Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

ting on the sofa.
    I had photos of Fletcher, but none like this. None that
    “Yes, it was.”
    showed him being so easy and carefree. None that showed We didn’t speak for a few moments. Finally, Jo-Jo him as he really was, without the calm mask he’d prebroke the silence. sented to so many people, including me, over the years.
    “You want to talk about it?” she asked in a soft voice. For the first time, I felt like I was seeing the real Fletcher
    “About what happened in the mountain? About your Lane.
    magic? About how you’re stronger now?”
    And now Warren was giving the photo to me. His gesMy head snapped. “How the hell do you know that?”
    ture touched me in a way nothing had done in a long Her pale eyes were old and knowing in her made-up time. I might have been an assassin for seventeen years, face. “I could feel it when I was healing you. Your Ice might have killed a lot of people, but helping Warren and magic, it’s stronger now, isn’t it?”
    Violet Fox was definitely one of the best things I’d ever I sighed and told her what had happened in the cavdone. ern. About how I’d felt something give inside me and the Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 376-377
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    fact the spider rune scars on my hands glowed brighter Air is the same way. But Fire and Ice are different. Most than a flashlight. I even gave her a demonstration. elementals release those two types of magic through their Jo-Jo leaned over and studied my silvery palms. Then hands. It’s just easier and quicker to form a fireball in your she nodded and sat back on the sofa.
    hand than it is to shoot it out of your eyes or your ass.”
    “So what happened to me? Is it temporary? PermaI smiled at her interesting imagery. nent? Did I break my magic or something?”
    “But you had silverstone melted into your hands. So, Jo-Jo chuckled. “Nothing like that, Gin. But yes, I do in a sense, the metal choked your Ice magic every time believe it’s permanent.” She gave me a steady look. “Have you tried to release it through your hands. Like a bottleyou wondered why your Stone magic is so much stronger neck. Make sense?”
    than your Ice power?”
    I thought about all those times I’d formed a cube or I shrugged. “Not really. It’s rare enough to be able to a pair of Ice picks. Jo-Jo was right. I almost always used control two elements. I always assumed my Ice magic was my hands to do those things, but most of the time when just weaker.”
    I drew on my Stone magic to harden my skin, the power Jo-Jo shook her head. “No, darling, your Ice magic almost always came from within. “I think I get it now. isn’t weaker. It’s just been contained—until now.”
    But how was I able to draw on so much Ice magic in the I frowned. “How?”
    cavern if the silverstone was blocking it?”
    She jerked her head at my palms. “By that silverstone Jo-Jo stared at me. “Because you finally brought in your hands. You know as well as I do that silverstone enough of your Ice magic to bear to overpower the silveris a magical metal, that it can hold and absorb elemental stone. You blasted right through that metal, broke down magic.”
    that barrier. Your Ice magic’s always been as strong as your
    “So what?”
    Stone magic, Gin. Now, it’s finally risen to the surface
    “So silverstone can also block magic. In your case, the where you can use it. That’s why your spider rune scars metal in your hands kept you from fully realizing your look brighter, more of a silver color now. Because your Ice potential.”
    Ice magic is right there waiting for you to tap into it.
    “I don’t understand.”
    Because your power is in the silverstone now, instead of Jo-Jo propped her heels up on the coffee table. Her feet being blocked by it.”
    were bare, her toes painted pink, just like always. “You
    “You knew, didn’t you?” I asked. “You knew the know there’s a lot of duality in elemental magic. A lot of whole time why my Ice magic was weaker. Why didn’t likes and dislikes between all four of the elements. Now, you tell me?”
    Stone is more of an internal magic. You don’t have to do
    “Because you had to break through the silverstone by anything to hear the vibrations of the rocks around you. yourself,” Jo-Jo said. “I couldn’t do it for you.”
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    I sat there and stared at the matching scars that