Newfound Ability
That morning at Hotel Dumont was the first of many such occurrences, in which Tessa unleashed blue sparks. Each incident was closer to the last. After several weeks, it became daily.
Tessa knew what the events meant—azure embers were a byproduct of magic. Magnus had attempted to hide it from her at first, but she had read the Shadowhunter's Codex and too many other volumes that explained occult powers for him to successfully deny the truth of what was happening.
She had only just begun to understand her immortality—that she would live for centuries, experience the deaths of countless loved ones, breaking her heart over and over again. Now, she had to cope with this. It horrified her.
Magnus was baffled. He had never thought to be seeing Tessa—Tessa, who was not an ordinary warlock, whose mother was a Shadowhunter—releasing the blue residue of magic. And why, only now, was it happening?
To make matters worse, after each outburst, Tessa felt her energy abruptly diminish. Something had to be done if she was to survive future outpourings.
Four weeks past the first morning, once she had recovered after a particularly beastly spasm, Magnus entered her chambers carrying a peculiar assortment of objects. Carefully gripped in his left hand were a vial of dark, red liquid; a long quill, but no parchment nor paper; and three round, black candles of varying lengths. In his right hand he held an iridescent, green crystal and a curved stick, carved into the shape of a hideous skull at one end. Balanced on his elbow was a wide bowl of murky water.
"By the Angel, what is this?" Tessa questioned, clearly startled. She put down the novel she had been reading and crouched up in her bed.
After quickly setting each item down on Tessa's wooden dressing table, one by one, he turned to face her alarmed countenance. "I want you to hold each of these objects," he started in a placid voice that seemed to calm her, "and attempt to use them. I will explain how, just pick one up."
"But these are warlock utensils!" she protested.
"I know," he stated tersely.
She stood up, hesitantly, and walked slowly towards the dresser. She reached out to grasp the item that looked the least freakish, then turned to face Magnus.
"Ah, with that you will need the ink." He removed the vial of red liquid she had previously suspected to be blood, from the shelf, and firmly placed it in her hand. Then he demonstrated drawing a demonic glyph on the floor with his finger.
The quill was shaking in her slender hand as she kneeled to the ground, dipped it into the vial of blood-coloured ink, and scrawled on the floor. The shaky blob did not resemble the shape of the rune from Magnus' demonstration even slightly, and it slowly faded away.
Disappointed, Magnus took the bowl of cloudy water from the tabletop, and placed it in front of her for the next test. Together, they experimented with each item. Magnus became more frustrated with each of Tessa's failures. She did not look any happier than he.
After almost an hour of fruitless efforts only one assessment remained—or three if you prefer.
Magnus held the pitch-black candles out to Tessa. "Theresa," he said, using the extended version of Christian name, "draw upon the sensation you have been experiencing, endure the pain, and focus on one of the candles," he ordered desperately.
She grasped the closet candle and stared at the top end of it. She felt something unlock inside of her, as the blue sparks appeared once again, and the wick erupted into hot, orange flames.
