by Kenna Bardot
Like he’d been waiting impatiently, Charlie immediately flew in, landing on my nightstand with a call. He ruffled his feathers, and I knew he wasn’t very happy with me.
“Sorry, Charlie,” I cooed as I reached out to stroke a finger down his feathers. “I’m just trying to not bring attention to my being something else besides an Air Mage.”
He hopped on his legs to bump his head against my hand, and I smiled. “Thanks. I missed you, though. I’ve gotten so used to you.” I expelled a long, low breath. “And I’m scared. I was so ready to die, Charlie. A little over a year ago, I was ready to go, but now? Now, I want to live because I have something - some ones - to live for. And I’m so scared I won’t.”
Caw.
“I love you too, Charlie. I love you too.”
I fell back onto the bed and let myself drift.
✽✽✽
Emerson
I strolled my way through the gardens, letting my eyes glaze over all the flowers, the lush colors of abundance, the heady scents of bloom. I'd spent so much time there with Kaia, I knew all her favorites. And there were a lot of them. My Precious Kai was flower crazy, and it all made so much more sense given the new discovery that she was an Earth Mage.
So much so, that I couldn't believe none of us had seen it before.
Even knowing she could conjure flowers on her own, I knew Kaia had never been loved by any of the ex-boyfriends she'd dated before us. We'd been too preoccupied with keeping her alive and the complications of our intricate relationship dynamics to woo her properly in the beginning. That was something I planned to spend the rest of our lives striving to make up for.
She deserved flowers. She deserved to be spoiled. She'd brought us all together in a much more loving, intimate way than we'd been before, after all. She was the glue that held us together, no matter what our relationships with each other looked like. Adding Cel wouldn't change much of anything besides bringing in another person to love, because Kaia was Kaia, and she wouldn't change.
I finally reached her favorite rosebush - or so she said they were roses - and carefully cut a few flowers from it, keeping the stems as long as possible so she would be able to put them in a vase. She didn't have to worry about them dying since she was entirely capable of keeping them alive and thriving even without them being planted. I used one of my swords to trim the stems and to check for anything that would nick her. I didn’t want anything to hurt her.
I'd never hurt her if I could help it.
I was beginning to suspect I'd do anything for her, in fact. Once I had a cluster of seven in hand, I turned and strode from the gardens. The surprise was bound to bring an adorable grin to her face, and I couldn't help but want to see that more than anything. Since discovering the death of the double blessed Fire Mage that Mar had unearthed information on, Kaia had become moody. It hadn’t helped that we’d asked her to hide her whip-vine or the fact that Charlie was basically banned from following her around except when in her room.
She spent most of her time quiet, and though she wasn't depressive like she had been after Lottie's death, she was still not quite all that Kaia could be. I missed her. I missed her spunk and her smile. I missed her voracious appetite for sex and her sense of humor. Without those things, she just wasn't Kaia. Or at least not completely Kaia.
I still loved her. Zeevar knew nothing could ever stop me from loving her but for her sake, I wanted her back.
I hit the stairs quickly, grinning at the people I passed who only shook their heads at me. Romance was dead among the Mages. Most thought there was no point to it when sex was so available all the time and children were impossible. Primary loyalty had to belong to the Order and Zeevar, always. There could be no question about that, or balance would be impossible to maintain.
Swinging the door to our room open, I found it empty. I went to the vase I'd had Gale buy, ducking into the bathroom to fill it with a bit of water and then dumping the roses in and fluffing them as delicately as I could. Stepping back, I went off in search of my girl.
She wasn't hard to find, lingering in Gale's classroom and working to center herself and channel Air to do something other than a whip. She'd been making more progress since her Earth manifested itself, like the block she'd always struggled with was suddenly gone and her Air was free to touch her in the way it always should have been. I stepped into the room, ignoring the younger First Year student Gale was working with. He seemed incapable of handling his Air, a hectic slash of red wisps coasting through the Air from his Conduit while Gale shook his head.
