No. He couldn’t think about that. Not now. Shey needed his help.
Turning toward Drayce, he smiled at his friend. “Could you grab me a bottle of water out of the SUV? Also, see if there is something that I can pour the water into.”
“Gotcha!” Drayce said before jogging off toward the SUV.
Caelan turned to Shey and grinned. “All right, your turn.”
“What?” Shey gasped, stumbling a step backward. “I think that’s a little fast. You barely tried anything, and it didn’t turn out how you wanted.”
“Yes, but talking you through using your gift might help me with mine.” Caelan placed his hand on Shey’s elbow and pulled him away from the others, positioning him so that he was facing the open field rather than their vehicle. No reason to risk the SUV and leave them trapped out in the middle of nowhere until they could be rescued by someone from the palace.
“This is a bad idea,” Shey grumbled.
“My mother didn’t explain much about the gift from the Goddess of Life, but she was adamant about one thing: you can’t be afraid of this power, or you’ll never learn how to use it. You will have wasted this amazing gift and honor. You will have helped no one.”
Caelan’s words seemed to help, because Shey straightened his shoulders and nodded.
“Okay. I can do this. Kaes believes in me,” Shey murmured.
“And he likes your hair,” Caelan tossed out.
Shey twisted around to look at Caelan, his eyes narrowed as if he didn’t believe him at all.
“I’m serious. He was the one who mentioned it. He likes the color.” Caelan didn’t see any point in mentioning that Kaes was skeptical of Shey. Didn’t matter. Caelan believed in him. Shey was going to make the God of Storms and all the people of Caspagir proud. Caelan believed that above all things.
Drayce jogged over with a bottle of water in one hand and a small plastic bowl that appeared as if it belonged to a camping mess kit. “It’s the best I could find.”
Caelan accepted both with a smile. “This should be fine.”
He walked a few feet away from Shey and kneeled down. Placing the bowl in the spot where the grass had gotten flattened, Caelan unscrewed the cap, sneaked a quick drink, and then filled the bowl with half the water. He stood again, handing the bottle of water to Drayce before motioning for Eno, Rayne, and Drayce to back up toward the SUV while he moved over to stand beside Shey.
“When I was learning to use the gift I received from Tula, my mother and her bodyguard Hagen used fire as my focal point. I didn’t draw power from the fire. The power was already in here.” He tapped the center of Shey’s chest near his heart. “You pull the power from within you and direct it to use on your focal point. Since you are near the ocean and Kaes has blessed you, I thought water might be a good choice for your focal point.”
“Okay, so what did you tell your power to do to the fire?”
Caelan hesitated. He didn’t want Shey just simply imitating him. He wanted the man exploring what his own gift could do. But, on the other hand, it could give him a safe starting point from which to launch that exploration.
“I told it that I wanted to create a shield to protect my friends.” Caelan turned to ask for a lighter, but Rayne had already pulled one out of his pocket. He flicked it, cupping his hand around it to shield it from the wind. When the flint sparked and caught the fluid inside, Rayne lifted his hand away and confidently stared at him. May the gods always protect Rayne. This was the first time Caelan was attempting this while the power of Tula and Kaes vibrated through his body. Please don’t let him hurt Rayne.
But as he’d just told Shey, he couldn’t fear his powers.
The two gifts twined together in his chest, twisting and writhing like two snakes. Tula remained a warm, pulsing force of life while Kaes’s power was cool and untamed. Reaching out his right hand as if he were grabbing the flames, he whipped his hand over their heads. The power within him easily zipped from the flame to a point over their heads with surprising ease. There was a brief burst of green-and-blue light before it cascaded down over them in a wide dome of sparkling light. The protective sphere was significantly larger than he’d ever created in the past. Big enough to not only surround all five of them but the SUV parked near the side of the road.
“This is what you told the gift to create? What I need to instruct it to do with the water?” Shey asked in a kind of awed whisper.