by Emma Nicole
Seraphina practiced pausing objects in mid-air like she always had. Kai threw tennis balls at her for her to freeze. But they rarely pushed her powers to what they were meant to do. She had the potential to move through time and she had twice. The first had destroyed the paradox, a place for the scientists to hide the Gems and the second had allowed them to escape Faerie. Since the first use had destroyed a world, throwing the Gems across England and had gotten them all killed they were too wary to do much else. So Seraphina blocked rapid fire tennis balls, until she could focus on more than one at a time. Kai closed and locked his door and she would practice picking locks. She’d put an object in the hall, Glamour it and wait for a hunter who wasn’t looking hard enough to trip over it. She was never going to master one thing, but she’d be good at everything.
But as Seraphina had predicted those guys began to leer at them again. Kai and Seraphina had started to eat in the cafeteria at normal times again, partly because classes and their personal magic training took up the rest of their time. Seraphina and Kai’s hearing was better than the average human’s and so she could pick up their hateful conversations. Sometimes the guys around that one big table in the cafeteria were just talking about monsters in general, vampires or werewolves but sometimes it was Kai and Seraphina. It put the two of them on edge.
We must do something, Seraphina said to Kai mentally. She didn’t feel safe talking to him out loud in the cafeteria anymore.
You don’t live in the same dormitory as them.
Seraphina froze, her grip tightening on her knife and fork. They haven’t done anything to you?
Not really.
“Not really?” Seraphina drawled. “Kai?” Kieran?
Nothing but petty bullying, they’ve always done it.
Seraphina could see glimpses of what they’d said through Kai’s mind. They bullied him about his longer hair that he used as a back-up to hide his high-fae ears and how it made him look girly. They said he was too thin, which was a problem all Gems in the same genetic line as him had. Kai ate a lot but he struggled to keep the weight on, Larna, another Gem had the same problem. She did have the same problem. Seraphina thought grimly.
Kai placed a hand over hers. The scientists pushed you. It’s their fault it happened. The paradox had to be unstable.
What do we know about paradoxes and time travel? Seraphina eyed her half-eaten baked potato, she’d lost her appetite.
The truth was the both of them knew very little about their existences as Gems, they’d never been told more than they needed to know at that present time.
“Oooooooo,” Nor crowed as he past Seraphina and Kai’s table. “Couldn’t find a normal girlfriend, Kai?”
Seraphina’s cheeks heated as she stood up, but she still had to look up at Nor.
“Having your girlfriend fight your battles for you?” Nor jeered.
“Look at me.” Seraphina hissed.
“What are you going to do?” Nor took a step closer and his friends behind him let out a cheering sound.
“Yes,” said an all too familiar voice a table over. “What are you both going to do? Nothing that involves fighting behind a church at 2AM, I hope.”
They all froze as Ignatius Cross IV had turned around in his chair to look at them all, those strange eyes assessing each one.
Nor and the other guys slowly walked away with their finished dinner trays in hand, casting worried glances back at him.
Ignatius rose from his table, where he’d been eating with other hunters who all looked at least five years older than him and as if they actually were hunters. This guy was in a different league. “Seraphina, a word?”
She nodded as she followed him outside of the cafeteria. He led her up the stairs and then in to the room Seraphina recognised as the Ignatius Cross the leader’s office. But it was empty when Ignatius opened the door with a key card from his pocket.
The room had a giant bookcase with bright leather bindings to one side, a large leafy pot plant and an armchair. There was a large white electric heater at one side, which was thankfully unplugged. Ignatius sat himself down behind the large desk at the end of the room which was currently stacked with papers.
“You can’t make such plans in a busy cafeteria, especially in your position,” he said.
“I didn’t make any plans if you were listening.”
“If I hadn’t interrupted, would you have made those plans?”
“I wasn’t going to fight anyone,” Seraphina said and shoved her hands in to her pockets. “I know when it’s a loss.”
“What were you going to do?”
“Do you like to feel self-important sitting in your father’s chair?”
“Yes.” Ignatius said and spun in the chair for a moment. “I thought you’d want to know about the results of your polygraph.”
“I assumed since I’ve heard nothing else you’ve seen I was telling the truth.” Seraphina said. “The dagger wasn’t mine.”
“Yes, the polygraph indicated that you weren’t lying.” Ignatius got up from the chair, putting his finger on one of the sheaths of papers. “But polygraphs aren’t the most accurate of tests, they’re mostly used to incite fear. It didn’t really work with you, did it?”
