I shuddered heavily as the pleasure of the spell radiated through my body and sent wave after wave of jitters over me. I felt as if I had just downed an entire liter of espresso. I was shaking so much that I felt like I would kick my boots off. So much that I let out a satisfied sigh as I finally shook the st quivers out of me, then took a couple of deep breaths.

  I turned to my mother, who was still looking at the tent hanging off the sycora tree, stunned. In the distance, I heard shouting and breaking sticks. Jolting, I saw Father, Isa, and Varis running back into the camp, Father with his rifle in hand.

  “What’s happening?!” he shouted as he sprinted towards us.

  Isa darted past Father, her body hunched forwards like a predator pursuing prey; she twisted her feet, pnted her heels into the dirt, and skidded to a stop a few feet before us. “What happened here? Why was there an explosion?”

  Father reached us, panting and looking at the mess. Realizing nothing was actually wrong, he inhaled deeply and shook his head.

  Varis ran up behind him, his worried face changing when he saw the tent. “Whoa! Did you do that, Luna?” he asked.

  My father pinched the bridge of his nose. “Cailynn, what were you teaching her?” he asked.

  Mother spun around. “Nothing like this!” She threw both her hands towards the tent as if presenting it. “I am teaching her a simple mote spell, nothing crazy. It was only supposed to put out the fire!”

  Shit, that felt so cool. I sighed. But maybe I overdid it? Was it the pleasurable feeling? Did that distract me too much?

  I looked up at my bickering parents and tugged on the hem of my mother’s polo. She held her breath and gnced down at me.

  “Did I do bad?” I asked her, and everyone around me softened and cooed.

  Mother knelt down. “No, sweetie, you actually did… too good.”

  Isa stepped past us and walked towards the hanging tent, squinting as she examined it. “If this was a mote, I am curious to see how well she performs whispers.” She turned back to us, her hand on her hip.

  Mother stood back up, her hands now on my shoulders. She looked to Isa. “I’m sure she can perform them wonderfully.” She smiled down at me and added with a giggle, “We just need to teach you how to control the strength.”

  “My coffee canteen was in that tent…” Father moped as he shrugged his shoulders.

  “It’s probably still in there!” Varis said. “I can climb up and go get it!”

  “No need for that,” Isa said with a wave of her hand as she walked closer to the tree.

  “I can try bringing it down,” Mother offered.

  But Isa leaped off the ground, about six feet, and tched onto a branch before effortlessly yanking herself up onto it. My eyes widened as the serelli scaled each branch with the ease of a gymnast before reaching the rge one that held the tent.

  Rather than yanking the canvas off, Isa pulled out from her robes something like a bowie knife and began to hack at the branch. After half a minute of this, I squeaked as the branch buckled and snapped before dropping itself and the tent to the ground with a heavy thud!

  Father winced and sighed. “The canteen is probably smashed now…”

  “Why didn’t you say anything, then?” Mother hissed.

  “It’s not every day you get to see a pretty serelli leap around like—”

  My mother gasped and bopped him over the head. “You disgust me sometimes!” she growled, and gred daggers at him. “I’ll have Luna bst you into that tree if you joke like that again!”

  Father yelped and ughed as he clutched the spot on his head. “I was kidding, I was kidding!” He blushed. “You look adorable when you’re mad.”

  “Okay, this is getting weird!” I butted in, causing Mother’s anger to break into giggles.

  “Yes, yes, it is!” She rubbed my head as Varis ran over to help Isa pull the tent off the branch.

  Soon we learned it would be unsalvageable for the rest of our trip. Massive tears and gouges from being thrown into the tree by yours truly had severely, in yman’s terms, fucked it up.

  Father was confident he could repair it, but he’d need his tools and leftover canvas at home.

  But there was another unfortunate casualty of war: the beans were scattered.

  The force of my spell caused the lid of the canister to fly off, and the powdered dust that was the bean of God had been forsaken. My father was truly broken when he lifted the fp and saw the loss. He was upset, and I was too. Though I didn’t show it, I was crying with him on the inside.

  If only I’d known, I wouldn’t have blown so hard!

