“Listen, Emmie, what happened to Celia is neither your fault nor your responsibility. We’re still just a bunch of teenagers. There’s only so much we can do.” Gray’s unexpected wisdom drained my frustration.
Ivy put an arm around me and pulled me in for a hug.
Gray opened his mouth to say more, but we arrived at the intersection. Ivy and I turned left to go to lunch while he went right. “See you two later,” he said glumly.
When we walked into the cafeteria, Neil caught my eye and gestured to the empty chairs across from him.
“Let’s go.” Ivy linked arms with me and pulled me forward.
Like usual, I received unfriendly stares from some of the girls sitting next to Neil, and, like usual, I pulled out my notes on the Binding and completely ignored them as I ate.
Ivy, on the other hand, had a friendly smile for everyone.
“Em? Em?” Neil snapped his fingers in front of my face.
How long had he been talking to me? “Yeah?”
“What’s going on in there?” He knocked on my forehead softly and grinned at me, his dimple teasing his cheek.
“Sorry, I was thinking about my next class. Henry’s prepared a lecture about Binding.” The chime sounded, and I hopped out of my seat. “See you around.” Notes in hand, I hurried out the door to Henry’s room.
Ivy and Neil were the last two at the table, heads together in an intense conversation. Hopefully Ivy wasn’t convincing him to talk to some girl again.
In the hallway, I slammed into someone and fell to the floor. “S-sorry.”
My notes fluttered to the floor, and Lukas picked them up. He scanned the page, lips curling into a sneer. “Do you really love researching things that much? You can’t possibly believe you actually have a chance of binding with someone?” He crumpled up the paper and tossed it over his shoulder.
I sucked in a breath. Don’t let him get to you. “At least if I don’t ever get to Bind, I’ll know it’s because of my magic not simply because I’ve got a terrible personality.”
His mouth fell open, but I brushed past him, not giving him a chance to respond. I scooped up my notes and smoothed it out against my stomach as I continued to Henry’s room.
“How’s this?” I slammed my page of notes on top of Henry’s desk. “I spent hours reading that book last night.”
“Hours?” He glanced at the page meaningfully and then back to me. “And you came out with one page?”
I scowled at him, “A lot of the chapters were stories about famous couples who were bound in the past, not actual helpful information about the Binding.”
“Fair enough.” Henry chuckled and scanned the list before pushing it back to me.
“Is it true you can Bind with anyone?”
Henry rubbed the nape of his neck. “We already talked about how some magics prefer others, but, yes, it’s true. A Magical could bind with any other Magical. That’s the reason so many go wrong.”
“What’s wrong with that? If they want to do the Binding and they’re in love, doesn’t that make their bond stronger?”
“It can,” he agreed. “But it can also be their ruin. Some people are so caught up in their feelings that they rush it. They think they’re in love when it’s only ‘like’ or ‘lust,’ and their one shot at Binding with their soulmate is gone. And then, later, they develop feelings for someone else, but it’s too late.” Henry’s voice echoed with an old sadness, but I was too hesitant to ask about the story I suspected was there.
“Whoa, soulmates?” I questioned. “That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
“You’re right. There aren’t true soulmates. But it’s undeniable that some couples’ Bindings are better than others. You have to rely on your head and your heart to find your best match. Both knowledge and instincts have an important role to play. Like any smart decision, it requires time and effort.” He changed tactics. “Close your eyes.”
“Okay.” Easy enough.
“Now think of a boy you’d like to Bind with.”
“What?” My eyes flew open. “Henry, come on.” My cheeks reddened. Thinking of someone I was interested in was easy. The problem was imagining him wanting to date me. There was no way anyone would consider dating me when it could never go anywhere.
“You want to understand, don’t you? You need to think of a boy. We’re going to pretend to see if he’s a good match for you.”
“Um, okay.” I sighed and closed my eyes. The hypothetical situation could be the closest I ever got to participating in an actual Binding.
“Do you have someone in mind?”
I paused. “Yes.” A pair of laughing blue eyes and an adorable dimple taunted me.
“How well do you know this boy?”
“How do I measure that?”
“Just give me an estimate. From one to ten, how well do you know this boy?”
Ten was on the tip of my tongue, but I hesitated. His admission that he could imagine Binding with someone flashed through my mind. “Eight.”
“How well do you trust this boy?”
“Nine.” Even with me, Neil could be so closed off. Like, what was the deal with his conversations with Ivy lately?
Henry’s voice brought me back to the exercise. “How well can you rely on him?”
“Ten.”
Despite not knowing everything, I never doubted Neil would always look out for me. I smiled, thinking about the evenings he spent tutoring me. The practice sessions to help me get better at sparring. The adventures from when we were kids.
“How committed are you to him?”
My eyes flew open again. “But we aren’t in a romantic relationship. How can I be committed to him?”
“Imagine you are dating him. Or think about your friendship. How committed would you be to him?”
I couldn’t imagine anyone else replacing him in my life. “Ten.”
“Finally, touch—that’s the Binding kiss,” Henry explained.
I remembered the butterflies that rushed through me at the brush of his fingers on mine. A dopey grin widened on my face, but I wiped it off before Henry noticed.
