Chapter 354: Out Of Control

Rebecca’s POV

​I stiffened. What?

​I don’t know, Laura replied, but a moment later, her voice became more urgent. Rebecca, our blood feels like it’s burning.

​Can you control it?

​Laura went silent for a frightening second before answering. I’m trying.

​Hearing fear in her voice made my own fear rise, and it only became worse when light suddenly flickered around my fingers. I looked down and saw golden Fae energy moving across my skin. I hadn’t summoned it.

​I immediately clenched my fists and lowered my hands to my sides before anyone could notice. Maybe I was simply exhausted. I had barely slept, I hadn’t eaten much that morning, and the training had been hard. That had to be it, and I definitely wasn’t telling Kaden. The second he thought something was wrong with me, he would have a healer examine me and probably remove me from training for the rest of the day. Stephanie didn’t have time for me to rest.

​"Alright," Kaden called as he stepped toward the center of the field. "Next drill. Precision short-range teleportation. Five paces to your left. Defensive position immediately after landing." His gaze moved across the candidates before stopping on me. "Rebecca, you’re first."

​Of course I was.

​I stepped into the marked circle and tried to ignore the strange feeling beneath my feet. The ground felt almost as though it were moving, but I swallowed and focused on the marked position five paces away. It was simple. I had done far more difficult jumps than this.

​"Ready?" Kaden asked from a few feet away.

​"Yes," I answered, focusing on the target as I reached for my magic.

​It came too quickly. Golden light suddenly appeared around my boots before I had even finished focusing on where I wanted to land, and my stomach tightened.

​"Hold," Kaden ordered sharply.

​He moved before anyone else could. His hand closed around my shoulder, and the second he touched me, something inside my body reacted. My energy rushed toward his hand so suddenly that Kaden released me almost immediately.

​I stared at him in surprise while his brows pulled together. He looked at my shoulder and then back at my face. Neither of us said anything for a moment because we both knew that wasn’t normal.

​"What’s wrong with you?" Kaden finally asked, studying me closely.

​"Nothing," I answered quickly.

​"Rebecca."

​The warning in his voice made me look directly at him. "I’m fine."

​Kaden’s eyes narrowed as he looked over my face. "You’re sweating."

​"We’ve been training for hours, Kaden."

​"We’ve been standing still for the last ten minutes," he pointed out.

​I didn’t have an answer for that, so I looked back toward the marked position. "I said I’m fine."

​"Your aura is unstable."

​"My aura is fine."

​"It nearly reacted to me touching you."

​"I can control it," I insisted.

​Kaden remained silent for a moment before finally stepping backward, although his attention stayed completely on me. "Five paces. Nothing more."

​I faced the target again and took a slow breath. Five paces. That was all. I pictured exactly where I wanted to land and reached for my power, but for one strange second, it felt as though something pulled against it.

​My focus broke.

​Before I could understand what I had felt, my magic exploded. Silver and gold light burst around me far more strongly than it should have.

​"Rebecca!" Kaden shouted.

​The world vanished.

​A second later, my feet slammed into the ground. I stumbled and grabbed the nearest thing I could find to keep myself upright. My fingers closed around a weapons rack, and for several seconds, I simply stared at it before slowly looking across the training field.

​I was almost thirty feet away from where I had been standing.

​Everyone had gone quiet. My heart began pounding as I stared at the marked circle on the other side of the field. I hadn’t chosen this location. I hadn’t even pictured it.

​"Rebecca?" Rola called from across the field, concern replacing the cheerful expression she’d worn all morning.

​Golden sparks jumped from my fingers as I tried to understand what had just happened. "I..." I started, but I didn’t even know what to say.

​Kaden’s expression changed immediately. "Training stops."

​My head snapped toward him. "What?"

​"Kane, clear the field," Kaden ordered without taking his eyes off me. "Logan, get the healer."

​"No," I protested as Kaden walked toward me. I pushed myself away from the weapons rack and forced my legs to remain steady. "I’m fine. It was one bad jump."

​"You teleported thirty feet away from your target."

​"I can try again."

​"You’re done." 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

​"Kaden..." I stopped when the strange feeling inside my chest suddenly returned, except this time it was much stronger. It felt as though something had reached inside me and grabbed hold of my magic.

​Then it pulled.

​A gasp escaped me as my energy rushed through my body before I could stop it.

​"No."

​The world disappeared.

​I crashed onto the hard floor, pain shooting through my knees. For a few seconds, I stayed there trying to catch my breath before I looked up and realized I was inside one of the palace corridors, several floors away from the training field.

​"What the hell?"

​I pushed myself upright, but my breathing was becoming faster and the heat inside me was growing worse. The strange pulling feeling hadn’t disappeared either. I could still feel it somewhere deep inside me, weak but constant, as though something I couldn’t see was trying to drag me toward a place I didn’t know.

​Laura?

​I feel it, she answered immediately.

​Before I could ask her what it was, footsteps sounded somewhere behind me and Kaden’s voice echoed through the corridor.

