The Brightest Night (Origin 3)

“Breathing?” Grayson suggested.

Snark point two to Grayson.

“With us, it would be summoning the Source. Like this.” White crackling light danced over his knuckles. “All I did was summon it.”

I stared at the Source. “What do you mean by summon it?”

“Man.” Grayson sighed. “This is going to be a long day.”

Snark point three to Grayson.

I was really falling behind on the snark points.

“What I mean is that I called it from here.” Luc placed his hand on his sternum, the central part of his chest. “Do you feel it there?”

“I…” I trailed off, unsure. Did I feel something there? “I don’t know. What does it feel like?”

“You don’t know what it feels like?” Derision dripped like syrup from Grayson’s tone.

“You’re about to feel my knee in your junk,” I snapped. “Let me know how that feels.”

Grayson shoved the Blow Pop into his mouth. Snark point two to Evie.

Luc’s lips twitched. “To me, it feels like … a coiled rope nestled in the chest.”

A coiled rope? Well, nope. I did not feel that.

“Doesn’t feel like that to me.” Grayson drew one knee up, resting his arm on it.

“How does it feel to you?” Luc asked.

The Luxen lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “It feels like restless energy. A buzz. Sometimes all over. Sometimes in the sternum.”

Heart rate kicking up, I glanced at Grayson. Now that I had felt. Often.

Luc’s gaze sharpened on me. “Is that how it feels to you, Evie?”

“I’ve felt more restless since the Cassio Wave, especially lately. Like I can’t sit still.” I placed my hand on my chest. “And I have felt it start here, like a weird antsy feeling. I figured it was just because of everything that was happening.”

Luc shook his head as the Source disappeared from his hand. “It’s the Source in you. You’re going to feel more wired than you did before.”

“Ha. Look at me.” Grayson smiled around the stick. “Being actually helpful.”

He had been.

Ugh.

Whatever.

“Okay. Do you feel it now?” Luc’s gaze roamed over me. The small grin returned. “I’m thinking you are.”

I stilled, realizing I’d been slowly swaying back and forth.

“Listen to your body.” Luc’s voice was closer, quieter.

I wasn’t sure how to listen to my body, but I focused on why I’d been swaying in the first place. The antsy energy was there. I hadn’t noticed it, but it was like a buzz in my veins. Yes. A buzz. Like a low electrical current, but it wasn’t just in my veins. I could feel it in the center of my chest. I pressed the heel of my palm in, and there was something there.

My gaze flew to Luc’s. “I can feel it.”

He smiled. “Good. Now I want you to call on it.” He must’ve read my confusion, because he added, “I want you to picture this.” The Source flared to life along his knuckles once more. “I want you to picture you doing this.”

My gaze lifted from his hand to his face and then fell back to his hand. “It’s that easy? I just picture it and bam! I have electric fingers?”

He laughed. “Calling on the Source is easy. Using the Source to do what you want is a whole different story, but like we already know, you’re able to do amazing things with it already.”

“Scary things,” I amended.

“Powerful things.” His eyes met and held mine when I lifted my gaze. “That’s what you’re able to use the Source for. Powerful things, Evie.”

That was right.

What I’d done to April, what I’d done in those woods, and even what I’d done when I’d started to lose it a couple of nights ago, all had been powerful. The trick was to control it.

I glanced down at my hand still pressed to my chest. The hum of energy was still there. It was always there. Maybe even before the Cassio Wave had been used, and I hadn’t recognized it, but I felt it now.

“All I had to do was picture it? And that was it?”

“Yes,” Luc said. “That’s it.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Really?”

Grayson sighed so heavily, I was surprised he didn’t blow us away. “Yes. It’s that easy.” His head cocked to the side as he spoke around the stick. “It should be. Unless there’s something else wrong with you.”

I shot him a death glare. “There’s nothing else wrong with me except for the fact you’re here.”

“Wait.” The Source winked out once more as Luc frowned. “You’ve never tried to summon it before?”

“Well…” I shifted my weight from foot to foot as both guys stared at me. “I mean, not really.”

Luc blinked.

“What?” The lollipop slid out as Grayson’s mouth dropped open. He caught it before it could hit the floor. “You haven’t even tried to use the Source? Not once?”

“No.” Feeling about seven different kinds of defensive, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why would I? Do I need to remind you two what happened the only times I’ve used the Source? Not only did I have no control, two out of those three times, I had no idea who I was. Why would I go around purposely summoning something that could potentially hurt the people I care about? You’re not included in that statement.” I glared at Grayson, and he frowned. “And let’s not forget that everything just happened.”