The Arch Stone: Foxway Academy: Book 1

by Adam Faulkner

  “Do you think it might have had something to do with the Arch Stone.”

  Greyford raised an eyebrow.

  “You know what the stone is, then?”

  “August told me. She told me its name, at least. She didn’t know anything else about it.”

  “No, I don’t suppose she did. Truth be told, I don’t know that much myself. But I do believe that it could hold the answer to this particular question.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We know very little about the nature of the Arch Stones. We don’t even know how many there are. But one particularly popular theory is that it has something to do with the Arch, the source of all magic. Hence the name, of course.”

  “If that is true, it is a possibility that the stone might have allowed you access to knowledge that you did not previously possess, therefore allowing you to do what you did.”

  I thought for a moment.

  “You’re saying that it was the stone that knew how to do the Reality Magic, not me?”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

  “So, how do I do it again?”

  “You don’t. Not yet. Transporting other forms of matter is a very dangerous form of magic. If it wasn’t that you were being aided by the stone, it is likely that such magic could have had lasting damage on your sister.”

  I looked down.

  “Don’t worry. As I said, it is clear that the stone had an effect on the spell. Doctor Birchwood already ran a full reading spell on Raven, and there isn’t going to be any lasting damage,” Greyford reassured me. “Do you have the book you took out of the library with you?”

  It was at that point that I realised I had left the bag, and therefore the book, by the lake.

  Shit, I thought to myself. I guess Greyford must have noticed the look on my face, because he stood up, pulled an identical copy of the book from one of his shelves, and opened to the first page.

  “How much did you read from the book?”

  I thought for a second.

  “Um… I’m not sure. I just kind of skimmed through it.”

  “That’s fine. Honestly, it would be best to start from the beginning.” He stood up and started pacing around the room, still holding the book. “Did you read the exact definition of Reality Magic?”

  “I don’t…”

  “‘Reality magic is a form of magic which concerns the manipulation of reality.’” Greyford read from the book. “‘Reality’, in this case, refers to the two dimensional planes of space and time.” He snapped the book shut.

  I wondered how long it had been since he had last taught like this. He seemed comfortable doing it. He seemed like he was enjoying himself. I tried to hide a smile as I noticed it, but the thought was cut short by a brief dizzy spell, followed by blackness.

  *

  When I came to, I was in the infirmary. I looked around, dazed.

  “What… What happened?”

  “I’m honestly not sure,” Dr Birchwood confessed. “Professor Greyford brought you in here; said you passed out in the middle of his lesson.”

  I sat up.

  “How long was I out?”

  “Just over 5 minutes, give or take.”

  “Do… Do you know why?”

  Birchwood sat down on the chair next to the bed. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “You were under the water for a long time. It’s honestly a miracle that you’re alive at all…”

  “Which means…”

  “What I’m saying is that… Your brain could have been starved of oxygen for a good 10 minutes, at least…”

  “And?” I don’t think I’d ever been so worried in my life.

  “There could be… Lasting damage to your brain.”

  I shuddered.

  “What sort of damage?” I could barely breathe at this point. I already had to worry about Raven, who was still unconscious on the bed next to me, and now my own brain had gone to shit as well. I stared into nothingness for a second and dropped down onto the bed.

  “It’s hard to tell straight away. You could be fine, but I’d recommend getting yourself checked out at a hospital as soon as possible.”

  I turned over and looked over at Raven. I sobbed into my pillow

  “I’m… I’m sorry, Emilie…”

  I sat up and wiped my eyes.

  “It’s not your fault… I’m just glad I was able to save Raven…”

  “You did a good job. You should get some sleep though. I’d like to keep you here overnight, so that I can keep an eye on you, if that’s okay,” Dr Birchwood suggested. I nodded slowly. “You should contact your parents, let them know what happened.”

  “I don’t have my phone… It’s in my bag, and I honestly don’t know where that’s gotten to…”

  “Do you know the number?”

  “I know my home number… But my mum won’t be home yet.”

  “Is your bag still by the lake?”

  “I think so… I should go and get it.”

  I sat up, but Birchwood stopped me.

  “You will do nothing of the sort. I have no idea what condition you are in. If you go wandering around the school who knows what could happen. I will place a restraining spell on you if needs be,” he threatened.

  I wasn’t quite sure whether Birchwood’s sudden outburst was reassuring or not. On the one hand, there was something comforting knowing that he was, well, doing his job and taking care of me. On the other hand, there was something unnerving about how careful he was being with me. Like, he seemed worried that I could literally just drop dead any second. I figured that he probably knew what he was talking about better than I did, so I decided not to argue with him.

  “Okay… Do you think you could try and get someone else to get it then?”

  “Of course. Do you have anyone in mind?”

  I thought for a moment.

  “Mary Merriway, maybe… The girl who was in here earlier. She’s Raven’s roommate.”

  Birchwood nodded.

  “I know Mary. She helps me around here occasionally,” he explained. “I’ll send a message up now.”

  “Thank you…” I muttered. I closed my eyes, and drifted back off to sleep.

