Page 5

“ W ho’s your daddy?”

Hollyn stared, confused, at Yumia’s question. Surely, she knew who Hollyn’s father was. Why would she ask?

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Well, when you can answer that question to my satisfaction, you’ll be ready.”

This did nothing to clear up Hollyn’s confusion.

As a matter of fact, it made her question the decision to come here in the first place.

Yumia and Hollyn were in a small, round chamber with an open circle in the middle and multiple, bubbling flasks on countertops against every wall except for where the door stood.

They’d left Thian in an antechamber that seemed to serve as Yumia’s living room.

This place looked more like a science lab, complete with strange, puppet-like characters moving from station to station.

Hollyn half-expected to hear a “mee-mee-mee-mee” at any moment.

But Yumia pulled her focus back to her as she said, “Let’s begin. Hold out your hands.”

Hollyn hesitated for a moment before lifting her hands, palms up. Yumia hovered her own hands over top of Hollyn’s.

“Now, your job is to slap the tops of my hands before I can move them away.”

“What?”

“Don’t hold back. Give me all you got.”

“You want me to…slap your hands?”

“We can switch if you want. But I’ll warn you. I hit hard.”

Hollyn made a pitiful attempt by sliding her hands to the sides, but Yumia jerked her hands away and laughed.

“Come on! You can do better than that.”

They reset, and this time, Hollyn tried to move faster, but Yumia pulled her hands away in time once more.

“Better! Let’s try again.”

For the next thirty minutes, Hollyn continued to try to move fast enough to make contact, but no matter how quickly she moved, Yumia always moved faster. At one point, Hollyn was sure Yumia’s hands were merely a blur.

In frustration, Hollyn finally took a step back and lowered her hands. “What are we doing? I thought you were going to teach me to control my magic, not play games.”

“Do you think we’re just playing games, little siren?”

“Obviously.”

A wicked smile slid onto Yumia’s mouth as she gleefully whispered, “Let’s switch.”

Hollyn slowly turned her hands over, palm facing the ground, and Yumia hovered her hands below.

Instantly, Hollyn felt a magnetic force begin to take hold.

Her hands felt like lead weights hanging from the ends of her arms. Energy built at their wrists and spiraled through the air around them.

Moisture began to gather between their hands.

Every sensation made Hollyn’s hair stand on end, up and down her skin, skimming over her like an electric current coursing along a wire.

Out of nowhere, water rushed up Hollyn’s arms and down her legs as she was blasted backward into a solid rock wall. She slid down to the ground until she was slumped over like a rag doll. Instantly, the water receded like a wave, leaving Hollyn soaked and limbless.

After a stunned moment, Hollyn looked up at a pensive Yumia. Her head was cocked, arms still extended, and all her focus waiting for a reaction from Hollyn.

“Teach me!” Hollyn began to peel herself off the floor. “I want to be able to do that!”

Yumia’s mouth broke into a knowing smile. “Don’t underestimate yourself. You can do much more than that.” She waved Hollyn toward herself. “Let’s go again.”

Hollyn tentatively walked forward and put her hands out. “I felt your power, but how did you pull it so quickly, increase it to that degree, and use it in such a targeted way?”

Yumia laughed loudly. “Do you always want everything all at once?”

“When my life is on the line, yes! I need you to teach me everything you know.”

“So, we’re going to be here for twenty years? Do you have that kind of time?”

“Well, I’ll take the quickest version of it you can give me. I’ve got days at the most.”

Yumia looked thoughtful, tapping her long, curved, coral fingernail against her full lips. “Well, I’ve never had such a challenge, but teaching is what I do. Some are better students than others. I’ve had some students who…well, let’s not go there. What kind of student are you?”

Hollyn perked up. “The best kind, of course. Bend me, shape me, any way you want me, Teach!”

“I do see potential in you.” She put her hands out, palm down once again. “Give me your hands.”

Hollyn tentatively put her hands underneath Yumia’s. Her nerves were wreaking havoc in her stomach. She really didn’t want to hit the wall again…literally. She stared at her hands, willing something to happen, but instead, a whole lot of nothing was the result.

As they stood there awkwardly, Hollyn began to grow frustrated. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed something…anything to happen. Yet again, no energy crackled. The lack was obvious.

“Ugh!” She pulled back and balled her hands into fists. “Maybe I’m just shit at magic.”

“Is that what you believe?”

“I don’t want to think that way.”

She shrugged. “Then, don’t.”

Hollyn stared. Oh! Okay! Thanks for that! I won’t! It’s just that easy. What did she think Hollyn was doing? Purposely not channeling her magic so that she wouldn’t have to face her father?

Wait! Was she?

“Just give me some kind of clue, some kind of hint, for how in the hell I tap into my magic. I thought this medallion…talisman…thingy was supposed to make things happen.”

Yumia hummed low in her throat, a tune that sounded familiar but Hollyn couldn’t place.

As she let the tune grow louder, Yumia’s hands began to glow.

Hollyn felt the magic building once more and braced herself for a ride toward the wall, but it never came.

Instead, Yumia steadied her tune and everything around them stilled.

It felt like a tight bubble surrounded them, making Hollyn feel safe and confused at the same time.

The only sound was Yumia’s humming, echoing around the bubble.

Yumia paused and looked pointedly at Hollyn. “Where does your song come from?”

“My…voice?”

“Does it? Or does it come from somewhere deeper?”

“I suppose I pull it from deep inside me.”

“And who taught you to sing?”

“My mother taught me to sing.” Her image flashed before Hollyn in an instant, beautiful and sad green eyes, heart-shaped face, honey-blonde hair.

“Your magic is tied to her song. When you pull it from deep inside, don’t just sing it, feel it. Feel her love surrounding you, like you feel right now.”

“I…I don’t know how to do that.”

Yumia smiled widely. “Well, I didn’t create the protection around us, you did. I just hummed the song your mother used to sing you. Your magic came alive instantly.”

The bubble around them instantly popped, but Hollyn didn’t move an inch, not even daring to breathe as she listened to Yumia’s tune once more in her head. She knew it as well as she knew she had breath in her lungs.

Could it be that easy?

She took a deep breath and began to sing the song aloud, feeling each note.

She raised her hands once more, palms up, resting just below Yumia’s.

As she sang, moisture began to build between them, and an electric charge began to fill the air once more.

Hollyn could feel her hands growing lighter yet fuller, like they contained all the liquid of the ocean.

With a build toward the crescendo of the song, she began to pull the tune from deep inside.

It rose like a tsunami climbing higher into the air, growing closer to the shallow shelf of land, ready to surface and destroy everything in its path.

Hollyn could feel the strength of her magic.

She could feel the strength of her mother’s love.

As the power released, a stream of water splashed over Yumia, causing her to back up a few steps.

She wiped the water out of her eyes and shouted, “That’s it!”

Hollyn lowered her hands, devastated. “That’s it? I’ll never be able to face my father with that. He’ll laugh in my face. How do I even use this thing around me neck?”

Yumia rested her hands on her hips and stared at Hollyn. “You’ll know when the time is right to use the magic in the talisman. Besides, you’ve only begun to tap into your magic, darling. By the time I finish with you, your father won’t stand a chance.” She shrugged. “And I know all his weaknesses.”

“How?”

“Because I’m the one who trained him.”