the first time I’d been stuck up a tree with no way down, literally. I wasn’t asking someone else for help. I was asking myself… I was asking Miss Q.
For a brief second, the world stopped.
“You genius, manipulative bitch,” I whispered to Miss Q.
This was her delusion, and now, if I wanted to stay in it, I had to play her game.
I closed my eyes. “Touché.”
Maybe I needed to get closer. Electricity wasn’t a long-range thing, right? I opened my eyes and placed my hands on either side of thepebble, like I’d seen in countless movies. My shadow, leaning in the afternoon sun, mimicked my movements.
Nothing happened.
I grimaced. If I touched it, I knew in my gut that I’d break it. Just like I did the board. But I had to try something.
I leaned back and reached forward at the same time.
“Float, float, float,” I chanted, as if I were at a keg party in a movie.
The minute my finger touched the pebble, a cool sensation floated along my spine. I felt this before when I touched the Wundarboard. The clear pebble shot into the air. I let out a whoop as it hovered at eye level. The sun shone through it, making it glow, except the glow got brighter and brighter.
Something rose out of my shadow just as a high-pitched explosion made my ears ring. A wave of dense hot air sent me flying backward, along with everyone already floating their pebbles. The little things fell to the ground like rain.
I rolled back to a seated position only to find Ezra, with his hands filled with plum purple magic, exactly where my pebble had been. I peered forward. Sharp fragments of the clear pebble floated in his palms, as if suspended in time.
“I broke it.” The stupid words slipped out of my mouth, echoing the kid I’d just remembered being.
Ezra grunted.
The trainees around me stood, patting dirt off their uniforms. A few started talking, some louder than others, about being unfairly interrupted by me during their placements.
The more magic a person displayed, the more likely they were to get a job using it. It’s possible I created a surplus of janitors.
Ezra swirled his hands, condensing his purple ball of half-exploded pebble, before walking to Professor Holiday. The skeletal man leaned against his staff, a creepy smile on his face as he studied me.
Instead of feeling ashamed of my actions, I stood with my head high. I’d used magic. It didn’t do what I wanted, but I’d embraced it. There was no backing down now.
