by E A Foley
“All clear!” Nimbus called back to the group slowly filing out of the golden arch.
Everyone picked up the pace. They knew maintaining the arches drained Iris, and she needed her strength to locate and then draw Jaden to them. Nimbus volunteered to create the barrier around them so Iris could concentrate on talking to Jaden. Cirrus then Rozlynd were back-ups. If something happened to all three of them, it would be everyone for themselves. Iris insisted on it. At least one of them needed to survive. She didn’t think it would come to that, but decided being overly prepared was a good idea.
“I’m the last one,” Violet told Iris as she stepped onto the light-tan sand of their island.
“Thanks.” Iris looked back at the silver arch. Esras waved at her. She waved back as the doors closed. The bridge receded. Iris backed onto the warm sands, watched the golden arch shut, and released all the power she held.
“Everyone ready?” she asked her awaiting friends.
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Kyxy said.
“Are you sure we can’t just take the guy prisoner and lock him away the way he did to you?” Rowen called. He seemed as pissed at Jaden as Roz was at Zarina.
“Not today. Today we are trying for a truce that allows for everyone’s safety while we’re in school. If we start by fighting, there’s no way in hell he’ll agree to any kind of truce.”
“Yeah. All right. You have a point there,” Rowen grumbled.
“I’m glad you agree with me. We good?” Iris scanned her friends’ faces. Several had tight jaws. Others scowls. They all indicated they were ready though. “Nimbus?” she asked.
Nimbus nodded and filled with power. Iris analyzed it. His strength was about fifteen percent lower than it had been on Gemina Terra. Iris wondered if all her friends were less powerful on Earth than its twin. She didn’t have time to analyze everyone at the moment. Nimbus surrounded the twelve of them in a barrier. Iris assured all traces of the archways had dissipated before checking Nimbus’s work. Once satisfied, she sent her mind in search of Jaden’s aura.
Iris started her search in Davis. She sent her focus to her room. Jaden had been there recently. His essence was easy to track. In one surge, her mind located him. Almost like a homing beacon. She pushed the thought away. Requested and formed her doorway to where he stalked about in his apartment.
Less than ten seconds later, a black rectangle spit an unknown magic user out of it. Fifteen more followed in quick succession before Jaden himself. Iris almost sighed in relief when Morrigan and Zarina didn’t arrive. She grimaced and let out a huff when the sixteen new arrivals waged war on the barrier Nimbus maintained.
Fireballs, blasts of air, piercing bullets, wind torrents, even lightning strikes rained down on them in quick succession. They did nothing more than bounce off the barrier Nimbus kept intact.
“You okay?” Iris asked.
“Just fine. Not even using half my strength to maintain this thing.”
“Excellent. Remember, if you get tired—”
“I’ll tell Cirrus before that point. Don’t worry. Focus on your own task, love.” He smiled at her.
A loud boom sounded across the island. The ground at their feet shook but nothing cracked Nimbus’s barrier. Silence descended. It was eerie after the noise of all the attacks breaking apart on the dome protecting them.
“Are you finished?” Iris demanded of Jaden. She walked to the edge of the barrier directly across from him.
Jaden curled his lip at her. If she didn’t know any better, she thought he growled at her.
“I am here to negotiate a truce so we can all attend classes without fear of being abducted.”
“And why would I agree to such a truce?”
“Because if you don’t, we’ll be forced to subdue you and your minions. Permanently.”
A manic laugh built in the pit of Jaden’s stomach. It bubbled up and out of his throat as he bent slightly forward and shook his head at the ground.
Iris waited patiently.
“You think you can subdue all of us?”
“Easily.”
“With all the power it’s taking you to maintain that protective dome?”
“Only one of us is using magic. And only at half-power. Would you like to see what I’m capable of in my present state? And mood?” Iris asked in a voice as smooth as a mountain lake in the early hours of morning.
Hard eyes and a narrowed brow told Iris she had his undivided attention.
