by Neva Bell
I hear Frank yelling, “Get off of her!”
I only have a few seconds before Frank jumps in to help me. I have to act fast. I summon my strength and power spells. I put my hands on James’s chest and push as hard as I can. I’m not sure if it’s working at first, but then his body flies across the room and slams into the wall.
James shakes his head for a second, but is relatively unfazed. He growls and comes at me again.
Yes, that’s right my dear. Run right into my trap.
When James is five feet away from me, I put up my hand and freeze him in place. Everyone in the gym is silent, stunned by the sudden change of events.
I approach James’s frozen figure and reach up to gently touch his face. His mouth immediately snaps and his eyes move from side to side. He tries to move the rest of his body, but he can’t.
I smile. “And just like that…you’re dead.”
I turn my back on James and walk over to Frank. “I train with him from now on.”
“Are you crazy?” Frank asks in disbelief. “I’m pretty sure he wants to kill you.”
“Which is exactly why I need to train with him.”
Frank sighs. “I never knew you were a masochist.”
“If I want to be the best, I have to train with the best.”
One of the wolves walks over. “Um, excuse me. Chloe?” he asks sheepishly.
I give him a big smile. “Yes?”
“Are you, um, going to let him go?” The wolf points over to the still frozen James.
“Oh yeah, sure.” I wave my hand again and James falls to the ground. He begins to shift back into his human form.
“Well, I could stay and gloat, but I think I’ll go take my nap now,” I announce.
I make a bee line for the exit and hope James isn’t following me.
---
I wake up from my nap with a killer headache. No doubt it’s compliments of James slamming my head against the floor.
The thought of James’s Were form sends shivers down my spine. I never imagined he could look like that. Our coven showed us photos of werewolves, but I’ve never seen one in person.
As much as I hate to admit it, James was right. I needed to see it. And I need to continue seeing and fighting him in his Were form so I’m not distracted in any way if a werewolf does attack me. I’m proud of myself for rebounding as quickly as I did, but I also know if the attack was happening for real, I’d be dead.
I head down to the 8th floor and visit the Guard. All of the Guard members stand at attention as soon as I step onto the floor.
“Please, please,” I say, “stop doing that. You don’t need to stand when I walk in.” Judging from the looks on their faces, they are going to keep doing it anyway.
“How can we help you Ms. Chloe?” the Guard member standing closest to me asks.
“I’m looking for Frank. And a healer.”
“I’ll page Frank. Sherman can help you with your medical needs.”
A tall man with long, silky black hair approaches. “Come with me Ms. Chloe.”
Sherman is Native American and when I ask, he tells me he is of Iroquois descent. He takes me to a conference room and shuts the door.
“How can I help you Ms. Chloe?”
“I have a bad headache. I think you can help me faster than a Tylenol.”
Sherman smiles. “Absolutely. May I touch your forehead?”
“Yes.”
Sherman approaches and puts his right hand on my forehead. I feel a warming sensation and almost instantaneous relief. A few seconds later he steps back.
“Better?”
“Much! Thank you.”
Sherman’s forehead creases. “Next time, don’t wait so long to come and see me. You had a mild concussion.”
Before I can ask how he can tell I had a concussion, Frank comes into the room.
Sherman gives Frank the lowdown. “Ms. Chloe is feeling much better now. I advised her that she suffered a mild concussion.” Sherman turns to me. “Good day Ms. Chloe.”
I smile. “Thanks Sherman.”
Sherman leaves the room and shuts the door behind him.
“A mild concussion? Freaking werewolves,” Frank says before taking a seat across the table. “Shouldn’t you be at magic training?”
I roll my eyes. “Your concern for my welfare is heartwarming. Truly.”
Frank grins. “I wish you would have left James frozen a little longer.”
I laugh. “Were you planning on using him for target practice?”
“Nope. I would have turned off the lights and left him there.”
“I’ll consider that next time.” I stand up. “I’m off to magic practice. At least I’ll have a good excuse today if my magic sucks.”
Frank clears his throat. “I have something I need to tell you first.”
I don’t like the look on his face. “What is it?”
“I’ve gone back and forth about whether I should tell you this.” Frank pauses and shifts his weight.
Oh God. This isn’t good.
“I promised I won’t keep you in the dark if I have information I think you’ll want to know.”
“Okay…”
“And I think you’ll want to know this.”
I’m scared. “Is there something wrong with my parents?”
Frank shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. Your parents are perfectly fine.”
I relax, then tense up again. “Is it Elliott? Is he alright?”
Frank hesitates. “Not exactly.”
I will lose it if something has happened to Elliott. I have been on the verge of inviting him here at least ten times a day. If something happened to him that I could have prevented, I’ll never forgive myself.
“What is it Frank? What is wrong with Elliott?” I’m frantic now.
“There’s nothing wrong with him, per se.”
“Jesus Christ! What is it?! Tell me already!”
He frowns. “Elliott got married.”
I’m sorry, what? Is this mild concussion messing with my brain?
