by E A Foley
“I won’t tell Jaden as long as you promise to tell me if Brett approaches you again. You could have come to the Gallery immediately. Why didn’t you?”
“I can’t split my consciousness that well. Not and have a conversation. I thought he’d figure out what I was doing and attack me or something while I was unprepared. I didn’t want to risk it.”
“That makes sense. You should practice splitting your mind, then. It’s a good skill to have.”
Zarina nodded.
“So, you promise to tell me if he shows up again?”
Zarina nodded again.
“Thank you. I won’t tell anyone about Brett. You guys heading home?”
“No. We’re going to Jaden’s. I’ll probably spend the night.”
“All right. See you tomorrow, then.” Iris waved as Zarina stepped through her door and closed it. She wasn’t one hundred percent positive Zarina told her everything, but she didn’t want to push her friend too far. Zarina could be very fragile sometimes.
Before leaving the Gallery of Doors, Iris took a moment to compose herself. She ran through her conversation with Brett before realizing he said worlds. Perhaps he was referring to the ocean and its creatures. It was like a different world and Iris had never tried interacting with it.
She was so distracted while in the Gallery she drove on autopilot. Thankfully nothing happened along the way. When the 4Runner came to a stop, she realized she’d driven herself back to Matt’s rather than home like she’d promised. She desperately need to study, so she decided to go with her subconscious’ suggestion. Iris sent a quick group text to let everyone know Zarina was going to Jaden’s before heading into Matt’s. They still had a little over an hour to get through more material than would be possible.
Thorin gave Iris a last-minute study session before her calculus final the following afternoon. He even refrained from making any snide comments—which she knew was difficult for him—and for the first time, she left in a good mood rather than pissed off. The extra help made her a lot more confident going into the final and she felt she did enough to pass the class. Which was good enough for her this quarter. Her second study session with Matt went off without a hitch and she felt great going into the final, but only mediocre coming out of it. She knew her physics and intro to modern astronomy and astrophysics finals were fine, so she started spring break feeling mostly positive.
After a night of celebrating the end of another quarter, Iris got to sleep in. She woke up to an Aerianna-less room, stretched and relaxed back into bed with the hopes of drifting back to sleep. Her mind had other ideas though. Brett was at the forefront of her thoughts in a second and she couldn’t shake him. She had to face this one head on.
Not wanting to break her promise to Zarina, Iris decided to head to the island to think through all the problem and solution possibilities. Knowing Brett knew about their island retreat made Iris leery to be there alone, but she didn’t think she had a choice. If he had tracked them to this location, then he could find any location they trained at.
It took Iris a few minutes to realize Brett probably knew about their island because he could track another magic user the way she could—or his father could. She bet they were better at it than she was. The thought sent her mind wondering about other things Brett and his father might know and be able to teach her before she shook herself and started talking out loud about the present problems and their possible solutions. It was the best way to keep her mind on track.
“All right Iris, start at the top. Brett or Mr. Moreno can track another magic user’s location. You’re working on this one, so that’s good, but I think you may need to double your efforts. They may start randomly checking in on where everyone is and you may need to do the same to them. I wonder how much power it takes them to perform that task. Hmm . . . Focus, Iris, focus!” she told herself and took a breath.
“What else do you know? He may not be able to tell what magic someone is performing the way you can,” she said slowly. “Yeah. He said you gave an impressive display of magic, which he suspected was how you found Zarina. If he knew for sure, he would’ve said. That seems more his style. Still, I’m not sure you can rule this one out yet.”
“Then there’s the fact he seems to be recruiting other magic users. I wonder if Zarina was the first one Brett approached or if—”
“What do you mean Brett approached Zarina?”
“Bloody hell! You scared the shit out of me, Morrigan!” Iris glared up at her friend.
“Don’t evade my question.”
“Zarina asked me not to tell anyone. I was trying to focus my thoughts better. I wasn’t expecting you today. It’s not Tuesday.”
“I went to your apartment to see if you wanted to get some sparring in and they said you formed a doorway a little bit ago. I assumed you were here.”
“Very logical. Anyway, don’t tell Zarina you know about Brett. And especially don’t tell Jaden. She thinks he’ll flip and do something stupid—and I agree with her.”
“You going to tell me what happened, then?”
Iris gave Morrigan a quick rundown of the exchange between Zarina and Brett before asking for her silence once more.
“I won’t tell anyone. I promise. What are we going to do about it?”
“I’m trying to figure that out. Brett asked me if I wanted to join him for training sessions as well. Even gave me a picture of the glade he’ll be in. Like I can get there with just a picture,” Iris scoffed. “I guess he thinks I can at least. Which means he may possess that ability too. I think he knows a lot more magic than we do, Morrigan.”
“Sounds like it. Can I see the picture?”
Iris handed it over. Morrigan stared at it for a few minutes, stood up, and formed a doorway.
“How did I forget you could do that?” Iris shook her head. She rose and followed Morrigan through her door of black palm wood and into a peaceful glade with knee-high grass and a pleasant pine smell.
