Page 181 of Emylia

When she said it like that, it was almost possible to believe. I didn’t feel like the rattled girl I was a moment ago.

Screw it.

I refused to be weak or vulnerable.

This wasmymagik.

And no one—not even me—was going to make me cower.

If I couldn’t control it, then let it consume me.

I closed my eyes and gave in to every magikal atom that flowed through my veins.

Then I felt it.

Not like fire—wild and hungry.

Water moved differently.

It swayed. It sang. It shimmered with an otherworldly beauty, like it held the secrets of a thousand forgotten worlds. Beneath the surface, something softer… deeper… began to unfurl. A current I didn’t know existed inside me began to churn, syncing with the pulse of the lake.

My hand twitched.

The lake answered.

A tendril of water lifted from the surface, weightless and swaying, mimicking the rhythm of my breath. It danced toward me, ripples of flowing motion curling through it like a beautifully choreographed spell. It was gentle at first, tentative—but as my confidence grew, so did its grace, as if it was drawn to the cadence of my heartbeat.

“You’re doing it,” Maalikai murmured, barely audible.

I didn’t answer. I wasn’t here anymore.

I was part of the lake. Part of the watery depths of that world. Part of the thing inside me that was no longer sleeping.

“Thought you had complete faith in her,” Sebastian muttered, but there was something bitter in it—something that coiled low in my stomach.

The tendril turned violent. It shuddered. Snapped. Shot skyward like a geyser gone rogue.

“Emylia,” my mother called, sharp with command.

But I couldn’t stop.

The water surged, rising like a tidal wave summoned by a storm. Destructive. Lethal. It climbed higher, paused, trembling—then began to fall.

“Shit.” Sebastian was already running toward me—but he wasn’t fast enough.

My eyes locked with his.

I was going to kill us all.

Without a word, my mother stepped in front of me, shielding me with her body.

The wave hit.

The impact ripped into the earth—sending debris flying, water crashing in every direction.

But the blow never came.

A shimmering sphere of energy surrounded me, golden and humming with magik. My mother’s magik.

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