“I can feel both of yours.” I licked my lips. “It’s…horrible. My power’s on the verge of exploding to push yours away. I don’t know how long I can hold out. Whoever takes—” I grunted, feeling Pearl’s power surge a little. “Pearl, don’t do that. I can’t hold if you—” Her power surged again, not much, but just enough so that mine reacted. “Shit!”
Well, I learned something new. An explosion can be invisible. It wasn’t seen but it was most definitely felt. It was like a mini-grenade went off when my power instinctively surged to epic extremes, making theirs counter and surge all at once. And…boom.
All four of us shouted as we went flying high into the air away from one another with a force that took my breath away and cut my shout short. Then, I was falling. Screaming, I watched the ground come at me faster than I had left it, I was pretty sure. I tucked. There was nothing else to do as I hit the ground.
Sinking in to the softest dirt I had ever felt, my screaming abruptly cut off in shock. I kept going down, the ground bowing like I had fallen on a trampoline, until the force of my fall died away, and then the silky earth was pushing me back up slowly to the even surface where it hardened to normal grass and dirt beneath me. From where I lay, I glanced around frantically, and saw King Fergus with his arms raised, eyes glowing.
My best friends were on the ground like me, all of us dazed. I was pretty sure Pearl and Jack could have saved themselves on a normal day from that fall, but it felt like my power was fried right now, which meant theirs probably were, too. King Fergus had just saved all of our behinds.
King Nelson sauntered out of the shade into the sun — smiling — as King Fergus’s hands lowered, his eyes no longer glowing. King Nelson folded his own hands together, appearing as happy as a clam, and said, “Let’s try that again, shall we?”
“I hate them,” I muttered, two hours later.
Pearl and Ezra were currently holding hands.
Looking sickly, Jack stared at Ezra’s outstretched free hand.
We hadn’t gotten past three of us linked. Whoever was in the middle always blasted us across the lawn. The Kings found this entirely amusing. They had even had Mrs. Jonas bring them lawn chairs and drinks so they could sit comfortably to watch the show and not be parched from the heat.
My wolf growled. “If we didn’t need King Fergus right now, I’d say kill them all.”
King Venclaire laughed outright, sitting safely away from us, and leaned over as he murmured to the other Kings, probably tattling on me.
“Hurry up,” Ezra hissed, gritting his teeth.
“I don’t want to,” Jack mumbled.
“What are you, like, two?” Pearl muttered. “Grab his damn hand.”
“Screw you,” Jack retorted, but without much conviction. I didn’t blame him. This was awful. Inhaling deeply, he lifted his hand and slowly set it on Ezra’s, closing his glowing eyes, jolting at the contact.
Ezra’s head fell back, muscles cording in his neck, his Vampire growling furiously.
I blinked gradually as a crawling thought arose. Maybe, we had been going at this too slow. Ezra had said hurry up. We kept grumbling between grabbing the other’s hand, the suffering drawing out. Possibly, it should be handled like a bandaid. Rip it off and be done with it. I held up my hands and said quickly, “Everyone, drop hands! I have an idea!”
They groaned, their heads tucked down, all of them physically shaking. Ezra was panting and his fangs were fully extended, appearing like he wanted to use them to rip my throat out, whereas Jack and Pearl looked like they wanted to use their bare hands to rip my throat out.
I said hurriedly, “It’s not a bad idea. Hurry and drop hands before we get blown away again.” Their bodies shook more. “What could it hurt? Drop your hands!” Hurrying was the key.
As they debated silently, I felt their power rising… They quickly dropped hands.
I rubbed my own hands together, feeling my power zing between my palms. I was giddy I might be right. “Okay, here goes.” They were each gasping, bending over with their hands on their knees. “At the Awakening, they touched each other quickly.” I paused, slapping my hands together. “We do it like them. Fast. We quit lollygagging around, and get it done.” I grinned.
They glared.
“That’s your great idea?” Jack asked sarcastically, wiping his brow, and then his eyebrows slammed together and he looked at the ground.
My smile dimmed. “It’s not a bad one.” I pointed at the lounging Kings. “They do it that way.”
Pearl’s lips thinned, but she didn’t say anything.
“Maybe,” Ezra straightened, cracking his neck, “we should try it.”
Jack arched, popping his back. He had dirt on his cheek, and his brown, glowing eyes lifted to mine. “That was rude of me. I’m sorry. It’s not a bad idea.” A sheepish expression. “I’ve never failed this much before. I’m not used to it and I’m not handling it well.”
My grin brightened once more. I reached to pat his shoulder but quickly yanked my hand back, remembering I couldn’t touch him, plus, he wouldn’t want it now with only my pure power in my palm. “That’s alright, but let’s try it. Remember, do it quick.” I held out my hand to him, feeling hopeful.