Concealed (Unbound, Book 4)

Chapter Twenty-One

A few minutes passed in silence.

I felt the stillness around me and the strength radiating from Calin.

Again, sound disappeared. I couldn't feel if it was hot or cold, just the warmth from Calin where his body connected to mine. It sent currents across my skin as though I was repeatedly being zapped with static electricity.

Slowly, I took a deep breath and exhaled.

Show me the binds on Maible. Show me Maible's power.

Show me, show me, show me.

Silently, I repeated the mantra in my head until the energy within me felt as though it would burst. I took a single step away from Calin and opened my eyes, a smile curving my lips upward.

I blinked.

Once, twice.

Again.

Maible stood so still in front of me, I was scared she was holding her breath and would pass out.

All around her, firefly lights danced through the air, coalescing to form the seventeen ribbons placed around her. There was no place to see the ties that joined the binds. At the center, Maible's golden light was brilliant, seeming even brighter than the first time I had checked. I held my breath until the binds fully appeared and then slowly exhaled.

One step down, seventeen binds to go.

This was the part I didn't know how to complete for sure. I was relying on what I'd learned from my mother and our innate ability to imagine things we could see into fruition.

I narrowed my eyes and whispered, "Break," while imagining the center of each ribbon being torn to fall at Maible's feet. When nothing happened, I felt a chink in my confidence fall away. I took another deep breath and squared my shoulders, closing my eyes again.

What did I have to do?

Opening my eyes, I smiled.

Of course.

I remembered when my mother moved her shop location and they'd had a grand reopening. Scissors cut ribbon. The material was hard to tear without something sharp to severe their thread. I looked over to the campfire and imagined a white-hot flame erupting as I lifted my hand, throwing the spark to catch fire from my palm.

A roar sounded and a burst of heat blew towards the sky.

As it settled, the red and orange glow turned white with blue at its center.

Ignoring Maible's gasp even as I felt Calin stiffen behind me, I stared into the fire until it mesmerized me. The whole time, a pair of charred scissors that glinted silver along their sharp edges glinted in my mind. As my imagination solidified their details, I began to feel some of the energy within me begin to fade, proving the task difficult even before I'd begun on what was considered the hardest part. When it finally felt as real as if I were holding them, I imagined placing the scissors directly in the fire.

My hand burned as though I was truly placing my skin to embers.

With a hiss, I pulled the glowing scissors from the fire and raised them toward Maible, who flinched when I settled my attention on her. Ignoring her reaction, I reached out. The scissors touched the first ribbon and sizzled, wisps of smoky tendrils floating up in spirals. I could tell Maible saw it when her eyes widened, following the dark trail as I began to snip, opening and shutting the handle as I worked against the unreal material.

I'd thought it would be easier if the metal was heated but it wasn't.

No matter how hard I snapped the scissors shut or tried to find just the right angle, the scissors had to gnaw at the binds. I grit my teeth and began to saw through the barriers, one by one, like a hand saw one uses to strip a tree limb of its branches.