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“Good.”
Nick startled, looking around to find Henry standing in the doorway. “What are you doing?”
“Watching,” Henry said. He walked into the room and gestured to Nick. “Again.”
“What?”
“You’re learning control. That was good, but you can do better. Try it again.”
Nick took a deep breath and nodded, and he carefully reached for the darkness.
***
Chapter 34 - Cara
Cara woke in a cold sweat.
Her heart raced and her muscles coiled to fight the danger. She pulled her legs up, but they were tangled in the sheets, and she fumbled for the lamp beside her bed.
She almost knocked it over in her panic, but she found the switch.
Light spilled across the room. It was empty.
A dream, she realised. Just a dream.
“Or a nightmare,” she whispered. Her hair was damp with sweat, and she felt disgusting. She climbed out of bed slowly, checking the corners, the wardrobe, and even under the bed.
“Just a nightmare.”
She could still see the vampires in her head. They rushed at her, flashing teeth and claws and blood and pain. In the dream, her magic failed her, and she couldn’t stop the vampire from sinking his teeth into her neck and draining her dry.
He was going to turn her into one of the undead, and she couldn’t stop him.
Cara noticed her fingers trembling, and she closed her hands into fists.
She glanced outside at the pale sky, just barely hinting at the sunrise, and she sighed. There was no way she was getting back to sleep now.
She took a shower, and afterwards, she felt somewhat normal. But she couldn’t shake the nightmare. The problem was that it wasn’tjusta nightmare. It happened, and it could happen again. What was to stop the next vampire from doing the same thing?
Cara went downstairs and drank an entire glass of water, and then she grabbed shoes and a jacket and slipped into the backyard. Cold air nipped at her face and she zipped up her jacket.
The shed was full of random broken things that her dad hadn’t gotten around to throwing out. A handful of chairs, an old table and a wooden bench with a crack in it.
She hauled out the bench, struggling with the weight of it, and she staggered across the garden to the stone wall. She dropped the bench with a gasp and guided it to lean against the stone wall. Not for the first time, she wished she had Jay’s talent for telekinesis.
Once she caught her breath, she returned to the shed. There was a pile of dead branches behind the chairs, and she spent a couple of minutes trying to push everything out of the way so she could reach them.
Eventually, she snagged a few and brought them outside. She glanced at the wooden bench, the target, and she went into the house to grab a knife. Several minutes later, she was holding three sharpened sticks.
They weren’t perfect, but until she could get her hands on proper wooden stakes, these would have to do.
Cara dropped the others and held one of them in her hand. She channelled her magic, hesitantly lifting the stick into the air. She glanced up at the wooden bench, checking her target, and the stick wobbled in the air. She could feel the pull on her strength instantly. This didn’t come naturally. Fire and healing were easy, but this drained her quickly, and she knew she had to be smart about wasting so much magic.
It was unsteady, but she focused until it was floating calmly, and then she threw out her arm.
The stake missed the bench entirely and bounced off the stone wall.
She tried again, focusing on her aim, but this time, the stake didn’t even get close. It flopped onto the grass halfway to the bench.