  There were only a handful of days left in our trip, and without the liquid caffeine boost, my father was adamant that we’d perish. Not to mention he, Mother, and Isa would have to share a tent. Though it was not spoken, I could see on all three of their faces that none of them were looking forward to it.

  While the adult children cried about their lost coffee and having to share cuddle time with a third party, I went off with Varis, who was excited to tell me about the hunting trip.

  “So, like, Father gave me his gun, right? The big rifle!” Varis said as he and I went over to the edge of the tree line, at which point I chose to go no further.

  I’ve learned my lesson going out there.

  “Yeah?” I said.

  “He calls it his baby a lot and says that it’s a K-12 Lambert, whatever that means!” Varis climbed onto a fallen log and began to walk along it.

  K-12 Lambert, like kindergarten to twelfth grade? Funny way of remembering it, I guess.

  “It’s super fun to shoot, Luna! It’s much stronger than Father’s cycler!” he said as he mimicked holding the revolver.

  “I bet! I remember Papa shooting at the wolves st night,” I said as I rubbed my arms. A cool wind began to pick up as the afternoon sun dipped into the evening.

  Varis stopped walking on the log and turned to face me, his face twisting slightly in an expression I couldn’t quite decipher before he composed himself.

  “Why did you walk out there?” he asked, his tone surprisingly mature.

  I said nothing for a moment and shrugged. “I don’t know; I actually don’t.”

  Even now, thinking about it, I can’t recall what it was. I just felt this compulsion to go.

  Looking up at him, I could tell that he wasn’t convinced. I bit my lip and shrugged again. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Varis; I told you everything.”

  Varis clenched his fist and sighed.

  Oh no, I can see it. His childish rage.

  “It’s not fair!” He huffed, hopped off the log, and sat on it.

  I flinched. “Excuse me?”

  He threw an arm out, towards me. “You’re like a hero in those books Momma reads us!” He frowned. “You had a crazy vision and then fought monsters, and now you have cool magic powers! It’s not fair!”

  One after the other, his words felt like fists to my face. I stepped back and shook my head in disbelief.

  What the hell is he saying? Does he think I like this? Or enjoy this? The magic, sure, I like that, but the nightmare almost… I stopped myself, brought a hand up to my face, and took a deep breath. He’s just a boy, I told myself. A dumb little kid who doesn’t know better.

  I calmed myself before I had an outburst. Honestly, I can rete to this, I thought.

  Growing up in my old life, I was a sheltered kid; I hardly went outside, and my family was constantly moving. Eighteen times in one year, we moved across the tristate area. I was around seven years old. I hadn’t learned how to keep a stable friendship; I couldn’t.

  My older brothers, six and ten years older than me, were used to this and could pick up friends or girlfriends at the snap of a finger. The friends they chose weren’t always the best. Almost every night, I’d hear stories from them about how they and the boys got caught up in a crazy police chase while they rode their bikes through the backwoods and alleys. Or how they’d encounter one of the high-school gangs and get into an intense brawl, or how they’d try a fancy drug.

  Yet here I was, at home. Pying a video game or listening to my mother watch her gospel TV. Either I was too young to go outside, or the pces we moved to had no one my age. Besides, I barely knew how to interact with other kids. All of it made me jealous.

  Why were my brothers always the ones to get into crazy, dangerous situations? I’d see my brothers come home riddled with bruises and injuries, like the time my middle brother got bashed with a rock and taken to the ER. They always had these cool stories, and Mom and Dad always paid attention to the stuff they did.

  Maybe that’s it.

  My mother always told her youngest not to be like them. My father always threatened the belt if he caught me doing what they did. They hovered around me. Yet when my brothers began to act up, they went away. Started focusing on them.

  I bit my lip and looked at Varis, who was sulking. “I’m sorry,” I said softly.

  Varis blinked at me as I sniffled and wiped my eyes.

  “I never asked for this,” I said as tears began to well up. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to take them away.” I took a deep breath, but still the emotions in me were running wild.

  Screw these childlike feelings! I whimpered.

