Page 67 of Magic's Rise

Still, nothing happens.

Frustrated, I throw my hands up. “I can’t do it on command!”

“Then we’ll sit here until you can.” He opens his eyes, pain swimming in their icy depths. “You’re a witch who relies too much on instinct, and one of these days, instinct won’t save you. So, figure it out.”

“She’s doing her best,” Tris protests, his hands settling on my shoulders.

As soon as he does, energy jumps to my hand, and the world washes out in lines of silver and black. Bright blips of light interrupt some of the lines, and I recognize them as the people here and those back in town.

Looking down the road toward the forest, I find a sheet of pure silver, the barrier I saw last night, surrounding Silver Hollow in a bubble.

“Whoa,” Levi breathes. “You and Tris are glowing again.”

I look toward his voice, his form rippling with silver waves in the rough shape of a wolf surrounding a man. It’s been a while since my mind showed me the monsters behind the human masks, and now that I understand, I find beauty in them instead of horror.

When I look at Haut, I marvel at the beautiful silver outline of his wolf, rising around his shoulders.

“Tris must be the extra boost you need to connect with this barrier, since it’s not synched to your family line.”

Aspen’s voice draws my attention to him, and I squint at how brightly he shines. The glowing pillar reaches out, his hand settling on my knee.

I barely have time to register the contact before his magic jolts through me with the same force I’d experience if I stuck a fork in a power outlet.

Shocked, I lose my balance and fall flat on my ass, breaking the connection between us.

The silver glow vanishes, returning the world to normal.

“Don’t do that without warning.” I glare at Aspen as I rub my sore backside.

“I didn’t think my power would affect you like that,” he huffs. “You’ve wielded lighting.”

“Yeah, but that was intentional.” I scoot away from him. “The lightning didn’t just randomly slap me on the head.”

“I’d like to slap you on the head.” He massages his injured leg. “Might get you to focus faster.”

“Did you get what you wanted?” Tris asks Aspen.

“Just a headache.” With a grimace, he rubs his temples. “All I saw was power.”

“You didn’t see the lines?” I ask, confused.

“No lines.” Aspen rests his head back against the tire. “It was too much to process anything.”

When I glance at Tris for confirmation, he shakes his head, too. “For me, it was more like feeling the pulse of life around us.”

“Last night, for me, it was like my senses opened up, and I could feel the shifts in the world around us,” Haut offers.

“All right.” Aspen shakes out his hand before settling it in his lap, not trying to connect with me this time. “Try again, Rowe, but without Tris touching you.”

I do as he says, pressing my hand against the dirt once more.

This time, the energy surges up into my palm, like greeting an old friend, though with less intensity than before.

I can’t see Levi or Haut’s other forms when I look at them, and Aspen’s pillar of light is dimmer, with more of a man shape to him. When I look at the barrier, instead of a sheet of silver, I pick out individual threads, the magic spilling out beneath us, leading toward the werewolf compound. More magic spreads outward into the forest past the barrier, just as Aspen suspected.

Not all of the lines look solid, though, and I squint, but can’t pull them into focus. Awkwardly, I take off my shoes and socks with one hand, struggling to maintain my connection to the ground.

As soon as my bare feet touch the earth, the magic surges through me, bright enough that I practically float to my feet, feeling like a balloon barely tethered.

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