“Married?” I ask to make sure I heard Frank correctly.
“Yes, married.”
I lean against the closest chair, completely shocked. Elliott got married?
“To who?”
Frank sighs. “To his ex-girlfriend. My family is upset about it. None of us like her.”
“The ex-girlfriend who didn’t like that he traveled so much?”
“That would be the one.”
The full weight of what Frank is saying finally hits me. I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach.
My Elliott? Married?
I start crying. “This is all my fault! I shouldn’t have pushed him away!”
Frank stands and walks over to me. “Don’t you dare say that! You did the right thing.”
“Oh yeah? Then how come I’m alone now?”
Frank pulls me to his chest. “Because my little brother sucks. Because he wasn’t strong enough to handle this.”
“Don’t. Don’t give me the ‘he isn’t good enough for you’ speech.”
“But he isn’t. Trust me, this is classic Elliott. Anytime something gets complicated, he bails out. If it wasn’t now, it would be sometime down the road.”
Frank gets me a tissue.
“Thanks,” I mumble. “He said he saw something between us. A future for us.”
“We are Readers Chloe, not fortune tellers.”
Frank spends the next few minutes trying to console me, which I appreciate. He isn’t successful though. He leaves me alone so I can get a hold of myself. No way I’m walking onto the Guard floor like this.
“Oh Elliott,” I say out loud and cry again. I think of our phone conversations…the time we were able to spend with each other…the love making in my room at Leviston…
Was any of it real?
Was I just another notch in the belt?
Did he want to be with me because I’m the next Verhena?
My a
nger builds inside me and I need a release. I leave the conference room and make my way to the elevator. Before I can get there, Whitney is suddenly in my face.
“Hey Chloe! I thought you might be here.”
I grunt in response and push the button for the elevator.
“What you did in training today was so awesome!”
I give her the side eye, but say nothing. Where is the damn elevator? I push the button again for good measure.
Whitney is rambling on about something when the elevator doors open. I jump inside, but she gets in with me. She doesn’t miss a beat and keeps talking as I hit the button for the gym.
“We should hang out sometime. I could get us carry out from this really good Mexican place down the street. Their burritos are delicious! The nachos aren’t as crunchy as I like…”
The elevator doors open to the gym and I try to make an escape. Whitney follows me and continues listing all of the restaurants within a ten mile radius that she recommends. I can’t take it anymore.
I turn around and glare at her. “Do you ever shut the hell up?!”
She takes a step back. “I’m sorry, I…”
I interrupt her. “I just want to be left alone, okay? So get out of my face!”
I leave Whitney practically in tears. I walk as quickly as I can to the fireproof room. I slam the door behind me and focus on the target painted on the back wall. I gather all of my rage and send fire shooting from my fingertips. A giant ball of fire erupts and explodes. I use a protection spell to form a bubble around myself so I’m not burned by the flames. I scream as loud as I can and continue shooting fire across the room.
Flames engulf the room and I stand inside my bubble marveling at the fiery reds and oranges all around me. I did this. I created this massive fire and I am strong enough to protect myself from it. After a few deep breaths, I release cold energy and put the fire out. I feel much better now, a lot less like I might combust.
As the smoke and fire clear, I see a figure watching from the small window. Probably Frank making sure I’m okay. Or Whitney, waiting to tell me about a great barbeque place she found.
When I step outside the room, I discover I am wrong on both counts. It is James. He is still shirtless, but his Adidas pants are back on.
“That was pretty impressive,” he says. Despite the compliment, his face is blank.
“Thanks.” I try to walk past him, but he stops me.
“You need to figure out how to control your energy so you can summon it at any time. Not just when you’re angry.”
James is always ready to give me advice on something, which evidently includes magic.
“I’ll take that into consideration. What are you doing here anyway? Still training?”
James steps to the side so I can walk by. “You shouldn’t talk to my sister like that, she wants to be your friend.”
I wince. “You heard, huh?”
“Yes, I did. I was in the corner doing push-ups. You must have been too busy yelling at Whitney to notice.”
“It wasn’t my proudest moment, okay? I just found out my ex got married and your sister was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
James raises an eyebrow. “Married?”
“Yes! Married! And we’ve only been broken up for like two weeks!” I go on a rambling tirade. “Sure I told him he shouldn’t call me or see me because of what’s going on right now, but that was only to protect him! Married! Can you believe it?”
James looks at me with his stone face.
I turn away. “I don’t know why I’m telling you any of this.”
James walks with me. “Who is he? A boy you met at Leviston?”
“No. Yes. Sorta.”
James raises the eyebrow again.
“I met him before Leviston. He is the Reader who gave me my tattoo.”
“Elliott?” James asks surprised.
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“Not personally. I know of him. I know he’s Frank’s younger brother.”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“And he’s married now?”
I frown. “Yes. Married.” It still doesn’t seem right to say.
“Sounds to me like you dodged a bullet. You should be happy.”
Is he serious?
“You’re right. I’ll go throw a party.”
“Any man who doesn’t fight for you isn’t worth your tears.”
