Runaway Mortal

by Kant, Komal

  Loire locked eyes with me, and I felt my heartbeat speed up. Maybe, now that he was forced to face me, something in his demeanor would acknowledge what had passed between us on the night of prom. If I was feeling this way, he had to be too.

  Loire’s gaze moved through me and stared at a spot somewhere to my right. Bitter disappointment shot through me. So he was going to pretend like there was nothing between us. Well, two could play at that game.

  “In Academia, we would have been made to do things that someone as undisciplined as Miss Lyrille would never be able to do.” The way he said my name, so cold and detached, made my stomach tighten with knots. I couldn’t stand this formality between us.

  A few of the students tittered at Loire’s snide remark, while the others looked between us in excitement as they anticipated a witty comeback from me. They all knew that Loire was my guard and they seemed to get a kick out of the hostility we had towards each other. If they wanted a show then that was what they would get.

  “Well,” I said, taking a step towards him, “it’s a wonder you graduated then. Did you sleep your way to high marks?”

  There were some snickers, but all I could focus on was Professor Martin’s face which was very slowly turning red.

  SRECON agents had one of the most respected professions in the supernatural world and I had just made fun of one. There was no way he was going to let me off easy for my comment.

  “Katerina Lyrille,” Professor Martin said, his face seeming to swell with each word, “You are out of line. I will not tolerate you speaking to-”

  I never got to hear the rest, because at that exact moment Loire stepped forward and placed a hand on Martin’s arm. “Sir, could I say something?”

  Startled, Martin nodded at Loire with wide eyes. “Yes, Loire, of course.”

  “As I was on the receiving end of Katerina’s rudeness, I would like to deal with her myself.” Loire turned back to me, his eyes still vacant. “Could we be excused from this lesson?”

  “Of course,” Professor Martin said with a nod, “You are welcome to return at any time to carry out your lesson.”

  “Thank you, Sir,” Loire said, bowing his head before grabbing me by the arm and leading me towards the exit. He stopped to shoulder my bag and then pushed open the door, pulling me outside.

  I wrenched myself from his grasp and turned to face him, my hands on my hips. “Where are you taking me?” I demanded.

  Without another word, he began walking away. Instead of heading back to the school, he was going in the opposite direction towards the lake and the woods.

  Intrigued by his spontaneity, and admiring his swagger as he walked away, I began following him. The winter chill seemed to be creeping under my skin, so I broke out into a jog to get some warmth back into my body and to catch up with him. He didn’t react to my presence beside him and focused straight ahead, his jaw set in a hard line, as he strode towards the woods.

  Not wanting to be caught staring, I took in my surroundings instead. The trees were changing from their oranges and browns and becoming dry and bare. Up ahead, the woods were a mixture of barren trees and dark evergreens.

  As we passed the lake, the first droplets of rain began to fall, and I shivered as they hit the exposed parts of my skin. I was wearing a long, sleeved shirt and I was cold, so I could imagine how cold Loire was in his tank top. A quick look at his bare arms elicited another shiver from me for completely different reasons.

  When we finally reached the edge of the woods, Loire took a few steps into the thicket of the trees and leaned against one. Following suit, I slumped against the tree across from him and glanced back the way we had come.

  From here, the back of the gym was visible and the school building looked like a castle in the near distance. The rain fell harder on the grass and the surface of the lake, but under the cover of the trees, it merely trickled through the leafy branches.

  I raised my head to look up into the canopy, and shut my eyes as tiny droplets fell on my face. When I opened them, Loire was watching me with deep concentration.

  “What?” I asked.

  “What you said was really childish.” His face gave no indication as to what was really running through his mind.

  “And what about what you said? You really thought I’d keep my mouth shut while you took a dig at me? Especially after...” My voice trailed off, but from the tightening of his jaw it was clear he knew that I was referring to the night of prom.

  “This is getting stupid,” he muttered. “I can’t keep doing this with you.”

  “Doing what?”

  “This.” Loire gestured between the both of us like it was supposed to explain everything.

  “That’s what you brought me here for? To tell me that I’m childish and make stupid hand movements?” I scoffed.

  Loire ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration, and his eyes glinted blue amongst the grey. “You are the most frustrating person I have ever met.”

  “And you’re the most arrogant, stuck-up person that I’ve ever-”

  Before I could finish my sentence, Loire pushed off the tree in front of me with incredible speed. He pressed the tip of his forehead against mine so that I was forced to look into the swirls of his blue-grey eyes.

  “Go on,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “Finish what you were going to say.”

  What he was asking me to do had suddenly become impossible. My entire body was frozen and I was acutely aware of how close he was to me. It would only take one step for me to be pressed against him. It would only take one second for me to reach out and touch his solid chest. All I had to do was move.

  Damn. Why couldn’t I make myself move?

  “It’s hard, isn’t it?” he whispered in my ear; the hairs on the back of my neck stood up in response. “It’s hard to say what’s really on your mind, isn’t it? You’re trying to get me to admit something that you can’t even admit yourself.”

  He took a step away from me, and my body thawed out, my ability to speak returning. “At least I don’t act like nothing happened.” There was spite in my voice that I was too exhausted to hide.

