That bed could fit four of me! she thought, remembering the narrow one she had left just hours before. The wall across from the door where she stood had floor-to-ceiling windows hung with heavy drapes tied back revealing the darkness beyond. Against the wall where she stood was an ornate dressing table to her left, and next to it a decorative floor mirror. A large wardrobe stood in the corner. To her right, opposite the foot of the bed, was the fireplace, the comforting cracking of the fire the only sound. A door to its left revealed a large bathroom.
This is huge! So much bigger than my bedroom at home, she marveled.
She moved into the room, unzipping her hoodie. She grabbed her backpack from the bench at the end of the bed and opened it. Inside was a water bottle and a few books. She stashed the books in the drawer of the bedside table and hung the backpack and hoodie on a hook by the door. There was a pitcher of ice water and a glass on the bedside table, and suddenly aware of her thirst, she poured herself a full glass and gulped it down.
Then she went into the bathroom. It was sparkling-white and lit by a few candles. A deep claw-foot tub with an old-fashioned showerhead suspended above it dominated the room, along with a gleaming sink and toilet. An ornately framed mirror hung over the sink, and fluffy white rugs were strewn about over a white marble floor. A small unadorned window looked out at the night.
Danica sighed, suddenly conscious of her exhaustion. She washed her face and brushed her teeth with the toiletries provided, then she stripped out of her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the bathroom floor. Using the stool to crawl up into the bed, she burrowed underneath the downy quilts from which wafted the faint smell of lavender. As she relaxed, she remembered the second time she had met Phil and a smile played on her lips.
Three
The second meeting with Phil had been less than a week after the first one. She was at school and heading to her English class after lunch. She spent most of her lunch hours in the library where she could get lost in a book and not have to worry about anyone talking to her. It wasn’t that she was anti-social. Not exactly. She had convinced herself that she just wasn’t into what her peers were interested in. She had a couple friends, other “weirdoes” who lived on the fringe like she did. They disappeared at lunch, too, avoiding the lion’s den of the cafeteria.
When she walked into English class, Phil was leaning against the teacher’s desk at the front of the room, one ankle casually crossed over the other. She was dressed differently than from their first meeting. Instead of the all-black attire, she wore a classic dove-gray pencil skirt that hugged her slender frame. A pale green silk blouse peeked out from the tailored gray jacket. Her dark hair was piled high on her head, a few wisps escaping the combs, and the round black glasses gave her a teacherly look.
“Good morning everyone. I’m Ms. Smith, your substitute teacher. Mrs. Pembrose will be back tomorrow.”
Phil turned cool green eyes to her and said, “Sit down Danica, we’re about to begin.”
Blushing, Danica found her seat at the back of the room and busied herself digging in her pack for paper and pencil. She spent the hour taking notes with the rest of the class as Ms. Smith instructed them on the finer points of verb tense. When the bell rang announcing the end of class, Danica lingered until the others had left. She probed, trying to get into Phil’s mind to get a better sense of who this woman was. Most people were like open books to her, but Phil was mysterious and unforgettable in ways other than her physicality. She seemed to be busy sorting papers on the desk, but then she looked at Danica over her glasses.
“That won’t work with me, but I applaud your efforts. You’ve been able to read minds since you were a young age.”
Read minds. Is that what I do?
Phil walked around the desk and came closer to Danica. Her eyes glowed like faceted emeralds sending off light in ten directions.
“I’ve been watching you develop your gifts for over sixteen years.”
Danica caught her breath. No one knew anything about her “gifts” as Phil had called them. She had been careful to keep them hidden from others who, she had discovered early on, didn’t understand and teased and taunted her for being weird, strange, and a loner.
Phil chuckled. “Yes, I know all about you. In a couple of months you’ll be seventeen. It’s your Magic Day, and we’ll celebrate it together. Until then we’ll meet often.”
“My magic day? What’s so magical about seventeen?”
“It’s not the number that’s magic. Your seventeenth birthday just happens to be your Magic Day when your possibilities will be fully available to you.”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean by magic? What possibilities?”
“Magic is pretty simple, really. It allows people to experience the impossible. Or what they have always thought of as impossible.”
“Who are you? How do you know about me? Why should I believe anything you say?”
Phil laughed then, a trilling musical sound. “I love how you question everything. You’ve been like this since you started speaking. And you do believe everything I say.”
It was true. Danica did believe Phil. “But how …”
“I know you have a lot of questions, and you’ll have all the answers you need. For now, we will take one step at a time.”
Phil reached into her jacket pocket and drew out a small glass pyramid, each of the four sides about an inch high. She set it on her flat palm, and as Danica stared at it, a soft blue light pulsed from its center, gradually becoming brighter.
“Now that I have contacted you, you are in danger.” Phil’s eyes darkened to the green of the interior of a rain forest. “There are forces that are going to want your gifts. They can’t take them from you without your permission, but they can be extremely persuasive. Do you understand?”
“No!” Dani felt fear and confusion pushing against her. She tried to understand, but probing Phil’s mind was like beating her fists against a brick wall.
