Denouncement

by E A Foley

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s just me and my dad.”

  “Funny. I could have sworn I saw two men and a woman all around our age. Perhaps a little older. I’m a terrible judge of age. Yes, I thought as much,” she added at his gritted teeth. “Well, I don’t want to interrupt your so-called training. I’m sure there are plenty of other innocent forest creatures for you to enjoy target practice with. Such a waste,” she sighed and shook her head before getting to her feet. “Guess I should let you get back to your new friends. See you around.” Iris waved, opened a doorway to her bedroom, and stepped through.

  She counted to ten before releasing the power and breath she held. Her heart pounded in her chest. She wasn’t sure how he hadn’t heard it. Being that nonchalant when Brett could have lashed out at her any moment was difficult, to say the least. She wondered if he had any anxiety over his visits with her or her friends. She decided it was doubtful. Before Iris managed to calm down, someone knocked on her bedroom door. She jumped.

  “Yeah,” she called once she found her voice.

  “Hey, you all right?” Thorin asked.

  “Peachy.”

  “Can I come in?”

  Before Iris could tell him no, he entered and closed the door behind him. He had her wrapped in a hug as soon as he reached her. Iris held him tight and buried her face in his chest. She refused to let the emotions coursing through her veins manifest into tears. Instead, she used calming breaths to regulate her pulse and bit her lower lip to keep the tears at bay.

  “Where did you go?”

  “My personal practice glade,” her voice was muffled as she spoke into his chest.

  “Why?”

  “To think.”

  “And?”

  “And Jaden’s right. I should confront Brett or something.”

  “No. You shouldn’t. There’s nothing to be gained by talking to him, so don’t bother. None of us are going to join his vendetta or whatever. Besides, if you stoop to his low, who’s to say he won’t stoop lower?”

  Cold flooded Iris’s veins. It pooled in her eyes. She hadn’t thought about that. Shit! What if I made it worse? she asked herself and nodded into Thorin’s chest. Iris didn’t trust herself to speak or her eyes to do anything but betray her fears.

  “We’re all going to Chinese. Family style. Want to come? It’ll help take your mind off stuff.”

  “Yeah. That sounds good.” Iris followed Thorin out of her room and back into the living room. No one had left. It seemed Thorin was the only one who realized Iris was missing. Besides Morrigan who gave her a look that plainly told Iris she knew where she’d gone. She seemed approving, though, not disappointed. Perhaps she had done the right thing after all. It lightened Iris’s spirits and eyes and made dinner a much more fun affair.

  All of Iris’s positive energy was sapped out of her by the following morning. She spent a restless night running around the now familiar mansion’s halls searching for someone. The only thing that pulled her out of them was the even more familiar pain at the back of her neck. It’d become more intense. Something Iris hadn’t thought possible.

  Chapter 22

  Though she tried, Iris wasn’t able to shove the dream to the back of her mind. It kept creeping into her thoughts at the worst times. She even found herself writing notes on the layout of the inside of the building rather than concentrating on learning how to solve the calculus problem her professor wrote on the board. Trying to learn her moves for the marching show was even worse. The third time she did the wrong move, Iris knew she had to stop before she injured herself or someone else.

  “Sorry guys. I need a minute,” she told the rest of her section and headed toward the bathroom in Wickson Hall to give herself a longer walk.

  “You all right?” Thorin called after her.

  Iris waved over her shoulder at him to indicate she wanted to be left alone. Thirty seconds later she heard someone running to catch up with her. She turned to tell Thorin off, but it was Zarina.

  “Hey, what’s up? And don’t tell me nothing. We’ve been friends for way too long for you to use that bullshit on me.”

  “I confronted Brett yesterday and I’m not sure it was a good idea.”

  “When did you do that?”

  “While you guys were all still talking about stuff in the living room. I left for my private training glade to think. Well, it turns out my glade is only a few miles from his training grounds. I sensed he was close by, so I filled with power. He showed up a few seconds later.”

