Free Spirited Legacy (Lost Library) by Kate Baray

unlocked and the problem is solved, right? Uh, no. Now I blow up people when I’m super stressed. And by the way, when Pilar explained how magic worked, it didn’t seem that was possible. That a person could do something unintentionally—like what I did to Worth.”
    “Okay, slow down. First, your magic has only recently been unlocked. It had been forced into an unnatural, dormant state. Whenever a magic-user is under stress, the adrenaline that surges makes it easier to access our magic. Basically, it’s as if the magic has pulled to the surface. When your magic tried to respond to the adrenaline surge, it was blocked, resulting in—”
    “Throwing up and passing out,” Lizzie supplied.
    “Yeah, I can see how that would be inconvenient. You need to give your body time to adjust. I suspect that you have a heightened response to adrenaline, and that your magic practically drips from you in those moments. That should go away over time. As to your second question—you are not practicing magic unless you assert will and give the magic a place to go and something specific to do.” Harry seemed awfully sure of his words.
    “Does that mean that I willed Worth to start bleeding internally? Because that’s what happened. I don’t remember thinking anything specific, like, ‘I want you to die,’ or ‘please bleed from your eyes.’ I just thought ‘no.’ I wanted him to stop.” She looked at Harry intently. This was important. She needed to know that her magic was controllable. That her magic couldn’t escape wildly at unexpected moments.
    “What was he doing?” Clearly he already knew, because he said earlier he’d read the report. And it seemed he’d also spoken with witnesses.
    “Wait a minute. If you’ve spoken with other witnesses, why hadn’t you contacted me already?” Lizzie rather thought she was the key witness.
    “Harrington’s orders. He thought you’d already provided what information you could and that further questioning might be detrimental to your recovery,” Harry responded matter-of-factly.
    Huh. She was recovering? If there was one way to keep Harry away, it was to assert Lizzie would be harmed by the questioning. Healers were funny that way.
    “Uh—I feel fine.” Close enough, anyway. Lizzie blinked a few times. ‘K. That was weird. Since when did Harrington worry about her getting better from an emotional trauma? He didn’t seem the sort. She gave her head a tiny shake. “So, Worth. He was pulling something from Sarah. I know it was partly her magic, because it felt like spell caster magic. But that wasn’t all that it was. Did they tell you about Moore?” The thought of the dry husk that had been Moore’s remains, or all that was left of him after Worth had finished draining him, created a sour taste in her mouth and made her stomach churn. She quickly took a sip of tea and banished the image.
    Harry nodded. “And I examined him. But I’m not particularly good at analyzing the dead. Especially the very dead. There was nothing of him left—his magic or his energy—by the time I saw him.”
    Lizzie raised her eyebrows skeptically when Harry said “very dead.” She nibbled on the corner of her lip. “A person can be more or less dead? I thought dead was—well, more of an exact thing.”
    “Hmm. It’s more complicated than that.” He was clearly about to wave away the question. Then he looked more closely at Lizzie, and she suspected—as usual—her emotions were clearly written across her face. Frustration, confusion. “Okay—long story short. Magic is a kind of energy. When a person ceases to live, their magic and any other energy that is associated with them—some call it soul—doesn’t simply extinguish. It fades away over a period of time.” He held up a hand forestalling a question that was about to burble from Lizzie’s lips. “Don’t ask; I don’t know where it goes. Chat with your pastor or preacher, whatever you people have in Austin,