I threw the blankets away from me, intent on just storming down the hall in the hopes of at least finding Wyn, when a loud grunt issued from the foot of the bed, followed by a large thump that shook the room. I looked toward the noise, terrified in my jittery state, that some explosion had gone off. Instead, I was treated to Ilyan yelling, or perhaps swearing, in Czech before he crawled on hands and knees into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
I stared at the door in bewilderment; I wasn’t sure whether I should laugh hysterically or not. I could hear him thump around in the bathroom, random foreign words filtering through the ivory-colored doors. I sat up, fully intent on making my escape when Ilyan’s thumping and yelling was joined by another voice, from someone running rapidly down the hall toward me. My heart sputtered as the door flung open and a very agitated, while still perfectly poised, Ovailia burst through the door.
“What in heaven’s name...” She froze at the sight of me, her eyes bugging out of her head as her jaw worked mechanically in place.
Seeing Ovailia there with such a terrifying look on her face sent the energy into overdrive as it buzzed and vibrated through me. I grabbed the covers and pulled them up to my chin, realizing too late that that was probably not the best action to take. Ovailia’s jaw only dropped more. I looked down; I was wearing one of Ilyan’s light colored, button-up shirts... great.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” I said, desperately hoping she would believe me and not question any more. After all, I had absolutely no idea what I would say.
The energy under my skin increased, and I felt a desperate need to get rid of it.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sleeping?”
She didn’t buy it, even if it was the truth. I could feel my cheeks turning a deep shade of crimson. Ovailia glared at me before rushing to the bathroom door without saying another word, her eyes never leaving my blush stained face.
The door to the bathroom slammed behind her and my head dropped into the white cotton blankets. Great. This was not the way I wanted to start my day. The yelling in the bathroom increased as Ovailia joined in the fray. I could make out the two voices distinctly, even though I couldn’t understand the words they were yelling at each other. I was secretly glad I didn’t understand Czech. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know what they were saying.
I jumped off the bed, heading toward Ryland’s sweater that lay across the foot. I grabbed it and went to tug off the yellow shirt that Ilyan had dressed me in. My blush deepened and melted into an embarrassed anger at the thought of what state I had been in after the bath and exactly what I was wearing now. I froze for only a moment before removing the shirt and tugging on one of Wyn’s band shirts that had been laid out next to Ryland’s sweater. I pulled the shirt and sweater on, keeping a close ear on the argument going on in the bathroom, just in case someone walked in on me. I glanced around for my pants, my heart dropping at finding nothing, not even the pajama pants I had worn last night. I guess I would have to stay in the plaid shorts I had been dressed in a bit longer.
I tugged the sweater down in hopes of hiding what I could only assume were Ilyan’s boxers. I pushed down my anger at being left to sleep here and thrown into such a situation; after all, how hard would it have been to just walk me down the hall?
I turned to make my escape just as Ovailia burst through the bathroom door, still yelling something angrily in Czech. She was followed close behind by Ilyan who was soaking wet with soap in his hair and a white towel wrapped haphazardly around his waist. The sight of him supercharged my agitation, bringing the level of buzzing on my skin to new heights. I looked back and forth from him to Ovailia, who yelled angrily. Ilyan rebutted something before Ovailia stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Ilyan exhaled angrily before turning to me.
“Pants are in ‘ze closet.” His accent was thick, and it took me a moment to register exactly what he had said. He waved his hand toward a door on the opposite end of the room before turning back to the bathroom. I immediately decided to forgo the pants and continue with my original plan to track down Wyn.
“Oh, and Joclyn,” his head poked out from behind the bathroom door, “don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right out…”
Normally, I would hightail my way out of here anyway, but I wasn’t sure disobeying a king would go over very well.
I fumed angrily at him before he closed the door to go back to his shower. I rubbed my arms abrasively in the hopes of lessening the buzzing. It seemed to be working, the motion also calming my heart rate. I breathed deeply as I made my way toward the closet, the buzzing now only a hum. My anger and frustration had never reacted this way, but then, I wasn’t sure I had ever been so emotionally charged before.
Ilyan’s closet was a strange place. It was as large as the bathroom, with clothes stacked floor to ceiling. There was little rhyme or reason to it, and it took me a bit to locate pants among the heaps of clothes. I dug through the stacks of designer jeans, grateful that none of these would fit me. I chose one of the only pairs that didn’t have the perfectly placed tears that Ilyan favored, pulling them on over the shorts.
Finding a belt in the mess was surprisingly more difficult than locating pants. I held the pants around me as I searched through drawers and boxes that were littered around the large space. I carefully lifted a sheet that covered one section of the wall and stopped short.
Behind the curtain was a perfectly organized wall of clothes. Each piece of clothing hung on its own hanger, covered with a clear protective bag. On its own, it would have been surprising, given the lack of organization among the rest of the clothes.
It wasn’t just that though; at first, I thought they were costumes. Each shirt was longer and would probably fall to the knee on an average-sized man. Given the lengths and the style, I would almost call them tunics. The light colored garments were cut from fabrics that I could automatically tell were expensive. I fought the urge to remove the bags and run my hands over the soft silks, touch the fine jewels and golden ropes that adorned each one.
