Page 30 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

Sulla sighs, the solemn cast that comes over her face making her look even older. “That’s the most treacherous part of the magic that flows through our souls. If too much of it builds up inside us without being given a chance to act on the rest of the world, it’ll act on us instead.”

I run my hands over the warm stone. “But when riven sorcerers use their magic, they start to go insane. Isn’t that true? I mean… I’ve never met any others besides you, but I can’t imagine so many would have been hunted down if they weren’t acting bizarrely enough to get noticed.”

And Stavros has encountered at least two brutally violent riven firsthand.

Sulla’s mouth slants at a pained angle. “Yes. It’s a difficult balance we must all walk. We must use our power regularly to conserve our own bodies, but not so much that it starts to addle our thoughts. That’s the main thing I can teach you.”

My spirits lift higher than I’ve dared to let them since we arrived here. “So you’ve found that balance? You use your magic, and you manage not to harm anyone in the process?”

And not to go mad either. She’s been aware of her power for more than thirty years, as far as I can tell, and she seems perfectly sane to me.

The older woman offers me a reassuring smile. “That’s the most basic goal of the teachings we pass on here. I’m glad I’ll have the chance to share what I was fortunate enough to learn.”

My magic stirs in my chest as if it’s picked up on the fact that it might get to play today.

I swallow thickly. “How do I start?”

Sulla smooths her hands over the skirt of her dress where it’s gathered around her crossed legs. “One of the main principles is to keep the effects small. Just a little magic here and there. That makes it easier to keep a handle on both the external consequences and how the power affects you. Any of the more complex enchantments you see around the Haven are layers of smaller efforts that’ve been built up over time.”

A laugh bubbles up my throat. “So you don’t have all those augmentations just for your convenience. It’s a way of channeling your magic into something useful, since you have to use it somehow.”

“Exactly.”

“But even letting a little out, there’ll still be some kind of backlash.”

“Yes,” Sulla says. “That’s inevitable. But using similar techniques to how you contain your magic, you can control both sides of the equation.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “How? I’ve wanted to, but… it always feels impossible.”

“That’s the part requiring the most concentration and forethought. You should always plan both the impact you want to make and how the consequences should play out before you bring your magic to bear.”

Sulla tips her head toward the sigil nearest to her, Jurnus’s curving lines. “Let’s say I wanted to carve this mark a little deeper. I need to think of what the obvious counteraction would be—if I’m reducing a little rock, something else would need to grow. And then I decide what I wouldn’t mind seeing grow. Maybe the leaves on that shrub there.”

She points to a spindly bush clinging to the edge of the platform.

“It’s that simple?” I ask, barely able to believe it.

Sulla chuckles. “Not exactly simple. Not every effort you might want to make will have such a clear counter. And you need to imagine a reaction that’s big enough to fit what you’re trying to accomplish. That’s why keeping things small is particularly important.”

My heart is thumping even faster than before. “And once you’ve decided on all that…”

“You center yourself and ensure your mind is clear and your concentration steady. Then you picture both the action you want to carry out and how the countering energy should behave at the same time, as vividly as you can.”

She closes her eyes, resting one hand on the sigil and the other on her knee with her fingers pointing toward the shrub. Magic quivers through the air.

As I watch, a few of the shrub’s leaves tremble and stretch just a little longer.

When Sulla raises her hand, I can see that the etching digs deeper in the rock. She brushes a few bits of grit from her fingers.

“It only works if your choice of counteraction is appropriate,” she warns me. “If you try to balance out your intentions with something unsuitable, the magic will act otherwise however it sees fit.”

Keeping it small definitely sounds like a good idea, then, Julita remarks. But, Ivy, if this works… you could do just about anything!

Anything small. I’m not going to defeat the scourge sorcerers by carving little lines into stones.

But the idea that I could work with my magic even in this small way sets my pulse thumping giddily.

“Should I just… try it?” I ask.

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