Midnight

Climb

"You went and did it, didn't you?" To outward appearances, Kui could have been asleep, with one thick, tattooed arm slung over his eyes.

"You have a problem?" Estelle closed the door behind her. "You have a problem."

"No." Kui rolled onto his side, one pillow clutched under his arm, and regarded her intently. "But I don't quite think the middle of the night after a nightmare is a wonderful time for decision-making."

"How did you know I had a nightmare?"

"You just told me. I was shooting in the dark." Kui also shot her a roguish grin, and Estelle sullenly returned it. "Seriously, though: are you sure about this?"

"No, but it beats living in a cave."

"I suppose I can't argue."

"And it'll help me figure out my path." Estelle sat on her bed, rubbing her hands together. "Make sense of what's on my mind."

"You've been locked in a cave on an island for almost three years." Kui raised one eyebrow. "And then Jason comes running in, with those eyes, leading you to shelter and hot food...I know what's on your mind."

"Stop it!" Estelle threw one of her pillows at him. "Ridiculous. I barely know him!"

"Ridiculous, certainly. You didn't say it was wrong." Kui tested the pillow. "Keeping this, by the way."

"Please do: this bed is probably why I'm having nightmares." Estelle bounced on the mattress for emphasis. "It's like sleeping on pudding. I miss using a rock for a pillow."

"Yeah, I'll take the mattress." Kui rolled himself back over. "Get some sleep, Estelle."

She smiled at him. Kui was a good sort, all things considered.

Estelle paused only to take one pillow and a blanket and move to the carpeted stone floor before she went back to sleep.

***

"Magic!" A few hours later, Estelle nearly bounced in her seat, breakfast almost forgotten. "When do I start?"

"Depends." Jason and Tempest, seated at her and Kui's table, traded a glance. Around them, most of the Guiding Light enjoyed their own morning meal. Vaneer waved from the far corner, and Estelle smiled at him.

"On what?" Kui this time.

"What kind of magic you want to learn." Tempest paused for a bite, and Estelle grudgingly did the same. "You have to decide whether you want to chase your Gift, witchcraft, or wizardry."

Estelle put her hands on her hips, and for a moment she wavered under the dizzying and depressing sensation of realizing she probably looked exactly like her mother. "Can you please elaborate a little bit more?"

"Certainly." Jason considered. "Take Tempest." The woman in question smiled and waved. "She's Gifted. Outwardly, she's no different from anyone else. She can learn magic or witchcraft, any skills she wants, do anything anyone else can do. But she has a special talent. In her case..."

"I randomly shoot bolts of lightning from my fingertips." Tempest nodded when Kui dropped his fork. "Especially when I'm emotional."

"Gods." Estelle blinked. "At any moment–"

"If it weren't for the device a very kind man built for me, yes." Tempest rolled her sleeve back, exposing a mess of wires and chemical tubes. Whether it was a brace she wore like a shirt or something literally fused into her skin was more than Estelle could tell. "It controls my power so I don't have to worry about it. I can use it to shut my Gift down, which I do almost all the time. But when I find someone who needs lightning, I can adjust the way the device functions to amplify and control my Gift, increasing or reducing the power in each of my strikes depending on the situation. It can even allow me to perform trick shots, like calling a bolt of lightning down to trigger a sonic boom."