“Good. We are here—in good faith—asking for a truce. Will you listen to our request?”
Jaden’s eyes compressed into slits. He ground his teeth. Clenched and unclenched his jaw. Iris wasn’t sure if he listened to orders or assessed her power. She didn’t know if he had that ability.
“Sir!” a minion called.
Jaden waved a hand. The man approached. He spoke in hushed tones. Whatever he said, anger visibly filled Jaden. Grew with each word his follower uttered. Iris didn’t know how the man kept reporting whatever information he held without taking a step back from the intensity of Jaden’s eyes. Iris had seen that look before and it had caused her to take an involuntary step back.
“Twice? Twice! More?” he demanded. “Impossible! Assess them again.”
“I already have, sir. Three times. Eve concurs.”
Jaden half-turned away from Iris. He drew his shoulders up then released them before rolling out his neck. When he faced her again, he’d composed himself. “It seems you’ve been busy. How long were you on Earth’s Twin?”
“The only thing I am willing to discuss with you is the truce we seek.”
“Fine. What do you propose?”
“Davis is a neutral zone. No one is to be attacked on either side.”
“You did not specify a time frame.”
“I propose indefinitely.”
Jaden responded with a quick snort of laughter.
Iris waited him out.
“What is the purpose of your desired truce?”
“I told you already. So we can all go to our classes without fear of being captured or killed.”
“Very well, then we won’t attack anyone while they’re in class.”
“No good. That doesn’t cover traveling to and from class, study time, meals . . . the list goes on. Until everyone has graduated,” Iris countered.
“That’s five quarters for the twins. During the day.”
“Some of us have night classes. During the school year.”
“During the quarter. From day one of classes through the last day of finals. But only in Davis. If anyone leaves Davis for any reason—a trip to the mall, a practice session, or anything in between—they are no longer bound by the terms of the truce.”
“Agreed. Beginning today through the end of winter quarter finals, then beginning again on the first day of spring quarter and ending on the last day of spring quarter finals and so on until Kyxy and Kylee graduate.”
“Agreed. If they live that long.”
His smile tried to send a shiver down Iris’s spine. She refused to let it.
Jaden held out a hand. “Shake on it?”
Iris filled with power. She looked at Nimbus. He raised an eyebrow at her but pulled the barrier back. As soon as Nimbus’s barrier fully receded, Iris placed her own barrier around Jaden and herself. She had no intention of trusting him. And was justified in her decision.
An arsenal of attacks broke on her barrier less than a second after it solidified. The heat of rage filled Iris. She sent a wall of air outwards from her barrier. It blasted every one of Jaden’s lackeys off their feet.
Iris closed the distance between herself and Jaden. She drew her katana from its hiding place without a second thought, unsheathed the sword, and placed its blade against Jaden’s neck in one smooth motion.
“I came to you for a truce and this is how you act? You are nothing but a worthless scumbag. Why shouldn’t I kill you right now and be done with it?”
Jaden didn’t react to the
exposed blade moments from taking his life. “Because if you do, Zarina and Morrigan will die. I believe you harbor some asinine notion that we—or perhaps just them—will come back to your side one day. Why else seal our doors in the Gallery rather than destroy them?”
Warmth flashed through the cold Iris maintained on her eyes. It coincided with quickly raised and lowered eyebrows.
“We know you so well, Iris. And you know me,” he grinned and gestured to the barrier she maintained around them. “I agree to your truce. We’ll all obey it. No one will be pursued in Davis during a quarter they’re attending school. Once a person is no longer in school though . . . they become fair game,” he added with a huge grin.
“Agreed,” Iris said once more. She sheathed her blade and tucked it back into her hiding place before sticking out her hand. This time, Jaden shook it.
“Pleasure speaking with you. Goodbye.”
