I’d dated back on Earth. I’d been with a guy for a couple years in high school, but he’d gone off to college in the Midwest and we’d called things off. I never thought of the guy as my soulmate, so it was completely different.
“You can’t tell him, Kali. I mean it. I’ve been put in an impossible situation with the two of you, because I love you both, but I also can’t sit by and watch both of you ruin what could be the greatest opportunity in your life. While finding your Meraki isn’t super rare, it doesn’t happen for everyone, and it should be cherished, never neglected. By doing so, it could be broken and never happen again.”
The longing in her voice was evident, and I hated that she’d been without hers for so long.
“Thank you for telling me. I promise I won’t say anything to Ryland, and I will try to be more understanding of his actions. I imagine he’s pretty pissed at the Fates for doing this to us, and I can’t really say I blame him.”
The day had been full of revelations, and I was feeling a whole lot better about my place within Arvayta. I had a plan forming in my head that I hoped Stryx agreed with or could use alongside whatever he was cooking up.
I wasn’t ready to die, and I sure the hell didn’t want to go dark like the Fates predicted, so now that I knew more about myself and what to expect from those around me, I felt ready to continue training.
“Enough with the heavy, and no more physical exercises. I want to learn how to control my magic. Stryx said we needed to work on orbs. Tell me more about them,” I suggested.
Jordan grinned before standing and reaching a hand out to me. “I’m more than happy to do so. But only for you, Chuck.”
I had a very strong feeling I’d live to regret this moment, but it didn’t stop me from placing my hand in hers and following her further out into the fields.
Jordan stood about twenty feet away from me, and we were facing each other. “Okay, I want you to create an orb. I know you read a bunch of the books or at least flipped through them, so I’m assuming you know how to do that much already.”
Blushing, I nodded. “I used one on Ryland earlier. It sort of backfired, and Oliver paid the price for it.”
“Ah, that makes much more sense, and I really wish I could have been there to see it, but a girl needs her beauty sleep. Oh, well. I’m sure there will be many more opportunities to see you do something completely wrong that causes someone else pain while bringing me sheer joy.”
I scowled at her, but she ignored me while creating her own ball of magic. It was perfectly symmetrical and a pale orange color. As she started tossing it between her hands, I focused on my inner well of power and sought out my own orb.
Just like when I was porting previously, gathering the magic and bringing it forward wasn’t easy or natural, but it was doable. Pulling it toward my hand, I watched in fascination as a lavender orb shimmered into appearance within my palm.
Jordan cheered for me. “Good job. Now, what were you thinking about when you created it?”
“Nothing except for making it appear. This whole intention thing freaks me out, especially since I almost killed Ryland earlier. I wanted the orb to sting a little and it ended up acting just like a bee sting instead.”
“Seriously pissed I wasn’t there. Anyway, I know it seems hard, but you’ll get the hang of it. I won’t let you fail.” As soon as the words left her mouth, I knew they were true.
Jordan was the best friend I could have ever asked for, and I trusted her to get me through whatever obstacles lay ahead.
We spent the next two hours creating magical orbs with different intentions and I learned that purple was my magical color as orange was Jordan’s, which made sense since she had an affinity for fire like I did for water.
Anything I created would always have a tint of purple to it, but the darker it was, the more powerful it would be. When I was finally able to make an orb that was nearing a midnight-black color, Jordan finally called our session a success.
“Let’s go get some gelato and head home,” she