“Her name was Wendy?” Lyssa felt uncomfortable.
“Yeah. I went back to see her once after the time that I told her that I was choosing the Clutch over her.”
“What happened?”
“She had moved on. She was with somebody else and obviously in love. I think I’ve held onto her for so long because I,” he leaned back, looked down, and slowly back up, “I felt like I betrayed her. We weren’t just any young couple, she was my best friend. The last time I saw her she treated me like a stranger; like I didn’t know where she got that scar on her shoulder, as if I didn’t know her deepest dreams and secrets. I was a stranger to her.”
“So, you acted that way because you’re still stuck on your ex-girlfriend?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then what are you saying, Thomas?”
“I’m saying I didn’t want to be the guy to take you away and I didn’t want to let myself fall for a girl that I might never see again once all of this was over. That’s why I wanted to be reassigned. I knew what was happening between us and I wanted to stop it before it went too far.”
Lyssa stepped closer to him, “You shouldn’t have lied to me, Thomas.”
“I had to. Didn’t you listen to anything I just said? You drive me crazy, Lyssa. Like no other girl has driven me crazy before. I can’t stop thinking about you, wanting you. I don’t like being that guy. I like my independence. I don’t like feeling all knotted up inside. You’ve got me all wrapped up, girl. I feel like a fly caught in a web and I don’t like it.”
“You don’t like that you have feelings for me!?! Well fine, nobody asked you to care about me, least of all me! Walk away, Thomas. You’re free to go and not experience whatever feeling it is that has you all tied up in knots.”
Instead of moving away, Thomas was suddenly right in front of her. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, “Vulnerable, okay!?! That’s what I’m feeling! That’s what has me all tied up in knots! Like my heart is out there walking around and doing stupid things, and purposely putting herself in danger!” He looked down into her eyes and lifted his hand to stroke her cheek.
She marveled at the depths of emotion his eyes could express. They burned for her. Tears sprang to her own eyes as she began to realize what it all meant and her heart pounded as feelings and sensations she’d never felt before, suddenly raced through her body.
Two swift knocks on the door sent them both stiff and silent.
Thomas took a steadying breath and then walked to the door and pulled it open.
Shawn glanced around the room and cleared his throat uncomfortably, “Hey, Alec just got back and he wants to have a meeting with a few of us tonight. It’s about,” pausing, he glanced in Lyssa’s direction before continuing, “It’s about the ceremony for Shelby Ross tomorrow afternoon.”
Thomas nodded, “Okay.” He looked at Lyssa, “Somebody will come get you tomorrow morning to start your training.” He stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.
Lyssa stared at the closed door for a long time before finally moving to unzip the duffel bag. Inside she found a green uniform, a pair of combat boots and a loaded backpack. She put everything away calmly and then she grabbed her pillow and screamed her frustrations into it.
…Ava…
The next morning, Ava hurried to Nisca’s room.
Nisca was already dressed and finishing her braid. “What’s wrong?”
“I need your help,” Ava said.
“What is it?” Nisca asked.
“I need to know if you saw anything to do with the ring.” Ava said, “It’s missing. Someone took it from my room.”
Nisca’s brow furrowed, “I haven’t had any visions about it, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t. The visions can be really random.”
“What about that picture they found of me? Ann Marie’s signature was at the bottom. Somehow she knew we would find it yesterday. The date was at the bottom and I was wearing the same clothes in the picture that I had on yesterday and my hair was pinned exactly the same way as it was in the drawing.” Ava shook her head, “What do you think that means?”
“I heard people saying that it was a picture of you and they were talking about the date. I didn’t hear the part about Ann Marie.” She sat on the end of her bed and looked up at Ava, “Ann Marie had to be trying to tell you something. For some reason she had to know you would find that picture on that particular day. Maybe she was trying to tell you something about the ship, or what was on it. Maybe she was trying to warn you about the ring somehow. If her visions were like mine, she probably did not understand exactly what she was seeing. Maybe she only knew that you needed to know something.” She looked concerned, “The question is what? What was Ann Marie trying to tell you?”