He didn’t comment on it. “Of course, all you need to do is kiss someone to initiate the Binding, but for the ideal Binding to occur, you should follow all of those steps in order. Your answers were pretty high on the scale, but they were a little backward.”
“What do you mean backward?” I frowned. It was like I had failed a pop quiz.
“I mean the best bonds are built from relationships based on knowing the other person.”
“I do know him! I said eight.”
“Yes, but you have to start with knowing him and then work your way down the list. You shouldn’t trust him more than you know him since trusting comes second. Likewise, you shouldn’t rely on him more than you trust him. You shouldn’t commit to him more than you rely on him. And you definitely shouldn’t touch. Like, at all,” he finished in a stern teacher voice.
I blushed a little and stared at my lap while my hands fiddled with the tasseled edge of my seat. I cleared my throat. “Okay, last question for now.” I wasn’t sure how much more information I could absorb at the moment, but I had to know. “What can you tell me about the strength of a couple’s bond? It sounds like the closer they are, the more they can do with their magic after, but what exactly does that mean?”
“I’ve heard plenty of stories: couples reading one another’s mind or even talking to each other in their minds, couples who can give their magic and energy to their spouse to help them heal, even if neither of them are Light Magicals. With a strong enough bond, the possibilities are limitless. I believe we’ve only touched the surface of what we’re capable of.”
Ivy burst into the room. “Sorry, Mr. Allen. I know there’s still class time left, but Emmie and I have to go. Neil and Gray are already on their way.”
“Go where?” I gathered my things and threw my bag over my shoulder. I waved at Henry as Ivy dragged me out the door.
/> “To the infirmary! Josh is finally awake and asking for us.”
Chapter 11
Nurse McKay stopped us at the door. “Josh shouldn’t see any visitors yet. He’s still too weak.”
Neil stepped up. “We’re his friends, he was asking for us. We promise not to upset him.”
She glanced at Neil, who gave off a serious teacher’s pet vibe, and then over to Gray, who walked around with the word ‘mischief’ all but scribbled on his forehead. “Fine,” she relented before glaring at Gray. “But one whiff of trouble, and I’m kicking you all out of here before you can say ‘Headmistress Elsie’.”
“That’s more than fair,” Neil agreed with a charming smile. He ushered the three of us past her. The rectangular room was formed entirely of shockingly white. It was almost depressing in its cleanliness. If I had to stay here, a bit of color to look at would be nice. We walked past the first two rows of empty beds with their crisp sheets, before arriving at the lone occupied bed.
“Josh,” I called softly, even though he was the only patient in the room.
“Hey.” In place of his uniform, he wore a tan, loose set of infirmary clothes that made his face look pale and eyes sunken and shallow. He looked terrible, but I mustered a smile for him.
“How do you feel?” Ivy asked.
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t say good, but I’m better than I was.”
“Have you been sleeping well?” Neil hovered around him, looking like a mother whale otter with her new baby.
The corners of Josh’s mouth turned down. “Not well, necessarily, but I have been sleeping. Although it’s been frustrating being stuck in bed with nothing to do.”
Gray patted his shoulder. “You’re lucky you missed class. The lectures have been exceptionally boring the last few days. In fact, I’d recommend keeping up your illness a few more days so you can skip the History test.”
Josh grinned faintly. “I’d take an exam over having no distractions.” He closed his eyes and shuddered. “I haven’t been able to feel Celia fully since that night.”
“What do you mean?” Gray asked.
“It’s like all of her emotions are muted again. If I strain to focus, I can just barely feel them, but—”
“But what?” Neil prompted gently.
Josh looked up with wide, guilty eyes. “But I’m scared to dig too deep,” he said in a small voice.
Whatever had happened to Celia, it had to have been terrible for it to have a shadow-effect that powerful on Josh.
Ivy walked over and perched on the edge of Josh’s bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. Yes.” He sighed. “I don’t know. It was really weird; like I was in Celia’s head and my own at the same time. I heard his voice in my head, er, her head.” He wiped his face with a trembling hand. “It was...excruciating.”
He was silent a while longer before he gulped and continued in a whisper. “I’ve never experienced anything that terrible before. I felt dirty—like someone had invaded her mind and took it over. Their magic was so filthy it made me sick, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it.” He stared at us, glassy-eyed and exhausted. “Even having it inside me vicariously was more than I could bear.”
I shuddered at the haunted look on his face. I couldn’t even imagine what Celia must be going through. “We’ve got to figure out where he’s taking these girls and do something to rescue them.”
Neil smiled at me, seemingly half in fondness and half in exasperation.
“Well, we can figure out something to help other people who can rescue them,” I amended.
“But Celia’s gone,” Josh whispered.
“What?” Ivy and I spoke at the same time.
Josh gulped. “It feels like the Celia I knew is gone. I know this sounds ridiculous but,” he glanced around the empty infirmary, “it felt like some sort of Magical mind control.”
We all stared at him in shock.
He looked embarrassed but determined. “I think he turned her into some sort of zombie or something, and that’s why her emotions felt dead to me.”