“Why would I be afraid of a machine?” Seraphina clenched her hands in to fists in her pockets. This guy was barely older than her and yet he scared her, he seemed to see through what everyone else merely looked over or took no notice of. “Power kills machines and I have it, a machine can’t hurt me. Why would I be afraid of a machine if I was telling the truth?”
“I know you purchased a dagger from the shop. I asked the owner, he remembers you and that’s the problem, you might be good at talking your way out of things but you stick out like a sore thumb. You’re not stupid, you survived living in Faerie for a year and in a Court. I think when Daria and Yates came to your door that night you took your dagger because why would you go when you know you couldn’t fight others hand to hand? You know your weaknesses so you made up for them.”
“I have magic, I don’t need weapons.”
“Magic that kills. When you saw Kai was in trouble you used your magic then and only then. The dagger wouldn’t kill someone if you chose not to use it in such a way.”
“If you’re accusing me of taking my dagger to that fight, Ignatius, I will bring you the dagger that is still in my room.” She met those dark eyes and didn’t look away. She’d fooled fae, she could fool a hunter and if he did want to see a dagger she’d get a new one somehow.
“I don’t need to see it.” He said and walked around the room. “I’m sure you’re resourceful enough to have found a new one by now, I don’t know how you made the money to get the first one. This is not the reason I wanted to talk to you. What do you know about orphanages?”
“Orphanages? Kai and I grew up in one before we were abducted. They’re full of kids, it’s a lot like living in a school…”
Ignatius grinned and shook his head. “I know that story of yours is a lie. Do you know when the last orphanage closed, Seraphina?”
She’d realised the hole in her lie days after telling it to the hunters. They’d seemed so surprised when she’d lied and said her and Kai were from an orphanage, so she’d searched the definition of the word on the internet. That’s when she’d discovered that they didn’t exist anymore but it wasn’t as if she could rehash her lie and those hunters had still swallowed that lie, for what reason she couldn’t fathom. “Not really, but we were in a foster care home with eight other kids. Might as well have been an orphanage.”
“Mmm,” Ignatius said. “You see, my father thought that’s what you meant too. But I have a different theory, you’re either a dirty liar or you spent far more than a year in Faerie. You and Kai could be maybe hundreds of years old. Those sorts of homes would report two missing children and there are no reports, or anything that would match the two of you.”
“Our carers probably wanted to cover their asses, or the fae got them to
o.”
“The fae are not normally so thorough, they don’t abduct unimportant kids like yourselves with great plans. They most likely saw an opportune moment.”
Seraphina looked at the carpet for a moment. She could tell him about the library that was damaged during their abduction, there would be news on that but at the same time would that date be the same as when the Gems were revealed? She couldn’t risk the connection. “You’re crazy,” she finally said and shook her head. “You’re obsessed. I just want to live my life, train and protect people.”
“You’re a good liar, Seraphina.”
“How do you know what I want to do?”
He ignored her, he stepped around the table and leaned against it. “Do you know how I know you’re a good liar, Seraphina? It takes one to know one. You can lie without flinching, you’re a borderline sociopath. You show little remorse.”
“Excuse you –”
“As I said, it takes one to know one.”
Seraphina was just in front of the door and she was all too aware that she could leave any time she wanted, but leaving could make her appear guilty. Sociopath. She didn’t know what the word meant, she knew psychopath was essentially a crazy person and by the way he spoke this couldn’t be so dissimilar. She wanted to leave, gather her thoughts and thoroughly read a dictionary. She dragged in a breath. “What do you want Ignatius? You’re hassling a thirteen year old girl who gets beaten up by her peers for looking different.”
“Ah, now you’re playing the weaker card. You could also be two hundred and thirteen. And what do I want? The truth, not that I believe you’re going to hand that me on a silver platter as nice as that would be. So I thought I’d let you know, I’m watching you.”
Seraphina nodded. “Well, if you’re watching so closely, I hope you can stop those who are plotting to kill me.” With that she opened the door, shutting it behind her.
The air seemed cooler outside and it took her a moment to realise she was shaking. Her heart thundered in her chest and she made a bee-line for the stairs before Ignatius found her. He couldn’t see her like this, worried, he’d know he’d got to her.
Kai was waiting just outside the building and he fell in to step beside her. The summer sun bore down on them and it did little to alleviate the waves of panic that washed over her. She turned towards the exit from the great carpark in front of the castle that even normal people used, unaware of the castle in front of them, invisible to their eyes.
“Where are we going?” Kai asked after a moment.
He didn’t ask about what happened, meaning he’d likely been eavesdropping. The thought bothered her a little.
“We need to get back at Nor and that lot, they’re getting braver again. Fighting them head on is off the table, almost anything like that is.”
