Finding the Power Within

by C. C. Masters

  Froston’s face darkened. “I did not. But he and I will be having words.” He sighed. “Anna, the fae aren’t like humans. Fae like Morpheus will play games with humans and weaker fae just because they can. That’s just his nature.”

  I crossed my arms. “What other dangers did you forget to warn me about? How can I protect myself from things like that?” I was furious. Froston had to have known that other fae might attempt to attack me. At the very least, he should have helped to prepare me to fend off their assaults.

  Froston sighed and motioned for me to sit. “Anna, I’m doing everything I can-”

  “It’s not enough,” I interrupted. “You have elemental powers, just like me. Why aren’t you teaching me how to use them? Why would you just hand me off to the prince, when he has dark powers?” Hurt bled into my voice. He was supposed to be my father. Fathers were supposed to treasure their daughters, protect them, keep them safe. Froston had already abandoned me once, but now he was intentionally leaving me helpless and alone with predators.

  “Anna, you don’t understand what’s at play here.” Froston shook his head.

  “I don’t care. At least teach me how to protect myself, I can take it from there.” I stared defiantly at Froston, waiting for his argument.

  Froston sat back in his chair and stared at me. “You’re right.”

  I sat up a little straighter. “You agree?”

  He nodded slowly. “I do. I think you and I need to spend some time together.”

  I gave him a bright smile. “When can we start?”

  He stood. “Now.” A portal opened in front of us that led back out into the Arctic and snow swirled inside the office.

  I stood. “I’m not dressed for that, I’ll freeze to death.”

  Froston smiled at me indulgently. “I know you were distracted your first time through, but you should have noticed that none of us were touched by the cold.”

  He was right, I did think that was odd.

  “The first lesson I’ll teach you is how to control your environment. You want to create a small bubble around you and fill it with warm air, creating a barrier between yourself and the outside,” he explained. I squinted as I watched magic surround him.

  I reached for some of my own magic and tried to mimic what he had done. Warm air surrounded me, but dissipated just as quickly as I created it. I shivered as the cold air flowed through the portal, chilling me to the bone. Froston chuckled. “You need to create your barrier first.”

  I watched carefully, but I couldn’t see how he was making a barrier. “Can you connect with me and use my magic to do it?”

  Froston looked startled. “That’s not a safe way to learn how to use your magic, Anna. I know it might seem like an easy shortcut, but it’s dangerous.”

  I frowned. The prince had mentioned that he didn’t want me telling anyone how he was teaching me magic, but I had just assumed that he didn’t want anyone to know that he was being kind and damage his reputation as an asshole. He hadn’t mentioned that it was dangerous.

  “Why is it dangerous?” I asked cautiously.

  “You’re forming a connection with another person. The more often you do it, the easier it is for the connection to become permanent.” Froston frowned at me. “It’s similar to the way that wolves bond when they decide to pick a mate.”

  I just stared at him blankly. I didn’t know anything about the way that wolves picked a mate. I had just assumed it was done the same way that humans did it. You fell in love and then pledged to spend the rest of your lives together. I was surprised to hear that a magical bond was involved.

  Froston shook his head. “I’ll do it for you this time, but I expect you to pick up on how to do it for the way back.”

  I gave him a nod, eager to see where he was taking me. It was probably too much to hope that he would bring me back to my pack.

  The chill in the air disappeared and warmth surrounded me. The cold wind was still blowing through the portal, but it didn’t touch my skin. I smiled, this is something that could be useful.

  Froston took my hand and we stepped into the Arctic. Another portal formed in front of us as soon as the first one had closed. This time it led out into a beach and I eagerly stepped through.

  “Now break the barrier around you so that you can feel the warmth and the sand under your feet,” Froston instructed.

  I failed utterly the first few times I tried, but Froston was patient and kept explaining what I needed to do. Eventually, I got it and I slipped off my shoes to wiggle my toes in the warm sand.

