Enflame (Book 6) ((Insight) Web of Hearts and Souls) by Jamie Magee Page B

soul last night. That thought was in vain, though. The humble feeling had caused me to relax every part of my soul. I could hear every movement in the garden. It was a gentle symphony. Behind my closed eyes, I could see the color of gold. Thinking that my peace had brightened the sun, I opened my eyes and leaned back. Nothing seemed odd about the fall afternoon.
    Nana grinned down at me. “They say that is the right color.”
    “Who says?”
    “Let’s not worry about that.”
    “The dead are laughing at me, aren’t they?”
    “No. I sent the class clowns away,” she said with a wink.
    My shocked expression made her laugh as she took her seat in front of me. “Oh my,” she said to herself. “You see the gold color?”
    I glanced at my aura and saw it mingling with a deep shade of black. I nodded to confirm, tasting something sweet and pure as I swallowed. Taste was one sense I’d never really focused on. I was starting to think that might be my tell, that if this sweet taste faded and bitterness returned, that meant that I was losing control . I didn’t want to go through that mental war I’d just faced again. My body felt like it had just overcome the flu or something just as wicked.
    Now that my energy was not spilling all around me, all of my senses seemed to be on high alert. I could feel ghostly stares and could almost swear I heard them talking about me, their doubts mixed with their excitement at my willingness to gain control.
    “That is your seal,” she said to call my attention back to her. “Let me play devil’s advocate and use your fear to hold this in place. If that gold breaks, the red will return. It will take you twice as long to pull it into you, and when you do, it will be even more painful.”
    I swallowed nervously, assuring myself that I could still taste the sweetness.
    I heard truth in her words, and that made me all the more humble to this powerful sleeping beast inside of me.
    “If my energy is locked inside of me, how...how...how can I use it as a weapon? You know...you know that I share energy with Landen. That is how we empower ourselves.”
    “Your shyness is absurd,” she said with a meek grin. “It’s not locked, it’s under control. That power should never be stifled.” She began to fan herself. “I could use a breeze.”
    “You’re joking.”
    “No.”
    “I just stopped the leak. I’m not doing that.”
    “I didn’t take you for a coward,” she teased.
    I didn’t want to give her a breeze; I wanted the wind to carry her away. As if she could read my thoughts, she laughed at me.
    “Fine,” I murmured.
    I had no idea how I could control this, but I remembered in my dream, or coma —whatever that was when I first found this insight—that I was told to direct what I wanted with a thought. I focused on a gentle breeze, and with that thought, it came.
    I sat up straighter, focusing on my aura, prepared for it to break, but it didn’t.
    “Bigger now. Make the moss on the trees dance.”
    I held her stare and sent the thought toward the trees that lingered around the home. The moss danced as if it were under my command.
    “How hard was that?’ she asked, looking all around me.
    “It’s just a thought.”
    “Okay, push that gate open,” she said, glancing behind her at the doublewide rod iron gate doors that were slightly ajar. “And don’t push too hard; I would not want Saige to be ill with you.”
    I held in the sarcastic remark I wanted to blurt out and held Nana’s stare. At that second, I heard the iron screech in protest.
    “Close it,” Nana said.
    “I’m not going to sit here and do parlor tricks for your amusement.”
    “I’m not amused,” she countered. At that second, the gate closed, a bit violently. “Listen to me. You don’t need me to learn any of this. I know that. You have moved forward so quickly that you have not played with these powers. Everyone learns best at play.”
    “They are not meant to be played with.”
    “No, but