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“What?”
“On us. I meant on us.” Daria brightened. “Do you want to see where he’s going—”
“No. It’s skulking and sleeping as most vampires do during the day. He was up all night.”
“He was?” Daria asked innocently, biting back her chortle at Riva’s increasing pinkness.
“I meant theoretically. In general. Because they are night creatures.”
“Right.”
“I didn’t see him or anything.”
“Hmm.”
Daria took pity on the woman and let her keep her secrets as they continued rounding the place until it became clear that there was only one person she hadn’t seen today. Whereas she had been filled with the urge to tease earlier, it was swept back by the nerves that scurried in to create butterflies in her stomach. She let Riva mask the silence with idle chatter and used the conversation to ease her up. She stopped by a painting of clouds and made up a review of the varying degrees of texture.
“This one’s all about the subtlety, like a whisper in the wind. But it changes right here and becomes aggressive, like a rising storm in the angry sky.”
“Really?” Riva asked, skeptical.
In reality, it just looked like a giant puff of cloud with different shapes and colors, and all the bullshit coming out of Daria’s tongue was meant to stall. Aware that the other might figure it out soon enough, Daria shrugged.
“Yes. I guess I should go see Charlie.”
“Yes. I bet you are excited to see what your best friend looks like.”
“I already have an idea.”
“Do you know he could give his gorgeous brother-in-law a run for his money?”
The idea had Daria’s brain tripping. “I don’t think I will see it that way.”
“You are right. Edmund’s a sight to behold.”
“So is Diego.”
On that subject, Riva was mute. About half an hour later, the nerves settled down when they rounded the sanctuary again, and one thing became clear: Charlie wasn’t there.
“Maybe he had some errands.” Riva shrugged. “Come on. Let’s have lunch.”
Happily, Daria took up the offer and hung out with Riva before signs of sleepiness became visible in the woman’s stance around late afternoon. With a smirk, she nudged. Riva startled, snapped her eyes open, and fought a yawn.
“We should get some nap,” Daria suggested. “Get refreshed. We probably won’t get this much rest anymore after our lockdown is over.”
It was enough to convince the woman to be steered to her room before Daria wandered around. She stopped inside an empty room, found pieces of old chairs stocked for future art purposes, and tossed a few to the center, creating a stack that she could focus on. Getting her energy there took longer, stuck in her fingers before she blasted a shot toward the stack. It glimmered, then held.
“Not enough,” she mumbled when a small glow formed, following the stack’s crisscross lines. She wriggled her fingers and tried again, but each glow was as steady as the last and not enough to appease her restlessness. Daria closed her eyes, imagined she was wrangling the magic physically, and yanked a huge portion down. She pushed her hand forward—
The blast made a loud sound as it shot the stack, then scurried past it in a display of glittering fireworks. She yelped and stood, then ran towards the other wood pieces when the glitter roared and transformed into fire. Panic blazed, matching what was spreading in front of her.
“Ice!” she shouted to no one. “I need ice!”
She pushed once more and wind came out of her palm, fanning the fire. At the third attempt, it became obvious that whatever she let out just made it worse, and an idea lit in her head.
“Okay. One more.”
She sucked in a breath, then drew back her hands as if she was pulling an imaginary force with her. A sound escaped her lips when the fire cruised in her direction, so she kept making the same motions until every lick of it returned to her body. At the last flickers, she wrenched harder and heard the squeaking hiss before all the sparks faded away. Victory sang until she peeked at the wooden pieces now turned to ash.
