A Beautiful Dark

your powers, being with us is what you were always meant to do.”
    “You don’t have to be afraid of the path, Skye,” Devin added. “Because it will lead you to us and to a calm you’ve never known.”
    “Okay,” I said hesitantly. “Show me what I can do.”

Chapter 21

    O kay now, pay attention,” Devin said. “I’m going to demonstrate—”
    Plumes of fire exploded against the dark sky.
    Spinning around, he glared at Asher. “We had agreed that I would give the first lesson.”
    “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.” But Asher didn’t look sorry at all. He looked rather amused.
    Devin turned his attention back to me. “What he just did, ignoring the rules, is not tolerated.”
    “By the Order. The Rebellion refers to it as independent thinking. Initiative,” Asher said.
    “It creates chaos—as you’ve just proven. Here we are wasting time with your games instead of teaching Skye what she needs to know.”
    Bowing deeply, Asher extended his hand. “Continue.”
    As much as I hated to admit it, the bickering helped me to relax just a little.
    Devin straightened his wings and focused on me again. “You should be able to feel a well deep inside you and just reach in—” He flung his arms out toward the sky, and branches of the trees surrounding the clearing began dancing wildly. The strong wind hadn’t even been a hint of breeze a few minutes earlier.
    “Wow,” I said. “Was that a cognitive ability?”
    “It’s more than that,” Asher said. “Air is ethereal, of the clouds. Like the Rebellion controls the dark and stormy, earthy elements.” He waved his hand out, and the ground rumbled beneath my feet, causing me to stumble and almost lose my balance.
    Suddenly I was so cold that I was surprised I didn’t freeze completely. I whipped around and Devin stood behind me, arms outstretched, smiling.
    Asher sent fire rushing past me and my skin prickled with heat, but when the two elements clashed, they erupted with a loud crack—like ice being hit with heat—and died out.
    “I’m supposed to be able to do all of that?” I asked.
    “We don’t know what you’re capable of,” Devin said. “Just try and see what you can do. Start small.”
    “Okay.” I searched for that well that Devin talked about, but all I found was emptiness. “I’m sorry. I’m just not feeling it.”
    “Like this,” Asher said. “Watch.”
    For the next few hours, the two angels showed me the vast, terrifying extent of what they were able to do—what they thought I might be capable of doing, too. Thunder clapped. Bursts of fire flew toward the gathering dark clouds. Asher broke the ground apart; Devin caused it to reform, erasing all evidence of the destruction. The wind circled around us, but our hair stayed in place. Rain pummeled the earth, but somehow the three of us stayed bone dry. Their powers were so controlled. They could help or hurt. Heal or destroy.
    As I watched the fire and wind swirl together, the pieces were finally coming together for me. My destiny. Though I reminded myself as I watched them that I might be able to do all or none of those things, I couldn’t discount that there were strange things happening around me lately. The boiler. The thermostat. The bus heater. The avalanche. I could explain all of them rationally. And yet, I couldn’t deny that what Devin and Asher demonstrated could also explain the weirdness a lot better than I wanted to acknowledge.
    As they wreaked havoc around us, sometimes I couldn’t tell who was responsible for what. Dark powers, light powers. I imagined if these two groups ever went to war against each other, it would be the end of the world.
    Every now and then, they would stop and wait. Wait for me to follow their lead and cause a single spark or tremor. But all I caused was disappointment. The irony wasn’t lost on me that the weird things that had been occurring all around me always seemed to happen when I wasn’t prepared for them. Now that I was actively trying to make my powers manifest—they failed me.
    “Skye!” Devin shouted. He was hidden by the shadows of the night that had descended around us. “Are you paying attention?”
    “Yes!” I shouted back. “It’s freezing and my fingers are numb!” I waved my hands around in front of my face. “No fire. No wind. No healing. Nada .”
    “I don’t think you get how serious this is,” he said, his white wings growing brighter as he emerged from the dark, bringing with him his own