Ava sighed, “Maybe she was trying to warn me that the ring would be stolen.”
“Or,” Nisca said quickly, “Or she was trying to warn you about what would happen after it was stolen! I just remembered something!” Nisca walked over to her notebook and flipped it open, “Let’s put what we know with my visions. Okay. So, I had a vision of someone dying, something to do with Alec. I did write one word on the bottom of the page that I didn’t tell you before…” she looked up slowly.
“What did you write?” Ava asked
Nisca picked the notebook up and turned it around.
Ava saw where she had written the date of her vision, the words sprawled down the small page and then, there at the bottom, circled twice, a word jumped out at her sending ice straight down her spine: “EXPOSURE!!”
Ava stood up, feeling her heart pound against her chest.
Nisca shook her head, “I knew that Blake had something to do with my seeing that word. Before the ring and before finding the picture though I thought that was a warning about Blake sneaking onto the island and taking pictures. I thought that us finding him stopped that. Maybe it’s not Blake who will be exposing us. Maybe it’s someone else.”
“Who, though?” Ava chewed the side of her lip, “How? I need to know how, Nisca, so I can stop it!”
“I don’t know! I can’t make myself have a vision!” Nisca exclaimed.
Ava sank down on the bed, “I’m supposed to give a speech in just a little while. I’m supposed to tell everyone that we have everything under control. I’m supposed to calm everyone down. I‘ll be lying to them.”
“No, you won’t.” Nisca sat down and put her hand on Ava’s shoulder. “You’ll be calming them down. We don’t know yet that something is definitely going to happen. We don’t know what any of this means yet.”
Ava let out a breath, “You’re right, I still feel funny about it though; giving the speech, I mean. I don’t have it down yet either. I haven’t had any time to practice it.”
“I’ll help you,” Nisca said. “Let’s go to your room and practice now.”
“Okay.” Ava agreed, knowing there was nothing else she could do right now.
…Lyssa…
Lyssa was starting to wonder what she had ever thought was so beautiful about Element Island. The sun that glistened over the ocean water was about to give her heat stroke and the waves rushing up the white sand were causing her legs to feel like they were on fire as her feet sank into the wet mess left behind. Ahead of her a group of Greens ran so hard that their boot prints left small craters in the damp sand and that wasn’t helping her out any either. Lyssa pushed herself to keep going. She was the last one and a small gap was beginning to separate her from the rest. Shawn ran ahead ordering them to move faster, to work harder, “Move it, Greens!” he shouted, easily running backwards in front of them.
Lyssa was working pretty darn hard as far as she was concerned and now wondered what the hell she had been thinking.
“Push it, Relic!” he shouted.
Lyssa clenched her jaw and pushed harder. Her feet felt as though someone had tied weights to them and she couldn’t lift them more than an inch from the sand no matter how hard she t
ried. She felt like she was breathing through a straw and that her heart was going to jump right out of her chest. Sweat poured down her back and threatened to blind her as it dripped steadily into her eyes.
They finally began to slow and make their way up the beach towards the castle. Lyssa caught up and slowed also, panting; sure that she couldn’t have taken one second more. Everyone followed Shawn in a two person wide line through the square.
“What…happens…now?” she breathlessly asked the boy in front of her.
He smiled back at her, “Class, with Ms. Mavin.”
“Class?” She hurried behind him, “Ms. Mavin?”
“She teaches us book magic and we work on using our Elements in tactical situations.”
“Oh.” Lyssa followed behind him as they turned onto a stone path that to what she now knew were the training grounds. The stone path seemed to go on and on. Lyssa worked to keep up.
A small cottage-style building appeared before them. The front door was propped open with a small stone. Everyone in front of her poured in and took seats in the chairs that faced the front. Lyssa sank down into a seat towards the back just as an older woman appeared suddenly in front of the class.
