Love lines

by Nixon, Diana

  “Do you know what I can’t understand most?” entering the room, asked Amanda. “Why are you bound to my brother? Actually it was me who suffered so many years of all of your behavior, but in the end we don’t even have that… what did Evan call this - bond of friendship? So where is the justice?!” she exclaimed.

  I smiled. Amanda and I had, in reality, a lot more than any bond - we were best friends.

  “Fate must have decided it for us,” I said. “But it gave you something else instead. We all noticed how Evan was looking at you.”

  “I also noticed how he was looking at you and Christian,” replied my friend sadly. “And at you in particular.”

  “Come on, Amanda! Evan looks the same way at every more or less pretty girl,” I said.

  “Well, thank you, dear, now I can relax!” she said with offense and went to the bathroom.

  “Amanda! I didn’t mean that...”

  Damn it! Couldn’t I just watch my tongue?

  The next morning I woke up because I felt someone's gaze on me. Opening my eyes, I saw my friend sitting on the edge of my bed.

  “I was waiting for you to wake up,” she said.

  “What's wrong?” I asked, quickly sitting up in bed.

  “Everything’s fine. I just wanted to apologize for the last night,” hiding guiltily her eyes, she said.

  “Amanda, it’s me who must apologize...” I started, touching her hand.

  “Don’t interrupt me, Eileen,” she said, squeezing my palm. “I shouldn’t be jealous about you and Evan. I heard enough about his numerous girlfriends and I know that I don’t quite match the image of his ideal flame. No, of course, I am beautiful,” smiling, she said. “But still I’m not going to melt after a few signs of his attention!”

  “I can see that you like him, dear,” I hugged her shoulders. “Maybe even more,” I winked. “I saw you speechless yesterday when he left that kiss on your cheek,” jokingly, I said. “But really, I think that Evan is not such an asshole as everyone thinks he is. Yes, many girls like him, but, he didn’t have a serious relationship with any of them. This means that none of them attracted his attention long enough. Think about it, Amanda. Don’t make wrong conclusions. Give the poor guy a chance!” I said, smiling encouragingly.

  “By the way, I'm glad about you and Christian,” she said, smiling back. “You both deserve to be happy.”

  “Oh, and I am immensely pleased to get your blessing! - I laughed. “And now it's time to take a shower, otherwise we’ll be late for our classes.”

  “Don’t forget to tell me about everything! I'm busy all day, so I can’t go with you,” Amanda complained.

  “I promise to tell you all the details,” I assured her. I was glad we had clarified that misunderstanding about Evan and me. I like him, of course, but Amanda had been my best friend since childhood and I didn’t want to risk our friendship. Besides, Evan wasn’t the one capturing my heart.

  He was waiting for me at the entrance to the training building again. Christian was busy at his morning practice sessions, so we decided to start without him.

  “Today we’ll see a part of a water show. Water is a basic element of Feta. They use it not just to create different visual images and objects, but also as the basis of various spells. Two vessels with the same clear water can contain two completely different substances. In one you'll find the water of life, which is often used to treat different injuries, in the other one - something quite opposite, like poison, for example. So you should always be very careful when using something given by Feta. You must learn to recognize their auras to identify the threat, if there is any.”

  We came to one of the classrooms, very similar to the one where Christian trained yesterday. This one was smaller, but also made of glass.

  “Why are most of the classes made of glass?” I asked Evan.

  “It is believed that the natural daylight and the morning sun produce more energy to use your abilities. Therefore, all practical classes are held in the early morning hours, and some even at the sunrise. Afternoons are usually devoted to theoretical studies,” he explained.

  There were about ten students in the audience. They all stood in a circle, in the center of which there was a large crystal bowl full of water. Evan and I came closer to see better what was happening there.

