by Oxford, Rain
It felt too easy, like this was a trap. Like this was Gale’s plan all along. I tried to think how killing him could possibly help him. Felicity, dead or alive, wouldn’t want him dead. Krechea wouldn’t want him dead if they were working together. I knew something was wrong.
“Kill him now,” Darwin said. Many more people were going to die if I didn’t kill him.
Gale smirked. “You won this battle, but I won the war.”
“You’re dead.”
“So are you.”
I slid the blade into his chest. It was the only way to save the students. Guilt tried to claw its way into me. As he died, still grinning, I felt dread. Dread quickly gave way to pain. It was like a weight on my chest so heavy I couldn’t breathe.
I was sweating when I collapsed in the rocks, clutching my chest from the deep pain and unable to breathe. I saw Darwin panic as darkness clouded my vision, but I couldn’t hear him.
Gale was right.
Chapter 14
I woke. Considering I knew for a fact that I had died on the battle field, that was quite an accomplishment. The pain in my head was only surpassed by the pain in my chest, but I opened my eyes. Fortunately, it wasn’t very bright.
I was in an office at the school, in a hospital bed with an IV in me. There was a desk, a few chairs, a fireplace, and a couch. Darwin was asleep on the couch, Henry was sitting on the floor in his jaguar form, and Vincent was in one of the chairs by the fireplace. My sword was on the desk, looking no different than any non-magical sword.
I tried to sit up, but the tightness in my chest was too strong. I gave up when nausea threatened to make me black out again. Although I had no dreams, I could tell that I had slept for too long. It felt like I came too close to never opening my eyes again. I patted my chest, confused as to why it felt so tight when I didn’t have a bandage around it, and felt something metal. I lifted the talisman so that I didn’t have to contort myself to see it.
It was a gold scorpion, about an inch long.
“Don’t take it off,” Vincent said.
I let it go. “What happened? I thought I was dead.”
“You were. We got you back, only for you to die again.” His tone was somber, as if he had just gone through the most stressful thing he had ever experienced and now he was just drained.
“How did I die? He didn’t touch me.”
“Officially, it was a massive heart attack. He didn’t need to touch you; he had your blood.”
“He must have been waiting to use it until he got the amulet. In the end, I think he just wanted me dead. So I’m okay now?” He shook his head and stared into the fire. “What do you mean ‘no’? I’m alive.”
“There is no cure for what he did.”
“But it was contagion magic. The magic should have died with him! Would you look at me?! I’m not dead!” Sharp pain stabbed me in the chest and made me gasp for breath. He did look at me for about two seconds before looking at Darwin instead.
“Your heart is damaged beyond what healing magic can do. That pendant contains the strongest healing magic any of us know. If you take it off, you will have a few minutes at the most. Even with it, your life will be much shorter.”
“How long?”
“How long exactly depends on how easy you take it.”
“How long?” I asked again. Instead of answering, he stood up and left.
“Fifteen to twenty years if you’re careful,” Darwin said.
I closed my eyes, not allowing any panic in. Or at least I tried. “I can do a lot in fifteen to twenty years. Who knows, maybe they’ll find a cure by then. How was he able to do magic if you took his magic with the amulet?”
He didn’t answer, so I looked at him. His blue eyes were bloodshot and full of unshed tears. He shook his head. “I don’t know. It couldn’t have been… he must have gotten magic from something else.”
“From Krechea,” I said, nodding.
“Magic doesn’t work that way. You can’t just give your magic to someone. The amulet is an anomaly.”
“No, but you can share it with your familiar.” I smirked when I saw the confusion on his face. “Gale was Krechea’s familiar. That’s how Krechea’s shadow walkers had the power to possess the students and why Gale gave them commands.”
“How did you get that from Gale saying he knew Krechea?”
“It was Vincent’s book. Ghost wasn’t Vincent’s first familiar. Gale wasn’t Krechea’s first, either. There was a bunch of things, though. How long has it been?”
