“Eileen Frost. I will give you to the count of ten to get off that knight of yours or else I will stop playing around.”
“Make it quick,” I told the knight. “Disarm him long enough for someone to come help us.”
“Understood.” He raised the ball and chain. Spenc sighed dramatically and shifted into a stance unrecognisable to me.
Slamming the ball down to where Spenc was, he leapt out of the way. His arms were lighting up like a Christmas tree and were glowing like Stardust. It made me have a nervous feeling in my stomach as he weaved forward as he laughed uncontrollably. Swinging the ball to the side, trees that were in the way tore away from the limbs and shattered into the crystallised glass. It was an explosion of glimmering ice, almost too beautiful to believe, as they glistened in the mooneye. Irresistibly divine.
“Ten,” a whispered voice hissed in my ear and brushed strands of hair away. Surprisingly cold.
Pain sparked along my waist and wind billowed as I flung backwards. I landed in the snow, and my feet dragged back shakily into an awkward stance. The blizzards whistled, and the shadow of my knight stood still with Spenc on his shoulder. Moving forward, I stiffened after the third step, as the head of my knight rolled off his shoulders and thumped on the ground. Sucking in a breath, I felt the real bite of the wild winter night as he began to crumble and was swept away by the wind. The shaky breaths began to accelerate as well as the pounding of the heart when I raised my arm. Faltering towards him, the rune along my wrist started to flicker and burn, as blood from a cut oozed out. Searing pain was seeping out with the bitter icy wind that was sinking in. The burn crawled up my wrist and turned lumpy and red. It severed my ties to the three defences. To the stone knight that was beloved to me.
“This is what happens, Eileen Frost,” Spenc dusted the crumbled stone away from his shoulder and grinned. “When you pretend to be something you’re not. Show me who you really are, prototype. Entertain me, just like you were entertained, when you killed my Master.”
‘Never back down nor play it safe when you’re surrounded by the enemy,’ the words of my parents came through, as I recall the day that I was standing on the balcony and was watching them train my brothers. Not necessarily interested in practical, I was allowed to watch, and I did just that. I watched and listened without comprehending nor caring. ‘Fight with all you’re worth and then keep on fighting. There is no point constantly going on defence when you’re being attacked. They will find a weakness, and when they do, they will exploit it. It is what mages do. This is why we are learning retaliation. Our natural instincts are to survive so fight with logic and power. The defence will only get you so far. The offence will get you further.’
I see. It is inevitable. I would have to kill him to survive.
“Ok.”
He ran towards me. Both blades shimmered with mage essence. Blue glowing runes were on edge, near the hilt and was casting an ominous light. The blade he pierced inside me nine years ago, has a specialised rune that inflicts poisoning that increases pain gradually over a twenty-four-hour period until inevitable death. In his left, the blade between knuckles has a severing rune. That is what he pierced my wrist with and now that I think about it, possibly cut my check because I feel no pain from any type of poison. He broke all ties and destroyed whatever rune it slices. The burning sensation was gone, but the remembrance of the runes created has been etched into my mind for the rest of my life.
Heightening veins, I hissed a breath when he came close. He looked as if he was moving the hand-held blade forward but it was just trickery. A scare attempt while his left hand sneakily moved forward. Blinking, I appeared beside him, to his left, hand already on his wrist. Imitating what my mum and Dad showed Donte and Nixon, disarming seemed to have come naturally, as the attack rune on finger lit up. I raised my arm towards the moonlit sky. Blade, fingers and droplets of blood flung in the air. Dimming the zapping static of the laser, I whirled around and slammed my boot into his chest. The jump rune activated, and he flew backwards, further than a standard kick and rolled to a stop near the broken trees.
“Still playing safe,” he chuckled. His wrist was shaking with blood spittle’s that dripped on the blanket of snow underneath feet. “Activate, regeneration,” he grinned, as bone and flesh wrapped around his hands and turned into perfect fingers. “Now let me break something of yours.”