  Loire raised an eyebrow in question. “I have no idea what you mean.” We were back to square one again. He knew exactly what I meant. “Have you been dreaming about me a little too much lately?”

  “Between us,” I elaborated, feeling so frustrated that I wanted to kick him. “You go around and act like there’s nothing going on when it’s pretty obvious there is.”

  “Nothing happened between us.” He moved away from me, creating distance between us. “And nothing ever will.”

  His words stung, and I tried to keep bitter tears from my eyes. I focused on my breathing instead. I had to keep on breathing. I shouldn’t let this get to me so much. He was just a stupid guy. Why was this suddenly so important?

  “Why?” I managed to ask.

  “Because there’s nothing there.” His fists were balled up at his sides with tension.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  His eyes flashed angrily and he looked like he wanted to punch something. “Katerina, let me say this once, and once only. I do not have feelings for you. I am your guard and that’s all there is between us. I can’t have feelings for you.” His voice faltered a little.

  “Who are you trying to convince? You or me?” I asked, a smile creeping onto my lips as I sensed his uncertainty. “Because you really don’t sound too sure.”

  “I am sure,” he said, his mouth forming a tight line. “And you should be sure, too. Things like this can’t happen between a SRECON agent and his client. It’s irresponsible and-”

  This time I cut him off, taking a step towards him to fill the distance he’d created. I tilted my head to the side, trying very hard to ignore his drenched upper body and the droplets of water running down his arms. “If there’s nothing between us then answer me this. Why have you been avoiding me since prom?”

  The resolve in his demeanor crumbled a little an
d he hesitated, no doubt trying to come up with a believable response to my question. Finally, he gave a small shrug and looked away. “You’re reading too much into it.”

  I couldn’t help but scoff. “That’s the best you can come up with? You really couldn’t do better than that?”

  His nostrils flared in irritation and he jabbed me in the arm sharply. “Look, you don’t-” He stopped and looked down at where his hand touched my arm.

  A nervous sensation started in the pit of my stomach and a tingling spread through me from the point of contact Loire had made. He took a sharp intake of breath and wrapped his hand around my arm, pulling me towards him. Without any hesitation, I planted my hands on his chest and then moved them up and around his neck.

  I couldn’t believe this was happening. I couldn’t believe I wanted this to happen, but every part of my body wanted this. And I was finally admitting it. I wanted him to like me. Really like me.

  Loire lowered his head and rested it on my shoulder before nuzzling his nose against the side of my neck. His warm breath tickled my skin, and my stomach writhed in anticipation as I waited for him to kiss me.

  My eyes were half-closed, my breathing shallow, when Loire’s grip slackened and he let go of me. “Kat,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t.” The words seemed to pain him.

  Hurt tore through me at his rejection, and I shut my eyes, wanting to shut out his words too. I felt him move away from me and heard the crunch of his footsteps on the ground draw further away.

  When I opened my eyes, he was gone.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Several days passed—I became that girl who ate a lot of ice cream as she pined over the guy she couldn’t have. I didn’t break out of my mood until almost a week later when the message tone of my phone went off.

  I found something! I’m in the library.

  It was probably the best text message I’d ever received from Anna. I hurried to meet her, wondering what she’d managed to find in one of the many books she’d perused.

  I found Anna and Greggy tucked away in their usual back corner in the library, surrounded by a copious amount of books. I sure was glad that Anna liked to read because there was no way in hell I was getting anywhere near those things.

  “Hey, you two,” I said, sliding across from them at the table.

  Greggy nodded at me in response and went back to reading one of the books. Anna gave me a tired smile, but I could also see the excitement in her eyes. “So, we found something.”

  “We? You told Greggy?” I asked.

  Anna’s face flushed dark pink with guilt. “I’m sorry, Kat. I know I shouldn’t have, but Greggy is really good at this. We’ve gone through a lot of books together.”

  I didn’t bother getting mad about it. It wasn’t like Greggy was a stranger.

  “Okay, so what did you find?” I asked, cutting to the chase.

  Anna pushed an open book towards me and pointed to something halfway down the page. The writing was so tiny and faded that I had to squint to make out the words; I had no idea how Anna spent hours reading.

  A myth that has been debunked several times by Academia, tells of a triad with each of the races in it, where their abilities are enhanced through objects of old. It is alleged that when the triad is in possession of one object, it will lead them to another.

  “Is that all?” I asked. For some reason, I felt incredibly let down. I’d been expecting more when I’d come here. This was literally two sentences. Anna had been searching for almost two months and this was all she’d found. It didn’t help at all.

  “Don’t you see what it’s saying?” Anna asked, jabbing the page as though to make me see what she saw. “We thought there was no connection between the Legend of the Triad and a triad that SRECON is in, but clearly there is.”

  I stared at the page, still confused. “How?”

  “Think about The Legend of the Triad. It tells of three magical objects that each race can possess. Now, look at this.” Anna’s voice was rising with excitement now. “Academia is dismissing the objects as being fictitious, but we know that these objects do exist because of the prophecy. So, if you are in a triad that has an angel, a demon, and mortal in it, then the Triad objects amplify your abilities.”

