“Does it hurt when you try?” Lawliet then suddenly asked.
“No. I just feel… emotionless and blank. It’s hard to describe.”
“I could only imagine.”
We stopped at the staircase that leads up to the tower. My eyes dragged down to his hands, wanting to touch the warmth and to move him into me so that I could taste that heated breath of his – but I resisted myself and stepped away. I looked down the corridor, where Charlie was waving towards me.
“I think you are safe from here. Have a good day, Eileen.”
“You too. I will see you at recess.”
“I will be waiting,” he whispered. Heat climbed up my cheeks, and that made Lawliet breathe a hint of amusement.
The first two classes were slower this morning. Perhaps the reason is that I am hungry, and all I wanted to do was go up to the tower and open up my bag that has a few lollies I snuck in from the lolly jar. The other reason may be because of Rebecca. She was a live-wire today. She had that set motivation to annoy and pester me in our classes that we had together: mock, snide comments. Paper is thrown at me, some even letters that Charlie so happened to pick up in English and read, anger plain on her face. She told me that I should go to the Headmage about them, but they were nothing but empty threats to me. Besides, I know Rebecca isn’t the one hellbent on killing me. If she were, she wouldn’t be making her attempts so visible. She would have at least laid low.
By the time recess came around, my stomach had growled and rumbled like a hurricane, ready to consume the plastic-wrapped lollies that were inside of my school bag. I left Charlie at the stairs that go down to the cafeteria. She jumped between Nixon and Donte and chimed into their conversation about making a hairy-sludge monster.
In the tower, Lawliet wasn’t at his usual spot, sleeping against the window. Instead, he was at the blackboard. Always a rare occasion to see him there, but it also always intrigued me into knowing what Lawliet was doing.
There was a list of names on the board. Right up the top, was Lollie, not that surprising. Then there was Kent, Charlie, Rebecca, Spencer, Wes, Keven, Ben, Henry, and a few more that I have only glanced at, but know they speak vile words to each other behind my back and are the ones spreading the current rumour about me. Nothing too threatening, but I wished they would stop.
“What’s this for?” I asked when I stood beside him.
“It has been near two weeks; your mysterious killer will want to strike again.”
“How’d you know that?”
“It’s all about urges. Darius told me about urges when I was a kid. It is like a hunger, deep within, and the more you suppress the hunger, the more it fights back. Mages urge can only last two weeks before it wants to scratch that itch.”
“Really?” Lawliet nodded. “What about a dragons itch?”
“Minutes,” Lawliet answered, glaring at the blackboard. “The stronger the urge, the quicker it comes.”
“Who has the fastest urgers that they cannot suppress?”
“Valkyries, before they became extinct,” Lawliet replied. “The most powerful Guardian, but they are gone because of Victor Malloy, and now dragons are on top of the leader board.”
“Lawliet.” I touched his arm, and that alone tore him away from those brooding, dark thoughts of his. I hate when he goes into that place. A place of accepting that all he was, is a Guardian, waiting until he turns eighteen, and becomes summoned.
“So, who are the suspects?” I then asked.
“Right. No offence, but your friends could be all fake. All they wanted was to get closer to you so that they can end your life.”
As much as that pains me, I was aware that that could have been a possibility. Either to grow close in a way Lawliet had said, or some screwed up social status gain.
“Do you know if any of them knows elementals… good?”
“Lollie knows, she claims she needs it to protect her Vampire Guardian that she will be summoning.”
“Wise choice… or a good cover-up,” Lawliet said. “I am also suspicious of Spencer.”
“Why, Spencer?”
“He looks at you in a way I don’t like.”
“Okay?”
“Never mind,” he muttered. “Who else? Charlie?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” I shook my head. “Not her.”
“Why not her?”
“Because.”
“I am not going to not watch her now because your answer is because. That’s not valid enough.”
“She was the first one to talk to me like I was a nobody. Not this famous mage that everyone hates. I don’t want to believe that it would be her.”
