Chapter 320

“We’re going on a field trip today,” Cora says, grinning around at all of us. I’m the only one who gasps with excitement, sitting up in my chair. Cora’s smile deepens and she gives me a week.

“And we wanted Luca to come too,” mom says, gesturing towards him, “since Ariel’s magic seems to be so closely tied to her bonds – both those with her mates and her siblings. So,” she shrugs, perfectly casual. “We want to see what happens when we add Luca to the mix.”

“Cool!” I say, grinning, glad for the distraction from the Games and the chance to leave this Castle where I’m suddenly the center of attention. “Where are we going?”

“Just a short walk,” Cora says with a shrug, gesturing for us all to get to our feet. “Not far.”

“I hope this walk is long enough,” Rafe says, moving to mom’s side and frowning down at her. “I want to talk to you about the Games – see if you can intercede.”

“Intercede?” mom asks, going a little pale and wrapping an arm around me as I come to step close to her.

“Yes,” Rafe says, his eyes moving to me and then to my mates who come to stand behind me. “The plea with the Captain…did not go well. We’re going to try again tonight but I want to see if we can go over his head to dad.”

“Oh geeze,” mom says on a sigh, looking around at all of us and then tugging me towards the door. “Walk and talk, meatball. Clearly, we’ve got a lot to cover this afternoon.”

We all troop outside together and then into the hills – away from Newtown this time, not towards it. As we walk Rafe and Jesse fill mom and Cora in on the drama from this morning. Jacks walks with them, listening closely and adding details where needed, glancing back at me every minute or two to ensure that I’m fine. I smirk while I watch him do it, knowing it’s some Alpha instinct nudging him to ensure that I’m okay.

Luca and Tony walk on either side of me behind the larger group, both of them silent. But I just let them do it, not in the mood to intercede and try to get them to be buddies. I don’t get their drama but honestly – now isn’t the time to dig into it.

When we crest a hill, I’m surprised to see a big pile of wood gathered in an open space that’s been cleared of debris, even grass.

“Ta-da!” Cora says, gesturing towards it and turning towards me with a smile.

“I mean, thank you,” I say, walking towards her as our little group spreads out, everyone but mom frowning in confusion alongside me. “I always love a gift but…a necklace would have done beautifully as well.”

Cora laughs and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Think of it as a blank canvas for your personal art, babes,” she says, giving me a squeeze.

“Oh!” I tilt my head to the side when I realize – obviously – that it’s the start of a bonfire – a collection of wood for me to burn. Then I burst into a grin and look up at her. “I love it.”

“Our little pyro baby,” she coos, kissing my cheek and dropping her arm from my shoulders.

“Okay, so!” mom says, clapping her hands eagerly together and gesturing for me to come forward. As I do, the boys spread out in a wide semi-circle around us, watching. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Ariel, but from what I understand is that your precise gift – as it stands – is not actually fire but…heat. And if you concentrate your magic on a flammable object with enough force, you can make it burst into flames, yes?”

“Yes,” I say, nodding and then glancing at Jackson, who nods too, I think not realizing that he’s doing it. Rafe smirks as he glances between us, realizing that I’ve worked with Jackson far more on this than anything else.

“And,” mom continues, holding a hand out towards Jacks now, “when you connect with Jackson through your bond and through touch…you draw on his nearly-limitless magical energy to boost the heat, making your job go faster.”

“Faster and more powerful,” I say, folding my hands behind my back and nodding.

“Wait, what?” Luca breathes, behind me. But I don’t turn to look at him.

“And!” mom says, kind of beaming at me now, getting really excited – she likes magic, I know, and is really pumped that one of her kids magic developed. “When you connect with Rafe and Jesse, with whom you also have bonds, you can…pass Jackson’s magic to them as well?”

“In the form of energy, yes,” I say, nodding and shrugging.

“What!?” Luca says, starting to sound freaked out. There’s a little tussle behind me and I glance over my shoulder to see Tony frowning and giving Luca a little shove. Luca bares his teeth at Tony, but Rafe casually moves to step between them, giving me a nod. I turn back to mom.

“Is that it?” mom asks, turning her head to the side. “Is there anything I’m missing?”

“Ariel can like, burn up my shadows,” Jesse says, making us all turn to him in surprise.

“Oh yean, I forgot about that,” I murmur.

“You forgot?” Rafe asks, kind of laughing.

“I don’t know,” I say with a grin, shrugging. “We were just messing around on movie night.”

“Movie night!?” Luca asks, jealous.

“I’m going to need you to shut up, Luc,” Tony snaps.

I deliberately ignore them, and, taking my lead, so do mom and Cora.

“I think we should explore that,” Cora says, turning her head and thinking aloud. “To see whether that’s just Ariel’s magic…interacting with other magic? Or if it’s your powers combining somehow because you have a bond.”

Luca doesn’t say anything at this revelation that Jesse and I have a bond – unusual for cousins – but I do hear him sigh. I reach for him down the bond but am a little unsurprised when I find his wall up, newly built. I move on from it, trying to concentrate on mom and Cora.

“Ari, why don’t you step forward and let’s start to experiment,” mom says, waving me to her side. Quite eager, I move forward.

Then we begin to play – a process I enjoy very, very much.

There’s a log out front of the big bonfire – which I scowl to hear that we’re saving for later – that they ask me to light on fire. It takes me awhile – it’s further than the ones I usually work with in our room, and – obviously – I don’t have Jackson to give me his powers. Cora pulls a notebook out of her pocket and begins to take fervid notes, writing down everything that I narrate as well and the distance between the and the object and the time it takes for it to actually burst into flame.

When it does – about six minutes later – Jesse rushes down and attempts to put the fire out with his shadows – which do nothing. So he sighs and uses a little fire safety blanket that his mom gave him for the cause.

When he trots back, mom calls Jackson forward and has him take my hand.

“If you wouldn’t mind, Ariel?” she says, gesturing forward towards the same log.

I grin up at Jacks, who gives me a wink and squeezes my hand. “Oh, I don’t mind at all.”

I look back at the log and about half a second later it basically bursts into a ball of flame. Everyone jumps and steps back.

“Whoa,” Cora says, looking up at Jackson, who remains stoic – even if he can’t keep the corner of his mouth from turning upwards, slightly smug.

“Okay okay, enough of you,” mom says, waving Jacks away as Jesse again runs forward with the safety blanket. He tosses it on the fire and begins to stomp it out and then goes and gets another log from the bonfire, since the first one was basically reduced to ash.

Jackson steps back into the line of boys and mom crooks a finger at Luca, beckoning him forward. He sighs but does as he’s told, coming to my side.

“Hands, please,” mom says, her voice a little sing-song as she points between us.

“But mom,” I say, frowning a little even as I happily take my mate’s hand. “Luca doesn’t have magic. It would have shown up, right? On the little…orb thing, that Alvez had us hold the first day?”

“Yes, I think so. Alvez gave us the orb when he left – we checked it out and don’t have any reason to believe it’s faulty,” Cora murmurs, studying Luca, “though…I suppose it doesn’t matter if it did. No, we kind of think that it doesn’t matter if Luca has magic or not. We think it’s about the bond.”

“Really?” I ask, interested, looking up at Luca who just looks down at the ground, his mouth pressed in a thin line. I squeeze his hand, kind of wanting to know what’s going on, but he doesn’t look at me.

“Yeah,” mom says, watching us curiously. “Give it a whirl, Ariel, see what happens. Worst case, everything stays precisely the same.”

“Okay,” I say, taking a deep breath and then looking forward at the log in front of me, simultaneously calling on my bond with Luca as I concentrate.