Witch In Charge - Celia Kyle Page 0,43

feet. “You could kill someone.”

“What?” It was as if he had hit her right in the chest. “What do you mean, kill someone?”

“This power can take decades to perfect, and even then, you are bound by the laws of magic. It’s black magic to do that to someone who didn’t give permission.”

“But I just did it to you without your permission,” she said, quietly.

“I know, but your heart was pure and your intent good. You just need to understand, Kelly. I was able handle the amount of power you took from me, but I couldn’t stop you. You’ve weakened me and, had you drawn more from me, you could have killed me.”

“Owyn, you’re scaring me. I don't understand.”

“It's pretty simple. If you draw too much power from any one soul, you could damage them permanently or take so much that they die.” His face and tone were solemn. “If you had worked on this power slowly, over a period of years, you would understand the ebb and flow. You would have fine-tuned the skill. As it is, you’ve had no practice. It was instinctive. If you do it without thinking, you could just suck all the living energy out of someone without realizing it.”

“Shit,” she muttered. “I never thought about it.”

“Do some thinking about it, please. In the meantime, I’ll think of the best ways to train a prodigy like you.”

“Okay.” Kelly blushed at the thought of having such a powerful hidden talent, but was equally horrified at the possible ramifications of using it.

She took Owyn’s arm, supporting him as they returned to his office. She had always used her powers with abandon, not worrying about any consequences. Of course, she'd never imagined those consequences could be deadly. She had a whole lot of thinking to do. If she truly wanted to be a good witch, it was going to require a lot more effort than she had counted on.

Seventeen

Music throbbed through Kelly’s body as she shimmied her way through the foyer of Hollow House. For the moment, the boom box was supplying the tunes while the house amplified the speakers and turned out the beats from every dark corner. Ryan and the rest of The Night Sparrows had gathered around the punch bowl, taking a well-deserved break from their energetic set.

The entire house was full of people and she couldn’t go two steps without someone stopping her to compliment the party.

“Good party!”

“Awesome music!”

“Great food!”

“Nice ass!”

She was currently trying to get to the punch bowl to catch up with Ryan, but it was starting to look like she might never make it.

“Great dress!” called a random girl.

Kelly recognized her from school but couldn’t recall her name. She waved and called out, “Thanks!” That's when she noticed that the girl was being showered with little black spiders. Kelly paused, wondering if the girl was being attacked by her demon house, but she was talking to the little creatures, so she didn’t seem to need rescuing.

“It is a great dress,” she mumbled to herself, smoothing the front of the pale blue dress with her palms. It was too tight, too short, and had a plunging neckline that revealed far too much. It was the sort of dress that made you stand up tall and walk like you owned it, because if you wore something like this, you weren’t shy about shaking what your momma gave you.

And no one could ever say Kelly was shy.

“Kelly!” Wren yelled, reaching out from the jiving crowd. “Get in here!”

Kelly laughed and tried to wriggle into the mob but couldn’t get any closer to Wren. People were dancing everywhere—in the halls, the foyer, even on the stairs. She had planned to move some of the revelers into the solarium as well, but the house had closed the doors and wrapped them in vines. A very clear ‘go no further’ sign. Even for powerful witches.

“I’ll find you soon!” Kelly called.

She watched as Wren and her wolf mate, Brodie, were consumed by the crowd and wondered if Wren's brothers were around somewhere. Some of her older friends had come, but it was swiftly progressing into the later hours where couples with kids dare not tread.

She continued toward the punch bowl and finally squeezed her way into an open spot. Ryan quickly filled a cup with tropical punch for her.

“Thanks!” she shouted over the noise.

“Are you here to tell me to get back on stage?”

“Hell, no. I'm here to congratulate you on an awesome set! Did you know people are