Oculus

by S. E. Akers

  “Professor Grey requested that I not speak to you until I’d healed completely.”

  “He was that mad at me?”

  “Yes,” Silas replied and yielded a painfully confirming nod.

  My guilt had been secretly hoping that Tanner had been forced to whisk Silas off to some supernatural hospital where communication was prohibited. So hearing that just painted my funk with a fresh new coat of blue. The house steward then extended his hand towards the chaise lounge and pulled up his own chair.

  I plopped onto the cushions feeling as crestfallen as when I’d landed on the cold stone floor, dripping wet with water and anguish. I doubted I could face him, at least not anytime soon given his present mood. I could already picture the red-violet mushroom clouds billowing in his eyes. I knew they were there — sight unseen.

  Silas gave my leg a round of spirited taps. “You should have a smile stretching across your face the length of the Nile after banishing all those creatures yesterday. What happened to all that cocky?”

  “It’s buried in the rubble outside the chimera’s cell,” I said. “Or on the bottom of the ocean floor.” I slid into a deeper slump. “Take your pick.”

  “You know, a master and his Djinn share a special connection. I am totally in tune with his thoughts and emotions around the clock, regardless of how near or far he may be.”

  “Really? Then how is he feeling at this very second?” I pointed my finger at him directly. “And don’t candy-coat it.”

  “That I’m forbidden to reveal to anyone,” he grinned. “But I’m telling you this because I’m curious as to why you think he is so angry?”

  The strain ballooning my eyes made them feel the size of tennis balls. “Because I used his own phantom crystal against him, for starters,” I began. “Made him lower his wards . . . Defied his demands . . . Got you barbecued and almost destroyed your human form . . . Played rodeo with a chimera out in broad daylight and would’ve probably ended up getting killed by Lorelei if some sea creature hadn’t come along and taken her trident for me . . . And all that was right before I wasted a scarcer than scarce sapphire, which now leaves his prized-collection standing at only two.”

  Silas brushed me off with a frivolous wave. “Oh, besides all that,” he huffed and then positioned his frame perfectly in line with mine. “You took away his ability to keep you safe,” he said. “That’s what angered him most — knowing that if you stumbled, he couldn’t catch your fall. The details are trivial, even the sapphire. Emotions can tend to get the best of a person, particularly when they fear losing something.”

  “I’m sure it looks bad for a mentor to lose one of their protégés before they graduate . . . Namely ‘the Diamond Talisman’,” I added, air-quotes flying. “But it ultimately falls on me. And I still stand by what I said earlier. He can’t protect me all the time.” I took a deep breath. “Especially now that my time here is coming to an end.”

  A familiar female’s voice began buzzing my mental airwaves with a transmission. I looked at Silas. “Kamya’s calling me,” I said. This was the first time I’d heard from her since my weekend trip to Boston. So that considered along with yesterday’s events, I had to assume she’d heard “the news”.

  I rose to my feet and nodded to the door. “I’m going to head up to the totem room.”

  “I need to be tending to my morning duties myself,” he insisted. “But, before I go, I feel I should make you aware of one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Professor Grey’s wishes,” he said. “I’ve followed his orders to the letter this summer. I was told that anything you needed while you were here, I was to provide . . . no different if you were asking him for something. That’s why I took over your training while he was away, why I made that journal for you, and ultimately why I let you go back to The Darklands — because you needed it,” he revealed. “Sometimes it’s easier for someone else less attached to see what a person truly needs.” Silas took my hand and gave it a tender squeeze. “I don’t regret a single one of my decisions, no matter how upset Professor Grey may be, and neither should you.”

  “I thought you were helping me to get back in the Guardians’ good graces,” I said.

  “That was only part of the reason,” he admitted. “A much smaller part.”

  “So you lied,” I smiled.

  Silas tilted his head. “Pot, kettle, Ms. Wallace,” he submitted with a shrewd grin. “I artfully colored the truth a touch and erased the rest.”

  My stare fell to our entwined hands. “Thank you, Silas,” I whispered wholeheartedly.

