Bring Me Your Midnight(24)

“Close your eyes and concentrate on the wind. It will pull at something inside you, and all you have to do is let it.”

I nod again and do as he says. I focus on the way the air cuts through my hair and across my skin, the way I could almost feel it inside myself if I were still enough. I instinctively spread my arms out and turn my palms toward the sky. I tilt my head back and breathe deeply.

Magic rises in my belly as if it wants to touch the breath in my lungs.

“Just like that.” Wolfe’s words fuel me, and as I breathe more of the wind, more magic rises to touch it.

After several seconds, it’s no longer clear to me where the air ends and my magic begins. We are connected, just like when I’m working in the perfumery. Except instead of dried herbs and flowers, it’s wind.

“Let yourself fall backward and tell the wind to carry you,” Wolfe says.

It sounds so absurd, so easy, so harmless when he puts it that way. I’m scared, but if I fall, I know the water will catch me, so I do what he says.

I focus on the connection and fall back. “Please catch me,” I whisper into the night, and as I do, the world responds.

I gasp as my body rises out of the water and into the air. Magic comes alive in every part of me, as if it’s dancing through my veins, as if it’s been waiting its whole life for this.

My eyes fill with tears, but I keep them shut, terrified of losing the connection.

“I can’t believe it,” I whisper, unable to keep the emotion from my voice.

“Pretty incredible, right?”

I open my eyes, and Wolfe is right beside me, floating in the air, his back to the water. He’s looking at me in a way I can’t describe, the hard lines of his face softer now, the sharp edges sanded down.

He’s beautiful.

I startle as soon as the thought enters my mind, losing my thread of magic and falling into the water below.

Wolfe looks down at me with a smirk, then joins me in the waves.

“You were doing so well. What happened?”

“I got distracted,” I say, completely mortified.

“That was good for your first time. Let’s do it again.”

It’s easy to find the connection now that I know what it feels like, and within seconds I’m back in the air. Magic rolls around inside me and pours into the night sky as I rise higher above the water. My whole body relaxes as the magic leaves my system, as if with each passing moment I’m reclaiming another year of my life.

I’m not going to die in nine days.

Silent tears roll down my face, and the cool night breeze dries them on my skin. I stretch my arms out and revel in what it feels like to float. To live.

“Come back down, Mortana,” Wolfe says, his voice far away. I look down and see how high up I’ve drifted, but instead of feeling panic, I feel pride.

“What, can’t keep up?” I call down to him.

I hear him laugh. “You really shouldn’t have said that.” With a wave of his hand, the breeze stills, and my connection to it is lost. I scream as I plummet toward the water, such a long way to fall.

I brace for the harsh impact, but just before I hit the water, a current of air slips underneath me and gently cradles me above the surface, right where Wolfe is standing. He looks down at me, his expression unreadable. We watch each other for several breaths, then he gently slides his arms underneath me and places me back on my feet.

“That was good,” he says. “You’re catching on very quickly.” He says the words as if he’s puzzled by them, and for some reason it makes me nervous. I turn away from him and shake my head, try to erase the feeling of being up in the air, because if I don’t, I’m terrified I might realize that this is the most fun I’ve ever had. That this is the most alive I’ve ever felt.

“No,” I say out loud. None of this is real. It’s just the exhilaration of doing something I know I shouldn’t be doing. It’s the relief of knowing I get to live. That’s all.

“What was that?” Wolfe asks.

“Nothing,” I say, turning back to him. “Are we done?”

“Done?” he says, laughing. “That was just a warm-up. Ready for the main event?” His eyes don’t move from my face, challenging me, daring me to follow wherever he wants to take me.

I shiver and push down the fear that turns in my stomach. I can do this. And if I do this, I can live.

“I’m ready,” I say.





eleven





The ocean spreads out in front of us, reaching as far into the darkness as I can see. The tide is low, and we walk far enough out that there are fewer rocks and softer sand. The shore is wet and shines in the light of the moon.

The water seems infinite.

“Don’t you think manipulating the tides feels a little extreme? I mean, can magic even do that?”

Wolfe raises an eyebrow. “Our magic can.”

I don’t miss the disdain in his voice. The judgment.

“You act as if you’re better than I am because you practice ‘high magic,’ but you’re not. The only reason you’re even able to practice that magic is because the new witches have convinced the mainlanders it doesn’t exist anymore.”

Wolfe takes a step toward me. He’s several inches taller than I am, and I have to look up in order to meet his eyes.