  All of the students one by one approached the bowl and dip their hands into the water. Then everybody pulled wet hands in front of them, and began to create some figure with their eyes closed. Watching Christian work yesterday, it seemed to me that the fire was like coming out of his hands, but now the students were using a different method. The water in the bowl rose into the air with a million drops that scattered in the opposite directions. Each drop was transformed into an element of a future image. When all the drops were like little stars, a few people raised their hands above, as if they were pulling over a portion of them. As a result, the stars transformed into the words, and the words, in their turn - into the whole sentence.

  “Per aspera ad astra,” I read aloud.

  “Through the thorns to the stars,” translated from the Latin Evan.

  Once all the students out of the circle put their hands down, all the water stars became drops again and filled the crystal vessel. Everybody opened their eyes and clapped, enjoying their successful experiment.

  “You haven’t joined the rest of them today,” Evan smiled.

  “No. But I felt everything what they were doing,” I said calmly.

  “Wait, you mean that you can repeat what they just have showed?” he asked in disbelief.

  “I think so,” I said, and walked closer to the bowl with water. Dipping my hands, I tried to remember the feelings that were inside of me while I was watching the work of the others. Closing my eyes, I lifted my hands up and tried to imagine a pattern, which Christian drew yesterday. I felt the warm flow of energy spilled over my body. The feeling was familiar. It was like magic music playing inside and outside of me. It wrapped my mind and my soul, making me forget about everything around me.

  I was so focused on that feeling that a sudden silence in the audience made me open my eyes. I saw everyone there looking at me in confusion. Just as I thought, yesterday's picture was perfectly repeated today in the water. Its thin pale blue curls were glinting in the sunlight.

  “Incredible!” some of the students said admiringly.

  “How did you do that?” asked someone else.

  When I let my hands down and returned the water into the bowl, I saw Christian standing on the threshold. And, just like yesterday, he looked worried.

  “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore,” said Evan, “but just can’t keep quiet – that was fabulous! And if yesterday you were not alone there, now you’ve done this without any help.”

  “It was amazing,” finally coming to us, said Christian. “Just try next time not to spend so much energy on the intricate patterns. I felt your weakness, Eileen, and I didn’t like it,” he added seriously.

  “Christian’s right,” Evan agreed. “If we find out that you possess all of the remaining elements as well, you should be more careful. Using all of them is very dangerous.”

  Despite the fact that I knew what they were talking about, I was eager to try my abilities in the other elements. I was sure that if Christian was there, I wouldn’t fail. His presence gave me energy and helped to recover from the use of my powers.

  My thoughts were interrupted by Evan.

  “Here's Darcy Stewart,” he said. The girl with curly red hair and huge blue eyes came to us. “Darcy is the final year student of Feta and she can read the fortune very well. I need your help, dear,” using his trademark smile, said Evan.

  “We are not an easy case,” I admitted.

  “Let’s see,” replied Darcy.

  We sat at one of the tables in the empty audience. It seemed that Evan had already told her about Christian and me, because she immediately began to read our palms.

  “It's something very unusual
,” she said thoughtfully, “on the one hand, your lines are really the same, but some of them on Eileen’s palms, are lighter. I don’t understand how this can be possible. It turns out that there is something in Christian’s fate that he will have to go through alone. And since your fates are so much alike, I can’t even determine what kind of event it could be.”

  And then Darcy smiled.

  “But the brightest lines on your palms are lines of love. I haven’t seen anything like this before. But I think, there is no need to explain what it means, isn’t there?” she asked, still smiling. “I'm sorry, I can’t say more. That’s all I can see.”

  “You’ve said enough, Darcy. Thank you,” I said. “Can we ask for your help once again, if we need it?”

  “Of course, any time. But the thing is that just after the Festival, my training will be over, and I’ll have to go back to London. But I'll leave you my contact information so that you could find me if necessary.”

  “Thanks again,” said Christian.

  “Darcy!” I called remembering something else I wanted to ask her about. “As a possessor of the power of water, do you know anything about the lakes in these mountains?”

