secrets inside. Now, in this fortress of evil, those secrets were the only way I’d endure. Something inside of me didn’t just want to survive, but to thrive. When I tumed to look at them, something in my eyes made their laughter fade. I closed the distance between us, grabbed the unlit cigarette from the cruel-looking man’s lips, and put it between mine. Mechanically, the guard beside him handed me a lighter. I held down the button to release the butane in my cupped palm, and then I lit the gas with the lighter, so the flame was captured in my hand. It was a simple trick being an only child with a wild spirit taught me as an adolescent, but judging by the wary way the guards watched me light a cigarette from a pyro ball in my hand, I must be a witch. I always was a Practical Magic fan. I slipped the smoke back between the slack guard’s lips, and when the cigarette went up in flames, curses erupted, and they both jumped back with a pat or two to their clothes. Then, I turned to walk away, palm smarting beneath a cold Russian sky, and the first genuine smile touched my lips. OceanofPDF:com