Kingdoms of Gold

29 | Crash and Burn

I dry heaved into the kitchen sink. It disappeared from my view. Completely vanished.

In its place was bone. Bone carved counters, floors, and walls. I was stuck in the House of Bone once more.

Hands grasped at me, pulling me back. 

I fought. I wasn't going down without a fight. I couldn't. She'd torture me, skin me and hang me up to dry. I wouldn't die. She wouldn't let that happen. I had to get out.

"Token, breathe." Valentino cradled me in his arms. "You need to breathe. Pull back the illusions. It's all only illusions. You're safe. I've got you."

I calmed down enough to feel the waves of magic pouring from me. I sucked in deep breaths, taking in my illusions too. 

The kitchen reappeared. Alistar knelt next to Valentino and I, face grim. "Are you okay?"

I nodded.

"Shit. Your magic is flooding out while conscious now. We need to find a way to control it without putting a seal on you again." He sighed. "How much magic are you using everyday?"

I was leaking magic before?

"I only use it to keep the human illusion around me." I didn't need it, not anymore. It was more from habit. When it was my family and I, I didn't use any magic.

"Use your magic more frequently from now on, even if it seems pointless. Give yourself a new hair color or remodel Rune's kitchen." Alistar tapped the weapon belt across his waist nervously. "Your magic is starting to become too much for your body to handle."

"It's why she's having so many waves of power." Valentino clenched his jaw. "Her magic is beginning to tear her up from the inside."

I had no idea what they were talking about. "We have a deal. No more secrets. What do you mean my magic has been leaking?"

"When you sleep, sometimes you'll make illusions." Alistar didn't hesitate to explain. "We didn't think much of it, especially since it started out small. Now that you're doing it unknowingly while conscious, that's a problem."

I blew a raspberry. I had this same problems as a child. My brother placed the seal on me a month later. "How long and how bad are the illusions?"

"Rune said the first time he and Malachi saw it was in the forest with you." Valentino brushed some of my hair back. "The first few times it was small. Like a pile of weapons appearing in the corner of the room."

"Do you remember when we had to wake you from a nightmare when you came back? You'd changed the entire room." Alistar toyed with a blade tucked away. "That was the largest illusion you've created aside from today."

"Maybe we need to put a new seal back on me." I didn't know if there was anyone around who could create a seal strong enough to suppress my magic. My brother was the only one I knew who could.

"A seal is only a temporary solution. It wouldn't hold very long. The seal you had before was cracking, leaking magic before you broke it." Valentino sighed.

They had a point—"Wait. You knew I had a seal before the mountains and witches?"

Alistar smirked. "You underestimated us. Well, you underestimated Rune and Valentino. They kept me in the dark, but both knew about your seal since day one."

I groaned. "I don't know why you guys don't think to tell me these things. I thought I was doing a good job at keeping secrets and you weren't as nosy as I thought you could be."

Valentino snorted. "Please. We gossip worse than high schoolers. Most of the crap you tried to hide, we knew long before. It was cute seeing you try to keep it a secret though."