Undercity: Manifest

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sadie was too busy looking at her nephew's sleeping form on the picture Emilie had sent her to notice Dante enter the training room. She was typing out a message about his munchable face, and taking in his squashed features, when Dante cleared his throat to get her attention. 

He had been named Henri, after Chris' father, who had cried over video call when they shared the news. The hospital monitored Emilie for three days before releasing her. They had been busy settling in at home for the past week, with Saide visiting every free chance she got. 

For all of the excitement, Sadie couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt for what they had done in order to save Emilie's life. She knew, that given the choice, Emilie would have done anything to keep Henri safe and would have wanted to live to see him grow up, but Sadie couldn't help but feel that she had taken something away from her by going ahead without telling her what she really was. 

Dante dropped a clanging bag of weapons to the floor making Sadie flinch. 

'Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen!' Saide said, waving the picture of Henri in Dante's face.

'Hmm.' He gave a non-committal sound in response and bent to pick up a dagger from the dropped bag. 

'I bet if you sniffed him, all of your grumpy would melt away.' She teased. 

'I'm not sniffing your nephew.' He flatly stated. 

Sadie decided to give up with him, scrunched her face up at her phone a final time and put it in her bag. 'What's the plan today oh master of misery?' Okay, she hadn't given up teasing him entirely. 

Dante didn't bite, as expected. Instead, he twirled the dagger around in one hand before sending it flying past Sadie's head into the centre of a standing target at the back of the room. 'Target practice.' He announced on a grin. 

Her first few throws were abysmal. If they made it as far at the target, they bounced off without sticking in the wood. Some stuck in the matter floor area just in front of the target range creating a no-man's land of discarded weapons.

2

The longer it went on, the more frustrated she was becoming. A low humming sounded in Sadie's ears as her anger grew. Dante's comments about how she wasn't concentrating hard enough only added to her rage. She let the next dagger fly on a scream. It went wide. That was it. She exploded. 

Before she knew what was happening, an invisible gust of air flew from her still extended hand, the force was such that it knocked her backwards onto the side of her hip before hurtling towards the target and blowing it to pieces. Splinters of wood flew out at all angles adding to the mess she had already made on the floor from her failed attempts. 

'Fucking stars Sadie! What was that?' Dante let out, sounding as shocked as she felt. 

'I've never done that before.' She said on a breath. She was still on the floor looking at her hands in disbelief when she realised, 'I'm still wearing my necklace.'

Dante looked down at her, not offering to help her up, and noted the suppression stone hanging around her neck. Sadie's hand had now moved to hold it confirming what she already knew. 'How is that possible?' She asked, now looking at the space in the line where target had stood. 

'It looks like you have air magic. That must be what you took from your sister.' He supplied. Sadie couldn't help cringing at the word 'took'. It reminded her of the feelings she had been mulling over after what they did. Dante continued before she could become lost in her thoughts. 'My best guess is that your strength now surpasses the stone's magic. Whoever spelled it wouldn't have anticipated you absorbing another's magic.'