Bitter Magic

by Raven Steele

  “Hi, Sophie,” I said and gave her my best smile.

  Sophie sat behind a desk dressed all in purple with her brown hair ratted high. She looked like a tulip. “Have a seat, Llona.”

  I gulped, sat down, and focused on my shoes.

  “I’m not sure what to say to you, Llona,” Sophie began. “I am so disappointed.”

  Keep focusing on the shoe, I told myself. I tried not to get angry, but already my insides were turning hot. Why was I getting so upset?

  “What were you thinking leaving the school at night?” Sophie snapped. “It’s dangerous out there. You could have been killed! Are you listening to me?”

  I raised my chin. “I’m listening.”

  She slammed her fist down on the desk. “What were you doing outside the walls in the middle of the night?”

  “Running.”

  “Then why not use the track?”

  “I’m a wild horse,” I said. “I like to run free, not be confined to a corral.”

  Despite it being a lame metaphor, I smiled, but Sophie’s stern expression didn’t crack. Jake would’ve liked it.

  “I don’t care,” she said. “You are not to leave these walls, do you understand?”

  “I thought you said I could come and go as I please.” My fingers rolled into my palms until my nails dug into my flesh. Stay calm, Llona.

  “In the daytime, sure. I guess as long as you keep up on your studies, but at nighttime you stay here.”

  I said nothing, only sucked in slow breaths through my nose.

  “I’m trying to protect you, Llona. Surely you are mature enough to see that.”

  “I know,” I said. So far she hadn’t said anything about the Vykens, which made me think Jackson hadn’t told her everything. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as I thought he was.

  She glanced away, her mouth turned down. “Are you happy at Lucent?”

  I shrugged. “I want to be.”

  “Is it difficult having Christian here?”

  “Christian was my Guardian, nothing more.”

  Sophie leaned forward. “I hope so. I’d hate to see anything bad happen to him because he’s distracted by you.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to him.” My voice cracked because right when I’d said the words, I remembered the dream of him holding his bloody stomach.

  She leaned back. “Good. Now please try to be happy. There is so much good in this school and in these girls.”

  “I never said there wasn’t.”

  “I know, it’s just,” she sighed, “there is so much of your mother’s spirit in you. She disobeyed the rules too, and look where that got her.”

  I jumped to my feet before I could stop myself. “What happened to my mother was not her fault.”

  Sophie motioned for me to sit down. “In a way it was, dear, and I mean that in the most sensitive way. I loved her too. Don’t forget that.”

  Anger and rage washed over me so completely, I grew dizzy. I couldn’t stand to hear her profess a love toward a sister she barely spoke to. Sophie hadn’t known my mother, not really.

  Before I did or said something I’d regret, I fled the room. It was the only thing keeping me from tearing my aunt apart.

  Chapter 10

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” May said.

  I could barely hear her over the sound of several pairs of feet pounding on asphalt. “I don’t think any normal person could. This is ridiculous!”

  A whistle blew signaling the time for us to move to the back. We parted ways, letting the girls behind us move forward, while we slowed up our run until we were behind the pack of running girls. The “pack” consisted of thirty girls running side by side, six rows deep. Every time Ms. Haddy blew the whistle, we were required to rotate forward.

  “Tell me why we do this again?” May asked. This was her third day in PE, and every day she asked this same question.

  In a mock, high-pitched voice I imitated Ms. Haddy: “We need to be fair and give everyone the opportunity to be first!”

  May laughed. A couple of girls running in front of us glanced back and glared.

  “I don’t know how much more I can stand,” I groaned.

  The sun was high in the sky, drenching us in its heat. I wiped the sweat from my brow. What I wouldn’t give for a little breeze. Maybe it was time I created my own.

  May shrugged. “What can you do about it?”

  I lowered my voice. “I have a theory, one I plan on testing today.”

  “Do tell, Sherlock.”

  “I think the other girls hate this as much as we do. And I think they want to run faster too but are afraid to go against what they’ve been taught.”

  May glanced around. “They look pretty content to me.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  “You’re on. Ten bucks says you can’t get any of them to do anything different.”

  The whistle blew again.

  “Deal.” Instead of moving up to the next row, I stepped outside the uniformed lines and picked up my pace.

  “Miss Reese?” I heard Ms. Haddy call.

  I kept running. I passed by Kiera, who eyed me suspiciously.

  Ms. Haddy yelled again. “Miss Reese! Get back in line!”

  When I reached the front, I called, “Bet none of you can beat me!”

  I didn’t wait for a response. I just ran and paced myself about fifty feet in front of them. Behind the girls, Ms. Haddy jogged after us, her normally white face growing redder and redder as she continued to call my name. Her scarlet cheeks stood out against her white shirt and short skirt. She looked like she was in excellent shape. I bet if she tried, she’d easily outrun me.

  After almost thirty-seconds of running by myself, I was ready to admit defeat to May, but then I heard footsteps fall out of sync with the others. I glanced over my shoulder to see a grinning Kiera gaining on me. I picked up my pace to keep in front of her. Soon there were more hurried footsteps until, finally, all of the girls were attempting to pass me.

