The woman’s eyes shot open and her back arched under her. Her screams battled against my ears, tearing me to pieces at the sound of her suffering.
She fell back down to the ground without warning and shut her eyes. I thought it had to be for the final time. Dirk killed her.
She stirred.
I watched as she blinked her eyes and took in her surroundings. Then she slowly brought her hands under her body and lifted herself up, bringing Dirk along with her and steadying him as she stood. She leaned into him as if he hadn’t just tortured her into submission and threatened to end her life.
Dirk took a few deep breaths while his body healed and stepped aside from her, rubbing away the blood under his nose and not realizing it had covered his entire front. He nearly bled to death trying to murder the woman.
I stumbled along with him inside his body. It made sense now. The link between us was causing this to happen. I was seeing through his eyes for one reason. Our lives were linked. And he nearly ended his.
The French woman stood stoically before him with her chin held high. Something in her eyes changed. She wasn’t frightened anymore. She was pleased. She held out her hands in front of her, admiring her skin and feeling the material of her long skirt that nearly touched the ground. Then she folded her hands together and straightened her posture.
“Are you ready to continue our work?” Dirk asked her.
She smiled at him in a way that I had only ever seen men who worked with my father smile. It was an expression that meant only one thing to me. Arrogance.
“Ready? Don’t you know me at all?” She scowled at him.
“Allow me to makeup for our previous mishap,” Dirk said, presenting her with an intricately carved ivory wand. The same one I saw Dirk holding in my vision.
Her eyes were transfixed on it. Dirk handed it over with both hands like a prize. She took it as if he were handing her a delicate piece of glass that might break if held improperly.
“You’ve been busy,” she said, holding the wand in her hand. I watched from Dirk’s eyes as she let a single spark of blue magic funnel through the wand, giving it a solid test as if she and the wand were old friends getting reacquainted.
Darkness overpowered my senses. For a second, I thought Dirk might have passed out. No such luck. I was waking up. Dirk had recovered. And so did I.
“McKenzie?” I mumbled. She was holding my head in her lap as Nurse Roslyn knelt over me. I squinted as balls of gold light shot through her palms and into my skin. Nurse Roslyn was trying to wake me up as though her fists were paddles restarting my heart.
“Ouch!” I shouted.
Nurse Roslyn dabbed away the blood on my face with a handkerchief from her apron and took a step back. “I think she’s alright,” she said to Professor Huxley. He stood over me with his arms crossed over his chest.
“That’s twice you’ve allowed your abilities to disrupt my class, Miss Blackburn,” he complained.
I blinked a few times and looked down at my chest. I was covered in blood and Professor Huxley was more concerned about my magic than my well-being.
‘I misjudged you, sir. Perhaps you’re more like my father than I thought.’
I sat up, expecting to feel a rush of pain. I didn’t. I was completely healed. Mostly because Dirk was healed.
“What was that?” McKenzie asked me, seeming genuinely concerned.
“I’m more curious about what this was?” I sat up from her lap with inquisitive eyes. She held me through the… what was it even? An episode? A vision? A link into Dirk’s mind? She was actually worried about me?
And just like that, her usual incivility was back in action. She stood up from the ground and looked down at me, tossing the side of her trench coat over to see it stained with my blood.
“I wonder how long this stain will take to get out,” she whined before rushing back over to her desk and grabbing her books. “You’re welcome.” And with that, she darted out of the classroom and I was left with everyone staring at me in a bloody mess.
“Come here, lass,” Professor Huxley said gruffly, taking my hand into his and helping me back up on my feet. “Can you stand?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said, unsure if I actually could but not wanting to irritate him any further.
“You should come back to the infirmary,” said Nurse Roslyn. “Have a rest until we can figure out what this was.”
I shook my head. “I know what it was. And trust me. You’re better off not knowing.”
‘There’s only one person I care to tell. Lothar.’
5
It took me several minutes to convince Nurse Roslyn that I didn’t need to follow her back to the infirmary and another few to get away from Professor Huxley, who didn’t want me to leave without an explanation. Every time I told him I wasn’t sure what happened Nurse Roslyn wanted me to come with her for a few magical tests. And every time I told her I had it under control Professor Huxley assumed I was lying and knew exactly what was going on. The truth was I did know what was going on but not how to break the damn link between Dirk and me. So there was no point in submitting to their questions or Nurse Roslyn’s request for an examination.
I pushed through them and covered my face with the hood of my trench coat, doing my best to avoid eye contact with anyone as I hurried back to my dorm room. I ran up the stone steps, barely able to catch my breath as I went and eager to take a hot shower. The blood on my front was starting to dry and would take forever to scrub away.
I opened the door to the dorm room and heard two gasps once I walked in and headed right for my dresser without looking away. When I turned around to Alina I found Adeline sitting in her study chair, visiting as though they were old friends catching up on good old times with small glasses of liquor in their hands.
“Blimey,” Alina said, getting up from her bed and taking a few steps closer to me. “What the hell happened to you?”