  Silas turned as he was heading out the door. “Now if you don’t get the rest of that guilt scrubbed off your face by the time you sit down to the table, I’ll be bibbing you with a proustite collar instead of a napkin,” he winked.

  I kept my smiling eyes on him until the door came to a close. Little did he know it was going to take more than an emotion-purging stone to rid the guilt I felt about using Tanner’s stone against him. For starters, I would have to look into those same enraged eyes that had turned away from me yesterday…and right now I couldn’t stomach it.

  I rushed to the totem room to the tune of Kamya’s voice demanding I answer her, increasing both in speed and fervor.

  “I’m here!” I finally huffed to the impatient Ruby Talisman.

  “What took you so long?” Kamya questioned.

  “I was down in my room when you called,” I replied.

  “I hear the dungeon has run out of creatures. Do I need to send a few things your way so you can restock it?”

  “No, not yet,” I answered. “It’s under repair.”

  “Yes,” Kamya replied. “A little birdie informed me of that as well last night.”

  “What did the little birdie say, exactly?”

  “He wasn’t chirping,” she replied. “And I could tell by his tone how ruffled his feathers were.”

  “Did he tell you that I used his phantom crystal against him?”

  “YES,” Kamya grumbled. “Seven times. I finally told him to shut up about it. What’s done, is done.”

  “But he’s angry,” I acknowledged. “And he has every right to be.”

  “He’ll get over it. All the creatures are gone, and you’re alive . . . That’s all that matters. Have you spoken with him?”

  “No,” I replied. “I don’t think I can face him.”

  “Take the oculus with you and pretend he’s a beast,” Kamya teased.

  “Cute,” I said, without a shred of amusement. “If it’s all the same, I think I’ll just hide out here in the totem room all day.”

  “Wait — Are you calling me on my totem?” Kamya asked and then brusquely added, “Did something happen to your ruby during your bouts?”

  “No,” I insisted. “I didn’t use it.”

  “WHY NOT?” Kamya demanded.

  “I wanted to prove to Tanner that I didn’t need any powers but my own. That’s the only thing I’ve been using all summer. I figured I would impress him by being conservative. I didn’t even ask for the first Veil weapon.”

  “So you’re telling me that you haven’t used the ruby I gave you at all?” she questioned.

  “Yeah,” I reiterated. “He actually made me surrender it when I got here. I still haven’t officially cracked its seal.”

  “WHAT?” Kamya shrieked. “But, you called me on it a month ago . . . and you used it to heal someone’s burns.”

  “Yeah . . . He gave it back to me when I went to see Katie,” I said.

  “When he wasn’t around, correct?”

  “Correct,” I parroted.

  “I’m curious,” she hissed. “What specific reason did he give you for surrendering it in the first place?”

  The hearing-impaired could have picked up on the escalating bitchiness in her tone a freaking mile away. “Because it wasn’t one of my powers,” I said. “He wanted me to rely solely on them.”

  “And did he have you surrender any of your o
ther stones?” Kamya continued. “Like your amethyst?”

  I started to blindly answer “yes” when a nagging feeling persuaded me to delve into that particular memory. “Not really,” I said reflectively. “I kind of got mad and went ahead and slung them all in there. My moonstone too.”

  “Shiloh, I want you to listen to me and do precisely what I say, are we clear?”

  “Yes,” I muttered.

  “You are to lock that damn bracelet back on your wrist immediately and do not ever, EVER TAKE IT OFF!” she raged. “And the first time I catch you without it, I swear I will heat up as many diamonds as I can find and weld it to your flesh with the fire shooting from my ruby-red irises, UNDERSTOOD?”

  “Kamya, what’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong is that I can’t believe he would trick you out of wearing it!” the Ruby Talisman raged.

  “Trick me? What are you talking about?”

  “Surely you’ve read about all of my stone’s powers by now, haven’t you?”

  “Yes,” I said, quickly calling them all to mind. “But I still don’t see why you’re so mad . . . Just because I didn’t get to use it on the creatures?”

