"Ah. " She studied the wall of water, a full twenty feet high now and sweeping closer while the jaws of wind snapped vicious teeth. She held out her arms, targeted her energy down them like sighting down the barrel of a gun. Then flung it outward.
The wave collapsed into a shower of silver drops. The cool rain of them washed to shore, over her hair and skin as she twisted her fisted hand and gathered back the spinning wind. The night was once more clear as glass, the breeze playful as a faerie. She threw back her head, gulping in air while the heat of power streamed through her blood. "Well, yes, that gave him a taste, didn't it?"
Sam was still gripping her shoulder, as he had been since she'd stepped out from behind him. "How long have you been doing that spell?"
"Actually, that was the first time I put it all together. I have to say" - she blew out a laughing breath - "it was better than sex. "
Hearing the shouts and running feet from above on the bluff, she turned to reassure her friends.
"Are you sure you're all right?"
Mia grabbed one of Nell's stroking hands. "I'm fine. "
"Well, I could use a drink. " Ripley popped open a beer, turned to Mia. "You?"
"No, thanks. " She already felt wonderfully, gloriously drunk.
"Some lemonade for the little mother. " Ripley poured a glass. "Sit down or something, Nell. You're making me twitchy. "
"I think we should go down and see what they're doing. "
"Oh, let them play with their toys. " Restless, Ripley paced the deck. Mac and the other men had hauled equipment down to the beach. Even now she could hear the beeps and mechanical squeals.
"That was a pretty big spell there, Glenda. How did it feel?"
Mia's lips curved, slow and smug.
"Figured. Even linking last minute and adding a push, I got a nice rush. Always leaves me wanting more, though. "
"Zack's going to get very lucky later. " Nell laughed, then immediately stopped herself. "How can we stand around here laughing about sex? That was terrifying. Mia, we couldn't get down to you. Your wind came up like a tornado. "
"A nice summer breeze wouldn't have done it. And you did get to me. I felt you. " With her hands braced on the rail, she leaned out, her face lifted to the sky. "It was like a thousand hearts beating inside me. A thousand voices in my head. And every cell, every muscle, every drop of blood was so alive. When it looked at me. " She whirled back. "When it looked at me, it was afraid. "
"Maybe it's finished," Nell said.
Mia shook her head. "No, not yet. "
"Whether's it's done or not, I've got to say one thing. " Ripley tipped back her beer. "I didn't know you had that much, and I've known you all your life. And seeing what I saw tonight, I've got a better handle on why you've always been so picky and careful. That's a lot of firepower to cart around. "
"Is that a compliment?"
"It's an observation. With a warning tagged on. Wait for us next time. Okay. " She gathered up three more beers. "Playtime's over. Let's go see what Mac and his pals have come up with. "
On the beach, Mac had sensors and monitors scattered, cables strewed everywhere. He sat on the ground hammering away at the keyboard of his laptop.
Hauling the equipment down, carting it to where Mac wanted it, had helped. But Sam needed to do something physical and sweaty to take the edge off.
"Look, this is all really cool stuff, but what the hell is it doing?"
"Measuring. Triangulating. Documenting. " Mac tapped more keys, squinted behind his glasses at a near monitor. "Wish I'd gotten to a damn camera. Best estimate on that wave's twenty feet. But that's just eyeballing it from up above. "
"Twenty's conservative," Sam said mildly. "And that's eyeballing it from down below. "
"Um. Ah. " Mac peered at the readout on his thermometer. "Give me your best guess at ambient temperature at the center here during the climax of the event. "
Sam shot a look at Zack, who just shrugged. "Ambient temperature? Jesus. It got hot. "
"But was it a dry heat?" Zack asked and made Sam laugh.
"Makes a difference. " Mac shoved up his glasses and frowned. "The ambients around the negative energy flow dip. It gets cold. In trying to reconstruct and calculate the ion clash and the dominant direction of force, I need reasonable estimates of the ambients. "
"It got hot," Sam said again. "Damn it, I'm a witch, not a meteorologist. "
"Very
funny. Now take that sensor and get me a reading where her fireball hit. Hey. Wow!" As one of his machines began to hum like a beehive, he scrambled up, barely missed snagging his foot on a cable. He made a dash for it just as the women came down the beach steps.
"Oh. Should've known. " He nodded, crouched down to get a better look at the readings.
"I'm going to take a look at the cave," Nell informed Mac. "I want to help if I can. "
He grunted, then crooked a finger at Mia. Amused at him, she strolled closer, then stopped when he held up a hand.
"Whoa, baby," he said. "Look at this, just look. It's phenomenal. Are you doing any internal spells? Do you have anything working, actively working, in another area?"
"Not at the moment. Why?"
"Your readings are spiking. They're all over the place, and all the way up the scale. You always have a
high level, even at rest, but this is a big surge. Hold on. I want to measure your vital signs. "
He took her blood pressure, her body temperature, her heart rate. He was studying the readout on her brain wave patterns when the rest of the group gathered around them.
"How do you do it?" Mac's voice was quiet now, and sober.
Mia leaned toward him. Mimicking his tone, she pretended innocence. "Do what, Mac?"
"The level of energy pumping around inside you right now would have most people bouncing off the walls. But your vitals are well within normal range. You've been sitting here, calm as ice, for ten minutes. "
"Exquisite control. Now, this has been a delightful and entertaining evening, but I really have to go. " She rose, one smooth movement of grace, and brushed the sand from her skirts. "I have a busy day tomorrow. "
"Why don't you stay here in the guest room?"
"You don't have to worry about me, Mac. "
"It's not finished. "
"No, it's not finished. But it's done for tonight. "