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“Knox? Is something wrong with Eli?” Halley looked at me with furrowed brows.
I wasn’t surprised that was her initial reaction. Even though I had been told to get closer to Halley I was doing a piss poor job of it, and we weren’t even near friends. But that would change right now. With the threat of the Hunters looming closer and closer, it was now or never to start getting answers about Halley’s past and if there was a possibility of other Enchanters out there. Possibly even some that already had trained powers to help in a fight.
“Everything is fine with Eli. And everyone. I just had a meeting today and thought we could do some more practice with your powers. We’re really going to need you in this fight.” Although I wasn’t lying about Halley’s importance, I figured flattery was a good way to gain a woman’s trust.
Halley’s eyes narrowed in skepticism, as if she didn’t believe me, but I kept my features neutral, not giving anything away. After several moments, Halley opened the door wider and gestured for me to enter. Walking into the dorm, I realized how eerily silent it was without Eli, Kalani, or Maeve in here with her.
“You ever get freaked out being in this huge building by yourself?” I questioned as I lowered myself onto one of the couches in the large common room.
Folding her legs beneath her and sitting on the couch opposite from me, Halley snorted. “Not at all. I grew up alone, so I actually quite enjoy the peace of being the only one here.”
This wasn’t the first time Halley had mentioned growing up on her own, but I figured it was a good way to get the conversation rolling in the direction I needed it to.
“Didn’t have any friends in your foster homes? We have some foster children in my community and they’re pretty close.”
Before I even finished speaking, Halley’s shoulders stiffened and her body caved in on itself, and I knew I was going to have to try a different approach to my questions besides just asking. She obviously didn’t care about sharing things to get to know each other better. But maybe she would give some information if she knew it could help us against the Hunters? She hadn’t been a part of the Divine community for long but surely, she cared about protecting at least her friends, if not the rest of our people.
“No, I wasn’t close to any of them. I didn’t stay in one foster home for long, something always made me leave. You said you wanted to help train me. What did you have in mind?”
Sighing, I switched tactics for now, planning to ask more questions later. But there was another way I could get her to lower some of her mental walls so I could peak into her past just a little bit.
“I know you’ve been practicing different enchantments and you’ve obviously figured out that your power stems from the very core of your being. Which is great, but unfortunately, we really need to fast track your progress. I don’t know if you were told, but each of us is required to write up a summary of each session with you and submit it to Zachariah and the Council so they can track your progress, being the last Enchanter and all. Zachariah informed me that you were able to shield Madden when your emotions were heightened, specifically with fear.”
Halley’s cheeks began to redden as I spoke about Madden, and I stored that information away for later. It wasn’t my priority right now, but I knew what that blush on a woman’s face meant, and I didn’t want Eli getting hurt if there was some other guy in the picture. Especially one as possessive and surly as Madden.
Continuing, I explained that getting in touch with large emotions could help her channel more of her power and wield it to perform tougher enchantments. I didn’t know much about enchantments, given that like Ethos, I had a passive gift instead of physical. However, I knew enough from my meetings with Zachariah and the Council that to perform more advanced enchantments, especially ones like shielding an entire army and healing countless people, excessive amounts of power were needed. And without practice channeling that power, the only way Halley was going to be able to learn these skills was with her emotions aiding the power.
“So basically, I need to be constantly scared to do big enchantments? That sounds terrible.”
Shaking my head, I tried to explain better. “No, not necessarily scared. That worked with Madden because apparently that’s all he could think of. Hell, maybe you weren’t even scared, but agitated instead. And once you get the feel for unlocking and using that amount of power, you won’t need emotions anymore. But you could really use any emotion. Happiness, fear, sadness, love. Whatever the strongest feeling you have is.”
Halley’s brows quirked, but she seemed more on board than she did a second ago. “Couldn’t I just have Eli give me tons of emotions and do it that way? Like a shortcut.”
I liked the way she thought, but unfortunately, using someone else’s powers couldn’t enhance your own and I explained as much to her, watching her frown deepen the groove between her eyebrows.
“Alright, so what’s the plan? I think of some big emotion, and then what? I shield you?”
Shaking my head, I looked around for some sort of sharp object while answering. “The emotion yes, the shielding no. You’ve already started working on that and with some more focus and practice, you should begin developing larger shields. And although shielding will be important, you won’t be able to shield everyone the entire time. Which means people will get wounded. But you can heal them.”
Leaning over the couch, I focused on the corner of the stone coffee table, and bracing myself, cut my forearm along the length, allowing blood to spill over.
“What the hell are you doing?” Halley screeched and I smiled grimly at her.
“Waiting for you to heal me. I promise you that hurt like hell, and I don’t really want to wait for a cut this large to heal normally. So, get thinking of those emotions.”
Ignoring the pulsing in my arm, I focused on Halley’s features as she closed her eyes and began to think of a memory, drawing power from her core. While she focused on her gift, I channeled into my own, trying to latch onto the opportunity of her mental guards down that she only allowed when practicing with Eli. Thankfully, with so much focus on a healing enchantment, her shield was down, and I could pry into her past just a little bit.
As I searched through the years, I wasn’t shocked to find out she had lied. For the past ten years, she hadn’t been in a single foster home, but instead I watched vague memories pass of a young Halley moving from city to city, struggling to stay alive. A clearer memory came into my focus, and I determined this must have been what Halley was thinking of herself to access emotions. Although, the image was still blurry around the edges, I could see a young Halley, I guessed around ten or eleven, running through the woods, an identical older woman trailing next to her. The pair perched by a tree and had a conversation, but I couldn’t hear their words, my focus going in and out with Halley’s shield, but I could see the tears tracking down Halley’s eyes and I didn’t have to be Eli to know Halley was focusing on pain. My guess was there wasn’t much happiness for her to latch onto. The vision became fuzzier and fuzzier as Halley’s mind wandered, but I tried to grab onto the last tendrils of the memory, needing to know what happened. The older woman stood up and Halley ran away, the woman no longer following with her. A loud bang rang out, the clear sound of a gunshot, and the vision cleared before I could manage to see who had been hit. Before I could figure out who that woman was. I recognized the darkness in my vision as Halley used her powers to shut me out and I opened my eyes to see her crouched in front of me, anger and pain seared in her gaze. Her hand rested against my injured arm, and I realized not only was the pain gone, but so was the entire cut. Halley had successfully healed me, and I had learned more truth about the mysterious girl in front of me.
Standing up, Halley turned away, walking towards the stairs that lead to her room. Without turning back towards me, I heard her scathing remark before she disappeared from sight.
“Stay out of my head Knox.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Halley
I woke with a start, my mind foggy from my nightmare. Last night was a mix of differing emotions. On one hand, I was ecstatic I had been able to heal Knox’s arm. It gave me hope that maybe I could help in the attack, even though I was still hesitant to put my life on the line in this battle, my mind and heart warring back on forth on whether I would decide to run or stay and fight. But besides the pride in learning a difficult enchantment, I couldn’t help my somber mood. Knox said I needed big emotion, and nothing made me more emotional than remembering the day Mom was ripped from my life. Whenever I thought about Mom, nightmares often followed, so I wasn’t surprised one had tangled a web inside my subconscious tonight.
