Spearwood Academy Volume Four (The Spearwood Academy Book 4)

by A. S. Oren

  He cups the water in his hands and tosses it over his shoulders. It runs down his back, carrying the mud down to the water. It runs into it like blood. My cheeks flush. Watching him—half naked—bath in the water, brings forth the memory of the barn again. My imagination replaces both the younger versions of us with our current age, and he remains half-clothed. I shake my head, trying to dispel the thought. I’ve never thought about one of the guys like that. There’s more pressing matters to concentrate on now that he’s healed. Like, how did we get here? Where are the others? Did they come with us? I stand, turning away from Maverick. I look around the surroundings, as if the others are just going to pop out of the ground like gophers and be there. I shiver. Are they okay? Oh, Sun god, please don’t let them be dead.

  I walk toward the tall grass field. A line of thick apple trees stand just a few meters ahead. We aren’t that far from where Edgar’s house should be. If it’s still standing after Spearwood got their hands on it. I used to come down to this river to read and play with Maverick and Paden during the summer. Cold wind rushes over my face, pushing my hair back. Winter has just started to set in.

  “That was refreshing,” Maverick says, coming up behind me. I grab his hand and pull him forward, so he stands in front of me. Only a slight-pink tinge mars his skin. I frown and touch the hand print on the middle of his back. I align my right hand with it. It fits perfectly. “What is it? I feel healed.”

  “Nothing. Well, not nothing. It’s my hand print in the middle of your back.”

  “What? Like the one that’s on Bullock’s skin?”

  “Yeah, but this one is brown.”

  He watches the trees ahead of us. “You teleported us to the Orchard. Why?”

  I join him. His hand grabs mine. We link our fingers, as if we’ve done it a thousand times before. I have no desire to pull away from his hold. “I don’t know. I don’t even know how I did it. I don’t think Edgar taught us anything like this.”

  He shakes his head. “He didn’t. No dragon shifter has that ability. We can only cross distances like this through Void magic.”

  “Do you think what they said back there is true? We’re . . . Amr!” Panic fills me. Is he all right? “Where are the others? You don’t think they’re still trapped back there with that manic, do you?”

  He shakes his head. “I can’t explain it, but I think they are nearby. I think we just scattered. You and I were together because we were so close.”

  “How do you know that?”

  His hand tightens around mine. “I don’t know. I can just feel it. I know they’re here and not somewhere else. Take a moment to think about them, to think about Amr. You’ll see what I mean.”

  I close my eyes and picture Amr in my mind. I smile when the memory of him staying by my side when Aibek asked him to join his side comes to light. A small tug on my navel makes me take a step forward, as if a lasso has encircled me. “I think I know where he is.” I lead Maverick by the hand into the shallow wood area of the first batch of apple trees. Within a few moments, we’re standing in front of Edgar’s house. It still stands with the rundown, brown barn a few hundred feet away. I go toward the barn. Amr’s in there, I just know it. The pull gets stronger, practically dragging me across the ground. I sprint.

  “Help me.” Together, Maverick and I open one of the massive barn doors. Light from the hayloft door pours in the room, illuminating all out them lying in the dirt, unconscious.

  I run to Amr. He lies on his back. A relieved sigh leaves me, when my eyes catch the slight rise and fall of his chest. I fall to my knees next to him. The Sea Witch said whatever happened to one of us would happen to the other eventually, so shouldn’t I know if he’s hurt or not? I should feel it. Does that mean he got out of the whole thing unscathed? Maybe falling asleep under Aibek’s power saved him? I touch his shoulder and gently nudge him. “Amr, wake up. Are you hurt?”

  He frowns at my prodding, but opens his brown eyes. “Avalon?” he sits up. “What happened? Where are we? I don’t remember anything after that guy asked me if I wanted to join the dark side.”

  “He did something evil to us; sucked up our energy. If it had happened for much longer, I think we would’ve gone into comas. Are you hurt?”

  He pats himself down. “I don’t think so.” He looks around, his eyes falling on Horace, who liesunconscious a few feet away. “Horace!”

