‘Lord Byron,’ Taylor asked, ‘do you feel okay?’

‘It’s just Byron. And yes, I’m fine.’ He was still puzzled but at least his attention was elsewhere. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Er … I just wondered if using your Gift took much energy,’ Taylor replied hastily. ‘That’s all.’

Byron smiled. ‘Not unless it’s for protracted periods of time. And that rarely happens with telekinesis.’ He tapped the side of his nose. ‘It was definitely handy when I was a teenager and had to tidy my room in a hurry though.’

We all laughed, although the sound was forced.

Byron checked his watch and swore. ‘I have to go. The opening ceremony is starting soon and I promised Tipsy I’d help her with her dress.’

‘Go,’ I urged, wincing inside with every word. ‘You don’t want to let her down.’

He leaned towards me again and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me on the cheek. His face hovered near mine and his musky, male scent tickled my nostrils. I stared into the depths of his emerald-green eyes and licked my lips. ‘I’m sorry about the false accusations,’ he said. ‘And the … sleeping bags.’

‘Like I said,’ I told him, ‘we’re fine.’

He grinned, his gold hair flopping over his forehead, then he pulled back leaving me ridiculously disappointed. As I watched, he turned and jogged away.

I covered my eyes with my hand. ‘Oh no,’ I moaned.

‘Did you do it?’ Lexie asked. ‘Did you steal his Gift?’

My shoulders slumped. ‘I’m afraid to check.’

Brochan walked over and held out a leaf. He let it go and it fluttered to the ground. ‘Try.’

‘How are you feeling, Brochan? That Sidhe hit you with a hell of a wallop…’

‘I’m fine. Try to lift the leaf, Tegs.’

I sighed, looked down and concentrated. It didn’t take long: three or four heartbeats of focus and the leaf moved upwards.

‘Can you levitate at the same time?’

I tried. Sweat popped out across my brow but it was no use. ‘I think the levitation has gone.’

‘We’ll have to experiment with multi-tasking next time,’ Taylor said.

I drew in a sharp breath. ‘Don’t you get it? I just stole from Byron! I told him I wasn’t a thief and I wasn’t going to steal from anyone and he believed me! And then I did just that! Not only that, but I took his buggering Gift. What if he needs it? What if he notices?’ My shoulders slumped. ‘This is shite.’

‘You didn’t mean to take it,’ Lexie pointed out.

‘And,’ Speck added, ‘it’s a pretty cool Gift.’

Lexie glared at him. ‘I’m still not done with you yet.’

He threw up his arms. ‘That’s not fair! I saved you from being zapped like Brochan.’

‘At least I was trying to help Brochan, you geeky warlock. What were you doing?’