by Raine Thomas
“Oh my gosh!” Skye hurried closer to the table, leaning between James and Olivia. “Is that pepperoni? And that one has sausage? I can’t believe it! Who do I have to kiss for this?”
Every male at the table raised his hand, making her burst into laughter. Caleb pulled a chair out for her and she sat down to eat. She was finishing her third slice and seriously considering a fourth when she noticed him studying her. He wasn’t eating since he had eaten breakfast that morning.
“What?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I’m wondering if you’re going to end up twice the size of Amber and Olivia since you’re carrying twins.”
All conversation ceased as everyone turned to stare at them.
Her eyebrow quirked, she said, “You know, most women don’t really like it when a guy points out that they’re going to be swelling in size. We’re pretty sensitive about it, even if we are about to eat another piece of pizza.” She reached out and slid a slice onto her plate. “And yes…I’ll be bigger around the middle than they will be.” Then she grinned and added, “But I’ll be absolutely adorable.”
After another moment of considering silence, Knorbis exchanged a look with Ini-herit and said, “Well, that explains your early symptoms.” He smiled. “We certainly did wonder.”
“How do you know you’re having twins?” Olivia asked. She also wore a smile.
Skye looked pointedly at Caleb. He flushed.
“I dreamed about them,” he said at last. “I seem to have acquired Skye’s foresight.”
Taking the response in stride, Amber asked, “Boys or girls?”
“No, no, no,” Skye said around a bite of pizza. “We’ve got to save some surprises, after all.”
“Aw, you’re no fun,” Amber grumbled. “Well, I guess you won’t need me to heal any morning sickness every day like I’ve been doing for Liv, since you can heal yourself now.”
“I feel great,” Skye said. “But thanks.”
The conversation continued about mundane things, deliberately not touching on the coming battle or the test of abilities to come. Once the food was cleared away, they played a couple of games with cards and dice, teaching the elders who hadn’t already learned the games how to play. By the time they headed to bed, Skye’s eyes were drooping.
Caleb swept her up into his arms and carried her up the stairs to their room, obviously sensing her exhaustion.
You know I didn’t mean to embarrass you earlier, right?
She smiled against his chest as she stifled a yawn. Of course. I know you can’t wait to see my belly grow. It’s all just baffling to you because you’ve never seen a pregnant woman before.
He kissed the top of her head. It’s nice to be so well understood.
She knew exactly what he meant. And she hoped beyond measure that their understanding of each other would aid them in their efforts the following day. She sensed they were going to need it.
The sun had been up for several hours when they all gathered outside Gabriel’s home the next morning. Caleb stood behind Skye, resting his hands on her shoulders as the elders discussed the best approach to take in regards to the testing. His gaze drifted down to the symbol on the back of her neck as if to remind himself just how connected they now were. He lightly ran his thumb over it, fighting a smile when she shivered and glanced at him over her shoulder.
“I think we should take Amber and Skye to the waterfall to experiment with their abilities,” Gabriel said. “The rock and water in the area will probably be good conduits for their energy if we’re thinking this is elementally based. I know Skye also draws her power from the air, but she seems to be stable right now.”
“And that way we won’t bring the castle’s walls down on top of our heads,” Amber added pragmatically.
“It’s got my vote,” Skye said. “And it’s in the forest, so Liv and James can continue testing their abilities with the animals.”
No one had any better suggestions, so they soon all started in the direction of the forest housing the waterfall on Gabriel’s property. When they got to within twenty feet of the tree line, Olivia came to a stop. They all turned to look at her. Her eyes were glowing.
“It’s more,” she said, reaching for James’ hand. “The feeling is different now than it was yesterday. I can still hear all of the voices, but it’s like Amber and Skye described. Like it’s going to burst from me.”
James’ eyes started glowing the moment she touched him. He stiffened in obvious shock. “Oh.”
“I have to…” she said almost absently, then trailed off as she and James started again toward the forest.
Caleb couldn’t fully comprehend what happened next. It seemed the closer Olivia and James got to the forest, the more energy seemed to fill the air. The forest came alive. The trees vibrated with a resonance that bordered on song. Patches of earth that had been worn down to dirt suddenly sprouted with new shoots of grass and flowers.
They all continued into the forest, watching and evaluating. Olivia’s body started to tremble.
“I need an outlet,” she said, and before anyone could respond, she released James and placed both hands on a tree that was obviously dead.
Green light exploded in a nova that had all of them shielding their eyes. Caleb instinctively spun so Skye was behind him. When the light faded, they all opened their eyes and turned to see what had happened.
The tree was once again very much alive. It now stood taller than any other tree in the forest, its branches full of lush leaves.
Olivia looked at her hands as if she didn’t recognize them. Her eyes were still glowing, though not as brightly. James touched her shoulder.
“You can renew life within nature,” Jabari said, gazing up at the tree.
Then Olivia knelt and touched her hand to the ground. The glow this time was much softer. When she lifted her hand, they saw the grass beneath it was brown.
