by Jess Bowen
His little ears flopped down but the gnome sped off with the tray, admittedly at a much slower pace than before.
Phoebe leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Why was everything proving difficult already? At least she had made one breakthrough with Dorian. She didn’t know how he would react around the others, but she knew that he would at least be normal around her. That did nothing to ease the tightness in her stomach at the thought of the Shamarian. She imagined dark, formless shadows as they engulfed people at random and tore them apart, searching for their souls.
“What are you doing out here?”
Phoebe jumped as she snapped out of sleep. Her eyes flipped open quickly and she saw Dorian leaning over her. Slowly, her breathing returned to normal.
“I was just resting. What are you doing scaring me to death?” she replied.
“Why aren’t you sleeping in your room? Like normal people,” Dorian replied with a smile on his face.
At that moment, Lucy stuck her head out the door and frowned at catching sight of Phoebe. “You okay?” she asked quietly.
Phoebe nodded and gave what she hoped came across as a genuine smile. Lucy winked at her before disappearing back inside the room. Phoebe felt better with Dorian standing there, and her racing thoughts eased. Silence fell between them for a moment before Phoebe remembered she’d been asked a question.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Dorian, seeming unfazed by the lapse into silence, just smiled. “Yes, I can see where the hallway is better for that,” he said in playful sarcasm. Then more seriously he added, “Nightmares?”
Phoebe shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, sort of.” They weren’t all nightmares, but she wasn’t going there.
He nodded and settled against the wall beside her. She hadn’t expected that. “Do you have a reason for being here? Other than to make fun of me, of course,” she asked.
“Yes, orientation starts in about an hour. I have to take all of you down. Do you know if the others are up?”
“No, I came out here before anyone was awake.” Just then there was a loud thunk in the boys’ room, and Phoebe felt someone cringe in pain. “But I’m guessing it’s probably safe to say they are now,” she added.
“Somebody got hurt, didn’t they?” Dorian asked, smiling.
“Yep, my bet’s that it was Evan. He’s taken to waking Ethan up the past couple days. I’m guessing that’s not a wise thing to do.”
Dorian’s grin slowly faded as he thought something over. “So, how much can you feel? I mean, how strong is your talent?”
Phoebe wasn’t sure what to tell him. He seemed to be simply curious, but perhaps he was trying to figure out how much she knew about him. She decided to tell him the truth. After all, he had opened up to her. “I can feel everything, any person’s emotions at all as long as I’m focused. Otherwise I just feel like a big mixture most of the time. I can hear thoughts, although I don’t listen; I’m good at suppressing that one. Cassius said I would be able to explore memories and stuff like that.”
“So, you can feel every emotion, no matter what?” he asked. He was trying to sound politely interested, but Phoebe could tell he wanted to know if whatever he was hiding was still hidden.
“Usually, yes. Most people don’t know what I can do so they don’t pay attention enough to disguise their true feelings. That’s why it was so hard to read you before—you knew what I could do, so you were very careful. You still are in some ways. But if I really wanted to, I’m sure I could find out what it is you’re hiding.”
She was trying to make him feel insecure, and it worked. Although, she had tried hard to read him before and wasn’t able to, so she wasn’t sure she would ever break through the barrier he put up…but he didn’t know that.
“You can hear thoughts as well?”
Phoebe could hear the nervousness in his voice. “Yes, but only if I try. I won’t use it, though. People should have one last sanctuary, right?” He nodded, and she laughed. “Am I making you nervous?” she asked.
“Extremely.” His eyes widened, and he clenched his hands uneasily. That was a first. She hadn’t thought he was capable of being anxious about anything.
“How about this: you can keep your secrets as long as you continue to be a normal human being. I won’t pry past the emotions that I already feel—I can’t help that part—I promise!” Phoebe offered.
“Really?” he asked. She felt his relief.
“Really. But will you tell me…eventually? Whatever it is?” Her curiosity was getting the best of her.
