Spirit Bound - Christine Feehan [109]
“Great, he can play with it in jail,” Judith said.
“At least you made money off of him,” Lexi pointed out with a quick grin, settling onto the floor across from Judith’s chair. “That’s something.”
“I suppose I should be happy about it,” Judith said. “Seriously, maybe it will help him figure out what he was doing was wrong.”
“Airiana, I take milk in my tea,” Lexi said.
“I don’t,” Rikki said hastily.
Airiana rolled her eyes. “You two always say the exact same thing. You’ve been saying it for five years. I think I’ve got it by now.”
Teacups floated from the sink to the living room, one after the other, a parade of them, making their way into the hands of each of the women.
“Talk about showing off,” Lissa said.
“I’m practicing,” Airiana defended. “Did you notice I was a little weak holding back the wind in the redwoods while I was attempting to keep a lighter touch over the vegetable garden. I still haven’t gotten divisions down very well. I felt so much power tonight when Judith wove us all together and the wind was a little harder to control.”
Rikki nodded. “I’m getting used to it. But your strength really increased tonight, Judith, which is a good thing, but when I pulled water from the clouds, the water in the ground wanted to respond as well. I had to work a little harder on control.”
“I didn’t realize I was boosting everyone so much,” Judith said, a touch of alarm in her voice. “I guess I let myself go a little more tonight than usual without realizing it.”
“A little more?” Lissa asked. “You’re always so contained and under control, but tonight you felt different. Although, yes, it was harder to control the power at first, it was awesome. Does that mean you can amplify our abilities even more?”
Judith felt the weight of all of her sister’s stares. The rule was they didn’t lie to one another. Sins of omission might be okay, but outright lies were not okay ever between them. She hesitated. Inhaled. Exhaled. “Yes.”
“Wow,” Airiana said, slipping onto the floor beside Lexi. “Just wow, Judith.”
“I imagine it must be very difficult for you to control all that power at times, Judith,” Blythe said, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
Judith nodded. “Until Levi pointed out that each of us was bound to an element, I didn’t even realize there was something useful and good I could use all that power for. I’ve suppressed it the best I could. By weaving it with yours, I feel good about it for the first time. I’ve been doing it all along, since we moved here, but not consciously, not using spirit to bind all the elements into one tapestry to work for us improving the farm. Before, when I could feel the water, or the wind, I just tweaked them a little, the same with the soil calling to me.”
“It’s easier to understand after Levi explained why I needed to have my hands in the soil,” Lexi agreed. “And how we were all intertwined. Don’t you think it’s strange that we all have an element we’re bound to, basically a tremendous gift, yet we all suffered some terrible violent, tragedy in our lives? Do you think there’s a correlation?”
There was a small silence while they thought it over. As usual it was Blythe who tackled the big questions. “There’s a balance in everything, we all know that. Good and bad. Happiness and heartbreak. You never have one without the other. All of you carry a great gift, very powerful, and the balance of that might be difficult. Whatever the reason, this is our here and now. Nothing has changed that. We all agreed we wouldn’t live in the what-ifs. We have our lives and we all made a vow we’d live as best we can. Jean-Claude rearing his ugly head hasn’t changed that. It will serve to unite us and make us stronger. Not knowing what he wants, but knowing he’s looking over Judith’s shoulder, gives us the opportunity to explore the