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Chapter 369
“Blue fire doesn’t burn volkaanes,” Rave explained. “I was pretty certain the green fire wouldn’t affect Ralin. Whether he’s immune to blue fire, or to blasts of his wizard magic, is another matter, though.”
Leesa picked up a napkin and wiped a big smudge of icing from above Ralin’s lip.
“Let’s hope he is. But let’s not be in any hurry to find that out, please.”
Ralin’s birthday seemed to mark a major transition in his magic. Leesa and Rave didn’t know if it had anything to do with his turning one year old, but magical outbursts of varying sorts began to appear with increasing frequency, until they were occurring once or twice each week. It wasn’t until he was a year and a half old, however, that the magic started to become truly dangerous.
The leaves in the two tall oaks in the yard behind the house were just beginning to turn. Most remained green, but
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 370
Leesa sat at the table in the living room, gripped by a feeling she could neither understand nor explain. Her book of magic lay unopened in front of her—for the first time ever, she felt hesitant to lift the cover. She was troubled by a nagging sense that events were combining to drive her toward a dangerous future, and that by opening her book this afternoon she might be taking one more step in that uncertain direction.It wasn’t just Ralin’s brush with disaster the day before, though that was almost surely part of it, as was his increasingly powerful yet uncontrolled magic. She wondered if perhaps some innate wizard sense might be warning her of portentous events to come, or if her feelings of foreboding were simply a normal reaction to the unpredictable way things were unfolding.She felt foolish for hesitating. There was no way she wasn’t going to open her book, the same way she had done pretty much every day since Dominic had given it to he
Leesa's Advent Chapter 371
She turned her chair back around and started reading. The book made walking through walls—or any other solid surface—sound easier than she guessed it actually was. The main thing was to remember that all things, including wizards, were made up of matter and space, and that when you got down to the level of the tiniest particles, there was a whole lot more space than matter, even in the densest of objects. So in the most basic of terms, walking through a wall simply meant aligning your particles with the spaces in the wall, and vice versa. The key was in creating the proper alignment, which is where magic came in.Leesa read through the pages a couple of times to make sure she understood everything. Finally, she was ready. She left the book open on the table and stood up, turning around to face Rave.“If this works, I’ll be in the bedroom in a few moments, without having to go through the doorway. Wish me luck.”“Good luck, my
Leesa's Advent Chapter 372
FOR THE NEXT FIVE DAYS, Leesa continued to try to walk through the living room wall. And for the next five days she continued to thump into the plaster wallboard. She was convinced her nose was growing flatter and wider from the constant punishment, like some grizzled old prizefighter. She never seriously considered giving up, however.Ralin continued to find her antics amusing, watching from his chair and laughing or giggling every time she bumped into the wall. “Mommy bump” became his favorite saying. Leesa didn’t mind—she was just glad he hadn’t tried to copy her again.After the first few failed attempts, Rave didn’t find it quite so amusing. He hated seeing Leesa crash face first into the wall over and over again. If she really wanted to get through the wall, he would be happy to break through it for her.“Are you sure you need to learn this trick?” he asked after watching her bump into the wall for the fifth
Leesa's Advent Chapter 373
“I'm still worried about Ralin,” Leesa said from where she lay in the darkness on her side of the bed.“How so?” Rave asked from close beside her. “Is that thing with his arm still bothering you?”They lay cuddled together talking, the way they did every night before Leesa allowed herself to fall asleep, usually in Rave’s arms. Ralin was already fast asleep in his crib on the far side of the room. Leesa could hear his soft breathing. The rhythm of his breaths was smooth and regular, belying her concerns.They no longer bothered putting the sides of Ralin’s crib up—their son seldom moved in his sleep and so was in no danger of rolling off the bed. And if for some reason he wanted out, the two-foot high bars certainly weren’t going to stop him or even slow him down. Since Rave usually remained awake for most of the night, they weren’t worried about Ralin wandering away from his crib.Ralin ha
Leesa's Advent Chapter 374
Leesa hated the worried tone she heard in Rave’s voice, but he was no more anxious about all this than she was.“I don’t think I can concentrate any harder.” Even as Leesa voiced the words, she reached out toward the book. “But I guess it can’t hurt to try.”Concentrating as fully as she could on the need to fix her son’s arm, she rested her palm on the cover of the book for several seconds before opening it to another random spot. Once again, though, her eyes were met by nothing but empty white space. She stared down at the pages for several moments, almost as if willing words to appear. When nothing happened, she slammed the book closed.“Nothing,” she said, her voice tinged with a bitterness she knew was unfair. “Either there’s no magic the book can give me that will help, or whatever exists is beyond my current abilities so the book won’t show it to me. Either way, I’m afraid
Leesa's Advent Chapter 375
Leesa’a fears proved well-founded. The first thing she did when she awakened the following morning, after giving Rave a quick good morning kiss, was to check on Ralin’s arm. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and headed directly to his crib. Pale daylight leaked into the bedroom through the thin curtains, but she called forth a golden illumination sphere as she crossed the room to provide better light for her examination.She found Ralin lying on his back, eyes open. He smiled happily up at her. She reached down and tickled his ribs for a long moment, drawing an extended series of playful giggles from him. The sound warmed her maternal heart even more than usual. Finally, she pulled her hands away from his sides and turned her attention to his arm.At first glance, everything appeared fine, and she let out a soft sigh of relief. A closer look, however, showed her that the tips of his fingers were beginning to darken. The bluish hue wasn’t all
Leesa's Advent Chapter 376
Even though Leesa realized that time was of the essence, she knew she had to be completely prepared before she put her plan into action. And before she could even begin, she needed to rid herself of the grim anxiety still gripping her.She closed her eyes and drew in several slow, deep breaths, slipping into her familiar everywhere/nowhere state. In took a bit longer than the instant relaxation she was accustomed to, but finally she felt calm and centered.“Keep an eye on Ralin,” she told Rave. “I’ll be right back.”She turned and headed toward the back door. Without breaking stride, she walked right through the closed door. Dematerialization would play an important role in what was to come, and she wanted to be sure she was fully ready.Inside, she turned her attention to the old table she had rescued from the side of the road with Cali so long ago. Even back then, Leesa suspected she might one day have a use for the scarred
Leesa's Advent Chapter 377
Leesa didn't waste any time. She had already rehearsed what she was about to do countless times in her mind. The time for thinking and rehearsing was over—now was the time to do it for real.She walked alongside the table toward the rope swing, the fingers of her left hand trailing lightly across the table’s slick surface. As before, she felt no trace of the dark powers locked within its black depths. She didn’t let that fool her, though. What she was about to do was probably the most dangerous thing she had ever attempted or faced.When she reached the swing, she stepped quickly up onto the thick board that served as the seat. She took a moment to clear her mind then began slowly swinging the rope out toward the table. As the swing brought her closer and closer to a position above the tabletop, she began focusing on her ability to dematerialize.In one strange way, she was less worried about this part of her task than when she was trying to le
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