“So the simplest term for what I do is ‘energy witch.’ It has fancier names, ‘dynakinesis’ and ‘atmospheric consultant,’ that kind of thing, but it boils down to this." She held out her hand and spoke in a soft, but focused tone. “No matter where you are, on planet Earth, you’re surrounded by multiple forms of energy. Light, wind, waves in water—hell, the momentum of a speeding car moving down the road. It’s all energy.”

Dani held her open palm up. “Most people move through their everyday lives and don’t even think about it. They might feel a little zing of static electricity when they touch a lightswitch, but eh, they just walk on and ignore it.”

She closed her eyes. “Well, if I picture that energy in my head, the wavelengths, the bright light of it, coming together at a point and collecting, morphing into a mass that I can control, that I can manipulate to do what I want…”

Zed watched as a pinpoint of blue light sparked to life, just over Dani’s palm. It bloomed, growing to the size of a tennis ball. It rotated constantly, the light shimmering over its surface and glimmering with tiny stars.

He’d seen weather witches work before, playing around with water vapor and barometric pressure until they created mini-storms in their hands. He’d seen healers set bones in seconds. But he’d never seen someone pull light itself from the air and turn it into a tiny spinning universe in their palms.

“I thought I was psychic, when I was younger. But I looked into it, read a lot of titles that got me funny looks at the library, went to some meditation masters, studied. And now I can do this.” She opened her eyes, smiling down at her creation.

“What is it?” Zed whispered as if he was afraid to jar the ball out of its stasis.

“What keeps the world spinning and the universe expanding. Energy. Life. Electricity. All of those things and none of them at the same time.”

Zed barely restrained the urge to poke at the ball with his finger. “And what can you do with it?”

She grinned, holding her free hand over the ball and making it expand ever so slightly. “A lot of things. I can help crops grow. If you’re sick, I can push this into your skin and it won’t cure you, but it will make your cells get moving, and you’ll heal a little faster. Or I can just light a room with it, which doesn’t sound like a superpower until you’re stuck in a hotel in Moscow and there’s a blackout. Some can launch these at other people, weaponize them.”

Zed leaned back ever so slightly. “So what are you going to do with that one?”