  I glanced at Froston, who seemed amused by how delighted I was. “I’m going in the water!” I called to him as I ran forward. I splashed into the water and giggled as a small wave broke. The ocean spray showered me so that my dress was soaked up to my thighs. The water was warm, and I tilted my head up to feel the rays of the bright sun on my face.

  I had been trapped in Froston’s castle for days. Until I was here, I had not realized how depressed I had been. I really did not want to go back.

  Froston was waiting patiently by the edge of the water for me to return, so I reluctantly made my way back to him. “This was one of your mother’s favorite places to visit,” he told me softly. “She would run right to the water, just like you did.”

  I looked up at him in surprise, he hadn’t spoken much to me about my mother. Was he starting to open up?

  “Did you come here often?” I asked curiously.

  “As often as we could.” Froston had a faraway look in his eyes, as if he were reliving the memories now. “I purchased this island for the two of us. Your mother hated living in the cold north.”

  My jaw dropped. I don’t know how much money an island cost, but I was pretty sure that it was more than I would ever see in my lifetime. I briefly wondered where Froston got the money from, but that was not the most important question right now.

  Froston shook his head. “We can talk about the past later. Now that we’re here, let’s do what we came here to do.”

  I nodded regretfully, but stepped closer to him, ready to learn.

  “Elemental magic is all around us. There’s magic in the earth, in the sea, in the wind, and in the people around you. I have a feeling that you are going to have the easiest time with magic from the earth and sea, just like your mother.”

  He raised his arms and pulled a breeze around us. I smiled, this was something I could do. I mimicked him, twirling a breeze around him and ruffling his hair.

  “Good,” he told me with a smile. “But this time I want you to try and use the magic around you, not inside you.”

  I struggled for a while as he tried to coax me through it, but my frustration grew the more I failed. “My mother could do this?” I asked him with a frown. “I thought she was a wolf.”

  He smiled. “She was, but she had more fae blood than you would think. She struggled even more than you are right now.”

  I plopped down on the sand and wiggled my butt to get comfortable. “How long did it take her to learn?”

  To my surprise, Froston sat next to me and gazed out to the ocean. “Years.”

  I huffed in frustration. “I can’t stay with you for years. I need to get back to my pack.”

  “The prince isn’t willing to wait years either.” Froston said darkly. “He’s been working with you every day and is going to want to see results soon.”

  “What if I can’t do this?” I asked worriedly. “What if I’m a magical dud?”

  “You’re not,” Froston assured me. “You’ve just spent most of your life being told that magic doesn’t exist. You were conditioned to ignore that part of yourself, and now you need to reconnect.”

  “Aren’t you the one that blocked my magic?” I asked pointedly.

  He gave me a wry grin. “Enough talk. Let’s get back to it.” Froston switched gears and focused on teaching me about barriers. You could make them out of air, out of water, out of earth, or even out of pure magic. He walked me through it again and
again until I could make them on my own. They were nowhere near as strong and sturdy as his were, but I was getting the concept.

  The skies had been darkening over us as we worked, and I felt a small drop of rain hit my nose. “Make a barrier over our heads.” Froston ordered.

  I did as he asked and had it in place just as the skies opened above us and let out a torrential downpour. I gazed up, fascinated by the way the water hit the invisible barrier and ran down the sides of the cube I had constructed around us.

  A flash of lightning was followed by the faint roll of thunder, far away. I glanced at Froston. “Ocean storms can usually travel pretty quickly.”

  He grinned at me. “I’m counting on it. I think what you need is to absorb some lightning.”

  “Are you insane?” I objected in an embarrassingly high voice. “I’m not willing to risk getting struck by lightning. I’ll die.”

  “You won’t die.” Froston soothed me as he looked out to the sea.

  Panic hit when I realized he had no intention of getting us off this island before the storm made its way here. I looked around in horror. There was nowhere to take shelter or to hide. The island was circular and almost all beach. If lightning struck, we would be the most attractive targets.

