Page 120 of Gift from the Stone

The wrinkles in her forehead smooth out as she takes his guidance. Once something is explained to her like that, there’s no stopping her. If she can relate to what you’re saying, she instantly catches on. It’s remarkable to watch and that ability has made her flourish at breathtaking speeds.

She’s fucking incredible.

“Thank you.” A small giggle falls from her lips as she peeks her eye open and glances at me.

“Aww, come on. You focused on him and not me?” Draken whines.

“You were definitely the loudest and most distracting, Draken.” She laughs, leaning toward him to give him a small kiss that he, of course, deepens.

“It takes practice, but soon you’ll be able to navigate through the thoughts like a pro. Just remember, it’s all about intention and focus. Single out in your mind who you want to hear, block out who you don’t. I’m not sure if it’s going to be easier or harder for you to work on us since we’re a Nexus, but we’ll practice one more thing, then give it a break. You’re going to have a headache,” Tillman tells her.

“Yeah, it’s already starting. What’s next?” she asks.

“Breaking through a block. You can practice on Draken. When you try to infiltrate his mind, you’re going to feel his block. It’s just like any other. It’s a wall, and you have to picture yourself breaking through it. There are two ways to do that. You can try to tear the whole thing down, or just bits and pieces to create a small opening.”

The smile that takes over Draken’s face is one painted in the thrill of a challenge and his eyes are daring her to do it. She meets him head-on with her own saucy little smirk and places her hands on her hips.

They stare intently at one another for a long minute before Draken’s eyes widen in surprise, flashing to slits, then back to normal. His gaze heats as he takes a step toward her, eating the small distance between them as he pulls her into his arms.

“Bad little wanderer. That’s cheating,” he growls deeply, causing her body to shiver.

“What did she do?” Caspian asks, stepping closer to her side.

“She somehow sent me an image of her naked. Once I was completely distracted, she burst through the whole block,” he tells us with his face buried in her neck, breathing her in.

How the hell?

“Tillman said it was about intention and focus. So I focused my intentions on distracting Draken like he distracts me. Being naked was the first thing that came to my mind,” she answers my mental question.

“I think he more so means, how were you able to do that, Will? I just learned how to send them snippets of anything after we all connected to rewatch yours and Elementra’s conversation and I have to be touching them,” Tillman clarifies.

“Oh, well… I guess maybe that’s how. If you can do it, and I’m somehow mimicking the gifts of those I’m bonded with, I guess I can do it. I just set the intentions in my mind of sending him a picture of myself and it worked,” she explains as Draken turns her in his arms to face us.

Me, Tillman, and Caspian all hum, not really knowing what to say. I guess that makes sense, but damn, the way her gifts and elements just obey her like it’s completely normal, natural is confusing. The relationships between us and our magic, elements, and gifts are supposed to grow and flourish with time, but it seems like with Willow, they emerge already in tune with her, like they’ve been with her, her entire life.

“That’s enough for today. Let’s get you a healing vial for that headache and some food. I need to explain the Forsaken Forest to you,” I declare, moving us in the direction of the chairs.

After I ask the kitchen to bring out lunch and Caspian acquires a healing vial from his shadows, we sit around the table in silence as we eat and prepare for this conversation. It’s not an awkward silence, but you can feel the tension in the air because the details I’m about to give her on this forest are not pleasant in the slightest and the guys know this.

“Okay, hit me with it. I can feel the hesitation and apprehension about this discussion. I’m assuming it’s about the Forsaken Forest and judging by what Tillman said about life essence being exchanged, it’s about the creatures from Essemist Keep,” Willow says, looking at all of us before she settles her eyes on me.

“I’m assuming Gaster gave you a history lesson on Essemist Keep?” I ask.

“Sort of. A brief introduction to all the realms that used to be accessible. Essemist Keep is home to those who survive off the life essence of others. Home to the vampires,” she tells us.

“Correct. We obviously weren’t around during the time the portals closed, but when it first occurred, many of the non-Elementra natives had a hard time coping to living here permanently and laws had to be rewritten in order for everyone to live peacefully, but for the most part, they all got on board, aside from some of those from Essemist Keep,” I tell her.

“Were there a lot of people from other realms stuck here?” she asks.

“Yeah. Not masses on masses, but enough that it required many changes. There were inhabitants from all realms now living in Elementra,” Caspian answers.

“Like I said, though, for the most part, everyone adapted to the changes well, and the others began to evolve with life here. Elementra herself imposed many changes before our family did anything. Nonmagicals who were here began to develop the ability to manipulate an element; some were even blessed with a gift. The Giants that were here began to shrink from their massive sixteen-foot average size to around eight feet, which is still remarkable, but not so imposing that it’s hard to coexist within a group of people and they kept the strength that accompanied their colossal size. The Casters’ and the Valorians’ gifts and magic grew powerful, and they shared their knowledge with us. Her last blessing to them was mixing them in with natives in the Nexus system.”

“Wait, so that means a whole heap of people born in the last thousand or so years probably has mixed genetics,” she states.

“More like everyone born within the last seven-hundredish years has mixed genetics. Including all of us,” Caspian tacks on.

“Pretty much. Anyways, the vampires from Essemist Keep integrated fine if they found their Nexus; they had a continuous source to feed from, whether it was by blood or otherwise. And even some who didn’t find or have a Nexus did fine as long as they abided by the rules of only feeding from willing sources. And that was the challenge. Many aren’t willing, especially those who are bonded—”

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