Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

“Gladly.”

19

Lessons

“That’s it, Caia. Hold it … hold it … hold it.”

Caia’s head ached with the pain of trying to contain the water. Marion set up a heavy-duty hose in the backyard and was attempting to train Caia to control it. Right now, instead of the water pouring out directly and falling with gravity, she had Caia separate the water flow into two halves spraying in opposite directions. It was the strangest feeling, having to reach beneath herself and tap into the energy she now felt hovering above the source she used for her wolf side. The trace buzzing above the lykanthrope energy was sharp and airy—like steel vapor, her lykanthrope more a tingling heat.

The first day of training was frustrating as she kept tapping into her lykan trace, fur exploding across her body at the slightest attempt to harness her magik. But the amount of focus it took was keeping her heartache at bay and allowing her to function normally.

Well …

As normal as she could be.

Although she felt heartache at the truth of her family’s past, she also felt a weird sense of relief and freedom from finally knowing the truth. She doubted the new lease on life she felt was an entirely “human” or normal reaction to the situation, but her embarrassing emotional breakdown when she first heard the news was human enough for her, thank you very much.

So now on the third day of training, she’d finally conquered her dueling energies when Marion threw off her focus with her obnoxious cheerleading-coach persona. She’d obviously had way too much caffeine.

“Marion,” she warned between clenched teeth, the pain in her forehead increasing.

Marion laughed, clapping her hands. She was wonderful, she really was, but she also had a perverse sense of humor. At Caia’s warning, Marion magiked a whistle out of thin air and started blowing the damn thing, jumping from one foot to the other. “Go, Caia, go, Caia, go, go, go, Caia! Whhhiieettt!” She blew the shrill whistle and was abruptly silenced by a spray of water to the face.

Caia snorted, letting the water return to its natural flow.

Instead of frowning, Marion smiled brightly. “Very good, Caia—directing a third stream of the water in another direction. We’ll just forget the fact that it was into my face …” She frowned, glancing down at the whistle around her neck. “I think you literally wet my whistle.”

Caia collapsed onto the grass. “My head aches.”

“It will at first.” Marion gracefully sat beside her.

“What next, then?”

“Well, I think we should soon work on creating water from air.”

“And I do that how?”

“You think about it, and it will happen.”

Caia grunted. Marion made it sound like a piece of cake. It wasn’t.

Caia asked from the very beginning of her training why she had the power to harness water. If she was going to be this weird hybrid of lykan and witch, shouldn’t she have really cool powers? Not some weak ability to quench her thirst whenever she wanted. Marion wasn’t amused by her blasé opinion of a water witch. Apparently, it was one of the most powerful kinds.

“You see, Caia,” she relayed patiently, as if to a child, “there are four kinds of magik: Water, Fire, Air, and Earth.”

“Wasn’t that a band?”

“You’re thinking of Earth, Wind & Fire. Please, Caia, can you take this seriously? It is pivotal to everyone that you take this seriously.”

She sobered at the reminder of her great destiny, whatever that meant. “So the elements, huh?”

“Yes,” Marion said primly. “I’m a fire witch. I can harness fire.” She stroked the air with her fingers and a flame appeared in front of her.

Caia jumped back in surprise. “Whoa.”

“I can control it.” The flame danced across the room while Marion sat looking at it, not moving. “I can manipulate it.” The flame suddenly roared, nearly scorching the ceiling.

“Holy Artemis!” Caia cried. “You could warn a person before you do that.”

The witch merely smiled and the flame disappeared as it if it had never existed. “A fire magik is one of the most powerful,” she explained without arrogance. “However, a water magik is more powerful because of the obvious.”

“In a fight, we can douse you.” Caia nodded in understanding.

“Exactly. We can use fire to destroy, but so can you with water. I fought a water magik from the Midnight Coven a few years ago. He almost killed me.” Her voice lowered at the memory. “He was able to fill my lungs with water, asphyxiating me. If it hadn’t been for the opportune arrival of my brother-in-law, Vanne, who is a powerful water warlock himself, I most certainly would have died.”

“What did Vanne do?” Caia asked in awe. This woman had seen and done things she couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“He wrapped the enemy warlock in a cocoon of water, and he drowned. In doing so, his power over me was broken, and the water disappeared from my lungs.”