Tore placed his hands over mine. He kept one firmly against Bodie’s chest, and tugged the other away so it hovered over the frost covered grass. “Hold your hands like this. Now, draw up energy from the earth, and mold it into the shape of a bowl, like it’s clay. Energy’s easily manipulated, Allie. With strong enough intention, you can make it do whatever you want it to.”
It took a tremendous amount of restraint to not roll my eyes at Tore’s assertion that one could shape energy to one’s will. He, Bodie, Mack, and Johann all stared at me so earnestly, I had zero doubt they actually believed this mumbo jumbo. And since I was not in the mood to disappoint all four of my protectors in one day, I played along.
“Okay, fine. Energy bowl. Easy peasy.” I filled my cheeks with air and exhaled. For the first time in my life, I tried to draw energy in, instead of pushing it away or shutting it down. My eyes zeroed in on the grass and the calm, white energy that hovered just above it. I took another slow breath, imagined my hands were straws, then sucked the white energy into my hand.
I gasped out loud as the energy pulled up with ease and coiled into a loose ball in my hand. It felt like I’d just molded a scoop of peanut butter.
“That’s good. Now make an impression in the center for the bowl,” Tore instructed.
I looked at him incredulously. “Can you see it?”
“Of course.” He grinned. “I have the same sight you do. I got it from my mother.”
I glanced at Bodie, who shrugged. “I can’t see anything. My parents weren’t healers. But I can feel it when you guys move energy around—it tickles.”
Whoa. Before I could lose concentration, I exhaled, letting the movement of my breath send a pulse through my left hand. The ball formed into a small bowl. It hovered above my palm, then lowered to the ground at my feet. It was ready to receive whatever I sent it.
Holy mother!
“Good.” Tore tapped my right arm. “Now, take a portion of Bodie’s energy, and place it in the bowl.”
I hesitated. “I . . . I don’t want to hurt him.”
Bodie raised one eyebrow. “Gonna take more than a little energy draw to hurt me. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
All right, here goes nothing. I checked my grounding and expanded the circle of stability around me. Then I began to pull. Bodie’s blue-green energy flowed into my right hand, danced along my armor, and slid down my left arm. Sweat broke out on Bodie’s brow, and I heard the mashing of molars as he ground his teeth. But at Tore’s nod, I kept pulling. The once-empty bowl slowly pooled with Bodie’s essence, and without warning, my friend let out a cry. Bodie’s legs shook violently for a beat before he dropped to his knees.
“Yes! That’s when you kill him. Knife through the heart.” Tore mimed a stabbing motion with one hand.
“What? Is he okay?” I shrieked. I fell on the ground beside my friend, throwing my arms around him. Bodie’s skin had paled, and he was bathed in a thin sheen of sweat. But he was still breathing. Please, be okay. Please be okay.
“Bodie’s going to be fine. You just have to reverse the draw. Now, funnel the energy back,” Tore commanded. Bodie’s thin sheen of sweat had advanced to a steady gush. He looked like he was in agony.
Crap! I placed one hand on Bodie’s chest and the other above the bowl. With another cleansing breath, I reversed the process. On my inhale, I sucked in the blue-green energy through my left palm. On my exhale, I sent it back to Bodie through my right. Over and over, I repeated the process, until there was nothing left in the bowl. But Bodie didn’t move—he just lay on the ground, sweating. Come on, Bodie! Open your eyes! After a slow eternity, a smile crossed Bodie’s face, and his eyelids fluttered open. He looked up at Tore with a wink.
“She’s ready,” Bodie declared. Johann gave a whoop of excitement as relief crashed over me.
“Well done, Allie.” Mack’s gentle voice came from my side. He’d been so quiet, I’d forgotten he was there.
“Ready for what?” I asked. If they thought I was ready to just go out on a Nott-killing mission, I strongly disagreed.
Tore gave me a wicked grin. “We have a little surprise for you. Let’s go to the complex now.”
Have mercy. I fervently hoped I wasn’t walking straight into Tore’s pepper spray revenge.
****
“Are you people insane?” I whirled to face each of my protectors in turn. Since they all blinked calmly back at me, the answer was clearly ‘you betcha.’ I turned back around and jabbed my finger toward the creature bound and blindfolded in a folding chair. “That is a night elf. A night elf! Tied up in the complex. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Tore narrowed his gaze. “I’m not letting the first night elf you kill be out in battle. You need a test run before we start jumping realms. We never know what we’re going to run into, even in a light realm, and we need to know you’re ready for anything.”
Crap. Part of me felt bad. Sure, night elves were awful, but this particular one wasn’t trying to kill me at the moment. It was tied to a chair, defenseless.
Tore handed me a weapon. When I grabbed it, the tip lit up with a fierce blue fire.
“Make your bowl,” Tore commanded. With a glare, I drew up energy from the wooden floor of the barn and formed a repository at my feet. Bodie and Johann crossed to the weapon wall and suited up. When they were fully loaded with swords, maces, and some weird sticks on chains, they each took their positions at my left and right sides. I guessed they were ready to intervene if it looked like I was going to die or something. Awesome.
Mack crossed to the chair and began sawing through the night elf’s ropes with a sharp blade. He was cutting it loose?
“What the hell are you doing?” I shrieked.
Tore spoke calmly, as if he were talking me through a routine weight drill—not unleashing a dark elf on a perfectly nice co-ed. “Now, you won’t be able to put your hand on a night elf’s chest and ask him to wait patiently while you weaken his energy. You need to do an energy draw each time you punch or hit him. With more training, you’ll be able to siphon his essence without even touching him.”
The night elf hissed—he’d nearly broken free from his ropes. I tried not to panic as I tightened my grip on my sword. Tore grabbed a long blade from the wall case and stood behind the writhing elf as Mack hacked the last of the bindings from the elf’s legs. Once free, the demon leapt to his feet, shifting his weight back and forth in a fighting stance. I probably should have been grateful the guys hadn’t given the night elf a weapon—I supposed this was their way of taking it easy on me. But terror gripped my heart as the elf paced in the small space between us. My dominant emotion at the moment was fear—not gratitude. I still wasn’t sure I could just kill someone, even if that someone was a night elf.