  “Like Loire’s triad,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

  “Yes, exactly!” Anna exclaimed. “It is very unusual for an angel, a demon, and a mortal to work together so closely, so it would be impossible to know if a triad object would work like that. That’s probably why Academia dismissed it as a myth.”

  “And according to this, if you have one object it should lead you to the next one,” Greggy pointed out. “So, if you find the Mortal Blade then you will find either the Angel Glass or the Demon Stone.” It was the most he’d spoken to me since I’d come back.

  “And that will lead me to Melkane’s killer how?” I asked.

  They both looked at each other and shrugged.

  “I don’t know.” Anna chewed on her bottom lip. “But we will figure this out.”

  An hour later, I walked back to my room, my mind full of all the information that Anna had just told me. I felt like we were right on the edge of discovering something huge, but weren’t quite there yet.

  “Kat!” a large potted plant hissed.

  I stopped and stared at the plant, balling up my fists and taking on a defensive stance. Based on the day I’d had, losing my marbles seemed appropriate.

  “Yes?” I asked, glancing up and down the corridor to make sure no one saw me talking to a plant. Considering I’d been attacked by rocks, it seemed normal that I’d be conversing with plants.

  There was the sound of rustling, and hazel-green eyes peered out at me as Misha stuck her head around from behind the leaves. She surveyed the corridor with narrowed eyes before stepping out from behind the plant and approaching me.

  “And I thought I was the crazy one.” I reached out and pulled a leaf from her thick curls. “Why were you hiding behind a potted plant?”

  “There’s a party in Sander’s room again and I’m trying to avoid Anna,” she said in a low tone. “You game?”

  “Last time we went to Sander’s you know what happened.”

  “That’s why I’m making sure I don’t run into Anna,” Misha said. “So, you coming or not?”

  I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to figure out what to do. I was supposed to be staying out of trouble, and there was already a lot on my mind. I wanted to be alone and sort through my thoughts.

  “Not tonight, Mish,” I said with an apologetic smile. “There’s a lot we have to talk about.”

  “Ugh.” Misha groaned. “Let’s talk tomorrow then. I’ll see you later!”

  “Okay, have fun,” I said, as I watched her walk away.

  I didn’t go back to my room right away. Instead, I sat down on the wooden bench in the courtyard of Unity and just let my thoughts run wild. My head was a mess of questions and answers that I was having trouble trying to decipher.

  All of a sudden, I froze. Footsteps crunched on the ground behind me and I whirled around, my fists at the ready, cursing the fact that I still wasn’t allowed to use my wakizashi outside of class.

  There was no one there, but that didn’t fool me. I knew what I had heard. I dialed Anna and as soon as she answered, I practically yelled into the phone. “Help me! I’m at Unit-”

  Something whizzed past me, and my heart sank at the all too familiar sound. It was the same sound I’d heard the first time I’d been attacked. Whoever it was had come back to finish the job.

  Panic and dread swallowed me whole as I stepped backwards, trying to find the assailant and get an idea of where the next attack would come from.

  But before I could, I was assaulted from all sides. Different sized objects hit me all over my body as I covered my face, trying to muster the courage to run. This time I knew I hadn’t imagined it. I knew for sure that the objects were rocks; some sharp and jagged, and others blunt and thick
.

  The pain was excruciating—the rocks found their way to the bruised parts of my body, the skin already burning from where the rocks were peeling it off.

  One blow hit me hard on the back of the head and I fell on all fours onto the ground, my palms landing hard on the concrete as they broke my fall. The rocks beat down on my back, pelting down on my spine.

  I cried in agony. I wanted the pain to stop. I just wanted it to go away.

  “Kat!” a voice called.

  I thought I was imagining it. I thought that I was losing consciousness and an imaginary savior was calling out to me. But then it called out again.

  “Kat! Oh, my God!” the voice said again, more urgently. “How do we make it stop? Why won’t it stop?”

  Why was the voice asking questions? They had to stop it. It was hard to think straight. Why didn’t they make it stop?

  Two sets of hands clamped down on me, pushing me lower onto the ground until I was lying flat. I did what they wanted because I couldn’t think for myself. My head was turned to the side so I could see two familiar shapes to my left.

  “How do we make it stop?” I recognized Anna’s voice. She cried out in pain and I realized that she was being struck by the rocks, too.

  “I don’t know!” Misha yelled back. “Where’s Loire?”

  “I called him. He said he was coming!” Anna shrieked as another rock hit her. “Use your powers. Maybe you can stun them!”

  Misha fell silent; her expression grew serious and her hazel eyes seemed to blaze green as the air around us changed. There was a crackle, like lightning, and a shock of electricity erupted from Misha’s hands, connecting with the rocks mid-air. The air around us lit up like a fluorescent lamp, but the rocks didn’t stop—they only pelted down harder.

  “It won’t work!” Misha cried desperately. “Electric powers are weaker than earth. They-” A strange look came over her face and she grasped Anna’s arm frantically. “I just thought of something, but we have to get out of here! Now!”

  “How?” Anna sounded helpless. “We can’t leave with Kat like this!”