Iduna

  Ani let Iduna consider these words before dealing out the final argument.

  “Besides, if you do kill yourself and another Ull Spellcrafter gets hold of our power, then who in the world would stop them? Now, at least, we have someone to offset that. And you have experience!” Ani tossed some sand into the wind. “Sorry, you can't kill yourself.”

  As the wind blew away the flecks of sand, to Iduna it felt like her easy out had also passed. These abilities were frightening. She had lost people she cared about and others she could never see again. But Ani was right. If Iduna had acquired the trio of abilities—Spellcrafter, plus the focused emotional power of the Okeeno, and the broad power of the Ull—then someone else could too, and might abuse the powers again as had Vilir and Senbo.

  It wouldn’t stop with her.

  The day was beautiful, and she did want to enjoy this new life. She realized how constraining Lawan teachings had been. She watched Kai walking up the beach. She had closed off whole parts of herself, but she now knew how to truly care about people and how much she’d already cared about people in her former life. Surat. Angko. Tinh. Maybe some had survived. She owed it to herself to live. She sighed. “All right. Fine. You get your way. Does anyone ever disagree with you?”

  “Why would they?” Ani threw the sand directly at her this time, starting a sand fight.

  Iduna grabbed the sand before it struck her.

  She shaped the granules into birds and sent them flying away down the beach. One flew high over the trees, and real birds joined it, adding song to its virtuoso flight.

  About the Author

  Maya Michaels is a debut author of fast-paced fantasy novels. Originally from California, she’s traveled the world, lived in Hawaii, and now lives in Massachusetts with a husband who feeds her chocolate to write and two cats that work hard to distract her from writing and her chocolate reward. It’s quite a battle.

  Please visit her at www.mayamichaels.com