I said hurriedly, “It’s not a bad idea. Hurry and drop hands before we get blown away again.” Their bodies shook more. “What could it hurt? Drop your hands!” Hurrying was the key.
As they debated silently, I felt their power rising… They quickly dropped hands.
I rubbed my own hands together, feeling my power zing between my palms. I was giddy I might be right. “Okay, here goes.” They were each gasping, bending over with their hands on their knees. “At the Awakening, they touched each other quickly.” I paused, slapping my hands together. “We do it like them. Fast. We quit lollygagging around, and get it done.” I grinned.
They glared.
“That’s your great idea?” Jack asked sarcastically, wiping his brow, and then his eyebrows slammed together and he looked at the ground.
My smile dimmed. “It’s not a bad one.” I pointed at the lounging Kings. “They do it that way.”
Pearl’s lips thinned, but she didn’t say anything.
“Maybe,” Ezra straightened, cracking his neck, “we should try it.”
Jack arched, popping his back. He had dirt on his cheek, and his brown, glowing eyes lifted to mine. “That was rude of me. I’m sorry. It’s not a bad idea.” A sheepish expression. “I’ve never failed this much before. I’m not used to it and I’m not handling it well.”
My grin brightened once more. I reached to pat his shoulder but quickly yanked my hand back, remembering I couldn’t touch him, plus, he wouldn’t want it now with only my pure power in my palm. “That’s alright, but let’s try it. Remember, do it quick.” I held out my hand to him, feeling hopeful.
He nodded, and grabbed my hand.
His power connecting with mine, I had to grit my teeth as his water currents fought with my wild animal, but I instantly turned my head, holding my other hand out to Pearl.
She grabbed it, and I barely stayed on my feet as an added power bombarded me, spells and time pushing at my wild animal, but Pearl sucked in a harsh breath, ignoring my wolf’s growl, and immediately held out her other hand.
Ezra quickly slapped his hand on hers, holding tight, ignoring that Pearl almost crumbled, and slammed his other hand down on Jack’s already extended free one.
Sizzling warmth instantaneously suffused my entire being, the kind that makes you want to curl up and slip farther into it, and a groan slid past my lips.
“That’s more like it,” Pearl sighed heavily.
“Hold!” King Venclaire shouted, suddenly next to us. “Don’t let go.”
We blinked, staring. As if we were going to do that. This feeling was unworldly. As bad as our powers touching had been, this was worth the torture. Unbelievably cozy and relaxing and exhilarating, all at once.
In one word: perfect.
“We’re not planning to,” Ezra said softly, even though he scowled at his King. “Why the hell didn’t you just tell us to do it quickly?”
“Because you needed to learn, and experience is priceless,” King Venclaire answered, glancing to the other Kings, who were slowly making their way to us…exchanging money with each other. He pointed at King Fergus. “You owe me a grand. They did it within three hours.”
“And, you owe me a hundred,” King Fergus retorted. Grinned. “They didn’t beat our time.” He and King Kincaid high-fived. “Running champs still!”
“Fine. Nine hundred.” King Venclaire’s twinkling blue eyes swung back to us. “In five hundred years — it’s recorded — no one has beaten our twenty-minute time.” He looked downright smug about that.
“They’re freaking betting on us,” Pearl sputtered. Her golden eyes were on King Nelson. “I can’t believe you’d bet on us!”
“It’s not the first time,” King Nelson pocketed his cash, “and it most assuredly won’t be the last.” He shrugged when we glared, pointing between himself and the other Kings. “It’s our thing.”
“Wonderful,” Jack muttered, but his features were still relaxed in our power.
It didn’t really surprise me, so I asked King Kincaid, my tone sleepy, “Did you win or lose?”
“A little of both.” His lips curved. “Although, I did win big, betting you’d be the one to figure out the trick.” His grin conveyed, Attagirl. Nice.
“Glad I could help the coffers,” I mumbled, letting my head fall against one of my shoulders. “So, what’s next?”
King Nelson pulled a quarter out of his pocket, and then flipped it in the air.
King Fergus rapidly said, “Heads.”
On this went, until only King Kincaid was left the loser of their quarter toss. The other Kings walked away, snickering, and King Kincaid sighed, turning back to us, and said, “The next thing you need to learn is this.” His eyes glowed dark and he rested his hand on the back of Pearl’s neck.
And…boom.
Away went our sizzling warmth, and in came an explosion of our powers.
Again, we flew through the air.
At least one of the Kings went with us this time.
Chapter Sixteen
The first week of our lessons with the Kings, we learned a few basic rules.
First, make the connection quick.
Second, do not let only one other Mys power into our group. It has to be all four, and quick, or boom.
Third, amplifying our power — not just a little pure power in our palms — is awful. At first. Then, when we’re all touching, it’s perfect.
And fourth, which wasn’t really a rule, but it still deserved its definite place in my memory log, was that the Kings were sadistic SOBs with a major gambling problem between the four of them.
The second week, we learned how three of us touched just one for funneling.
Hmm. I would like to forget that week. Never in our friendship had we yelled — if that was all we did — at each other so much. I lost count of how many times we flew through the air. It wasn’t until the fourth day that we understood — no thanks to the Kings — to put only the teeniest, tiniest spark of our pure power in our palm, and then let it build inside ourselves once three of us were joined with the fourth. More money had been exchanged between Royal hands with arrogant expressions on their handsome faces, since we hadn’t broken their record on that one, either.
The third week, which was now, we were to put into action the touching for funneling that we had learned to control.
My throat was dry, and I felt like I was going to puke. Antonio had decided to join us today, and watched silently from his perch on the grass, where he rested against a tree. I knew why he was here. This was kind of monumental. It wasn’t an Awakening, but it was proof that, if I could do it, a hybrid could actually push only one of their powers into another to help with whatever the point individual was trying to accomplish.