  He crawls over to him. Horace’s glasses are gone. Blood trickles down the side of his forehead. His right wrist curves at an odd angle. Amr moves the hair out of Horace’s eyes, gently, like a whisper, as if he doesn’t want to wake him up. I look between the two of them. Is there something going on there? A smile pulls at the corners of my mouth. A white light emits from Amr’s hand, as it hovers above the cut on Horace’s forehead. The blood and cut disappears. Amr gasps and looks at me. “I don’t know how I did that.” He moves his hand over the broken wrist. At first, nothing happens, but then a light appears. The bones shift under the skin, moving back into place. He can heal like I can.

  Horace shifts. His emerald green eyes open and look at Amr’s. “Amr?” he frowns and sits up. He looks around and touches his face. “I can see without my glasses,” he mummers. “Where are we? What happened?” Another glance around at everyone. “Where’s Triton?”

  My brother’s shoulders fall at the mention of Triton. “You don’t remember, do you?”

  Triton’s betrayal rings fresh in my mind. He let Aibek out, and I don’t think he’s a harmless kind of evil. Why would he do that? Why would he help a man like that?

  “Avalon!” Dante yells.

  I turn my head. Dante sits up. Maverick crouches next to him and Paden. Lusk staggers into a stand by using one of the support beams in the center of the barn.

  “She’s fine; you can calm down,” Maverick says, touching Dante’s shoulder. Dante flinches away from his hand.

  “Fire.” Amber eyes meet mine, as a sigh escapes him. He winces, as he stands. He limps over to me, before falling to his knees. Dante stares into my eyes for a long second, before he reaches out and pulls me to him, hugging me close.

  “I was so worried,” he mumbles into my hair. I hug him back, trying to give him the comfort he wants. My eyes meet with Maverick’s as he frowns at us. Paden nudges him. The frown falls from his face.

  “I’m okay, Dante. I’m still alive. Thanks to Maverick.”

  “I hate to break up this hallmark moment, but where the hell are we?” Lusk asks.

  “The Orchard,” Paden responds. “It’s where we grew up.”

  Dante pulls away from me. “Are you hurt?” His eyes scan my body. I’m glad I have more than a blazer on. Vex was a life saver.

  His eyes stop on my arms. “You’re not fine.” I glance down with a frown. The outer side of my forearms are glazed over with burns. Even seeing them, I don’t have any pain.

  “They don’t hurt at all, superficial at most. You and the others need healing though. Something’s wrong with your leg.”

  He shakes his head. “We need to heal you first.”

  I sigh. “I promise you, I’m not in any pain. You’re more stubborn than a wild horse.” I move my hands over my arms, concentrating on healing them, but nothing happens. I frown. I figured that would work.

  “Here,” Amr says, crouching down next to me. He moves his hand over the wounds, white light bursting forth. Warmth surrounds each of my arms. It’s nice, like sunbathing on a day with a nice cool breeze to accompany it. He pulls his hand back, my skin normal again. “I don’t think we can heal ourselves, just other people, the ones we care about. I found a scrape on my knees. I could barely feel it, but I wasn’t able to heal it with my own power.”

  He could be right, but that doesn’t make sense. How can we heal others, but not ourselves? I look at his knees. I lift my hand and focus on healing his wound. The white light comes out of my fingertips—they tingle with pins and needles—before I move my hand away. Again, his skin is as good as new. I don’t know
where this new power comes from, but I like it. It’s not like the other times I’ve healed people. I don’t think it needs any of the elements to work.

  I turn my attention to Dante, his eyes still fixated on Amr’s knee. “I need you to lie down, so I can heal you.” I glance at the others. “If you’re hurt, come over here. If I find out you’re hiding it from me, I will kick your ass. Where’s Bullock?”

  “He’s not here. Neither are mom and dad,” Amr says.

  I frown. I don’t think I left them behind. Just like with Amr, a lasso pulls on my body. I don’t know who it’s for though. I need to heal the others first. We’ll be able to move faster if they are in top shape. Dante lies down. “If you wanted to get me on my back, Fire, all you had to do was ask.” He gives me the same type of smirk he did when I first met him.

  I laugh and shake my head. At least, he still has some of the jokester left in him. He’s been nothing but serious for days; not that I can blame him. “In your dreams, Casanova.”