  But I wouldn’t let them.

  I pushed them hard, to the point where I knew Light would fill their entirety. The girls ran fast, faster than a normal human, and with purpose, like horses returning home after a long journey. The air became electrically charged with power that hummed across my skin. I hoped they felt it too.

  Ms. Haddy, who had given up trying to catch us from behind, had changed directions and now ran toward us, blue eyes blazing. Her once perfectly long and straight blonde hair was now wildly in disarray.

  She froze in the middle of the track and held her hand out in a stopping gesture. As we drew closer, she closed her eyes tight as if she were afraid we might trample her to death.

  I stopped just in front of her and turned around. The girls also stopped, their faces filled with both wonder and awe at what had just occurred. We looked at each other in silence, our eyes passing from one to another. And in those brief seconds, we knew with every fiber of our beings the true power of Light.

  The moment was ruined when Ms. Haddy grabbed me roughly by the arm and dragged me away. “You are in so much trouble, Miss Reese!”

  Her voice was shrill, and I turned my head away to protect my ears. Back to May, I called, “You owe me!”

  “Sit there,” Ms. Haddy ordered.

  I obeyed.

  She sat across from me behind her desk, typing into a computer—pounding it was more like it. Her nostrils flared something awful.

  “Of all the most horrible, most wretched things,” she muttered. “Never have I seen anything so disgusting.”

  I ignored her quiet rant. Nothing she could say right now could bring me down. A major breakthrough had occurred, and for the first time I felt happy being at Lucent.

  Ms. Haddy continued to hammer the keyboard. “Your father will hear of your behavior!”

  “My father?”

  “Yes. I’m going to call him right now, and don’t you beg me not to.”

  Obviously she didn’t know who
I was. “Excuse me, Ms. Haddy, but my father is dead.”

  She stopped typing and looked up at me. “Then I’m calling your mother. Now where is your file?”

  I cleared my throat. “My mother’s dead too.”

  She stared at me again. I could see the conflict in her eyes as she tried to decide whether or not to show me mercy. She didn’t. “Then I am calling your—” her eyes darted across the computer’s screen—“uncle.”

  “He’s at work right now.”

  “Then we will interrupt him like you interrupted our class today. I feel sorry for you, Miss Reese.” She picked up the phone and dialed a number. “May I speak to a Mr. Jake Reese?”

  Silence.

  She kept her eyes on me, no doubt searching for any panic in my expression. I gave her nothing.

  “Hello, Mr. Reese. My name is Ms. Haddy. I’m a PE instructor at Lucent Academy and,” a brief pause, ”No, Llona is just fine. I’m calling to tell you of a most disturbing event that just took place.”

  As she proceeded to give a very dramatic account of what had happened, I tried to imagine Jake’s reaction. I would be surprised if he was even listening.

  “Of course you can speak with her. She’s right here.” Smirking, she handed me the telephone.

  I pressed the receiver to my ear. “Hi, Jake.”

  At first I couldn’t hear anything, and then all of a sudden he burst into laughter. I tried to keep a serious face, nodding my head every so often so Ms. Haddy would think I was getting an earful.

  “Jake,” I finally said, somewhat forcibly.

  Through what sounded like choked-on tears of laughter, he said, “That has got to be the funniest thing I have ever heard. I can’t wait to tell Heidi.”

  “Yes,” I said, keeping a straight face. His girlfriend would appreciate it just as much as he did. Those two were cut from the same cloth.

  He inhaled a big breath. “Good for you for running faster than everyone else. I’m proud of you!”

  “Is that all?”

  “Um, keep up the good work? Oh and call me later so we can talk more. I miss you, Tink.”

  My heart warmed at the mention of my nickname. He’d been calling me that ever since I was little and had an obsession with Tinkerbell. “Ditto. Tell Heidi hello.”

  “You got it.”

  I handed the phone back to Ms. Haddy.

  “Thank you, Mr. Reese. Llona has . . . hello? Hello? Are you there?” She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it. “He hung up.”

  I stifled a laugh.

  “No matter. I’m sure he gave you a good talking to.”

  I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “As for your punishment, for the next week during class you will copy the student manual. Is that clear?”

  “Double yes, ma’am.”

  “You must also apologize to the class for your disruptive behavior. And if you ever do something like that again, you will face a much more severe punishment.”

  I assured her that copying the manual was severe enough.

  After Ms. Haddy let me go, I headed to the dining room in search of May. I found her sitting with Kiera deep into a conversation. Neither of them noticed me until I pulled up a chair and sat down next to them.

  “Where’s my ten dollars?” I grinned and turned to Kiera. “Hey.”

  May pulled out her wallet and handed me two fives. “You earned it.”

  “What made you do it?” Kiera asked me.

  I took a bite from the sandwich in front of me. “I had to know I wasn’t the only one who thinks running like that is dumb. Besides, I knew they had it in them.”

  “You think you changed any of those girls?” she asked. She leaned forward, elbows on table.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look around. Those girls have already denied what they felt.”

  I glanced around. Sure enough many of the girls were staring in my direction. And they weren’t friendly looks either. I set my sandwich down. “But why? I know they felt what I did.”