He sighed as he got to his feet. “I won’t have a choice, eventually.” She was satisfied with that answer. She would find out soon enough.
“Can I ask you one more thing?”
He paused, then sighed. “I guess so—but we’ll have to see if I can answer it.”
“What was Syran talking about the other night, about the Wind Guardians?”
Dorian’s hands clenched into fists, and his anger flashed. He took a moment to compose himself. “The Wind Guardians never gave me their allegiance even though in the beginning they were sympathetic to our position. They had said they would be ready to go to battle with us whenever the time came. There was a small battle, just after Petrozan claimed the throne, one we thought we could win because he didn’t have very many at his command then. But the Wind Guardians abandoned us. They didn’t fight against us, but they didn’t fight for us either. We lost so many that day.” His voice echoed with sadness. “Anyway, ever since then, we have been a bit distrustful of any of the Guardians. They usually stay out of wars; they only protect their Element. That’s why it was such a surprise to see the Water Guardians the other day, not something we expected.”
Phoebe nodded. She wasn’t sure what to say to that. This world was worse off than she had thought. Dorian stood for a minute longer, reflecting, before continuing with what he was doing.
He knocked on the door of Phoebe’s room and told the girls to hurry up. Then he turned to walk across the hall to the boys’ room. He was nearly there when he tripped over Sapphire and started to fall. Just then the door to the boys’ room swung ope,n and he caught himself on it. This surprised Evan, who then stepped backward into Ethan. Ethan knocked over Jared, who fell all the way to the floor. Sapphire had managed to dart out from under Dorian’s feet and was fluttering her wings, lifting herself a few inches off the floor as if proud of herself.
They all exchanged glances and immediately burst out laughing. It had finally happened: a barrier that had been between all of them and Dorian seemed to evaporate as they all helped each other to their feet, and the girls came charging out of the room to see what was going on.
Phoebe scooped up Sapphire—she was a little too proud of herself—and went to stand with the others. The others were all curious about why Phoebe had been sitting in the hallway, but nobody asked. She was grateful for that. She still wasn’t ready to talk about it. Bree kept nudging Evan in Phoebe’s direction until he came to stand by her.
“I’m beginning to think he doesn’t like me anymore,” Evan whined playfully.
Phoebe chuckled and flipped her hair dramatically. “Can you blame him? I’m so much better looking.”
Evan punched her shoulder lightly. “In your dreams; he just can’t stand to look upon my radiance.” He posed like he was some great work of art to be admired, and Phoebe snorted.
Dorian interrupted before she could reply. “Now, I cannot come to fetch you every day, so if you will all take out your companions.” He paused for a moment as they did what was asked. “They have excellent memories, and while I know getting around here can seem daunting, your companions are quite adept at memorizing the mazes of hallways and stairways and can help you until you learn your way around.”
While Evan and Jared had been at the Haven for a few months, their access to various areas had been limited, and Cynthia and Lucy had both arrived just before Phoebe and Ethan, so none of the six knew the hallway
s very well yet.
“What classes have we got today?” Jared asked.
“Ah, today will be more of an orientation, a look at some of the things you will be doing starting tomorrow. At the end of lunch I’ll give you all your schedules, which you will start first thing tomorrow morning.”
Dorian turned and started to lead the way down the hallway.
Phoebe turned her attention to Sapphire and whispered to her, “Remember where we’re going so we can find our way back later.”
Sapphire nodded her head in a dignified manor then shrank, and Phoebe transferred the mini unicorn to her shoulder. Phoebe stayed at the back of the group as they set off. In a way she felt separate from them, but knew that she wasn’t. The only person here who didn’t know what was happening outside these walls was Ethan, and that was only because she hadn’t told him yet. She wondered how much else there was that she didn’t know.
