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“I appreciate your faith in me, but does everyone who has inherited the gift accept it?”
The three of them stood in silence for a moment and then Willow and Aveline looked at Rowena.
Rowena shook her head. “I have a twin, my sister Morwena. She learned of her magical gift at the same time as I did, but she rejected it. She said she just can’t handle it. It makes things very awkward between us, sadly, but sh
e encourages me to move forward with my magical ability, and I still hope to bring her on board, one day.”
Sunny looked at Rowena and imagined another version of her, someone who felt as much confusion and trepidation as she did, perhaps. “I can understand how she feels. I sometimes have the urge to run away. I hope it doesn’t make me sound weak. I guess it’s my biggest fear, because I struggle with accepting the gift. I mean, Cullen is relying on me.”
“You two are so good together,” Rowena said, reassuringly.
“We are, that’s why it’s so important. I don’t want to lose him, and even if he did want to go back to his time, I’d want him to have a good life there, a happy life. He simply cannot go down the path Nathaniel Fox has made for him.”
“You won’t let it happen,” Aveline replied.
“But it comes down to me, doesn’t it?”
Willow nodded. “We can help you, but you did the deal with him.”
“I could kick myself, really I could. I wish I’d asked for longer.”
“Perhaps its best you didn’t get longer,” Willow replied. “We often learn about our magic when we’re put in desperate situations and our emotional response comes to the surface. You were drawn to Cullen, so you fought to keep him close. When you win this battle, you’ll be able to relax and enjoy your lives together.”
They sounded so sure of her. Sunny found herself unable to reply, and she swallowed down her instinctive reaction, blinking away the tears, unable to imagine rising to such an unknown challenge. The breeze lifted, pulling free strands of her hair. She tied it tighter at her nape and tried to focus on the moment.
“Okay, enough gossip,” Willow said. “Let’s get started.” She led the way to the very edge of the cliff. Aveline and Rowena linked hands with her. Willow offered Sunny her free hand. “We would like to invite you to ride the day sky with us.”
Ride the what? Sunny stared at them, aghast. “Wait, you don’t mean ride as in ride broom sticks?”
Rowena giggled.
Aveline rolled her eyes.
Willow smiled. “Broomsticks aren’t necessary for levitation, unless of course it’s your thing.” She shrugged lightly, as if it had been the most natural question in the world.
Sunny peered over the edge of the cliff with some trepidation. “Why do I need to learn to levitate?”
“It’s a useful skill,” Rowena said, conspiratorially. “It can get you out of a heap of trouble.”
“Such as...?”
“If Fox,” Rowena paused, “or anyone...sent a bolt of lightning at your feet, you could rise above it.”
The mention of Fox made Sunny’s tummy knot. They were trying to teach her to defend herself against him, not ride the sky for fun. Right. The thought leveled her somewhat.
Aveline moved closer. “Allow me to put it in context. When we look back at the history of the witch trials, we read the stories about ducking stools.” She spoke in a matter of fact tone, as was her way. “Those poor women and men who died,” she shook her head, sadly, “they were innocents, in every way. But there were magical folk on trial too, the ones who didn’t escape as the net closed over them. They were often the bodies they didn’t find in the water, the ones we hear least about. Those who had the power to levitate would untie themselves, swim away and disappear by magic from the clutches of the witch finders.”
“Okay,” Sunny replied, “I see your point.” She couldn’t help wondering were they any magical ones who nevertheless didn’t escape the ducking. Presumably there were. It was a sobering thought, either way.
“Perhaps we should demonstrate,” Rowena offered, with a look of understanding. “Before you joined us, I was the newbie in the group, so I do understand.”
Sunny nodded. Surely if she saw them doing it she could begin to imagine doing it herself. Or maybe not. Maybe it would make it even harder.
Without hesitation the three of them held hands and stepped off the edge of the cliff, stepping around mid air, turning back in a semicircle to smile at Sunny and beckon to her.
Instinctively, Sunny took a step back, moving away from the edge of the cliff.
Willow’s face fell. She came back onto the cliff, leaving the other two wandering about in the middle of the sky. “It is hard, the first time,” she reassured, taking Sunny’s hand. “But remember, this is the natural world surrounding you. You’ve embraced it and it responded. The natural world will take care of you because you take care of it.”