  *

  My eyes snapped open from a very odd dream.

  Why was I dreaming about Matt…? I wondered as I sat up in the bed. My bag was sitting next to the bed, with my phone on the table. I reached over and picked it up. It was already four o’clock. I should have left school half an hour ago.

  “You should call your mother. Explain what happened,” someone suggested. I looked over to my other side. Mary was sitting in the gap between mine and Raven’s beds. She looked like she’d been crying.

  “What happened?” Mary asked. “By the lake, I mean.”

  I span a few excuses around my head before I eventually gave up.

  “We were having lunch. We got into an argument about… About what she did… But halfway through, this… This man appeared, over on the other side of the lake… Raven went berserk, saying she was going to kill him… It was terrifying…”

  I looked over at Mary. She looked scared. Very scared. “Do you know who it was?”

  “Oh no…” she choked. “Oh, shit…”

  “Mary, who is it?”

  “As far as I know, there’s only one person who Raven would ever react like that to… His name is Elijah. He’s the one who recruited Raven into the Syndicate.”

  “No way…”

  “What did he do?”

  “Blocked all of her flames, whispered something into her ear and threw her into the lake… I dived in after her, some weird shit happened, she vanished, and I passed out…”

  Mary looked at Raven.

  “If Elijah’s back, then… Well, I don’t know what would happen. Raven never talks about her past. I don’t know what Elijah did, but I think you’re living proof that he’s bad news.”

  “Let’s hope I stay that way…”

  “Don’t tal
k like that!” Mary shouted. “You’re going to be fine. Raven is going to be fine.” Her voice cracked. She had tears in her eyes. I didn’t know Mary very well, but I couldn’t stand seeing someone who was normally so upbeat and positive feeling like this.

  “I’m sorry…” I apologized. “You’re right… I guess I’m still pretty shaken over all of this…”

  “It’s fine. You’ve been through a lot.” She handed me my phone off the table. “You should call your mum, explain everything to her.”

  I nodded and found my mum in my contacts. I hovered over the call button, and slowly started the call.

  “Hello?” my mum’s voice said over the phone. I started to speak, but choked up. “Em?”

  “Mum… I… Something happened at school today… I can’t really explain it right now, but… I had an accident. Raven fell into the lake at school, and I jumped in after her… We’re both… alive… But Raven hasn’t woken up yet, and I passed out an hour after I left the infirmary…” I slowly explained. Silence. “Mum?”

  “Emilie. Where is your school. I’m coming there,” she eventually replied, completely monotone.

  “I… I don’t know where it is… I would have to get permission and-”

  “Just tell me how to get there. Now.”

  I looked at Dr Birchwood. he nodded.

  “There’s a shop on the other side of town, Foxmart. Get there. Someone will meet you there.” I turned to Mary. She nodded.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”

  “Okay…”

  “I love you, Emilie.”

  “Love you too, Mum…” I sighed, and hung up. “Do you mind?”

  “Of course not.” Mary reassured me. She stood up and headed towards the door.

  “I’ll bring her straight here…” She walked out of the room and closed the door.”

  “You know, if Professor Greyford finds out that your mother is coming…” Birchwood started.

  “He’ll flip his shit…” I finished his sentence.

  “Well, that’s not quite how I was going to put it, but, yes.”

  I slid down into the bed. “I’ll sort things out with him. You are in something of a strange situation here, of course. For most students, it wouldn’t be an issue, but your mother doesn’t know about magic…”

  “Well…”

  “You lied to Professor Greyford?”

  “It was so I could stay at home, as opposed to in the dorms… It seemed like a good idea at the time…” I admitted. “I just didn’t want to leave her on her own…”

  “Don’t you have a father?”

  “Mum never wanted any sort of relationship or anything. She said she used to find it tough, but she’s happy now. But, she still wanted kids anyway, so she ended up adopting me.”

  “I see. And your sister?”

  “Only met her a month or so ago. When our… The person who gave birth to us gave us up, we ended up apart. I ended up with my mum, and Raven ended up with Evaline Blake.”

  “The Enchantress?”

  “Yeah… Does that mean something?”

  “Evaline Blake is… Somewhat… infamous in the magic community. Not least for her opinions on Source and Arts Magic.”

  “There’s more?”

  “Well, despite her rejection of Arts Magic, she’s one of the most powerful magic users of the last 50 years, all in all. It’s really no surprise that Raven is so talented with magic herself.”

  “Yeah, I guess…” I looked over at my sister, still lying unconscious on the bed.

  It’s your fault, you know.

  “What do you mean? It’s not my fault?!” I shouted at the voice that I heard. I looked around.

  “What’s wrong?” Birchwood asked.

  “I…” I sighed. “It’s nothing…”

  “Did you hear someone?”

  “I said it’s nothing.”

  “Because if you did, that’s something that I need to know. If something’s happened to your brain, then-”

  “I said it’s nothing!” I cut him off. “Sorry… That was…”

  “I just want to help you. It is my job, after all.”