They looked around, but there wasn’t much they could accomplish. After a few silent minutes, Morrigan spoke.
“We should leave him a message.”
“Here, give me the picture,” Iris told Morrigan. She scribbled Thanks, but no thanks, on the back of the photo after using a doorway to grab a pen from home. “Help me find a good branch to stick in the ground so I can attach this to it.”
“Here’s one,” Morrigan called a few minutes later.
“Perfect,” Iris agreed.
Morrigan pressed the broken branch into the soft loam of the clearing and Iris attached the picture firmly to the stick.
“I hope nothing else finds it first.”
“It’ll be fine,” Morrigan assured her. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
With one last look at her message to Brett and Mr. Moreno, Iris followed Morrigan back to their private beach where they had a great sparring session. Iris even came close to beating Morrigan—something she never thought possible. Though she had used a little magic by accident. Morrigan throttled her in the next round and Iris was much more careful about letting her mind reach out to collect the flows surrounding them.
Iris knew the moment Brett found her message. Pain stabbed the back of her neck. It seared hot like a branding iron before fading to constant pins and needles for several minutes.
Since he’d told her the exact time he’d be in the clearing, Iris had gone to the island where she tried out her location tracking trick. She only needed half as much power as she had the last time—which made her sure her assumptions on power and proximity were accurate. Rather than a quick flash of a location, Iris watched Brett read the note before shredding the branch magically in one second. She left before he could trace her.
She released the remaining flows she’d drawn into herself and decided not to open herself to any more for at least a half-hour. Perhaps by then, Brett would be too engrossed in training to locate her. With nothing else to do, Iris leaned against the palm tree she sat under and waited
for time to pass.
“Hey,” someone said and shook her.
Iris opened her eyes to see Morrigan staring down at her. “Hey. What time is it?”
“A little after one. You’ve been here since noon, haven’t you?”
“Little before.”
“You think Brett found your note?”
“Probably,” Iris said. She didn’t want to freak any of her friends out by telling them Brett could track their movements. Or that she was working on the same thing. Or about the pain at the back of her neck. She wondered when she’d gone back to keeping so many secrets. “I couldn’t be at home anymore. I was too fidgety, and I knew someone would ask what was up, so I came here.”
“Makes sense. What do you think he’ll do?”
“Nothing, I hope. He said he wants us to join him, not to hurt us. Hope he sticks to that. Though it may mean he’ll start approaching everyone. I’ll have to come up with some story about him so I can warn everybody he may try to talk to them without giving Zarina away.”
Chapter 21
Iris hadn’t come up with a good enough story to warn her friends about Brett’s actions by the end of spring break. It turned out she didn’t need one. Brett did precisely what she feared and approached Morrigan while they were both in Pacific—Brett for the last day of break and Morrigan for a weekend trip home.
A knock came at Iris’s door in the Gallery. By the time she’d made it through her mind’s defenses, there was no one there. She scanned the room. Morrigan’s door stood ajar.
“Morrigan?” Iris called and walked to the open door.
She could hear Morrigan talking to someone, so she made to close the door and assumed something had come up. A familiar male treble drifted through the still open door. Iris paused, her hand on the door handle. Morrigan had left her door open on purpose. She couldn’t split her mind to be in both places at once. Too many of her friends couldn’t. Iris added it to her list of things they should practice.
“I told you already, it’s not going to happen, so why don’t you run along and go find someone else to annoy,” Morrigan said.
Iris stood in the doorframe and leaned in. She tried to breathe as little as possible so she could catch the entire conversation. Since neither were in the Gallery, they both sounded really far away.
“But you haven’t even heard me out. We—that is to say my father and I—are recruiting other magic users to help in our mission.”
“What, are you on a mission from God or something?”
Iris had to keep herself from snorting at Morrigan’s response.
“It’s more of a personal vendetta. We have a great need for someone with your skill set.”
“And what skill set would that be?”
“The ability to form bridges between any two places. It’s a rare talent. I’ve seen your work. It’s wonderful.”
“If you’ve seen my ability to create doorways, then you know I helped Iris leave you that note in your clearing. I believe it said everything. So, thanks. But no thanks. Have a nice life.”
Iris strained her ears to see if she could hear what was going on or if Brett responded, but nothing came through the open door. She turned to leave the Gallery when Morrigan arrived.
“That a good enough story to tell everyone?”
“Yeah. You’re all right with them knowing he approached you?”
“Better to be prepared than not. I didn’t feel any aggressive vibes coming from him, so I think you’re right in saying he has no desire to hurt any of us. Still, maybe you should advise the group to stay in public places or in pairs as much as possible.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Well, I’d better call an emergency meeting. Can you knock on a few doors for me and tell everyone to meet at my place?”
“Sure thing. I’m out jogging right now, so I’ll need at least fifteen to get to your place.”
Iris nodded. She and Morrigan moved in opposite directions of each other around the room and banged on doors. Iris had to call Thorin three times on his phone before he responded. Everyone packed into Iris’s apartment twenty minutes later.
