Page 69 of Anchor

The forest exploded into colors.

Chapter 13

Rosabel La Rouge

Colors.

So many, so bright, so vivid—but the forest wasn’t to blame for it. The colors hadn’t exploded fromit—they were coming out of Taylor’s hand.

Colors were coming out of Taylor’s right hand.

I had never before been more shocked in my life, not even when Madeline told me I’d be entering the Iris Roe. Time stood still and the whole forest, the whole world held their breath with me. Taylor did, too, and her eyes never blinked as she looked at the miniature rainbow coming out of her skin, which was fading and fading and leaving way for the smallest ball of light hovering right over her palm.

Right there—onherpalm was magic.

Magicradiating energy just like it normally does when Iridians use it.

Magic.

Taylor slowly turned her eyes to me, and she looked in awe and terrified and begging forhelpat the same time.

It was a second’s decision. I slammed my hand over hers with too much strength, and the sound of it echoed in the forest while I willed that light to get back in her skin, right where it came from.

Darkness in the forest again. The moon was once more the brightest light, and Taylor and I remained seated there, breathing heavily, gripping each other’s hands with all our strength.

“What…what…”

I didn’t fucking know what to say.

Because I saw that. Isawthat with my own eyes. I felt the energy—it was a light ball made of magic. Made of flames ofall colors—like the fucking rainbow. Onherhand. On Taylor’s hand.

“I-I-I’m sorry,” Taylor said, shaking her head as she looked at me and then…

Then she looked at her other hand. The hand in which she held the bracelet.

Every inch of my body froze.

“I’m sorry, Rora. I didn’t…I didn’t mean to.” She took her hand back and put the bracelet in mine, then dragged herself away, closer to the trunk. “I d-d-didn’t mean to, I swear.”

If you’d have cut off my head right now, not a drop of blood would have come out of me. “How?” I choked. “How did you do that, Taylor?”

The girl kept shaking her head. “I didn’t—I-I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean it, I didn’t…”

“It’s okay,” I said, and when I leaned closer, she tried to get farther away, like she was afraid of me. “Taylor, look at me—it’s fine! Don’t be afraid. It’s okay. We’re both fine.” AndIwas the adult in this situation, so I had no choice but to keep my shit together. Funny how that actually worked in keeping megrounded. “We’re okay. Breathe with me, will you? Let’s just breathe.”

Taland was in front of my mind’s eye, telling me the same thing, like always. So, I breathed and Taylor breathed and eventually she closed her eyes and she stopped trying to shrink away from me.

“It’s okay, I swear. I just need you to tell me how you did it. Just tell me how, okay? Can you do that?”

Becausewhat the actual fuck!

“I-I don’t know,” she said, looking down at my hand, at the bracelet. “It was that thing. It…itpulledme. It pulled my hand like it wanted me to raise it, and then…then it got hot. Really hot.”

I wrapped my hands around the bracelet—it felt the same as always now, just cold metal against my skin.

“I don’t know how. It just…it just pulled my hand and then somethingcame overme and my other hand heated up, too, and then…the-the-the colors…” She’d brought her right hand to her chest and rubbed circles over her robe, like she was trying to comfort herself. She wasn’t crying, wasn’t shaking anymore, but she was in shock, her face white as a ghost.

“It’s okay,” I kept saying, probably more formybenefit than hers. “It’s okay, it’s fine. Has that ever happened to you before?”

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