Page 81 of The Lost Child

I sat back in relief, tumbling over as my numb legs refused to support me. Alina and the others leaned over to check my work, then frowned.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked. I’d just spent an hour painstakingly marking a circle no bigger than my face in the sand!

“It is not symmetrical,” Alina said matter-of-factly. “Try again.”

I jerked in indignation. “Again? Aperfectcircle? That’s impossible! You–”

“Were taught how to draw symmetrical shapes from birth. You weren’t. Therefore it is expected that you will take more time to practice.” She shot a wry glance at what I had thought had been a pretty solid attempt.

“We will finish this pattern. Why don’t you go over there and practice symmetry in the blank sand?”

She turned away before I could answer, the other girls rushing to fix my mistake.

My shoulders slumped and I swiped at the stick on the ground, walking over to Canavar. He growled immediately at my distress. I plopped down in the sand next to him.

“This is hard,” I complained. I half-heartedly drew another circle. It was too oval-like. I erased it with my hand and tried again. No, the left side was lopsided.

“Urgh!”

I snapped the stick and buried my face in my hands. It was so stupid, but I wasn’t used to this kind of meticulous work. Killing and sailing? No problem. Something small and delicate that required tedious amounts of patience?

“Maybe I’m not meant to be a blood witch.”

Canavar nuzzled into the side of my neck, throwing both ends of the stick away. “Don’t be foolish. Were you sailing the seas when you were five? Of course not! You had to learn. I did not kill my first man until I was twelve.”

I sighed. “That’s nothing to boast about.”

He shrugged. “It is what it is. Being a … blood witch is important to you?”

I thought about it. “Yes, but it’s also a bit like finding a family. Perhaps I should try earth magick.”

Canavar flashed me a toothy grin. “I understand this feeling as well.” He bent down in the sand, hovering over it with one claw out. With one swipe he drew a perfect circle.

My jaw dropped, and I smacked him on the shoulder. “Are you kidding me? What the hell?”

“Let me try!” Kaida swooped down to join us, Nasi curiously trailing behind her. Giving her brother a coy look, she took one claw and drew another circle next to Canavar’s.

I stared in horror and dismay at the two perfect, identical shapes.

Nasi wiggled forward, and I stopped him with one hand against his chest. “No. Uh-uh. Back away. Let me live in the delusion that it’s simply something they can do because they’re brother and sister.”

Nasi wrinkled his nose in confusion, then ducked under me. He drew a smaller, yet none-the-less perfect circle that interlocked the other two.

I threw my hands in the air and gave a frustrated groan. A sudden revelation occurred to me. “That’s why you drakens were so good at this shit! You can draw perfect shapes instinctively!”

I pointed a finger right in Kaida’s chest.

“No, don’t say a word. Draw a square. Right now.”

She only smirked at me, but complied. Before I looked at the results, I whipped around to Nasi. “Triangle.” I pointed at him, then hesitating at Canavar. “Star.”

The three drakens got to work in the sand, and I felt a bit like a stern schoolmaster standing over them as I waited for them to complete their tasks. As one they all sat up on their knees, grinning like loons.

I took a peek. Just as I suspected.

“ALKDAMA!”

The blood witch appeared from nowhere behind me, looking a bit pissed to be summoned. “What is it? Are you hurt?”

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