Lyssa jolted, “Where the hell did she come from?”
Ms. Mavin smiled and bowed dramatically. “Today class we are going to learn about cloaking spells and using them in situations that you are sure to encounter.”
She walked behind her desk and ran her hand over it. A very large book suddenly appeared. “This, for those of you who have never actually seen it, is the Evolt. This is the most magnificent book of spells ever created. This is a combination of all of the original family books of spells rolled into one.” She placed her hands on top of it, “Most recently, thanks to the queen, the ever-coveted Vangeretta family spell book has been added also.” She paused, looking at Lyssa for the first time, “Hello there…”
Lyssa sat very still looking around, “Um, hello.”
“I’m Ms. Mavin,” she said with a smile, “And your name? No one told me.”
“Lyssa.”
“Hmm…, Lyssa Relic,” she tilted her head down and lifted her brows. “I have heard a lot about you, Miss Relic.”
Lyssa nodded nervously, wishing that everyone here did not see her as the girl who had tried to expose them all. She’d hoped this would be a new start. It was obvious by some of the stares she was getting that her past had trailed right along behind her. It was also obvious that some of her fellow Greens had not realized who she was until this very moment. “Great,” she thought, wanting to scrunch down in her chair with shame. Instead she sat up taller and met each pair of eyes one at a time.
Ms. Mavin cleared her throat, “It will be wonderful to have another female join the ranks of the Clutch.” She smiled at Lyssa and then spoke to the class as she moved towards the door, “We shall take our studies outside today. I’ll want to see that at least some of you have gotten your homework done. Any self-respecting Clutch guard would not be caught dead without the ability to perform a path spell. That one can help you a lot when you’re on a mission.”
The class got up and followed her as she rambled her way outside.
Lyssa followed at the very back and was mesmerized by the path spell the others showed off. With a flip of their wrist and a whisper of words, plants scattered out of the way and trees stretched outward in front of them. It was one of the most amazing things she had ever seen.
By the time class ended, Lyssa felt a sense of excitement replace her shame. She made her way back towards the castle thinking about the possibilities. She would be taught by the best and the book magic was amazing. She couldn’t wait to go back to class tomorrow and learn something else; that was certainly a new feeling. Tonight no homework was assigned because of Shelby’s ceremony. Feeling a sudden shudder of pain for the loss of her Keeper, Lyssa entered the castle and made her way up the stairs to change for the ceremony.
After showering and dressing for the ceremony, Lyssa exited her room. When she reached the stairs she found Thomas waiting there. “Hey,” he said with a little smile.
Lyssa glanced away, remembering their last conversation. Even though everything had been laid out and she now knew that Thomas cared for her; she didn’t know what would happen now.
“What’s up?” she asked, as casually as she could manage.
“How was your first day?” He asked, meeting her question with one of his own.
“A little rough, but I’m still standing,” she replied.
Thomas nodded uncomfortably, “I came to tell you that you have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
“Yeah,” he looked around, “Zack. He’s waiting downstairs to talk to you before the ceremony. He’s in the ballroom.”
“Okay,” Lyssa said, “I’ll go down and see him.”
“Wait, Lyssa.” He lowered his voice, “All that stuff we talked about… If you…with him, or just...” He stopped, seeming to be having some trouble with his words, “Just, you don’t owe me anythin’, okay?”
Lyssa shook her head, “I’ve already told you how I feel about him. It’s not like that.” She had never seen Thomas stumble over his words this badly. “Will I get to see you today?” she asked.
“I have to go and do the ceremony. I’ll be tied up with that most of the day.”
“Okay,” Lyssa said and walked downstairs.
Standing outside the ballroom, she took a deep breath and then entered. She had never felt so awkward with Thomas. She had also never felt so cocky with him, honestly it felt good. Instead of being the blabbering screw-up, she was the one who knew what she wanted and she would leave it there on the table and let him decide what to do with it.