Adeline put down her drink, which from what I could see looked like the same one Rodrick offered me in his study not too long ago. She walked right up to me without a word and took my chin into her hand. She gazed deep into my eyes, trying to figure out what was wrong as if she was a proper physician and I was her patient. I felt a twinge of electricity spark just under my chin. Was she sending magic through my head?
She let me go and gave a small nod. “Whatever it was, she’s already healed.”
“Has Professor Huxley been teaching you claw enhancement?” Alina asked. “I always hated those lessons.”
Adeline’s brow furrowed in interest. “Claw enhancement?”
“Yeah. In case we need them a touch longer for an attack.”
Adeline cringed at the thought and brought her attention back over to me.
“No,” I answered. “It was a standard lesson on brand concealment.”
“That shouldn’t have done this,” Alina said.
“It didn’t.” I threw off my trench coat and reached inside the drawer of the dresser for a new blouse. It took me so long to get out of class with endless questions chasing me out of the door. Even though I was happy to see Adeline I was too freaked out to give her a proper hello. I wanted a hot shower before getting interrogated again.
“Hold still,” Adeline said, sensing my unease right away. She was always good at knowing when I was frazzled. A trait of the vixra perhaps? Regardless, I didn’t feel like standing there drenched in my blood.
“Please,” I said. “Just let me shower first.”
“Shhh,” she hushed me. Her hands came up to my head and rested over my temples, instantly calming my rattled nerves.
“Please don’t do that memory thing again,” I begged. “It hurt like hell the first time.”
She didn’t hear me. Or if she did, she refused to acknowledge me.
Her eyelashes fluttered. I was left wondering what she was seeing.
The feeling that I was close to having a panic attack faded away and I was left with a strange sensation of peace. One I h
adn’t felt in days. As though every worry or concern I had was trivial and I was finally able to let go.
I breathed in deep, enjoying the feeling and knowing it wouldn’t last.
Adeline removed her hands and backed away from me. “Better?” she asked.
“Much.”
“It was Dirk, wasn’t it?”
I had a feeling she already knew the answer but I indulged her anyway. “Yes,” I mumbled.
“I’m working on discovering a way to break the link between the two of you. The spell he had his luxra witchling use was very powerful. Not unbreakable but difficult. It could take up to a month even if we do discover the proper spell to break it.”
I sighed, feeling relieved that I didn’t have to show her my memories again. “As long as we get it removed relatively soon,” I said, surprised by my patience and ease.
‘Adeline would make a killing if she learned how to bottle up and sell whatever magic she used on me just now.’
“Which reminds me,” she said, going back over to the desk where a long coat was hanging off Alina’s study chair. She dug inside and pulled out a brown notebook bound in leather and a thin strap wrapped around its width. It looked almost identical to Rodrick’s notebooks. “Here. It’s a special book vixra use to communicate.”
I took it from her and admired the binding. It was engraved in gold with a crest imprinted on the front. “Rodrick told me,” I said. “I write in it and you write back. Both our writing disappears to keep everything private.”
“Exactly. So once you’ve showered and rested, write to me and tell me what caused this,” she said, motioning toward the spattering of blood running down my front.
Alina offered me her drink. “It will help,” she said.
I was right. I took a sip to find it was the same glorious liquor Rodrick gave me in his office. I cherished the flavor as it ran down my throat.
“I best be going now,” Adeline said. “I came to deliver the notebook. I’ll let you know about any developments.” She flashed me a knowing grin as she wrapped back up in her long coat and buckled the front. I knew she was talking about more than just breaking the spell linking Dirk and me. She was talking about finding out who murdered my mother.
“You can’t stay?” I asked. “I’ve barely seen you since I left France. We haven’t been able to catch up. I can go shower and try to wash up as fast as I can.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m meeting a contact of mine in France first thing in the morning.”
“I’m jealous over here,” Alina said, taking the final sip from the glass after I handed it back to her.
“I wish I could say it was for pleasure. One of the most powerful luxra witchlings in all of France has disappeared without a trace. She’s one of the most skilled coven masters in centuries. Mostly because covens are so rare now. She’s a personal friend of mine.” Adeline’s face fell as the words slipped from her mouth.
She walked over to give me a goodbye hug and stopped dead in her tracks when she turned to me. “Riley, you’ve gone completely white.”
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out.
“Riley?” Alina asked. “Did you have another vision in your dreams?”
I shook my head. “No. It was in Professor Huxley’s class. But it wasn’t a vision.”
“What happened?” Adeline asked.
It didn’t matter how tired I was anymore. I had been cornered into explaining.
“The link between Dirk and me. I think he must have been close to death. Or he overexerted himself. What does this French luxra friend of yours look like?”
My question caught Adeline off guard. “Long curly brown hair, pale complexion, sharp eyes, always in a black gown like she’s going to a funeral. Why? What did you see Riley? Tell me.”
I shut my eyes, knowing I was about to break Adeline’s heart. Something I desperately didn’t want to do.
“I think Dirk has her,” I said. “Dirk had her at the same ritual circle where Devon took me. He…he tortured her. His vision took over mine and I watched it all as if I was seeing through his eyes. I was sure he killed her. Then out of nowhere she got up and was fine. But she wasn’t herself. It was as if she was possessed. Something inside of her changed. I think he did something to her. I saw him place his hand over her heart. Then a wave of blue magic ripped up from the ground and poured into her body.”
