Page 37 of A Touch of Stars and Stones (Kirrian #1)

“Well done, Ever.” Aurelia praises. I give her a subtle nod and then look back and watch Calix jump off the table and stand forward.

Shit.

“Relax. We’re just gonna have a little chat.”

My eyes want to search for Ten, but I force them to stay on my next opponent. I swallow the lump in my throat and try to forget the flare of pain that lashed my body when he punched me.

Glancing at Ten is almost instinctive, and I note the tense set of his jaw. Guess he doesn’t like the idea of me facing Calix again so soon, either.

Calix positions himself a couple of meters away and smirks. “Don’t look so frightened. No combat. I promise.” He steps forward. But instead of waiting and doing the hand thing, he just grabs my shoulder at the base of my neck.

There’s no time to compose myself, and I grab his wrist, a reflex, holding him as his fingers press into my skin.

“I’m sorry for the punches.” His voice is low enough that it’s just for me.

But I’m too busy concentrating, fighting to find that pull of power, like when we touched at the obstacle course. It just happened then. And when we were fighting. Now, I try to picture his strength and pull it into me, just like I did with Micah.

But as Calix’s smile falters, so does my control of that energy. It rushes at me. Storming me, just like his fists did. It’s too much, like every cell in my body is expanding. Getting bigger. Stronger.

Calix’s brows pull down as if he can’t work out what’s happening, and he loosens his grip on my neck, but I keep my grip firm.

“Ever?” His voice is strained. And I blink. He looks in pain.

No. I don’t want this.

My jaw clenches, and I inch my feet apart before I reach my arm up to take Calix’s neck, the same position he has me in, and connect my palm to the side of his throat. My eyes focus on that point, and I try to shove every single drop of strength back at him, reversing what I was doing.

And it works. I can feel my body ease and relax while Calix takes a deep breath. More confusion skits across his eyes as he works out what’s happening.

“Let’s see what you can take,” I whisper.

“Shit.” His eyes flare, and I know it’s working.

But my head starts to spin, my legs go weak, and it’s like I’m in the ring with him all over again. Every place he landed, a blow screams, as if he’s peeling away any of the mending, leaving me just pain.

Darkness creeps to the corners…

“Stop, Ever.”

It’s not my voice. And it’s not Calix.

“Calix! Fucking stop! Ever!” Ten’s voice breaks through, and I turn my head and see him with Rowan and Aurelia. I drop my hand and stumble back, hitting the floor.

Calix stumbles himself. “Shit, Ever. What in Aslendrix? I feel…” he clenches his fists at his sides. Crimson steps up to him and looks him over.

“What did she do?” She asks.

“I don’t know, but I’ve never felt stronger,” he laughs. “Ten, if there’s ever a time to take you on. Me, you. Outside.” He motions with his hand between the two of them.

But when I look at Ten, his face is as hard as stone, his jaw tight, emphasising the definition that’s so consuming.

“No combat. At least not today,” Rowan declares, reminding Calix, although he looks very interested in the experiment that he just suggested. “Ever, Raiden is next.” He looks at me, still sprawled on the floor.

The weakness and dizzy spells level out, and I move to stand, getting used to the idea that people don’t offer help often. Once I’m steady on my feet, I try to centre myself again.

Aurelia’s quiet, observing. No more words of guidance. Perhaps I am just an experiment to them.

“Hey, you okay?” Raiden asks, her hazel eyes full of concern.

“Sure.” I breathe out. “I’m just trying to get through this.”

She nods. “Palms?”

“Palms.”

We repeat the steps I took with Micah. Now I recognise the energy, that buzzing. And it’s there instantly, and I wonder if the difference in what I’m feeling is related to everyone’s individual strength of magic.

I latch onto the signature and stare at Raiden. She’s concentrating, too. I can feel there’s something at the other end of that power.

Auralia said to wield it, so I push harder, trying to mould or shape the feel of it.

But it doesn’t budge. This isn’t like Micah or Calix.

She raises her other hand and curls it in the air as if pulling something, and there’s a gasp in the room as one of the wooden tables splits and starts to grow.

A gnarled, broken branch emerges from the crack in the wood as if it had been cocooned inside.

The bigger it grows, the weaker I feel, and I realise that Raiden is using me.

“That’s not possible,” she whispers.

“What?” I ask as I watch the branch snake over the floor towards our feet. My heartbeat picks up as panic starts to override, distorting my concentration.

“It’s dead. The wood is dead.”

The knotted and twisted branch keeps coming, so I shove my fear of what it will do next down the connection that Raiden’s controlling.

Deadly thorns, more than a foot in length, splinter the dead wood, spearing out at different angles, one of them close enough and sharp enough to slice at Crimson’s leg.

Shit.

“Hey!” she shouts, and we both look at her, and the maze of branches and thorns on our classroom floor.

People start to move in all directions to avoid the tangle of thorns growing around them.

“Fascinating.” Perrin’s eyes are wide as he surveys the damage.

I drop Raiden’s hand, breathing hard, but she doesn’t run away. Instead, she stands fast and studies me, the puzzle nobody can figure out.

“I’m a Natural. We take our power from nature itself. It answers to us, but when I called, it didn’t come. It was like you blocked it. But I could grow these—from something dead,” she says.

“I… don’t know,” is all I can say.

I turn to look at Aurelia, a flash of heat and exhaustion rushing over me.

“Ascella,” Rowan calls.

“No. I will not.” Her tone leaves no room for argument.

“You don’t have a choice.” Rowan looks at her.

“I do. And I choose not to re-live my death. If you’re so keen to train, you do it.”

He smirks. “I have already passed my power. And I am a Custodian. It’s my job to train you, remember, Ascella.”

“I’m sorry,” I huff out as I fight the weariness overtaking me. “I am. I never meant to cause you harm.” My apology is sincere, and I hope she can see that.

“You tried to kill me. You have death written all over you. And I will never train or work with you,” she screams at me and storms out, climbing over the branches barricading her. Raiden moves to follow her but stops after a stern look from Rowan.

My head drops forward, and I’m suddenly back in that vision, the taste of blood thick on my tongue.

“Azur,” Rowan calls.

“No. I’m done with your little experiment today.” I back away, careful of the thorns and look at Ten, who is the one person I hoped to work with.

“Fine. It has been a physical day. Tomorrow then. We’ll have study, too.

” Rowan takes a look at me, and I hope he can see how drained I am because of this little training session.

“We’ll be looking at the archives for anything to help guide us with these gifts.

” He nods as if I should take comfort from his words.

Nothing is a comfort at the moment.

But as I think the words, my eyes betray me, moving to Ten, and I know he’s the exception to the rule.

Frustration crackles at my fingertips.

Maybe I can train outside of the classroom?

But then, I think about everything that’s happened so far.

Is that even safe? What happens when people touch by accident?

A brush of hands as something is passed back and forth, or stumbling and catching someone from falling.

There must be instances when these things happen.

.. My mind starts to race with more questions.

And the real fear of surviving here without doing someone harm looms in my mind.

“Ten, the Maker wants a meeting,” Nova, the Custodian who’s barely spoken, announces. Ten’s eyes find me already watching him, and his brows draw together. For a moment, I catch the feeling that this request puts him out.

He turns away, and Calix and Azur say something to him, but I can’t hear, so I’m left watching him as he stalks out of the room.