The ballroom was crowded. The room was filled with so many people, each of them different, all with the same shared secret. People like the man in the suit who is always careful to keep the magic hidden and is now suddenly free in a place that won’t judge him. People like the eccentric, constantly itching to show a little more of her beautifully unique soul, who can now break free and dance in the magic of being able to open her amazing heart to those who accept her for who she is.
Lyssa slipped through the throng, scanning the room for Zack. She twisted and turned as she moved and the hum of power in the air gave her steps an extra boost. She slipped between a group of women singing a soft song with a melody so beautiful it made your eyes water for absolutely no reason.
“Hey there,” Zack said from behind her.
She spun to look at him, “Hey!”
“Can we talk?” he asked, his blue eyes meeting hers.
“Outside,” she leaned closer as the volume of the room seemed to grow louder than before. “It’s too noisy in here.”
Zack nodded and followed her though the crowd.
Outside, Zack looked around, wide-eyed; distracted by the amazing beauty of the island.
“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” she asked.
He looked at her and nodded his head, “Yeah. Better than I imagined.”
“Guess what I got to do today?” she said excitedly, knowing Zack would be as excited as she was by it.
“What?”
“Book magic!” “Apparently it’s part of the training you get to learn early when you’re a Green. That’s what they call the Junior Clutch Guards. We are Greens until we pass a Trial. I wish you could be here with me, Zack.”
He looked at her silently and not a trace of excitement lit his eyes, “I wish you were back home, safe.”
“I’m safer here, Zack. You know that!” She shook her head, “Why are you here, anyway? Did you come just to make me feel bad?”
“No,” he stared hard at her. “I didn’t come for you. I came for Shelby. Thanks for telling me about her, by the way.”
Lyssa shook her head wordlessly.
“A guard found me and told me we were invited to her ceremony.”
“We?”
“Yeah, me and the others in our
Circle.”
Lyssa wanted to sink into the sand, “So, the others are here with you?”
“Yeah, you should meet them. They’re great,” he said.
“I’m sure they are,” she said defensively.
“What’s the reason, anyway?” Zack stepped closer to her, “What’s the reason you never wanted to meet them?”
“You’re the reason, Zack!” she shouted before she could stop herself.
“Me?”
“Yeah,” she looked at her feet. “It’s stupid.”
“Just explain it to me, Lys.”
She exhaled loudly and looked up, “I’ve always been worried that,” she stopped not sure how to explain how she felt. She gathered her thoughts, “For a long time, it was just me and you. We didn’t know the others. Shelby hadn’t found them yet. I could depend on you and I could share my secrets with you. It was like having a brother.” She noticed him wince, but continued. “When Shelby told us that she’d found another in our circle, you got all excited; like I wasn’t enough. I didn’t think I could be close to three other people the way we were. I thought it would ruin our friendship.” She reached up, touching her hair, “I told you it was stupid.”
“It is stupid,” Zack said. “You’re my best friend, Lys. Nobody, circle or not, could ever change that. Although lately all you have done is try to ruin our friendship; pushing me away all the time.”
“It’s just the opposite though, Zack.” She took a breath “All I have been trying to do is save our friendship.”
“Save it from what?” he asked.
“From us! I have been trying desperately to find a way to push you away without ruining our friendship!” she cried.
He looked quietly into her eyes for a moment, “I know, I’ve felt it too, and on some level I knew what you were trying to do. I do love you, Lyssa,” his voice broke, “but you’re probably right. It’s not a big ole’ smushy, ‘I’m gonna die if I can’t have you,’ kind of love. I’ve been thinking about it non-stop lately and I would rather have you as my best friend for life than have you as my girlfriend for a little while, because I probably would end up dying if I lost the best friend I ever had.”
Elementris, Exposure, Eruption Box set: The Vangeretta Curse Series Page 47