“Yeah . . . no.”
Silence followed, crickets chirped, I figured tumbleweed wouldn't show in the forest but kept an eye out anyways.
“Hmm, okay, I'm gonna try to wake him up now, cause I'm not doing a very good job talking,” said Ikovos, nodding at me repeatedly.
“Right, that makes sense,” I said, before realizing that I had just agreed he wasn't talking well. I did a mental head bang against the tree.
I am not outgoing and confident. I am not outgoing and confident . . . .
I watched Ikovos move to Cornelius’s side. He poked him in the chest a few times, then tried shaking him. I knelt cautiously beside the motionless body across from the boy.
“Ah, Master Cornelius?” tried Ikovos. Still nothing. “. . . Corni?
Cornelius grimaced, and with eyes still closed he responded. “Please don't call me that, Ikovos.”
“Ah-ha, you're awake. I thought that might work,” said Ikovos, sounding very pleased with himself.
Cornelius still lay there motionless. “I had the weirdest dream Ikovos, you would have liked it. Thoran and I were out scouting in the other dimension, looking for some new creature Demian mentioned, when we ran into a couple keepers. And you wouldn't believe what they were after.”
“I could take a guess,” drawled the boy.
Cornelius continued. “It was a girl, a girl of all things. Isn't that odd.”
Ikovos looked up at me and smiled apologetically. I raised an eyebrow.
Why was my sex such a big issue with these guys, did they have something against women? I've never considered myself a feminist but that sure as heck doesn't mean I'm tolerant of Chauvinists.
“Ah, Master, I think you should open your eyes now,” said Ikovos.
“Of course you're right, my boy.” He lifted his lids, squinting at Ikovos. “Hey, where are we anyway—AH!” As soon as he saw me he jumped onto his feet.
After a few uncomfortable seconds realization seemed to dawn on him.
“Hi.” I waved, adding a smile for his sake, but inwardly feeling very out of place. You know inside jokes? It was starting to feel like I was one that everybody but me knew about. I looked at Cornelius face again . . . apparently it wasn't a very funny joke.
“Oh, my dear, I am so sorry. Please ignore everything I said, just an old man’s ramblings, and a half asleep one at that.” He paused. “How, um . . . how was it that I ended up on the ground, though?”
“Well,” began Ikovos. “First you came through the portal and started telling me that you weren't you. Then I came down to try and figure out what was going on. That's when you started talking to the bush . . . which ended up being a girl . . . . You then began arguing with said bush-girl, who proceeded to jump out from behind the bush. At that point I pretty much went into shock, she screamed, you fainted, it was all very confusing.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
“Bush-girl?”
“But what I don't understand is,” Ikovos took a breath. “Why you were trying to hide her from me?”
Cornelius threw his arms into the air. “Don't ask me to explain the logic of my lunatic of a partner. I'm just following orders.”
“Oh, so it was Master Thoran,” said Ikovos grudgingly. “I should have known, and I'll bet he didn't say anything about Jaden right?”
“If he didn't it would be for good reason, Jaden doesn't have half the fanciful ideas you do on the subject. Nor is he as prone to unbridled, unrelenting, curiosity.”
“Oh, that's just what he wants you to think. I should know he's my best friend.” His face turned sour and he pointed a finger at Cornelius. “And you know what else? This is unfair and prejudicious treatment, I am personally offended.”
Cornelius rolled his eyes. “Oh, Ikovos, it doesn't matter anyways, Thoran didn't want anyone seeing her. She is just spending the night and in the morning I'm taking her back home.”
Home. At this point the word gave me mixed feelings. On one side I longed for the comfort and safety of the familiar. At the same time it was the last thing I wanted. And besides that: watching Cornelius and Ikovos talk had been the most entertaining experience I'd had in weeks.
Cornelius interrupted my thoughts. “Now if your finished,” he gave Ikovos an evil stare then turned to me. “Again, I am most sorry for the insensitive conversation. Between you and me this one doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut.”
