The next week flew by. Leesa worked hard on the growth spell every day. The stone continued to grow a little more at each session, except on the fourth day, when she had a small hiccup in her progress. The day before, the rock had finally reached the size it had been in Jenna’s illusion. The next day it stubbornly refused to grow any more, despite more than a dozen attempts from Leesa. The difficulty had not been unexpected, and Leesa simply shook it off. She was fairly confident now she would be able to break through that barrier and was determined to do it on her own, without another assist from Jenna. The next day, that’s exactly what happened—the stone finally grew bigger than Jenna’s image.The stone had become too big and heavy for Leesa to levitate—it was now thigh high—so for the last two days she and Rave had simply left it where it sat and returned to the same place the next day to work on it.That spot was in the middle of a stand of pine trees not too far from the bank of
The next day, a major storm front swept across the area. Gone were the pleasant temperatures and bright blue skies of the past week; in their place had come chill winds and leaden gray clouds filled with moisture. The forecast called for two or three days of intermittent rain, heavy at times.Leesa didn’t care. She was still going to work on her magic. Indeed, she felt that using her powers to keep herself dry while performing other spells would be a useful challenge. The foul weather was of no concern to Rave, either. His inner heat kept him warm and dry no matter what the weather. The heavier the rain, the more he simply turned up the fire inside him to evaporate the moisture as soon as it struck him. Leesa had been with him in one storm so fierce she could hear the water hissing as his heat evaporated it.They stood with their arms around each other near the highway at the edge of the volkaane settlement, waiting for Cali. The dark stone Leesa was going to try again to make grow sa
THE RIDE TO THE PRACTICE SPOT eight or nine miles north of the volkaane settlement took nearly twenty minutes. During the drive, the weather changed three times—from heavy rain to light showers and back to heavy rain. It was during the period of lighter rain that Leesa spotted something along the side of the road that she wanted.“Pull over,” she told Cali. “Right here.”Cali slowed down carefully on the slippery pavement and eased the car over to the shoulder.“What is it?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”“Nothing’s wrong. There’s something back there I want. Back up a bit, please.”Cali backed up slowly, thankful the rain had lightened, making visibility much clearer.“That’s good,” Leesa said after they had backed up a hundred feet or so. “Stop here.”Cali took her foot off the gas. She tried to look out Leesa’s window to see what it was that interested her friend, but all she could see was a piece of discarded furniture. It looked like an old, round wooden end table.“Don’t tell me we
Pleased with her success so far, she felt ready to get to work on the stone. She let the blue and yellow glow fade from her shield—maintaining the barrier while she tried to make the rock grow would be difficult enough without trying to keep the colors in place as well.She stared down at the dark stone, once again fixing every angle and sharp edge in her mind. When she felt ready, she pictured it expanding an inch or so in every direction while she cast her spell.“Blitha morun sumuss,” she chanted. “Blitha morun sumuss.”Nothing happened. The stone remained exactly as it was.Leesa was not deterred. Getting it to grow on her first attempt today would have been a surprise—a pleasant surprise, to be sure, but a surprise nonetheless.She inhaled several slow, deep breaths, then fixed her eyes onto the rock.“Blitha morun sumuss,” she said, even louder this time. “Blitha morun sumuss.”Once again, the stubborn stone remained unchanged. When two more attempts failed as well, Leesa knew s
In what had become a weekly ritual that Leesa loved, she and Rave were visiting her mom and Bradley for Sunday brunch. Every week, Leesa asked if she could help in the kitchen, and every week her mom refused. Judy enjoyed cooking for her “kids,” a position Rave had now earned by marrying Leesa. Leesa never pushed it—she knew her mom was making up for all the lost years of their childhood. Bradley and Leesa didn’t mind the making up in the least.This morning, Judy had fixed French toast. The first time she had attempted the dish several months before it had come out bland and dry. Today, though, Leesa thought it was delicious. Judy had used cinnamon-raisin bread, and Leesa had topped it with maple syrup and powdered sugar. The combination of flavors was nearly as tasty as most desserts.“This is really good,” she said to her mom after swallowing a few bites. “Really, really good.”Judy beamed. “I’m so glad you like it, dear.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you telling me the truth?
Leesa, Rave and Bradley pushed themselves away from the table and headed for the door. Bradley grabbed a lightweight black sweatshirt from the clothes pole beside the door. Leesa took hers—a light blue zippered hoodie—as well, for appearances sake. Wearing nothing but a short-sleeved shirt on a cool day like this could attract attention.They stepped outside, and Bradley pulled the door closed behind them.Their mom was right; it was definitely a beautiful morning. The air was cool and crisp, with just a hint of a breeze out of the north, and the sun shone brightly in a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. The autumn foliage had not quite reached its peak yet, but there were plenty of bright colors adorning the neighborhood’s trees.Bradley got directly to the matter at hand.“Tell me, Sis,” he said as they headed down the walk with Leesa in the middle of her two favorite guys, “you didn’t know any of this before I went away, did you?”Leesa shook her head. “Of course not. None of
Rave lay stretched out beside Leesa on their sleeping mat, doing one of his favorite things—watching her sleep. His volkaane eyes easily pierced the darkness of their bedroom, allowing him to make out every detail of the face he loved looking at above all others. Caressing her with his eyes was almost as much fun as caressing her with his hands.She slept peacefully on her back, her lovely features soft and relaxed, her breathing slow and even. Her long blond hair fanned out across the pillow, framing her face in a soft, golden aura. Rave could watch her like this for hours, which he did almost every night. Some nights her sleep seemed troubled, and he wondered what dreams or thoughts might have invaded her sleep. If she didn’t mention a dream in the morning, however, he never asked—better that anything upsetting stay buried in her subconscious.Tonight was not one of those troubled nights. Leesa had fallen asleep quickly after a round of gentle lovemaking, and her features and breath
Two weeks later, it happened again.Leesa’s book had not shown her anything about the spiral energy pattern, despite many attempts by her to learn something. The magical tome usually seemed able to read her mind—no matter where Leesa opened the book when she was looking for a specific spell, the spell she sought would be there. Sometimes, when she wasn’t looking for anything specific, the book would present her with a new spell it either thought Leesa was ready for or that she needed.Now and then, though, the pages she opened to would be blank. Dominic had explained that empty pages could mean one of two things: either the spell did not exist, or the book did not think Leesa was ready yet for that particular magic. Leesa had no idea which one applied when she opened her book to a pair of blank pages the morning after the glowing green energy had swirled upward from her belly. She had no doubt that the magic existed—both she and Rave had witnessed it—but it was possible her baby posse