by Casey Herzog
“You can’t be serious. I’ve never been a big believer in this place. I’ve learned to accept certain limitations when I know I’m stronger than most of them. William seemed the same way. You’re saying he betrayed us? What would make him do something like that?” Damian was asking the question that everyone had.
“He had a disease that would shorten his life severely. His life was being taken from him. He suffered in silence with his parents standing vigil. He was given a miracle, but it was nothing more than a ploy from the Elders. He worked against all of us, but he finally learned the hard way what it means to betray himself. He confessed his sin and he wants to atone. This may not be a favorable decision, but I sent him back in to work on our behalf. He is essentially a double agent. We feed him the information, and he makes sure the Elders get it. Make no mistake, the war is coming and what side you stand on will determine your fate.” I had them for a moment. Learning of William’s duplicitous actions made them realize anyone was susceptible to the Elders’ influence.
“What are we supposed to do?” The voices were in unison.
“Things are getting out of hand. We tried to shield ourselves from the reality. If we’re not careful, we will be down on our knees looking up at our masters. William was weak, but now he has shown his strength. There is no time like to present to strike. Things are in the works and you can trust in me, but I would rather you trust in yourselves to do the right thing. Your parents sent you here to protect you, but it was only ever temporary. It’s time for all of you to open up your eyes.”
The hunter would stand firm with the Guardians and Mr. Black. The Elders, in my opinion, were cowards who hid behind those who could do what they couldn’t. The Guardians were human with strong beliefs that magic was the cause of everything bad. The Elders made sure to recruit only those with an axe to grind. Each of the Guardians had lost somebody because of magic, and that fed the fuel to their hatred. Nobody really knew Mr. Black’s reason for joining, and the hunter was the biggest mystery of them all.
“You have heard what Gillian has said. Until the battle begins, you will be put through your paces in an advanced course to uncover your true potential. We handled you with kid gloves, and it’s time we take them off. You’ve seen only a small percentage of what you’re capable of. We will tap into the well of your magic and release it. It has always been our belief that magic needs to be given time to flourish. We don’t have the time to bring about what you have inside naturally.” Professor Bethesda stood behind me giving them hope of more strength than they could imagine.
I heard footsteps, and we all turned to see the ghastly image of William. His face had streaks of blood rolling down his cheeks. He looked barely able to walk, let alone lift a finger against the Elders. He looked like he was going to say something, but then he collapsed. He was our first line of defense. What I had been building with the students crumbled as I watched my secret weapon deteriorating in front of their eyes.
Chapter Twenty-One
I looked at him on the bed and I couldn’t believe they would treat him like this. I couldn’t help but wonder how being restrained could be translated into passion. I was burning on the inside to be near him, but I wasn’t sure if I was strong enough to witness his decline in health.
He was in bad shape and there was no way traditional medicine was going to give him a fighting chance. The amulet was lying on top of his bare chest, glowing different colors and hopefully healing some internal injuries, but we hadn’t heard a word from him. I had no idea how this had happened to him.
I felt responsible because sending him back in after he confessed to working against us was only asking for trouble. I sat vigil by his bed, watching for any signs of life and seeing nothing more than the rising and falling of his chest.
I already had enough to worry about with the Elders, Mr. Black, and the hunter to keep me occupied until the inevitable battle. Could I really handle more?
“I know you’re worried about him, but he is in a catatonic state. I can’t say for sure if the amulet is going to bring him around anytime soon. However, it would be nice to know what he knows before we attempt to make any moves against the Elders. Your idea is suicidal, but I can’t think of any other way. The asylum has been a subject of debate for quite some time within the magic community. It’s all underground talk, but those who went in and came back out were never the same again. Their families suffer needlessly to take care of them.” Professor Bethesda had decided in his infinite wisdom to have William chained to the bed in case this was some kind of ruse to catch us off guard.
“I’m trying to think of anything I could have done differently. I want him to wake up. I close my eyes and I see his face. All that has happened recently makes me believe everything I touch dies. I might have to consider letting him go for the sake of his own survival.” That empty feeling in my heart was because of my angst over his unwillingness to open up his eyes. I missed the look in his eyes and the way he made me feel like there was something between us.
“I don’t know if he deserves your kind of devotion. He obviously has demons and a lot to make up for. We can’t easily trust him after something like this. William is not going to skate through this without answering for his crimes. We will have a tribunal, but there’s no point in bringing him before his peers until we finish this ugly business between magic and the Elders.”
“Professor, I’m not enough foolish to think William doesn’t need to be punished in some way. I thought I did the right thing by sending him back in, but now it looks like it could’ve been the worst mistake of my life. I can only take it step by step. My hands are shaking with the very idea of never talking to him again. I wish a simple touch would be enough to wake him up. It’s possible he doesn’t even want to wake up and that’s why the amulet has to work so hard.” I was exhausted, completely mentally drained and had no idea how I was supposed to lead.