“So?”
“We need to do what we’re good at. Something they wouldn’t think of.”
“I don’t follow. They can do pretty much everything better. We have to be careful.”
“We have to keep true to our story. Orphans, abducted by fae and now hunters in training. If we follow what people expect of us they won’t doubt us.”
“I do like the sound of where this is going,” Kai murmured and for once Seraphina couldn’t tell if he was joking.
Chapter Seven
The plan itself was rather simple. After their gym class the next day everyone went to shower, except Seraphina and Kai. The showers were communal, stubby walls separated one cubicle from another and a flimsy curtain could be pulled over to preserve dignity. Nor and most of his group all lived separately from their families in the boy’s dormitory and therefore showered there after class. The cackling laughter could be heard from the down the hall as Seraphina and Kai crept along. Their pockets were stowed with tiny herbal packages they’d harvested from around Hyde Park last night. The fae were everywhere, even central London and if a someone knew where to look they would find plants never documented by humans. The combination of those herbs and water would give off a rather pungent smell.
“Ready?” She whispered.
Kai grinned impishly and if he hadn’t been Glamouring his ears he would have looked the part of a mischievous fae. “Now.”
They both grabbed the bundles, rolling their shoulders back before pelting the herbs in to the showers. Shouts of surprise and then horror leaked out of the room as the smell made itself known. The urge to laugh built up in Seraphina’s chest but she crushed it down as her and Kai dived further down the hall.
“Okay,” Seraphina said and looked to Kai for the next part of their plan.
Kai closed his eyes, a crease formed between his dark brows as he concentrated on lifting the Glamour up around them, making them invisible. It was a tough trick, this Glamour had to be as good as the one of his ears in order to work, it was much bigger than anything he’d tried before. The smell of sharp lemons surrounded them, it was the scent of Kai’s magic when used in great concentration.
The guys began to stumble out of the bathroom coughing, their hands to their noses and others clutching the towels around their waists.
Now, it was Seraphina’s turn. She willed a Glamour in place just in front of them. She conjured dark images of them all, almost reflections of all the guys but edited slightly to not look right. She made their eyes glow, or look too small for their faces. She skewed Nor’s big fat face to appear like an ogre, with bulging teeth that almost bounced out of his mouth and a nose the shape of a club. It was almost enjoyable, letting her imagination run wild like this. She was only creating images from experience, of seeing fae that appeared almost human but had these minor defects. If Daria had been in on this she would have probably thought of something much better.
At the first the guys were dumbstruck by the images, but as Nor went to touch his reflection a sharp wind bowled him over, ripping his towel from him. Seraphina averted her eyes quickly to glare at Kai, who she couldn’t even see.
Yates let out a whimpering noise and turned to run in their direction.
Let’s go! Kai called, his laughter rumbled through Seraphina’s mind.
They sprinted down the hall, barely in front of Yates before going all the way up to Seraphina’s room.
Kai let out a sigh as he dropped the Glamour on them back in their own space. “I wish I could have stayed to see their faces!” He crowed, now with his ears revealed he looked very much the part of the toying faerie. “And stop comparing me to them, I see you doing it.”
“Sorry,” Seraphina said with a smile. She glanced at the door. “You know, I don’t think that helped us at all. I don’t think they’ll stop. They might not even realise it’s us and telling them we screwed with them won’t help us.”
“But it was hilarious!”
“It was,” Seraphina murmured.
Thank you for reading Hallowed Omen! If you want to hear any future news about The Gem Experiment series or any other stories I may write, please follow me on Twitter or my blog. Let me know your thoughts, or if you just want to say hi.
Also, please don’t forget to leave a review!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Emma__Nicole
Blog: https://emmanicolethewriter.wordpress.com
More novellas coming soon! Also check out the novel, The Gem Experiments, set four years after the events in Hallowed Omen.
Seraphina Luxgrove is a Gem, a science experiment and to most that means she’s one of the monsters too.
Seraphina sought refuge with the Lionhearts four years ago, claiming the fae abducted her and made her this way. It worked, little did they know they were harbouring and training a Gem as one of their own hunters. But pretending to be normal, or at least as normal as a fae-touched monster hunter can be, is never an easy thing. It means never letting anyone get close enough to see the cracks in her disguise. It makes every conversation a game and a relationship even more dangerous. But Seraphina is accustomed to danger, after all she hunts monsters for a living and she’s damn good at it.
But something else was better. It got her – stole her memories and now every time Seraphina tries to remember she loses time. But who can she turn to, the zealous Lionhearts or the monsters she kills?