"I'm taking Kaia," I announced, and Gale only took the time to nod before turning his attention back to the struggling First Year.
"Probably for the best," he murmured despite the fact that he wasn't looking at us. "I suspect I'll be late. Don't wait up for me."
I grinned at his blatant announcement he would be joining us in bed, since the reality was he'd basically moved his clothes and other essentials into our room. I nabbed Kaia's hand, and her whip flinched back from the threat of contact with me.
The thing had a mind of its own, and it was not fond of other people. I rolled my eyes at Kaia, and she gave me that subdued smile that broke my heart. "Come on. I have a surprise for you."
She tilted her head adorably, and I could see the curiosity burning away at her brooding.
"A surprise?" she asked, trying to mask it.
"Mhmm." I smiled at her, feeling my eyes crinkle with the force of it. She let me guide her down the hall to the rooms, and she paused at the door before looking to me for confirmation.
“Open the door, Kai."
She did as I told her, stepping into the room. I followed her, leaving the door open behind me since I didn't want to miss the moment she saw those roses. Her eyes landed on them atop her dresser, and her face broke into a great beaming smile.
"You got me flowers?" Her eyes had gone wet, her voice trembling as she spoke.
"I did."
"No one has ever given me flowers before," she whispered, tilting her face up to mine for a kiss. I lingered there, enjoying the way her pillow lips felt as they shifted against mine. She sighed in contentment when I pulled away, and I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear with a grin. She turned away from me, taking the vase in her hands and lifting it to sniff. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she let go of the vase, allowing it to crash to the floor. I started to step toward her, but there wasn't time to ask what was going on before she was shoving me out the door and throwing it closed behind her.
"Kaia, what in Zeevar?"
"Someone tampered with them," she whispered with a shudder. "They didn't smell right. They smelled like death, decay, Emerson."
I narrowed my eyes on the door. "They didn't smell like that when I picked them."
"I believe you. Of course, I believe you," she sighed, casting wary eyes back to the door. "I don't know what was wrong with them exactly, but I'm not willing to go in there until we figure it out. Thank Zeevar I hadn’t let Charlie in yet at that point.”
I nodded, and we went back to Gale's room. He'd have a better idea of what to do.
Twenty-Eight
Kaia
We’d all had to wake up at dawn, but I was beyond tired, beyond sleepy. It didn’t matter what time I had to wake up, because I had barely slept.
Poisoned.
Someone had poisoned the flowers in my room with ricin. Something so beautiful, taken with love and sullied by death had put Emerson at risk. The Fire Mages worked for an hour to be sure all traces of the poison were gone from my room, my body, and Emerson’s. I thought for sure it would have given me an excuse to skip the Second Trial.
No such luck.
I was grateful I had Cel for support, where if I’d been stuck with my own year I wouldn’t have had anyone. It made me grateful that Trials were based on Age and not school year.
Thank Zeevar.
All the Air students had been gathered into their own segregated age groups, and we all trudged al
ong because the Trial was to take place outside in the forests surrounding InkHaven, a fact that made Charlie happy as he circled above us, watching as we made our way to a hill about twenty feet away. That should have been my first indication that I was screwed. As far as Trials went, only the truly horrible ones happened outside.
Who was I kidding? They were all horrible.
When we reached the edge of the hill, the early morning fog cleared and a glance down revealed something that took my breath away even as it had a warning of fear running down my spine. In the valley, cleared of trees, was a maze. The angle made it impossible to tell for certain, but the walls of the maze appeared to be at least ten-foot tall trimmed hedges. Thick and impregnable, there would be no navigating through the walls themselves to cheat the system.
Headmaster Stewart was in attendance, as per usual, but this time it was Docent Ho who stood on the makeshift dais and addressed us, “Air Students. Welcome! Today, we will be testing your all-around ability as Mages. Age by age, you will go in. First Years or twenty-one year olds along with Second Years need only get out to pass. Third Years will have their vision very slightly blurred and darkened. Fourth Years will only be able to see the barest of shadows and Fifth Years? Fifth years will be in complete darkness, zero vision. Does anyone have any questions?”
