I shook my head.
She gave me a warm smile that did nothing to ease my nerves. “I know this seems scary, but you can do it.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
My aunt straightened her back and raised her hand in front of the orb. “Put your hand out. Let the sphere draw your magic from you. Memorize every sensation. Learn how your magic feels when it’s flowing from you.”
Casey leaned in. “Also, don’t touch the ball. It’s like a portable black hole and will drain you dry.”
Laurel nodded calmly.
This was insanity. I didn’t trust these people. I sure as hell didn’t trust the werewolves. But I trusted my instincts, and they said I wasn’t going to survive long in this world unless I mastered my magic—whatever that meant—and learned who I really was.
I stuck my hand out and prepared to die.
Only I didn’t. “Nothing’s happening.”
“It’s not on yet.” Laurel traced her fingers along the runes, and a few started to glow blue.
Suddenly, a vortex of power surrounded me, a whirlpool drawing me toward the sphere. I felt vertigo, like I was falling through the limitless sky.
“What’s going on?” I stammered.
“The Sphere wants your magic. Let it have it. Relax. Concentrate on what you’re feeling.”
Pain.
No, not pain, cold. Like ice water trickling over my skin and through my veins. Cold that burned. I gritted my teeth as they began to chatter, and the skin of my arm turned pale. I tried to focus on the other sensations around me, but I could only think about the pain, because that’s what everything had become.
Beads of sweat stung my eye, but I blinked back the tears that pooled in the corners and stared down at the black orb, willing my magic to come.
Then like a dam breaking somewhere deep inside, cold water poured though my body. Tendrils of bluish-black smoke streamed off my arm, spiraling down into the orb. I gasped with fear and relief. Was that my magic?
It wasn’t fiery like Casey’s, but shadowy and sinister. Black magic. The dark arts. Maybe I didn’t want to find out what I was. Everything about this felt wrong. Dangerous.
Fear took root in my chest, and I tried to pull my hand back, but it wouldn’t budge. “That’s enough!”
The swirling sensations of cold and burning only intensified as my magic spiraled down int
o the ravenous orb. Panic gripped me, and my eyes flew to Aunt Laurel and Casey. What I saw on their faces chilled me to my core—disbelief and terror. Laurel started messing with the device, and Casey was shouting something I couldn’t hear.
A heart-crushing tightness grew in my chest, and I pressed my eyelids together, feeling tears wetting my cheeks. “Stop!”
Suddenly, a stinging pain exploded through my palm, and my body jerked backward. The couch I was sitting on screeched across the floor, colliding with the bookshelf behind us.
My body trembled from shock, and I heaved in a lungful of air. Apart from my gasps and the sound of a book dropping to the floor, the space was eerily silent. “What the hell was that?”
“Yeah. What the fuck, mom?” Casey snapped.
Laurel covered the orb. “That wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I’m sorry. You’re new to this and haven’t used your magic before. It was foolish of me to think this might work.”
She darted out of the room with the floating black orb and its platform, leaving Casey and me staring blankly at each other.
“It didn’t work? What would have happened if it had?” I shivered at the thought.
“No, it worked, all right.” Casey grinned. “You’ve just got a shit ton of crazy magic.”
“Is that supposed to be reassuring? Because it isn’t, you ass.” I shot to my feet and hugged my chest. “Did I just use my magic?”