Page 45 of Dreams of Magic
Then she saw it. Off to the right, on the edge of the dance area next to the bonfire, Marshall was on fire.
Or rather, his hands were. Together, they rushed over to him just as Brianna threw a bucket of water over Marshall’s hands, soaking most of him in the process. But the fire did not go out.
Kenzie could still feel a buzz on her skin, a buzz that she’d been feeling for a few minutes, but had been too distracted to think about what it meant.
She could tell the buzz was from Marshall, which meant he was using magic. It was the same feeling he had described when she healed Aiden.
Brianna screamed, “What the fuck! It didn’t go out!”
“Here, let me.” Kenzie said as she got closer to them, Aiden right on her heels.
He grabbed her hand as she got right up next to Marshall, “Don’t touch it you’ll get burned.”
Shaking her head, she instinctively reached for Marshalls hands. Before she could take them though, Marshall jerked away, “No Kenzie, I’ll burn you.”
He looked terrified. She wasn’t sure if it was for her or for himself, but she didn’t care. She knew he would never hurt her and could feel that this fire was a part of him so it wouldn’t hurt her either.
Then William was there, “Mackenzie, do you think you can help him?”
“Yes.” Then to Marshall she said, “Trust me, you won’t hurt me.”
She grabbed his hands before he could pull away again. The fire engulfed her hands along with his as soon as their palms connected, and as she expected, it didn’t hurt at all.
Marshall was watching their joined hands closely, probably waiting to see if she started to scream in agony. When she didn’t, he gripped her hands more firmly, “Huh. Well, that’s good to know. So now how do we get it out?”
“Uh well… I have no idea. Maybe it’s like the healing? Try to will it away, like an instinct? That’s how the healing has worked so far. I think it’s my intent or something.” That was her best guess and wasn’t sure she could come up with a better idea if it didn’t work.
Marshall took a breath and squeezed his eyes shut trying to concentrate. She watched the flames, hoping they would die down. Unfortunately, they didn’t go down, but they did start to dance and swirl around their fingers. It was almost pretty.
William stepped a bit closer, “That’s not working. Open your eyes and look at the flames. Then think about what fire looks like as it slowly burns out and turns to ashes.”
Then Chris said, “You need to calm your mind. Relax and stop trying to force it. Magic is an extension of you, so treat it like another limb.”
Marshall opened his eyes, then focused on the fire again.
They stood like that for a few minutes with nothing happening, then slowly the fire started to get smaller and smaller. Finally, it dwindled down to a small flame and then went out with a little wisp of smoke.
She wasn’t sure how long it took, but when she looked up from their clasped hands, every single person at the party was standing in a circle around them.
William patted each of their shoulders, “Great job. So, it appears you’ve got your powers. Now you both need to learn to control them. Fire especially can be dangerous, so the sooner the better.”
Then he walked away. Chris nodded his approval and gently squeezed Marshall’s shoulder, then followed in the direction William had gone. Everyone else slowly started to disperse as well, but little groups were forming, and people were obviously whispering.
No one knew what to make of the little display of pyrotechnics.
She wasn’t surprised though. People would always talk about the things they didn’t understand, and a wolf using magic was definitely not normal.
Aiden placed a hand over their still clasped hands, “Are ya’ll okay?”
Marshal huffed, then released her hands, “Yea, we’re fine. I don’t even know what happened. I was just standing here talking to Brianna and suddenly my hands caught fire. It was so weird, I almost panicked. But it didn’t hurt, so I just sort of stood there while Brianna doused me with a bucket of water.”
Brianna was still standing behind Marshall talking to someone, but she turned when Marshall said her name.
Walking up next to him, she pushed his shoulder a little, “I thought you were dying! Would you have preferred I didn’t try to save you?”
Marshall quickly shot an arm out and wrapped it around Brianna’s neck, pulling her head in close to give her a good old fashioned noogie. He rubbed his knuckles over her hair, causing a huge knot to form on top of her head.
“Of course, not Bri. I appreciate all your efforts.” Marshall laughed and Brianna flailed around and screeched trying to get away from him.