Splitting Our Odds Into Evens

Regular Kol

A FEW DAYS LATER...

Three days later, Bonnie sat cross-legged on the courtyard floor with a flowerpot between her and Hope.

"Again," she said.

Hope frowned at the tiny white flower growing from the soil. "I've done it three times."

"And you're going to do it a fourth."

"But I already know how."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "Then it should be easy."

Hope sighed dramatically before turning her attention back to the flower. She held her hand over it and whispered the spell Bonnie had taught her.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Hope glanced up.

"Don't look at me. Look at the flower," Bonnie said.

Hope quickly looked down again.

The petals trembled.

Slowly, the flower began to close until each petal folded tightly against the others.

Hope's face lit up. "I did it!"

"You did." Bonnie smiled and slid the pot closer to herself. "Now open it again."

Hope's excitement disappeared. "That's harder."

"That's why we're practicing."

Hope leaned closer to the flower and tried again. The petals twitched but remained closed.

She tried a second time.

Nothing.

Her shoulders dropped.

Bonnie noticed immediately. "Hey. What's wrong?"

Hope picked at a loose thread on her sleeve. "Maybe I shouldn't."

"Shouldn't what?"

"Do magic."

Bonnie's smile faded.

Hope continued staring at her hands. "Every time I do big magic, something bad happens."

Bonnie understood exactly where that had come from.

She moved the flowerpot aside and scooted closer. "What you saw when you touched Kol wasn't something you did to him."

"I know."

"Do you?"

Hope shrugged.

Bonnie took her hand. "Your magic showed you something. That's all. You didn't make Kol sick, and you didn't make any of the things in that vision happen."

Hope finally looked at her.

"Magic can be scary," Bonnie continued. "Especially when it shows you things you don't understand. But that's not all it is. Sometimes it's this."

She nodded toward the flower.

Hope looked at it. "Making flowers open?"

"Exactly."

"That's kinda boring."

Bonnie laughed. "Boring is good sometimes."

Hope considered that before holding her hand over the flower again.

Bonnie placed her hand beside Hope's. "Don't force it. Just focus."

They whispered the spell together.

The flower opened.

Hope grinned.

"There you go."

Bonnie pulled her hand away, but a sudden wave of weakness ran through her fingers. She flexed them beneath the sleeve of her sweater before Hope could notice.