“Hey, I resent that,” said Ikovos.
“Are you ready to continue our journey?” He paused. “No doubt you have even more questions now, but I would ask you to postpone them a while longer.”
I nodded. “I’m ready. I know you will answer my questions when you can.” I would have like them now, but I thought that a show of trust might compel him to honesty later on.
“Good,” he said smiling. My plan had definitely worked. “Let's get going then.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Ikovos interrupted. “Don't you think we should be properly introduced?”
Cornelius eyed him.
“Okay, okay, forget I asked.”
*
Ten minutes later we'd covered a good bit of ground through the forest. Actually it wasn't much of a forest, at least not the kind I was used to. Just a few trees scattered here and there in clumps, velvety green grass covered hills in every direction. I half expected to hear some creaks or rivers nearby, instead the only noise were the chirping crickets from before. Well, that and Ikovos, who had started whistling a while ago. Not long before that it had gotten dark. Stars were now glittering in the night sky, no clouds in sight, no sign of the moon, just stars.
I cocked my head up and exhaled, watching warm air escape my lips and dissipate into the night sky.
“How do you walk looking up like that?”
I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn't noticed Ikovos walk up beside me.
I blinked at him. “Are you always so direct?”
“I don't know,” he said. “I guess I'm just curious.”
“Fair enough,” I replied. “I'm not sure how. I've never been very good at paying attention to what I'm doing, so I guess my feet just had to learn to walk on their own.”
“Hunh . . . weird.”
“Yeah, I know.” I chewed my lip and looked around noncommittally.
“Soooo . . . I never got your full name.”
I glanced ahead at Cornelius and lowered my voice. “It didn't seem like Cornelius wanted me giving it.”
Ikovos waved him off. “Oh, he doesn't really mind. He gets like that after being in the Meoden dimension to long. Plus he's worried about Master Thoran.”
That made sense enough to me. “Okay, I'll tell, but first . . . .”
“Uh-oh, here it comes.”
I rolled my eyes. “It's not that bad, I just want to know what the big deal is with women around here.”
This caught Ikovos by surprise, I could tell because he started choking on nothing.
He cleared his throat. “You said I'm direct?”
“I guarantee you my curiosity rivals yours by a long-shot.” I checked ahead then, just to make sure Cornelius was still in front of us.
“Okay, it's probably not as weird as you think . . . potentially more so though.” He paused seemingly collecting his thoughts. “I'm going to give you the quick version with a promise to go in depth later.”
“Alright.”
“Here goes. We — that is . . . me, Master Cornelius, Master Thoran, pretty much anyone you've heard about since you've been here — are part of an order that fights bad guys. The Meoden in particular. Apart from a few of the masters, like Cornelius and Thoran, most of us aren't over twenty. All male.”
I considered it. “And?”
“And we're out in the middle of nowhere. Meaning we don't get a chance to see girls that often.”
I stared at him blankly.
What the heck type of boys give up girls to live out in the woods with some guys? None of the ones I'd met.
This w
as getting weird. . . .
“Okay, I can tell you're sort of freaking out. Let me ask you this.” For the first time his tone became serious. “If someone offered you the chance to help people, a chance to fight all the bad things that had ever happened to you, to wake up in the morning knowing you were changing things for the better: what wouldn't you give up to take it?”
Darn it. What he had just said was the reason I didn't want to go home.
I hadn't realized it till now, but they had something I'd waited my whole life to find.
A purpose.
I looked at Ikovos. He'd just made me, and worse still he knew it. There isn't going to be anything I can do to protect myself from this guy.
That thought left me two options. One: I could run away screaming as fast as possible or, two: I could live with vulnerability. . . . I glanced around for an open route then sighed.
“It's Avest, my name. Eve Avest.”
He smiled from ear to ear and looked ahead. “Avest.” He tested it. “Avest. Hunh, don't think I've ever heard that before.”