Sucking in a breath, I jump stepped, raised hand once more and let a flurry of attacks zip out and exploded around him as he sides stepped, dodging all to leap up to where I was. Blinking, I appeared back on the solid ground while he floated in the air. Running fingers through the snow, I flickered an activation circle and looked back up. Spenc was now over the top of me.
“Activate,” I said.
Using gears of time, I took steps backwards and appeared outside of the rune when roots from well-hidden underneath the snow shot up and was aiming for Spenc who was in that radius. He inhaled laughter that sounded foreign and then burst into specs of snow from a blizzard, the wind pushed ferociously towards me.
Expecting him to come in any direction, I froze time with the gears, only to be surprised. As the pounding of my heart broke through my ribcage and the closing of the throat made me realise that I was rather pathetic at fighting offence instead of defence. His hand grabbed my arm from inside the gears, and the deranged look of a mage with a psychotic breakdown leant in and laughed.
“Show me the real Eileen Frost!” he demanded as he jerked my arm upwards. The gears of time shattered and a snapping sound shook wavelengths of utter pain up and down my arm. “Not this pathetic fucking charade!”
Releasing his grip, he moved his hand to my stomach, and a needle-sized pain pierced the skin as the blade slipped through. Opening mouth slightly, droplets of blood splashed across his face and was contrasting with the red glint in his eyes and opened mouth grinned expression of someone highly amused. Happy to see me in unexpressed pain.
Stumbling to a fall backwards, I dragged into the snow until I slumped there, feet’s away from Spenc who was following a trail of light-hearted splashes of crimson blood.
How pathetic was I to believe I could do this on my own?
Blotches of darkness began to appear. Eyelids started to droop.
“No, no, no, no, no,” he repeated. “You can’t sleep now. Our fun has just begun, Eileen Frost.”
Chapter 40.
Nixon – puppet masters.
Besides the nagging thought of sneaking out without a goddamn jacket, there was also the idea of how much trouble we’re going to be in because of the whole sneaking out. It was admittedly exhilarating and kind of fun to break the rules for good rather than evil tendencies. Well, they’re bad to an extent I suppose would be the right way of saying it. Sure, I would rather much look after Eileen as Hopper had asked us to do before when he went out to contact the parents, but doing this was for her own good. Donte and I want answers, and if our own parents weren’t going to help us, we were going to go to the one source we have to gain them. Charlie. With little knowledge of where she is, we went to the girl’s dorm only to have Rebecca place a snide remark onto us before wanting to tag along. We are masters of going unnoticed unless it was an attractive girl that could be future first wife. Why settle for one when we can have many to torment. Unfortunately, Donte wasn’t having any of it. He wouldn’t budge and kept persisting that it may be dangerous. That is why I considered her to come. Three is better than two are.
Her and Lollie’s room was messy. We could easily manipulate hair samples from her brush to show us the way to where she was located. It didn’t come to a surprise when the hair moved away from the breeze and towards the back, where the oval was. Pursing lips, I followed Donte who followed the strand of hair that was tied to the crystal we may have taken from Isilies without asking for permission. There wouldn’t have been a point in asking. For one, he would have straight out refused. Secondly, he would have been surprised that we asked and suddenly be susp
icious as to why we were acting friendly. Taking it without asking saves us from the trouble of listening to him talk.
Out in the cold without a jacket, the biting wind almost makes me believe there will soon be a blizzard on its way. It most certainly feels alive. Like it was being manipulated by a mage. A mage strong enough to know the art of ice is rather big. Probably the hardest elements to train with. Even Eileen seemed to detest the runes because she said ‘it was nauseating to channel unless it was snowing.’
I smiled a little. She never liked anything that couldn’t be produced immediately. It doesn’t mean she didn’t master it. Any rune she looks at can be drawn without studying it. That is what makes her a threat to everyone around her. A mage that can create any rune with a glance of it is a mage that needs to be hidden. However, there will always be Lowborn who are jealous of Highborn. There will always be something in our path.