  “Depends on what you mean. There is nothing special in the water itself, but if you are interested in legends...”

  “I’ve heard about the legends,” said Christian.

  “Do you know, for example, that the daughter of Medellin Wizardy drowned in the Black Lake?”

  “The Black Lake - is that at the western border?” asked Christian.

  “Yes, it’s the one. In addition, they say that since then the spirit of Medellin has been protecting that lake,” Darcy said.

  I was shocked by her last words. Christian and Evan, both had noticed my reaction, but said nothing.

  “Is there anything else about the Black Lake?” Evan asked.

  “If you are so interested, why not go to Alexis? She keeps all the records, old books and other documents that have survived since the time of the foundation of Dever. Perhaps there you will find some more information. I have to be on my next lesson already, but if you need help, please come to ask.”

  Darcy was gone, and we stayed in the audience.

  “What do you think about this?” Evan asked.

  “I'm scared even to assume that everything that is happening to us may be connected somehow to the Wizardy family,” I said. “Sorry, Evan. No offense. But only the mentioning of the lake and Medellin herself makes me tremble.”

  “You said you had seen the face of the woman who was on the lake. Do you remember how she looked like?” he asked.

  “Of course I do. Why?”

  “We have the portraits of all the founding families in The Great Hall. We could go there and look at the portrait of Medellin, to know exactly whether it was her.”

  “How could I forget about it!” Christian exclaimed. “My father showed them to me when I first arrived to Dever. Let’s go there.”

  I’ve never been in the Great hall before.

  All the most important events in Dever, such as the annual Autumn Ball and the elections of the new head of the university took place there.

  The beauty and majesty of that place were simply breathtaking. The room was made in a globe shape, symbolizing the Earth. The chairs covered with the dark blue velvet were around the perimeter. The ceiling was decorated with golden ornaments and crystal chandeliers.

  In the center of the room, there was the emblem of Dever on the floor - a blue oval with three golden letters written diagonally: “N”, “P”, “M”, which meant nature, power and magic.

  Each department had its own coat of arms, images of each of which were also drawn in the center of the room around the arms of Dever. A fiery arrow was a symbol of Fairey, Feta’s symbol was the palm. Embry’s coat of arms was a combination of three flowers: edelweiss - a symbol of bravery and courage, holly - the symbol of protection and magnolia - a symbol of love for nature. A star was the symbol of Meridin, a spherical crystal belonged to Ventura, and a white chrysanthemum - as a symbol of truth belonged to Vero. A gold letter “M”, meaning the presence of magic, was a symbol of Wizardy.

  Portraits of the members of all the founding families occupied one of the walls. The first two belonged to the Italian families of the Ventura and the Vero. Behind them there was a portrait of a French family Meridin. Next to it - a portrait of the Spanish Embry.

  The last three portraits belonged to the British families of Fairey, Feta and Wizardy. Rosemary Feta seemed familiar to me - red hair, blue eyes like a deep sea... Well, of course! She reminded me of Darcy. Apparently, these features were the distinctive features of all the Fetas females, just as the emerald eyes of the Faireys. Jason and Gabrielle, however, were a very beautiful couple. I was staring at their portrait and didn’t notice Christian’s presence.

  “Is that her, Eileen?” he asked, apparently misunderstanding my silence, thinking that I was looking at the portrait of Medellin Wizardy.

  And so I came to the last one.

  There was a real beauty looking at me from the portrait. Her hair was long and black as a raven's wing, and she had the sky-blue eyes. It seemed that in the real world it was just impossible to find such a bright contrast. The woman evidently looked younger than the one I saw on the lake, but that's for sure was she.

  “Yes,” I said, “it was Medellin.” Judging by the worried expression on his face it seemed that Christian still hoped to hear a negative response. Evan stood beside him. He was also looking at the portrait of his distant relative.

