Page 68 of Dark Princess Ascending

"You are right, but I'm still not sure that I can just will it. I can try."

"That's all I'm asking."

"We'll start small." Amanda tapped the tablet with her stylus. "For starters, I just want to see if you can consciously detect when you're drawing power and from whom. Then we can work on controlling the flow."

Kian set his coffee cup down. "I volunteer to be the first test subject."

"Are you sure?" Morelle asked. He was the last person she wanted to test her power on.

"Absolutely." He smiled reassuringly. "I'm curious to see how it feels, and I have a lot of power to spare. After all, I'm Annani's son."

"And I'm her daughter," Amanda said. "And Ell-rom is a demigod as well. We should have plenty of energy for you to siphon."

Jasmine snorted. "Thanks for making Brandon and me feel insignificant. Just to remind you, I might not be a demigoddess or even a quarter of one, but I have a significant paranormal ability. I bet there is a lot of energy Morelle can draw from me as well."

It was ridiculous to hear them fighting over who was the best candidate for her to steal energy from, but it was definitely better than them shying away from her or giving her funny looks.

Ell-rom patted his mate's back. "We are all going to contribute to the effort."

"Perfect," Amanda said. "We will try to establish a baseline, and what we need for that is someone who is very sensitive to power fluctuations." She looked at Syssi. "I think that's you, darling, and I'm not saying that to make fun of you."

"I don't mind." Syssi flung a strand of her long hair behind her shoulder. "Do you want me to summon a vision after Morelle's siphoned my energy?"

"No way," Kian barked. "That's the last thing you should do. Summoning visions drain you even when you are fully charged. You should never attempt that when you are depleted."

Chuckling, Syssi leaned her head on his shoulder. "You make me sound like a cellphone, tellingme that I shouldn't place calls unless my battery is fully charged." She lifted her face to look at him. "You know that calls can be placed even when the battery is almost empty. They just need to be kept short."

Kian frowned. "You are not a phone, and you are not going to summon a vision with less than a hundred percent capacity."

Morelle would have bristled if Brandon had ever used that kind of tone with her, but Syssi only smiled and patted Kian's cheek. "It's okay, my love. I was just teasing. I know better than to attempt it when I'm low on energy."

The relief on Kian's face was precious, and Morelle couldn't help but glance at Brandon for his response to the scene developing in front of them. Did he wish that she was as sweet and accommodating as Syssi?

She hoped he didn't because there was no way she could be so patient and understanding. She could learn to be more mellow, though.

Amanda bit her lower lip. "On second thought, perhaps you should start with Kian. I'm afraid he's going to pop a vein if you siphon energy from Syssi."

That was probably a good idea. "What should I direct that energy onto? Not that I know I can do that, and I also don't know if I can hold it inside of me."

Amanda took out one of the artificial flowers from the arrangement decorating the coffee table and placed it some way from the vase. "Move this. If it flies at someone, it's not going to do any damage."

Morelle glanced at Brandon, who gave her an encouraging nod. "I'm not sure how to do it consciously. Before, it just happened."

"That's okay," Amanda said. "Start by focusing on Kian and see if you can sense his energy the way you might sense a warm presence in a room."

Everyone fell silent.

Morelle closed her eyes, scrunching her forehead in concentration and imagining the energy flowing in the room like golden streams of sunlight that zoomed from person to person, creating an energy field that hovered over the group.

The problem was untangling a specific thread. It was all or nothing.

She opened her eyes. "I don't think I can separate one string of power from the field. I can only draw from the field as a whole."

"That's easy to fix." Amanda pushed to her feet. "Everyone other than Kian, please come with me. We need to step outside."

Morelle really didn't want to be left alone with her nephew, but that was silly. He was Annani's son, a good leader of his community, and a verygracious host to her and Ell-rom. She had only good things to say about him. He was just a little too intense, which could be intimidating.

After the others left, Morelle closed her eyes and imagined a single string of energy. She tugged on it, absorbing it into her body, and then pushed it out to direct the energy at the artificial flower.