Page 47 of Of Witches and Queens

11

MIA

“What are you doing?”

I look up from my glass of water. “Trying to connect to water. I thought that was my element but as it turns out…”

“Stop trying to connect to the elements directly,” Vanessa says. “That won’t work. We need to start practicing on what works.”

Apparently, when she said we should start training, she meant business. Immediate business. But…

“Why?” I ask. “I mean, I know that witches are supposed to connect to the elements through conduits but—”

“Exactly. You connect with persons. A witch connects to people, above all, not elements, which is why conduits are needed.”

“But I reached you through your element. Felt it first, and through it I found you.”

“Not possible.” She narrows her eyes at me. “Unless your element is fire, like mine. That might explain it, but still…”

“Van… I know you suddenly decided you want to help me and I need the help, I really do. You know things I can’t possibly imagine and I’m not saying that to mollify you.” At her glare, I wince. “Well, maybe a little. But I’ve been practicing on my own, thinking nobody would help me, and I have tried to summon all four elements. I managed to summon fire and water, and I sensed all the elements in the earth and in the air, and as I did that… I summoned people. More people. People belonging to all four elements.”

Her glower deepens. “A witch can only connect to conduits of her element.”

Damn. “Look, I know what I did. Heck, you can ask them. It was Percival of the vampires, Anala of the fae, Elijah of the werewolves, and well… for fire, it was Az and you.”

“Huh.” The glower fades, replaced by puzzlement. “You’ll have to show me.”

“Don’t trust my word? Sure, I will.” I drink my water. “Now tell me how a Queen Witch’s power works.”

She still looks pensive. “A Queen is said to become one with the elementals, manipulate the elements through them.”

“To use people, you mean.”

“Yeah, if you will.”

“This isn’t a question of semantics, Van. I have seen what Ophelia does.”

“Once a Queen has bonded with the elementals, she’s said to not only be able to use the elements but also to reach through the elements and connect to all the magical creatures of that element. Only a Queen can have conduits that feed her power over the four elements of the world.”

I frown. “How is she supposed to bond with them? Through this ritual you mentioned? Is it the Ritual of the Void, or whatever it was you said yesterday?”

“Those rituals are powerful. Of the wind, of the storm, of the void. But the culmination of them all is the ritual of the Golden Moon.”

“Of course,” I mutter.

“It requires the sacrifice of four powerful elementals to add their complete power to the Queen Witch. She becomes their vessel and can then control the four elements on her own.”

I make a face. “I thought her plan was to take over people…”

“Probably, too. But that is subtle. Takes more time and effort. I assume she decided to take a shortcut.”

“Because she lost time resting in a glass coffin,” I whisper. “Unless this was her plan all along. We assume she’s a basically nice person, and I thought so all my life, but I’m not so sure anymore. People don’t change suddenly.”

“People can snap,” Vanessa says, “and do terrible things that you don’t expect.”

“Ophelia didn’t snap. She has been writing this diary for years. And these symbols…” I draw the page out of my pocket, place it in front of her. “Can you read them? I copied it from the diary before Miss Worthy confiscated it this morning.”

“Are these the symbols you showed me the other day?”

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