  Varis looked at me, his green and blue eyes widening as a sudden look of guilt washed over him. “I—I… No, Luna, I’m sorry.” He got up and walked over to me. “I just felt grumpy.”

  I shook my head and hiccuped. “No… I shouldn’t have left yesterday. I—I was feeling selfish.”

  He draped his arm around me and pulled me into a hug. “You’re not a fish,” Varis said, and I couldn’t help but hiccup and ugh.

  I can’t tell if he’s being dumb or trying to cheer me up.

  Sniffing, I breathed in. “You’re cool,” I said into his chest.

  He shifted. “Nah, I’m not… You’re smart and can do magic now, and you fought a monster!”

  “Fighting monsters doesn’t make you cool.” I smacked his chest. He snorted, grabbing my hand.

  “Not true!” he said. “You said I was supposed to be the strong one for you, but… I think you might be stronger than me.”

  “Not true,” I said. “You’re better with Papa’s guns, and you’re taller than me and much stronger.”

  Varis huffed. He puffed his chest out and said, “Well, I am all of those things.” He smirked; he definitely has Mom and Dad’s ego.

  “But what I mean,” he said as he let go of me, “is that you’re, like… brave!”

  I snorted and shook my head. “I-I’m not brave!”

  “Shut up, I’m saying nice stuff to you,” Varis said, and I recoiled as if I were being sucker punched. “That was mean of me before, to say what I said. Yet part of it was true. Sister, you are very brave. I agree with Father that it was silly of you to go out alone, but even though you were in danger, you didn’t give up.”

  In a rare moment of self-reflection, my brother inhaled, looked over at our parents far off, and said, “If I were in your shoes… I don’t think I would’ve made it. I get very scared a lot.” He looked at me, his ears flopping to the sides of his head.

  What’s he talking about? Varis is always a goofy bundle of energy.

  “Ever since Momma and Papa said you’d be going away, I’ve been scared. Especially st night when we heard screaming and the wolves. I knew you were in trouble, but I froze up.” He sniffed. “I knew Soza wouldn’t let me go, but she didn’t have to try. I just tensed up, and I couldn’t move. And I was scared. I was jealous too, because if it was me out there, I know you wouldn’t hesitate.”

  I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around him. “Shush, you’re going to make me cry!” I said. “And it’s okay; it was scary. I wouldn’t want you to be out there.”

  Varis took a deep breath and calmed himself. “I—I know.”

  “Tell me about the hunting trip,” I said, trying to change the topic as the two of us regathered ourselves.

  We sat down on the log. Varis looked ahead and wiped his eyes. He looked immensely embarrassed now.

  “I-It was nothing…” He spoke softly. “We didn’t get that far; Father wanted to hunt some jabbers.” Little rabbitlike creatures. “But we didn’t find anything. And that big boom you made, Father said, most likely scared everything off.”

  It was my turn to have my ears ftten. I sighed. “I’m sorry. I have no idea why the spell came out the way it did.”

  Varis shrugged. “It’s okay. What was it like?” We shared eye contact before a silly thought came to me.

  “Wanna try it?” I asked him.

  My brother stared with a bnk look. I could feel the gears in his head turning before suddenly his eyes lit up. “Heck yeah!” He beamed, his childish excitement returning.

  I smiled and motioned for him to scoot closer. “Okay, I’m not going to demonstrate, just in case I blow a big hole in the ground, but listen closely.”

  My brother nodded as I gave him the crash-course variant of what my mother told me.

  “So, like, there’s a magic well inside me full of this ether stuff, and I just need to say some funny words to get it out?”

  I shrugged and said, “Close enough. Don’t forget the hand signs too.”

  Varis nodded as I showed him the OK sign and expined how he needed to blow through it.

  Then the two of us stood up. I gnced around and found a low, hanging branch. “Let’s see if we can push that,” I said.

  Turning to face the branch, Varis then raised his hand to his lips and closed his eyes.

  “Remember to take deep breaths; don’t think about anything except what you want. You’ll feel all fuzzy and weird down below, and the warmth will spread throughout. But don’t pay attention to it and try to focus,” I expined.