Iris pulled her barrier back so it only protected her. She watched Jaden create his black rectangle and step through. The rest of his minions followed. The pain of the Earth filled her chest as it protested their magic. As Iris turned to rejoin her friends inside Nimbus’s barrier, she realized Jaden hadn’t used his Jaden’s god-awful door.
His black rectangle was a perfect replica of Brett’s. Mr. Moreno was definitively the Oculus Prismatic Jaden was now bound to. She wondered if his golden monstrosity of a door had been an attempt at a ruse or an in-between step as he fully bound himself to Mr. Moreno.
“We’re good. He agreed,” she told her waiting friends.
“You call that agreeing? Those assholes tried to double-cross you!” Rowen almost shouted.
“Whoever restrained Rowen, thank you,” Iris said in response.
“You’re welcome,” Gavin replied with a huge grin.
“Yes. I call it a success. Mostly. Let’s head to Davis where we’re less likely to be attacked. Jaden worked in a loophole I hadn’t thought about before. Sorry, Rowen, it affects you the most.”
“Of course it does. Fucker,” he called Jaden again.
Chapter 13
Iris opened her doorway into her living room. Everyone piled in before Nimbus released his barrier and stepped through. She got straight to the point.
“Jaden agreed that he and his cronies will not attack us while we’re in Davis and attending classes. That means most of us are good until we graduate at the end of the year. Kyxy and Kylee, you’ll be safe for classes next year too. The loophole—which affects Rowen now and most of us at the end of spring quarter—is that it only applies to those actually in school. If you live or are in Davis and not in school, you’re fair game. And the truce only applies to the city limits of Davis itself. Go anywhere outside of Davis and you’re fair game. We’ll have to be vigilant with this one.”
“Any suggestions on what I should do all day?” Rowen asked.
“We’ll be around most of the time,” Cirrus said.
“Yeah, but not all the time. I mean, should I be concerned the ass will come to my room in the middle of the night and try to capture me since I’m not in college?”
“I’ll just sleep over every night,” Rozlynd said.
“You could always register for a class through Sac City,” Thorin suggested.
“I doubt the ass would consider that part of the contract,” Rowen scoffed. “You said we’re more powerful than he is, right?” he asked Iris.
“Yes. And I don’t like where your line of thought is going.”
The left side of Rowen’s mouth twitched up. “What? I mean, if the guy is going to come after me anyway, I might as well lure him into a fight and show him he made the wrong choice. I could pay him back for some of the stuff he—”
“No.” Iris’s single word stopped Rowen from continuing. The room fell quiet. Iris swallowed back the bubbling emotions of fear, rage, and betrayal that tried to overwhelm her. The reactions around her and the searing of her eyes meant one thing, the emotions showed through on her face. Words failed her. She clenched her fists. Opened them. Bit her lower lip.
“Even if Jaden said they wouldn’t attack us, I think we should still travel in groups or pairs at the very least,” Violet said.
She drew all attention from Iris and got a discussion going. Iris’s breathing grew shallow. Memories she didn’t want to surface did. Someone placed a firm hand on her right shoulder. She wrenched her shoulder back. Tried to get free. Didn’t want to go back to the castle. The hand clung to her. Someone whispered in her ear.
“It’s just me. Take a breath. Deeper. Another. You’re safe. You’re strong. You’re surrounded by friends. He can’t get you here. We need you to focus.”
Iris followed Cirrus’s words. Another hand on her other shoulder grounded her further. She opened her eyes and found Thorin on her left side. She smiled weakly at Thorin, nodded at Cirrus, and pulled her focus back to the surrounding conversation. Nimbus’s eyes were locked on her. She shrugged at him, more than a little embarrassed.
“I think Vi is right,” Iris announced to the room at large. The debate surrounding her ceased. “You all saw what happened after Jaden said he’d agree to my terms. I wouldn’t put it past him to try something soon. Something else he knows is that we’re all much stronger than we used to be. Two of us will be able to take on at least five or six of them. More if all you have to do is throw up a full barrier.”