Now it was Adeline’s turn to go completely white. She leaned up against Alina’s bed frame and ran her hand through her hair, trying to hold in her emotions. I nearly jumped out of my skin when she lifted her hand and slammed it into the frame. The wood of the bed creaked under the pressure of her strength. I’m pretty sure she was swearing in Hungarian as well. It wasn’t like Adeline to get upset. At least in front of others. It was beneath her dignity. She was a woman that prided her self on composure. I watched it slip right before my eyes.
“What does it mean?” Alina asked.
Adeline paced back and forth in the room with her hand over her heart. “It means as acting grandmaster of the Dolch Erbe, Dirk is trying to rebuild his inner circle. This is exactly what I feared. When his luxra witchling died he went hunting for another one. I had a list in my mind of who it could be and Margaux Carville was at the top. She united the luxra witchling covens in France as one after centuries of fighting each another. Brutal fights that got many killed. She’s highly respected and extremely well-trained. I warned her this might happen. I told her to leave town. If only just for a little while. But she’s stubborn. And a snob. A lovable one but a snob nevertheless. She either didn’t listen to me or she wrongly assumed she could handle the danger.”
I could see the pain in her eyes. Adeline was so close to my mom. She felt her loss the same as I did. And now she was being forced to endure more pain. Only this time, it was because of my brother. I couldn’t help but wonder if she resented ever meeting my family.
No sooner did the thought enter my mind she came right over to me and took both my hands into hers.
“Write to me,” she said. “Tell me the details of your visions and if you feel the link between you and your brother again. It’s extremely important that you do. Do you understand?”
I gave her a weak nod. “Yes.”
She let go of me and went over to Alina’s desk, pulling open the drawer and taking out Alina’s envelope cutter.
“Woah, don’t-” Alina said a little too late.
Adeline sliced open her palm just enough to get a few drops of blood. Then she tore a page out of one of my study notebooks and let the blood trickle onto various spots on the page. The skin on her hand healed over in a matter of seconds with the glow of her magic sewing the tissue back together.
“You know the laws of the vixra, Alina,” she said, putting the envelope opener back in the drawer. “Use this wisely. If you don’t, I’m the one who will pay the price before the vixra council. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I understand.”
Adeline turned around to leave. Only being a vixra, she couldn’t leave without a flare. She took her forefinger and dragged it down before her like she was slicing into the air with a knife. More green magic tore through the space and opened up like a zipper dragging down and revealing a hidden passageway.
“Remember what I said, Riley,” she looked at me one last time before stepping into the vixra tunnel. The wind inside it rushed by me, slapping my blood-stained hair against my back. “Write to me. I want to know what happens. I’ll do the same if I learn anything on my end.”
And just like that, she was gone. She disappeared into the tunnel and evaporated into thin air. The wind halted the second the tunnel closed and I was back to being alone with Alina. She poured herself another glass of the liquor and refilled Adeline’s for me. She took the blood stained paper in her hand and brought me the glass. I accepted it eagerly.
“Why did she do that?” I asked, looking at the blood-stained piece of paper.
“Because vixra
blood is the purest blood on the planet. This will help us with the vixra tunnels so we can do our own investigating.”
My face fell. “Rodrick says I’m not ready for that yet.”
Alina pouted as though she was offended. “Rodrick may be the Dean of L.I.T. but he doesn’t command the Vontex. We just got permission to use vixra blood from a member of the Prescott family. That usurps Rodrick’s orders by a longshot.”
“But I’m not a member of the Vontex.”
Alina shrugged her shoulders. “Meh. You’re practically in training. I’ll cover for you. Only one thing. I want you to work some of your magic.”
I looked down at my hands.
“Not that magic, the other kind,” she said with a flirtatious tilt of her shoulders. “Convince Lothar that this is absolutely necessary. He’ll listen to you. And he’s much more skilled with the tunnels than I am. He tends to be more of a stiff when it comes to the rules. So don’t give him too many details at once.”
“What are you saying? I should flirt with my mentor to get what I want?”
“I don’t think you have to try hard. You already have all the equipment. But it will help.” Her eyes scaled up and down my body, letting me know that my assets had already been provided. It was hard not to blush. “Oh, come on,” she said. “As if you don’t already know. I saw the stage outfit you had on the night we found you. Or what was left of it. You know how to work it.”
“That was before this happened,” I said, pointing to my scar.
She shrugged her shoulders. “It gives you character.”
I kept my face as straight as possible, not wanting to give the slightest hint that I had just experienced something verging on forward with Rodrick.
I took a sip of the liquor and savored the flavor. The sense of calm Adeline left me with was already fading. I would need all the liquid courage I could get for what was about to happen. I needed to go back to the ritual site where Dirk cast a spell on me to link our lives. And where he permanently scarred me across my face. The place haunted my dreams and served as a torture site for a luxra witchling. Nothing about this would be the least bit easy.
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