The thought of the Shamarian had been horrible enough, but how much else was there that she hadn’t yet found out? Phoebe also wondered briefly how Ethan would react when she told him about them. Would he be motivated to act, or would he be scared? When she was honest with herself, she was both. She wanted to help but knew when the time came she would probably be terrified. Now, however, she wasn’t even really that scared, and that was not bravery on her part—it was merely the fact that she hadn’t yet faced what was out there, and so she didn’t know what it was like.
As much anger as Phoebe felt about the way these people and creatures were being treated, she had no idea what they were faced with every day and the terror that they lived in. In fact, it was hard to be scared of anything, walking through the sunlit halls of this beautiful place where everything seemed right in the world. She looked at the others walking in front of her. They knew what it was like, and they had probably even suffered through some of it. Lucy had lost a brother; she knew firsthand the horrors that were being caused by Petrozan and Esmeralda.
Phoebe was glad she had Sapphire to remember where they were going because she had not paid attention at all, and before she knew it she was walking into a huge room. Phoebe did a double take and realized that the room had to have been magically enlarged. From the outside, with the door closed, it had looked to be the size of a small classroom with the doors to other rooms on either side only twelve feet away. From the inside, however, it was at least three stories high and looked like it could comfortably seat a few thousand people in the four tiers of seats at the edges of the room. The padded floor was about the size of a football field
Dorian saw them all looking around in awe and took a moment to explain. “With so many people residing here and the amount of space needed to train, it’s necessary to enlarge rooms within themselves to make the most of the limited amount of space we have.”
Oh. That makes sense, Phoebe thought. I have no idea how it’s done, but it makes sense.
This room was the first that actually looked like a training facility. It was still beautiful, but the padded floors, the tiers, and the equipment made it look like a place where the action was. Quite a large group of people were already assembled on the tiers. All of them looked to be around Phoebe’s age and seemed slightly anxious. They were definitely in the right place: these people were obviously new trainees.
On the opposite side of the room there was another, smaller group settled on the tiers. Phoebe flipped through her memories of all the creatures described to her two days ago and recognized them as elves. Sitting just a little farther along were more humans, older than the others. Instructors. There were seven figures situated in the middle of the room. Two were Cassius and Maya. The other five were elves. Phoebe could distinctly see their pointed ears and the rough looks on their faces. Each had long hair, pulled back, and they wore earth-colored clothes and had weapons slung over their backs.
As they neared the group of trainees, Evan, Jared, Lucy, and Cynthia waved in acknowledgement to a few faces there. Phoebe felt embarrassed.
“You guys don’t have to hang out with us all the time. I’m sure your friends are feeling left out,” she whispered to Evan and Cynthia, who were closest to her.
Evan laughed, and Cynthia scoffed. “You’re my friend too, and they’re welcome to join us,” Cynthia whispered back.
“Yeah,” Evan agreed fervently.
They seemed sure, so Phoebe didn’t press the matter. They settled down on the lowest tier where Evan and Cynthia squashed her in between them, and Dorian went to stand by Cassius. Apparently, they were the last to arrive, because as soon as Dorian stood beside him, Cassius began speaking.
“Welcome to the Annexus and the beginning of your training. Today you will not be participating, only watching. You will see demonstrations of what you’ll be able to do when your training is complete.”
Phoebe hadn’t noticed until that moment that they were sitting just in front of a group of particularly giggly girls. She could hear one of them whispering. “Look at him; he looks even better up close,” the girl said wistfully. Phoebe hoped she wasn’t talking about Cassius. She respected the man to be sure, but to think of him like that was just weird. This girl’s voice cut through her. There was something about it that Phoebe distinctly didn’t like. She realized she was being a little judgmental, though, so she put the thought out of her mind. Cassius stepped back to the opposite side of the room, and Dorian moved forward to speak.
“We are going to start our orientation today with the elves. Now, whether you will be training with them or not, we are going to show you what goes on here. For those of you who have grown up here, I am sure you won’t mind suffering through introductions.” His voice was harder, but Phoebe could tell it was just because he was addressing a large crowd.
