unraveling the power flows into their constituent elements. Nell relaxed a fraction.
And then Beth started to shape them. With water power at the core.
Nell dove for Devin's mind. Shit. She's not doing her own spell - she's trying to copy yours!
He jumped to intercept just as hissing fire hit slow-flowing water. Too late. Backlash from the sizzle hit every witch in the back yard.
Nell rubbed her temples, mentally counting to ten. And then she took a good look at their trainee. Beth sat in mute, white silence, staring down at her hands.
A single, noiseless tear rolled down her cheek.
Three sets of Sullivan eyes met. Dev's were full of contrition.
"I'm sorry." Beth's words were harsh and laden with more tears. "I don't know what went wrong."
"It was all my fault." Dev reached for her and then stuffed his hands under his legs. "I didn't realize you hadn't learned to mirror yet. You were so competent in the circle."
"I don't know what mirroring is."
Nell gave her brother points. Beth still looked like a statue - but at least she was a talking one.
"You wouldn't need it in Chicago." Jamie lazed on the edge of the canvas, studiously picking grass. Avoiding eye contact, just like Lauren had coached. "When you do a spell in a circle, it doesn't matter how you use the power flows because you're all connected. But if you're working alone, or off a feed like Devin was sending you, then you have to start with a layer of your own magic."
Beth's eyebrows knit in confusion.
"Basically, you tried to boss water around, and you're not a water witch." Devin grinned. "You were close - you just need to start that spell with one of your own elements."
Nell felt the tug as her brother grabbed power from his siblings. Devin never talked where action worked instead. Impromptu lesson back in progress. "See, I do the spell like this." He held up a spellshape on his palm for a few seconds and then activated, miniature rain back in action. "But you're a fire witch, so you have to build the spell around your primary power. You tried to do it around mine, which just made for some fairly unhappy flows."
Yup. Nell's fire magic was still shuddering in protest. Fire did not like getting wet.
Devin's eyes met hers. Nell grabbed the power line he tossed her. Under protest - there were so many ways this could end badly. "Here's how I would build this one." She paused the spellshape long enough for Beth to study it, and then let it loose. Her droplets danced faster than Dev's, keeping time to a hotter beat. "Same basic spell, but this one's closer to what you'd want to do as a fire witch."
"Your turn." Devin's hands reached for Beth's, readying the power she would need. He wasn't letting this ball stop rolling - he never did.
"I don't..." She shoved her hands into her lap, words haunted by tears. "I don't know how to put it together. Nell started in a different place."
"It doesn't matter." Dev's voice radiated calm patience. "Use fire and you can start anywhere you want."
"I don't work that way." Bleak eyes met his. "I need a map. A sign that says where the beginning is."
That was like asking where the ocean began.
"You can choose anywhere you want." Nell tried to help. "Different witches will assemble the spell differently. Kind of like drawing a picture - it doesn't matter if you draw the head first or the feet, so long as it looks like a person at the end."
"I always draw the hair first." Beth's eyes fluttered closed, confusion and despair wrapping around her like a cloak. "Top to bottom. I have to know the order. The hair is always first."
Magic didn't work like that. Hell, in her world, people didn't work like that. Nell looked at her brothers, hoping someone had an idea that was going to keep the Sullivan batting average out of the drink. And was met with helpless shrugs.
They were failing. Again. It was getting really old.
The back door swung open and Aervyn bounced out, a plate in his hands and a disturbing gleam in