hearing is perfect. I sniff and smell the scent of bacon coming from the kitchen below. That’s hardly new. I could smell bacon from across the state if I wanted it badly enough. Is it so hard to believe that I’ve simply been blessed with strong senses?
As I turn around and lean my back against the balcony rail, my eyes settle on my vanity. I can almost hear the pounding in my chest as a shiver runs down the length of my spine. My inner voice pleads for me to go to it. I move forward shakily and take a seat in front of the mirror. In its reflection, I look beyond my narrow shoulders to where the vase sits on my nightstand. It holds fresh pink flowers, just like it did in my dream. I don’t question how they got there or who put them there. None of that seems to matter.
I reach up to gently lift my necklace from my chest. I take a shaky breath then wrap my fingers around it until the entire stone is safely in my grip. I do my best to tune out every sound, thought, and feeling until I’m focused solely on the vase across the room. Then I squeeze the stone, combatting a conversation in my subconscious that tells me I’m being ridiculous for even entertaining my grandmother’s theory. Of course I can’t make it float in midair.
With a vigorous shake of my head, I force the negative thoughts away and clear my mind. I zoom in on the vase with my eyes until it’s in focus and everything around it tilts and blurs. My next mental command is so powerful, my muscles shake in reaction to the tension. Then I watch in astonishment as the vase rises and begins to float in midair.
Rose is outside by the pool when I go to look for her later that afternoon.
“You missed breakfast,” Rose says, irritation evident in her tone. She reclines on one of the lounge chairs beside the pool, beneath a multi-colored umbrella.
I choose not to speak. Instead, I stare across the pool and lock my eyes on a plant in a large ceramic pot. Seconds later, it rises off the ground, and I will it to move toward us. Rose gasps, and I lose my concentration. The pot falls and splashes into the pool.
I look over at my grandmother, who appears stunned. “I’ve been practicing.”
Her shock turns to glee, then she claps her hands enthusiastically. “Finally.” She sits up straight. “How does it feel?”
I’m having trouble finding my words. I didn’t exactly prepare for any of this. I’m just going with the flow, hoping something will click. All I know now is that I need to talk to someone, and whether I like it or not, Rose is the best person for that. “I don’t know, Rose. This is all so hard to come to terms with.”
“I know, dear, but it’s in you. It’s who you’ve always been—since birth. Don’t you see? You’ve never been strange or cursed. You’ve simply been becoming what you were always meant to be. You’ve got to see that now. That there’s been something in you just begging to be released?”
I can’t argue with her there. Then something clicks, and I have to ask, “Did my mom know about all of this?”
Rose nods, her eyes never leaving mine. “It’s why she kept you away, Katrina. She didn’t want you to become—” She sweeps a hand up and down, gesturing to all of me. “But there was no stopping it.”
“You spoke about divine intervention before. Are you saying that because she tried to keep me away from all of this, from you and from Apollo Beach, that it ended up killing her?”
Rose tilts her head, and I can see she’s trying to find the right words. “I believe so, yes.”
Sorrow fills me to the brim. “So, what now?”
“You embrace it,” Rose says. “You learn, you train, and then you find out how to exist in a world that desperately needs you.”
I take a few more steps to get to the lounge chair beside her and sit. “But why would the world need any of this? Nothing good has come from what I’m capable of.”
“That’s because you didn’t know what you possessed. We start to feel the effects of our Enchantings months, sometimes years, before we officially get our powers. That’s when the magic inside of us comes alive. Yesterday, on your eighteenth birthday, under the high