“Well, I will be keeping an eye on her as well. One more.”
“Rebecca.”
“I thought you said she is harmless.”
“I can never be too careful.”
The bell announcing that recess was over rang mighty and clear.
“Alright, I will keep an eye on them. You don’t do anything. Go on about your day like normal.”
I turned so that I was facing Lawliet. He gave me a weak smile and touched my cheek. “I… I really care for you, Eileen.”
I went on my tiptoes and planted a soft, desirable kiss on Lawliet’s, firm, rough, parched lips.
I love you too, Lawliet, I thought.
Most of my class in sports voted for the pool today, which Spencer then agreed that it was out of his hands. He did apologise to me on the way to the indoor swimming pool. As we walked together, I wondered what Lawliet meant when he said Spencer looks at me funny. He looks at me with no vindictive, anger, or hate, like other mages – unless I can’t see it.
Puffing my cheeks, I looked away from Spencer’s doe-eyed, dark eyes.
In the dressing room, I couldn’t stop staring at Rebecca, surrounded by her posse’. She laughed as she got dressed. I never look at Rebecca longer than a second, but at this moment, I was envious of the way she looks, and her body and laugh lines. As I looked at her, I noticed a tattoo on her forearm, the elements: earth, water, fire, wind. That’s a powerful tattoo to get pincered onto your skin unless she is very good at controlling all of them, and I know that is hard to master.
“What are you looking at, droid?” Rebecca spat.
Rebecca was glowering at me. Hands-on her hips, she cocked her head to the side and raised her brow, demanding me to answer immediately.
“Sorry,” was all I could reply. I couldn’t really explain why I was looking at her, nor could I deny, because it was apparent.
“Aww, how cute, the droid wants to be like Becca.”
I’d rather not.
They all laughed and waltzed out of the bathroom, like being on a catwalk.
Charlie nudged my shoulder. “Don’t worry about them, frosty. They are nothing but lowlife mages that thrive in putting others down.” I nodded in agreement.
“Now come on. It is warmer in the pool than standing out here.”
“That’s because of Donte and Nixon pee in the pool.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Swimming was okay, for the most part. I floated near the side, ready to hop out at any given moment if Donte and Nixon decide to plot one of their pranks. Fortunately, they didn’t do that at all. They were on their best behaviour, and I immediately knew why as we walked up the stairs, towards our apartment. They had something installed for Silas tonight. Tonight, was the night the hairball of a monster will be birthed inside of the drain. May take a few months for it to grow at a reasonable size, but until then, Silas will be hearing whispers in the pipe, hungry for any hair that falls off of his body.
After dinner – which was nothing more than my brothers gushing over Hopper and the delicious food that he had made – I freshened up in the bathroom and then went into my room to get changed. While I changed into my pyjamas, I thought of what Lawliet said earlier today, and that I need to keep a lookout. The ones I thought were my friends are now considered suspicio
us mages. There’s a chance that none of them wants to kill me, and someone else entirely, someone that I haven’t met properly or at all. That scares me more because they could strike at any time, and I could be blaming it on a friend that is there, wanting to help.
The window opened, and a gush of chilled, bitterly cold wind pricked hairs, on the edge of my skin. When I turned around to shut the window, Lawliet stood along the windowsill, a cheeky grin plastered on his face, and wicked, golden eyes.
“Hello. You are early,” I said.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you when I got home,” he replied. Then, he extended his arm and gave me a severe and deadpan look. “We need to talk. I think I know who is behind this.”
“Okay? Why can’t we talk here?”
“Mage Academy isn’t safe to talk… there could be hidden runes anywhere. This mage is… sneaky. Come with me, and we will go to the back oval, behind the border of the yellow, blue and green orbs that surround Mage Academy.”
I hesitated. I was unsure of where all this was coming from, but yet again he told me to go about my day while he watches everyone. Perhaps he found out who that mage is and wants to go somewhere as private as possible.
