House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

Kerrigan nodded, and before she finished doing so, she was rushed back to the surface. She blinked awake in shock. “Whoa.”

“Your turn.”

She gulped and then reached back for her spirit magic. It jumped to her as if it had a life force of its own. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she fumbled for Zina as well. Nothing happened the first few times as she slipped around her teacher. Then, with a jump of force, she jerked them both upward.

“Slow down,” Zina commanded.

Kerrigan stopped and found them a floor up. She’d pulled them straight through the floorboards and nearly out of the house. Something Zina had said was impossible.

“That wasn’t too bad. How did it feel?”

“Good,” Kerrigan admitted. It had felt powerful. Like she had been meant for this.

“Excellent. Now, put us back.”

That was harder. Her magic didn’t want to release. It was so happy to be flexed that the return took a full half hour before it relaxed enough to let them soar back through the floor and into their bodies.

Kerrigan didn’t even feel tired. Normally, spirit magic of any kind drained her reserves. Visions made her pass out. The Night of the Dead must have had such a profound impact that it wasn’t even hurting her. No wonder Zina had waited.

They did it a dozen more times. Each one with more accuracy and control. It was still hard to pull herself back into her body, but by the final time, she was doing it in a matter of minutes.

Zina nodded at her once. “Good. That will be all for tonight. We’ll meet back at the winter solstice.”

“Wait,” Kerrigan gasped, grasping her hands harder. “Please. I’m not ready. This is so necessary.”

“I don’t want to drain you, dear.”

“I’m not. I feel like it’s refilling my magic rather than draining it. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Zina considered. “I am being drained.”

Kerrigan startled. She hadn’t even realized. Zina did look wan, as if the life were being sucked out of her.

“Using too much all at once drags on you. It’s why I only use my spirit magic in bursts throughout the classroom. Plus, I have trained it for hundreds of years to obey me.” Zina tilted her head. “But you do not look drained, as you said.”

A flush came to her cheeks. She honestly felt like she was glowing. Everything was heady and exciting. So close to the surface. Like she could reach out and grasp what had been claiming her for so long.

“We’ll try one more thing. Though I will not participate. I will guide you through it.”

Kerrigan breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Close your eyes.”

Kerrigan did as she had been told.

“Grasp your spirit magic and feel for the plane. Pull yourself into it but do not go far.”

She exited her body onto the plane with wide-eyed excitement. It was the first time that she’d ever been here by herself. First with Gelryn for her test to get into the tournament. Second with Fordham as they’d crossed Alandria by the help of a raven. And then finally, with Zina tonight. But this was the first time she was in complete control to do as she pleased.

Zina was still speaking, and Kerrigan could hear her as if she were underwater. “I want you to feel the spirits all around you. Each one has a unique signature. You also have that unique signature. I have one as well. You should be able to feel the shape of each person and locate them by that signature. You have surely felt mine since we have been on the plane together.”

Kerrigan realized that she had without even knowing it. Zina felt like the first freeze in the mountains and the smell of purple wildflowers that grew on the northern side of the mountain. If she concentrated, she could feel the other spirits in Black House. They all left her alone. She was in control on this plane, and even though they were residents, they had no body to return to. But each had their own smell and feel and sense. It was like a stamp of who they had once been.

“I want you to stretch as far away from me as the house permits. Then, I want you to find my signature and pull me into the spirit plane from a distance.”

Kerrigan frowned at that thought. She could tug Zina in when she was touching her, but could she do it from across the house? How was that even possible?

“I can still sense you. Go,” Zina told her.

So, Kerrigan left her teacher behind and found the farthest corner of the house. She closed her eyes and concentrated on Zina’s signature. The frost that hit so hard and beautiful. And those purple flowers that bloomed right after the first snow, as if they only came out of adversity.