  “What did you say to him?”

  “Nothing really. That I knew he was there and that he didn’t need us because he already had other people who can do magic.”

  “Brett is training other magic users?” Zarina grabbed Iris’s arm and halted her. Fear pooled in her eyes.

  “Yeah. I should have realized he was recruiting people back when Sienna was figuring everything out. I bet he could tell she was becoming a magic user. Anyway, he was training three people. They were working on air stuff.” She didn’t want to talk about their using magic to kill forest creatures.

  “Iris, we have to do something.”

  “What do you propose?”

  “I don’t know. We have to stop them or something.”

  “Stop them from what? They haven’t hurt any of us and I haven’t heard of any other random injuries that can’t be explained. They’re doing the same thing we are—learning how to use magic. Brett is just a jerk about it.”

  “But this vendetta you mentioned—”

  “I have no details about it. I have no idea what he’s planning and I highly doubt he’ll tell me if I ask.”

  “Then you have to go back to where they practice and—”

  “And what?” Iris demanded in a much louder voice than she’d anticipated. “Sorry,” she added at the hurt look Zarina gave her. “You see my point, though, right? There is nothing I can do right now. I’m not a judge or a jury. It’s not my place to decide if what he’s doing deserves imprisonment or the death penalty or whatever. I should never have confronted him. What if he comes after one of us because of my actions? It’d be all my fault if someone got hurt,” Iris finally voiced her true concern.

  Zarina didn’t respond. Iris took that to mean she agreed it would be Iris’s fault.

  “We better get back to practice.”

  Zarina nodded.

  During the next water break, Iris saw Zarina and Jaden talking. They were well away from anyone else. She was sure Zarina would relate everything Iris told her about Brett. It did nothing to help improve her mood. Once they were dismissed from practice, Iris shoved her earbuds in and turned her “Fix Me” playlist on. She wanted to make sure everyone knew she didn’t want to talk as she headed towards the Memorial Union terminal and a bus home. She’d ask a roommate to bring her to campus for practice the next day so she didn’t have to carry her horn on the bus twice.

  A knock came at her door in the Gallery before Iris boarded a bus. She tried to ignore it, but the person kept knocking. With a sigh, Iris split her mind and sent her little self to see who was calling before they barged into her mind. She was pretty sure it was Thorin trying to make sure she was okay. If she’d bet on it, Iris would have lost.

  “Zarina told me what you did. Next time I’d like to go with,” Jaden told her.

  “There’s not going to be a next time.”

  “Yes, there is. Brett needs constant reminding that we are not going to be pushed around by him. Next time you go, you’ll tell me so I can give the asshole a piece of my mind, got it?” He stalked across the Gallery to his door.

  Iris followed. “What the hell, Jaden?”

  He slammed the door in her face. Iris fumed at the centaur staring back at her. She banged on his door. Nothing but silence filled the room. She pounded on his door a second time. A third.

  “He’s not going to answer. He’s in one of his moods,” Zarina joined Iris in the Gallery.

  “What the he
ll is his problem?”

  “He’s action focused. And protective of me. I told him I bumped into Brett. Not the whole story. Just that he ran into me at the library, but it was enough to get him really upset at Brett. Sorry. I should’ve warned you.”

  “A head’s up might have been nice,” Iris said harshly. Her anger at Jaden hadn’t subsided. Nor her anger at herself for seeking Brett in the first place.

  “Just let it go. Please?”

  “Fine. I’d ask you to tell Jaden not to be an ass, but I doubt you will. I’ll see you at home.” Iris left the Gallery before Zarina could respond. She had to keep herself from slamming the door. The overly crowded bus didn’t help her mood. Iris switched to a playlist that leaned more toward heavy rock and metal. She kept her earbuds in as she microwaved herself dinner. She ate, washed her dishes and climbed into bed without speaking to any of her roommates. Her eyes remained green all evening.