  He just smiles back. I glance at Maverick. His frown lines have gotten deeper. I kind of like making him jealous.

  Dante’s clothes aren’t quite as shredded as Maverick’s were. Holes mar his navy blue slacks, and his shirt has blood on it, but I don’t think it’s his. It’s dried. I run my hand down his right leg, healing it with the white light. Each time I use it, it gets easier to control. I bet I won’t even have to concentrate on the thought, when I get good enough. A bone clicks back into place. I shift my hand to hover over the rest of his body, fixing anything that may be wrong that I can’t see. When I get to the golden scale fused with his side, the scales sparkle under the light, but the skin and scale stays in place. I guess it’ll be there forever. I hope he doesn’t mind it.

  “Sorry. I couldn’t heal the scale. It’s going to be there for the rest of your life.”

  He smiles and touches his side. “That’s okay. I like it.” With a small grunt, he sits up. “I feel brand new. Thank you, Avalon. “

  “You’re welcome.” I look to the others. Paden cradles one arm with the other and Lusk leans against the support beam. Beads of sweat trickle down his face. He’s in a lot of pain. I doubt he could walk over here if he wanted to. I’ll work with him first. I walk over to him. “Where are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine. I don’t need your help.”

  “Stop being stubborn. It would be stupid to die over a wound, when you know I can heal it.”

  “Now you want to heal me? You didn’t a month ago when I came to you in that hallway.” My mind flashes back to when he cornered me in the hallway, during my first tutoring session with Bullock. When that Speaker appeared out of nowhere . . . and then he kissed me on the cheek. My cheeks flush at the memory. It was the first time—I thought—that a guy had kissed me in anyway.

  “There wasn’t a chance of you dying then, and I didn’t know how to turn this power on and off. I do now. Let me help you. Don’t make me control you with the Voice, again.”

  I step closer to him and place my hand on the support beam. A new memory comes out of nowhere. The guys fall away, leaving the barn empty, only I stand here, alone.

  I’m trying to get fire to burst from my hand, and move into a tornado, but it doesn’t even spin for a second. I huff and push the strands that have escaped my tight pony tail out of my face. “I will never get this technique down. Why couldn’t there be a fire elemental here?” I mumble.

  “You have to focus on picturing the swirl. It’s not that hard.”

  I turn around, just in time to see a fourteen-year-old Maverick make a tornado with the dirt under our feet. It swirls slowly, before picking up speed and crashing into the support beam at the center of the room.

  “Show off.”

  He grins and walks up to me. “You’ll get the hang of it soon. You’re still extremely gifted for someone your age. There are no thirteen year old girls out there like you.”

  I look to the ground. “I know. I wish there were. There’d be no reason for me to be in hiding like this. To not know who my parents are. You and Paden wouldn’t have to waste your childhood here. You could be raised with others like us. Now, Paden has gone off to Spearwood. What if they treat him like an outsider?”

  Maverick laughs. “That won’t happen. We’re Royals; you know that. I wouldn’t trade my life for another. I love that I got to grow up here with you and Edgar.”

  I sigh. “You’re just saying that.”

  He tilts my chin up. “Look into my eyes. Does it look like I’m lying? I want to always be by your side.”

  My heart beat picks up, and I pull away from him. I’m not supposed to have feelings for him. He’s supposed to be like a brother to me. Like a brother, an annoying older brother. When did things change? Why did things change?

  “Lon, look at me. What’s wrong?”

  I stare into his ocean blue eyes again. “I can’t tell you.”

  “Yes, you can. You can tell me anything; you know that.”

  My sight lingers on his pink lips. Before my brain filters the action, I’m kissing him. Fast and quick, I press my lips to his warm ones before pulling away. My whole body heats up. My hand goes to my mouth. I can’t believe I did that. Have I gone nuts? “I’m so sorry. Just forget that happened.”

  I go to run. His hand stops me by grabbing my wrist. I turn to face him, but keep my eyes to the ground. I don’t think I can handle the rejection in his eyes.

  “I don’t want to forget it.” Pulling me close, he kisses me this time. My legs give out from underneath me. His arm wraps around my back, holding me up. “I want to do that forever.”

