by E A Foley
Chapter 27
Iris’s guard was up from the moment she walked into the building. The prickling sensation at the back of her neck was a full-blown annoyance. She had to try very hard not to continually rub or scratch at it. Though she longed to pull some power into her being, something held her back. Iris concentrated on the prickling sensation. Someone was holding onto power close by.
“Come dance with us, Iris!” Violet called.
Iris put on a fake smile and joined her friends. She used the opportunity to move about and search the surrounding people for the magic user. It felt like they were circling around her. She tried to follow their movements from where she danced, but the edges of the room were too dark for her to see into. The movement stopped as the song transitioned into a new one. The pain at the back of her neck disappeared.
An uneasiness filled her stomach. She wondered if the person could sense her and her friends or if they were reacting to the power the nine of them had used at the beach nearby. Maybe that was it. Perhaps if they didn’t use magic themselves, this unknown magic user wouldn’t be able to locate them. Iris held onto that thought as she danced. Each song brought more joy.
A fifth song started. The pain at the back of her neck reappeared and intensified. Like the person was close to her. Iris’s eyes seared. Her mouth was dry. She frantically searched the other people on the dance floor. Familiar faces surrounded her. She’d never felt another magic user at Pacific. Had she been wrong? Her eyes slowed their search of the room. There were other faces here and there she didn’t recognize. Dates. Chaperones. Teachers she’d never had and their spouses. Any of them could be the magic user.
Iris left the dance floor on the pretense of getting a drink. Purpose filled her. It stemmed her fears. The magic user was off to her right. She moved toward the spot, and it moved into a dense group of Pacific students. Iris continued past the students to a table with bottled water in buckets of ice. She grabbed a bottle and headed outside. The prickling sensation followed her to the door. Iris started to wonder if there were two magic users. She couldn’t tell.
She found a small cluster of band friends and joined them so she could watch the door she’d exited. Though she analyzed every person who exited the door, none of them were magic users. When she lost all traces of the person once more, Iris went back inside. Either they knew she was a magic user and were trying to avoid her, or they had no clue. Their movements had been just erratic enough for her to remain undecided on the matter.
She prepared herself mentally for an attack. There was something different about this person’s magic. It felt like they wanted to hurt someone with it. The prickling sensation came and went throughout the night. Sometimes it felt like the person was across the room from her. Other times she thought they were next to her. Iris almost hit Rowen when she turned around too fast in search of the magic user at one point. It felt as though they were inches from her. But the only people there were the nine friends she’d come to prom with.
The night dragged on for Iris. The magic user disappeared and never resurfaced after she thought they were next to her. Though she was prepared for an attack, one didn’t come. Perhaps if any of her friends had used magic during the dance, they would have been attacked. She didn’t have nearly as much fun as she should have and was exhausted by the time she got home.
Thoughts on the negative vibes she’d received from the new magic user consumed Iris from the moment she entered her room. She threw her clutch and shoes in a corner, unzipped her dress and let it crumple to the floor. She didn’t get to sleep until well after three in the morning, when the prickling finally disappeared. The mansion awaited. It led to an unrestful night’s sleep.
Thankfully, her mom let her sleep in. Sleep did nothing for her worries or mood, though. Iris stayed in her room and distractedly worked on a few final homework assignments and projects that were due before graduation in a few weeks.
Her mind strayed to the previous evening in between every problem. It crept in mid-sentence and she found her fingers typing the questions running through her mind rather than the second body paragraph of her final essay for English. Even a break for dinner and conversation with her parents couldn’t get her mind to shift away from her worries. Once back in her room, Iris stood in the doorway and stared at her dress, shoes, and clutch.
She grabbed a hanger from her closet and picked her dress up off the floor. She re-zipped it and gave it a few shakes before placing it on the hanger and into her closet. The shoes went on her shoe rack after she made sure they truly were void of any sand. Iris opened her purse and poured its contents out onto her desk. A folded piece of paper joined the cash, driver’s license, spare lip gloss, and other assorted items.
Iris stared at the piece of paper. She definitely had not folded up anything and shoved it in her purse the previous day or night. Something was wrong. She couldn’t face the paper. Didn’t want to unfold it to find something written on it. She attempted homework, but thoughts of the paper consumed her. Iris gave up on her homework and sent her mind to the Gallery of Doors where she could read the letter in private.
I know who you are. I know what you are. You are a child playing at things you do not understand and you have no idea what this world holds for you. What this power can mean for you. You and your friends should join me. I can teach you everything you need to know and more. Join me and reach your full potential. Refuse me and face the consequences of a life you are too naive to understand.
“Shit! What the hell have I gotten myself into? My friends into?” Iris asked the emptiness surrounding her.
“You knew you weren’t the only magic users out there,” she countered herself.
“But thus far, they’ve all been really nice people. Jaden, Rowen, even the guy in Disneyland was cautionary, not confrontational,” she was in full conversation mode with herself.
“But he did warn you.”
“He warned us not to continue with magic. Not about watching out for other people who are evil or something and leave threatening letters in purses.”
“His warning was so much more than that and you know it. Why else would he tell you not to draw attention to him?”
