Page 24 of Echoes of War

The only difference we noticed this far had been how much the ritual had taken out of Tomoe. To be fair, we weren’t entirely sure if it were from the rituals taking place back-to-back or if it was her magic draining from constant use over the past few days. She’d been monitoring pieces of the future, making sure our efforts wouldn’t be in vain.

Our chances of coming out victorious weren’t great at the moment. As far as I was concerned, if we still had a chance, even just one, the cost would always be worth the price. I couldn’t protect my family from any of this anymore. We were all in. All or nothing to protect Salem, to protect The Compound.

The Compound must survive at all costs. Compound first, always. What was left of humanity, the small smidgen of The Before that remained, relied on that.

Our idea of having a control group and creating a comparison group had turned up fruitless. There was no definitive way to see if the connection was technically weaker because Alexiares and I were not bonded to my sisters, therefore, we could not compare. Not accurately at least. Despite the risk of draining our power-mate of their magic, we were safe. The ritual had not exceptionally weakened us to the point of being on the brink of death. For now, I would take that win.

On the next snow-filled Saturday, we would perform the ritual as many times as we could for the benefit of the troops, just in case. Still, it was nice to know that we had another working option.

As with everything in this shitty life, there was good to balance the bad. While there was still a lot unknown about power sharing,we’d received more concrete evidence on what power sharing meant once bonded. There appeared to be an indisputable rule; power sharing was dependent upon the powers that were mixing. Which meant they could display differently on everyone, even between similar elementals. For Alexiares and me, that meant Steamfire.

I’d seen the evil glint in Sloan’s eye at the realization. If done right, and everything aligned the way we hoped, this had the potential to make our forces unstoppable.

Our fire and his water merged in a delicate dance of destruction. Flames had burned an ethereal, sapphire blue, the water shimmering with a golden glow, suddenly a radiant mist emerged. The temperature of the brisk room rose rapidly creating an oppressive, oxygen-sucking heatwave, our flames intertwining with mist, licking objects in its path and leaving nothing in its wake. I fought hard to simmer them, but Alexiares was too strong. His power felt … endless. There was no bottom to his well.

“What the fuck, turn it off!” Sloan had shouted, angry at the piles of ash we’d created in the once eccentrically-decorated study.

This would be a problem. Alexiares had no choice but to get his powers in check or power sharing would backfire. It was pertinent that the mage flames and water harmonized or they would cancel each other out and spiral into chaos. We’d barely touched the surface but we could already see the possibilities that now lay at our feet with this gift. Mastering our Steamfire would take precision, skill, and an immense amount of control.

Reina and Tomoe had developed their own force to be reckoned with, though theirs would help with a mental battle instead of a physical one. If I was honest, their gift terrified me more than Steamfire ever could. Together, they had the ability of intense visions that heightened emotions. It wasn’t channeling and seeing for themselves the way Tomoe’s visions initially worked; no, these were visions they were able to push onto others.

The caveat was that these visions could only play to the emotions Reina was able to control. Primal ones. Fear, anger, pain, sadness, surprise, disgust, anticipation, pride, hope, curiosity, trust. Love. Instinctual emotions, things that were considered universal across cultures and time. Things that could destroy one’s mental state, shatter you into nothing.

As Tomoe had predicted, with every leg up we gained with magic, there would be consequences. The more we practiced, the weaker we became. Nearly drained if used for more than a few minutes at a time, even when we remained in control. If we were to use these gifts, even with mastery, they would have to be used strategically, when the time was right.

His room smelled like him. I mean, obviously I’d expected it to have his essence, but with the little time he’d spent in here between our daily responsibilities and sleeping in my bed, I didn’t expect this. It was a strong scent, though pleasurable. Rain and fire, an odd mix, but calming. Made my soul warm as much as I hated to admit it.

Alexiares was neat, nothing was out of place. He had hardly touched anything in the four weeks we’d been settled into Duluth.Settledwasn’t quite the right word to use. I wasn’t sure what it was actually. We kind of just … existed. A constant state of angst and not knowing when we’d have to pick up and leave. Not even Tomoe had those answers;the future is different every day, several times a day, she’d emphasized when I’d inquired on what the overall outcome of this would be. It was safer that she didn’t tell me anyway; we weren’t yet desperate enough to use her gifts to bend the war to our will.

I had no doubt that Covert Province was, however. And I planned to use that to our advantage—theythoughtthey knew our next moves, had that advantage over us. But they didn’t. Not whenour use of dark magic would cancel any of their ‘truths’ of the future out.

Sloan had given us enough clothes to wear that we never had to wear anything too dirty. Everything needed to be layered up anyway. If one item got some wear and tear from all our training and experimenting, we’d tuck it underneath something else to hide it. I pulled the long, thermo leg sleeves she’d provided him out of the armoire in the corner of the room. Turning my head, I checked on the sleeping beast snoring in the center of the mattress, no movement. He slept like the dead instead of a bloodhound—I couldn’t believethiswas the man they all feared.

Smirking, I pulled out his cargo pants next, then a long-sleeved shirt, a hoodie, and his coat. He shifted in his sleep, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, and I tossed a beanie to cover his ears onto the bed.

“Wake up,” I said, voice gentle as I hopped on the corner of the mattress making the bed sag.

His eyes sprung open, the usual hazelnut color in his eyes nearly green in the surprise. “Huh … what?”

“Huh, what?” I mocked teasingly, “Isaid, wake up. We gotta go.”

I motioned to the clothes I’d laid out for him on the other side of the bed, he scanned the room, searching for signs of danger. When he found none, his gaze settled harshly back on me. Part of me wanted to retreat into myself. Okay, yeah, I could understand where some of their fear came from. I would not be waking the beast again; I was lucky looks didn’t have the capacity to kill in this ever-changing, magic world we now lived in.

“What are you talking about?” He questioned, sitting up. A yawn formed and creased the lines on his forehead. “Go where?”

I pointed to the other side of the bed, but his eyes were barely open. I’d learned over the last few weeks that, yes, he could go days without sleep. When he did however, his REM cycle randeep enough that made me question if he was still alive. Alexiares was far from being a morning person. “To train, come on. Your clothes are over there.”

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, finally adjusting to the light filtering into the room, “You went through my stuff?” he asked, a hint of uncertainty in his raspy, morning voice.

“If I didn’t, it would be taking you even longer than it already is to get dressed.”

“How’d you even get in here? I thought you weren’t talking to me outside of when you had to.” He rolled to the other side of the bed, grabbing the clothes and pulled them on.

Before his pants were fully on, he moved into the bathroom to relieve himself. Duluth still had electricity thanks to the dam not too far away, though not running water. We made it work, but cleaning our spaces was the least pleasant part of my week, and that was saying something considering the gore that often accompanied my duties.

“What?” I said, turning away as he zipped his pants up. He smirked at me, catching my stare at the v-lines down his abdomen that promised me a good time. “You think you’re the only one that can pick a shitty lock? Please.”

“You never answered my question.”

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