“Nixon, what’s that?” Donte asked from ahead.
Looking up, I saw nothing at first but the howling wind that was picking up snow particles. It was the blizzard that caught my attention. Where the trees grew wild at the edge of the soccer field was a weird looking white shield that was blending in with the snow. When peering closer, my eyes travelled upwards only to figure out it wasn’t a wall shield. It was a dome.
“Well, this causes a problem,” I admitted with a smirk. “How’s your plan F?”
“Well, like the mages used to say. Can’t go through it and can’t go over it . . .”
“Go under it,” we both said with a grin. “If I get to the other side before you, you will have to ask Becca out.”
“If I win, you can ask her out,” I countered angrily, and Donte laughed. “Shut up!”
“I didn’t say anything. Whatever. If I win, I will ask her out for you.”
“Wait, what?”
“Ready set and go!”
He quickly pounded my fist and dropped into a rabbit hole. Balling hands into a fist, I jumped in my own hole a heartbeat afterwards. Boots glided against the slippery surrounding tunnel. Going upside down, I crouched slightly and was feeling the bottom of the tunnel brushed lightly against hair. Suddenly lifted up, the end of the rabbit hole twisted open into a circle. Wet mushy snow whistled from above, as I landed above the hole. Going into a pocket, I slipped stomach-aid down my throat before I have another incident as I had done on the main street surrounded by o-d-h!
“I win,” Donte, grinned.
“Cheater,” I laughed. “Fair is fair. But ask it out in a dicky way so that she will say no.”
“I was going to,” Donte smiled broadly, and I smiled back. “If you get a girlfriend, you will be boring. We wouldn’t have fun because you would want to hang with her and suck her face off all the time.”
“Heh, now that would be a bad ending.”
“Alright, where would we find that crazed Charlie.”
“You mean me?”
Grinning broadly, I turned away from the shield and into the large dome that we snuck in. Plan F always works. Sneaking in is easy but being inside a place and searching for someone would be boring. Bringing them to us is fun. Making a lot of noise is fun. Making someone come to us, even knowing it could be a trap that could screw us over is an exciting plot twist.
“You two make a lot of noise. I am surprised you didn’t wake the dead,” Charlie said with an airily wave.
Glancing at Donte the same time he did with me, we smirked before we looked back at the enemy. I was determined to know the reason for what she was doing and who was really behind Eileen’s pain.
“If you think that you can get further than me, you are rudely mistaken, diabolic twins,” Charlie said.
Good thing we didn’t want to. It has made me curious to know what she is trying to protect in here also.
“Ok,” Charlie giggled. She appeared on one of the branches of the dead winter trees with her legs kicked up underneath her. “Nixon, do you want to enact our evaluation from the first day of school?”
“Why do I get picked on?”
“Because you’re an idiot,” she grinned.
“Oi, pull up you fucking bitch,” Donte growled, and I watched as his temper rose. “No one calls Nixon an idiot beside me!’
She furrowed brows, confused with his reckless angered statement while I smiled. It was an idiotic compliment. I will claim it as flattery because Donte isn’t very good at that type. He also seems pissed at Charlie. All the bottled-up anger was erupting. That sucks. I was kind of hoping for a rematch with her. Guess it isn’t really time for playtime.
“Alright, let’s cut the shit. We know you were acting as a decoy and was pretending to be Lawliet to frame him. Why? Did someone tell you?”
“He was in the way,” she spat vividly. Her whole persona changed. “All he ever had done was hover around Eileen, and he didn’t like that. I did what I could to remove him from the equation . . .” she trailed off.
“Kent? Daniel? Jacob, Spenc?” her eyes flickered a second to the right of Spenc’s name, and I twitched a smile. “I see. You will do anything for Spenc, even if it benefits Eileen because you’re in love with him.”
“Shut up! It isn’t like that,” she stood on the branch and her face contorted with a ravenous rage. “I tried to do everything for the both of them! I know I failed to get her to understand his feelings.”