I hungrily ran my eyes over the glittering stones, the deep colored embroidery. The sleeves on each piece were exaggerated, but I couldn’t tell by how much, given how loosely they hung on the hangers. Claudius, Macbeth, Lear, Romeo. I could see these on-stage in a million different plays, but they weren’t fake, like costumes; they were shockingly real.
“Pretty, aren’t they?” I jumped at Ilyan’s voice, my hand clutching my chest.
“You scared me!” I spun to him and balked. While now soap free, he was still only dressed in a towel. I inhaled sharply and stepped away, hoping he hadn’t noticed my reaction. His chest was strong and thick with sinewy muscles, but that wasn’t why I had reacted. The skin across his chest was crisscrossed with hundreds of raised scars, like he had been whipped.
I shook my head and looked away. My skin buzzed as my agitation returned, coming in full force again. I wasn’t as mad as I should have been to see him dressed in only a towel.
“Sorry, but you were looking at my private collection; you kind of deserved it,” he chuckled.
“Private collection?” I let the sheet fall over the clothes again. “Now, I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be. They are not a secret after all. I wear them to council.” He handed me a belt he had removed from under a pile of undershirts; I would have never found it.
“Council? You mean the meeting you had yesterday?”
“Yes, it is an official meeting, so I have to look the part.” He grinned, but it looked more like a grimace.
“You mean, like King?”
His face fell. He turned from me and grabbed a few items of clothing off the many disorganized piles.
“Not ‘like’, Joclyn, just King.” He gave me a sad, little smile and disappeared behind a partition I hadn’t noticed due to the large amount of clothes draped over it.
“So, do I need to call you ‘My Lord’ now?”
He flung the towel over th
e side to join the clothes already there, and I instantly looked down at my feet, turning my back to him in embarrassment and frustration.
“That depends on a few things.”
“Like what?” I asked as he came out from behind the partition, still pulling his shirt over his head.
“Well, for starters, when we are together like this.” I blushed, which only caused him to smile. “Just the two of us, I mean. Or with Wynifred and Talon, then, no. But around anyone else, then, yes.”
I nodded my head in understanding, knowing I would mess it up.
“Why not Wyn and Talon?”
“Wynifred was not raised with us, so she forgets from time to time. Most of the time, I let it slide as she and Talon have undergone the Zȇlství, but there are times when she probably needs to remember her place a bit more.”
“And Talon?”
“Talon and I grew up together; it would just be weird if he started calling me ‘My Lord’ and bowing all the time.”
“Were you not always king?”
“No, Silnỳ.” His answer was definite, and strangely final.
I shut my mouth, sure he didn’t want me to ask any more questions about his royal status.
“What does that mean?” I asked, hoping my change in subject was easy to follow.
“What?”
“Silnỳ?” The word sounded odd on my tongue.
He looked at me quietly, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“It means, ‘little one’.”
I only nodded at him. What an odd nickname.
“Now, what do you say to a little bit of training for that newly awakened kouzlo of yours?”
“Training?”
“Yes, that buzz in your fingertips? I think it’s dying to get out.”
I looked at my fingers; it seemed silly that I hadn’t realized exactly what it was before.
“It’s…” I stopped mid-sentence, the proper words not finding the right place.
“It’s your magic, Joclyn. Perfectly centered and dying for you to learn to control it.”
I looked up at him, stunned; the buzzing grew a bit at Ilyan’s sly half smile.
“I think it’s waited long enough, don’t you?” He left the closet quickly; I padded after him in bare feet, so that I could keep up. He nodded to the guard and kept moving. I finally caught up to him as he opened a large door that led outside.
“Now,” he announced, “the real fun begins. What do you say to growing a tree?”
“Growing a tree?” I asked, confused. “How is that going to help me save Ryland?” The buzzing grew as worry joined my confusion.
“It will help because then you will be able to use your magic,” he chuckled.
“Ummm… so how is that going to help me? Grow a tree and then go hide in it? That doesn’t help anyone. Well, unless you are a monkey and I’m not a monkey.”
“I have noticed that. But starting with something simple will help you understand your magic. It is better if you know even a little bit of what you are doing than nothing at all.” Ilyan was an endless calm, even if I was a bundle of snappy nerves.
“So when will I learn magic that can help me save Ryland?” The buzzing grew more with the fuel from my stress. I felt like I was going to explode. I breathed deeply, trying to gain control.
“We have eight days, Joclyn. I can’t possibly teach you everything in eight days. So we will be learning the basics.” His calm voice was a whisper compared to mine. “We will begin with plant growth so that you can gain control of your power. I will then teach you how to control wind, and if you are very lucky, we may touch on energy fields.”
“That’s it?” I couldn’t help but be disappointed.
“Yes, Silnỳ. I will teach you enough so you can go in, defend yourself if you must, and so you can run away when necessary.”
“Run away?” My heart plunged into my toes, my voice dropping in tone as my heart rate increased in timber. “I thought we were going to save him.”