“You were critical for two days. You’ve been unconscious for two weeks. None of your professors are going to flunk you; they all know you saved everyone. You could pretty much not show up to any class for the rest of the semester and most of them would give you honors.”
“Where is Astrid?”
“She never returned.”
I maneuvered my legs over the side of the bed and sat up slowly.
Darwin was instantly on my right, ready to catch me with his gloved hands if I fell. “You shouldn’t be sitting up!” he said.
“Then I really shouldn’t be walking.” I stood, wobbled, and had to grab onto the side of the bed to keep from falling. Henry growled, but he wasn’t challenging me; he was asking if I wanted help. I was glad to see his fangs had almost completely grown back in. “You and I need to talk, but it can wait.” I realized I was wearing a hospital gown. “Seriously?”
Darwin handed me a white t-shirt and dark blue pajama bottoms. “We were more concerned with your heart than your clothes. Nobody thought you would jump out of bed and go flashing people already.”
I was able to dress myself unaided, but it was slow and painful. When I made it out the door, Henry was right beside me in case I needed help. I figured he was staying in his cat form so he didn’t have to speak.
“Is Addison okay?” I asked. He nodded. “Was that knife wound a problem?” He shook he head. “There should be a therapist on campus.” He nodded.
I made it okay to Langril’s classroom, where he was sitting with his feet up on his desk. “Where is Astrid?”
“Where is my ball?”
“Darwin, go get the red ball off my desk,” I said.
He glared at Langril. “If you take a step towards Devon, Henry will make sure you never see any of your balls again.”
The jaguar huffed in agreement. Langril just smirked.
“You could have gotten the ball on your own,” I said, sitting down in the seat next to the door. Henry stayed right beside me like a guard dog. I wondered what the jaguar would look like with a spiked collar.
Langril shrugged. “I thought you would try to blackmail me for it and I didn’t want to deprive you of that.”
“It was Astrid you saved in that alleyway, right? The baby?”
“Yes.”
“The man Astrid called her grandfather wasn’t her grandfather, right?”
“Right.”
“Who was he?”
“Ceyax. He was Krechea’s familiar.”
Darwin returned then with the red foam ball, which he gave to me. “Where is Astrid?” I asked again. He held out his hand. After a moment of hesitation, I tossed it to him.
“She’s smart. You two have a very strong mental connection, to the point where you were sharing memories. The memories themselves were brought on by you using the amulet. Any object that power is going to affect you mentally, including your repressed memories. I’ve been helping both of you since you were children because I had a use for you. That included giving her my blood to weaken Krechea’s control over her.”
“How are you tied into this?”
“Grab a chair and come closer.”
Accustomed to his peculiar behavior, I did as he asked without arguing. I set my chair in front of his desk and sat. Darwin sat on my left and Henry sat on my right. Langril put his feet down and leaned forward at his desk. A circle of fire formed around us, about eight feet in diameter. The fire was blue.
“I am proba
bly the most powerful wizard of Dothra, so of course I had enemies.”
“I explained the other worlds and stuff to Henry when you were in the coma, but not the personal stuff,” Darwin told me.
Langril rolled his eyes at the interruption and continued. “I discovered that my followers, through the proper training in magic, could be summoned to this world. My followers were called soul guards— at least in English. At a certain age, a wizard of Dothra could dedicate themselves to my teachings. Once I felt they were ready, they could be summoned by a human wizard to make a contract.”
“Human wizard?”
“All wizards of Earth are diluted with human blood, so yes; you’re all humans to me. Dothra is a very dark and dangerous place. For me, it is quite the paradise. However, not all my people are cut out for the harsh world. Andrew, for example, would never have survived there.”
“What kind of contract?”
