Scars of her Blood • Shadowhunters

Chapter 37: Added Responsibility

Celia called Magnus the next morning and asked him to meet up.

"Did anything change about the magic?", he asked when he opened the door for her.

"Well, I feel it again... Like I did in the beginning.", Celia shrugged, "you are the expert here."

"The suppressant has worn off, nothing else.", Magnus made his way into his living room and waved his hands through the air. All the furniture moved out of the way. As it slammed against the wall, a painting that looked at least a hundred years old fell from its fixture. Celia decided not to comment on it and Magnus did not even seem to notice:

"You know the drill.", he turned to Celia, "sit on the ground and stretch out your hands."

Celia sighed, but did as he commanded.

"Close your eyes, try to reach the magic within you."

Celia let her breath out and concentrated. She felt some kind of power inside her, she just needed to get a hold of it somehow.

"Pull it out.", Magnus continued quietly, "think of it like pulling your sword out of its sheath."

Celia tried to envision what he just said. Pulling out the magic like drawing a sword. Easier said than done.

"This isn't working, Magnus.", Celia finally groaned.

All of a sudden, Celia felt how Magnus placed his hand on her shoulder. He mumbled a few quiet words and Celia felt a pulling inside her. Tension was building up, it felt like something was pressing against her temples from the inside.

"You need to allow it to happen, Celia.", Magnus instructed. Celia frowned. She had no control over what was happening, how could she be the one to allow it? Celia flexed her fingers and let out a long breath. Come on... Show me what you can do... I want to see it.

It felt as if a wave was crashing down on top of Celia. Then, there was a breeze going through the room, playing with her hair. Celia's eyes flew open. A couple more pictures had fallen off the walls, the curtains on the closed windows were moving in the light wind.

"Am I doing this?", Celia asked in disbelief. She knew the answer to her question, but she had not expected this.

"This is raw magic.", Magnus explained. Was that a little bit of pride that Celia could make out in his tone?

"Bring it back to you and manifest it in your hand.", he instructed.

"As what?", Celia asked.

"Anything you can think off. The first thing that comes to mind is usually the easiest."

Celia closed her eyes again and tried to think of something. The wind in the room slowly died down. Celia frowned. Was she manifesting anything at all right now? Then, she felt a comfortable warmth in her palm.

"Who would have thought...", Magnus scoffed, "Celia Velázquez summons fire."

Celia opened her eyes again and starred at the little flame in her right hand. She could not help but start grinning.

"This is so cool!", she whispered. The flame became bigger.

"Careful.", Magnus warned, "your magic is tied to your emotions. If you get all too excited you might burn the house down."

"Oh.", Celia's smile froze. The flame dimmed down with the sudden realization.

Suddenly, they heard the front door open and close.