“We are.” He left it at that and strolled away from me.
“Then why do I need to know how to run away?”
“Because you will not be strong enough to fight any of them. You are going with the sole purpose of getting Ryland out, and that task requires you to run away. You must know how to run away from Edmund, from Timothy, and maybe even from Ryland.”
I hated to admit that it made sense, so I just nodded and followed him to the courtyard Wyn had shown me last night. I didn’t know what to say; my anger had lessened, but now I felt somewhat worthless. All my life, Ryland had protected and supported me, and now it was my turn to protect him, and I couldn’t do it. Even with all the power that I now had buzzing under my skin, I couldn’t. There wasn’t enough time to learn how to do that.
The courtyard in the middle of the motel was the type of place I would gladly waste days in. The large branches of the tree that stood in the center of the space reached far over us, shading most of the courtyard throughout the day. What light seeped through the canopy speckled the stone paths and grassy patches with pools of warm sunlight and golden color.
I sat in one of the sun bathed pools of light, Ilyan by my side as he gently taught me to stretch and bend my magic. At first, all the pent-up energy came out in a rush and I covered us with dirt as a small area of ground exploded rather than causing the flower to grow, as I was supposed to do. I was elated; if it was really that easy, then perhaps I had a chance to actually help Ryland after all.
After the initial use however, getting the magic out was a different story altogether. I could still feel it tingle and move under my skin, but I could no longer get it to move beyond my veins and into my control. The buzzing grew and swirled around inside as my frustration twisted into anxiety. Perhaps this was all just a pointless exercise; my magic had been hidden too long. My magic simply didn’t know what to do and was just as stubborn as I was. It made me feel dead inside.
By the time the sun had cleared the roof of the old motel, Wyn and Talon had joined our group. They sat off to the side, a sleepy Wyn curled up against Talon. I was happy they were there, but grateful that they weren’t offering their own advice. I didn’t know how much more failure I could take anyway. After about three hours of trying, I slunk away and leaned against the giant tree that was shading us.
“I give up,” I moaned as Ilyan came over and joined me.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You give up and Ryland dies, simple as that.”
I flinched at his brutal honesty, his stern voice cutting through me.
“Are you still going to give up?”
“No.”
“Good. Now, I have an idea, but it involves breaking a rule. Are you okay with that?”
“What rule?” I wanted to agree, but I was apprehensive about what he was going ask.
“Just answer the question, Joclyn.”
“Let’s break the rule.” I was still apprehensive and Talon laughed at me from across the clearing.
I followed Ilyan back to the space where we had been working, he invited Wyn and Talon over to join us. Wyn bounded over with a wide smile on her face as she barreled into me with a bear hug before settling in next to Talon.
“All right,” Ilyan began, “I need you to take off the necklace.”
“What?” I clutched it in a desperate panic; I couldn’t take it off—I had promised Ryland.
“Don’t worry; you can put it on the second we are done.”
“Why? Why do I need to take it off in the first place? It’s just my magic, right? You said it probably just doesn’t know what to do.”
“While that may be the problem, I think it is something else. I think Edmund’s magic, that is repressing Ryland, is repressing you as well.”
I heard Wyn breathe behind me, but I could only stare.
“But I thought you told me... you told me Edmund couldn’t affect me.”
“I thought he couldn’t, but it looks like he might be able to. If that’s the case, we need t
o get you using your magic so we can train you to block Edmund’s barrier. Do you understand?”
I nodded solemnly before moving to take off the necklace. My stomach flipped around inside of me. Not only was Edmund hurting Ryland, but he was hindering me as well. I sincerely hoped Ilyan’s guess would be wrong. I handed the necklace to Ilyan, who wrapped it up in a cloth.
“Now,” Ilyan looked at me eagerly, “make the seed grow.”
I exhaled deeply, flexing my fingers as the buzzing shifted into the tips of them. I closed my eyes and focused. I could feel the energy; I could feel what it wanted to do. I placed my hand onto the ground and felt my magic move out of me and into the ground. Everything shifted under my fingers and a loud popping noise filled my ears. Talon and Ilyan yelled out in irritation while Wyn laughed hysterically.
My eyes popped open. Instead of being surrounded by large craters or flames, I sat in the middle of long grasses and prairie flowers up to my head. I hadn’t conjured all of these, had I?
I looked around in a panic before jumping to my feet. Ilyan, Talon and Wyn all sat in the same places they had a moment ago, except that now they were all covered in dirt and sticks. Wyn continued to laugh hysterically as Ilyan spat and wiped dirt out of his mouth and ears.
“Well, I don’t think we have to worry about how strong your magic is, just how to control it,” Ilyan said between dirt clumps.
Forty-Two
Joclyn
I was devastated that Ilyan was right, that Edmund’s restraints had moved through the necklace into me. I didn’t want to think about what Edmund could do to me if he knew about the necklace, about the connection. What worried me so much more was the thought that if Edmund’s magic was restricting me that much, what was he doing to Ryland? I couldn’t get the image of Ryland’s blood covered bedroom out of my mind; it added to my tortures.
Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery Page 29