by Allison Sipe
I had never seen anything like it before and had no idea you could even measure Magic. A warning bell went off in the back of my mind and I knew I should stay far away from Alyssa.
"Please, take a seat so we can proceed," Alyssa instructed.
"I've had enough of this," I said, backing away from her.
"Robert, I would rather you did this willingly, but I will use force if I have to." She eyed me and the mask of calm curiosity she wore faded. She sat, shoulders back, completely upright with a flat expression in her eyes that left me with no doubt that she would bend me to her will, one way or another.
I steeled myself for whatever experiment she had planned next and sat next to her.
"Now, this will hurt a bit," she said as she pulled a scalpel out of her bag of tricks. "Your palm please." She held her hand out for mine.
The list of people I wanted to do physical damage to was growing day by day. I put my hand in hers, palm up and she drew the scalpel from my wrist to my fingers.
"Don't heal yourself just yet," she said as she etched another gash into my hand.
Blood covered my palm and dripped onto the bed. I cringed at the pain but kept my hand steady. She placed it in the box and touched a few options on the screen.
"Okay, now," she urged, her bright blue eyes alight with excitement once again.
I released my Magic and my hand stitched itself back together. My heart rate appeared on the top right corner of the screen. Graphs and other readings appeared all over the top of the apparatus in different colors as the gash in my hand disappeared.
Alyssa's eyes widened in excitement as the device came to life. "Fascinating," she said under her breath.
Pulling my hand out of the contraption, I wiped the blood off with the towel she had given me.
"That was excellent. Thank you, Robert," Alyssa said with a satisfied smile.
"What did that do exactly?" I asked, and rubbed the palm of my hand with the towel.
"It takes your vitals, measures the Magical output and just gets a basic reading on everything that's happening while you use your ability."
"I've never seen anything like that before." I stood up and moved across the cell. Just sitting next to her was making me anxious.
"You wouldn't have. It's my own creation." She beamed. "Have you had enough time to heal?" She examined me curiously.
"I'm fine." I folded my hands behind my back.
"Good. You can put the Magical barrier back up," she said over her shoulder to the guard. "Sit, Robert, please. I just want to ask you a few questions." She pulled a tablet from her bag and placed it on her lap.
"I'll stand, thank you," I replied.
"So be it. You said that Violet didn't have Magic before you healed her. Are you certain of that fact?"
"Yes." I folded my arms across my chest as she made notes on the tablet.
"And have you healed anyone before?" She crossed one leg over the other.
"Yes, but just minor injuries, nothing fatal..." Looking up at the small window above my head, I thought back to the few times I'd healed friends and family. I tried not to abuse my ability but a handful of times I just couldn't stand to see my loved ones in pain when I could do something about it.
"Did you and Violet know each other before she was injured?"
"You mean before Aiden sent someone to kill her? No, we didn't know each other." An image of Violet standing in the bookstore, looking up at me flashed across my eyes.
"You're sure?" Alyssa pressed on and narrowed her gaze like she could see what I was thinking.
"I'm sure, dammit," I cleared my throat and replied, not bothering to hide the bitterness in my voice.
"In your personal opinion, was Violet dying when you healed her?"
"That's enough, I'm done." I walked to the other side of the cell. I wanted to slam a door, shut her out, but as I was trapped behind bars, I settled for leaning against the back wall with my arms crossed.
"I know this isn't easy, Robert, but I need you to answer the question," Alyssa urged, ignoring my obvious signs of protest.
"I'm not your lab rat," I snapped and took a step toward her.
She blinked, unmoved by my anger, which only made me more furious.
"You come in here and tell me all about your family history to get me to... what, feel sorry for you?" I blurted out. "Well guess what, I don't. You may say you're not a monster, but you sit there and passively talk about life and death like it's some sort of toy for you to play with."
"I know your pain, Robert." She stood and stepped toward me, her heels echoing like a judge's gavel handing out a sentence. "I used to feel the same way as you. But science, it saved my mother's life. With science, we can study the unknown and help people cheat death. Your gift could hold the key to saving millions of lives. Don't you want to be a part of that?" She placed her hand on my arm and her eyes pleaded for me to understand.
"You can't cheat death," I said through gritted teeth and removed her hand from my arm.
"But we can, by studying gifts like yours."
"Death is a part of life. You can't change that without dire consequences."
"When you experiment as I do, there are always consequences," she said flippantly. "But it's all for the greater good. Can't you see that? The more we can learn about your ability and how you were able to pass your Magic to Violet the more good we can do in the world."
"You may want to help people but we both know Aiden has entirely different plans for the knowledge you acquire." I narrowed my eyes and held her gaze.
"What Aiden chooses to do with the information I give him is out of my control." She looked away from me and turned on her heel. "Just know that everything I do, I do for the greater good."
"Yeah, well something tells me we don't see eye to eye on what the greater good is."
"Maybe not. But that doesn't mean I'm your enemy."
I didn't buy one line of her whole innocent act. Working with Aiden, even if she didn't agree with everything he did, made her my enemy. Granted, she wasn't first on my list but she would still need to be dealt with at some point. Experimenting with Magic never ended well.