“Do you trust me?” He asked.
I nodded immediately and raised my hand and touched his. A tingling, cold sensation pricked my skin, crawling up my spine. Suppressing that shudder, I stepped up and into Lawliet’s arms.
Vindictive Ties.
It wasn’t snowing this evening. A bright, striking, orange, red and pink sunset cast over us, as we walked along the oval, and towards the back. Snow crunched under boots, leaving footprints as I walked.
Lawliet was a few feet ahead of me. His back was slouched, hunched over, and his head was bowed. I couldn’t correctly see him, because his white jacket with the fluffy hood covered his features, but I believed that he was brooding. I wasn’t entirely sure nor did I want to ask. Instead, I kept quiet, following in his footsteps, that were larger than mine.
After we both hopped over the back fence. After I took Lawliet’s hand so that he could help me over the fence, I placed my hands back at my side as we walked. That tingling, cold sensation wouldn’t go away. My hands practically feel numb, growing uncomfortable by the minute. As I wondered why they did, I placed my hands in the pockets of my hooded jumper for a sense of warmth, considering Lawliet wasn’t giving me anything to work with. There wasn’t even any warmth resonating off of him, and it was making me grow more suspicious the further out we went.
We stopped where I was last time I was out here when Wes and Spencer kicked the soccer ball so far out, and I volunteered to go grab the ball. This was where I felt the presence of someone controlling the wind element first – but back then I didn’t believe or think that someone so vindictive would try something like that.
The crunching of Lawliet’s boots halted a few feet ahead of me. He had his back facing me, as he looked out at the trees that were meshed together, leaving any room for any light to enter. We were in the centre of open space, before the trees entwined with one another. Curls of mist breathed out of our mouths, the weather was cold, but this presence was more chilling.
“What are we doing out here?” I asked.
“I told you, Eileen, we needed to get away from Mage Academy and somewhere more private.”
“Okay?”
He didn’t respond to my question. Lawliet still stared ahead, his face dripping in shadows. I took a step back and felt power swirl to life inside of my veins. It was a struggle to hide them, and he must have known, for he breathed a soft breath of laughter that sent chills down my spine.
“Who wants me dead?” I then persisted.
“Isn’t it obvious, babe?”
Babe?
Lawliet turned around, and there was this darkened, cold look in those golden eyes of his. “Now, why would I want to get you away from Mage Academy and away from the protective barriers that alert the Headmage? Jeeze, you are clueless! You were surrounded by family that could have easily warded me off if I attacked you in your room. I couldn’t do anything in there, the best thing that I could have done was taken you away, and you were stupid enough to come along with me.”
“I don’t think I am as stupid as you think I am.”
“Really? I got you here, didn’t I!”
He whirled around, his hand coming from the side, a glint of silver shined in the sunset light.
“Attack, teleportation.” The rune I was secretly drawing in the snow activated. I looked behind Lawliet, and within a blink of an eye, I moved away from the dagger that was coming towards my throat. I took a step, and turned, now behind Lawliet.
Lawliet stiffened mid-swing, hunched his shoulders and breathed a cruel and sadistic laugh when he turned around to look at me. There was no sense of Lawliet in those eyes at all.
“You aren’t Lawliet. Who are you?” I demanded, in my small and soft voice.
He barked a loud and horrendous laugh. His head tipped backwards, and laugh lines plagued Lawliet’s usually smooth complexion. His eyes darkened, a soft, dark, chestnut brown, and his hair turned brown with a tinge of grey mingled between the strands. My heart sunk as I stared at the one mage, I thought was helping me. The Headmage.
“What gave it away?” He asked, his voice throaty, and croaky.
“You were colder than Lawliet… you also called me babe, which was a word Lawliet has never ushered to me,” I answered.
“Huh. I would have expected Lawliet Clarintine to be that type of lover. I was wrong and sloppy with my research. I thought you would be as dumb as you look. I was mistaken.”
