over his shoulder.
Sierra watched him fly for a minute, tracing his spell lines. Aervyn used primarily earth magic to propel himself, which she didn’t have. Devin used water. Water power she had, but Devin’s speed control was practically non-existent. Jamie, however, used air and fire, and that gave her the missing pieces she needed. Carefully, she levitated into the air, and then floated forward, mixing air currents under the front third of her broom to pull herself forward.
Jamie zoomed back around. “Nice. Now try going faster than my great-grandmother.”
The storm witch was rapidly winning the shouting match in her head. She could feel speed just a twitch of magic away. Doubling her groundlines, she shifted into second gear and felt the wind against her cheeks. It called to her. Heck, it was practically turning her inside out.
Let go. It’s okay to play sometimes. Jamie grinned at her as he shot by.
Tears stung her eyes—and then blew off her cheeks as she let her magic loose. Leaning forward on her broomstick, she shot through the winter sky, shrieking in joy.
And realized she was not alone. Aervyn was on her wing, eyes dancing. “Try this!” He swung up into a big loop, zooming upside down.
It was an irresistible offer. Pulling up on the front of her broomstick, she shot skyward, following him up into the clouds—and whooped as they came racing down toward the earth. Working quickly, she wove an air net to catch them, just in case.
Aervyn grinned and nipped in to touch her shoulder. “Tag. You’re it!”
He zoomed off, dipping and weaving like a drunken hummingbird. Sierra did her level best to follow him while not running into rocks or other witches. In two minutes, she’d mastered double loops. In five, they could do a corkscrew holding hands.
And Sierra’s heart ached with the joy of magic shared. She clutched the orange frog hanging around her neck. Momma would have adored broomstick flying.
It took cookies to finally lure them out of the air. Nutella cookies. Lots of them.
Sierra skidded to a halt at Devin’s feet, her heart still somewhere up in the sky. He handed her a fistful of cookies. “Eat. Then we’ll try the second lesson.”
She crammed a cookie in her mouth. “Wass’ that?”
He grinned. “I’ll tell you once we’re back in the air. Aervyn, can you hook us up with a group mindlink?”
Wonderboy, mouth full of cookies, just nodded and grinned.
Sierra felt an incoming nudge on her head and realized she could still hear Devin talking—even though his mouth wasn’t moving. If you’ve got a mind witch handy, this is pretty useful for group magic on the fly. If it gets too distracting, just let Aervyn know, and he can turn it off for you.
Voices in her head. That was so cool. Sierra grinned. What’s lesson number two?
Devin laughed. Hit the air—keep it to second gear. Then you’ll find out.
Sierra launched and headed forward at a sedate pace. Aervyn pulled up on one side of her, Jamie on the other. Sierra blinked—wonderboy was flying on air power now, instead of his usual earth power. Cool trick. Devin slid in front of them, flying backward. Lesson number two. Fly in formation. Sierra, you’re the lead. Think about what your team can handle.
She looked over at Jamie, thinking hard. Can you port yourself out of the way of a rock?
Gee, thanks a lot. He rolled his eyes, but answered. At this speed, yeah.
Well then, they sure as heck weren’t going any faster than this. Carefully she led her team of three through a couple of simple formations, and then flew them over to where Devin was still meandering backward on his broom.
He just shook his head. Do-over. This time, find your team’s edge. Get close, but don’t go over it.
No way. She landed them all on the ground. She wasn’t having a serious conversation with a witch flying backward. “That’s not safe.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You did corkscrews with Aervyn.”
“Sure, but he flies at least as well as I do. So if I could do something, so could he.” She looked at Jamie, trying not to be rude. “I think maybe he can’t do all that stuff.”
Jamie snorted, looking amused. “You think?”
“You’re exactly right.” Devin waited until she looked at him. “You’re a strong witch, Sierra. So you’re often going to be working with people who can’t match you. Find Jamie’s edge, but don’t break him.”
She frowned. Lesson two wasn’t sounding like much fun. “Why?”
His eyes were very serious. “Because the