บท 20: Chapter 20
"Doing great. Now, rein it in."
In the kitchen, Kaida let Ceara's voice settle in her mind and held out her palm, suspending the free-floating globe of water over the butcher block island.
Energy and heat radiated inside her, buzzed under her skin. The better she got at this magick thing, the more she wanted to test boundaries. Knowledge had always been her kryptonite and she was an incredibly competitive person. Even her sisters were shocked at how quickly she'd learned to master her skill. For Kaida, all she'd needed was someone to teach her, and the switch had flipped.
The trick had been letting go, something she'd never dared to attempt. Doing so would've meant losing control. If only she'd known all along the key was to embrace the power instead of binding it, she might've had a much easier adolescence.
They'd been going at it all day. For the first time since starting lessons, her sisters were having her summon water from her surroundings and wielding it versus using liquid already in a bowl or glass. It had been much more difficult tuning her senses to moisture in the air and drawing it out, but she'd gotten the hang of it by lunch. Mostly. This afternoon had been focused on making said water disappear back into the atmosphere.
Needless to say, Ceara's auburn curls and loose cotton dress were soaked. So were the floor, walls, and ceiling. She never got impatient with Kaida, though. Fiona had shown traces of frustration, but she'd kept mum from her perch on the counter, her stark red dress drenched.
"You can do it, sister." Ceara stood on the other side of the island, hands flat on the surface, voice calm. "Sense the air, feel its need for your element. Breathe it in and infuse it within your cells. Then, thrust your energy."
Gaze on the suspended liquid, Kaida dragged in a lungful of oxygen. She opened her mind wider as she exhaled...and there. The dry quality of the air tickled her throat, left her skin itchy. She closed her eyes, imagined the globe she wielded breaking apart into miniscule particles, and drew energy from her core to send the water back where it belonged.
A jerk of her body, and her eyes flew wide. An electric jolt shot through her bloodstream as the water...went poof. Not onto the floor or dousing her sisters, but actually disappeared.
Kaida froze. Glanced around. "Oh my God. I did it."
"Heck yeah, you did." Fiona grinned. "Nicely done."
Ceara nodded, her smile warm. "I knew you could."
Blowing out a breath, Kaida relaxed. Exhaustion weighed her down, but she wanted to go again. "Let me try something."
She focused on Fiona and held out her left hand, pulling the dampness from her hair and dress. Once the water was in the air and off her sister, Kaida brought it to her and kept it suspended. Then, with her right hand, she did the same with Ceara. Merging the two liquid globes into one, Kaida sent the puddles from the floor and island into the hovering mix. Lastly, she summoned what dripped from the ceiling and walls.
The moisture combined after her many trials could fill a bathtub and resembled something out of a Spielberg flick as it wavered in the center of the kitchen. Attempting to replicate her success, she closed her eyes and repeated the process. Strain shook her muscles, but she zeroed in on the result, what she wanted, and punched out her energy.
Lungs straining, she watched as every single drop went back into the air as if had never been dislodged in the first place. Just...gone, baby. Silence hung instead.
Shocked immobile, she emitted a frantic laugh. "Holy cow."
"Well, well. Look at you." Fiona did a slow clap. "Impressive."
Slumping over the island, Kaida rested her cheek on the cool surface. "I might fall asleep right here, if you don't mind." Every molecule in her body cried uncle. "I'm exhausted." Thrilled, but exhausted.
"That's because you're still concentrating too hard." Ceara patted Kaida's back. "Enough practice, and you won't feel so tired using the gift. You'll get there. Soon, it'll feel natural."
"Yeah," she said through a sigh and slowly straightened. Regardless of needing eight solid hours of shut-eye, she grinned like an idiot. Satisfaction filled her chest, made her giddy. "That was amazing."
"Agreed." Fiona flicked a lock of cocoa hair over her shoulder. "You should celebrate."
You, not we.
The smile fell from Kaida's face as dejection shoved out the happy. "Right. Maybe I will."
Suddenly, she didn't feel much like celebrating. An emptiness she'd harbored for what seemed like her entire life threatened to consume her whole. Nauseous, she tried to swallow and couldn't manage. She'd done something truly outstanding today, and what was there to show for it? A cup of tea and a book in bed? Longing to be included as a blanket to keep her warm?
