Page 51 of Hexual Healing
“Ow!”came from multiple directions as people extracted themselves from the impromptu insta-garden.
“Love is also complicated, I guess,” I gasped, doubling over from the pain.
“But powerful,” Baz said, pulling a rose from his hair.
“That's because love isn't directional,” Gary observed from his safe spot on the porch.“It radiates.”
“That's unexpectedly profound,” I said.
“I have depths.”
The training continued with mixed results.I successfully turned a boulder into a snail spa with miniature steam vents, which made Gary’s eyes light up, enchanted a knot of vines that wouldn’t stop braiding themselves into my hair (and anyone else that was dumb enough to get close to it), and made it rain molasses for ten sticky, miserable minutes.Until Zelda waved a hand and made that fresh hell of a bazillion wasps, bees, flies, and ants attacking us for a sweet, sweet taste, disappear.
“Your magic’s becoming more predictable,” Zelda announced.“It follows emotional patterns.”
“Great.I'm predictably unpredictable.”
“That's better than unpredictably unpredictable.”
“Now for the real test,” she said.Something in her tone made everyone’s eyes go wide.Their reaction made me hella suspicious.
“What real test?”
“Combat application.”
Before I could protest or even ask what she was talking about, she threw a hex at me.Not a friendly training hex.It was an honest-to-goodness attack.My magic reacted instinctively, creating a shield made of shiny metal colanders that reflected her hex in seventeen zillion different directions at once.Everyone dove for cover as hex fragments bounced everywhere, turning the inanimate objects they hit into soap bubbles, jam, and one very confused polka-dotted flamingo.
“Good!”Zelda said, already casting another attack.“But can you counter while defending?”
I tried to hex her back while maintaining the colander shield.My magic split, creating mason bees that dive-bombed her while the shield held.But the effort made the curse flare, and I stumbled from the shock of it all.
At least I’d made two people’s dreams come true.There would be pollination, but I sure was going to suffer for it.
Baz moved to help, but Zelda held up a hand.“She needs to learn to fight through the pain.”
“But the curse.”
“Will always be there until it's broken.She needs to function despite it.”
She was right.I couldn't collapse every time I was hurt.I gritted my teeth, pushed through the discomfort, and sent a hex that turned Zelda's hair into snakes.
Tiny, harmless garter snakes, but still.
“Excellent!”she said, as one snake flawlessly recited, “There once was a witch from Nantucket,” before she managed to reverse the spell.
We sparred for another twenty minutes.By the end, I was exhausted, covered in sweat, and had some tiger stripes I accidentally gave myself that wouldn't seem to go away.But I'd also successfully defended against every attack and landed several counters.
Not half bad, if I do say so, myself.
“You're ready,” Zelda announced.
“Ready for what?”
“For whatever comes next.”
* * *
Later that night, exhaustion from the training session finally caught up with me.I was nodding off while reading a particularly juicy romance novel when I was startled by what sounded like thunder, but not quite.It was too rhythmic.Too deliberate.