“Correct.” I took a step further back while my arm extended, veins palpitating and runes ready to be used.
“You were the one trying to kill me all this time. Why? What did I do to you?”
“You didn’t do anything to me, but I told you about my child being torn from me five years ago, at that unfortunate night. I told you that you weren’t to blame, but that was a lie. You were to blame.” Headmage’s veins lit, a brighter white than mine, power pulsing out of him. “You are the reason my son is dead.”
“Timothy,” I breathed. Headmage nodded his head. “I’m sorry, but he wanted to hurt me.”
Headmage shook his head side to side. “No, I don’t believe that at all! My son idolised you and your family! We all did. So, hearing that you were the culprit and the reason my son… my son died! You could see how very pissed off I became. But I couldn’t get my hands on you. Even after that stunt, you were famous and in the limelight. You were always surrounded by friends and family and never anywhere where someone wasn’t watching you.”
“So, you decided to become Headmage, draw me into Mage Academy, a place where lots of mages despise me and kill me here and pin it on someone else.”
“Originally, it was going to be Charlie Stanford. She came into your life so easily, too easily and quickly that it was suspicious – but then I noticed your attraction to that half-breed Lawliet Clarintine. A half mage and half Guardian I wanted out of this Academy a very long time ago, but I didn’t have any reason or solid proof to legally boot him and announce him to be a Guardian. With this new plan, I am pinpointing Lawliet Clarintine. Who would believe him, a half-breed? The Organisation would ship him off to Dragon Island before he could breathe a word.”
“What about Spencer?”
“Spencer is weak. He doesn’t have that vengeful, anger and hates towards you like I do. He couldn’t help himself. Always interjecting, ruining my plans.”
“He stopped you that afternoon, right here, didn’t he?”
“Unfortunately,” Headmage muttered. “But it worked out in the end, now that I have you here alone.”
“What did you do to Spencer?”
“He’s taking a peaceful nap. He tried to prevent me from doing this, and I couldn’t take his begging and pleading anymore. He doesn’t understand what it is like to lose a son. Your precious boy that was going to become some
thing one day.”
“I am sorry for your loss.”
Headmage raised his hand, and his staff shimmered into focus, within his grasp. “I don’t need your sympathy; I need you dead!”
The orb at the end of his staff shined red, and lightning bolts struck out and towards me. I went to activated my shield when a flash of golden light slammed right before me, creating an explosion of dirt and snow that clumped in the air and rained down. I shielded my face, and through the onslaught of snow, warmth spread through, shimmering into focus.
Golden light dimmed, slowly shrinking into the form of a body. Wings then suddenly flourished, a metallic black, almost like they were sharpened knives overlapping one another. Black, silky, wavy hair shimmered down their creamy skinned back, down to their waist. Their ears were pointed at the tip, and they had a golden crown with feathers atop of their head. Golden armour shined along their bust, shoulders and arms. She wore a short-sleeved black dress underneath the armour that stopped above her knees, and her sandals had golden lace that went up her leg.
My Guardian than turned to me, and her eyes were pitched black. There was no sense of light inside of them. “You are the most foolish little girl I have ever met, Mistress.”
My breath hitched at the sight of my Guardian.
Valeria The Last.
My Guardian glared at me like she was glaring and scolding a little child that had done something terribly naughty. Her brows raised like she was expecting me to answer, or justify why I was this foolish little girl that she claimed me to be. But I had no answer to give her. I was breathless staring at this angelic creature that had fallen from the sky.
For five years, I was desperate to know what my Guardian looked like. If they were female or male. If they had any human aspects, or something like Hopper, a type of animal or mythical creature. Not once did I believe that my Guardian could be a type of angel, but still, she didn’t look like an angel that I have read about, so I was still out of the loop of what she really could be.
Emotionless (The Emotionless Book 1) Page 33