“We all make our own decisions and we live with the mistakes we make. It defines us and molds our character into the strength of steel. He has a strong will to survive. He has you standing by him every step of the way, but I’m afraid your attention is needed elsewhere. Some of the students have graduated past the novice stage, but there are still a couple of holdouts. Damien is one of them. You can imagine what he has been through has shaken his resolve. He needs somebody to talk to in his own language.”
I didn’t know what he expected me to do; Damien had always been a boy with his own opinions.
“I don’t really want to leave him, but there’s not much I can do. He’ll either survive or he won’t. The amulet can only do so much, and the rest has to come from him. I could hold his hand and hope that my strength is enough, but it’s wishful thinking. I’ll come with you, but you need to make sure somebody is with him all the time.” One of the other professors came through the door and she looked quite displeased. I could imagine her opinion of William was low. She probably thought it was a punishment of some sort to be saddled with the responsibility of watching over him like his guardian angel.
“Eve has begrudgingly agreed to step in your place. She will inform us if there are any changes. It would be nice to have her on the battlefield, but her magic is not as strong as the others. You and I both know Damian is a key component in victory. You and Damien are the strongest of them all, and we will follow you.”
Professor Bethesda didn’t know, but the magic eyes had become something of an addiction. I was intoxicated by the power moving through my limbs and it was corrupting my mind with thoughts of going a different path.
There was a part of me that believed the rhetoric spewing out of the mouth of the Elders. A bigger part wanted to smite them and step on them like the cockroaches they were. I stood up with a sense of lightheadedness. It was hard not to show the crack in the cement of my foundation.
“Damien is sequestered in his room. We didn’t ask him to step out of the way. He did it voluntarily. Some of the other students are not comfortable doing this w
ithout him. He has a beautiful mind with a real strength underneath. He feels violated and needs time to get back to fighting form. We don’t have the time to hold his hand.”
The professor’s words struck a chord. I could only hope Damien would be open to my intervention. I had no idea where my soul was, but it felt blackened and desolate like I was looking into a black hole.
“Even after all this time, my father still keeps me guessing. I didn’t know him in the way all of you have, but I think I would have enjoyed working alongside him.”
“I will go and talk to the students and see if I can’t make any headway. We need more time, but I see the look in your eyes. I know time is slipping by quickly and we need to act before they find us. They already know where we’re at, but they can’t get in…yet. I doubt they have been sitting on their hands, and the hunter will be a major roadblock in our path. He has no morals and cares nothing for the life of another.”
He wasn’t lying. The hunter felt no remorse when I faced him in his world.
I was living on emotion, strangled by the notion William was going to die and my plan was going to fail. I had to hold onto the hope William would wake up soon with information to give us a fighting chance.
“Make sure to tell them we can’t do this without them. They need to know how dire the situation really is. I don’t want to scare them, but they have to be willing to reach down deep to find what is necessary to stand on their own. I care about each and every one of them, but we are going to have casualties. I don’t know how many, but some are not going to make it out alive. I will do whatever I can to prevent that, but this is war.” I didn’t want to use the term, but it was the only one that made sense in the grand scheme of things.
“You have what it takes inside and you must hear the little voice screaming inside your head. It would be detrimental not to listen to it.” I found myself struggling to remain in control and not unravel.
“I’ll go and see Damien. He’s not going to like what I have to say.” I suspected it was going to take some tough love to reach him.
“I want you to be careful with Damien. His confidence has been shattered. I’ve never seen a case like his. Jasper really did a number on him.” I had seen that for myself and the professor wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. “He needs you to bolster his spirits and to give him that fire in the belly to do what’s right. This kid has the raw potential to be a great warlock. I don’t want him to think there is a dismal hope of survival. You need to be convincing and show those leadership qualities I know you have.” His trust in me was appreciated, but I wasn’t sure if I could live up to it.
“The only thing I can do is my best. I need him to listen to me very carefully. There can be no misunderstanding about the importance of the both of us taking a leadership role. I might just have a way to give him that fighting spirit. It’s a little unorthodox, but it just might work. I don’t want to go into details because I would hate to jinx the only possibility of getting him to stand up to the Elders.” The time was passing very quickly and anything short of swift justice was going to be met harshly with overwhelming force.
“You’re the only one who’s going to be able to set him free from his doubts. Don’t take that responsibility lightly. He has to see your strength shining through most of all. Pretend if you have to. Wake him from his nightmare.”
The professor walked away dejected as if what I had proposed was never going to work. I could only hope for a miracle and that miracle was Damien.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I knocked on his door lightly and heard no response from within. I didn’t want to be overbearing, but this was no time to put on the kid gloves. I took a deep breath and resolved myself to the possibility of having the door slammed in my face.
“Damien, you have to come out here right now where we can speak openly and candidly. They say you are broken, but I sure as hell don’t care. You are the strongest kid I’ve ever met in my life. Have you forgotten how easily you were able to leave this world for the one phased out of existence? Where is the man inside the boy’s body?” I was doing my best to shovel it on thick, but feared it wasn’t going to be enough.
