Page 43 of Bombshell

It had taken me nearly a century to perfect my water abilities. It was a rarity for my race to have any abilities outside of the inherent magic that the Cthulhu possessed, but thanks to my mother I was able to tap into the same latent elemental magic that she used, but only water. It was too far outside of my nature to be able to use anything else.

Lifting my hand into the air, I whispered the old incantation that my mother had taught me and pulled moisture from the air, cupping it in my hand. “I don’t know much about fire and earth magic, but I do know that water and air can be fickle. You can’t force it to happen. You have to go with the flow.”

Effie shot me a dry look. “Dallan, you’ve known me for almost fifty years. How often have I ever just ‘went with the flow.’”?

She had me there, but she was never going to learn how to use the full extent of her powers if she kept this attitude.

“Here,” I said, holding the ball of water out to her. “Don’t think too hard about it, Eff, just let it happen. Alexander is far too deliberate with his magic and that’s how he teaches you, but magic—especially elemental magic—is all about the feeling. The element of water is supposed to be calm and centered, so just breathe in deeply.”

Effie looked as if she wanted to argue with me for a moment, her fingers curling inward on my chest like she was about to refuse me outright, then she finally sighed and sucked in one long breath.

“And let it out,” I told her.

She did as I asked.

“Close your eyes and do it again,” I whispered softly, trying to keep my voice level.

Effie pushed on my chest until she was half propped up on one elbow. “Is this supposed to be helping?”

“Yes,” I said simply. “Now close your eyes and breathe in again.”

With another huge sigh, Effie’s eyelids fluttered shut and she breathed in deeply again.

“And out.”

The air left her in a whoosh.

“In,” I instructed, lifting the ball of water up in preparation for my next step.

“And out,” I finished as I gently placed the water in her palm, holding my own breath as I fully expected the water to lose its shape and splash all over the both of us.

“In,” I said one more time as Effie, oblivious to what I’d just done, breathed in again.

“Open your eyes and breathe out.”

Effie, at the very least, looked more relaxed now as she opened her eyes. All of the tension that seemed to have gathered in her shoulders thanks to our earlier conversation was gone as she looked at me with a slack, content expression.

Then she looked down at her palm and gawked at the water there.

“Don’t panic or you’ll lose it.”

“Am I doing this?” Effie asked, raising her palm up to her eyes so she could look at the water.

“With a little bit of help,” I confessed. “It’s a bit like magical training wheels, Lass. Eventually you’ll be able to pull water out of thin air yourself—hell if you get really good at this you could even make yourself invisible.”

Effie’s green brows lifted. “Really? Isn’t that super advanced magic?”

It was, but as I watched her pass the ball of water from hand to hand, it occurred to me that in the entirety of our lesson, Effie hadn’t uttered the words of a spell once.

I had a feeling that she was far more talented than any of us could imagine, a fact that worried me as Alexander, and more importantly, Arsenio put her in their sights forsomething. I just didn’t know what and I had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the unseasonably warm temperature in the bay.

Chapter 12

My body was still buzzing from my night with Dallan as I stepped through the doors of the mayor’s mansion the next morning.

Between the sex and the magical breakthrough, I was practically floating as I greeted the housekeeper with a slightly feral smile.

I’d been struggling for weeks to try and tap into another element other than fire or earth. Alexander’s enthusiasm at my ability to finally do magic had started to fade and he kept mentioning that I was probably reaching my magical limit which was, in his words,disappointing.

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