Fire & Ice

Chapter Sixteen

She easily complied with my wishes. I was sure there were other ways I could've demonstrated, but this had worked before and who was I to resist another opportunity to kiss her senseless?

It didn't take long for me to feel her letting herself relax, and the two of us floated easily into the air. Sadly, I pulled my mouth away from hers and she quickly glanced down to observe us standing about two feet above the ground.

"Can you center your emotions on the feeling running through you right now?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Okay then. I'm going to let go now," I cautioned her as I loosened my grip, stepping away and releasing her. She continued to float in the air beside me.

"This is awesome!" She smiled, glancing carefully around her body as if she were afraid to move at all.

"All right, now I want you to take a step toward me."

I could see the trust in her eyes as she did what I asked. I backed away from her as she moved closer again, each of us descending with every step we took until we were safely back on the ground

"Why did we lower?" she asked, appearing puzzled. "I didn't feel as though I was consciously doing it."

"We're still bound by the laws of gravity. I guess you can say we're bending the laws. That's why a witch can't actually fly away on a broomstick. You could make a broomstick levitate and you could hop onto it. But every movement you take would bring you closer to the earth again, making it a poor choice of transportation." I laughed, and she joined me.

"So what good is levitating then, other than being for fun?"

"Well, it's useful for standing outside someone's window," I replied with a chuckle and a wink. She laughed again. "It's also good for combat maneuvers, if we needed to protect ourselves."

"Show me," she demanded, settling down on the field to watch.

"For instance, running and jumping. You can do things higher, farther, and faster." I glanced up the hill toward the field house. "Hang on. I have an idea. Be right back."

Racing to the locker room, I used my powers to open the door and went into the equipment room, retrieving a football. Quickly, I secured the doors behind me and rushed back to where I'd left Portia waiting.

"I'm going to go downfield." I tossed the football to her. "I want you to throw this to me as hard as you can when I tell you to."

She nodded and I hurried off in the opposite direction.

"Any time," I yelled to Portia when I was ready. She cranked the football back and threw it very accurately toward me. I was actually impressed.

Running toward the ball, I jumped, almost as if I were climbing stairs, catching the ball easily as I rolled into a mid-air somersault—yeah, I was showing off a bit—before running again until I descended completely down to the ground.

"Why don't you go out for the team?" she asked, clearly impressed with what she'd witnessed. "You'd fly by the competition every time!"

"It would be kind of obvious, don't you think?" I grinned, silently thrilled at the look of complete adoration on her face.

"No wonder you aren't impressed by sports." She laughed. "They must seem positively dull to you."

"Not always. A lot of athletes have great natural ability, and that's fun to watch. Come here," I said, grabbing her hand and heading toward the school. "I want to show you something else." We went to a place where the sidewalk narrowed in between two buildings. "The same concept applies here," I added, gesturing between the walls.