by Abby James
“I’m sorry, I don’t feel well. I must be coming down with something. Probably best not to touch me.”
“You should go to medic and have them check you out,” the teacher said, her voice filled with genuine concern.
“I was on my way there, but thought I would stop by and see Amy.”
Hmmm…were was medic in relation to the arena, probably miles away.
“Amy really must return to her practice, but it was nice of you to stop by. I think you’d better go and take care of yourself first.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said.
Amy still wore her frown, so I tried to ignore her until her teacher had left us alone.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you tonight. I’d better not disturb you any longer. Your spiral was good, by the way. Top of the class.”
She waved her hand and sent a gust of wind through my hair. “Shoo.”
I turned to walk away.
“I forgot to tell you about the party in Draak House Friday night.”
“They have parties at Darkwells?”
“This isn’t a nunnery. And since heading back to the human realm for a night out isn’t an easy option we have to make do with what we have here.”
“Cool. What should I expect?”
“Draak have the best parties. They have their fair share of witches who make a mean brew with a few secret ingredients they refuse to reveal.”
“Some of these witches don’t happen to be the Marcel sisters do they?”
“They’ll be there for sure, but they’re in Ragnot house. Are they causing you grief?”
“No more than I’m sure they are to everyone else.”
And it’s likely they will either cause me more in future or stay the heck away from me.
“See you back at Nylph,” Amy said as she drew another funnel of sand wrapped in the air she controlled up from the ground and into a spiral around her.
I left the arena, about to head south to home when I spied a black figure standing on the roof of the castle peering through the crenellated parapet. It could only be Luca. But as I watched another appeared at his side. A woman if the long flowing hair was any indication. She stood close beside him as they talked, and I shouldn’t feel a stab of jealousy at the sight. Luca was a guy I should stay away from. I should not desire to get to know him more. I should not desire to want to share any of my secrets with him. Worst, I should not desire to want to see him feed. But the thought fascinated me.
14
Amy went OTT on her outfit. Slinky with a capital S. She was likely going to pass out before the night was through from lack of oxygen even though the dress was stretch material. And if she didn’t pass out through lack of oxygen she was going to fall from her great heel height and split her head open. She looked fantastic, though, with curves a mile and boobs like watermelons.
Lorna looked dowdy beside her. The dress was a respectable length, stopping just below her pants line, but the frill around her neck killed any vixen look she may have been going for. Her hair piled high in a bun didn’t do a lot for her outfit either.
Standing beside the two of them, and I looked as though I was heading out to kick in some heads. My clothes had magically appeared from my apartment, but there was nothing in my wardrobe to match these two. My usual heading out gear was denims, tee and leather jacket, hair hanging loose however it wanted and some sturdy boots because I did a lot of walking to get to most places. And the usual place we headed was Rifos. At a bar like that a girl in a leather jacket and sturdy boots looked part of the establishment.
Amy had tutted and fussed until I got stubborn and told her I was not changing. I wouldn’t have fitted any of her clothes anyhow. She was voluptuous with a capital V and I was normal. My breasts cupped into my hands with plenty of room to spare. The only thing that made me proud about myself was my hair. I’d kept it long most of my life because from when I was little everyone complimented me on how beautiful and thick it was, and how it looked like a golden shower of sunlight. Vain maybe, but you had to have something about yourself to love.
And speaking of loving things, I was homesick for Nathan. I had never been big at sharing intimate details, not to anyone, even Nathan, even though he’d been the closest I’d come to feeling like I had a parent. But right now I felt like my life was caving in. Nothing was a given. I couldn’t even rely on reality any more. I still had to sort out my feelings regarding him and his part in this supernatural game, but he’d been the one constant in my life. He’d always made me feel safe, had been my ground when my world shook with yet another relocation to another home, another foster family. Nathan had always been one phone call away. And while I may not have phoned him that regularly, just knowing I could made the difference. He was no longer that one phone call away. And my trust in him was shattered. Thank god I had found a friend in Amy and Lorna. But not even they could stop my feelings of disorientation and loneliness.
“Hey, you, why the drooping face?” Amy had come up behind me as I gave myself one last once over in the mirror of my room.
“I was thinking of someone on the outside.”
She huffed a laugh. “You make us sound like we’re in prison.”
“We are if we can’t talk to the people we’ve left behind.”
“Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting you didn’t grow up with a supe family. We’re not locked in here and we do get to talk to our parents. But since you only have wissend friends to talk to, I doubt McGilus will be too happy to give you any such freedom. There is no way he will risk you exposing this place, or the existence of the supernatural world.”
“Why the fear?”
“Armageddon. Look at the way the world is run. Do you really think they would just accept our existence and not try and tame us and turn our ability to their own advantage? And if they didn’t succeed in forcing us to do as they wished, do you think they would just leave us alone to live our lives peacefully the way we want to? Not to mention all the rogue supes who would willingly form alliance with wissends so they can gain more power while secretly plotting to destroy the wissends they climbed into bed with. Too messy. It’s far better if the two worlds are kept apart.”