The girls behind her were whispering again. “As long as he keeps talking, I don’t think we’ll be suffering.” This comment made Phoebe’s stomach twist in anger. They were talking about Dorian! The girls started giggling. Phoebe wasn’t sure why, but it was getting on her nerves. She turned to see who was behind her and saw that there were only three girls sitting there. How could only three girls make that much noise? A girl with long, blond, curled hair and a haughty look on her face appeared to be the leader of the three and the one so obviously infatuated with Dorian.
“Now these,” Dorian said, indicating the figures behind him, “are the five High Masters of the elves and as such will be your instructors, as will I.”
“Where do I sign up?” the girl with blond hair said once again followed by an outbreak of giggling. It seemed Phoebe was not the only one getting irritated by these girls; Cynthia and Evan both turned and glared briefly at them. Phoebe was sure she was the only one, though, who felt like ripping the blonde’s face off and stomping on it.
Dorian introduced the elves, and they each stepped forward in recognition of their names. “This is Brine, Piper, Brolan, Lorne, and Cole. We do have a large population of elves here, but the High Masters will take care of most of the training, with the others stepping in to assist and help with tournaments.”
Phoebe studied each of the elves as they stepped forward. Brine was the tallest of them with red hair and a scar on his left cheek. Piper was the only girl and also the shortest, with long, shining blond hair and pale skin. Brolan was broad-shouldered with dark eyes and black hair. Lorne had blond hair and limped slightly when he stepped forward. Cole had shining blue eyes, brown hair, and an exceptionally slender build. They all looked only a few years older than Phoebe, but she had a feeling they were much older than they appeared. After all, she was almost positive a position such as High Master required a lot of time and work to achieve.
Dorian paired off with Piper, getting ready to give a demonstration. “We are going to show you what training here can accomplish. For the first demonstration, I will not use any magic. We will square off simply on skill alone.”
“Like he would even need to use magic to beat that old rag.” This statement from behind Phoebe was once again followed by
giggling.
Thunder sounded threateningly outside. What was going through her about those girls, she didn’t understand. She had dealt with girls like that all through her school years back at home, and it had never bothered her before. Still, with every passing comment, she was getting closer to violence.
She turned her attention back to Dorian and Piper as the other elves filed off the floor to join their group on the tiers. Dorian turned to Piper, and they each crouched into defensive positions. Phoebe felt the tension in the room as the two sized each other up. This wasn’t the first time they had scrimmaged, but Phoebe could tell neither one knew what to expect out of the other. Dorian was focused completely on Piper, taking in her every twitch, waiting for her to make her move. Phoebe could just faintly feel Piper’s concentration; she was as focused on Dorian as he was on her.
They circled each other before finally, sensing an opening, Piper lunged. If it were not for her perfect vision, Phoebe would never have been able to see what was going on. They moved so quickly and seamlessly, it would have been a blur to normal eyes. She could tell the elves were extremely well trained, which meant Dorian was just as good. Neither one was triumphing over the other.
They fought hand-to-hand for several minutes. Phoebe watched closely, taking in their movements, committing what she could to memory so she could use it later. Then, as quick as a flash, a sword was in Piper’s hand. The tension in the room rose. Dorian ducked and dodged several swings before getting in position to pull his own sword out. The room filled with the screeching of swords colliding. Still the action continued; neither one had an advantage over the other. After several more minutes, a whistle sounded and Dorian and Piper broke apart, breathing heavily.
Piper walked over to sit with the other elves, and Dorian bent over to catch his breath. Phoebe was amazed. She had taken self-defense and a few martial arts classes, but she had never seen anyone move like that.
“Can you imagine the muscles he must be hiding under that shirt?” More giggling. Phoebe’s stomach clenched again, and her teeth ground together. A loud clap of thunder sounded outside, and Phoebe saw Dorian’s eyes flicker toward her, concerned.