“And I can take it away,” she said. Her expression was somber as she absorbed this new part of herself.
James looked up into the trees. He lifted a hand and made a twirling motion with it. A second later, thick green vines spilled from the trees closest to them. When he moved his hand, the vines swayed in rhythm with his motions. He nodded.
“It seems we can control plants as well as animals,” he said, rubbing Olivia’s shoulder.
“That’s great, you guys!” Skye said enthusiastically.
Caleb was sure he was the only one who knew how strained she was. He perceived her fear over managing her power, as well as her sense of responsibility for wielding it judiciously. He also knew that this was the first time she had realized just how very powerful she and her sisters had become.
This eighteen-year-old, half-human female who chimed when she walked, smelled like a bouquet of wildflowers and was dressed just as colorfully—the young woman he loved with all of his heart—was now one of the three most powerful beings in the world.
“Well, Liv and James didn’t knock the trees down,” Amber pointed out, glancing around. “I’ll take that as a good sign.”
For the first time since her eyes started glowing, Olivia smiled. Amber reached over and patted her sister’s arm.
“Let’s see what else we’ve got, eh?”
They continued on, heading to the waterfall. Caleb still remembered the day several months ago when he and his brothers had come to this spot to collect the sisters, who had been taking a much-needed break from their intense training, so they could bring them back to the castle to finish the day’s lessons. The sisters had been told they had to be back in two hours, but Gabriel had figured they’d lose track of time and have to be nudged into returning. When the brothers came upon the waterfall, it was to find the sisters swimming.
They’d all been completely naked.
Skye elbowed him as the memory filled his mind. He grinned.
“I see what you meant, Olivia,” Amber said as they neared the large, rocky outcropping marking the location of the waterfall.
Caleb r
ealized her eyes had started glowing. He glanced at Skye since they were near the water, but her eyes were still normal. She was focused intently on Amber.
Gabriel’s eyes glowed as he tapped into Amber’s growing energy. He frowned and his jaw clenched, telling them how intense the power was. Amber’s hands started shaking as she walked even closer to the rocks.
You’re going to have to expend some of it, he heard Gabriel communicate.
I know, she returned.
Sweat broke out on her brow as she reached out to touch a large rock. There was a resounding crack as the rock broke clean in half.
That’s not enough, she thought. I can’t—uh, oh.
“Get down!” Gabriel yelled.
Caleb grabbed Skye around her waist and dove to the ground, trying to keep her from too much impact. They felt a wall of heat sear overhead. Gabriel cursed loudly.
When the immediate danger had passed, they all scrambled back to their feet. It seemed half the forest was now on fire.
“I’m sorry!” Amber said, standing with her hands on her knees. Her breathing was choppy. “I wasn’t expecting that. I couldn’t control it.”
“We have to do something about this fire,” James said in a voice raised enough to combat the sound of the crackling flames. “It’s going to wipe out the forest.”
Caleb looked at Skye, whose eyes were huge. He squeezed her shoulder. Are you ready?
She wrung her hands and nodded. I have to be.
He knew how much extra time she had dedicated to her meditation techniques. Because she understood her nature very well, she had paid close attention to the lessons given to her by Knorbis and Malukali, knowing they would be of the most use to her. After her encounter with Grolkinei, however, she had dramatically increased her practice.
It was what was allowing her to stand there even now.
He wasn’t sure how she was doing it, in truth. Ever since their second group exchange of vows, a baffling amount of power simmered just beneath the surface. He felt it flowing through him and knew it had to be even more potent for her. As the elders had said at the Becoming ceremony, she drew her power from the air around her. He now realized after seeing the bursts of power experienced by Olivia and Amber just what Skye had been containing since she opened her eyes after the exchange of vows.
She awed him.
Walking over to the large pool of water at the base of the waterfall, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
I’ll lift the water, she conveyed. You direct it to the fire.
He nodded. After another moment during which she centered herself, her eyes started glowing. It was a much more gradual escalation than Olivia’s or Amber’s had been. He connected with her, feeling the power build as though from a deep well.
“You’re going to want to move if you don’t want to get wet,” he warned.
Everyone moved.
Skye held her hands out, palms up. The water in the pool started lifting. He looked to the sky and commanded a wind. Together, with her guiding the water up and him funneling the wind, they directed it to the raging fire. They drenched the trees until every last ember was extinguished. Then he released the wind and she lowered the water until all was still.
When her knees buckled, he caught her under the arms.
“Holy cow, Skye,” Amber said, coming up beside them. “That was fantastic!”
“You’ve got to teach us how you did that,” Olivia said. “Wow!”
He saw the tears in Skye’s eyes and knew they were happy tears. And well they should be. She had just established something she had feared she would never be able to.
Control.
PART IV:
Battle
Excerpts from the Great Foretelling:
“Even those of us who do not know what it is to battle will soon find something worth fighting for. And it will be love, hope and joy.”