“What stops the rogue supes from exposing themselves and forming alliances now?”
“The Council of Factions. There’s one on every continent. They’re ruthless in their administration. Not too many would dare go against them. The outstanding graduates end up working for them, most as trackers to bring down any illegal activity and to suppress the other side from ever finding out about our existence. It’s a twenty-four hour job I’m sure. But it pays well apparently.”
I stared at Amy’s reflection in the mirror. “There is someone on the outside who knows about all of this I can speak to.”
“My advice to you, forget about the outside world. You have to concentrate on finding your ability first. And you won’t do that successfully with distractions. We don’t have long before the tournament and no one is going to want you on their team if you haven’t proven yourself.”
“Gee, thanks, no pressure.”
“You could ask McGilus to increase your lessons with Ms Lane.”
Or maybe I should hunt down Luca and see what other enlightening things he could reveal about me.
We heard the loud clip of high heels coming down the hall.
“That will be—”
“You guys ready?” Lorna said, tripping through the door in her high heels.
Lorna frowned at me, then looked to Amy. “I thought you were going to coax her into one of your outfits.”
“She’s fine as she is. At least it will soothe the Marcel sisters to see her dressed down.”
“I’m looking to scare them not soothe them.”
I chuckled along with the other two at how absurd it sounded. But neither of these two knew who was to blame for Pen’s gray hair. I could hardly believe I had been responsible, but there was no explanation that worked. Penelope h
ad hoped to give me a not so friendly warning by turning my hair gray. The spell had entered me. I’d felt the zap radiating up my arm, but for some reason it returned back into her. And so it had been with every other encounter I’d had with a supernatural. Massus had to have been a fire elemental, and his ability ended up being repelled back onto him. As with the skurk in the toilet, I’d say he was a telekinetic. I also had my explanation for the mad passion in which Emrol had returned my kiss. He’d been trapped in his own beguilement. It seemed I repelled other people’s abilities. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure if this was what was happening, but I couldn’t come up with anything else logical. Maybe that was why Ms Lane had sensed an empath’s ability in me. She was sensing her own gift reflected back to her.
“The witches’ brew will be drunk before we even get there,” Lorna said, snapping me back from my reflection.
By the time we headed down stairs Nylph was empty. Everyone had already made their way to Draak.
“It’s a full moon, we should see plenty fine to get us back to the castle,” Amy said.
She used a sudden gust to slam the door behind us as we headed down the stairs.
“Is it safe holding a party on the full moon? Don’t werewolves have a problem around the full moon?”
“Yeah, sure, if you are a fictional character in a book,” Lorna said.
“Wereshifters are at risk of shifting anytime. They’re not contained to the full moon. It’s part of their training to learn to tame their animalistic side and shift on command. But it’s got nothing to do with the full moon. I don’t know where pop culture got that limitation from,” Amy said. “The night will get a little messy, especially if the wereshifters drink too much of the witches’ brew and shift.”
“Messy, don’t you mean dangerous?”
“It can be. But life’s not worth living if you’re not running from a little danger.”
I wasn’t sure if Amy and I had the same idea about danger, but I was keen to see a shifter in animal form.
We traced our way back across the grounds and into the castle. Darkwells may have been built a long time ago, but it had been renovated into the twenty first century. Despite this it appeared night time was a time for the castle to transition back into the dark age. Instead of the usual chandeliers suspended from the ceiling offering light, huge flaming torches cast a dim yellow glow across the stone walls.
Amy and Lorna, having no doubt walked these corridors enough at night, didn’t seem disturbed by the forbidding setting the castle had become, but for me this was the classic horror house story of three young women walking toward the unknown danger hiding behind the statues up ahead. And speaking of statues, they were all twice as eerie as they were during the day.
“Sorry,” I murmured as I stumbled into Amy because I was too busy looking behind us and in all the dark places created by the dim light.
Amy slung an arm through mine, and I felt the familiar presence of her ability ripple through me. At least this time I understood what was happening every time she touched me.
“Where did that statue come to life?”
“Not a good topic while we’re heading through a dark castle at night.”
“It will be fun, don’t you think? Nothing like a good dose of adrenaline before a drink,” she said.
“I think we should go straight there,” Lorna said, sounding more in my camp than Amy’s.
“I don’t remember. I still don’t know my way around this place.”
We all froze with the sudden thump, then stared at each other.
“You guys hear that?” I said.
“It’s an old castle. It always makes noises,” Amy said.
“Then why is your grip cutting off the blood circulation to my wrist?” I said.
“Because I don’t want you to feel alarmed.”
“I’m the empath, remember?”
“Then how about you share a little empath love this way right now. Give me some soothing vibes.”
