Free Hidden (Book 1) by Megg Jensen Page A

could
do it. We thought it was one of those stories that gets bigger with time."
    Find. Love. Use. Magic.
    "I don't know how," Tressa said.
    Silence. Breathe.
    Tressa closed her eyes, her eyelashes
fluttering against her upper cheeks. She took in a deep breath, then released it slowly through her mouth. As the air passed
over her lips, she felt calm float through her body. The magic took over
forcing Tressa's eyes open again and casting a purple haze over the whole area.
    "Bastian!" she cried out.
    “Tressa!” His voice was so far away.
    “Bastian! Are you out there? Can you see the
light?” She stumbled to her feet, still holding onto the owl with a hand.
    “Yes!” he called back. “Connor? Can you see the
purple glow?”
    Tressa strained for a answer,
any indication her friend was still alive and close by. But he didn’t respond.
“Bastian! Try to get to me. Follow the light. Maybe we can find Connor
together.”
    “Don’t move, Tressa. I’m coming!”
    She fidgeted. “Are you making that light?” she
asked her owl. It bobbed around on her shoulder. She took that as a yes. “I’m
not going to hide you anymore, okay? It looks like you may have saved us.”
    She hoped, deep in her soul, that Connor was
still out there. After a few tense minutes, Bastian’s outline took shape in the
fog. Tressa reached out her hands. He grasped them tightly in his. When he
tried to yank her into an embrace, she held back. Not with the owl on her
shoulder. Maybe not at all.
    “Tressa?” Bastian asked. He was still a shadow
in the fog, even though she could feel his fingertips on her arm. “How are you
doing that?”
    So he could see the owl. “It sits there on its
own. I’m not doing anything.”
    “Owl? What are you talking about? I mean the
light.”
    Tressa laughed. “The light isn’t me. It’s the
owl. Somehow she’s projecting it, helping us to see each other in this mess.”
    She could make out the shadow of Bastian’s head
shaking. “No, Tressa. The light is coming from you. From your eyes.”
    “What?” She mustn’t have heard him right. “Not
mine. The owl.”
    “No, Tressa, it’s coming from your eyes. Not an
owl.” He paused. “What owl?”
    “You can’t see it? It’s sitting on my
shoulder.” Tressa pointed with her finger, then realized that was ridiculous. Even Bastian was just a
shadow in the fog. Of course he couldn’t see the tiny bird sitting on her
shoulder. Even so, the glow had to be coming from the owl, not her own eyes.
She craned her neck toward her shoulder. The purple glow was there, surrounding
the little owl. She squinted, trying to narrow down the source of the glow to
the owl’s eyes.
    But as her field of vision narrowed, she could
see the owl’s face more clearly. The glow surrounded Nerak ,
but wasn’t coming from it. The owl tilted its head, looking back at Tressa. She
glanced back toward Bastian, noticing for the first time the glow followed her
eyes wherever they lead.
    “Bastian?” she called out. “Are you still
there?”
    His shadow became more apparent as he moved
closer. “I’m here.”
    “I think you’re right. The glow is coming from
me.” She faltered, feeling like an idiot. “But I don’t know why, or how.”
    “Who cares? It saved us and that’s all that
matters. Whatever it is you’re doing, it brought us back together.” His arm
slid around her waist, pulling her close.
    Their chests touched, leaving no more than a
breath between them. A slight pinch to her shoulder told her the owl was taking
flight. The glow extinguished and Bastian pulled her closer. Not out of desire,
but concern.
    “I can’t see you anymore. Can you see me?” His
voice was lined with worry as his arm tightened its grip on her waist.
    “No.” Tressa shook her head, feeling Bastian’s
hard chest against her cheek. He was so close, but even with her eyes wide
open, she couldn’t see one inch of him. The fog was too thick, enveloping her
sense of sight. Without the