“I had another thought while we were waiting for you,” Conlan said.
I raised my eyebrows. “Must have been a quick thought. I didn’t take that long.”
He laughed. “Since we’re using a portal, it would be a good time to show you how it’s done.”
“Really?” I asked eagerly. I’d seen Lukas create them a number of times, but he did it too fast to follow his actions.
“She’s not ready for that,” Faolin said from the kitchen, putting a damper on my newfound happiness.
“I’m not going to have her create it.” Conlan winked at me. “But I think she can handle learning the basics.”
I was quick to agree. “Yes, I can.”
He pointed at the door. “The wards on the building require more complicated magic. Let’s do this outside.”
“Okay.” I followed him out to the private parking lot. It was an overcast day, but there was no cold nip in the air. Spring had finally arrived.
Conlan turned to face me. “What do you know about the barrier between this realm and ours?”
“I know it’s made up of a balance of energy from both worlds. Our atmospheres are so different because of the amount of magic in Faerie that they form a layer where they meet.” I shrugged. “I’m sure there is a more scientific explanation.”
“Yours will do.” He waved a hand through the air, leaving a scattered trail of glittering particles in its wake. “The barrier is not a solid thing, so some of the energy from Faerie leaches through to this side. The trace amounts are so small they can’t affect this world, but a faerie with enough magic can isolate and manipulate them. Watch.”
He raised both hands, palms facing me, and moved them apart. I stared at the soft blue magic pouring from his hands and attaching to the particles in the air. He moved slowly enough for me to see how he used the traces of magic in the barrier as building blocks and filled in the blank spaces with his own.
“Wow,” I whispered. “That’s amazing.”
“There is more to it than harnessing the magic in the barrier,” said Faolin, who had followed us outside with Faris. “It requires both strength and concentration to not only open the portal but to open it where you want to go.”
I watched Conlan release the magic and lower his hands. “That makes sense. You wouldn’t want to make a mistake and end up in the Seelie court.”
“That wouldn’t happen because citizens of one court cannot create a portal to the other without permission,” Faolin said. “But you could end up in the middle of nowhere if you don’t know where you’re going.”
Faris snorted. “It’s no wonder you are the life of all the parties at court, Brother. Stop ruining our fun.”
Faolin didn’t smile, but I caught a flicker of amusement in his eyes. He waved a hand at us. “Carry on.”
Conlan looked at me. “You give it a try.”
I shook my head, laughing. “I can’t do that. I don’t know how to use my magic.”
“Here, let me help you.” He took my hand and raised it. My fingers twitched as a light stream of magic came from his.
“Do you feel anything?” he asked.
“It tingles.”
“Good. That means you can feel my magic. I’m going to slowly pull away, and I want you to keep reaching out for the magic.” He did as he’d said, and the flow of his magic trickled away.
I could still sense something, but it was too indistinct to touch. After a minute, I dropped my arm. “I felt it, but I couldn’t connect the way you did.”
Conlan chuckled. “I’d be shocked if you could on your first try. As Faolin said, it takes a lot of strength, more than a new faerie has. Do you remember how weak I was after Davian’s men had me in iron shackles? I didn’t have the strength to create a portal, and I have been doing it for years.”
I thought back to that day. He’d barely been able to produce magic until I’d put the goddess stone in his hand. It had restored his strength, and he’d had no problem creating the portal. I was a faerie now, but the stone wasn’t affecting me the same way. Why was that?
“Can we try that again?” I asked.
He lifted my hand and used his magic. This time, when he released me, I took the stone from my hair and held it in my other hand. The effect was instant. It was like a massive adrenaline rush along with a feeling of euphoria that made me lightheaded.
After the initial shock of it passed, I concentrated on the particles of magic Conlan had exposed to me. This time, they came into focus with crystal clarity. “Whoa!” I breathed when lavender magic poured from my hands. “Are you guys seeing this?”
Someone spoke, but I was too mesmerized by the sight of my own magic to focus on the words. I thought about touching the particles in the barrier, and my magic moved to do my bidding.
My body thrummed with a low current of electricity when I connected with the barrier, and instinct took over. I remembered what Conlan had done, and I emulated it. Only I didn’t stop. I imagined a portal like the ones I’d seen him and Lukas create. A hole formed before me.
“Jesse, no,” Conlan shouted. I felt his hand brush my arm.
Then I was sucked into a gray void.
Chapter 8
I stumbled and righted myself. Spinning, I looked for the portal, but it was gone. There was nothing but a thick gray fog.
Panic threatened to choke me, but I pushed it down. I’d been here before with Conlan, which meant it had to be a part of Faerie. And he’d created a portal out of here, so I could, too.
I still had the stone in my hand, so I did exactly what I’d done to create my first portal. It was much easier to connect to the magic from this side of the barrier, and an outline of a portal began to appear. I imagined the parking lot behind Lukas’s building. I could do this.
“Jesse.”
I spun around at the woman’s voice, but all I saw was fog. Thinking I had imagined it, I returned my focus to the portal. It grew as big as a door, and I could make out the faint shape of a building on the other side.
The fog swirled, and I thought I saw a shape coming toward me. My heart thudded, and I lost my concentration. The portal began to close.
No. I pushed my magic into the portal. As soon as it reopened, I jumped through it.
I nearly fell when my feet hit uneven ground instead of flat pavement. Dread coiled in my stomach, and I straightened to look at my surroundings.
I was standing on a beach, facing the ocean where huge swells rose and rolled toward the shore under the first light of day. Turning, I found trees and greenery and noticed a few tall palm trees. A dozen feet away, a large turtle left a trail in the sand as he made his way to the water.
The roar of the waves drew my gaze back to the ocean. I squinted, and this time, I could pick out the dark shapes of people on boards. Surfers.
Relief filled me. If there were people here, I hadn’t landed on some deserted island. My shock had worn off enough for me to take stock of my surroundings. It was windy but warm, and the sky told me it was not long after sunrise. That meant I had travelled west to an earlier time zone. California maybe?
I did a quick calculation. California was three hours behind New York, which would make it mid-morning there. It was definitely earlier than that here. That left…Hawaii. I was in Hawaii. The question was which one of the islands was I on?