Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 13 - The Emerald City (Part III) - VII

  "Crystal said this place didn't have too many rooms. It shouldn't be hard to find them." Cinza took the stairs as fast as she could, Natalie on her heels. The second floor landing they reached had an open door and an empty room, but at the third floor landing, they could hear a faint noise down the hall.

  Cinza held a finger to her lips, beckoning Natalie forward. They crept down the hallway as the noise grew louder, and much more distinct. Natalie tried to ignore the uncomfortable mixture of sounds, reminding herself over and over why she was there and what she needed to find. Cinza needs me. I can't leave. I have to get my bag back. I can't go home without it.

  They were only a few feet away when Cinza stopped, crouching low by the wall. The sounds and voices were getting louder. Natalie moved closer, though she could feel a twisting sensation in her throat as she did, like she were about to throw up but swallowing it back at the same time. She couldn't tell if it were because of what she imagined going on in the room, or because she was so close to Cinza, but she pretended it was the former because she was afraid of the alternative.

  "It's him," Cinza whispered.

  "How do you—"

  "Trust me, I know." Cinza's expression was so grim that Natalie didn't question her. "We can't wait for him to be done. I know you haven't been able to share magic with anyone before, and I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but I need you to try, Natalie. If you can share your strength with me, I can make us invisible, and we can be in and out with the bag before he notices anything."

  Natalie hesitated. She held out her hands, shaking a little, but she forced herself to imagine the bag imploding and crushing every one of her precious possessions inside. Her mementos of her parents and Gwen, her books and all her things from home, everything she'd managed to save from her life before it all burned down. She couldn't lose them. They were all she had left.

  Her hands stopped shaking. Cinza took hold, and while Natalie felt sick and her instincts screamed at her to pull away, she managed to stay still.

  "Okay," said Cinza, as softly as she could manage. "That's good. Now reach for your magic, however you usually do so."

  "Doesn't everyone do the same thing?" Natalie whispered back.

  "Apparently not, but we don't have time to get into that theory."

  Natalie mentally reached for the magic dancing around her heart. To her, it felt like a glowing fire inside her chest, right next to her beating heart. It was a flame she could take small parts from, and if she tried to take too much, it got smaller until it became embers and coals, but always managed to light back into a dazzling bonfire again if she gave it time.

  The fire was her, powering her entire body and her mind, and the magical part of it was just her learning to use herself in a different way than before. She'd never felt like it was a new or separate part of her, but like it had always been there. She hadn't really recognized it until she'd read from the book, but as soon as she had, it wasn't new. It was a part of her, and always had been.

  "Once you've got it ready, you need to push it out to where my hands are holding yours. Then I'll take it and use it to make us invisible." Cinza interlocked their fingers and squeezed her hands slightly. "I'm right here, don't worry. You can do this."

  "...I don't know how." Natalie said fearfully, while the prospect of sending that was her out to such a remote and vulnerable place send waves of fear through her brain. "It's me, I can't just give it to you."