Chapter 17
And then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
I lifted my head and saw Margery clutching the now-covered crystal ball in both hands as if it might be about to jump away from her.
"That was…" Sophie started, but words failed her.
"What was that?" Brianna asked. "I've never felt anything like it. It was immense, smothering, but… alive?"
"Alive," Sophie agreed. "Definitely alive."
"And magic?" I asked from where I was pushing myself up off the floor.
"Definitely magic," Sophie said. "Are you all right?"
I nodded. I was still breathing in little halting gasps, viscerally afraid that the pain was going to come back, but it didn't seem to be.
"I think it hates you," Margery said, blinking back tears. "I felt it. It really hates you."
I couldn't argue with that assessment.