Several people nodded in agreement.
Iris glanced at her watch. “It’s eight-thirty. Does anyone have a nine am class this morning?”
“I do,” Sienna chimed up.
“Me too,” Thorin agreed.
“As do I,” Gavin added.
“Let’s start with getting you guys to class. I’ll give you a ride. Though, where is your class, Sienna? I’m banking your classes are closer to the Silo?” she asked Gavin and Thorin. They nodded.
“Mine’s closer to the MU.”
“I’ll take you,” Aerianna said. “My first thing today isn’t until eleven, so I have the time.”
“I’ll come with,” Violet agreed.
“Why don’t I create a shared calendar and we can all add our class and work schedules to it. Then we can sign up for shifts of sorts to meet each other at the end of class. Or walk to classes together—”
“And hang out with me when you’ve got nothing else going on?”
“Precisely,” Iris agreed with Rowen. “You guys can leave your stuff here for as long as you need.” Iris gestured at suitcases and bags everyone held. “And there’ll always be an open invitation for anyone who wants to come here, right, guys?” she verified with her roommates.
“Of course!” they all agreed at once.
“Our place too,” Cirrus added. His roommates nodded.
“Yeah, but Jaden lives there,” Kylee reminded everyone.
“I bet he moved out,” Gavin countered.
“If he didn’t, I’m tossing his stuff,” Rowen announced.
“I’m sure he moved in with Zarina.” Iris took a moment to search out Jaden’s aura. “In fact, he, Morrigan, and Zarina are all at her place right now. There are a few others too, but none of them even come close to any of us in abilities. Rowen, I can see that glint in your eyes. Do not do anything stupid like attack them. If you do, it will give them grounds to go back on our agreement that Davis is neutral ground and you’ll screw up all of our chances at graduating.”
Rowen flashed Iris a grin. “I wasn’t going to do anything. I swear.”
“Yeah. No one believes you, baby doll,” Rozlynd tugged on his ear in playfully. “I don’t have class until one today so you’re all mine.”
“Perfect. I’m free starting at one,” Thorin announced. “You can drop her off and pick me up at the same time.” He grinned broadly at his roommate.
“I know you guys have to run, but I think Thorin has a good idea. We should consider driving each other to class and doing vehicle swaps rather than waiting for and taking busses. Especially since we don’t know all of Jaden�
��s lackeys or what they look like. Might as well not give them a reason to spy on us,” Cirrus said.
“Good idea. Let’s get together for dinner tonight and we can hash out details. Here at five? I’d still like to make it to rehearsal tonight at seven.”
“Works for me.”
“Sure thing.”
“Yeah. I just hope the jerks don’t show up to rehearsal. None of you are in the same section as they are,” Sienna grumbled.
“We’ll figure it out. Ready?” Iris asked Thorin and Gavin.
“One second. Let me grab my stuff,” Gavin said and opened a doorway.
“Good point. Be right back,” Thorin agreed and did the same.
“I’ll come with you guys,” Cirrus told Iris.
Iris shrugged and headed down the hall to her room. As she opened her door to grab her purse, she realized the last place she had it was at the Hotel Mar.
“Here,” Aerianna said from the entrance to her room.
Iris turned around. Aerianna held her purse out to her.
“Cirrus and I returned to the hotel a few hours later and got all our stuff. Before you ask, we took several precautions including having Nimbus assure there were no magic users still there.”
“Thanks. I miss anything important?” she asked instead of reminding Aeri that all the magic users had concealed their abilities throughout the evening.
“No. I sent a few texts to your parents for you. They wanted to make sure you made it home safe. I told them you did. Hope that’s all right.”
Iris swallowed. She nodded. “Yes. Thank you. I tried really hard not to think about family while I was away. Thanks for keeping them from worrying. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem.”
“Iris?” Thorin called from down the hall.
“Coming,” she called back. “Sorry,” she added before leading her three friends out of her apartment.