“Can empaths do that?”
“One’s that know how to use their ability.”
Another noise, sounding like another thud cut our conversation short. I didn’t think it was possible Amy could hold my wrist any tighter and still keep it attached to my arm.
“Let’s get out of here, guys,” she said.
“How far is it to Draak?”
“We haven’t reached the stairs yet. Then it’s up three flights.” The next thudding sound sent us scurrying down the corridor. Thank god I wore my boots. The other two were having a hard time making any decent pace.
We skidded around a corner and in front of us was a majestic stairwell, broad and sweeping with a thick wood balustrade either side.
“Get rid of those damn shoes,” I said through pants after having to slow enough times to keep apace with the two of them. The thing about running from danger is once you start the adrenaline takes control, winds you further into a spasm of fear and catapults you into a mad dash. By the time we hit the stairs I think we were all convinced we were running for our lives. At least I was.
The other two flipped their shoes off on the bottom step and we mounted them three at a time. Halfway up and the next thud shook the stairwell with its immensity, scattering us onto the stairs like ten pins. Lorna rolled down three steps before she was able to grab hold of the balustrade to stop herself from ending up at the bottom. I’d already been holding it so didn’t fall far and Amy fell into me.
“Holy shit,” Amy said. “It’s happening again. It never happens in such quick succession.”
“What?” I said
“The evil locked in the heart of Darkwells.”
That’s when we heard the claps and the laughter. The three of us pulled ourselves to our feet and waited for whoever was responsible for the hard smack of the shoes to appear from the dim corridor.
“Duncan, you asshole,” Amy said as a guy came into view, dressed in a suit with tails, of all things. He looked at least five years older than me, with a tight nest of curly red hair to match the mad smattering of freckles on his face.
“You should’ve seen you run.”
“You’ll be marked for that.”
He mounted the stairs with all the cockiness of an aristocrat with money behind him to bail him out of any misdemeanors. “That’s only if you tell,” he said with an air of confidence that none of us would dob him in.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said holding out his hand to me.
Again I felt hesitant to take his hand, but I was curious to know what sort of feeling I would get. He did the gentlemanly thing of old and bent to kiss my hand once I placed it in his. A warm fuzz from his palm but also from his lips spread languidly up my arm, tickling and tingling along the way. Even after he released my hand the feeling remained, spreading up into my chest. It felt welcoming, not suffocating, warming not cold.
“Samara,” I blurted out, stirred from the pleasant feeling when I realized I had yet to give him my name.
“Duncan is here on exchange from England. Hence the ostentatious suit. Honestly, Duncan, no one wears a suit to a Darkwells party.”
“I thought I would bring a little class to the rabble.”
His polished accent set him apart as did his tall bearing.
Amy nudge me with her elbow. “He’s a pain in the ass. It’s best to ignore him.”
Duncan climbed the stairs to her height and slung an arm over her shoulder. “Amy, darling, I know you love me. Shall I escort you the rest of the way. Three damsels are in need of a knight.”
I saw Amy’s smirk as she allowed Duncan to lead her up the stairs. Lorna and I followed a few steps behind. Lorna nudged me, and when I looked across to her she sawed her finger in and out of a circle she had created with the thumb and forefinger of her other hand, then she nodded to Duncan and Amy and winked at me.
They’re an item?
Lorna grabbed my arm and dragged me close to whisper. “Amy would love Duncan to insert his British ari
stocratic intimates into her middle class intimates and make babies…well, the baby part may not be true. But she would love to get naked with him.”
Lorna slowed me down to create distance between them and us.
“What is his ability?”
“A sorcerer and a bloody good one at that. He’s heading for the caster guild for sure.”
We banged heads as we continued up the stairs because we were leaning in so close so as not to be heard. “How old is he?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“Do you have to remain a student that long?”
“Not unless you’re good. Think of it as grad school. He’s doing some high level stuff. Apparently Luca accepted to train him once a week.”
The sound of his name and my insides did mad somersaults. Bloody hell, just hearing his name and I was reacting like this.
“How does he feel about Amy?”
“Hard to say. Being top of the class does tend to attract admirers. He’s also filthy rich, which attracts even more admirers. But he does seem to have a soft spot for her. And she makes a habit of placing herself in his path whenever it’s convenient.”
“She kept that quiet.”
“He disappears regularly. A lot of the top casters do. I like to think they go off on secret missions, but who’s to say.”
By now we’d climbed up so many flights of stairs both of us were gasping with each word. The signal we’d arrived came in the form of three rowdy guys dressed in pink tutus, hanging off each other and singing a song none seemed to know the lyrics to nor the tune.
Amy looked over Duncan’s arm to me. “Welcome to Draak,” she said.
I looked up to the giant stone head of a reptile, or maybe it was a dragon, carved out of the wall, its jaws gaping wide. It was through its mouth we were supposed to enter into the house of Draak.