Glad that the serious topics were closed for now I delved in. “Should you have?”
“Well, yeah. I sort of have this names slash meanings thing. Usually can't get a last name past me.” He paused. “We'll just have to look it up tomorrow.”
“If I'm still here,” I said, letting a little more disappointment show through my voice than I would have liked.
“Hey, if I have anything to do with it, we'll figure out how to keep you around.”
I smiled at him. “Sounds like you already have some ideas.” Extending my hand I added. “Partners then?”
He took it. “Let’s just go crazy call it friends.”
I laughed. Friends is good.
*
And that's pretty much it.
I took a big yawn on the comfy couch of the study. I'd gone through my whole day in my mind and still, it didn't make much sense. The only difference was that now I'd lost an hour of sleep.
Ikovos and I had talked the rest of the journey. He left once the lodge was in sight. It was well hidden in a clump of trees, a few stories high and mostly wood. Looked like an average, if not oversized, cabin. Cornelius had led me through a small door, which I'd doubted was the main entrance, and a couple turns later we were in his study.
Okay, that's all the thinking I can do in one day. I prayed quietly for multiplied hours of sleep then passed out from exhaustion.
~ ~ ~
Chapter 2
Jaden
I WOKE UP AND MY first thought was a big cup of coffee. My second thought was getting the loud knocking sound to go away. And before I got to the third I was back in sleepy-land.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Ugh. “Okay, mom. I'm getting up.” I yawned and gave my pillow a farewell squeeze.
“Wait a minute . . . this isn't my pillow.”
All at once yesterdays' events crammed into my head. Most people might have closed their eyes, trying to imagine it all away. I, on the other hand, got a stomach twisting with excitement and a head swirling with silly thoughts of fate and such.
I figured Cornelius had been responsible for the knocking, so I ran to open the door. My stomach lurched.
Definitely not Cornelius.
It was Jaden, and, if possible, he looked even more intimidating that the night before. He was wearing a plain cloth t-shirt and dark leather pants. His arms were crossed and his breathing was slow. Obviously, he was less worried about the situation than I was . . . I doubted he worried about much of anything.
“You look like you're still asleep,” he said.
I fumbled for a response that made sense, but drew a blank. Mornings weren't my thing, neither are cocky boys who control fire . . . Okay, at least the first part is true.
“Where's Cornelius?” I asked.
The corners of his mouth lifted. “What, not happy to see me?—” silence “—He had somewhere to be, asked me to see if you could hang out in here for a few hours.”
“Sure, that's fine.” I yawned. “Ugh, sorry. What time is it?”
“Early. How about some coffee?”
My caffeine addicted body did a mental tap dance. This overpowered my fear of inconveniencing. “Coffee . . . would be great actually.”
He nodded once. “I figured you for a coffee drinker. You'll need to wear this.” He handed me a pile of brown cloth.
I took it.
“It's so you won't be noticed. All the boys wear it,” he said. “I'll wait out here.” He leaned against the wall and re-crossed his arms, looking much too good for this early in the morning.
I closed the door, told myself I didn't have time to try and remember if I'd said something embarrassing, and examined my new outfit. It was a brown wool robe, and a white cloth shirt and pants, definitely no chance anyone would realize I'm a girl.
I slipped it on in the bathroom at the back of the study and looked at myself in the mirror. I put the hood up and narrowed my eyes, trying to look devious. In my mind I totally pulled it off. I gave myself a quick you-can-do-it smile, folded my blanket, and exited the room.
Jaden was in the same position I left him.
“Hmm. . . .” His eyes moved down my robe. “No good.”
I checked myself. “What's wrong?”
“You still look like a girl.”
I looked down again and then back at him.
“Trust me, you do.” He stood up straight. “We'll take the back way.”
I followed him down the hall, through a door, then down another hall. It looked like this might continue so I gave up hope of finding my way back, and stopped paying attention.