  She was over it. Over Brett. Over Jaden. Over magic. She’d never wanted to be normal more in her life than she did at that moment. How stupid she’d been as a child. To wish for powers without thinking about any ramifications. She was nothing more than a naïve little girl who now had to suffer any consequences as an adult.

  Iris’s anger at her past self increased. She tossed and turned for hours before falling into an uneasy sleep. The mansion dream waited for her once more. Fear filled her as she ran from floor to floor looking for someone. A friend. It was her fault they’d been captured. Her fault they were in danger. She had to make it right. They were behind this door. They had to be.

  The incessant beeping of Iris’s alarm woke her as she turned the door handle in her dream. She half-fell off her top bunk in surprise. Thankfully Aerianna was already awake, otherwise, Iris probably would’ve kicked her in the head or something.

  “Shit!” Iris yelled to the empty room as she cognized the time. She had fifteen minutes to catch the bus, or she’d be late to Japanese. And they had a test. She did not need this today.

  Iris grabbed shorts and a shirt at random and hurried into the shower. Ten minutes later she pulled socks and shoes on as she tried to comb her hair at the same time. She scanned the room for her backpack but it wasn’t there. Iris ran to the living room, found her bag, and yelled, “Shit,” once more. Her Japanese books weren’t in it. She hustled back to her room, found the missing books, pulled a sweatshirt off the back of her chair to combat the air-conditioned classrooms, and headed out the front door. The bus passed as she locked up. The bus stop was void of people. There wouldn’t be another bus.

  “Fuck,” she groaned and unlocked the door. “Now what?” she demanded of the empty apartment.

  “Drive to campus?” Iris responded to herself.

  “No. There are never any spots this time of day. Dammit! And none of my roommates are home so I can’t ask for a ride.”

  Iris stood in the middle of the living room and tapped her left foot. She stopped as an idea blossomed in her mind.

  “Form a doorway somewhere?”

  “That’s a stupid idea . . . but you don’t really have another option besides being late to class. The only question is where to form one. I’ll ask Gavin if the bathroom in the lab is open.”

  Iris glanced at her watch as her little self headed toward the Gallery of Doors. She stopped before knocking on Gavin’s door. His shift didn’t start for another two hours.

  “Shit!”

  “The band room?” she wondered out loud in an attempt to get her brain to analyze all her other options.

  “No. No one is supposed to be in the building this time of day. If someone saw me, there’d be a lot of awkward questions. Like how I got in there without a key. Besides, the band room is across campus from where I need to be and my bike is at the MU terminal.”

  Iris checked her watch again.

  “Classes are still in session. If I open a doorway in the bathroom at Hickey, I might get away with it. Those restrooms are rarely used.”

  “It’s super risky and goes against your no-magic-in-Davis rule.” Iris looked around her empty apartment hoping a better solution would arise. She had no such luck.

  “Hickey it is.”

  Iris pulled power into her being, concentrated on her doorway and what the women’s bathroom looked like in Hickey, and released her power into her request. She put her ear to the warm wood of her door. Silence brought about a sigh of relief.

  Iris opened and stepped through her doorway as fast as she could before releasing all the power she held. She took a few minutes to calm herself before exiting the building and joining the throng of students getting off buses on their way to campus.

  “I didn’t think you were capable of anything that risky,” a voice sounded in her ear.

  “Fuck off, Brett,” Iris said without looking at the man. Her anger at herself for needing to use magic increased tenfold as it transferred to Brett.

  “Nice to see you too. I simply wanted to compliment you on your guts. You have a lot more than I realized. And great control. And speed. I’m impressed,” he praised her. “I assume you overslept. Perhaps if you went to bed earlier, you wouldn’t have to take such careless risks. Just a thought. Have a nice day and pleasant dreams tonight,” Brett added with a smile and a wave.

  If there hadn’t been a swarm of students around her, Iris would have stopped from shock. Instead, she was shuffled forward with the press of bodies trying to make it to class as her thoughts honed in on Brett’s statement.

