Page 24 of Fallen Demon

The afternoon after the meeting, Thea gathered us in her workshop, including Lavinia, who despite being more than a witch, was powerful too.

They drew a witch’s circle and put me in the middle.

I didn’t have the best experience with those, but I obliged them.

Then they cast spells and tried to see the magic within me.

“I can see it, but I can’t really seeit,” Lavinia said.

“Yes,” Almae agreed. “I can sense the magic, I know it’s there, but like Aurora said, it’s hiding.”

“It must have been traumatic for your magic to have been ripped from you,” Keeran said. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “And I’m sure it was traumatic for you too.”

Understatement of the year.

“That could be something,” Thea said. “The magic is protecting itself.”

“But isn’t my magic part of me?” I asked, confused. “It shouldn’t be protecting itself from me. It should embrace me and protect us, together.”

At some point, Thea brought in Aurora. Though she tried leaving her daughter out of supernatural business, Thea knew there was no one like Aurora.

The little girl looked straight to my gut. “It’s dark. There’s light, but it’s dark. That’s all I see.”

I nodded, trying not to get irritated with a nine-year-old. It wasn’t her fault. She was too young, with too much power she didn’t yet know how to control.

Thea promised to talk to her later, see if some lesson about blocked or hidden magic sparked any ideas, and help Aurora understand what she was seeing so she could actually tell us.

After being a guinea pig for them more than two hours, the witches gave up.

For now.

“We’ll research,” Almae assured me. “We’ll bring your magic to its full glory again.”

Well, they might not be able to do it, but I knew they would try their hardest, and that alone made me proud to be their friend.

It would suck if they failed, though.

The next day, Zad and I resumed training, because according to him, “Maybe all your magic needs is to familiarize with you and what you can do. Remind it. And for that, you need to keep using it.”

So, we kept training.

I only grew frustrated.

I felt like nothing was happening, nothing changed.

Drake had a web of spies and allies, and he told me he was trying to infiltrate Elysium, if not physically, then through connections and info, but everyone was quiet and unapproachable. It was as if they were on high alert now that Ylena was gone.

Once more, I wondered if the snake had lost its head and was now thrashing aimlessly, or if Rhodes had taken the helm and was trudging along with their plan.

Which involved securing the dagger.

I was on my way to another afternoon training session with Zad when a young page approached me.

“Lord Drake would like a word,” he said.

“Right now?”

“If possible.”

---