Flashback ( PDFDrive )

fingers and conjured a short, braided whip—“on an animal. Even the
gorgodon—though sometimes I’m tempted.”
She jumped and spun, cracking the whip in the same fluid motion
and striking a nearby pillow, sending bits of feather and fluff
scattering as she leaped into a backflip and cracked the whip against
the floor.
Sometimes Sophie forgot that while Edaline might seem timid and
sweet, with her pink cheeks and frilly clothes, but she also spent most
of her days lassoing woolly mammoths or riding dinosaurs or
wrangling giant prehistoric bugs.
“Does the thought of violence ever get to you?” Sophie asked,
toying with the hem on Ella’s Hawaiian shirt.
“I don’t like it,” Edaline admitted as she coiled her whip into a tight
bundle. “Neither does Grady. And we’re both hoping that things never
come to another battle. But . . . if they do, knowing how to wield
certain weapons might be the only thing that keeps the people we love
safe. So we’ve made our peace with that. And we’ve made our peace
with you and your friends learning to protect yourselves as well, so
long as you’re responsible with your training, working with
instructors who will teach you proper techniques and make sure
you’re considering the risks to both yourselves and others—which it
sounded like you’d be doing. Biana also mentioned that you’ll be
stepping up your ability lessons, so Grady wanted me to remind you to
stick to your limits.”
“Yeah, he gave me a whole big speech a while back about what
happened with his Mesmer training,” Sophie told her.
And she’d been trying to keep it in mind ever since, making sure
she didn’t push too hard during her inflicting lessons so she wouldn’t