Yeah, getting thrown into prison and now running from the law just like everybody else. I shook my head in disbelief. "Tarah, your entire life has been wrecked because of all of this."
"No, I found my future because of it. Thanks to all of this, I finally figured out that I want to become a journalist like Jeremy. If not for going through all of this, I might never have realized that, or maybe I would have, but I never would have found the courage to actually go for it. Now? This story is practically writing itself for me. All I have to do is see it through to the end."
She was delusional.
My hand and forearm were getting tired holding the wheel. Forgetting about my hurt shoulder, I tried to switch hands on the steering wheel and cursed under my breath from the resulting pain.
"Shoulder hurting?" she asked.
I nodded. "Too bad I can't just hit it with a spell to heal it up fully or something."
"Do you know how to heal like Pamela?"
I shook my head. "To be honest, I never really got to train with my abilities much. Damon and I had just started before he died."
"Hmm. You'd think the Clann would have some spellbooks or something. I wonder how the descendants still in the Clann train their kids when their abilities start showing up?"
"Actually, they do have spellbooks." I told her about the bookstore where her father had gotten arrested.
Her eyes grew wider and rounder the more I told her about the magical items hidden in the back storage room. "Is it dorky of me that I really wish I had one of those wands now?" she asked.
I grinned. "Well if it is, then you can call me a dork too. I was actually kinda jealous of the descendant kids when I heard about them. The store owner said we're too old for wands, though. Apparently only twelve and thirteen year olds get to use them."
"So did you get to buy anything?"
"Yeah. I got a spellbook. It's in the backseat." Which reminded me... "Hey, do you want to check it for a healing—"
But she was already diving over the backseat. "What does it look like?"
“Uh, like a history book.”
Papers rustled as she dug through the crap in the backseat. “Got it!” She sat back in her seat with a huff, pulled her seatbelt back on, then flipped through the book with a frown. “Hayden, you got robbed. It really is a history book.”
“No it’s not. Hold it closer to me.” When she did, I murmured, “Revelattio.”
The book’s cover and contents changed, making Tarah gasp, “Holy crap.”
“Yeah, that’s about what I said the first time too.”
She started flipping through the pages. “Whoa. This has some seriously deep stuff!”
“Anything on healing?”
“Um...” She quickly flipped through the pages, the sound of the paper pages crackling in the quiet cab. “Yep, here’s a whole section on it.”
“Want to read it to me?”
“Right now?”
“Why not?”
“But you said you just got this book, and Damon and you didn't get a chance to train together long, either. Which makes you pretty much a beginner, I'm guessing." She flipped through the spells again, her frown deepening.
"Yeah, so what's your point?"
"My point is I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to learn these kinds of lessons in order so each lesson can build on the one before it."
“Tarah, what part of this little road trip we’re on says I’m a huge fan of following the rules right now?”
One corner of her mouth kicked up into a reluctant smile. "Point taken."
While she read the directions, I gingerly switched to steering with my bad arm, freeing my good hand to apply the spell on my wounded shoulder.
Nothing happened.
“Did you read it right?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I read every word in this section. But you obviously weren't listening. You can’t heal yourself, dummie.”
“Why not?” Seriously, what was the point of being a descendant from the Clann if I couldn’t even fix myself?
“Because it doesn’t work like that. It says when you heal someone, you take a little of their pain into yourself, and you give them a lot of your energy in return. If you try to do it on yourself, there’s nowhere for the pain to go and no fresh energy coming in to heal you.”
I scowled at the road ahead of us. “Huh. Well, what else has it got?”
“Nope. I’m not reading anything else from this book unless you agree to do the lessons in order.”
“But—“
“Nu uh. I’m serious here, Hayden. You can’t mess around with magic. If you do, bad things can happen. It’s like playing scientist with acid and other dangerous chemicals and having no clue what you’re doing or how to stay safe.”
“Oh come on. I don’t need to know the whole book. Let’s just pick out a few spells—“
“No. I am not letting you blow us up or turn us into chickens or something! Either do it right or not at all.”
“Chickens?” I snorted.
I glanced at her to see if she was serious. Yep, she was serious, judging by the mulish set of that chin and lower lip.
That lower lip that I really wanted to kiss right now.
I sighed. “Fine. Start at the beginning, I guess.”
Smirking in victory, she flipped to the first chapter then started reading.
CHAPTER 11
The girl should’ve considered a career in the military, because she drilled me harder on those spell basics than any drill seargeant ever could have. My hands began to ache as I practiced making various spells’ gestures over and over until she was satisfied they matched the book’s illustrations. Only then would she teach me the words to think or say that would complete each spell.
I didn’t feel like I was learning all that much. But then I discovered I didn’t really care as long as she kept reading to me. Her voice had changed since we were kids. Even back then, her voice had never been very high or squeaky. But now it had a husky yet honey smooth richness to it. I liked hearing it enough that she could have been reading a cookbook to me for all I probably would have cared.
It wasn’t until she shivered two hours later that I noticed how much time had passed and that the sun had dropped to just above the treetops. As the sun set and we continued straight north, the temperature both outside and inside the truck’s cab had also begun to drop.