  “I look definitely like her,” smiling, he said. I was still surprised at the ease with which Evan treated all the problems. Although, I thought it was an imaginary peace. He just could hide his emotions better than anyone of us.

  “If she wasn’t such a witch in all senses of the word, I would certainly be proud of my kinship with her,” he added. “So, now we know that the woman in the lake was really Medellin. What shall we do next?”

  “I think we should dig into those documents that Darcy mentioned. Let’s go to Alexis,” Christian said, heading for the exit.

  Chapter 15. Book archives (Christian)

  All the way to the administration building, I was watching Eileen. She seemed to be so immersed in her own thoughts, that didn’t notice anything around her. And those thoughts didn’t leave her even for a minute. Probably that was why she looked so tired. However it didn’t influence her beauty, but the lack of usual glitter in her eyes was a bad sign. My own appearance wasn’t any better.

  For several nights I couldn’t sleep. I thought that if I close my eyes something might happen to Eileen. Even while being in my room, I was thinking about her all the time, constantly checking her emotions and trying to send her my mental support. I couldn’t think of anything else. And now, when we managed to find at least some part of a huge puzzle, I didn’t want to leave her even for a second. I felt that we still had a lot to learn and go through, so every peaceful moment next to her seemed to be a big success.

  “No one is here,” said Evan, entering the reception room of Alexis’ office.

  “Maybe we should wait for someone to come?” I said. “Beatrice usually doesn’t leave her place for a long time.”

  “Okay. Maybe we’ll find something important in those records,” Eileen said.

  We sat on the couch in the waiting room.

  A few minutes later we heard the voice of Alexis. She was talking to someone on the phone.

  “Yes, I know, but the time hasn’t come yet. Someone might suspect. Don’t worry, Eric, she is under good supervision. Have a little patience, wait a bit,” she said, opening the door to the waiting room. Seeing us, she quickly said goodbye to her companion and turned off the phone. I thought for a second that a flash of fear appeared in her eyes. Perhaps we shouldn’t have witnessed her conversation, and now she was thinking about how much we were able to hear.

  “Glad to see you guys,” instantly becoming sweet and charming agai
n said Alexis. “How can I help you?”

  “We would like to ask permission to look at historical records, which were left since the time of the foundation of Dever,” said Evan.

  “I need some information to prepare for my history lesson,” I said. “So, I asked Eileen and Evan to help me.”

  “Of course,” Alexis nodded. “Beatrice should be back in a minute. Ask her to show you where to find the records.”

  “Thank you, Alexis,” I said.

  “Eileen, by the way, do you like your additional training with Evan?” she asked.

  “Sure,” awkwardly said Eileen. “Evan is an excellent teacher.”

  “It’s just one of my many talents,” my friend replied with a grin.

  “I heard that you have already shown the ability to control fire and water.”

  “Yeah, Eileen is one of a few possessors of the power of two elements,” Evan said, emphasizing the word “two”.

  “I'm happy for you Eileen. You should be proud of your talents. I hope that you’ll learn to control them properly,” still smiling, said Alexis. Was there a hidden meaning in her words?..

  “And here's Beatrice,” she added, looking behind me. “Could you show kids where our historical records are kept?”

  “I’d be glad to help,” Beatrice said. “Come with me.”

  We left the office and followed Beatrice to the opposite door of the waiting room.

  “I thought all of the records are kept in Alexis’ office,” said Evan.

  “No. Since their number was significantly higher than the very size of her office, it was decided to transfer all the records into another room,” explained Beatrice. “Here we are,” she said, opening the door. “Everything is stored in the alphabetical order, so find something that you need won’t be that difficult. If you have any questions, I will help you,” she said, leaving us alone among the endless shelves, with lots of books.

  “Where do we start?” Evan asked.

  “It’s a good question, I wish I knew what exactly we need to look for,” Eileen said.

  “Beatrice said that all books are in the alphabetical order. Maybe we should start with “W” and see what there is about Medellin?” I suggested.