Chapter Forty

                                    

                                          
When no one screamed and smoke didn't fill the air, I opened my eyes and blinked. I sucked in a breath and blinked again, confused. Where my finger touched him, his skin was white, like I was making an indent to an area that was inflamed. Around the center, it was pinkish, then ringed by a flame-colored circle.
How was Calin not burning?
I imagined the flame growing and ran my finger down the exposed skin of his forearm. The ring of fire grew, becoming a flickering dance around where I touched, radiating outward like a ripple in the surface of water when a rock is thrown in, then fizzed out.
Not one mark appeared.
"See?" Luna said, her smile in her voice. "The point has been proven. This secures your connection and the strength you lend each other."
"Zach protected Calin." I rolled my eyes and dropped my arm to my side, the flame burned out.
"No. I demonstrated how I could help him against fire. It didn't last long enough to be effective against your fire."
"It was absorbed by his skin!" I pointed at Calin and dropped my arm again. "It could be protecting Calin. How would we know?"
"I sense no magic."
"Says you." I glared at Luna.
"I don't sense anything," Calin said, and I rolled my eyes, looking down to toe the floor.
"Do you sense anything?" Luna asked, and I shook my head. "That's probably because your magic doesn't affect him. You can't sense him either."
That wasn't true—I had sensed Calin and suspected he was the prankster before Duvessa was ousted—but I didn't want to admit that to them. It would be knowledge Calin and I could keep to ourselves—I had a feeling secrecy was a best practice moving forward. Besides, Luna couldn't hurt Calin if I could sense magic and didn't.
"What was your other point?" I asked Luna before they asked more probing questions.
Luna held Zach's gaze until I cleared my throat, then turned back to me. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Without all that extra fear, you are more capable because it no longer hinders your confidence to the point of lessening your abilities because you didn't believe in yourself. Knowing you can do something without fearing worst-case or even imaginary consequences gives you the power to do it, especially when you visualize most of your magic."
"I—"
"Relax. I'm observant." Luna waved her and to swipe the air. "I can sense a change in your magic, Nora."
"I agree," Zach said.
"What do you mean?" I asked Luna.
"I have been around your whole life—long before you were bound," Zach said. "You weren't tested by the Council, but we knew the abilities you were intended to present, and you've presented more than we ever expected."
"I think..." Luna shook her head, darting her eyes between us all.
"What?" I shifted my weight.
"I think some of your power is unnatural. It's like it's there but not where it belongs."
I grit my teeth, trying to hide my intake of breath. Regardless, I narrowed my eyes. "I would never do what you are suggesting."
Calin came to my side and put his arm around my waist. "I don't think that's what Luna means."
Luna raised her hands. "I never even thought..." She shook her head. "I just sense unique abilities in you, and I don't mean visions or empathy. You... You have other abilities."