“Never mind, Danica.” She held the small pyramid between her thumb and index finger. The light pulsed from its center. “This talisman will help you when those who wish to harm you are near. As long as it glows like it is now, you are safe. If it changes, if it becomes dark and stormy and cold to the touch, you must take care. It will alert you to danger, but it can’t protect you.”
She held out the pyramid and after a moment, Danica took it gingerly. As soon as it was in her hand, she felt its warmth and a calmness flooded over her. She drew her eyes away from the glass to Phil. “What kind of danger? What forces? Who wants to harm me?”
“You have a heightened intuitive understanding, a penetrating mental vision. No one gets anything by you, and with your talent for seeing into people, reading what’s on their minds and influencing them, you can know what someone’s intentions are. Except for the Banes. They have no mental activity, no emotions, no initiative. They do what they are directed to do, so your powers won’t work with them.”
Danica looked alarmed. “Banes?”
“Yes, and the . . . Others. They’re the ones with powers. It’s important that you protect yourself from them. They can appear to be charming, loving, and attractive. Underneath, they’re pernicious. If you allow it, they will suck your powers from you and leave you empty and hollow. Like the Banes.”
For an instant Danica was able to see Phil’s mental image of a young woman, alone, in a large room. She sat in a rocking chair near an open window and rocked herself methodically, her eyes empty and unnoticing of the beautiful landscape outside. Although it was Phil’s image, Danica knew that if she were able to look inside this woman, there would be nothing there. She shivered. As quickly as Phil’s mind had opened to her, it snapped shut.
“You see?”
“Yes.”
Then Phil grabbed her briefcase and strode toward the door.
“Remember the glass,” and she was gone.
As she snuggled deeper into the blankets in her new room, Danica felt safe. The g
lass was in her backpack. It had continued to glow its soft blue light when she had gotten into the sedan earlier, and when she had met Liam. She might have wondered if it really worked if she hadn’t seen it act differently many times since Phil had given it to her. And yes, it didn’t protect her. But it did warn her.
The first time she had felt its power, she had been sitting on the steps in front of her house on a Saturday morning, three days after Phil had given her the talisman. She had it in her hands and she was watching it. It had been in her pocket when she had felt its energy change. Instead of the soft blue pulse, it was now a roiling gray stormy sea, icy to the touch. As she stared at it, a red ball rolled to her feet. She looked up and a freckled eight-year-old boy ran up to her and grabbed the ball. He smiled at her innocently.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” she said.
“It’s hot today.” Sweat dripped down his face despite the chilly weather.
She smiled. “Not really. You’ve just been playing hard.”
He looked at the house behind her. “Do you live here?” He tossed the ball from one grimy hand to the other.
The glass was cold in her hand. “Yes, I do. Do you need something?”
“May I have some water, please?” Danica stood up, about to invite him inside when something made her stop and scrutinize him more carefully. What had at first looked like a normal boy on closer inspection looked anything but normal. One eye was blue and the other was black. The black eye had a twitch and the eyebrow above it drooped. She backed away, almost tripping on the top step.
“No, I don’t think you can have any water. You need to go away.” She nudged his mind, but it was like looking into heavy fog. She backed up another step. His mismatched eyes became red glowing orbs. His lips twisted into a sneer, and his voice changed from a sweet child’s to a menacing snarl.
“Don’t fight it, Danica. You can’t win.” Then it became wheedling. “Come with me. I’ll take you to a place where all your dreams will come true.” He held out the red ball and it became a window into a beautiful world with multi-colored cottages covered with flowering vines, the interiors lit by warm fireplaces. She recognized the place she had always imagined when her life would become dull. A cobblestone street turned a corner, inviting her to follow it. Mesmerized, she felt herself being drawn in until the freezing glass burned her hand.
Danica tore her eyes away and ran to the door of her house. She threw it open and bolted inside, slamming and locking it after her. She was breathing heavily with her back to the door. After a few minutes, she felt the pyramid calming. When she looked out the window, the boy was gone, and the glass had returned to its serene blue glow.
Four
When the alarm chimed the next morning, Danica was disoriented. The small room that had been her bedroom for years was gone, and in its place was this large, richly furnished room, brightened by the light flooding in from the wall of windows. She had been able to sleep for a few hours. The clock on the bedside table said 6:30. Liam had said breakfast was at seven. She slid down from the high bed and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out. Below her, acres of gardens stretched out with a profusion of flowers blooming in every color. Meticulously maintained shrubs and trees were artfully arranged within grassy areas. A man wearing a wide-brimmed hat was bent over a bed of purple flowers pulling weeds. As if sensing her watching him, he turned and looked up at her and waved. She backed away from the window, aware of her state of undress.
How can it be summer? Last night it was winter.
She made her way to the bathroom where she took a hot shower. When she emerged, she wrapped herself in an oversized fluffy white towel and used another to dry her hair. She didn’t want to put on the clothes she had left in a rumpled pile the night before, and she hadn’t brought any others as per Phil’s instructions.