In the stillness, I could almost hear everyone’s thoughts. Magical zombies? It wasn’t a horror story. That was crazy. And yet…
Josh stared each of us down.
“After the other night, I could honestly believe anything,” Ivy admitted. “I’d never seen anything like that before, but it was definitely real.”
“Too real,” Gray muttered under his breath.
“So, you believe me?” Josh asked.
Neil patted his shoulder. “Until we have a reason not to believe, it makes as much sense as anything.”
“But why do that to someone?” I paced around the room. “And why Celia?”
Neil rubbed his chin. “Maybe we should be asking how he’s doing it.”
Gray’s hands clenched into fists. “What if he’s using Dark Magic?”
My eyes widened. “That’s illegal.”
Gray scoffed. “So is kidnapping people, but that didn’t stop him from taking Celia.”
Josh rubbed his forehead. “I don’t think it’s just Celia. She’s not the only one who’s been kidnapped.”
“You think this, whatever this is, happened to all of the kidnapped girls?” Neil ran a hand through his hair.
“What would someone do with a few zombie-like girls?” Gray asked.
“I’m not sure it’s only a few.” Josh bunched up the sheets and then smoothed them out with his hands. He shrugged when we all turned to look at him. “Just because we only know about a few disappearances doesn’t mean they’re the only ones. After this whole thing with Celia, I’ll never underestimate the man who took her again.”
“Okay, so assuming he’s building an...an army of zombie Magicals, what’s the point?” Ivy asked.
“Uh, hello. What couldn’t you do with an army of zombies? A mindless army that follows your every whim?” Gray’s eyes were bright with shock and interest.
Neil’s mouth fell open, and he cleared his throat. “That zombie army is made up of people’s loved ones.” Neil cast a pointed look at Josh.
“Right.” Gray turned to Josh, eyes downcast. “Sorry.”
What would one do with an army of zombies? The question bounced around in my head. We were missing something important. I gasped, and the others turned to me.
“What’s wrong?” Ivy’s forehead wrinkled in concern.
“I know what you would do with an army of zombies.” Even speaking about the idea was abhorrent. “Use them to attack a school.” Maybe speaking softly would make it less horrible. Or true.
Neil connected the dots first. “Andley Lancaster.”
“You saw how hesitant the teachers were to fight back against her. We all saw how much damage she did. And she was just one girl. Now, imagine an army of them.”
The next afternoon, Henry made plans for dueling club practices while I tried to focus on my reading about the reign of King Dominica and Queen Mila. I had a hard time getting the previous night’s dream out of my head: Celia blasting down my bedroom door with purple-tinted bursts of air and walking in with stilted steps, expressionless eyes, and a horrible, twisted smile.
Henry put down his pencil. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve hardly said a word since you arrived.”
I pointed to my almost-completed page. “I’m focusing.”
“And you keep wrapping your hair around your finger.” He pointed to my traitorous hand which was, indeed, hovering near the tips of my hair.
I tucked my hand under my leg. “Is that a crime?”
“No, it’s something you do when you’re stressed.” He crossed his arms. “So, out with it. What’s wrong?”
I stared at my homework, debating how much I wanted to discuss it. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what Josh said the last time I saw him.”
“What did he say?”
“Would you think I w
as crazy if I said we talked about someone magically creating an army of mindless zombies?” He looked surprised, but didn’t immediately shoot me down. It was both reassuring and worrisome. “Josh thinks Celia is under some kind of mind control.”
Henry scowled and laid both his hands on top of his desk and tapped his forefinger.
“What if it’s Dark Magic?” I whispered.
Henry shot me a sharp look.
I shook my head. It wasn’t like talking about it could taint me. “We think whatever happened to Andley Lancaster happened to Celia.”
Henry steepled his fingers. “Unfortunately, since Light and Dark Magic have only appeared in the last hundred years, there’s still much we don’t know. However, the teachers have been considering the same theory after what happened to Josh. It would explain a lot about Andley, but knowing that theory doesn’t help us much. Dark Magic isn’t something we can safely study, since the effects are so...serious.”
“How can we protect ourselves if we don’t study it?”
Henry frowned. “Since Andar was formed, Light Magicals have always been forbidden to use Dark Magic, and if anyone ever broke the law, the Koban were quickly called in.”
I tapped my pencil on my paper. “But what if the Koban hadn't caught this person? What should we do? Doesn’t it seem like a huge oversight that none of us are prepared to protect ourselves against something so dangerous?”
Henry grimly smiled. “I agree, but Dark Magicals are generally much stronger than other Magicals due to the advantages of their magic, so fighting isn’t encouraged. That’s why those situations are generally left up to the Koban.”
“Can you at least tell me what you know about Dark Magic?”
“Tell me—”
“What I already know. I know. I know.” I quickly reviewed my scant knowledge, most of it stuff I’d gleaned from Gray’s textbooks over the years. “Dark Magic is the opposite of Light Magic. It’s extra-dangerous because it can feed off of the energy and magic of the surroundings, instead of being limited to just the power of the Magical.”
“That’s a skill that takes practice. Not all Magicals can do that.”
Unleashed Magic (The Chronicles of Andar Book 1) Page 13