  Was he manipulating her dreams? He couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. Or was it? It could explain why she always woke with the pain at the back of her neck. She thought that had been because he was practicing magic of his own, or searching her out. Not because he was actually using it on her. How had she not considered this perspective in more detail?

  Iris had never tried to manipulate someone else’s dreams. It seemed too invasive. But was it any more invasive than having doors directly to all of her friends’ minds in the back of hers? Iris was still contemplating dream manipulation when she walked into her Japanese class. It took Matt snapping his fingers in front of her face to bring her out of her internal contemplations.

  “Sorry, what?”

  “I said do you want to come over after practice tonight for pizza and a movie?”

  Heat rose from Iris’s neck into her cheeks. It continued upward. Her eyes tingled. She smiled at him.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Meet you at the band room after practice?”

  “Okay,” she somehow got out.

  Matt smiled back at her.

  Though Brett’s comments about her dreams were still prominent in Iris’s thoughts the rest of the day, all she had to do was think about dinner and a movie at Matt’s to brush it aside. It was glorious. Thoughts of a normal evening helped her to concentrate better on her classes, work, and marching practice. By the time six-fifteen and the end of practice rolled around, her mood had improved immensely.

  “You’re a lot happier today,” Thorin told her as they walked back to the band room. “Want to get a bite?”

  “I’ve got dinner plans. Thanks, though.”

  “Who with?”

  “Matt.”

  “Seriously, Iris? You’re still hanging out with that guy? You know it’s never going to work out, right?”

  Iris’s eyes flared so hot she knew they’d flashed to green. “Thorin, go fuck yourself. Have a nice evening,” Iris added. She caught a glimpse of Sienna’s unmistakable hair and jogged a few paces to catch up with her. Her desire to have nothing to do with magic peaked.

  Chapter 23

  Shall We Dance, the Japanese version and pizza were exactly what Iris needed. Snuggling into Matt’s arms on the couch felt right. More. It felt normal. Warmth bloomed in Iris’s chest. It spread throughout her body. She knew her eyes reflected her good mood until she said good night several hours later. The slight twinge in her eyes matched the soft sensation of sadness that settled into her soul. She didn’t want to
go back to reality.

  Matt gave her a tight hug at the door followed by a goodnight kiss. She returned the kiss with a few more and was all smiles when they broke apart. He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled back at her.

  “Purple,” he said after a few moments. “That’s a new color. I like it.”

  Iris’s already warm cheeks grew hot. She looked away. Matt pulled her into another hug.

  “You free tomorrow night?” he whispered in her ear before releasing her once more.

  Iris shook her head. “We have section stuff tomorrow night.”

  “What about Saturday?”

  “I’m free as of right now.”

  “Great. I’ll pick you up at five. Wear something nice, but warm. It can still be a little chilly after the sun sets.”

  Iris gave him one more kiss before heading to her car. She felt lighter than she had in a very long time. It was a glorious sensation she hoped would last forever, but it was obliterated the second she walked in her front door.

  “Hey, Iris,” Rozlynd called from the couch. “So, I’ve been thinking about this Brett problem and—”

  Iris didn’t pause to listen. She walked straight past Rozlynd and went to her room without opening her mouth. Unfortunately, Aerianna was there.

  “Hey, did Rozlynd talk to you about Brett because we think we have a solution.”

  Iris locked herself in the bathroom and sank to the floor. She longed to stay there until five p.m. on Saturday but knew she couldn’t. Instead, she pulled herself together enough to tell Rozlynd and Aerianna she was exhausted and asked if they could tell her about their Brett solutions the following evening. She hoped they’d forget about it by Saturday. Iris wasn’t that lucky.

  “You could’ve mentioned you had section stuff last night,” Rozlynd chided Saturday morning.

  Iris’s hopes of sneaking out to let off some magical steam were thwarted in an instant. “Sorry. I completely forgot about it. I’m heading out. Did you want to talk about? something”