  “I know, I know…” I trailed off. I mean, that, I did know. The issue was that that was basically all I did know…

  12

  I had just drifted off to sleep again when I heard my mum burst through the door. I heard her gasp, and the rustling of her bag as I slowly opened my eyes.

  “Em? Are you alright?” she manically questioned me.

  “Mum…” I croaked. “I’m okay. I…”

  Mum turned to the doctor.

  “Is she actually okay?”

  “There doesn’t seem to be any immediate danger to Emilie’s health,” Birchwood assured her. “However, she was underneath the water for the best part of 10 minutes before we found her. She’s incredibly lucky to be alive. And there’s a chance that… Well, that the oxygen deprivation could have… affected her brain…”

  “What… What do you mean?” Mum choked.

  “It’s hard to tell without a brain scan, which we obviously cannot carry out here, but I have reason to think that there could be lasting effects…”

  “Is there anything you can do? Doesn’t this place teach magic? There must be something you can do,” Mum pleaded. Birchwood sighed.

  “We can do a lot with magic to repair physical damage to just about anything you can think of. But the brain… It’s complicated. We don’t really know how it works, or how it would react to any form of healing spell…” he explained. Mum looked at me, with tears in her eyes.

  “Mum… I… I…” I tried to say anything that would help the situation.

  “No, Emilie.” My mum interrupted. “Miss Merriway filled me in on the way. You did everything you should have. I’m proud of you.”

  “But…”

  “Emilie, your sister needed your help. You helped her. You saved her.”

  “Mum… I’m sorry… I didn’t want to put you through this.”

  “No. Don’t. You did everything that you could. You probably saved a life.” Her voice cracked. She sighed and put her hand on my head and stroked my hair.

  “You’re my daughter, Em. You don’t have to apologize for anything.”

  I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Mum turned to Birchwood.

  “Doctor? Is it safe for Emilie to leave? I’d like to get her to a hospital as soon as possible.”

  “If she’s up to it, then that should be fine. They’ll be able to make a better decision than me, and they’ll be able to scan her brain as well.”

  “But… Raven…” I protested.

  “Raven will still be here when you get back. Even if she does wake up, I’ve put a restraint spell on her legs. She’s not going anywhere,” Birchwood reassured me.

  I gave in and slowly stood up. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t have the strength to argue.

  “Okay then... Let’s go…”

  *

  I hated the hospital. Given it was where my mum worked, you’d think that I would have got used to it after 17 years, but there was something about the white, clean, emotionless walls that made me feel isolated. But right now I knew I had to be there. With everything that happened, I didn’t intend to just leave my brain as it was. So, there we were, in the hospital, waiting for the results of an MRI scan. It was weird. It’s not something you ever think about doing. Sitting in a hospital bed, waiting for results that could easily tell you whether or not there’s a chance you could just collapse on the floor dead. At least, that was what the voices said.

  The voices were part of the reason I’d agreed to the scan. I heard it first earlier, just after Mary had left to find mum. There had been a bit of a gap for a bit, and then it escalated from there. They weren’t sure what had caused it, between the physical head trauma and the emotional trauma of almost dying. But, the voices that I was hearing and no one else were a pretty clear sign that there was something wrong with me.

 
I was sitting up in the bed, waiting for the results. Mum had gone to get some food, and the rest of the ward was empty. The silence did not help with the voices.

  She’s not coming back, one of them helpfully pointed out. Why would she?

  “Piss off…” I hissed. I realised what I had done and slid down into my bed from embarrassment. “How am I going to get used to this…” I wondered as I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the voice telling me to jump out of the window.

  It took about 10 minutes more for the results of my scan to arrive.

  “Firstly, Emilie, you are incredibly lucky to be alive. And that’s something that you should be grateful for. However, there are definitely signs of Cerebral Hypoxia here. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can tell you other than the lack of oxygen to your brain has left it damaged. That could explain the voices, as well as your reported case of loss of consciousness. We can’t really make a solid diagnosis about the voices right now, unfortunately. Still, I would like to keep you overnight, to observe you, if that’s okay?” The doctor questioned.

  It’s not safe here… It’s too clean… It’s like a horror film… The voices decided.

  “It’s fine…” I tried to calm the persistent nagging in my head. Not that the bastards were convinced.

  Don’t do it… I almost snapped after they started again, but I somehow managed to control myself. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore them.

  “I think… I’d rather go home… It’ll be good for me to be somewhere I’m used to,” I eventually replied. “Screw you…” I muttered to the voices.

  The doctor sighed.

  “Well, I suppose I can’t force you…” he decided. He turned to my mum. “Make sure you bring her back if anything changes.”

  “I will…” she agreed as I climbed out of the bed.

  “Thank you for everything, Doctor,” I stuttered as I stumbled out of bed. Mum just managed to catch me. “I’m fine… Just a little disoriented,” I assured them.

  But what if it’s more? What if you’re really broken? My head suggested. “

  I said I’m fine,” I snapped. “Sorry… It’s just... My head…” I explained. “Wow, there’s really no way to make hearing voices sound good, is there…”