“You can’t force someone to like someone else. It is inevitable,” Donte said with a roll of his eyes.
“Yes, you would know all about that wouldn’t you,” she said with a malicious sneer. Glancing at Donte for a second, his brows curved and liquid silver darkened at her words. What? “Oh, and I thought twins knew everything.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Donte shouted, raised his hands and used the attack rune on his index finger. A shot of yellow zapping light came coursing towards her.
She raised her hand and deflected the attack with her own attack. Firecrackers with the most annoying sound erupted in the thin, crisp air and created a thick layer of dark grey smoke.
“You both don’t understand! Eileen is his saviour. I had to remove Lawliet from the picture before he ruined everything he has built up over the years.”
“He has her now,” Donte and I said at the same time. Charlie was confirming it since she was keeping us here and was delaying us from moving forward. Puppet show? I nodded at the silent question and turned back towards Charlie who seemed to have noticed the conversation was now finished. “Why is Spenc so infatuated with Eileen? They barely spoke, and we all know Eileen, if they did, it would have been one-sided. She hates communicating.”
“She saved him years ago, she may not remember it now, but that is what Spenc was trying to achieve.”
“Why did you become a part of it?” I asked. Donte was too furious to speak through clenched teeth.
“He promised me enough money to survive off for the rest of my life and, yeah, I can admit that I liked hanging out with that droid. She made the Academy entertaining when she was around. It would have been comical if she fell for Spenc. There wouldn’t be any strife between organisation and Mage Academy if she just stayed away from Lawliet.”
“Are you blaming Eileen for all of what is happening?”
“There is a lot to blame besides her or your family. The four creature leaders also can be blamed for going against organisation when they weren’t ready and tried to create an army that backfired many years ago. This whole thing was their fault, to begin with. Your family is just the icing on the cake that makes it stick. Lies and deception. Hiding a type zero from the only place that could help her realise who she is. If only you all let, Spencer, be with Eileen instead of that fucking dragon, none of this would be happening. We wouldn’t be having this strife amongst creatures and mages if you just let Spenc help her realise what she really is. A natural born ‘type zero’. Just like Victor Malloy. Let her be with him, and you will see a difference in this world. There won’t be such a thing as black and white any longer if you let her
purge like the Master Mage Victor tried to do before he was betrayed by the beings that made him.”
The organisation should hold responsibility as well for keeping everyone in the dark and doing nothing to fix an ongoing war between all races. Mage, o-d-h, shape-shifter status. I hated the organisation as soon as they took my parents away from us. They never cared, or else they would know the family is just as important as keeping the world safe from dangerous mages. I also don’t know what she was talking about with creature leaders. I think there was theory work on them the day Donte and I skipped because the next day, we hadn’t had a clue what the teacher was talking about and ended up zoning out and pretending to listen instead. I somewhat rather regret that now because all I can do is stand and stare stupidly while Charlie blabbers on. A trait she has mastered.
“Can we go find baby sister now?” Demanded Donte.
“Ok. Patience. I wanna toy with her for a little longer.”
“Haha, alright. I always wanted to try this out. I am sure we have time. Besides, Hopper is a compulsive Eileen stalker. He has probably headed there or already there now.”
Donte logic. Always thinking ahead and believing his thoughts.
Raising hand into a fist, Donte tapped his against mine, and we walked forward. Charlie rolled up her sleeves and revealed her attack and defence runes as well as a hidden rune along her elbow. Activating hers, she pinched skin, grit teeth and let the darkened brown essence of mage magic from the veins stream out. Lifting fingers, she drew out the tattoo, and I stepped back the same time Donte done as well.
“Have you ever heard of the o-d-h wash off tattoos?” she grinned. “I never knew something existed until the first day of school. They are very convenient. Well-hidden and accessible without it being permanently stuck on the skin. I can hide all sorts of mage weapons in here.” she pulled out thin needles and grinned. “I am an illusionist.”
Emotionless: (Prototype: Zero book 1) Page 38