As it was pretty much self-explanatory, no one spoke up and if they felt even a fraction of the fear and trepidation I felt, they were looking towards the maze too.
“Okay then! First Years first. All Second Years and above, please move off.” She gestured us away, and the other Air Docents herded us to a spot not too far away where we could sit. Sit and wait while we pondered our future.
“Why do they make us do Trials, anyway?” I asked Cel glumly.
“It’s their way of showing us that our lives are going to be a mess from the moment we graduate. If we can’t do it? Then maybe we shouldn’t be Air Mages, or at least not yet.”
Emerson walked up to us, and I held out my hands to him. He grasped them. Tightly. “Precious Kai, will you be okay in the dark?”
“Yes.” I smiled at him reassuringly. “All of you made it so I won’t be afraid of the dark anymore.”
We heard the screaming from afar, the screaming of the First Years who had already entered the maze. The screaming eradicated any of the exhaustion I felt, to be replaced by a bone-chilling fear.
Docent Frost shouted, “Second years! Please follow me.”
Emerson cast wide, panicked eyes at the Docent before giving my hands a tight squeeze. “You two should find a way to locate one another in that maze. Stay safe.”
I touched his hand to my cheek before letting go. “Good luck, Emerson.”
Cel echoed it, “Good luck.”
He walked off, and Cel and I watched his retreating back before settling in to a tense silence that was broken when Cel spoke up, “He’s right.”
I shot him a questioning look. “Right about what?”
“We should find a way to keep connected while in there. I can see and feel your Air, so that’s not a big issue for me. But what if you need to find me, and I won’t be able to move and find you?”
Charlie swooped in and landed in front of us as I contemplated what Cel said. I stroked Charlie as he hopped onto my arm, settling it comfortably on my whip - the only other living thing who can come into contact with it besides me. I furrowed my brows at my whip as an idea formulated. “If you trust me, I think I know what to do.”
“Will it hurt?”
I decided to be honest, “I’m not sure.”
“Great.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay then.”
Asking Charlie to hop off a moment, I let my whip uncurl and wrap around his ankle. “Tell me if it hurts at any point.”
“Sure,” he said dryly.
Magenta sparked and my whip left his ankle. In its place was a circle of leafy green, much like a wrapped vine.
He looked down at it, intrigued. “What is it?”
“A part of my vine. Or, at least, something that derived from it. I can feel it in much the same way I feel my whip’s presence. It’ll help me figure out where you are.”
“Good. That’s good. Now we wait.”
***
The hours simultaneously crawled through and sped by. Eventually, we were asked to approach the maze and made to wait just on the outskirts of it.
"I can't see!" someone’s panicked voice shrieked. Cel and I exchanged a glance, watching as the Fire Mage made his way down our short line, touching the eyes of my fellow students with a thumb.
“We find each other then we do the maze together.”
I nodded, and he cupped my cheeks in his palms. The determination in his stare both unsettled and calmed me, and there was no shock left inside me when he leaned down and let his lips caress mine in a soft embrace. It started as barely a whisper of a kiss, deepening when I let my tongue tease the crease of his mouth. Still just a slight pressure of his mouth on mine, his stroked inside my mouth in a slow dance that drew a moan from me.
Cel broke off as the Fire Mage reached him first, and the man pressed a thumb to each of his eyelids and tugged them closed. Cel let out a sigh that sounded nearly comforted, but the tension in his jaw said otherwise. When the Fire Mage drew back, Cel’s eyes were clouded like the others, and I fought a whimper when he moved to me.
He gave me a slight, reassuring smile. "It won't hurt," he admitted, and I nodded. When I closed my eyes, those treacherous thumbs touched my lids. Any semblance of light I could see peeking through, any shadows as they passed, all of it faded.