"Are we done here?" I asked as she started putting everything back in her case.
"For now," she said with a smile and flipped the lock on her kit. "It really is a shame that Aiden wants to sacrifice you for the ritual." She closed the gap between us. "There is much we could learn from someone with your gift," she whispered. At the close proximity of our bodies, I could smell the sickly-sweet perfume she wore and it turned my stomach.
Alyssa stepped away from me and the guards slid the cell open for her. "Until we meet again, Mr. Maxwell," she said over her shoulder. "Oh, and do give my best to your cellmate?"
"Clara?" I asked and stepped closer to the bars.
She nodded. "Her cooperation in helping us understand her gift has been very useful already. You may want to take a page out of her book."
"Not likely." I met her eyes and Alyssa smiled before moving along.
Her high heels clicked-clacked, each step echoing as she walked down the concrete path and up the stairs. I let out a sigh of relief when I heard the door close behind her. Jumping across my cell in one stride, I checked to see if Clara was back yet. They had taken her early this morning and her cell remained empty. I hadn't realized how lonely I was without her presence. Even if we weren't talking, it was just nice knowing someone else was there with me. I wondered where she could be and hoped they weren't hurting her.
Day 9
My body shook back and forth and distantly, I heard someone whisper, "Robert, wake up."
I rolled onto my side and blinked through bleary eyes to see Lila hovering above me. A jolt of panic ran through me and in an instant I was on my feet. "What, what is it. What's wrong?" I asked.
"We have to go," she said and looked over her shoulder, "now."
"We?" I asked and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
"I promise I'll explain later, bu
t we need to go now." She held her hand out to me.
The panicked look in her expression propelled me forward. "Lead the way."
We made our way past the empty cages. Clara stirred as we came near.
"Wait, we can't leave her behind," I said as loud as I dared.
"Robert, we don't have time. They're coming for you, for the ritual. We have to go, now," she whispered with harsh impatience.
"Go, my place is here," Clara said as she stood and shuffled across her cell.
"But-" I tried to say as my fingers gripped the bars of her cell.
"It's alright. Get back to Violet." Clara gave my hand a firm squeeze. "And be careful with her." Her eyes shot in Lila's direction.
"Robert," Lila hissed.
I nodded and left Clara. There was nothing else I could do.
Lila and I went up the stairs, through the double doors, and across the manicured grass to the tree line at a brisk jog. The cool, early morning air caressed my skin leaving a trail of goosebumps. The sky was pitch black and the only light came from the full moon overhead. Neither one of us spoke and I kept my guard up as we hiked up a hill through the cover of the trees. This could be a trap, I thought. Lila could be leading me to my death. But something inside me trusted her. We'd known each other for years and even though we'd both changed, I could see the terror in her eyes when she woke me. Lila wanted off this island as badly as I did.
"We're almost there," she huffed, out of breath.
"And where is that exactly?" I asked.
"We're getting the hell out of here."
I stopped abruptly. "We can't just leave, we have to try and stop the ritual." I started to turn back.
"Robert, wait," Lila said, running after me and pulling on my arm. "If you go back, he'll kill you." Her eyes glistened in the moonlight.
"I can't just stand by and let Aiden bring Morgana back from the dead." I pulled my arm from her grasp. "She's the worst thing that could ever happen to the Magical World."
Lila sighed and shook her head with resignation. "Alright, but let's do this quickly then." She began jogging through the trees back the way we'd come.
We backtracked about fifty yards and then Lila took an abrupt left turn over a large grouping of rocks.
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" I asked as we started to go uphill again.
She gave me a pointed look over her shoulder and smiled. "I forgot how much you hate not being in control," she said.
"I was just making-" The night sky lit up red like a flash from a camera, cutting me off. We both stopped in our tracks and our eyes caught.
"Looks like he found someone else to sacrifice for the ritual. That means he knows you escaped and he'll assume I helped since I'm not down there." Lila stumbled back a few steps. "Now we really need to leave."
"I'm not going anywhere until I stop him." I moved in the direction the flash of light had come from.
"It's already too late." Lila stepped in front of me and placed her hand on my chest.
"You can either help me or get out of my way," I said, tossing her hand off of me.
"Fine then." She pushed past me. "But so help me God, Robert, if I die tonight I'll haunt you for the rest of your miserable life." She turned away from me and ran through the trees.
It was clear she knew this island intimately. Her feet glided effortlessly through the brush, jumping over stumps and climbing over large rocks like she'd been doing it her whole life. As I followed behind her I couldn't help but be impressed by her strength. Lila had risked her life and forsaken her family to save me and now here she was leading me right back to them. As much as it pained me to think it, I was glad to see the Lila I knew years ago was still in there somewhere.
Clara's words echoed in my head, "She must choose between her heart and her soul."
Lila soon slowed to a walk. "We're almost there," she whispered and pointed towards the blue light coming through the trees.