"What's wrong?" Ceara tilted her head and reached for Kaida's hand. "Are you feeling sick?"
"No, I..." Kaida closed her eyes, recalling the conversation she'd had with Brady at the lighthouse. He was right. She should talk to her sisters or they'd never know how left out their behavior made her feel. "Could we maybe celebrate together? It doesn't have to be extravagant. Watch a movie or something? You know, without magick."
Her sisters exchanged a look she couldn't decipher before Fiona met Kaida's gaze. "Does this mean you're ready to let us in?"
"I don't understand."
"Trust goes both ways." Fiona's brows rose. "You may be open to the craft, even your part in the curse, yet you've held back in regards to us. You tell us stuff, but not everything. We stood in the meadow last week and discussed your dreams, except you conveniently left out the fact you've already met one of the Meaths."
"I didn't know who he was or even if he was real, never mind his significance."
"And afterward? You go off on these little excursions with him, only to come back with doe eyes and your lips sealed. We have no clue what you've done or where you've been. We are all in this together, but we're in the dark as to what progress you've made."
Since getting defensive would do no good and Fiona wasn't wrong, Kaida chewed her lip. She had been suppressing parts of herself. But her time with Brady was personal, and she'd never had to share him before. "I'm sorry. You're right."
Ceara squeezed Kaida's hand. "We understand how new this is for you. From your birth, we were aware of your existence, but you weren't given that knowledge. No one expects you to accept all these changes overnight." She offered a sympathetic smile. "You're with us now, and we want to be a part of your life. When you're ready, we're here."
Not once had it occurred to Kaida she'd been freezing out her sisters as much as they'd done to her. She could, however, do something about it and move forward. "I'm ready." She glanced at both of them. "We could start with drinks? Perhaps chat for a while?"
Fiona hopped off the counter, snatched a coconut from a bowl, and set it on the island with a grin. "Should we put a lime in it?"
Ceara laughed. "Midnight margaritas like in Practical Magic? Nice thought, but it's not even dusk yet."
A shrug, and Fiona moved to the doorway. "We'll improvise. Let me change and I'll whip us up some cosmos. Meet you outside in thirty minutes."
Three hours later, sitting around a fire pit near the garden, dressed in pajamas and wrapped in blankets, they'd successfully drained the pitcher of pink cosmopolitans Fiona had made. Slouched in an Adirondack chair, Kaida was properly tipsy and still giggling at Fiona's first kiss story.
"Totes serious. It was like a carp had swallowed my face."
"Oh man." Kaida wiped the tears of laughter from her cheeks. "You beat my bloody lip tale, for sure. I thought being so nervous I injured my first date was awful. What about you, Ceara? Who was yours?"
"Yeah, dish." Fiona leaned forward. "You never told me."
"You never asked." A weary smile, and Ceara tilted her face toward the night sky, littered with stars. She rested her head on the back of the seat and sighed, gaze faraway and growing more lost by the second. "I had my first kiss on an evening just like this. It was much cooler, though. We could see our breaths, but I barely felt the cold. It was a great kiss."
"And I'm jealous." Fiona slumped in her seat. "Who was the boy?"
"Doesn't matter. Turned out, he didn't really like me. Getting close to me was a joke or dare. Or something," she finished quietly, pain in her eyes. "Still a great kiss, anyhow."
Fiona sniffed. "Be grateful you didn't tell me who he was or else I'd maim him."
They sat in compatible silence for a bit, only the roar of the ocean and crackle of leaves stirring in the breeze to offset the quiet. Brine clung to the wind and tampered the scent of burning peat moss from their dying fire.
Relaxed, Kaida took in the lattice arch just outside their circle, which led to the extravagant gardens beginning to bloom. Vines were turning green and buds forming on the groundcover. The gems hanging in various spots caught the moonlight.
Ceara tapped Kaida's arm from the chair beside her. "How has it been going with Brady? What do you guys do when you get together?"
She hummed, thinking. "Talk, mostly. It's strange being around him. I mean, for years he was just some reoccurring dream. Perhaps that's why I can open up to him like no one else. He was a safe bet. It wasn't as if he was going to jump out of my head and spill my secrets. But then, there he was, not a figment. He's still so easy to be with, you know?"
Ceara and Fiona shook their heads like they had no clue. Did they find it difficult to trust others, as well?
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