“Thank you all for making it on such short notice. I wanted to let you know that Brett has shown his face again.” Iris waited for the mutters to die down before continuing. She made a point of not looking at Zarina. “He approached Morrigan about twenty minutes ago and asked her if she wanted to join him and his father on some kind of mission.”
“A mission from God?” Cirrus called with a short laugh.
“No. This is not The Blues Brothers,” Iris reproved. It wasn’t as funny the second time.
“Brett said it was more of a vendetta,” Morrigan supplied. “He didn’t threaten me and I never got the impression he would to harm me, he just wanted to talk. He mentioned that he knows I can create doorways to anywhere, so that was unnerving, but it’s no different from Iris’s ability to identify what task we’re trying to perform, so . . . ” Morrigan ended with a shrug.
“Even so, I think everyone should be on their guard. While I don’t think he’ll attack anyone, it may be best to stay in more public places or travel in pairs. Just as a precaution,” Iris added in a rush before anyone could argue with her. When she looked around the room, she saw mostly nodding heads and looks of understanding. It lessened the beating of her heart and stilled her anxiety.
“So you’re saying we shouldn’t do anything?” Jaden demanded.
“Correct. It’s not a good idea to provoke him. He’s rather strong.”
“And you’re not?”
“I don’t want to fight anyone, Jaden.”
“Then what the hell is the point of all this training? There is an obvious problem. We should take care of it.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by take care of it, but I refuse to hurt or threaten someone who has not hurt or threatened me or any of you.”
“So, what? You’re going to wait for him to make the first move? What if he hospitalizes one of us or worse, kills someone? Unless you can bring us back from the dead—which I know you can’t—it’d be your fault one of us were dead!”
“Jaden, I—”
“I don’t want to hear more excuses. I want to know what the goddamn plan is to assure our safety!”
“I don’t have one, all right?” Iris’s anger peaked. She was on the verge of shouting. Had lost control of her eyes once more. “Is that what you want to hear? That I have no idea how to keep Brett in line or away from any of you? Reality is I can’t protect everyone. That’s why we have training sessions. Self-defense sessions. So you all can protect yourselves if something comes up.
“If Brett approaches you, call me, knock on my door. Hell, knock on all our doors and get someone by your side immediately. Or get to a more public place. Do not use magic. The risk of it being recorded by some random person with a cell phone is too high. I’m a hell of a lot more afraid of what would happen then over what Brett might do. I honestly do not believe he will attack anyone. He wants us to join him and we won’t do that if he causes any one of us harm. Be forewarned, he’s a smooth talker,” Iris added in a calmer voice.
“That’s an understatement,” Sienna chimed in. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “But he gives off this weird vibe. At least he does to me.”
The room fell silent for several minutes. Jaden continued to glare at Iris but he refrained from voicing any more complaints. Zarina probably had a lot to do with that. Jaden’s comments got Iris thinking, though. She needed to perfect her ability to track another magic user’s movements, and soon.
The problem was the next three weeks of her life were about to be taken over by band practices and activities as they prepared for Davis’s annual Picnic Day. The only silver lining was that Iris only had three classes this quarter; Japanese, physics, and calculus. If she could survive the next three weeks, she could survive anything.
Conversations broke out around her. No one paid any attention to her, so Iris snuck back to her room and did
exactly what she told everyone not to do. She formed a doorway to her private glade. She didn’t want anyone to interrupt her.
Iris took a seat on the thick grass and pulled as much power into her being as possible before releasing it into thoughts about Brett. His location came to her so fast it almost startled her into releasing her request. She backed off the amount of power she funneled into her search for him down to a trickle. He was in the same forest as her. She shifted her request from wanting to know his location to wanting to see what he was doing.
Brett held out a hand as though to tell someone to be quiet. His head tilted to the left, then right. He was listening for something. Or trying to locate someone. Iris assumed it was her. She switched her focus from Brett to his surroundings and saw three other people in the massive clearing. She didn’t recognize any of them. It appeared Brett found people who believed in whatever he was selling.
After a few minutes, Brett shrugged and went back to his training session. Iris let her request fade into one that would allow her to sense any other magic users around her. The amount of power coming from less than two miles away was so great it only required Iris to use a few drops of her own power to keep tabs on Brett and his followers. They were working on using air in as many ways as possible. When one of them formed a sharp object, aimed, and fired, Iris released all the power she held.
Her stomach churned. Though she was loath to give up her glade, Iris felt it only fair to pay Brett back for his continual stalking of her and her friends. With a few calming breaths, she regained control of her roiling stomach and filled herself with power once more. Not to bursting. She didn’t want to reveal how much stronger she’d become.
“I thought I sensed someone nearby a few moments ago,” Brett said as he stepped out of what looked like a black rectangle. “Have you come to join me?”
“No. You seem to have enough friends already.”
Iris stuck her hands out behind her and leaned back. She smiled serenely up at Brett from where she still sat on the grass-covered ground. His body tensed for the briefest of moments, but he recovered his cool and tried to play off Iris’s statement.