not supposed to feel that?” Great, what had happened now? Had something in her head broken?
“No, you weren’t. Do you feel it now?”
Now that Sasha was talking about it, she did feel something in her head, but that was no surprise. That always happened. If someone asked you if you were tired, you’d yawn. This was probably no different.
“Yes, I guess so. What’s the problem, Sasha? What’s gotten into you?”
“You’ve felt it when Legon has used magic, right?”
“Yeah, of course. Arkin wanted us to feel it so we would know what was going on in a fight, but I don’t see how that…”
“Try it,” Sasha said
“What?”
“Try it… magic, try to do it.”
“But Sasha…”
As she spoke Sasha held out her hand. “Flamma.”
Sara stepped back, gasping. “You…”
“I think you can too. Try.”
She thought about it, but the idea was ludicrous to her. Sasha had lived around Legon her whole life, so maybe this was part of their connection.
“Sasha, I can’t.”
“Neither could I until he turned,” Sasha responded. “Now do it.”
“Fine, give me a sec, ok?”
Sasha nodded and stepped back. Sara concentrated just like Legon did, but he had done it so fast. She raised her hand. “Flamma.”
The feeling shot down her arm to her hand, but nothing happened. Sasha looked disappointed but undeterred.
“Try again. I’ll help you.”
Sara felt Sasha’s mind join hers and again she tried.
“Flamma.” A spark! This time Sasha didn’t help. “Flamma!” A flicker of silver flame popped in her hand and then went out. Again and again she tried until a small silver fire burned in her hand. She was a Venefica, a real Venefica. Never had she dreamed of being one. Sasha looked relieved and dismayed all at once.
They heard Keither’s voice through the trees. “Hey, I think he’s waking up.” They rushed back to the camp.
* * * * *
Legon lay with his eyes closed. His head was pounding and he felt something digging into his back. Had he fallen off the horse? He decided to find out and opened his eyes. At first there was just a blur of color and he blinked to bring the world back into focus. Sasha, Sara, Keither, and Arkin were all huddled over him looking terrified, sad, and happy. He noticed how big the pores on Arkin’s nose were. What an odd thing to notice. His head was swimming. He knew he’d been on a horse but wasn’t sure about the rest. He did remember a horrible dream though. Kovos had been killed by an Iumenta and then he had turned into an Elf.
“I wonder what Arkin will read into that,” he thought. But at the same time, where was Kovos? Sasha’s lips were moving. She was so close he could see little specks of brown and hazel in her eyes. He knew everyone had little flecks of color in their eyes, but you needed to be really close to see them. She needed to back off. The sound coming from her lips was just murmuring. He tried to read them. He thought she was asking if he could hear her. Arkin’s lips moved, saying something to the effect of “His brain is coming back up one piece at a time. Give it a moment.” What did he mean his brain was coming back up?
What was that smell? It was Sara. She smelled like blood, sweat, and dirt, but there was a hint of something sweet, too. What was it? He smelled the others too; maybe this was a dream. You can’t smell people like that, can you? Then, finally, sound clicked back in— a lot of sound. Not only could he hear those around him, but also birds, flies, and a bunch of little things he was sure were in the ground.
“Are you back? Can you hear me?” Sasha asked, placing her hand on him. He could feel her pulse through her hand even with his shirt on. It wasn’t a dream. He was an Elf. He sat bolt upright.
“Kovos?”
He looked around from face to face, trying to hear, see, or smell. That couldn’t have happened. He wasn’t dead. He was…. He knew. He remembered everything. He brought his knees up to his chest. There were tears in the other’s eyes now, no one excluded.
“He’s gone, Legon,” Keither said, choking.
All this pain was for him. It was his doing. If he hadn’t let them come…There was only one thing for it. Remembering back to when he met Sara in Salez, he reached out to the others. Not to their