Page 89 of Soul of a Witch

Scrambling across the bed, I flung my arms around him. He held me tight, soothing me, his hand stroking over my hair. He sat on the mattress, gathering me close, saying, “I’m right here, it’s okay. I never left, Everly. You’re all right.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face against his chest. “It had your face, Callum. But I made it leave. I did it.”

“Of course you did, darling.” His hand cupped my face, and I was finally able to close my eyes again as I relaxed against him. “I knew you could. I knew you’d find that strength. Easy now. It can’t hurt you. You’re in control.”

At last, I felt as if I was.

31

Everly

It was time for us to investigate Sybil’s laboratory and delve into the tunnels beneath the house. We needed to prepare ourselves, and since no records of those tunnels existed in the original building plans for the coven house, we needed to search elsewhere.

That meant going back to Abelaum, to the university’s library. There, we would hopefully find the old Leighman Mining Company maps and possibly figure out how these tunnels connected to the larger mine, if they connected at all.

But first, Callum had another lesson to teach me, one he deemed absolutely necessary before we ventured out of the safety of the coven house.

We met in the meditation room at noon. The demon had told me to dress warmly but comfortably, and be prepared for a little rain. “A little” was a bit of an understatement, as the sky had been pouring all day and night. But the meditation room was sheltered and dry, so I wondered why it was a concern.

“If you can master teleportation, you can master any magic,” Callum said, pacing in front of me after I’d stretched and relaxed for a while. “It is one of the most complex and difficult abilities to learn, for demons as much as witches. It requires entirely disassembling and reassembling your physical form, while maintaining your concentration over the distance you need to travel.”

Nodding, I tried to put myself back in the mindset of a student at the university. Losing myself in ancient languages, enthralled by the wisdom of my teacher…

I was enthralled by much more than his wisdom, but I didn’t have time to get distracted, as he frequently reminded me.

“To start, you’ll want to be in tune with your body,” Callum said. “As you practice and grow more comfortable, it will be as easy as walking.” To demonstrate, he took a step toward me, but that single step carried him the entire distance of the room, and I jumped to find him standing right in front of me. He grinned and did it again, teleporting around me, each step another jump through space until he stood in front of me again.

“Your turn,” he said. “Focus on your limbs, starting with the tips of your toes and your fingers. Let your muscles soften. Imagine your physical body as mere particles, vibrating together, magnetized to each other. But they can be pushed, pulled, manipulated. They can flow like sand.”

Closing my eyes to concentrate, I imagined my limbs drifting into the air, fragmenting away like cherry blossoms in spring. I imagined the ground vanishing from beneath my feet, my body floating, weightless and free as the wind…

“Very good.”

There was a split-second sensation, as if my body was being sucked through a straw. Then my eyes flew open, and I was stumbling forward, pulled toward the earth by the heaviness of gravity —

Callum’s arms braced around me, keeping me upright. Lying against his chest, blinking my eyes rapidly, I tried not to lose myself in the way he was looking at me.

Like he was excited. Like he was proud.

“You’ll try teleporting a distance this time.”

He stepped back, leaving me swaying slightly on my feet as he strode about ten paces away before turning to face me again.

“Again. Except this time, come to me. Maintain your concentration on where I’m standing. You must envision it with as much clarity and intention as you can muster.”

Giving my limbs a good shake, I closed my eyes again. But I held the image of Callum in my mind: how the stones intersected beneath his feet, how the light angled across his chest, and the tapestries framed his face.

Then I was light again; a little breathless, a little dizzy. The sensation made me want to giggle, but then my stomach dropped, my feet thumped to the stones, and once more, Callum’s arms wrapped around me, preventing me from falling face-first to the floor.

He was smiling slightly, the expression small enough I wondered if he was trying to hide it.

“Excellent work.”

My heart buzzed with pride. Flustered now, my next few attempts weren’t as successful, although I did manage to teleport entirely across the room and slam my head against the wall in the process.

“Mm, once again, you are very easily distracted,” Callum said, snapping his fingers as he paced, and I rubbed my sore forehead. “Try again. Fail this time, and you’ll be in for worse consequences than a little bump on the head.”

He looked as serious as ever, but I could see the mischief in his eyes.

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