My eyes were on the lake, wondering what I could do to the lake with my magic to heal it.
Owen turned and looked over his shoulder at The Dead Lake. “We should probably try to not do anything too obvious today.”
I glared at him. “You’re the one pushing me to use my magic all week. Now I finally want to try something and you tell me no?”
Owen winced.
“What is the point in having all this damned magic if I cannot heal the forest?” I snapped, taking a step forward.
I called the magic to my palms, a trail of heat warming my veins as I did. I imagined the lake clear, the toxins gone, the water clean. And then I sent the magic out.
It raced along the ground before striking the lake water. There was a small ripple, slowly circling outward, but the lake stayed the same.
I look another step forward, instinct telling me I needed to be closer to the water, maybe even standinthe water.
As my first boot hit the water, Owen said from behind me, “What are you doing?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just felt like maybe I needed to stand in it for it to work.”
“Your boots will be nasty.”
I was already calling my magic back up. “If it fixes the lake, totally worth it.”
I heard his snort just as I willed my magic out again, the same as last time but with more strands of thicker magic.
The ripple was much, much larger this time, but the lake remained black as night.
“Can I try it with more?” I asked.
I felt through the bond that Krew was coming closer, he must have been about to come join us.
“I don’t know, can you?” Owen responded.
I called the magic into both palms. I focused on the water but kept my eyes open. I thought of multiple strands of thicker magic weaving their way through the water and healing it. Making it pure and clean again. Enough magic to cover every drop of the lake. And then I willed the magic into the water.
The magic poured out of me, as if glad to have an outlet, racing along the water and weaving throughout. As the magic dove beneath the surface to reach the bottom of the lake, the entire lake started to glow. I took a deep breath and focused in, that same instinct telling me to keep sending more magic, a constant stream until every drop was covered in my magic.
As soon as everything was covered, I stopped sending magic into the water and my magic burst outward taking me by surprise and almost making me fall. And following my wave of magic, a low wave of the tar looking water also rippled across the surface of the lake, slapping at my boots.
All that, and yet the lake remained black.
I spun back around toward Owen to find both Owen and Krew looking at me with concern etched on their faces. “What?”
Krew gave his head a shake. “I said you needed to use magic more and more often. I didn’t mean you needed to bring yourself to the brink of exhaustion every day.”
Owen mumbled to Krew, “Her nose isn’t bleeding.”
I brought my magic to a palm, making sure it was still there and ready. It immediately warmed me, and then I shoved it back down. “That wasn’t the brink of exhaustion, I don’t think.”
“That was a lot of magic,” Krew commented.
I gave him a shrug. “So maybe I will not accidentally injure anyone today with my magic?”
He gave his head a shake. “No. You will practice fires and sound barriers today numerous times and that will never be an issue again.”
He came toward the edge of the water and offered me a hand, helping me step out of the lake.
“Is it me or is the lake not as thick?” Owen’s forehead was crinkled as he looked in our direction.