“Fine! It was, you’re right. There! Are you happy?” she demanded of herself.
“No. I’m even more pissed off! Why the hell didn’t I listen to him? I thought about quitting magic. About telling everyone they had to stop. But I, I . . .”
“Was too much of a coward to tell your friends they’d have to stop too?”
“Bingo. Shit! What do I do now?” Iris pleaded of the silent room. She didn’t answer herself this time. She had no answer. Instead, she paced in a circle around the room before weaving between the doors like they were cones in a soccer practice drill she used to do as a kid.
Iris was a wreck when she showed up to school Monday morning. Her eyes had settled on a twin-suns-as-seen-though-a-veil-of-wildfire-smoke coloration the previous night and hadn’t budged. She doubted they would change for a few days. Everyone in the group knew something was up, but Iris put off a heavy leave-me-the-f-alone vibe, so they did. Her sunglasses kept them from determining her mood.
She kept her mouth shut and head down throughout the day. Tried and failed to focus on her work. Somehow she managed to make it at least look like she was taking notes and paying attention. If she hadn’t, one of her teachers would surely have spoken up. Especially since her moods had shifted so much toward the positive in the last two months.
Tuesday was no better than Monday. Iris had lost her appetite. Her focus was shot. All she could do was think about magic and the person from prom. The sensation that they wanted to hurt someone. Iris had never experienced anything like it in her life. If they’d confronted her, she’d probably have wound up sobbing on the floor, or running away, or cowering in a corner begging for her life. That was no way to act as a leader.
The thoughts consumed her throughout first and second periods. Before the bell rang for the beg
inning of break, Brett leaned over and asked, “What happened to all that bravado you suddenly found the last few weeks? Karma slap you in the face and you realize you’re nothing more than a scared little girl?” He laughed as she tilted her head down and looked away from him.
Her eyes sank deeper into the brown and grey tones of depression and sadness. Who was she kidding? How did she ever think she could be a leader of anything? Brett was right. She’d been playing at having confidence and being a leader. It’d all been an act. This was who she really was. A nameless face in the crowd that was better off hiding than drawing attention to itself.
She didn’t want to lead anyone, let alone fight anyone. She wasn’t strong enough to fight. Roz or Aeri or Cirrus or Morrigan. They were leaders. They’d been in competitive sports. They possessed that drive. Maybe not to fight per se, but definitely not to back down and cower in a corner in a ball of wailing sobs. It wasn’t worth it. Magic wasn’t worth losing her life over. She had to stop. Had to tell all of them to stop. Had to make her friends see reason. The dangers that they could face. Death was not an acceptable consequence.
Iris had worked herself up to telling her friends everything when she arrived on campus Wednesday morning. She approached the group, thankful that everyone was there already so she wouldn’t have time to second-guess herself or need to repeat herself. She squared her shoulders, inserted herself into her circle of friends, and panicked. Her head dropped so her eyes stared at her feet. The all too familiar tightness in her throat and churning to her stomach were back. She couldn’t do it. The bell rang and she shuffled off to band without a word.
Break came and went and still Iris didn’t say anything. Couldn’t say anything. What was wrong with her? How had she reverted to her pre-magic self so quickly? It was a horrible sensation. She was invisible to others on campus once more. Instead of joining her friends for lunch, she found a secluded corner of campus close to her fifth period class. A bite of sandwich and a cookie was as much as she could stomach.
When the bell rang for fifth period, Iris wandered to class as if in a daze. She made sure to take a seat in a corner and was glad when other classmates filled in the surrounding chairs before Violet arrived.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” Violet confronted Iris in her corner at the end of class. She sealed off any and all escape routes.
Iris looked down and shook her head. Words wouldn’t form. Her eyes stung; not from their color changing, but from tears that formed. She did everything possible to keep them from falling. The last thing she needed was to break down while still on campus. After several swallows and a few fallen tears that she scrubbed away during fake sneezes, Iris had better control over herself and emotions. “I need to go,” she said with a slight quiver in her voice.
“Sure. I’ll walk with you to the back parking lot.”
Iris got the impression that even if she protested the offer, Violet was going to walk her anyway. By the time they reached her car, neither of them had said a word. Iris unlocked her car door, went to toss her backpack on the front passenger seat, and found it already occupied by Violet. Instead, she tossed her backpack on a rear seat and climbed into the car.
“What is going on?” Violet demanded.
“We can’t do magic anymore. It’s too dangerous.” The words tumbled from Iris’s mouth before she could think about them.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s too dangerous’?”
Iris squirmed in her seat. Rolled her shoulders. Looked anywhere but at Violet. “There was someone using magic at prom who gave off a weird vibe.”
“So you’re saying we have to stop using magic because someone at prom gave you a weird vibe? That’s a pretty poor reason, Iris.”
“It wasn’t just a weird vibe. It . . . it felt like they wanted to hurt someone. I’ve never felt that before.”
“I’m sure it was nothing. Maybe someone was upset at having to chaperone prom. Hell, it may not have even been anyone close by, you know.”