  “You could say that,” Kamya groused. “But I only wanted it used on one of them in particular . . . He’s about 6’-4”, dashingly handsome, and is slithering around the halls of that manor like a snake as we speak.”

  My mind inescapably flashed with thoughts of the sapphire and how I didn’t receive that particular stone’s “full” disclosure. Even what I’d read in its journal was still free of any enlightening “X-Ray Vision” declarations. And I’d made a point of rechecking that for myself when I was stirring down in the library yesterday afternoon.

  “What did he do?” I demanded.

  “He took away the thing you needed most throughout your training — THAT’S WHAT HE DID!” she grumbled. “I knew what you were in for this summer. Hell! I was once a naïve young girl too! I gave you that ruby to level your playing field. I even told you so on the card I enclosed.”

  “What did you mean by that?”

  “AND, I implored you to use it when I spoke to you several weeks ago!” she ranted.

  “Kamya! What all does a ruby do, besides the flames, and healing burns, and all the lust?”

  “It blocks your emotions.” Kamya exhaled a heated sigh. “Please, Shiloh . . . Please tell me he revealed that somewhere within the past nine weeks under his tutelage and that it was solely a stupid decision on your part not to use it?”

  “No,” I muttered. “He didn’t . . . Just like he never mentioned anything about the sapphire and its x-ray vision. I knew there had to be a reason why he would never let me touch one of them, besides how rare they are.” I let out a grunt. “But he took them out on more than one occasion — Trust me!”

  Kamya exploded into a stream of chuckles. “Forgive me,” she quickly apologized. “But I find that one rather amusing.”

  I was so grossly taken aback I could barely think straight. That was the one thing I would have given anything to have. Anything… It had been hard enough coping with his confusing behavior and unreturned feelings, but knowing I could have gone the entire summer without the embarrassment of him really knowing how strong my emotions ran for him made me feel so manipulated and exposed.

  I felt a few angry tears welling in my eyes. “Why would he do that?” I asked, fighting off a tremble.

  “The sapphire?” Kamya giggled.

  “No!” I snapped. “The ruby!”

  “I have my suspicions,” Kamya hummed, “but I think you need to get your answer directly from him.”

  Just thinking about all those little pitter-pats my heart had thumped out all summer long that could have gone undetected were enough to make me sick.

  Kamya roared out another huff. “Well, when I let him know—”

  “Don’t you dare say a word!” I interrupted. “I want to handle it myself.”

  “Very well,” she agreed. “I’ll take the earth splitting open as a sign that you’ve said your piece.”

  “If the sky doesn’t crack first,” I grumbled. “Thank you for the revealing call, Kamya.”

  “It was my pleasure,” she laughed. “I’m available around the clock to give anyone’s pot a good stir.” The Ruby Talisman cleared her throat abruptly. “But don’t think for one second that I won’t eventually have my own words with Tanner over this. I gave you that ruby as a physical defense as well. I find it quite peeving that you weren’t granted the opportunity to play with it at all. I charged that one extra-special just for you and I’ve never spelled one stronger!” she pouted. “However, when you do get the chance to break it in properly, I think you’ll be very impressed by the amount of punch it packs.”

  “Thank you, Kamya. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you called,” I huffed.

  “Namaste, Shiloh . . . And please, whatever you do — Make mama proud.”

  I backed away from the ruby totem as our connection faded. Every step had my heart beating harder and faster. I couldn’t tell how fast my pulse was racing from the way my hands were trembling. But I knew if I didn’t calm down soon, I was headed for a serious supernova meltdown.

  My brain churned like a whirlwind with thoughts of what I should do. Before I was too scared to face him and now I couldn’t stand to look his way for the life of me, not feeling this foolishly deceived.

  “Silas!” I hollered mentally. I turned to find him standing a few steps behind me. My muscles were so tightly locked I didn’t even flinch.

  “You bellowed, Ms. Wallace?”