“It depends on what the human wizard wanted. Most of them want protection. Once the contract was agreed upon, my follower became their soul guard. The soul guard would protect their human wizard with all their power, if that was what the contract called for. When the human does die, however, the human’s soul is pulled into Dothra, were it feeds our realm and gives more power to the wizards of Dothra. The soul guard, in turn, is free to live their life on Earth.”
“Oh, shit.” My roommates both looked at me. “Felicity was Gale’s soul guard, wasn’t she?” I asked. Langril nodded. “Then that means when I killed Gale, I released her soul on Earth?”
“That depends. Krechea took her from Gale, which technically would have broken their contract. It is possible that he would claim her soul for himself. However, you are correct. If he lets her go, she has a free passage to Earth.”
“Is that what happened with you? You made a contract?”
“Not quite. I was summoned by Baldauf and he did want my protection. Towards the end of the contract, however, he wanted me to take his key instead of his soul. I agreed.”
“It’s a choice then? The wizard doesn’t have to go to Dothra?”
“No, it’s not a choice.” His grin was malevolent. “Baldauf’s soul was given to Dothra and I got the key. I didn’t exactly want word of the tower getting out, though. It isn’t very well hidden on Dothra. I tried living here for a while but I found it dreadfully dull, so I returned home.”
“Why wouldn’t Heather tell me what it was?”
“You have to make the terms of the deal without her influence. You can basically ask for anything, and as much as you want of anything, but the end result is the same. If she offers any suggestion, she risks voiding the contract.”
“Go back to Krechea,” Darwin said. “How does he tie into this?”
“He was trying to overthrow me. Since he lacked power, he turned to blood sacrifice. Astrid was extremely powerful and therefore targeted. Her parents were killed, but I saved her and brought her to Earth.”
“Astrid is from Dothra? Her parents were demons then?”
“Her mother was a vampire and her father was a wizard of Dothra. They were a happy couple; so in love that I gagged every time I saw them.”
“How did you get her out of the tower here if she couldn’t use the shadow pass because she hadn’t killed anyone?”
“First of all, you can actually get to the tower without the shadow pass if you know the way. Second, Logan and Vincent are wrong about the fact that the person must have killed to enter it. I never corrected them because I didn’t want them to try it. A person can cross through the shadow pass even if they haven’t killed, but most of them are lost in it. Those who make it through wish they hadn’t. Astrid was the exception because I could hide her.”
“And Heather’s mother, Miranda?”
“She was one of those who wished she hadn’t made it.” He rolled the ball between his hands. “Anyway, Krechea wasn’t happy that I spoiled his plan, so he sent his familiar after me when I brought Miranda back to Earth. It’s easy for someone to slip through unseen. I put Astrid in foster care because I couldn’t babysit her forever. Ceyax took Astrid, pretending to be her grandfather, and fed her his blood to create a bond between her and Krechea. When you came into the picture, he tested the bond between you and her.”
“He tortured her,” I said.
“He was trying to teach her to be the perfect little killer that Krechea could use against me, because Krechea decided that if he couldn’t have her power, he would use it. He succeeded. I dropped in here and there to help when she was about to fail one of Ceyax’s tests. Had she failed, he would have killed her. I also gave her my blood to weaken the bond. Then, between my blood and her training, she snapped and she killed him.”
“As well as Joseph Sanders.”
He shrugged again. “Krechea found out about Heather and planned to kill her in revenge. I arrived in time and he killed Miranda instead. I gave up my followers and remained on Earth to protect Heather. Krechea took my work and converted my followers into the shadow walkers. With the fourth key lost, the barriers between the worlds are weakening, and Krechea can use that to ‘ghost’ into this world. He wants all four keys, so he’s trying to kill Logan, Vincent, and me. It takes all four keys to destroy the tower, which is why Logan and Vincent want them all. I was willing to let them destroy the tower until Heather was killed. Because of my blood in her and because she was killed on Earth, her soul is in Dothra. It was fine at first, since she was safe there, but then Krechea found out.”