  “Because then they would have to do something about it. Their lives are easy here. They’re protected, and they have all that they want or need. If they go against what is being taught, then they will lose it all, and that terrifies them.”

  “What makes you so different?” May asked Kiera.

  “Like you,” her gaze shifted to me, “I haven’t spent much time here. My parents are divorced, and although my mother believes in the Auran way of life, my father helped me see a different point of view. He visits me every Sunday.”

  “This school teaches some good, doesn’t it?” May asked.

  “Of course. It’s just that the teachers are so out of touch with the real world. They want us to be all the same. It drives me insane.” Kiera swept her long brown hair to one shoulder.

  “I know the feeling.” I stared down at the food in front of me. I had been so happy earlier when I thought something big had happened but reality set in. Did I really think I could change things from one sixty-second run? “What do we do now?”

  “Keep trying to change their minds. Look for opportunities for them to feel Light’s power.” She turned to May. “You’re the lucky one.”

  “Why’s that?” May finished up the last of her hamburger. “You’re a Fury. You don’t have to deal with all this stuff. Dr. Han pushes Furies hard.”

  “That’s not necessarily a good thing. The other day he was yelling at me because I couldn’t snap my fingers to create fire. The other kids were laughing hysterically.”

  “How far back does the history of Furies go?” I asked.

  May furrowed her brow. “Um, we haven’t gone too much into the history, but just flipping through a book I did see a section that talked about some war the Furies and Auras were in back in the 1700s.”

  Kiera looked surprised. “Really?”

  “How far back do your books go?” May asked.

  I crumbled up my napkin. “It should go back for thousands of years, but the books mostly show only the history after 1939.”

  I stood up from my chair, anger once again claiming me.

  “That’s weird,” May said, joining me.

  “Why do think that is?” Kiera asked.

  “I don’t know yet, but I think it was deliberate. You guys want to discuss it sometime? Maybe after the dance this weekend?”

  Kiera groaned and followed us out the door. “The dance! My mom was supposed to send me a dress, but I still haven’t gotten it.”

  “I have a bunch. I bet they’d fit you,” May suggested, and the two began making plans.

  I let them walk in front of me. They didn’t seem as concerned as I was about the time-line inconsistency. Maybe I was being paranoid. I sighed. At least there was the dance to take my mind off things.

  But then I remembered.

  At my last dance, my friend had been murdered.

  Chapter 11

  “Are you ready?” I heard May say just outside my door. Beyond her voice were many others, all filled with excitement for the dance.

  I stared at myself in the mirror. My long hair was down and straight as always. I wish I could’ve worn it up, as it would’ve made the flattering neckline of May’s red dress more noticeable, but I didn’t dare risk my bite marks being seen. I did, however, slide a gold headband just past my forehead. It would have to do.

  I opened the door. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “That dress looks amazing on you! Consider it yours.”

  “Thanks, but I’m sure it looks better on you.” I glanced down at her tea-length, black lacy dress. “Is that new?”

  “It is. My mom sent it to me just for this occasion.”

  “It’s beautiful. You’re going to break some hearts tonight.”

  May winked at me. “That’s the plan.”

  As we began to walk down the hall, she glanced at me sideways. “Are you going to be okay with Christian coming?”

  “It will be hard, but I have to keep my d
istance.” The moment I found out Guardians were going to be at the dance, I’d felt sick. Christian and I had shared a very special moment dancing, and I didn’t want to be reminded of how great we really were together.

  “You mean you can’t be together while you’re at Lucent, right?”

  I shrugged.

  May stopped me and placed her hand on my arm. “I know what Sophie said really scared you, but that doesn’t mean you two are going to share the same fate as your parents. You guys are different.”

  No, I’m different.

  May lifted her eyebrows, concern filling her gaze. “Why do you look so sad all of a sudden?”

  I schooled my expression and forced a smile. “It’s nothing. Come on. Let’s go rock some guys’ worlds.”

  Getting downstairs proved harder than I anticipated. The halls quickly became packed with girls, all laughing, fixing hair, and admiring dresses. From the conversations I was hearing, it had been almost a year since their last dance.

  “What do you know about these guys coming?” I asked, leaning into May to avoid a chatty group of girls clogging the entrance to the stairs.

  “They are from a super rich private school in New York City. The school’s known for spitting out high-profile lawyers, doctors, and politicians.”

  Across from us, elevator doors opened. I grabbed May’s arm and quickly darted into it before anyone else did.

  As the doors closed, May added, “I even heard some of the girls say they hope to find their future husbands from this group. Crazy, right?”

  I leaned against the elevator railing, nodding. “Do you think these guys know who we really are?”

  “According to Valerie, there’s a long-time rumor at their school of what we are, but none of them know whether or not to believe it.”

  I thought about this all the way to the bottom. When the doors opened, I stopped just outside the elevator and gasped. The lobby was packed with teenage boys, but some looked older, early twenties, maybe. They were all dressed in suits, clean shaven, with hair combed back. And by their smiles and hungry gazes, they were just as happy to be here as we were.