Page 52 of Practically Witches

“You command the scepter RJ, not the other way around.” Her voice is strong and I can feel it in my stomach. More than a flutter, less than an ache. “Can you do this, RJ? Can you be strong enough to save your sister, command the scepter?” She keeps saying my name and it’s purposeful, reminds me who I am. It grounds me.

“Command?” I can’t imagine being in charge of the power instead of taking it for myself.

Mom nods, looks at me, and gives me another shake. “Command.”

“How?” I can’t figure how to make it work because the call of the power in the scepter and the temptation to grasp it is too loud.

My mother stares at me, her gaze piecing, her eyes dark with magic. “Fight for control of the power, RJ. It’s the only way to command the scepter.”

I look at the scepter then close my eyes, but the power continues to call to me. I open my eyes and shake my head. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Try harder.” She jerks my shouldersagain. “You are the only one who can save your sister’s power, who can save your friend Zane, Rowen, and Ariya.”

She’s right and I know it, but I’m being provoked by the strength of the magic. It surges when I look away, drawing me back in, making me want.

“Take it away, Mom, please.” If she doesn’t, I won’t be able to think or breathe. “Take it away,” I tell her again because the urge to push past her and take it is strong, too strong. I need to get ahandle on myself, but I won’t ask her again.

She looks at me. “No.” When she shakes her head, it is with confidence and determination. “You’re going to do this, RJ. You’re going to do it for Aimee and for the rest of your friends.”

Aimee and Zane are nearby, the others watching me fall to the pull of the scepter. “You have to want to save them.”

“Idowant to.” And I don’t like the suggestion that she thinks I don’t. But as angry as I am at her, I want the scepter’s power more. I don’t want to want the magic, but the surges are intoxicating.

“All right, then you have to pay attention.” I nod but the scepter is close and now she’s holding it. “Do you see it, RJ? It’s nothing without the person who wields it. It’s just metal and stones.” She twists it this way and that and the light sparkles off the stones and the metal.

She’s wrong, underplaying it, and we both know it, but I’m waiting for her to hand it to me. I don’t want to do anything, not move too quickly and take it from her, to act too anxious, to beg to hold it.

She waves it closer to me. “Mom.” I can’t help it. I need to hold it.

I curl my fingers around it. The power isan electric bolt. My eyes close and my head falls back, a soft sigh escaping my lips.

“Mom?” I look at her. I can’t do this, the power is too much. It’s too strong to resist. I glance at Aimee. She looks hopeful, has faith in me that I am going to be able to return her power to her. “Show me how to use this thing.”

Chapter

Twenty-Four

“Wow. You look like…” Zane smiles and shakes his head. I’ve been fitted with a cloak. It’s the kind that has a hood and sweeps the floor and ties at my chest.

I shrug because the compliment is everything a girl wants to hear from the guy she likes and, witch or not, I’m still that girl and he’s the guy. “If I move wrong it chokes me.”

“I would say don’t move that way,” and his smile is everything, “but I’m busy trying not to drool.”

I laugh and shiver at the same time. I never would have been able to imagine Zane Bradbury looking at me like this, saying sweet or flirty things to me.

Although, since it started, I’ve wondered what would happen when this is all over. I want to ask, but I’m afraid of the answer. I’m afraid it willallbe over and I’ll go back to the Institute, finish school, and never be thought of again. I don’t want to hear that answer, although I doubt he wouldsay it so harshly.

When I don’t speak for a few long seconds, he asks, “What are you thinking about?”

“About what happens when this is all over.” Honesty.

“You’ll be a hero.” He looks down and takes my hand. “I’ve been thinking about it, too.”

“And what do you think?” My breath catches and I hold it.

“When everyone is after you, likes you, I mean…” Red creeps up into his cheeks. “I wonder if you’ll still like me enough to let me hold your hand.”

I don’t know if it’s the cloak or the magic or what has given me the confidence to smile, move closer, and slip my arms around his neck. What I do know is that the move shifts the cloak and the cord holding it around me slides up my arm and to my throat. The cloak itself weighs a lot and it pulls me backward.

---