She walked to the wardrobe and opened the doors. There were pants, shorts, shirts, skirts, dresses and underclothes of every sort and color, all in her size. She chose jeans and a white t-shirt, her usual mode of dress. There was a soft note from the clock, and when she looked, she had five minutes to be ready for Liam and breakfast. She ran a comb through her hair and tied it back and found some strappy sandals at the bottom of the wardrobe. When she heard a soft knock, she opened her bedroom door. Liam was on the other side, standing in the hallway.
“Good morning, Danica.”
“Good morning.” She noticed he wasn’t wearing the formal tuxedo from their meeting earlier. Instead, he wore cargo shorts and a white linen button-down shirt.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. The bed’s comfortable.”
“Shall we go down to breakfast?”
He’s interesting. He doesn’t talk like a normal twelve-year-old.
At the bottom of the stairs, Liam led her to double doors, now opened, that revealed the dining room. Inside, china dishes and silverware gleamed from an oval rose-wood table set for six. Large windows were open to the colorful garden and an expanse of lush green lawn.
“Why don’t you sit here, Danica, and I’ll sit next to you.” Liam indicated two chairs on the left side of the table.
“You said Phil would be here. Are there others?” As if in answer to her question, three others and Phil filed into the room and sat in the vacant seats. Phil smiled at her.
“Welcome, Danica. How was last night? Any problems?”
“No, no problems.”
“I trust Liam took good care of you?”
“Yes.” Danica stared at Phil who looked different every time she saw her. This morning she wore a bright silk turquoise scarf holding back her hair, complimenting the green, red, and turquoise flowered tunic she wore over black knit pants. Her eyes, today the color of lily pad leaves, smiled at her.
“Let me introduce you to our Coverts,” she said, gesturing around the table.
Coverts? What are Coverts?
“Of course, you’ve met Liam. Across from you is Wilder.” Phil indicated a young adult who could have been male or female. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. Her red hair was short on the sides and longer on the top, creating a wave that curled over one eye. She smiled at Danica.
“I’m hoping you’ll like it here as much as we do, Danica. It’s good to meet you.”
Phil said, “Next to Wilder is Neith.”
“Hi,” Danica said to an attractive dark young woman, a few years younger than Wilder. Her generous mouth curved into a beautiful smile.
“Welcome,” she said, “I’ve been waiting to meet you,” and Danica could feel her warmth from across the table.
“Waiting to meet me?” Danica asked.
“We’ve been hearing about you for a long time.”
“And this is Jimmu,” Phil said, indicating a young Asian man sitting across from Phil at the foot of the table. He was exotically handsome, a couple years older than Danica. His dark almond-shaped eyes regarded her, and he inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment.
“Jimmu is the youngest Covert here—next to you of course.”
Danica startled and she looked at Liam who was obviously the youngest.
Liam laughed. “I’m actually the oldest. I’ve been with Phil a long time.”
“But . . .”
“Once you pass through the portal you stop aging,” Neith said.
Danica, speechless, struggled to take all of it in. A back door opened, and three young women carried in trays of food and set them on the table. A young man followed carrying two pitchers and placed them on a sideboard where he began filling glasses with orange juice and cranberry juice. Conversation halted while the trays of food were passed around the table. The young man offered the juices from a tray, and Phil took a glass of orange juice and smiled at him.
“This is Damien. He has also been here a long time. He didn’t work out as a Covert, but he’s been useful in other ways.” Danica took a glass of juice from Damien. She looked up at him and he smiled. He can’t be a day over twenty!
“Just what is a Covert?” Danica asked.
“Like you will be, Danica,” Wilder said.
“Possibly,” Jimmu said.
Neith noticed her confusion. “The four of us are Coverts,” she said, indicating herself and Jimmu, Liam and Wilder. “We all were accepted by The Magic. We have gifts or powers that have been developed to extraordinary capacities. Together with Phil, we use our powers for the greater good.”
Wilder added, “Phil tries her best to choose those who she believes will become Coverts, but often, for whatever reason, they aren’t accepted by The Magic. The problem then is they can never go back to their former lives.”
“Why not?” Danica took a tray of stewed tomatoes Liam passed to her and spooned some onto her plate.
Neith said, “Once you walk through the portal you are changed.”
“Changed? How?”
“In every way,” Jimmu said gruffly. His eyebrows drew down into a fierce expression. His well-muscled arms were folded over his chest.
Phil smiled gently at Jimmu. “It’s easiest to say that the physical composition of the cells that make up your body are altered. The aging process is halted. If The Magic accepts you, your capabilities increase. At first you will notice the physical and mental changes. Once you get comfortable with how these changes feel in your body, you won’t notice them any longer, but you may still be changing.”
“How long will the changes happen?”
“For a long time in some. Others hit a plateau early on,” Neith said.
“When you become a Covert, your powers may continue to increase, but for most, there is an end point,” Phil said.
“So, if The Magic accepts me, I become a Covert?”
“You are an acolyte in training until your first mission. After that, you officially become a Covert,” Wilder said.
The Acolyte: Magicians of the Beyond Page 2