“But you don’t have any power!” I said, yelling now over the wind.
“I can copy yours!” she shouted. “Come on! We don’t have much time!”
I nodded, my throat dry. With shaky hands, I began mixing the ingredients. Hare’s blood and fur, seashell dust and eggshells. I gave half to Olivia, and she followed my example, smearing it on her hands. The wall of dust roared closer, the air suddenly cold and full of electricity. The horses’ eyes blinked crazily. The girls got down, putting their hands over their heads, securing their dust masks and bandannas. Susanah put her body over Mowse’s.
I closed my eyes. This is it. I can do this. I have to do this. I reached out a bloody hand to Olivia. She took it, and I felt the magic surge as we raised our joined hands to the sky.
“PULVAREM FIRMAMENTUM!” we shouted, the magic flowing through us and out of us and into the sky. The clear dome of magic rose around us, high and tall and broad, doubly strong with both of our magic, and as the black dust spewed and flowed over everything, all went dark and quiet, the roar of the storm silenced by the dome. Darkness. Silence. I felt for all the world like we’d been thrust underwater, and the only sound to be heard was the frantic, painful beating of my heart, the rasp of my breath, and the endless pleading of my mind. Please let it hold, please let it hold, please let it hold.
But then the magic surged between us. Everything went black—darker than black—and I knew that a vision was happening, just as it had with Asa, just as it had with Trixie. I was seeing Olivia’s truth, and I was powerless to stop it.
It was dark, nighttime, in a house that I knew. Someone was very close, and a female voice was whispering in the dark.
“Me lastimó, Olivia… no dejes que… no dejes que me lastime…”
Olivia’s voice answered her, shaking with quiet rage. “No lo dejaré, Rosa. Nunca te lastimará de nuevo… te lo prometo.”
And as Olivia began to softly sing a Spanish lullaby, Rosa began to cry, a pitiful, heartbreaking whimper.… My mind reeled. I had heard this voice before. I had heard this crying only weeks ago.…
And it was over. Just like that, it was over. We stumbled, dizzy, our hold on each other breaking. Then we looked up. Above us, the Dust Dome stood, holding strong and sure, even under the strain of the storm. Despite all my fear, despite the storm and all its howling, it held.
“You heard that.…” Olivia gasped. “You heard…?”
“I didn’t mean to…” I panted, my brain hurting with magic and confusion. “I wasn’t trying to.”
“I know,” she said. “I know you didn’t mean to. Just forget about it, all right?”
There was no malice in her voice. Still, we didn’t look at each other. I had seen something so intimate, so private, that it didn’t matter if it was an accident or not. But, more than that, I couldn’t look at her, not knowing what I knew, not if what I was guessing was true.
“All right,” I said.
The only light came from the horses’ eyes flickering on and off, and in that ghostly glow, the other girls were crawling out of their protective balls, pulling their dust masks and bandannas down and looking up at the swirling darkness overhead.
“This is your magic,” Olivia said. “We did it, Sal.”
Pride bloomed in my chest where disbelief had been only moments before. We had done it. Exhausted, I sunk to my knees in the dust. And as the dust raged, impotent beyond the shimmering dome of our magic, I let myself smile.
Asa woke and squinted upward. He could see that they were in what looked like a big fishbowl with howling darkness all around. Dust Dome, he remembered. Sal must have cast it—without him this time. She must be so proud, he thought, smiling. Craning his neck, he looked for her and found her soon enough, sitting around a fire with the other girls, looking even more thoughtful and far away than she usually did. Her hands were stained with blood, and so were Olivia’s. Olivia must have helped cast it. At that moment, Olivia must have felt his eyes on her, because she looked down at him and smiled. He felt a surge of what he knew by now was deep affection, and did his best to smother it