Page 43 of Violet Spark
Nothing.
Okay. Trial one: failure.
I wiggled my fingers into the glove under the table. The tight hug of the fabric seemed to slow the rush of my pulse, calming me. Something about the feel of it was just…right. Confident. Like, yeah maybe I actually had power. Like I could be an EldWitch in real life—sexy, strong, and fearless.
With a huff, I angled my gloved hand toward the stuffed animals. The one closest to me was a panda, a big smile on its black and white face. Little black glass eyes glinted in the middle of the black fur patches, as if it was laughing at me.
“I don’t want to blow you up,” I warned it in a whisper.
I closed my eyes and breathed out, trying to center myself like I’d heard so much about in those absolutely useless YouTube meditation videos. But my thoughts kept fluttering everywhere. How fun it would be to ride the panda, how cheerful its little wheels zipping along would sound as we circled the food court, how I never got to do rides at the mall when I was a kid because they cost too much money and now I’d probably never have a chance to design something cooler than this stumpy creature that was really the exact same shape as the horse, the cat, the elephant, the bird, and even the goddamn shark because nobody had any imagination because who could even afford to go to art school anymore—
An electronic sizzle-shriek made my eyes pop open in horror.
I locked gazes with the smirking panda for one second before I noticed the lavender-tinged smoke pouring from the kiosk video screen.
Fuck. Me.
Grabbing my phone off the table, I hustled out of there.
The back of my hand itched and pulsed. I shoved my gloved hand into my pocket and kept walking.
I made one big circle of the food court, keeping an eye on the kiosk. It didn’t burst into purple flame, so I hadn’t done too much damage.
Not to the animals anyway. But now my head throbbed along with my hand.
Reluctantly, I dragged a five out of my wallet and bought a cinnamon bun. The smell was impossible to resist, and I seriously needed some comfort food right now. Plus, sugar was the simplest form of energy, and I might be needing that if I had to run, either from Dane or any fires I might start.
When I licked the icing off my fingers, I could’ve sworn I caught a whiff of that lightning stink of ozone from the purple X.
Okay. Next experiment. I couldn’t just let the power burst out of me; I had to figure it out, even if it kil—
Scratch that thought.
At the very end of the mall, by the bathrooms and the ATM, was a line of massage chairs. Since the mall was empty down this way, I sat. I closed my eyes. I did not pay.
I reeeeeeally needed this massage.
With my blood buzzing from caffeine and sugar, I clamped my left hand over the controller.
And the chair rollers whirled into motion, heat swelling at the small of my back.
I almost yelled in victory.
Aaaand the rollers abruptly stopped, the motor grumbling into silence again.
Maybe my microscopic robot invaders were shy. Steadying my breath, I tried again. Half opening my eyes, I stared at my gloved hand.I need this.
The itch and throb grew more intense.
The chair started up again.
All the rollers were going, the heating pads too. Everything was moving a little too fast, buffeting me. But even when I concentrated on the controller, I couldn’t change the settings. So I wasn’t really controlling the chair; I’d mostly just turned it on. A blunt command, no finesse at all.
Still! I’d done it. I’d actually done it! I’d…
Except… What had I really done? And how would it solve any of my problems? Sure, my mom would appreciate a free massage, but that wouldn’t protect her. Plus now I didn’t even have a job to pay the bills.
As I averted my gaze from my left hand, the chair ground awkwardly to a halt again. And I found myself staring at the ATM machine.
