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The scorch mark on the rock flashed before her, the deafening waves receding with the storm, the flash of recognition within…
Wren was still staring her down while she continued to grip Thea’s piece of jade between her thumb and forefinger. ‘Tell me.’
‘It’s probably nothing.’
‘Tell me anyway.’
Thea opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to decide where to start and how much to divulge. ‘Something strange happened when we got Cal and Kipp out of the cave…’ she started slowly.
Wren simply waited for her to continue.
‘The storm… Well, it was really intense. The waves were crashing against the side of the mountain, and then the lightning —’
An odd expression flitted across Wren’s face.
Thea paused, thinking her sister might say something, but she didn’t.
‘The lightning, it hit me.’
Wren’s whole body was tense. She was so still Thea wasn’t sure she was breathing.
‘Wren?’ she asked, tugging her fate stone from her sister’s frozen grip and tucking it back inside the front of her shirt.
Her sister visibly swallowed. ‘Gods, were you hurt? Are you sure it actually hit you? Because —’
‘I know how it sounds. Insane. But no, I wasn’t hurt.’
‘Well, then what happened?’
Frowning, Thea went on. ‘It was like the storm hesitated for a moment and then… it retreated.’
‘Retreated?’
Thea nodded. ‘Yes… It seemed to pause, then the whole chaotic mass of it pulled back and drifted off, until the seas were still.’
‘Right… And what is it that you’re asking me?’
Thea rubbed her temples again, trying to blink away any exhaustion and delirium. ‘Hawthorne… He said it was magic.’
‘You can’t be serious.’
‘That’s what he said. He sounded certain.’
A moment passed, and a grin split across Wren’s face. ‘Magic?’ she laughed. ‘Can you imagine?’
Thea hesitated, suddenly unsure of herself, unsure what she’d been expecting from Wren… Not this.
Wren slung an arm over her shoulder, still laughing quietly. ‘Sounds like the gods were looking down on you to me.’
The tension gripping Thea’s body slowly ebbed away and relief found her. ‘I said something to that effect.’
‘Oh?’ Wren grinned slyly. ‘And was that before or after you nearly tore his clothes off on this very porch?’
Thea stiffened. ‘You saw?’
‘Didn’t have to.’ Wren winked. ‘A sister always knows. Besides, you forget I was the one to discover you and Evander rolling around in the hay that time. I recognised that guilty look on your face.’
‘I didn’t have —’
