Magic was topsy-turvy—palatable and friendly in one breath, urchin-shaped and aggressive in the next. He remembered how it’d crowded his throat, how he’d been willing to scrape away every ounce of himself if it meant getting Peter back. That was the strangest thing, he thought, how magic waited, considered, and chose. Hurricane Katia had forced Ethan to claw at the power he carried and sacrifice it unchallenged. That specific, heartsick panic didn’t influence the spell with this selkie, though, and he had to prepare for what that meant.
