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She dropped back down onto the ground. Her eyes flew open. “Did everyone have to complete this final?”
Zina smiled. “Why do you ask?”
“We were only hovering,” Kerrigan said. “The others were able to sit on the ceiling?”
She shrugged one of her shoulders. “This is the exam that you are getting. Whether the others had the same one is none of your concern.”
Right. She still had to pass. Even if this one for her was absurd.
The point of this wasn’t to fly. They weren’t going to suddenly be on Zina’s level. There must be another point to the teachings. This wasn’t hovering. It was changing her perspective. That was what Zina had said, and she wouldn’t have said anything unless it was important.
So, Kerrigan let herself go to that place within her magic that was reserved for worst-case scenarios—her spirit magic. She hadn’t been there since trying to take the barrier down. And blessedly, she hadn’t had another vision either. She didn’t have time to even think about finding a spiritcaster teacher. When would she train for that with everything else going on?
She pushed those thoughts aside and focused inside herself. Then, she drew her air magic to her and righted her perspective. She felt as if she were outside of her body when it flipped upside down. The last thing she needed was to think about it. She needed to let her instincts take over.
When she finally opened her eyes, she was on the ceiling, and the floor to the room was far below. Kerrigan gulped and closed her eyes again, feeling dizzy and disoriented.
“Breathe,” Zina said, something like a smile in her words. “You’re the right way up. The other way was wrong. You know this in your gut. You are sitting on the floor. Everything above you is the ceiling.”
Kerrigan heard her soothing words wash over her, and slowly, she peeled her eyes back open. And Zina was right. She was sitting on the floor. The ceiling was suspended above her.
“How am I doing this?” she gasped.
“A change of perspective.” Zina gestured at a teapot. “Now, pour us tea. And remember, we are on the floor.”
Kerrigan nodded blankly, staring at the teapot in front of them and the two little cups and saucers. If they were the other way around, the tea would be falling out of the pot. But this was the floor. She had to keep reminding herself of that fact. This was the floor.
She reached for the teapot and used her magic to leverage everything in place. With a slight hesitation, she poured tea into Zina’s glass. It didn’t move. Kerrigan gulped, straining to use her magic to keep everything, including herself, in place.
“Relax. Breathe,” Zina repeated. She reached for a sugar cube and dropped it into her tea. “This isn’t difficult. This is as easy as breathing, as easy as speaking. There is no strain.”
Tension released from her shoulders. She’d never thought of magic as easy. She’d always been taught it was a lot of hard work, and the years of training with it had proven that to be true. But the more she didn’t try, the easier it became to do what she needed to do.
She poured the tea, adding a sugar cube of her own.
“Now, drink,” Zina said. She raised her glass with a wink.
Kerrigan took the teacup in her hand and took a sip. “How am I doing this?”
Zina smiled. “Spirit magic.”
Kerrigan startled, a drop of her tea leaving her cup and falling onto the floor. She closed her eyes. This was the floor. That was the ceiling. Tea fell on the ceiling.
“Relax through it,” Zina said. “It’ll pass.”
“How do you know I have spirit magic?”
“Gelryn and Helly came to me and asked me to be the air master for your training program. I refused until they told me that you were a spiritcaster.”
Kerrigan’s heart soared with hope. “Are you a spiritcaster?”
Zina scoffed. “No. I have some spirit magic of my own in these old veins, and based on what the others have told me, you have much more than that.”
Kerrigan stiffened. “They told you?”
“Indeed. You can fear nothing from me, dear. I’m sure it’s as much a curse as a gift.”
Understatement.
“I have agreed to train you on your spirit magic even though I am not an adequate enough teacher for the job. I cannot access the castings that you can. There has not been one of your kind in a thousand years. But I’m as close to an expert as they could scrounge up. So, I’m what you get.”
“Thank you,” she murmured. “May I ask why you waited until now to tell me?”
“Couldn’t exactly ask you to work spirit magic in front of your classmates, could I?”
“Well, no, but we had Friday training.”
“You were always running off with your dragon, for one,” Zina said, arching her eyebrow. “And I wanted to see how you’d do under pressure. It’s usually when spirit magic is the most effective, I’ve discovered.”