Until there was nothing but black.
I opened my eyes.
Still nothing but black.
So much black.
I whimpered, lips twisting into a grimace. I wouldn't have said temporary blindness would bother me, even after all the trauma of the last trial, but I don't think most of us were ever really aware of true darkness. The complete absence of light. It was all consuming, and there was nothing.
Just nothing.
The blood rushed in my ears, muting all the other sounds that I should have heard. That I needed to hear given the inability to see.
"Calm, Kaia," Cel whispered, his hand reaching out to touch mine. His fingers entwined with mine, somehow managing to avoid the whip deftly even without sight. No bare skin contact with the vine. "Breathe. Just breathe. You aren't alone." His comfort was bittersweet, and I swallowed my fear.
"Welcome to the year’s Second Trial," the Headmaster's voice boomed out, and the subtleties of movement around me stopped as everyone froze in place. "You have been tasked with finding your way to the other side of the maze. You will do so blind, and your vision will only be returned to you when you reach the center or when you run out of time. You have two hours. There is no flight permitted whatsoever for the purposes of this Trial, and it would be safe to assume that there will be obstacles within the Maze. Best of luck to you all. You'll need it."
"Pompous ass," I hissed, and Cel chuckled at my side.
And then a hand touched my shoulder. I flinched from the touch, hand darting up to strike. “Easy, Miss Shaw. It’s only me.” I recognized Docent Ho’s soft and friendly voice. She took my hand and placed it on her shoulder. “Keep your hand on my shoulder and walk after me.”
I heard Gale’s voice a few steps away. “The same for you, Mr. Castelo. Hand on my shoulder and follow along.”
“Of course, Docent Porter.”
"Keep her safe," Gale murmured.
"On my life," Cel returned, and Gale must have been satisfied with his answer because he hummed in response. I rolled my eyes, which was a weird sensation since I couldn’t see anything.
“Step over the threshold, Miss Shaw,” Docent Ho instructed. I followed with one careful step forward. I felt the breath whoosh from me as I was propelled forward from the hard gust of Air that hit me from behind. As I tumbled and flipped, I heard Charlie’s one last long croaking caw b
efore I wrapped my Air around me so I wouldn’t hit anything hard and injure myself.
I fell to the ground with a thud, feeling the rough ground graze my cheek. I expelled a sharp breath, relieved that I hadn’t been injured in any other way. I moved to stand but was met by a pressure from above. My hands reached up to meet a hard wall above me, which felt familiar, something I’d come up against in my first qualification exam against Docent Frost.
I crawled on all fours, almost suffocating from the pressure and the almost all-consuming feeling that surrounded me.
I dropped down low and held out my right arm, letting my whip unfurl and crawl on the ground. I allowed it to find a way out - find one of the walls of the maze so I could get out of the trap made of Air.
Within moments, my whip attached itself to the wall.
As my whip pulled me out, I wondered about my luck in getting a trial that I could excel in. A trial that I could use being an Earth Mage in and succeed.
Finally able to stand, I let my whip feel, allowing it to call to the part that was wrapped around Cel. Cautiously, I started walking forward. I didn’t know for certain how long I’d been trapped, but I felt so heavy, like I’d been battered non-stop for an entire day and night.
I unholstered my sword for protection and held it in my left hand. I tensed when I heard the rustling to my right, but my whip tightened and heated around my arm, but in a good way. In a happy way.
“Kaia?” came the whisper.
“Cel!” I rushed towards the sound, glad that I’d found him.
I felt his hand touch mine, and I grabbed it, allowing my fingers to lock around his.
“Are you okay, Little One?” he asked me as we stood.
“Yes. You?”
He chuckled, a low mirthless sound. “I’ve been better.”
“Let’s go?” I cocked my head to the side, forgetting that he couldn’t see any more than I could.
“Okay. We walk carefully.”