  Varis nodded, and after a few seconds, he began to utter the words. “Breathe the breath of Okren, tempest’s sovereign might, whispering through leaves and roaring through heights. By his grace, let the winds respond to my call—Gust!”

  He blew through his hand, and my eyes widened as a surge of wind flew forth from his fingers and battered the branch above. It groaned and swung as it thrashed about. As quickly as it started, it rexed as the wind dissipated.

  A moment of silence fell over us as Varis shivered. Goosebumps were running along his arm, and his face was faintly pale, though his eyes were big with shock. I stared, awed, as I processed what had just happened.

  He did it; the goof actually pulled it off. Not as strong as what I did earlier, but still more intense than what my mother demonstrated!

  I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality, and shouted, “You did it!”

  “I—I did!” Varis yelled as he threw his arms up. “I actually did it!”

  I ran over and hugged him before immediately regretting it as he crushed my spine and lifted me off the ground.

  “Gyak! Vaaaris!” I squealed.

  “What’s going on over there?” our father called out, walking towards us. “What did I say about wrestling your sister, boy?”

  Varis let go of me and said, “We’re not wrestling!”

  “We aren’t!” I said. “I was teaching him magic!”

  Father stopped. “Excuse me?”

  “Yeah!” Varis pumped his fist and pointed to the tree branch. “Luna showed me how to do what she did!”

  Father looked at us for a few moments, his face a bit stern, and I couldn’t help but feel a sinking sense of dread. Was I not supposed to do this?

  Yet he didn’t say anything about it; he turned around and shouted, “Cailynn, Isa, can you come here for a second?”

  Mother and Isa, who were chatting by the fire pit after stowing the broken tent, nodded and stood. After dusting themselves off, they walked over, and Father turned to me.

  “Tell them what you told me.”

  Now on the spot, I began to quiver.

  “You’re not in trouble,” Father assured me, and smiled.

  Thanks, asshole; you should’ve said that out the gate!

  I gulped and nodded. “I taught Varis the spell you just taught me,” I said, looking at Mother’s stunned eyes.

  Varis said, “Yeah! She expined it so easily. See, I’ll do it again!”

  Turning and taking a breath, he recited the words and shouted, “Gust!” Once more, a torrent of air shot forth and battered the branch!

  Mother gasped and smiled widely as Father nodded approvingly, yet the amazement was gone when Varis shuddered and stumbled back.

  Being right beside him, I reached out with my little arms and caught him just in time. “Whoa…” Varis grumbled, holding the side of his head. “I—I feel funny.”

  I blinked and said, “Is everything okay?” I looked up at my mother, who sighed.

  “Spell fatigue,” Mother said as she stepped on over and helped me prop him up. “Nothing to be worried about.”

  “That’s good,” Varis mumbled, shaking his head.

  “Yep, it happens when novices cast too many spells too quickly. Even if you have a deep well, you’re tapping into the magic for the first time. Like a muscle, it needs to be trained.”

  “Oh, thank God,” I said out loud. “I thought I did something bad.”

  “Oh, you did,” Father said, crossing his arms, and his stern face returned. I gulped. He wagged his finger at me. “Magic practice is prohibited unless your mother is around. Do you hear me?”

  “Wh-Why?” I whined, and Varis whimpered too.

  “Sweetie, what if you blew our house down?” Mother asked me.

  Smugly, I puffed out my chest. “We build a new one!”

  My father rolled his eyes. “No jokes. We’re serious, Luna. Your mother is trained in, well… training people.” He shrugged. “It’s for your and your brother’s safety. Do you understand?”

  I sighed and defted. “Okay…”

  He stepped over, pced his hand on my head, and smiled. “You’re doing great, kid.” Then he turned to everyone else. “We have a handful of days left here. The map says there’s a river near here; why don’t we all go there and fish?”

  “Oh, that’ll be perfect for some water magic training,” Mother said, and both I and a tired Varis perked up.

  “That sounds nice!” I beamed. Fishing by a mountain river with some magic lessons?

  Sign me up.

  If I had been in your stead, I would’ve given up after the tenth or perhaps the eleventh. To put so much faith into an echo would be too much for me...