Page 101 of Spirit Storm

There's a moment of dead silence.

Asher sits up and lifts his sunglasses.

I hurry forward, reaching out to him. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Orion looks down at himself. Then back up at me. Something flickers in those silver-blue eyes that I can't quite read. "Holy hell, Pops. That was impressive."

Asher makes a noise in the back of his throat. "Pick another victim for collateral damage, baby girl. The only one knocking Orion on his back should be me."

Wylder crouches to examine the rock. There's a clean crack running halfway through its center. "Look what you did to this rock."

"I'm more concerned about what I did to Orion."

Asher chuckles. "Look at you multi-tasking."

Orion brushes sand off his palms as he stands, undaunted. "Don't worry about me. You did something cool here. You created enough pressure to crack the rock."

"And you bore the backlash."

He tilts his head and shrugs. "But we learned something useful about your power. It's definitely not wind."

Wylder smiles at me, and there's no missing the pride in his eyes as he returns the rock to the sand. "I'm with Orion. I'm surer than ever that it's atmospheric. Come on, try again."

I turn back to the rock and shoo both of them to stand back.

The second attempt goes better than the first.

The rock doesn't crack, but the air around it shimmers and compresses into something visible, a lens of distortion that makes the boulder look like it's sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool. I hold it for three full seconds before the pressure collapses outward and I stumble.

Wylder catches my elbow.

"Better," I say before he can.

He smiles. "Better."

"You're picking it up fast." Orion has reclaimed his lounger and is relaxing next to Asher. "Faster than I expected, honestly."

"Should I be offended by that?"

He makes a face. "No. I mean it as a compliment. I have no idea how second affinities work, but it's only been forty-eight hours and you're compressing rocks."

"She almost compressed one rock." Asher picks up his lounger and carries it past us to the waterline. Damn, he has the kind of skin that soaks up the sun's rays and makes it look like he was born on a beach. "Which is great, but it won't keep her safe from the chaos that plagues her. Not yet, at least."

True story.

I'm about to try again when movement from inland catches my eye. Two figures are picking their way down the pale sand path that descends from the Order compound, and even from a distance I recognize Khylie's easy confidence and her brother's hulking form.

Xavier moves with the deliberate, unhurried weight of someone who has never once been in a rush in his life, like the earth itself would simply wait for him.

I brush sand from my hands and abandon my training to go to meet them.

Khylie raises a hand in greeting the moment she spots me. Xavier keeps his eyes on the shoreline and his arms folded across his chest.

"Good morning." Khylie takes in our group enjoying the beach and smiles. "I guess outdoor training here is a little different than back home at the moment."

I chuckle. "A little, yeah."

"So, how are things going?"