  Lightning struck out in the ocean again and this time the rumble of thunder was much closer.

  “Froston.” I tried to use my most reasonable voice. “I’m not ready for this. How do you even know I have enough fae-ness in me? I might be almost pure wolf.”

  He laughed out loud and sat in the dry sand underneath my barrier. “Anna, you need something to jolt you out of your human mentality. You look at magic as if it’s something foreign and you doubt everything I try to tell you it can do. You fight your magic instead of letting it be a part of you.”

  “This isn’t the way to do it!” I shouted over the sound of the wind and rain, completely losing any semblance of calm. “This is ridiculous!”

  “This is an excellent way to get a jolt of pure energy,” Froston told me as if I were the unreasonable one. “You need to replace whatever Morpheus and the prince managed to take from you, and you need to find your connection with the elements. This will open your eyes and let you connect with your magic on a deeper level.”

  I paced back and forth as the next strike of lightning was less than a mile away from us. This time the thunder that accompanied it was a sharp crack instead of a distant rumble. The storm had gotten stronger and wind whipped around us. The sight of Froston just sitting there nonchalantly infuriated me.

  I ripped away the barrier I had created to protect us from the wind and the rain, but Froston just stood and laughed as he was bombarded. “Come, Anna.”

  He took my hand and pulled me to the water, starting to wade into the shallow part of the water. This was it. I was going to die. I was going to be struck by lightning, electrocuted by the sea, and no one would ever find my body. Tears prickled my eyes when I thought about the guys. Would they keep looking for me? How long would it take for them to give up?

  I let Froston pull me into the shallows and tilted my head back, letting the rain run down my face and hiding any tears that might have escaped my eyes.

  “This is it, Anna!” Froston said excitedly. “Open up your senses and feel the energy building.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to do what he said. I opened up all of my senses and tried to tell myself this would be okay. Every bit of common sense I had told me this was insanely dangerous. Mixing water and electricity was crazy. But maybe Froston was right. Maybe I did need to let go of all my human beliefs if I wanted to survive this.

  I felt Froston’s magic extending outward and I let mine do the same. My awareness expanded, and I felt what he had been talking about. The air was buzzing with a charge that was building. The energy levels got higher and higher, making it difficult to breathe.

  “Pull it inside of you!” Froston shouted to me.

  I started pulling in the energy, much like the prince had pulled it from me. Suddenly, the world exploded all around us and it was like we were floating in a pool of pure energy. I absorbed as much as I could inside me and I felt Froston doing the same. The energy around us faded and the world slowly came back into view.

  My whole body was shaking, and I fell to my knees in the water. Froston held his arms out to the sky and laughed. “That was amazing!”

  I shot him a dirty look, but it didn’t put a damper on his giddiness. He pulled me to my feet then swung me around back to land. I stumbled when he put me back down, but didn’t fall. My entire body was buzzing with energy, it was worse than the time I had eaten an entire bag of chocolate covered expresso beans, not realizing how much caffeine was in them.

  Froston finally realized that I was not nearly as gleeful as he was. He placed his hands on my face and looked into my eyes. “You took too much,” he said with a smile. “I can feel the energy ready to burst out of you. You’re going to have to let some out before we go back.”

  I closed my eyes. He was right, I felt like my entire body was stuffed with energy. There was no doubt in my mind now that I wasn’t a regular wolf. I definitely wasn’t anything close to human. I really was fae.

  With the magic buzzing inside me, I let my instincts guide me. The rain was tapering off now to just a slight drizzle but my clothes were clinging to me uncomfortably. Froston had told me that I could do anything that I put my mind to, so I tried to dry myself off. With a thought, I dissipated the water that had collected on my skin, clothing, and hair. It worked, but my skin crackled with electrical charge and my hair poofed out like I had stuck my hand in an electrical socket.

  Froston couldn’t hold in his laughter when he saw me. “A little more gently next time, Anna.”

