Firewalker (Worldwalker 2)

I chased him for miles along the coast, then through a town, but he got away. He didn’t come to fight me. He just wanted to let us both know that he was here.

He outran you?

Lillian must be fueling him. I don’t know how much energy she can give him or how strong he is, but he was able to stay ahead of me. He couldn’t have done that without a witch.

How did she do it? I can feel the willstones of my claimed back in your world calling to me. Asking for power. But fueling them across the worlds would be so hard.

Hard or not, she figured it out.

Breakfast turned to Una. “They’re doing it again,” he said.

“You guys talk with your eyes, you know,” Una told Lily and Rowan.

“Not with our eyes,” Rowan said. “It’s called mindspeak. You call it telepathy in this world.”

Rowan, don’t!

“I have to, Lily,” Rowan yelled. “Carrick is here for you—and if Lillian can send him, she can send others. You need a coven to protect you, and you need it now.”

“He’s right,” Samantha said, breaking the tense silence. “She won’t stop. Neither would you.” Samantha went to Lily and kissed her on the forehead. “Good night, everyone. You’re all welcome to stay,” she said before shuffling upstairs to bed.

I’m scared, Rowan.

I know. You need to trust me, Lily.

“Did you just say ‘coven’? As in, a witches’ coven?” Una asked carefully.

“Yes,” Rowan answered. He paused.

Lily sighed and nodded, reluctantly giving her consent. “Go ahead,” she said.

“Lily is a witch. A very powerful one. When she went missing it was because she was taken to another world. That’s where I’m from—a parallel world where witches and their mechanics, who are the vessels for the witches’ power, run everything. All of you have the potential to be a mechanic like me. I’m going to give each of you a willstone like this,” he said, pulling out his huge smoke-colored stone that pulsed with eerie light, “and train you to be vessels for Lily’s power.”

Tristan, Breakfast, and Una stared silently at Rowan’s willstone, entranced. They could already feel what their minds were struggling to process.

“Your necklace,” Tristan said, his voice rough. They all turned to Lily.

She opened the collar of her shirt and allowed her three willstones to shimmer with her strength. All three of her potential mechanics pulled in deep breaths and held them.

“Are you sure about this, Rowan?” Lily asked, already craving the stones they didn’t yet wear.

“It’s the only way,” he replied sadly. He turned to Tristan, Breakfast, and Una. “You must decide for yourselves. No one can force you into this. Do you want to learn more?”

“What kind of power are we talking about here?” Tristan asked.

“What kind do you want?” Rowan replied, holding his gaze.

Tristan smiled slowly. “I’m listening.”

Breakfast and Una shared a look. Una turned to Rowan. “You had me at coven,” she said in her unflappable way. “Keep going.”

“Breakfast?” Rowan turned to him. “This has to be your choice,” he said firmly.

Breakfast nodded. “Just tell me I don’t have to drink blood or worship a goat or anything like that,” he said, grimacing.

“No. Breakfast—it’s nothing like that,” Lily said, shaking her head and trying not to laugh. “Magic isn’t some creepy cult. It’s more like science. Basically, my body is a crucible and it can transmute matter and energy. I can’t create something out of nothing, but I can take energy from one source, like this heat,” she said, reaching a hand toward the flames in the fireplace. Her willstones pulsed with light and a small witch wind moaned eerily through the room. “And I use the crystals of my willstones to alter the vibration of the heat’s energy. Changing the vibration changes the fundamental nature of the energy without losing any of the power. So, right now I’m changing the heat of the fire directly into physical force. But I can’t use this force myself. I need a vessel.” She gave the force to Rowan. His willstone flared, his head tipped back, and his eyes hooded in pleasure. Tristan regarded Rowan’s reaction intently, intrigued.

“Follow me,” Rowan said, and led them all outside. “Watch carefully.” He grinned and then it seemed as if he’d disappeared. Everyone looked around, confused. “Up here,” Rowan called. They followed his voice and found him halfway up a tree on the other side of the street. “I’ll move more slowly,” he called. They all watched him jump from the tree, to a rooftop, and then execute a graceful backflip before landing next to Lily.