Page 20 of Golden Star

“Sapphire,” Zoey says softly. “Maybe we should go back to my room?”

“No,” I snap. “I can do this.”

Her silence tells me she doesn’t believe me, and my fingers twitch with the need to do something—anything—to prove I’m not crazy.

This is my chance. If I can’t do it, then?—

Crack.

The shower head snaps off, spraying water all around the bathroom.

“Crap!” I cry out, jumping back as cold water hits me in the face.

It’s getting on everything—me, the floor, the mirror, Zoey.

Zoey gasps and scrambles for towels, trying and failing to stop the chaos. “What the hell, Sapphire?”

“I didn’t mean to,” I say, and I hurry over to the shower, jumping up on the bathtub ledge and fiddling with the faucet as best as I can through the water spraying out of it.

I can do this. It’s just like when the sink breaks at the bar. The only difference is that this time, it’s bigger.

Finally—and I don’t know if it’s because I got my magic back under control, or because I have experience with fixing broken faucets—I get it to stop.

Once sure it’s most likely not going to explode again, I look around the bathroom.

The floor is covered with water, the rug is sopping wet, the walls and mirror are drenched, and Zoey looks like she just came inside from a rainstorm.

She’s staring at me, wide-eyed, speechless for the first time in her life.

“I guess that was my magic,” I say, wiping water from my face, my pulse still racing.

“Do it again,” she says, and she’s smiling in excitement, the soaked bathroom forgotten.

“You want me to break your shower again?”

“No—don’t do that,” she says quickly. “But maybe you can use this magic of yours to clean up the mess?”

I take a deep breath, taking in the situation around me. Water’s everywhere. The idea of controlling it—cleaning it up—feels impossible.

Then again, everything that happened last night sounds impossible, too. And I’msoclose to getting Zoey on my side.

And apparently, the way to convince her is by cleaning up her bathroom.

“Okay,” I say. “I’ll try.”

I look around and focus, letting the memory of the stream flood my senses, remembering the way the water bent to my will.

Come on,I think.Move.

At first, nothing happens.

Then, I feel it. The smallest pull, like a thread of energy tugging at the air around me.

I have a grasp on it. Now I just need to…

Keeping my eyes laser focused on the puddle in front of me, I concentrate, willing a few droplets to rise from the floor.

They do.

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