Page 138 of Gift from the Stone

“Earth. He has an earth element,” I breathe astonishingly. As soon as I say the words, Codi blinks back to normal, a surprised look on his face.

“Very good, Willow.” Gaster beams.

“Do you mind if I try to sense your gift? I’m kinda using you as my guinea pig right now,” I ask Codi.

“Sure, but my gift isn’t one that can reach out or like a shifter. I have to touch someone,” he says, and Oakly immediately takes a step back toward me, smiling at Gaster.

It takes considerable mental strength not to just reach out and read her thoughts since she clearly knows his gift and I don’t, but I want to try this and that will just give it away.

“Fine, but just a little bit,” Gaster agrees, eyeing Codi seriously.

Focusing hard, I track Codi’s hand all the way to where he places it on Gaster’s shoulder. I have no clue what it could be, and just as I feel a little tingling of something, a massive yawn leaks out of me, breaking my concentration.

“Damn, I lost it. My yawn messed me all up,” I say, covering my mouth as another escapes me.

“It didn’t mess you up. That was his gift, child,” Gaster states groggily, shaking his body out as Codi removes his hand.

“What?” I ask.

“I’m a sleeper. I can put people to sleep with a touch,” Codi informs me.

“Holy shit, that’s incredibly cool and very frightening.”

“Luckily, your shifter nature and fire would burn right through a gift such as this, so nothing for you to be frightened about. Let’s take a break and get some coffee. No time for a nap,” Gaster declares, still shaking his head out as he makes his way to his bag.

Good to know I can’t just be put to sleep like some helpless princess…

“Want me to explain the similarities in my gift to Gaster’s while he does that?” Oakly asks.

“Absolutely, is it really hard?” My question, both laced with excitement and challenge, causes her to snort and link her arm with mine.

“No. You’re picking things up fast and now that you got an idea on how to sense something, it’ll come even easier. That’s the second part that my gift requires in close quarter tracking. I have to have a sense of the person or whatever it is, to look for them. Say I wanted to track down one of my guys in this building, it wouldn’t call for blood since that’s really only used for farther tracking, but I’d need to either be familiar with their magic or I’d need to be in possession of something of theirs,” she tells me.

“Okay, explain that a little more. You lost me at being familiar with their magic,” I confess.

“We’re all able to push our magic out to test the strength of someone else’s. It’s like getting a reading on how powerful they are compared to you. You remember how your magic responded to Dr. Evie when she touched you, how it spread out to examine hers?” she asks, and at my nod, she continues explaining.

“Well, that’s what I do, but instead of just testing, my magic memorizes theirs. I send my magic out with the intention of remembering that person’s, the feeling of it, the strength. Mentally, I really won’t remember or be able to tell whose signature is whose or what I have stored, but my gift will if I ever needed to find that person. I’d just have to think of them. Practice on me. Picture your magic flowing out of you and embracing mine,” she instructs.

Calling my magic forward, I push it out toward her, aimed at her chest since that’s typically where most everyone’s magic sits, and hold it there for a moment. It doesn’t take very long for a vibration to pass through me, alerting me to something.

“Good. I can sense you pushing your magic onto mine. You’ll be able to pick that up as well if someone were to do that to you, but now think about your magic giving mine a hug,” she directs.

And that’s what I do. I wrap mine around hers for a moment, like I’m cocooning her in a blanket of me, then I pull back.

“Perfect. Let’s try it on Codi in case our bond is making it easier,” she declares, sending him an evil smirk that has him pushing off the wall.

When he gives me a nervous little nod, I command my magic out, pinpointing it at his chest as well. I give it a few beats, not feeling the vibration like I did with Oakly’s, and then I command it to spread farther across his chest.

Unlike hers and mine, where our magic seems to kinda sit behind our heart, his is center focused where my elements and bonds are. The second the vibration starts, I wrap my magic around his, then call it back.

“Could you tell what I was doing?” I ask him.

“No, but that’s not an ability my gift would manifest. Not all gifts have that capability,” he answers honestly.

“Now what?” I turn to Oakly.

“Codi, will you go hide? Anywhere in the castle is fine, just obviously don’t leave,” she asks him.

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