Page 23 of Elora and the Crow

“She only kills what?” Elora asked.

“Let’s just leave it at your sister does what she does to,” he paused, “protect people. People who deserve to be saved.”

“But you didn’t,” she said.

“Not always,” he said bluntly.

“You haven’t killed anyone for a long time,” she said.

“Because I was a crow,” he said.

“So, you’ll go back to killing people now?”

“It’s all I’m good for,” he said.

She scowled. “Stop believing that bullshit, Jonah. You can do or be anything you want. You are not defined by your experiences or what a bunch of asshole tyrants put you through as a child.”

“I have no other skills,” he said.

“How do you know? You haven’t been given the opportunity to develop other ones, so you could be a wealth of untapped abilities,” Elora said. She was getting worked up, and her anger over the unfairness of Jonah’s life had spiked her magic.

Her hands glowed blue, and Jonah gave her an alarmed look before taking her hands and squeezing them. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t set something on fire, baby.”

She sucked in a deep breath before giving him a startled look. “I learned something from Cece a few days ago, and I’m just wondering if… um, did I ever start fires in my sleep when you were in my bed?”

He nodded. “All the time. You mutter spells in your sleep, and then,” he made an exploding gesture with one hand, “fireballs floating everywhere.”

“Shit,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “They never burnt me.”

“I can’t believe I haven’t set this place on fire,” Elora said.

“They don’t burn,” Jonah said. “When the fireballs land on stuff, they don’t burn it. They glow for a few seconds and then go out.”

Elora stared at him in confusion before understanding shot through her. “Helen.”

Jonah glanced at Helen’s bedroom door. “What about her?”

“She obviously put a fireproof spell on my bedroom,” Elora said.

“She can do that?”

Elora nodded. “A powerful witch could.”

“Then why didn’t she do the spell for the entire apartment.” Jonah inspected the char marks on the ceiling. “You’ve almost set the living room on fire a few different times.”

“It’s a hard spell to perform and maintain,” Elora said. “Trying to protect the entire apartment would sap a lot of her strength and magic.”

She stared morosely at her hands. “I can’t believe I’m setting fires in my sleep. I really thought I was getting better control of my magic.”

“Hey,” Jonah squeezed her hands again. “You are. I’ve seen the improvement even in the last year or so. Don’t listen to that voice in your head telling you that your magic will always be uncontrolled. It won’t be.”

“It’s kind of great and kind of awful that you know my darkest fears,” she said.

“You know mine now, too, remember?”

“Right. Spiders and commitment.”

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