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I mean, Iliketo be babied occasionally. Doesn’t everyone? But Gabe’s right, I don’t need it and it won’t help me if I have to face Klotho or the Vitrim. I need to get past any fear of our quaternion.
“Okay,” I agree. “Let’s start with this. I knowhowto raise an Earth barrier, but I’ve never been able to raise one higher than my knees. Let me pull on your Elements to raise a barrier over our heads.”
Darwin nods. “Good defensive technique. Probably better than a Fire-shield. When you and Gabe encased me in that sphere of water and rock, I couldn’t break out. Your magics kept working together to counter whatever I threw at them.”
Gabe reaches a hand toward me. I take his hand and Charlie’s, to give myself a little insulation from Darwin. I don’t want to hurt Darwin’s feelings, but since I successfully channeled Gabe and Charlie’s magics to close the Vitrim’s portal, I’m fairly sure it was channeling Darwin’s power which hurt me last time.
Darwin joins our circle. As soon as he links hands with Gabe and Charlie, I feel our power surge. We have all four Elements without Darwin, but we’re not a quaternion without him.
As soon as he joins our circle, we’remore.
It’s effortless to reach into my Element and draw it up-up-up, into a ring of mud all around us. When it towers over our heads, I pull on the boys’ Fire and sear the mud to concrete.
“Gabe, can you create a ring of water inside the rock?” Charlie asks.
With a gentle tug, Gabe draws on our combined power and mist rises from the concrete, thickening into a silver-sheened curtain that ripples across the face of my barrier.
“How about a Flame-shield inside the water-wall?” Charlie asks. “Dar, Work with me?”
Darwin nods but there’s a glisten of sweat on his forehead and upper lip. It occurs to me that lowering his defenses and combining magics with us is probably hardest for him. Charlie, Gabe, and I have been Working together for weeks. Recent tensions aside, we trust each other. Darwin’s never successfully merged his magic with anyone until the night we unbound his fingers, and that was a disaster. He might be more worried about doing it again than I am.
Imagining giving him a hug, I send a warm pulse through our connection.
Darwin’s eyes flare, a flash of silver. Some of the tension eases from his face and he smiles. Then his eyes sheen gold.
Fire ripples in a ring out from the four of us. I feel Charlie shaping it, sure and steady. Darwin’s power dances over the top of Charlie’s: sparks and flares like fireworks snapping around the fire circle. It feels unstable. With barely a thought, I ground them out. Opening myself to the energy flowing between us, I feed Charlie’s unwavering strength to Darwin.
Darwin’s eyes widen. A bead of sweat rolls down the edge of his cheek. Then he reaches out, like he’s taking my hand, Charlie’s hand, Gabe’s hand, and pours power into the ring of Fire.
It arcs upward like a flower opening and seals us in a dome of white flame.
I look up wonderingly. I’ve never seen white fire before. It’s beautiful. I know it could hurt, even kill, but it’s hard to fear something so pure and shining.
When I look at my lads, they all have their faces tilted up at the dome. I think Darwin’s as surprised by what he’s wrought as any of us.
“Feels strong,” Darwin whispers over Fire’s faint crackle.
“Let me see if I can break it,” I say.
At his and Charlie’s nods, I pull on our connection and the well of power inside me to manifest another aspect of my Element I knowhowto create but have never been able to incarnate before.
A stony fist the size and weight of a boulder rears up out of the ground between me and the dome. The fist smashes into the wall of white fire once, twice, thrice. On the third hit, the fist bursts. Dirt and small stones rain to the ground.
The broken manifestation hits me like a solid punch to the solar plexus.
“Strong,” I huff.
Before the backlash from the broken spell hits me too hard, my lads are there, feeding me their energies. The pain fades to a pinch behind my eyes.
“Let me try,” Gabe says.
I almost try to dissuade him. Gabe’s still mastering his Air-magic and a set-back could undermine his confidence. But he just saw me fail. If he succeeds, it could give him a boost. He wants to stand beside us instead of being left in the car. So instead of objecting, I smile and nod supportively.
A breeze swirls around us, throwing embers across the hard-packed dirt of the practice ring. It swirls faster and faster, tugging on our clothes. I don’t let myself get distracted by Darwin’s pecs or Gabe’s abs or Charlie’s everything. I focus on keeping the flow of my energy into Gabe strong and even. The breeze becomes a cyclone. My cheeks ripple against my teeth with the wind’s force. Just as I feel myself being tugged off my feet, the wind pushes outward and crashes into the fire wall.
There’s a moment where I think the fire wall will fail. It wavers, going so thin and transparent I can see the blue sheen of Gabe’s water-barrier behind it. Then Charlie and Darwin pull hard on our connection. Lightning crashes over our heads. The white-fire wall holds.
Gabe’s jaw knots. “I want to try again.”