“How did he–”
“Because you were talking about her. He can hear what we say. Not all the time, but there’s no way to tell exactly when or how he’s listening. He is still trying to use Heather, so I need to get her out. I never knew why Astrid was useful to me, but I do now. You can save Astrid by saving Heather.”
I stood, too angry to care that I was injured. “Where is Astrid?”
“In Dothra. She pieced together the memories, the lapses in time, and the scraps of information she could get from you. She figured out that Krechea was controlling her, not Gale, and that he was after you. Rather than let him make her kill you, she demanded to go after him herself.”
“And you took her?!” My heartbeat sped faster and faster, pain spread, and black spots formed in my eyes. I was on my knees and panting a second later, which was extremely frustrating. The pity in his eyes only made it worse.
“You can’t go after her. The paranormal world is a game of manipulating, bribing, blackmailing, backstabbing, and conning. If you don’t play to win, you become a pawn. The only way for you to save her is to make a deal with Heather.” He stood and started for the door. As he walked through the blue fire of the circle, it died. He tossed the ball in the air and caught it.
“What is it with that ball?” I asked.
He studied it and shrugged. “It’s a reminder.” With that ominous non-answer, he walked out.
* * *
I received so many visitors over the next week that I thought Hunt was going to install a revolving door. He insisted I stay in the office so that I didn’t have to go up or down stairs. Darwin and Henry only left to go to class, during which time Vincent, Hunt, Remy, or Dr. Martin stayed with me. After classes let out each day, I was visited by teachers, some I didn’t even know, and too many students to count. Darwin even had to direct traffic sometimes and make people wait outside for their turn. I didn’t even have time to talk to Henry.
Vincent explained at one point that while we were fighting, Hunt was attacked by Len, he was attacked by Kristen, and Langril was attacked by Conner. Their bodies were found and returned to their families after I was stable.
Caleb and Nathan were still recovering, but it looked like they were going to make it after all. Mack, Dan, and Jackson were cleared to return to class. Mack and Dan visited me every few days, but I was surprised when Jackson dropped by to sheepishly thank me.
I even got a visit from Flagstone, who had returned, but still refused to be the deputy he
admaster. Officially, he had faked the argument in order to leave and spy on the council. He couldn’t tell everyone the truth; that he left because Vincent had a vision of him killing Hunt.
According to Darwin, he brought Nightshade back to Hunt while Remy was in her father’s office going over medical stuff with Darwin. Remy hadn’t known that Flagstone’s argument wasn’t sincere and that he wasn’t really gone for good. When he appeared, she immediately punched him, kissed him, and then smacked him.
Since I had absolutely no time to myself, I quickly became fed up. I was polite as I could be until Amelia left. “You have no more fans waiting out there for the moment,” Darwin said when he closed the door behind her.
“I’m willing to go on a killing spree if it’ll get everyone to leave me alone.”
“They’re thankful that you saved their lives.”
“They just want to thank me before I drop off.”
“Don’t start talking like an old man. You’re too stubborn to let something like a weak heart kill you. I bet you’ll outlive us all at this rate. One of these days, we’re going to have to make it an entire semester without any deaths.”
Nightshade opened the door and stuck her head in. Darwin groaned. “What?” she asked him.
“You always deliver bad news,” I explained.
“Oh, yes. Not this time. Henry, you’re in the clear. The council found your parents alive and vacationing in Thailand.”
As soon as she left, Henry shifted and Darwin handed him clothes. “Welcome back. Do you remember how to speak English?”
“How was being in your cat form supposed to protect you from the council?” I asked.
“Have you ever tried arresting a jaguar?”
Yeah, right. I figured he was just using it as an excuse not to talk about what happened. Most likely, he was afraid he really had killed his parents under the full moon and would never find out where his son was. “You didn’t kill Zoe.”
“I asked you to stay out of my head. I know I killed her.”
“You didn’t kill her or the family in England. Your parents drugged you and you attacked your parents both times. You tried to defend that family and your wife.”