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energy that penetrated it to increase its
strength. She glided back through space, still facing the star, examining its
solar flares, absorbing its beauty.
    Creative destruction.
    Katie used the Gift to reach into the center of the star.
It was easier than she imagined, to feel into the solar core, as the amount of
energy available to channel far exceeded that required.
    There is none but I.
    Once a star began fusing iron, it was in its death spiral.
Once so massive as this would then become a supernova. Katie did not know how
much fire and shockwave she could take without destroying herself, but this she
did know: the timid did not discover, the timid did not create. She let loose
the strands of Power, accelerating the fusion within the star.
    Silence.
    She backed up further, prepared to channel more.
    Crash!
    Needles of fire radiated outward, blinding Katie and
hurling her back like a steel shot fired from a slingshot.
    I am become death, destroyer of worlds….
    The supernova would continue to spew out star stuff for
some time, fertilizing interstellar space with a multitude of matter. This
matter would coalesce into smaller stars, and perhaps planets, perhaps even a
Pangea. She had done it: turned a dying star into a life giver.
    Who, in all the Cosmos, commanded such forces
as she?
    Katie raised her tiny fist into the air, as her vision
returned, and grinned.
     
    ***
    Katie descended onto her cliff, a string of capacitors
following like a tail on a kite. She hovered, carefully lowering the line
carrying the devices onto the ground in front of her cave.
    Safely relieved of the burden, the sorceress landed. The
amount of energy she had managed to acquire and store during this most recent
trip into space was minuscule.  She kicked the side of the cave as hard as she
could. The stone did not yield and Katie fell backwards onto her behind, dress
ruffled.
    The work with capacitors was a dead end. At least for the
moment.
    Katie needed a witch. One that could serve as a
battery for a sorceress. Where to get one? The Citadel would be wary of her,
prepared. Not from their planet, then, but many witches came to them from other
worlds. It only remained for her to find one of these worlds. Find and obtain a
newly channeling witch before the old bats of the Citadel did.
    Over the next days, as she sat on the cliff, with its
breathtaking scenery, condors flying overhead, clouds forming abstract shapes
as they rolled past, a plan gelled in Katie’s mind.
    She could pass herself off as a Mountain Witch – even to
the point of duplicating their earthy, forest smell. They were silly little
creatures. Pets of the Citadel and the Witches’ Council. Yet their very
inoffensiveness could disarm any suspicion. There would be some stooping
involved, particularly in rolling around the forest floor to transfer soil and
pine scent to her body, but she could stoop. For the amount of power
obtainable, yes, she could do that.
    Maybe, she would even find an intelligent one. One to talk
to, one to share in her explorations.

Chapter 10
     
    35 Years Later
    October, 2010
    Earth
    A sensation, a stirring in the Power caused Katie to stop
mid-flight and land on one of the well-manicured lawns of the residential
district she was passing through. Somebody was channeling. Another witch. This
town of Melville had more than its share – this was her fifth find in less than
two years. What was attracting them here? Whatever it was, she needed to locate
this witch before she stopped channeling and the signal died.
    The Power spiked again. This time Katie got a direction –
what her navigation book called a line of position. The signal was strong:
either this one was more powerful than the rest, or she was very close. Katie
followed the line, intent upon intercepting her prey, hopping through the air
to gain speed, stopping from time to time to see if she had overstepped the
signal.
    The strands of power strengthened measurably after Katie
passed a