It made Mika ache in a way that was as joyful as it was painful. She couldn’t fathom what it must be like to be so loved and to be so sure of that love that you would fight tooth and nail to protect it, but she was incredibly glad that these girls had that.

And if it was just a little heartbreaking to be reminded of what she’d never had and likely never would, well, she could live with that.

She smiled at Terracotta, who did not return it, and said, “Take your time. Close your eyes if it helps. Rosetta, Altamira, if you’d like to try with your own pebbles at the same time, that’s fine. You don’t have to take it in turns. And if you make a mistake or get it wrong, you can just try again.”

“What if we cause a big burst of power?” Rosetta asked quietly.

“I’ll be here to keep it in check,” Mika promised her.

Quiet fell as the girls concentrated on the stones gleaming in the sunlight in front of them. Jamie stood and approached them, blowing on his hands to stay warm, his brows drawn together as he watched. Circe, having lost the use of his leg as a pillow, came to sit beside Mika and cocked her head as if she, too, was interested in the children’s progress.

Beads of sweat popped up on Altamira’s brow. “It’s heavy,” she complained. “It’s like it doesn’t want to move.”

“The pebble has weight,” Mika said gently. “You don’t notice it when you pick it up in your hand because you’ve developed those muscles, but spellwork uses a different kind of power.”

None of the pebbles moved, but Mika could feel the ripples of the girls’ spellwork in the air. They were so close. When they stopped and turned back to her with slightly crestfallen expressions on their faces, she told them as much.

“You did really well,” she said. “You held your focus for much longer than I expected you to be able to, and I think you were all really close to getting it right.”

“I’m no expert, but I could have sworn I saw the pebbles twitch,” Jamie added, tousling Terracotta’s hair. His voice was warmer than she’d ever heard it, and his eyes were fond and twinkly, and she was rather distressed to discover that this meant his Annoyingly Handsome score was now even higher than it had been before.

“Why didn’t it work?” Rosetta asked Mika.