  “Maverick,” Edgar’s voice sounds throughout the barn. I turn to look at him over my shoulder. He frowns at us. “Can I speak to yau in private for a moment?” It wasn’t a question, and his Irish accent has come on a bit. Uh oh, he’s not happy. My cheeks flush. I can’t believe he caught us during my first real kiss.

  Maverick clears his throat. “Yeah, of course, Ed.” He rubs the back of his neck.

  The flashback ends, but with the end of one, I’m hit with another like a tidal wave. I fall to my knees, my hand still clutching at the support beam.

  “Ed will kill us if he catches us doing this. He doesn’t want us together. Why, I don’t know,” I say, as we kneel at the base of the support beam we first kiss by.

  “He’ll never know about this. We’ll hide it with our magic. Only we’ll be able to make it appear. I don’t care if he’s against us. Screw prophecy. I love you, Lon.”

  I grin. I love when he says it. “I love you too, Maverick.”

  He places his right hand on top of my left and lifts it to press it against the wood. His goes flat over mine. “We’ll be together forever, no matter what.”

  “Forever,” I whisper in return. We close our eyes, and allow our magic to flow together at the same time. The wood begins to burn, filling the barn with the scent of pine wood smoke. His magic courses with mine. I open my eyes. A gold hue radiates out from underneath my hand. His blue energy circles my hand. Silver appears where the hues overlap. Nothing but love fills my whole body.

  We lift our hands away and link fingers. Burned into the dark wood: an infinity symbol. We both smile. I look to him. “We did it on the first try.”

  He leans forward and kisses my forehead and the tip of my nose. “Because our magic knows we’re meant to be together, too.” His lips meet mine.

  “Avalon, are you okay?” his voice, Maverick’s, brings me back to reality.

  The flashback ends faster than I thought it would. My head doesn’t hurt as much as it did with the other flashbacks. Maybe it’s because the memories were about Maverick? I nod. I lift my hand to cup his cheek. “I remember now.” I lift my other hand off the support beam, revealing the infinity symbol we made together when I was thirteen and he was fourteen. Even at those young ages, I think we could both feel it: that we would be together forever in some way or form. Guilt over how I treated him before my true memories returned
courses through my veins. Tears rush to my cheeks. “I’m so sorry about how I treated you.”

  His eyes linger on the infinity symbol, before they turn back to me. The blue glows like his magic. With the pads of his thumbs, he wipes away my tears. My own hands come grasp at his wrists. He kisses my forehead, the tip of my nose, and my lips. Electricity surges through my body like a lightning strike. I move my arms to circle around his neck. I haven’t felt this whole in such a long time. The part of me that felt as if it had been missing is back again. I don’t want to, but I’m the first to break the kiss with a soft and contented sigh. “I need to heal Mirren, we can talk about everything soon.”

  He gives a nod and hugs me. “I feel whole again. I have you back,” he whispers in my ear.

  He helps me stand, though my legs aren’t as shaky as they had been.

  I glance around us. All of them watch us in silence. I can’t read some of their expressions. Amr smiles at me. I let out a breath. Maverick steps aside, so I can heal Mirren. Mirren being one of the guys that I can’t read. He says nothing, as I hover and run my hand over his body. Sweat stopped forming on his forehead, and he no longer lean’s against the support beam. I swallow hard, as I lift my hand to hover over his face. I watch as part of the scars heal. I leave the lower half, which still covers his lower jaw and lips. His grey eyes go wide, as he realizes what I’ve done. His hand touches the smooth, new skin. “I didn’t heal all of it. You’re still an ass, but maybe in the future I’ll heal the rest.”

  He just stares at me. I guess it would be stupid of me to expect a thank you from him. He clears his throat—will he thank me, after all?—before he nods. I’ll take what I can get.

  “Let me know if you have any injuries I didn’t catch.”

  I walk over to Paden. He looks down at me with those sapphire eyes like he’s looking into my very soul. He leans down and whispers into my ear. “So, Mav beat me to the punch I see. I knew my being away for a year would cause you two to admit your feelings for one another.”

  “You’re not mad?” I whisper.

  He stands up. “No, just jealous.” He smiles.