  “I DID,” I replied. “Would you kindly bring my ruby cuff and my moonstone to my room and then pull my Charger around to the front.” I cocked my finger sternly. “And I don’t want you breathing a word about this to Professor Grey.”

  “I take it your conversation with Ms. Kamanda was very enlightening,” he remarked.

  “Very,” I grumbled. I couldn’t be mad at him. I’m sure he was ordered not to say squat about it.

  Silas arched his brow. “And what about your amethyst?”

  “Leave it in the box,” I replied just as sharp and embittered as my stare.

  “Your wish is my command,” he sang and then disappeared out the door.

  The items I requested were lying on my nightstand when I got back to my bedroom. I yanked off Tanner’s phantom crystal and laid it on the table first. Then I slid my moonstone ring on my finger, slapped my little red ruby wingman on my wrist, and even locked my new peridot around my ankle feeling rather empowered.

  I grabbed the phone and called Katie. Of course I got her voicemail—AGAIN—though it was kind of early. I left my BFF a stormy message, letting her know that I was heading her way and why. Then I snatched up one of my suitcases, slung it on the bed, pulled open every drawer in sight, and started throwing clothes in it left and right. The longer I packed, the more I felt like the walls were closing in on me.

  I threw down the clothes I was holding as my eyes swept the angelic space. The walls of my “perfect” bedroom, I grumbled. It was the only thing flawless about my entire summer. My mind was spinning like a top as I paced around the room. I didn’t need to be here a second longer, nor did I see any reason to gather up the first thing. I could buy anything I required, right down to a new toothbrush, as soon as I got to Katie’s. UPS shipped this stuff in here, and they could ship it right back out, including everything of Bea’s. I just needed to get the heck out of here — NOW!

  So now that I was officially ready for all of my “summer fun” to come to an end, I whipped on my jacket, shoved my hilt inside my purse, slung it over my shoulder, and marched straight out the door.

  And I prayed I didn’t have a big-bang style burst before I hit the foyer. I doubted if even a Genie could touch an explosion of that magnitude.

  CHAPTER 24

  Silas was waiting for me in the foyer when I arrived, car keys in hand. Fortunately seeing his face—and only his face—served to calm
me down a little.

  “Here you are, Ms. Wallace,” the house steward announced and then gave the keys a couple of spirited jangles.

  “Thank you, Silas,” I said and collected them with a purposeful pinch. My stare bounced throughout the room, swift and heated at first until it steadily dwindled to a hypnotic creep. Before I knew it, my senses were drinking in every piece of furniture, accessory, and architectural detail with the most bittersweet tug guiding my eyes. The past sixty-five days flashed through my mind. I couldn’t help but wonder how different things would have been if I’d had the ruby’s protection along the way. All of my emotions would have been mine—privately mine—that was certain. And I doubted I would have felt like such an idiot, like a pathetic love-struck little girl whose crush didn’t return her feelings. But most of all, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it would have helped me with every aspect of my training—the whole reason I was here to begin with—especially in regards to my confidence. One little monkey wrench thrown a gal’s way can do a whole lot of damage, and my frustration over something I had no control of had been my ultimate undoing. So despite how much my heart wanted me to stay, my head knew I needed to go.

  An oil painting hanging on one of the walls caught my eye as I was turning towards the door, particularly its cockeyed lean. I walked over to the picture, rapt in an inescapable recollection, and leveled its fluted golden frame. It was the same one Tanner had been adjusting when I voiced my suspicions about him drugging Ty and boosting the wards on the triptych. A feeling of uneasiness settled over me. The irksome slant the picture had slipped back into served as the perfect reminder of just how wrong I was about his feelings. Whatever affection colored his heart clearly paled to the flush of mine. Even now the stubborn lump in the center of my chest was trying to read more into the ruby omission with its escalating beats. My mind could only keep the glutton for punishment at bay for so long with its confusing reflections. And as much as I desperately wanted to chew his ass out and demand to know why he’d done it, I simply couldn’t take any more wind getting knocked out of my sails with whatever answer his lips breathed my way.