Page 55 of Destined to Fight

Asmund shrugged. “Okay. Second floor on the right.” He pointed to the stairs that were just across the room.

“Thanks!” she said, running up the stairs.

There was no way she could miss the library. Its double doors were open and inviting, and every wall was packed with shelves of books. Two chairs sat on either side of a table in the center of the room. She’d have to fix that; a library needed a nice comfortable couch or a giant beanbag.

There weren’t labels on the shelves, so Kelly just started at the shelf closest to the door and skimmed the books for a title that seemed helpful. So many of them were in different languages, and others had titles that didn’t even make sense. The Art of Air Weaving. How was that even a thing? She pulled it off the shelf out of curiosity.

“Heya, Rookie!”

Kelly jumped, launching the book into the air.

“Jesus Christ, Ginna. Will you try not to sneak up on me, please?”

“Nope. You’ve got to learn to hear us coming. You’re on the second floor, and I came up the stairs. You’re really letting your guard down.”

Something in Kelly snapped. “You know what? I am sick and tired of everyone telling me to be more alert and aware of my surroundings, or to calm my mind and be someone else. You all want me to change into an Arcane overnight, but I can’t. I’ve been a human for twenty-six years, and it’s not something I can easily give up. Teach me all you can, train me, show me what there is to learn, but for fuck’s sake, don’t shove it down my throat and don’t tell me I’m not doing it right at every turn.”

Her hands were in fists at her sides, and every muscle in her body was rigid.

Ginna smiled at her. “Hold on to everything you’re feeling right now and relax your hands.”

“What does that have to…”

“Shut up, hold on to your anger, and relax your hands. Power is seeping from your fingertips, and you’re too worked up to even notice.”

Kelly’s mind came to a screeching halt, and she tried desperately to follow Ginna’s directions. She held on to all the frustration that had surfaced over the past week and carefully uncurled her fists.

“Good, now close your eyes and keep holding on to the anger.”

Her eyelids came down, shutting out Ginna and the library, enveloping her mind in darkness.

“Focus on your fingertips; feel the power radiating from them.”

Kelly tried but didn’t know what she was searching for.

“Use your breathing, like you always do, to center your mind. Remember what it felt like when I brought your power to the surface. Focus on that feeling, the energy and warmth working its way through your arms and out through your fingertips.”

Kelly focused her mind and slowed her breathing, using what Fabian had been teaching her about meditation to shut everything else out.

When she couldn’t feel it, frustration consumed her, and then something shifted inside her. It was like her body woke up and she could feel every part of herself. The feeling she’d had when Ginna read her power was back, and she felt every individual cell moving and working inside of it. She could feel the blood moving through her veins, delivering power to her fingertips so she could deliver it to the world.

17

“Hold on to that feeling. Don’t release the power, just hold on to it,” Ginna advised her. “I’m going to come to you. Keep your eyes closed, and don’t let go of it.”

Kelly did as Ginna directed with little effort; it was like she’d ridden this bike before and everything came naturally.

Ginna spoke again. “Now you need to learn to shut it down. This is the first step to controlling your power. Feel the way it courses through you, the pull it has to the outside world. Grab on to it and pull it back into yourself.”

Picturing her body as if she were looking at a real-time MRI, Kelly willed her power away from her fingertips and toward her core.

A jolt hit her and knocked her flat on her ass, forcing her to open her eyes and come back to reality. She struggled to breathe, just like she had when she fell at the gym, except this time it wouldn’t go away. She couldn’t breathe.

Ginna was in front of her in a split second, her hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “Kelly, are you okay? Look at me. What do you feel?”

It was strange that Ginna used Kelly’s real name. She hadn’t done that at all since she’d taken the spot as mentor.

“I…” She tried to talk, but a weight settled on her chest.

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