MILO
“Allright,”ItellEmlyn. “Focus on your hunger.”
“I don’t know how to do that,” she says.
She really is starting from ground zero here. I try to remember how my coven taught me these things, back when I was still learning.
“Start by closing your eyes,” I suggest. “Then focus on the place in your body that feels uncomfortable. If you’re not sure, start with places thatarecomfortable. Your hunger isn’t in your hands.”
She giggles. “No,” she agrees. She lies back on her back and rests a hand on her stomach. “Here.”
“Okay,” I say. “You’re going to try to put that part of your body to sleep.”
“How can I put a part of my body to sleep?” she asked.
“You do it all the time,” I remind her. “Don’t you put your brain to sleep?”
“I guess. I don’t really knowhowI do that. It just…happens.”
“Okay, well, it’s a similar concept. And you’re going to use the power of the moon to help you.”
I look up at the moon above us. It’s waning, and I’d prefer to be teaching her under a waxing moon because the moon is more powerful as it grows toward full. But this isn’t a complex spell. She should be able to access enough magic to get it done.
Emlyn opens her eyes and stares up at the moon along with me.
“I can’t use the power of the moon,” she says.
“Why can’t you?” I ask.
“Because…well, it’s wrong,” she says. “It’s unnatural.”
“The moon is unnatural?”
“No, of course not. Not the moon itself. But it wasn’t meant to be used like that,” she says. “The moon doesn’t belong to one person. It’s everyone’s. And using it for personal gain is how the Moon Casters caused the Lunar Reversal in the first place.”
I nod. I understand her objection. It’s something every Moon Caster learns at a young age. “I don’t know how the Lunar Reversal came to be,” he says. “But I do know that the moon isn’t affected by small amounts of magic by a single person. It must have been a large spell, or a large group, that caused it to happen.”
“Are you sure?” she asks doubtfully. “What if I try this and it makes things worse?”
Nate, who has been watching us with an expression of extreme skepticism on his face, speaks up. “This isn’t the first time you’ve ever done magic,” he says to her.
“It would be the second time,” she says. “And the first time was an accident. I didn’t even know I was doing it.”
“Really?” he asks. “Just the second time?”“Well, maybe the third time. There was a thing with my alpha. He gave a command, and I…I told you this,” she says. “You know what happened. Magic manifested at my mating ceremony.”
“Let me guess,” I say. “Under the full moon?”
“That’s right,” she says.
I nod. “That’s when children in moon caster covens usually access their magic for the first time. There are celebrations.” I hesitate. “Not that there are very many children left.”
We’re all quiet for a minute.
Then Emlyn lies back. “Okay,” she says, closing her eyes. “Let me try it again.”
“Feel the moon,” I tell her. “Let it wash over you. Let itintoyou—through your skin. Let the light of the moon wrap around your hunger and quiet it, put it to sleep.”
Her eyes open, and she sighs. “Oh.”