Sember (Forestfolk, Book 2)

Chapter 17b

I thought about Jastin. He didn't seem sick at all, and his house contained none of the herbal concoctions that Vina had showed us. He had to be Gifted. Why didn't he talk about it?

"Has Goben told you about his gift?" I asked, as a way to start the conversation.

"No."

"Oh." Well, that was a surprisingly short conversation. I found it odd. Goben kept blabbering about my gift, why didn't he talk about his own? Sometimes boys mystified me. Proud and bragging one moment, quiet and sullen the next. It was annoying. I decided the direct approach would frustrate me the least.

"Jastin, are you Gifted?"

He smiled, but something in his eyes gave it a sad or lonely quality. "Yes."

I waited, but he didn't elaborate. "Why don't you want to talk about it? You know everything about me, but I know nothing about you."

He stopped walking and regarded me for a moment, then he cupped his hands together for several seconds. When he removed one hand, something round and white sat on his palm. He took my hand and placed the white ball in it. It was cold. A snowball.

"You make snow?" I asked, examining the snowball, which had already started melting in my warm hand.

"Ice," he corrected.

"That's not a bad thing. Why didn't you want to tell me?"

"Look around you," he said, staring up at the snow-covered rooftops. "Being able to make ice here isn't exactly useful."

"I'd switch with you any day," I replied.

"Your gift saved your brother's life," he said, his voice tinged with admiration. "Being able to keep people warm in these conditions is priceless."

I snorted. "His would be the first life I've ever saved. Believe me, keeping warm where I come from isn't a problem. My gift is more of a liability. People fear for their lives around me."

"I find that hard to believe."

"You haven't seen me lose my temper." With a wave of heat, I instantly melted the snowball, shook the water off my hand, and resumed walking.

No wonder his hands were always cold. It also explained why he had no fire lit in his house during a blizzard.

I gave him a sidelong glance. "So you never get cold." It was more of a comment than a question.

"No."

"Well, that's something."

A corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. "Neither do you."

"Not usually, no," I replied. "My arrival here was the first time I've ever felt cold. Can't say I cared for it."

"Most people don't," he said ruefully.

The loneliness in his voice spoke to me. Then I remembered his family. Well, of course he was lonely. He just lost everyone he loved.

We arrived at his house, and I decided to go practice. The reality was I couldn't trade gifts with anyone. I was stuck with this one, so I'd best continue mastering it.

Jastin offered to escort me, but I waved him off. I didn't like practicing something new in front of people, in case it blew up in my face, or worse, their faces. I doddered toward the thicket until I found a large outcrop of boulders. This would do nicely.

I sat down some distance away from the boulders. My butt sank into soggy snow, but it didn't bother me. I just needed to get off my feet. I closed my hand into a loose fist and formed a fireball. Opening my hand, I examined the swirling ball of flame. It was the size of my fist, too big. I squeezed down on it, attempting to make it smaller, but it only shrank a little bit. I clamped down on it with both hands. That didn't seem to compact it much, either. I threw it at the boulder in frustration, and it dissipated upon fiery impact, leaving a large scorch mark.

I flung myself backward into the snow and stared up at the sky. Fluffy clouds floated by, and I remembered something Siena had taught me when I was little. I had been having trouble controlling my energy flow, and she had told me to pretend that my core was a beehive. The bees buzzing around it was my energy. She told me to imagine "fetching" a number of bees from the hive whenever I wanted to conjure fire. The more bees I summoned, the stronger the fire. The analogy was the breakthrough I had needed to understand my gift. After that, I had gained the ability to harness it.

I smiled as I remembered those early days of joy. Finally being able to control my gift—instead of the other way around—altered my life. Of course, life was much simpler when I was six.

This chapter has three parts. Vote before you continue? Sember thanks you! :)