As we quietly made our way to the tree line, the dull blue glow became blinding. I shielded my eyes as we came to the edge of a cliff. Twenty-five feet below us, in a large empty field, Aiden and a few of his followers stood in a semi-circle in front of what looked like a portal. I crouched down to get a better look, stunned that Aiden was able to conjure up a portal at all. I had heard about them in legends, but no one in a thousand years had actually seen one.
"See, I told you it's already too late," Lila said. The blue glow illuminated her face with an unnatural light as she spoke, making her look pale. Her eyes stayed fixed on the sight below as she placed her hand on my arm.
"It isn't too late until Morgana walks through that portal," I said and threw my legs over the side of the cliff, searching for a foothold.
"What the hell are you doing?" Lila shot forward on her hands and knees, grabbing my forearms.
"I'm going down there. I have to try something, anything, to stop him."
"Robert, look, I get it, you're the good guy. But if you go down there, the only thing you'll accomplish is an untimely death."
"Lila-"
"No," she cut me off. "What does the prophecy say?"
"What?"
"Tell me, what does the Prophecy say about Morgana?" She held me still with a fierce glare.
"That she can only be defeated by The Lady of the Lake."
"And Violet is the key to waking her, right?"
"Yes, but-" I dug my foot into the side of the cliff.
"No buts, let's get out of here while we still can."
The ground began to shake and thunder rolled across the cloudless sky. I nodded and started to pull myself up.
"We'll need to hurry. I need a direct eye line to the full moon if I'm going to pull this off," Lila urged.
Lightning crackled and exploded above us as hurricane-force winds blew all around us, throwing leaves and dirt into the air. My fingers slid through the dirt as I lost my footing.
"She's coming through," I yelled over the noise as I tried to pull myself back over the edge. But the wind was too strong and I struggled to hold on. Just as my fingers lost their grip, Lila reached out and grabbed my wrists. Summoning her shield behind her, she was able to block out most of the wind and help pull me back over the edge.
I collapsed on top of her and her shield vanished. Branches, leaves, and rocks flew toward us at dangerous speeds. Grabbing Lila's hand, I crawled over to one of the large trees. We both wrapped our arms around the trunk for support and put up our shields to protect us from flying objects.
"Just hold on a little longer. It should pass once Morgana enters our world," I yelled to Lila.
She nodded and squeezed my hand tighter. A large branch came flying at us and ricochet off our shields like a Frisbee. The hammering of rocks and leaves hitting my shield was deafening. I felt like my eardrums would explode at any moment, and then the wind stopped. Everything fell to the earth with a loud crash and the air became still. I looked over at Lila and we both let our shields slip away. Without a word, we edged closer to the cliff, both of us needing the confirmation that Morgana had really been brought back from the dead.
A naked woman, her skin pale as ivory and her hair as black as ink, emerged from the luminescent blue portal. One of Aiden's men ran forward, dropped to his knees in front of her and presented her with a dark, silk robe.
She reached out gingerly, keeping her eyes on the men in front of her as she plucked the robe from the gentleman’s outstretched arms. The portal behind her began to fizzle and burn out as she took her first step toward Aiden. In one swift motion, she wrapped the robe around her slender figure and pulled it tight as she took another step.
Watching her was intoxicating. She moved with such grace and power it was no wonder men fell at her feet to serve her.
"Time to go," Lila whispered in my ear as Morgana's eyes shot up and landed on us still hidden in the trees. She couldn't possibly see us, could she?
Morgana raised her arm and one delicate finger pointed directly at us.
"Shit," we said in unison as everyone's heads turned in our direction.
Scrambling through the foliage, we made a run for it with Lila leading the way. Everything looked completely different as we headed back the way we'd come. Trees had been uprooted, leaving behind gaping holes we had to dodge as we ran in the dark. Only the faintest glimmer of moonlight broke through the canopy above us.
When we reached a wall of rocks, I glanced over my shoulder. A yellow glow was bouncing through the trees behind us. Someone was coming.
"We'd better hurry," I said, nudging Lila ahead and giving her a boost.
Pulling myself onto the first small landing, I began to climb over each boulder, careful to make sure my feet were steady before I reached for the next rock. Lila made it to the top in no time and started down the other side. Once I reached the top I waved my hand over the rocks and uttered, "Levis." The grooves and edges of the rocks reformed and became smooth as a slide. No one would be able to follow us this way now. They would have to go around and that would buy us at least a few minutes.
Jumping down as the rocks finished reforming under my feet, I hit the ground and rolled to keep my momentum. Lila was already running up the hill about fifteen feet ahead of me. I followed behind and quickly closed the gap. It was clear she was getting off this island with or without me so I needed to stick close.
The trees began to thin out the further we ran and the moon was now visible above us.
"We almost there?" I called out to her.
"Just about," Lila said and slowed to a jog. "We just need to get to the top, right there." She pointed to about twenty feet ahead of us.
Catching up to her, I turned to see if anyone was close behind us. The trees were dark and quiet where I scanned them.
Lila pulled a vile out of her bag as she reached the top of the hill. Stepping out into the moonlight, she bent down, picked up a handful of dirt and began to recite a spell I'd never heard before.