“In the end, as it always has, it will come to good versus evil.”
Chapter Forty
They spent another two days at Gabriel’s testing their abilities and helping Olivia and Amber develop their control. Although the sisters wouldn’t likely be able to exercise their more volatile powers during the battle to come without potentially harming their fellow Estilorians, there was no arguing that their abilities were highly impressive.
After completing their testing, they headed back to Central to begin training everyone else. They had strategized over the best way to undertake planning for the forthcoming battle, but when Skye witnessed the sheer number of Estilorians awaiting them, she goggled.
How would they ever manage this?
She stood with her family on the outskirts of the main courtyard, looking out at the swarms of bodies in various states of training. Swords clashed, fists connected with flesh, wood bos clanked. Commanders and lieutenants called out instructions.
Just watching it all made her nerves rattle.
“They’re trying,” Amber said just loud enough for her family to hear. As yet, no one had noticed them. “But they’re not very, uh, cohesive.”
Skye realized her sister was right. Now that her attention had been drawn to it, she noticed that all of the Estilorians had segregated themselves by class. “Huh,” she said. “That doesn’t make a bit of sense. How’s an Orculesti supposed to learn to fight from another Orculesti? And how’s a Waresti going to learn to defend against a mental attack from another Waresti? We didn’t learn that way.”
“We need some kind of, I don’t know…team-building activity,” Olivia said. “They all have to learn to trust each other, or this will never work.”
“I don’t know that having everyone tell something about themselves is going to do any good,” Amber said, obviously remembering her school team-building experiences.
Skye sensed Caleb forming an opinion, but realized that he and her brothers were remaining silent. They evidently wanted to see what the girls could come up with to resolve this obvious problem.
“No, but maybe something physical to start,” Olivia said thoughtfully, looking around. “They’re all exerting themselves physically, so we know it would hold their interest.”
“We could create teams that include mixes of all of the classes and one of each of us,” Skye said. “But what can we do that could possibly include all of these Estilorians?”
Amber considered that. “You know, cohesiveness starts from the top down. Maybe we should start with something involving just the commanders and lieutenants. Everyone else can watch. Cheer.”
Olivia nodded in agreement. “So, we have eight different classes and us,” she said. “That makes nine players minimum per team.”
After a moment, the sisters all exchanged looks and grins. “Softball,” they all said at the same time.
It took the better part of an hour to get everyone’s attention and then convey the team-building idea to them. There were many skeptical and confused looks, but surprisingly, no one vocalized any complaints.
Caleb privately thought no one wanted to risk offending the sisters. It was a realization that actually made him want to howl with laughter.
They moved from the courtyard to the coliseum. Gabriel sent thoughts to the other elders in regards to what the field should look like and what equipment they would need. Sebastian and Caoilinn worked to produce bats, gloves, balls, helmets and protective gear for the positions called the “catcher” and the “umpire.” Olivia and James touched the ground and grew grass on the coliseum floor, leaving paths for what Gabriel explained were the bases and a round area carefully measured in the middle of the diamond-shaped field for the pitcher’s mound.
Amber worked with Blue, Brenna, Evangeline and a handful of other Lekwuesti who had traveled to Central to create special clothing for the event. Before long, a pile of blue shirts with lighter blue lettering and another pile of green shirts with lighter green lettering had been created. Another pile contained matching hats. The blue hats had an “S” inscribed on them and the green hat
s an “O.”
Eventually, all of the Estilorians who weren’t playing filed into the stands and took their seats. To further this team-building effort, the elders gave the instruction that everyone should make an effort to sit with those who weren’t members of their own class. For the most part, everyone complied.
The commanders, second commanders and lieutenants all lined up along the first base line. Behind them was what Gabriel called a dugout. There was a matching one on the third base line. Balls of light floated above the crowd.
“Okay,” Amber said, standing near the pitcher’s mound with her sisters on either side of her. “I’ll be umpiring this game. That means I’ll be calling balls and strikes behind the plate. James will umpire first base and Caleb third base. Gabriel will be behind second base. They’re all familiar with the rules of the game.
“There will be two teams: Olivia’s and Skye’s. They’ll be coaching and will pick the members for their teams one at a time, taking turns during the selection process. They’ll then create rosters that include nine starting players. The rest of you will be rotated out through the nine innings of the game.”
She turned to her sisters. She lifted the coin Sebastian had created for her. “Olivia won the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who would call the coin toss for home field advantage. Call it in the air.”
“Heads,” Olivia said when the coin left Amber’s thumb.
“Tails is showing,” Amber said after bending to retrieve the coin. “Skye’s team gets home field advantage and will have first pick.”
“Yay!” Skye said, clapping her hands. “Okay.”
When she turned to face the line of candidates, Caleb swore he noticed them each trying to stand a little straighter. He realized then that they all very much wanted to be picked first. It made him think of the day he awaited the announcement of the Gloresti pairings, causing a smile.
“Can we have a little tryout first?” she asked.
