A crease formed between her brows as she used her fingers to dislodge a strand of blonde hair out of her mouth. “My magic always calls to you.”
“Not like this! You gave me a heart attack! I thought you were dying! Don’t ever do that again!”
Her strawberry lips parted, staring at me like she could feel my panic. “I don’t like it when you’re upset.”
“Then don’t make me think you’re in trouble.”
With a quick crinkle of her nose, she spat, “If I was in trouble, I wouldn’t need you.” Her brows pulled down as she stomped back to me and slammed both hands on my chest. “And stop yelling at me.”
“Tell your magic to knock it off!”
“I can’t help it!”
I knew she couldn’t. It was unpredictable. I loved that she sometimes sent me her thoughts. I loved thather magic called to mine. But, this had gone too far. Making me think she was in trouble, that she wanted three other boys to save her. Making me think she was going to die! How could she be so mean?
“Then why can’t I use my magic? Huh? What’d you do to me?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Liar!”
“Stop,” she screamed.
“Leave me and my magic alone!”
I could see something shift in her eyes like her heart was breaking. She was suddenly looking at me differently. I hated it. I hated it when she took two steps away from me, as if she finally realized I was no good. Her spine became ramrod straight, her chin held high, looking like a lethal princess ready to lacerate me to pieces.
“Fine!” Out came her right palm. But her aqua magic turned into an odd shade of deep sapphire. A color I hadn’t yet seen from her before.
All at once, excruciating pain spread from my chest out to the ends of my body, like she was sucking my soul out of my body. My magic rained down my arms and out of my fingers. My stomach dropped to the floor, nausea overcoming me. My vision filled with hersapphire, my lilac, and the sallow yellow from the lights in the room. It hurt too much. “Rip—” I croaked, unable to replenish my lungs as I collapsed to my knees before her.
My magic. It was leaving. I felt like I was stripped. Drained dry. And when the last of it fled my system, I was hollow, an empty shell which once held my power and my only ticket to survival in the Ölden Lands. I spotted it thrashing around in Ripley’s hand as if it were trying to escape.
She looked at it with wide eyes and yelped. “No! No! No! I don’t—I didn’t mean—I don’t want your magic!” A sniffle resonated from her now reddened nose.
I got to my feet, stomped to her through my fog of nausea, and gripped her wrist. “Give me my magic back!”
“Take it!” She opened her palm to me.
I clenched my teeth. “You’re going to pay for this!”
“No! I’m sorry!”
My magic. Mymagic. It was gone! How was I supposed to survive outside Elizy without it?
The door burst open and the king and queen of Elizy strode in. Her father rushed to her side, lifting her into his arms.
“Fletcher Darkly?” the queen asked through a tight, squared jaw and narrowed her gray eyes. “Why are you in my daughter’s room at midnight?”
I thought about her cries, her screams for help, how desperate I was to find her not more than a few minutes ago. “I thought she was in grave danger.”
While the king and queen looked at each other, I took the moment to glance at Ripley. Tears ran down her rosy cheeks as she clawed at her hand where my magic now lived.
“This has never happened before,” the king said in an urgent whisper. “What does this mean?”
“It means luckily he messed up,” she whispered back. “It means nothing.”
“But, love, he’shere. Not on the mountain. Is that not infinitely better?”