“I want nothing to do with this plan of yours. The hunter will be there. What you don’t need is for me to freeze up in a moment of indecision. I won’t be responsible for failure. You’re better off without me.” He hadn’t opened up the door, but he had opened up the pathway of communication. It was a small step, but a crucial one in the face of something no kid should have to deal with.
“Damien, you’re being foolish; the hunter found you when you were vulnerable. This time, you’ll see him coming and you’ll know exactly what to do. I can help, but only if you allow me in. We have the power together. Don’t forget you’re not alone. All those with potential are going through a crash course. You don’t need to join them because you’ve already surpassed anything they can learn.” I never would forget how he had disappeared without a trace. He showed up in a voice and then in a world of the hunter’s making.
“I got lucky and I doubt it will happen again. I’m only going to slow you down, Gillian. I can’t live with somebody’s death on my conscience. Your father was wrong about me; I’m nothing but a disappointment. He said I was strong, but I know I’m weak. I’m scared to death of dying, but mostly of letting you down.”
Damien was the one shining beacon. I was willing to take him underneath my wing. “We were wrong about everything. Letting this Elder government reign supreme was our way of sticking our heads in the sand. The one person who gravitated to doing evil condemned all of us to a purgatory of our own making. We have ourselves to blame for letting the Elders walk all over us like a doormat. It’s a good thing we didn’t let magic be forgotten, and it’s up to us to lead the others. We need to give the Elders a revolution on a scale they can never imagine.” My hope was to rally him and then bring forth the others hiding in the darkness waiting to hear a voice ring out with pride for what they believed in.
“How is it that you can be so naïve about matters of magic? Do you really think it’s going to be easy to make the Elders back down? To abdicate their power will be like slicing their own throats. They will see us as nothing more than a nuisance. The hunter will bring a swift and decisive end to any revolution.”
I had one last ditch effort and it was something I didn’t want to mention until it was absolutely necessary. “You make some valid points, but you’re also a scared little bitch. You can’t possibly tell me bowing down to them is an idea you can live with. I thought I knew you, but maybe what I have seen was nothing more than a fake. I swear I don’t know who you are anymore. You need to stop acting like a little boy. It’s time to be a man. You might be young, but you have the intellect of an old soul burning through your veins.”
I heard nothing in response, and then there were footsteps approaching the door. He opened it, but I could tell there was still a lot of work to do to convince him to stand against something bigger than he was.
“What gives you the idea we’re going to be any more successful than Jasper. He was going to be the one to stand for all of us. It didn’t last very long and nobody came to his rescue when they took him away to the rehabilitation center.” Jasper had the right idea, but he had decided to go it alone, which was a colossal mistake.
“We have one thing Jasper didn’t…each other. We have an army ready to go to war, but they need generals like us to hold them to a higher standard. They are kids, but they are strong and resilient, which will help them overcome any obstacle. I’m not asking for myself. The fate of magic is in our hands. Do we have any right to back down from the challenge? I don’t think so, but I can’t answer that question for you. I’m depending on your strength so we can rise up in my father’s name. I am on my knees begging you to reconsider; this will only work with a consensus. The more people ready to fight the better chance others will see this as their own independence day.” I recognized the struggle going on
inside him and I was determined to break him of any misconceived notions about failure.
“I need to do something and I have been foolish to think I can hide from this. I’m ready to stand up. If the hunter makes me into his puppet, I’m going to have to ask you to make the hard decision. You know what I’m talking about, and this is non-negotiable. I won’t be responsible for killing anybody. I don’t think I could live with myself. I don’t want blood on my hands.” He was asking for the impossible, but I was willing to concede on this point.
“I don’t think it will come to that, but I promise you not to allow the hunter to use you against us. However, there must be a better way than killing you, but we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.” I had given him his concession, but I wasn’t sure I could live up to his expectations.
“Your word means more to me than you know. You have the same conviction your father had. I’m counting on you to do the right thing. There’s no reason for us to beat this to death. I still feel hesitant, but what great warrior has never felt fear on the battlefield? I’ve been very interested in the history of our people. I’ve done my research, and there have been leaders speaking from the heart about shaking in their boots.” I was glad he was finding inspiration from past leaders facing terrible odds.
“I don’t want you to ever sell yourself short. You’re the only girl with magic. You are breaking the glass ceiling. It’s possible what we do here today will give magic to all genders equally. This isn’t going to be easy, but our belief is strong. We have a warrior’s fierce determination. I know victory is at hand. Freezing in the throes of battle is not an option.”
The only thing missing was having William in the trenches with us. I would reluctantly trust him, but others may find his presence to be a distraction. “Damien, you have said the words to make me believe we are the answer to everyone’s prayers. We need to remember the hunter is a man used to using smoke and mirrors to intimidate. It’s been a hell of a ride and I’m honored to be with you until the end. I look forward to seeing you grow up and turn into a confident man with abilities that will bring new order to magic in the community.” I had this need to see my father’s vision become more than hiding in a phased existence. It was a good start, but the end was to go back to the beginning.