The Lightning-Struck Heart (Tales From Verania 1)

“Yes. Running. Running is my plan.”

“Why are we running?” Ryan muttered. “We can take them. There’s only two of them.”

“And a shitload of fire geckos,” I reminded him, “that want to set you on fire, then eat you.”

“I’m not scared of little lizards,” he scoffed.

“Then you can stay here,” I said. “It’s been nice knowing you. Tiggy, you know what to do. Sack of potatoes.”

Tiggy grinned and popped his knuckles.

“Why don’t you just do some magic?” Ryan asked, and for some reason, his pupils dilated and his voice went slightly hoarse. “You could… uh. You know. Do magic. All over them. Just. Get it out there and do it.”

“Oh my gods,” Gary said. “Seriously? That’s what does it for you?”

“Does what?” I asked. “What the hell? And I just can’t do magic all over them.” Even though I probably could. I couldn’t tell him I didn’t want to take the chance of us getting swarmed by fire geckos and me unable to do anything to stop them from hurting him. Them. Stop the fire geckos from hurting them.

“What are they whispering about?” Dark the First asked.

“Gods only know,” Dark the Second said. “Do you hear that? Sounds like… rumbling.”

“Must be your stom

ach. You didn’t eat breakfast. I told you to eat breakfast.”

“You know I’m not a breakfast person.”

“What does that even mean? Everyone eats breakfast. You don’t hear people saying they’re not a lunch person or not a dinner person.”

“I just don’t like chewing in the mornings,” Dark the Second said. “There’s something weird about walking up from sleeping for eight hours and then putting food in your mouth.”

“How is that weird?” Dark the First asked incredulously. “Literally everyone does it. Literally.”

“I really wish you’d stop saying literally,” Dark the Second said. “I literally don’t think you understand what that word means.”

“We should probably try and put that tree fire out,” Dark the First said. “It’s literally hurting me to watch it burn.”

“Stop,” the second Dark moaned. “I’m begging you. Please stop.”

“You’re literally begging me.”

“No I’m—wait. That one was right. I was literally begging you. Okay, maybe you get it now. Sort of. Just restrict your future uses as much as possible and we’ll be fine and why are they running away?”

And we were. As soon as I gave the signal, Ryan squawked as Tiggy picked him up and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, running in the opposite direction of the Darks. Gary quickly followed, little plumes of dust kicking up around his hooves, the packs on his back sliding left and right.

I took up the rear, looking back over my shoulder as the Darks shouted after us. The air around Dark the First began to shimmer and I knew. And even though he was too far away for me to hear him speak, I knew the words that were going to come out of his mouth, what his first attack would be. It was in the shift in the air. The flash of blue, cold and electric. The hairs on my arm stood on end as the smell of ozone filled my nose.

The fire geckos roared in the woods, already near the edge.

Dark the First muttered dark syllables.

His hands twitched and he began to conduct his symphony, thunder loud and lightning struck.

Electricity bolted from his hands, arcing toward me. I had the time to hear Ryan shout in warning, a cry filled with fear and anguish, and I felt my magic settle even further, another piece of the cornerstone locking into place, whether I wanted it to or not. It felt like ease and wonderment and coming home home home. I was bright and heartsore because it was a taste of what it could be like. A mere shadow of how great it could be.

But it was enough for this moment. For now. For good.

I didn’t have to think or speak. There was something flitting along the edges of my vision and tongue, like memory or déjà vu. It rankled that it was so close, like a dream faded but not forgotten. Not completely.