Page 47 of Overwhelmed By Magic

It’s Skye who breaks up a fight before it’s even started. “Harlow-”

“No, babe. Don’t you dare fucking protect him. I don’t deal well with my own shit but I thought for sure you’d be safe with him while I took a moment. Guess I was wrong.” Venom drips from his words as his aura grows, the blue slowly morphing into a smoky gray reminiscent of a storm waiting to destroy the surrounding area.

I’ve never seen Harlow truly angry but the way Skye is wringing his hands, trying to get a word in, tells me that this isn’t good.

“Wait! Just hold on a moment. Please!” Skye reaches toward the spirit but he’s snatched away by Stellan and Jade, both of them trapping him in between them. Their chests are pressed against his arms as he just huffs out an annoyed breath. “I need everyone to take a big fucking breath so I can explain before anyone gets punched or disappeared out of existence. Harlow, let him go.” It’s a testament to the strength of their relationship that Harlow does as he asks.

On the other hand, I don’t have the same connection. I lean against the doorway, my lips quirking up in a deviant smile. “Yes, I’d like to know how Ambrose’s handprint is somehow burned into your neck, Skye. Share with the class.”

He turns his gaze to me, furrowing his brows. “None of this is funny. Things are changing and it seems that not everyone who is here is supposed to be here. Only a select few are actually the failed Magila, the rejects. And this book,” he stalks over to the bed and grabs the journal, pointing to one of the pages. Jade and Stellan immediately pull him back into their embrace while he just scowls at them before continuing. “Holds information on designations and elements none of us have ever been taught. Mother Nature is free and unbidden. She also isn’t stingy. Everyone has magic but essence is the physical manifestation of that.”

Skye unloads into an explanation that sounds like a fantasy. Everything he’s learned since he walked onto the campus six days ago has turned everything I know on its head.

To know that everyone is loved and adored by Mother Nature isn’t something we were taught.

We were the prized ones, the ones that Mother Nature set apart from the rest of the population.

To know that Mother Nature holds the knowledge we’ve all been craving this entire time, hurts.

Knowing that I’m not defective in any way, that I just don’t fit into the boxes my uncle started, is unacceptable.

Jade is petting Skye’s head much like he does with Stellan, the fire elemental wrapped around Skye’s other side. Neither one looks like they’ll be letting him go until Ambrose explains himself. Harlow is still hovering over the mage, waiting for his chance at him should the explanation not be good enough. Skye opens his mouth to do so when Ambrose shakes his head. The mage slides his hands through his hair and pulls it back into a ponytail, showing off the true length and deepness of his scar.

“Yes, we found a lot of interesting information but it seems that one of the new Magila has been finding her own as well. Liz met me in the cafeteria. I thought she was just barking up the wrong tree but she distracted me somehow while someone else took the amulet. Probably another mage, I’m not sure. Rumi knows but for the rest of you, my essence has a one track mind. At that moment, I only wanted to know what was in that journal. I’ve been searching for much longer than you can imagine and we’re so close to knowing something. It wasn’t even me when I dragged Skye into that corridor, just the essence needing an answer.” He lets out a groan as he mouths ‘sorry’ but Harlow isn’t accepting that.

The spirit sneers at him, cackling until his aura seems to bleat with every one of his breaths. “So you dragged my boyfriend into a corner and choked him for the answer? Is this going to happen every time you lose that fucking thing?”

“I… want to say no but I can’t. My essence has a singular focus and it’s hard to control without the amulet. Most people know not to mess with it but Skye… something he did brought me back. I’m safe in this room, my essence is contained but it’s safer with the amulet around my neck so I don’t have to dwell on it.”

I step in before this conversation goes nowhere. “Skye is fine, Harlow. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have been cuddling up to our favorite mage. We’re all a little on edge and maybe even more after this. So, Mother Nature has things to say. What about the book, Skye? What does it say?”

The collective sound of us holding our breath as he smiles down at the book has me wondering if the answers we’re looking for are there. “It talks about magic and essence like I mentioned before but it also talks about a certain kind of Magila, a spirit type.” Harlow perks up as Skye continues. “Ambrose made out the symbols but we’re pretty sure Harlow is a wraith, not just a spirit.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” He barks.

Ambrose lets out a pitiful sigh. “It means that you were born a mage and if the explanation that everyone has magic but essence is just the physical manifestation—it meant that you would have always gone to Astral Academy. Your abilities just hadn’t presented yet.”

Skye launches into another, much shorter explanation of what a wraith can do, Harlow’s behavior and the color of his aura checking off every box. It almost means that he’s one of the most powerful untrained mages alive—aside from Ambrose, of course. Once trained, Harlow could probably do a lot of the same shit Ambrose and I do.

That’s a bit of a terrifying thought.

Harlow’s musing over his new designation, no doubt torn between relief and uncertainty. After all, we go most of our lives wondering what we are, needing a label so that we feel safe. The council will never agree to release him from Grimrose but we might be one step closer to figuring out why we were stuffed in here in the first place.

I look between the six of us, everyone finding solace in the silence but me. How is it that a human is the answer to all of our problems? Jade’s all but in love with the first man he ever fucked. Ambrose says he finds Harlow and Skye intriguing but it’s a load of bullshit. There are actual feelings there. Stellan finds absolute relief while holding the human and I… can’t fathom anything happening to him.

When I came in here, I was going to rip Ambrose’s head off for being rough with Skye. I’m not in love with the human and I barely know him but he wears my mark and that means something. With any other Magila, I can read their essence. With Skye, I can feel it. His emotions are loud and chaotic. He’s curious but also scared, unsure but stronger than he seems.

Some part of me needs him to be the key to all this.

The other part wants him nowhere near this mess, which is why I steal Stellan and Jade away to go retrieve Ambrose’s amulet. I need something to channel my anger into and the cute little vampire that showed up a few days ago seems like the perfect target.

31

SKYE

I return to Ambrose’s bed, crawling up to the headrest while the mage moves to the foot and Harlow drags me into his lap once he’s at my side. I understand his need to protect me from Ambrose but it wasn’t the mage’s fault. Harlow tightens his hold around my waist and then groans as he stuffs his face into my neck. “Babe, I know you’re okay. I know that you say he’s safe but fuck, I’m not ready to let you go yet. And Ambrose, it’s going to take me a moment to forgive you for that. You say it wasn’t you but I’m going to have to look at this fucking handprint on his neck every time I see him. I didn’t want the others to hear but for a moment, I could feel his pain as he scratched at your hands. It was like I was there but had no idea what was going on and I couldn’t fucking find you. That can’t happen again. It won’t happen again.”

“It won’t,” Ambrose mutters.

---