Page 101 of Love Bites

“Magic doesn’t come freely,” Anya said carefully. “At least it doesn’t come freely to humans. Every piece of magic has its price, which must be paid by the witch who weaves it.”

“A price like money?” I asked, knowing instinctively that was wrong.

Anya shook her head. “One of the women in our program gets hungry if she does magic without planning it out ahead of time and meditating.”

“I guess it’s tiring,” I ventured.

“No,” Anya said. “It’s more like the magic takes her nourishment so that when she’s done, she has to eat like crazy just to get back to normal.”

“Whoa,” I said.

“Some people pass out and sleep for days,” Anya went on. “For others, it’s an emotional thing - crying or laughing. But it’s never in the witch’s control.”

I thought back to the times I had inadvertently used my powers. I didn’t remember feeling hungry or emotional. I tried to picture meeting Eve after the chase in the cemetery, but the image in my mind was dark and gray.

“Oh,” I said, realizing.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I think I know what mine is,” I told her excitedly. “Both times I used my magic I couldn’t see colors for a while afterward.”

Anya nodded slowly, looking almost disappointed for no reason I could imagine. “Yes, that makes sense. Did you use a lot of magic?”

“I was amazed at what I did,” I admitted. “But I’m getting the sense that it wasn’t all that impressive.”

“You ‘ll want to be really careful then,” she told me. “If you use a lot of magic and it impacts your vision, that could be dangerous.”

My mouth dropped open.

She was right. I had been thinking that a few minutes, or even hours, of black and white vision was a small price to pay. But what if I lost my vision altogether? Was that even possible?

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s meet Cori for lunch.”

We headed down the stairs and into the corridor.

Good smells already wafted our way from the lunchroom. I was looking forward to my meal after that marathon class. All that confusion really worked up an appetite.

It didn’t hit me until Cori was jogging up to join us that Anya never told me whatherprice for magic was.

---