​"Rebecca!"

​I turned toward him, but before I could answer, the strange pull inside me became stronger again. My magic reacted immediately, silver and gold light spreading over my body before I had a chance to stop it.

​"No, no, no."

​The corridor disappeared.

​I landed at the top of the grand staircase with my right foot halfway off the edge of a step. A scream escaped me as I grabbed the railing before I could fall down the stairs. My shoulder slammed against the stone wall, sending pain down my arm, but I barely had time to feel it before silver and gold light began moving over my hands again.

​"Please stop," I whispered, tightening both hands around the railing as though holding onto something solid could somehow keep me there.

​It couldn’t. Something pulled at me again, and my magic reacted. The staircase disappeared, and I appeared in an empty library corridor, crashing painfully against the wall. Before I could catch my breath, I felt another pull, followed immediately by another rush of energy. A sitting room appeared around me for only a few seconds before another jump sent me into yet another hallway.

​Every jump made me weaker. My legs were beginning to shake, breathing was becoming harder, and the burning beneath my skin was getting worse. I couldn’t control where I was going anymore, and I was beginning to understand that my magic wasn’t simply acting on its own. Something was affecting it. Something I couldn’t see or understand. Every time that strange force pulled at me, my magic reacted, throwing me somewhere else before I could stop it.

​An alarm began ringing throughout the palace, followed almost immediately by Kaden’s voice somewhere in the distance.

​"Lock down all the gates! Form search teams. She’s teleporting blindly." His voice carried through the corridors again seconds later. "Nobody touches her unless she’s about to hurt herself. Do not use magic against her. Do not startle her."

​Even with everything happening to me, I understood why. Nobody knew what would happen if another person’s magic came into contact with mine while it was this unstable.

​"Kaden!" I heard Rola shout from somewhere below. "This isn’t normal. Something is interfering with her magic!"

​There was too much movement and shouting for me to hear Kaden’s response clearly, but then Melvin’s voice rose above the noise.

​"I’ll check the east wing!"

​Their voices became more distant as another wave of dizziness hit me. I pressed both palms against the wall and tried to keep myself steady, but tears burned the corners of my eyes as another wave of pain moved through my body. Then the pulling feeling suddenly became stronger, so strong that my entire body moved forward and I nearly lost my balance.

​"Stop," I whispered, pressing myself harder against the wall. "Please just stop."

​My fingers began glowing again, and fear rushed through me. "No."

​I squeezed my eyes shut and desperately tried to take control of my magic. I thought of familiar places, hoping that if I gave my power somewhere specific to go, I could stop whatever was pulling me. Stone Pack flashed through my mind, followed by my mother’s house, my bedroom, the training field, and Stephanie.

​Then another image appeared in my mind. Dark furniture. Tall windows. A massive bed. The smell of cedarwood and leather.

​My eyes flew open. "No."

​Too late.

​My magic exploded, and the next impact with the floor knocked the breath from my lungs. For several seconds, I couldn’t move. My cheek rested against a thick rug while my heart beat painfully inside my chest. I kept my eyes closed, waiting for the room to stop spinning. My entire body felt weak after so many uncontrolled jumps, but for the first time in what felt like forever, the strange pulling feeling had become weaker.

​When I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was dark wooden furniture. Heavy silver curtains covered the tall windows, allowing small amounts of sunlight into the room, and a massive bed stood only a few feet away from me.

​My breathing stopped.

​I knew this room. Even after three years, I knew it immediately.

​Kaden’s bedroom.

​I remained on the floor, staring around me in disbelief. Of all the places inside this enormous palace, I had ended up here. I hadn’t deliberately chosen Kaden’s room. I had been desperately thinking of familiar places, trying to give my magic somewhere else to go, and somehow this was where it had brought me.

​But why here?

​I didn’t know, and right now, I didn’t have the strength to figure it out.

​"Oh, Goddess," I whispered, closing my eyes for a moment.

​Whatever the reason, I needed to get out of his room before anyone found me here. I placed both palms against the floor and forced myself onto my knees. The movement made my head spin again, but I grabbed the edge of a nearby chair and tried to pull myself upright. My legs immediately gave out, sending me back to the floor with a painful gasp.

​"Shit."

​This time, I didn’t try to stand again. I sat there breathing heavily, one hand pressed against the floor while the other rested against my chest. My heart was beating far too quickly. Sweat ran down the side of my face, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking, and the burning beneath my skin was getting worse instead of better.

​This wasn’t exhaustion. I should have realized that sooner. Something was seriously wrong with me.

​I looked toward the door, wondering if I had enough strength to crawl to it, when heavy footsteps suddenly sounded in the corridor outside. They were fast and grew louder with every second until the bedroom doors flew open.

​Kaden stood in the doorway, breathing heavily, his dark hair slightly messy as though he had been running through the palace searching for me. His eyes quickly moved around the room before dropping to the floor beside his bed and landing on me.