Is there any magic in there that could help us turn this ship around?” Seren asked.
“You want me to use my magic to try and help? After what happened last time? I can’t decide if you’re brave or not thinking straight,” I said with a scoff.
“Let’s go with brave for the sake of argument.” He winked at me. “Seriously though, why not try some magic? What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Um, I make everyone we interview lose their voice? Or I make them spill their deepest darkest secrets? Or they all get turned into newspapers or something? My magic is unpredictable at best and dangerous at worst.” I sighed, hating admitting to it, but I needed the truth out there so that it actually dissuaded Seren of this notion.
“Maybe you just need some practice? What if you start small and work up to it? We’ve got three months to get the paper in the black, so that’s three months to practice until you’re comfortable enough to try it.”
“You really think I can do this?” I asked as something akin to hope fluttered to life in my chest.
“I do.” Seren nodded firmly. “What’s the simplest spell you’ve ever heard of?”
“Creating a ball of light.”
“Okay, so let’s try that.”
When he just stared at me, I had to laugh nervously. “You mean right now?”
“Right here, right now.”
“What if I hurt you or burn down the building?”
“If you burn down the building, then you can get the insurance money and we can get a smaller office, or hell, we can all just work remotely. It’s not like we need anything in here except the ability to print the paper itself. And I believe in you, so I know you’re not going to hurt me. Your magic might be a little off, but that’s because you’re trying to drive a Ferrari stick shift when you’ve been taking the bus for the last three years. You have to work up to that stuff, especially if your magic is weak. You can’t run a marathon when you’ve never even ran down the block. Just try it. For me. Please.” He was giving me big puppy dog eyes like he already knew exactly how to manipulate me.
“Fine, but only because you asked so nicely and because we just made up. Don’t think you can pull this shit all the time, do you hear me?” I poked him in the shoulder for good measure.
“Yes ma’am.” He saluted, which made us both pause before bursting into a fit of laughter. When we had both stopped and I’d wiped tears from my eyes, he nodded at me, giving me silent encouragement to try.
So I did.
I braced myself for what might happen, for the fire I felt sure I was about to rain down on our heads, then I closed my eyes and called on my magic. It was like trying to catch a feather in a windstorm at first, but slowly as I focused more, I was able to grasp it, and once I did, I refused to let go. I pulled it close to me, protecting it from what felt like a storm raging inside me, sheltering it like a flame in the wind.
With every breath, I coaxed the fire of my magic into being, making it stronger, more stable as I worked, until it was undaunted by the winds inside me. I muttered the spell for the ball of light and felt the warmth rush through me like nothing I’d ever felt before. Even the spell I did before in Buttercup’s Bake Shop had felt more like I was trying to carry water with a bucket full of holes. The little I was able to get back was all I could put into the spell.
This time though, it was different.
I had someone who believed in me, who didn’t think I was a waste of space.
I channeled that belief into myself. If Seren, of all people, believed I could do this, then I could. I wiped the doubt from my mind.
When I opened them, there, over the center of my palm, hovered a perfect sphere of glowing white light. I stared in silent awe for a long while as it seemed to float and twist over my hand.
Pain ripped through my chest as though the moment had been too perfect and something had to go wrong. The ball of light disappeared into a puff of white smoke that dispersed within seconds, leaving no trace behind whatsoever. It didn’t matter though