Page 31 of A Storm in Every Heart
“Yeah, she’ll be here for Christmas again this year. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to find excuses not to invite my mom. We might have to revisit the idea of telling her where I really am…but that’s a problem for future-me.” She sucks in a huge breath, having said all that without breathing.“Anyway, sorry. That’s why I missed the meeting, but Daemon already filled me in on what happened.”
“So I suppose you came up here to ask if I’ve lost my mind?”
Alix shrugs, petting Sushi absently. “I guess, but I also just wanted to show you my latest haul.”
“Oooh!” My eyes widen, and I hasten to sit beside her and reach into the bag, pulling out handfuls of glittering plastic treasures.
“What are these?” I ask, holding a silver disk up to the light.
“I raided my mother’s basement and found most of my old CDs. You put them in here—” she stops petting her cat long enough to pull a yellow plastic device out of the bag and hold it out to me “—and they play music.”
My brow wrinkles. “How?”
She shrugs. “Something about the grooves, I think? I don’t really know, but it’s the only way I can think of to play music here until I can figure out how to get electricity.”
I nod, pretending I know what she’s talking about.
I love everything about the human world. I’ve always been fascinated by it, and now that Alix has been living here for a year, I’ve learned so much more about human culture than I ever dreamed. Still, much of what my friend says is slightly beyond my understanding.
“I wish I could figure out how to get internet here,” Alix goes on, speaking more to herself than to me. “I thought maybe there would be a magic workaround, but until I can explain Wi-Fi to Daemon in a way that he understands, we’re stuck with battery-operated devices.”
I nod again. This time, I really do understand.
Well, almost.
I don’t know what “Wifey” is, but I do know what she means about Daemon’s magic.
All Fae are born with basically the same magical ability, albeit in varying degrees of power, but training from an early age dictates how they’ll be able to use it. The four kingdoms of Ellender all specialize in training different skills.
In Hydratta, they teach creation magic; conjuring something out of nothing. In Vernallis, they tend to practice will-based magic. Daemon can compel nearly anything to happen—a door to unlock, the weather to change, a broken object to mend itself—but the limitation is that he needs to understand what he’s trying to accomplish. If he doesn’t understand this “Wifey” that Alix wants, then he can’t create it for her. For that, she’d need someone from Hydratta…
“Have you asked Kastian to help you?” I blurt out.
Alix looks up at me. “No, I was thinking I’d ask Aurelia. Why?”
“Daemon and Aurelia both have will-based powers. I doubt either of them could conjure anything for you out of thin air, but in Hydratta they teach that kind of magic. You should ask Kastian about it.”
Alix furrows her brow. “Would Kastian have enough power to do that?”
“Undoubtedly,” I grumble. “He was trained really well as a child…I mean, I’m guessing he was.”
“Huh. Okay, I’ll ask him. Thanks.”
I press my lips together into a flat line, wishing I had never brought it up. I don’t want to think about Kastian right now—or ever, really—but it seems like my mind is inserting him into every possible conversation without my consent.
Sushi leaps off Alix’s lap and begins trying to catch the dots of green light on the wall reflecting through the bottle on the windowsill. Alix takes advantage of his movement and my silence to shove a haphazard pile of clothing off the bed and lean back against my headboard. She crosses her bare feet over eachother and fixes me with a shrewd look. “So, are you going to make me ask?”
I sigh and swivel to face her. “No, but I’m not going to let you talk me out of it either.”
“Daemon thinks you’re being impulsive by agreeing to this engagement.”
I scoff. “He would know; he’s not exactly the most cautious person I’ve ever met.”
“We just want to make sure you’re not trying to sacrifice yourself for our sake. We don’t need Hydratta’s help for Vernallis to thrive. We just need more time and?—”
“This isn’t about anyone else,” I interrupt. “It’s about me. I love living here, but I’m bored. I feel like I’m not doing enough.”
“You’re doing more than enough,” she argues. “And technically you don’t even have to do anything.”