  I glared at him and tried to pull my hair back. I wound it into a tight bun, but little hairs still stuck up all over my head. Froston kept laughing as if he were drunk. Maybe he was. Maybe this was how the fae got their kicks.

  I scowled. He pointed a finger at me and zapped some kind of electricity towards me. Faster than I could think I instinctively formed a shield, blocking it from me.

  “Excellent work, Anna,” Froston told me proudly. “Do that before you go to bed and no one will be able to invade your dreams while you sleep.”

  I looked at the shield a little closer, making sure I would be able to replicate it later. If Froston had told me I could make a shield like this and tried to describe how I would do it, I don’t think I would have been able to. But somehow I had used my instinct to create this? Once I was sure I had it figured out for next time, I narrowed my eyes at Froston. If he was going to fling electricity at me, I could retaliate. I focused on making a fireball in my hand as Froston watched.

  He formed his own shield right before I flung it at him. “Good form, Anna,” he called to me. “Use the ocean this time, though.”

  It was official. All the fae were completely insane.

  Froston and I battled it out for a while on the beach. I let out all my anger and frustrations along with the extra magic I had humming inside of me. It felt good to let loose, but it was also satisfying to see just how far I had come. I was anything but helpless now.

  I stood much more confidently now. I was certain that I could protect myself against humans and wolves. Next, I needed to hone my skills so that I wasn’t helpless in the hands of a more experienced fae like the prince.

  Froston flung an arm around my shoulders with a grin. “I haven’t had that much fun in decades, we’ll have to do this again soon.”

  I just gave him a dirty look before a thought struck me.

  “I know what would be even more fun,” I said slyly. “Visiting my pack in Seaside.”

  He gave me a squeeze. “It’s not safe for you there.”

  “Why not?” I asked. “At least just let me tell them that I’m okay,” I begged. “They are probably so worried!”

  Froston gave me a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll get them a message, but you have
to keep your distance for now.”

  I sighed in disappointment. At least a message was better than nothing.

  Chapter 10

  Anna

  The prince had sent word to my father that he was taking a break from our lessons today but was sending a healer in his place. That was fine with me. I still wasn’t ready to face the prince after our last lesson. I was angry at the way he had treated me, but I was also angry that I had let him get away with it. I hated feeling helpless.

  Froston had introduced me to Airmed, a healer for the king. She was tall, with white hair down to her hips, and an ageless wisdom in her eyes. She had the same delicate bone structure that I had seen in the other female fae that I had met. She also didn’t seem very enthusiastic about being stuck with me.

  She had me watch her as she healed several people, but then simply turned to me and demanded that I do the same. I had no idea where to start. I dropped my hands from the guard’s arm in frustration. “I can’t do this.”

  The prince had brought an entire contingent of guards with him to my father’s castle; apparently, he never went anywhere unless well protected. The guards trained rough, which meant there were plenty of injuries for me to practice healing. Most of the guards were gruff and wary but reminded me of the marines back home.

  I felt a pang of longing in my heart when I thought about my marines and the rest of my pack in Seaside. I tried to set aside my emotions and focus on what I was trying to do. One of the guards was sitting in front of me, cradling his broken arm and waiting for me to heal him. I had tried everything I could think of but was failing miserably at the task.

  Airmed huffed in frustration. “I don’t want to have to report to the prince that you failed, yet again.”

  “Well, I don’t want to report to the prince that you failed to teach me, yet again. But here we are.” We both glared at each other. I met her eyes steadily, and maybe it was my wolf side, but I wanted her to be the first to look away.

  Airmed lowered her eyes first and I felt a surge of triumph. Maybe it was because I was a lone wolf amongst the fae, but I felt more in tune with my wolfish instincts than ever. Or maybe it was because I was accepting magic as a part of who I was. When I had first met the twins, I had struggled with accepting the part of me that was a wolf. I had blocked all my instincts and thoughts that were wolfish and only let them out when I shifted.