I heard some knocking sounds and decided it was a woodpecker. Made sense, everything in this place was wood. The rooms and hallways were well lit with large glass windows. It was still dark outside, but the stars had disappeared and there was a dim blue glow on the horizon signaling mornings' arrival. I could see little else besides the tree trunks.
Inside everything was swept and tidy. No dust, no cobwebs, much different than other cabins I'd been in. It smelt like a fountain and it had the same fresh breeze you get near a waterfall. I had no trouble seeing myself getting used to a place like this.
Next, we walked in a large stone room. It was narrow, but the ceiling was high, forty feet or so. On one side of the wall there were man-size niches with pillows in them. Pillows and, oh my goodness, people, sleeping people.
“Best to be quiet in here,” whispered Jaden.
No kidding. There were at least a hundred. The ones I could see were young, maybe not even in their teens. The boys in my town spent their days playing games and chasing girls . . . these guys looked like they'd seen harder times.
I stared for a moment longer, then tip-toed to catch up to Jaden.
We left the room and entered into what I assumed was a kitchen. It had a stone floor, stone counter tops, and wood cabinets. The cabinets wrapped around to my right into the wall across. The counters followed beneath them, but stretched further across the left side of the room like a bar. Behind this was a large cafeteria-like room with high rafters and lots of tables. The kitchen was small by comparison. Low ceiling, minimal workspace, kinda cozy.
Along with some other oddments, a coffee percolator sat on the counter near the bar. Jaden filled the bottom of the piece with water and the middle with grounds. The smell of it made my head buzz. Even though I spent nights away from home, which means nights away from coffee, I had successfully managed to develop a severe caffeine addiction.
Still handling the coffee pot, Jaden nodded to a bar stool. “You can sit down, if you want.”
I didn't know if I wanted to, but I did anyways.
The stools were on the other side of the counter. I looked out at the cafeteria, then turned and tried to inconspicuously watch Jaden. He opened up the bottom of the stove, there was wood but no fire. At least that's what I thought at first. In the next moment the entire stove was rolling with
flames. I could feel the heat five feet away.
My breath caught, a heady shiver running through my body.
Jaden closed the oven door and set the coffee pot on top. I thought about asking him what the heck had just happened, but that was a bit vulnerable for my taste.
He leaned against the counter across from me.
Oh, who was I kidding? Everything sounds too vulnerable to me.
“Um . . . Jaden?” His name felt strange on my tongue.
No response. Just eyes.
Bad idea, Evelyn. I cleared my throat. “Did you light that fire? I mean, I saw what you did last night and I was just wondering what it was, or how, you know, you did it. . . .” Oh God, that definitely didn't make any sense.
Jaden smiled. Not a friendly smile, more of an amused one. “Yeah, it was me, both times, and it was magic.”
I waited for further explanation. None came, but he kept his gaze.
“So, how does it work? How did you learn it?” I asked.
He shrugged and rocked back. “Thoran taught me . . . when I came here. I had a knack for it, been using it ever since.”
So you can be trained. This is getting interesting. “Can everyone do it? I mean, is it very common?” I asked.
“Not at all. It's a rare ability, some say a natural one.”
“But you don't.”
He looked at the coffee pot, then back at me. “I'd compare it to any virtue: honesty, diligence . . . love. Nothing comes naturally.”
Makes sense enough. “So when did you start learning it?” I asked, then crossed my arms in front of me on the counter.
“Young. When I was just a boy.”
“How old are you now?”
He looked at me, then placed his palms down on the counter and leaned forward until he was over me.
I looked up and gulped.
“Why do you want to know?”
His eyes didn't move. Neither did mine. We were both locked in position, not a flinch . . . okay, maybe I was shrinking a little bit.
His eyes narrowed.
“Jaden?!” called a voice from the doorway.
My gaze broke and I tilted my head around the menacing boy to look towards the voice. It was Ikovos.
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