strong effect upon me now.”
“But since my mom hasn’t said your name, her magic is still pretty powerful against you, right?”
He inclines his head. “That is correct. For the time being, anyway.”
“Good.” I march over to the couch and before he understands what I’m going to do, I touch his bare chest with my hand and my amulet flares into a blinding light. He flings himself back so hard that he knocks the couch over and does a somersault as he hits the floor. Scrambling to his feet he backs away a few more steps and glares at me. “You do realize that is tremendously painful?”
I smile sweetly. “Yup.”
“Xandra, that wasn’t nice,” Mom admonishes but there isn’t any real chastisement in her words. Looking at the way she’s now trying to keep a smile off her face, I think she may have even found it as funny as I did.
Trying to look as innocent as possible, I say to Kallen, “I was just trying to determine if your theory was correct.” He doesn’t say anything; he just picks up the couch as he watches me warily, his anger seething from his pores.
“How long before the other two will have recovered from their injuries?” Mom asks him.
Swinging his eyes to her, he says, “Assuming they brought powerful healing herbs with them from our realm, I would say no more than two or three days at the most. That would give us a decent head start.”
“What do you mean, head start? I thought you were powerful enough to keep them from finding us?” I knew it was all lies.
“I can keep them from finding us magically but they are not stupid. They will assume that I will keep you in these mountains.”
“If that’s true, then why stay here?” Is he stupid or what?
Once again, he looks at me with condescension. “Where else do you propose you should learn to control your magic? Perhaps in the very large city down the mountain filled with Cowan? What do you think would happen to them if they were caught in your uncontrolled magic?”
“There are other places in the world besides these mountains that don’t have very many people around,” I huff.
“And travelling to those places would take up valuable time that could be spent on your training,” Kallen countered.
I’m really getting tired of the way he has an answer for everything I say. “I don’t want to go with you.”
He crosses his arms over his chest covering the red mark that is still there from when I touched him. “And I am not overjoyed by having the task of training a headstrong and ignorant young girl but it seems that fate has ignored both of our desires.”
“Xandra,” Mom says softly. “I think it’s for the best.” The look on her face tells me that she’s made her decision and there won’t be any talking her out of it. Arguing more would be pointless.
“Fine, I guess I’ll go pack,” I say sullenly as I stomp out of the room. Immature yes, but it makes me feel better regardless.
In my room, I stop and look around at my things. What do you take when you’re going off into the mountains in the middle of winter to learn magic from a jerkwad Fairy? One more failing in my education thus far, I guess.
Going to my closet, I open the sliding doors and dig around on the floor until I find my camping backpack way at the back that I was hoping to never have to use again since Dad didn’t think it was safe to make us go camping with him if he wasn’t corporeal. I set it on my bed and start pulling things out of my drawers. I throw in several pairs of heavy wool socks and a couple of pairs of gray long underwear. Yet again a time in my life where climate wins out over fashion. I am able to fit in three pairs of jeans, three turtle necks and three heavy sweaters and several pairs of underwear. It’s hard getting the zipper closed but I finally manage.
Just as I finish
“But since my mom hasn’t said your name, her magic is still pretty powerful against you, right?”
He inclines his head. “That is correct. For the time being, anyway.”
“Good.” I march over to the couch and before he understands what I’m going to do, I touch his bare chest with my hand and my amulet flares into a blinding light. He flings himself back so hard that he knocks the couch over and does a somersault as he hits the floor. Scrambling to his feet he backs away a few more steps and glares at me. “You do realize that is tremendously painful?”
I smile sweetly. “Yup.”
“Xandra, that wasn’t nice,” Mom admonishes but there isn’t any real chastisement in her words. Looking at the way she’s now trying to keep a smile off her face, I think she may have even found it as funny as I did.
Trying to look as innocent as possible, I say to Kallen, “I was just trying to determine if your theory was correct.” He doesn’t say anything; he just picks up the couch as he watches me warily, his anger seething from his pores.
“How long before the other two will have recovered from their injuries?” Mom asks him.
Swinging his eyes to her, he says, “Assuming they brought powerful healing herbs with them from our realm, I would say no more than two or three days at the most. That would give us a decent head start.”
“What do you mean, head start? I thought you were powerful enough to keep them from finding us?” I knew it was all lies.
“I can keep them from finding us magically but they are not stupid. They will assume that I will keep you in these mountains.”
“If that’s true, then why stay here?” Is he stupid or what?
Once again, he looks at me with condescension. “Where else do you propose you should learn to control your magic? Perhaps in the very large city down the mountain filled with Cowan? What do you think would happen to them if they were caught in your uncontrolled magic?”
“There are other places in the world besides these mountains that don’t have very many people around,” I huff.
“And travelling to those places would take up valuable time that could be spent on your training,” Kallen countered.
I’m really getting tired of the way he has an answer for everything I say. “I don’t want to go with you.”
He crosses his arms over his chest covering the red mark that is still there from when I touched him. “And I am not overjoyed by having the task of training a headstrong and ignorant young girl but it seems that fate has ignored both of our desires.”
“Xandra,” Mom says softly. “I think it’s for the best.” The look on her face tells me that she’s made her decision and there won’t be any talking her out of it. Arguing more would be pointless.
“Fine, I guess I’ll go pack,” I say sullenly as I stomp out of the room. Immature yes, but it makes me feel better regardless.
In my room, I stop and look around at my things. What do you take when you’re going off into the mountains in the middle of winter to learn magic from a jerkwad Fairy? One more failing in my education thus far, I guess.
Going to my closet, I open the sliding doors and dig around on the floor until I find my camping backpack way at the back that I was hoping to never have to use again since Dad didn’t think it was safe to make us go camping with him if he wasn’t corporeal. I set it on my bed and start pulling things out of my drawers. I throw in several pairs of heavy wool socks and a couple of pairs of gray long underwear. Yet again a time in my life where climate wins out over fashion. I am able to fit in three pairs of jeans, three turtle necks and three heavy sweaters and several pairs of underwear. It’s hard getting the zipper closed but I finally manage.
Just as I finish
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