I don’t have a smartass comeback to this. “That’s what Frank said too.”
“You see? His own brother tells you he’s not worth your time. That alone should be all you need to know.” James walks over to grab his shirt and shoes. “Apologize to my sister. If you take the time to get to know her, you’ll find you two have more in common than you think.”
“I will,” I promise.
“Good. Because if you talk to her like that again, I’ll kill you.”
As I watch James leave, I’m not sure if he’s joking.
---
Magic training with Willa doesn’t go so hot. No pun intended.
I expended all of my energy in the fireproof room during my little ’roid rage incident. There’s nothing left in the tank. Frank is impressed when I tell him about the fire ball and protective bubble, but is annoyed when I fail to recreate it.
It’s been a long day, but I have to take care of the Whitney situation. I make my way to the 13th floor. It looks exactly like my floor - two doors on each side of the hall and a door at the end. I’m guessing Ivan is in the luxury suite. So which room is Whitney’s?
I knock on the first door to my right. No answer.
I knock on the first door to my left. No answer.
0 for 2.
I try the second door on the right and Ivan opens the door after a few seconds.
“Chloe!” he says surprised. “Nice to see you.”
“Hi Ivan. I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m looking for Whitney.”
Ivan smiles. “How nice. She’s in the room at the end of the hall.”
“Gave her the big room, huh?”
“I figured she would appreciate it a lot more than I do.”
Ivan and I say our good-byes and I knock on Whitney’s door.
“Come in,” she yells from inside.
I push open the door slowly. “Whitney?” I find her sitting on the bed, braiding her own hair. She stops when she sees me.
“Chloe?” Her initial expression is confusion, then her face hardens. “Come to yell at me some more?”
I shake my head. “I came to apologize. I was upset about something, and I took it out on you.”
Whitney picks at her fingers. “No, it’s my fault. I was a blabbering idiot.”
I sit down in a desk chair identical to mine. The desk looks the same too. “Really Whitney, it was all me.”
Tears well in her eyes. “I haven’t been around another female in forever. I’m stuck in a house with James and my grandfather 24/7. When we came here, I thought maybe we could be friends. It’s stupid.”
“No it’s not. I was being a royal bitch. You have been nothing but nice to me since you got here. And I keep pushing you away.”
Whitney wipes a tear off her cheek. “You are ridiculously busy. I shouldn’t be bothering you. I’m just so bored.”
I can relate. “It is boring here, isn’t it?”
“I thought being stuck in my house back home was bad, but this is awful. I can’t see my boyfriend. The few friends I have are back home. No one here talks to me. The only social interaction I get is over meals and when we get together with Jessica for movie night.”
Now I feel awful. Whitney is worse off than I am. Doesn’t help that I’ve treated her like crap the entire time.
I need to explain what happened. “I found out tonight that my boyfriend, or should I say ex-boyfriend, got married.”
Whitney’s jaw drops. “What?”
I nod my head. “Frank just told me about it when you ran into me at the Guard center. I needed to let off so
me steam, and I wanted to get away from everyone.”
Whitney frowns. “But I wouldn’t let you.”
“It’s no excuse. I’m sorry.”
“What a jerk!”
Ouch. Jeez, I said was sorry.
I start to stand up. “I guess I’ll go.”
Whitney laughs. “Not you! The ex-boyfriend.”
I laugh too, relieved.
“How long ago did you break up?” Whitney asks.
“Same day you guys got here.”
“That’s like two weeks ago!”
“I know! He works fast.”
Now that I think about it, everything with us went fast. One minute I hardly know the guy, the next he’s telling me there’s a future for us.
Whitney rolls her eyes. “Men.”
“Exactly!” I agree.
We sit in silence for a second. “Whitney, can I ask you a question?”
She shrugs. “Sure.”
“Where’s your mom?”
A flash of pain crosses Whitney’s face. “She’s dead.”
Wow, I was not expecting that. It takes me a second to recover from the shock. “I’m so sorry Whitney. That’s terrible.”
“She killed herself.”
I’m stupefied. I can think of absolutely nothing to say. Why, oh why, did I ask such a personal question?
Whitney is the first to talk again. “She was never mentally stable, even when James and I were kids. She was like my dad in some ways. Always rebelling. Living life dangerously. I don’t know what we would have done without my grandparents.”
I try to imagine what my life would have been like if my parents were not there for me and Chelsea. I can’t picture it.
“When my dad left, it crushed her. He didn’t even say good-bye. She cried and cried. She thought even though he was a dark person, there was a soft spot for her somewhere in his heart. Obviously, there wasn’t. A week after my dad left, James found her lying in bed motionless. An empty bottle of pills by her side. She was gone.”
“Damn. That must have been hard on you.” And James too, I add mentally.
“Can I admit something to you without sounding like a terrible person?” Whitney asks sheepishly.
“Sure.”
“My life was easier after she was gone. I didn’t have to worry about what crazy thing she would do next. I didn’t have to help her out of whatever mess she’d gotten herself into.”