I gritted my teeth. “Matt and I—well, like I said, we were trying to make me mad, to see if we could trigger my power. Only it went sideways, literally.” Tears pricked my eyes, and I looked away from her. “I wasn’t angry, I know that. But I was—stimulated. I wanted him. I remember putting my hands on each side of his face, and suddenly I was getting these images—they flashed through my mind, and I realized they were from Matt. And then he kind of faded away...”
My throat closed. “I almost killed him,” I rasped.
“But you didn’t.” Cara placed her hand over mine. Considering what we were discussing, it was a gesture of trust that I appreciated, even if I was wearing gloves. “Instead, you gave energy back, and saved him.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “Now, when you killed the others, did you experience the same thing?”
I thought about it. “I was so angry. I remember sucking the life energy from them—but then I used it to trace my way to their hearts, and kill them. I might have absorbed a few images from them, I can barely remember. It’s hard to explain. But I’m stonkered—uh, really tired—afterward.”
“And you weren’t when it happened with Matt?”
“No.” My voice was filled with such awe and longing that I blushed. “I was riding a real high when I was with Matt. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
Cara listened as I trailed off, and then removed her hand and gestured to the gloves.
“Take them off,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“We can’t practice with them on,” she pointed out as she shuffled back a bit from me on her butt, and then fluffed up the grass in front of us. A few little wildflowers were dotted throughout it.
“Okay. Pick one of those wildflowers and put your fingers on the main stem.”
I did as she asked, feeling a bit silly.
“Now I want you to close your eyes and see if you can feel the life essence in that flower.”
“Just in the one plant?”
“Yes. It might take you a bit to find it.”
As soon as I closed my eyes, I sensed it through my fingers. “Got it,” I said.
“That was quick,” Cara replied.
“It has to do with what I touch,” I whispered, even as I figured it out myself. “Although I am starting to detect other life energies, now, pinpointing them is still a challenge. But this one, I’m physically touching.”
“See, we’re already learning things.” Cara sounded pleased, and when I opened my eyes, she looked happy. “Now, I want you to drain some of the life energy from the flower.”
“But I’m not angry at the flower,” I protested.
“You weren’t angry at Matt either.”
“No, but—”
“Your power doesn’t come and go with your emotions, Anna. It’s your control over it that does.”
My heart pounded. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Very. Now close your eyes again, and concentrate.”
“What if I kill it?”
“I’m here to stop that from happening.”
I sighed and closed my eyes.
The flower’s energy seemed so insignificant compared to what I’d tapped into before. And it appeared the thing coiled within me was not interested in pursuing botany as a pastime. But when I pushed it, it roused. Uncoiled, and lazily tapped into the flower’s life essence. Almost as soon as it did so, I sensed another energy intervene.
“Okay, that was good, Anna. Take a look.”