“But until then, I didn’t know people like that existed. People who wanted to injure others. Vi, I was scared all night. On edge that if any of you used magic there’d be a huge fight and someone would get hurt or worse. I can’t have that on my conscience. I’m not a fighter. I can’t . . . I couldn’t . . .” Iris broke off. Her throat wouldn’t let any more words leak out.
“Who said anything about needing to fight? You’re imagining the worst-case scenario. I’m sure everything would have been just fine. Besides, there were nine of us. We could’ve handled anything.”
All Iris could do was stare at Violet. She didn’t get it. Of course Vi didn’t get it. Iris hadn’t shared about the guy in Disneyland or the fact that she’d felt another magic user on Cirrus’s street, or the letter, or . . . That was it. No one would ever feel the same sense of foreboding because Iris was trying to keep all the bad things away from her friends. She’d have to keep trying to make them see without scaring them too much.
After a few minutes of silence, Violet spoke up once more. “Feeling any better?”
“Yeah,” Iris lied. “Still, I think we should use caution and maybe back off on how much magic we’re using in public.”
“I’m sure everyone can agree to that. See you tomorrow!” With a wave and a smile, Violet let herself out of Iris’s car.
Iris sat for a few more moments and thought about Violet’s comments. Somehow, she’d have to convince all of her friends to give up their newfound powers. And soon.
Chapter 28
No brilliant ideas struck Iris on her drive home nor that evening, but she was determined to tell her friends to give magic a break for the next few weeks. She wrote and scribbled out hundreds of notes she made herself in Mr. Downs’s class the following morning. Unfortunately, he noticed. When the bell rang to signal the beginning of morning break, he asked her to stay behind for a minute.
“Are you all right, Iris?”
She nodded and stared at the floor.
“I can’t assess your answer for truthfulness if you don’t look at me. Thank you.”
He stared at Iris for several quiet moments. She was sure he’d never seen her eyes any shade of amber. He refrained from asking her what the color meant. She was grateful. It loosened the knot in her stomach. Her eyes twinged.
“Now, what’s going on this week? I thought you’d finally come out of your shell in the last few months, but then Monday you were back to your zombielike self. Head down. Shoulders hunched. Mouth shut. What’s up?”
Iris stared at Mr. Downs. She didn’t know how to bring up her problems without talking about magic.
“If you don’t want to talk to me, I can give you some resources. I know high school isn’t easy and your experiences haven’t been the greatest, but it’s almost over. There is so much more out there beyond the stilted minds of teenagers. So many more experiences worth having.”
“I know there are,” Iris finally found her voice. “And I’m pretty used to the assholes around here now.”
“Then what has you in this funk?” Mr. Downs’s tone changed from quiet concern to avid interest.
“I’ve kept a few things from my friends and I’m ashamed to tell them about now because it’s been so long. But I think I have to tell them.”
“Iris, they’re your friends. They’ll forgive you. I promise.”
“What if they don’t?”
“Then maybe they aren’t the right friends for you. Wouldn’t you rather know the whole story than bits and pieces of it?”
“Yeah,” Iris agreed with a few nods.
“Then there’s your answer. Now, get out of here and enjoy your break. And I don’t want to see sad, mopey Iris in my classroom for the rest of the school year. Got it?”
“Got it. Thanks, Mr. Downs.”
Iris headed toward the usual morning break spot. As she walked, she thought about Mr. Downs’s advice. Even though he told her to tell her friends everything, she wasn’t sure the timing was right. Instead, she asked them
all to lay off magic use as a precaution because she thought she felt another magic user at prom and wanted to see if she could locate the person. Something she would have a harder time accomplishing with all of her friends using magic. They were reluctant to do it, but they all agreed. Zarina and Roz said they’d pass the message on to Jaden and Rowen, but she doubted either one would heed it since they weren’t close to Pacific.
It did, however, give Iris the opportunity to try to track down magic users beyond the city limits of Pacific. Not being able to focus on her high school friends anymore, Iris started with Rowen. She kept the smallest trickle of magic constantly flowing through her being and kept Rowen in the back of her mind that evening while working on homework, but there was nothing.
Iris attempted the same task the following two nights as well. She was on the verge of giving up and going to bed when the faintest tickling sensation at the back of her neck gave her pause. She focused on the source. Drew in a little more power. The magic felt familiar. Iris closed her eyes to focus further and a dark room with a glowing light source flashed through her mind. Shock opened her eyes.
Before closing them once more, Iris tried to analyze what she’d seen. She was sure it’d been a room—a bedroom to be more specific—and the person was using a light source. That was the magic she’d felt. The image of the room was rather vague and hazy, like she was looking through a thin layer of fog, or was underwater without goggles on. The magic felt like Rowen’s. As she thought about him once more, Iris could feel his presence grow stronger. She closed her eyes again and concentrated on Rowen and the magic he was using.
Iris was back in the dark room with the light source. The room’s details sharpened a fraction but still remained hazy. Rowen lay on his bed, hovering a light source above his head. It changed colors. Contracted to a pinpoint, then expanded into a large blob that wavered on the edges. It looked as though the light were trying to break free of its confines.