by Natalie Erin
“We’ve been fighting for ages, Luce, ever since Wyntier kidnapped Kennu,” he explained. “You did nothing! Kia was just looking for one more thing to hold over my head so she would win the argument. That’s the way she is!”
Luciana didn’t say anything else, just gave Keota a solemn, disconnected expression. Soran took Zorna in his arms and slowly began backing out of the room. “If you guys are okay, we’re just gonna go,” he said. “We’ve got...um...homework and stuff.”
“Oh, you don’t want to stay longer? Why? This is so much fun,” Maekrel grumbled.
“No thanks,” Zorna said. “We’ll see you later.”
Soran left the house and walked with Zorna through the empty streets of Nesting’s Haven alone, cradling his Changer to his chest. He didn’t know what was going on back in the Lands, but he knew that if it had ended Kia and Keota, it had to be terrible.
“I can’t believe he abandoned them. Even Ionan,” Soran said. “How do you have the strength to leave your Changer behind willingly?”
“I don’t know, Sor.” Zorna clambered onto Soran’s chest and stroked his soft, feathered cheek across his Accompany’s face. “Even if you ordered me, I could never leave you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Protests, Plans, and the Pain of Loss
“This is crap.” Soran snapped his book shut with a bang, putting his elbow upon it and rubbing his head, looking at each of his friends in turn. “This is absolute crap.”
“I’ll say,” Cameliyon fiercely agreed, snapping the syllabus in her hand as she read it furiously. “Do a project that recaps the great plans Wyntier had for Nesting’s Haven. I’ll tell you what his plans are. His plans are to blow us all into oblivion.”
“Not all of us. Just the ones brave enough to fight back,” Martin complained, scratching behind his ear with his ferret foot.
“I can’t believe Professor Aurora’s making us do this. I wish I had never come to this school.” Cameliyon flung the syllabus to the floor, Pumpkin sitting on her head.
“But you wouldn’t have met all of us,” Soran smiled, but then his face fell. “Or have had to do this super fun project.”
They all sat idly in the library in silence. Lately every single school project, even the ones that had nothing to do with history, had something to do with Wyntier. It worried them. Why was the Council focusing on brainwashing everyone in Nesting’s Haven about Wyntier when most people considered him dead?
As a swan, Angel picked up a sharp quill in her beak, leaning over a large piece of parchment and making big letters across it.
“Angel, what are you doing?” Zorna barked in his coyote form. She didn’t make any gesture that she had heard him, only propped up the sign. They all read it when finished.
“Don’t let Wyntier extinguish your voice? Let it be heard?” Daren read out loud. “Angel, that’s great, but what does this have to do with anything?”
“It’s a protest!” Cameliyon said in excitement. “Angel’s telling us that she thinks we should do a protest for our project!”
“That wouldn’t work. Aurora would fail us.” Daren made a face.
“The syllabus says to do something that tells people about Wyntier’s plans. It’s perfect! You’re an angel, Angel!” Soran swooped down and scooped her up, spinning her around the room. Excited, the others began getting right to work on making signs, interest in their project renewed.
Their vigorous work was interrupted by Vivienna, who came storming into the library, a newspaper bunched up in her fist. Melodi the owl was holding onto her Accompany’s shoulders tightly with her talons, trying not to be flung off.
“What’s going on?” Soran asked.
“This!” Vivienna flung the newspaper down on the table and Soran’s stomach twisted as he saw his father’s face printed on the front. The headline was even worse.
WYNTIER RETURNS: LONG LOST LEADER PRESUMED DEAD, NOW BACK IN NESTING’S HAVEN
“The bastard finally decided to come out of hiding,” Vivienna said, tears blurring her face. “Good. I’m tired of fighting him in the dark.”
“Is there going to be a trial?” Soran asked, peering at the paper.
“The Council already cleared him off all charges. It’s in the article,” Vivienna said, wiping her mouth. “They’re giving him total control of the Council.”
“Giving control of the Council to a murderer? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Cameliyon said. “My father would’ve never allowed it.”
“I can’t stand this,” Vivienna said, trembling. “I just can’t.”
Small sparks of black fire flashed from her fingertips. None of the others noticed, but Melodi bounced up and down on her Accompany’s shoulder and whispered, “Vivi, stop, before you burn down the library!”
“Vivi.” Soran grabbed her wrist. “Not here.”
Vivienna took a deep breath, and the dark magic from her hands faded. “Fine. But what can we do? I wish we could get close to him. Then I could kill him.” She clenched her fists. “My magic could do it. I know it could.”
“You’d have to get through Nineva,” Soran whispered.
“She can get in the way, too. I don’t mind taking her down as well. We both know I’m the better witch,” Vivienna said bitterly.
“We don’t want a fight between you and Nineva,” Soran hushed under his breath. “Your magic might be stronger than hers, but she’s got more experience, and she’ll do whatever it takes to win. She’ll kill you, Vivi.”
She looked down and sighed. “I know. But I do want the chance, and if I ever get it, I’m going to take it.”
“You can help us with this,” Soran said, floundering for a poster and showing it to her. “We’re making a protest against Wyntier. I guess it’s more important than ever, seeing as how he’s finally come out of hiding.”
Vivienna wiped her face harshly with the back of her hand and said, “If it’s the least I can do, then so be it. Anything’s better than just sitting here.”
A few days later on the project’s due date, they’d finally finished. All the signs had been made and were set up in front of the school, where many Accompanies and Changers had to pass for work. Cameliyon was passing out flyers she had done off the school’s printing press and was handing them out with a big smile. She had disguised herself as a pointy-nosed, brunette girl, and although Vivienna complained that Cameliyon wouldn’t get caught if the rest of them were to get into trouble because of the disguise, Soran was secretly glad, as he didn’t want anything to push his best friend over the edge.
“Thanks for letting me write your childhood story, Soran. People will definitely read this.” Cameliyon picked up more flyers off the table that contained the history of Soran’s past, handing them out to a gaggle of students who flocked by.
Soran smiled. “It was hard, but it wasn’t that bad telling it to you, Cam. At least people are going to know what he’s capable of now.”
Zorna brushed his brown paw over his sign, which read, Wyntier is drugging our society like he did me! Pumpkin and Martin were horses, each with a chain wrapped around their necks and a sign hanging from it, reading Wyntier’s plans are a twin deal! Don’t get attached!
Like a soldier, Daren was marching up and down with his sign, appearing extremely determined and glancing Cameliyon’s way every now and then. Vivienna and Melodi were passing out buttons that read, Wear this for a free Nesting’s Haven!
Angel, however, was the best. Although she was silent, the pearly whiteness of her extravagant coat attracted the most attention. The griffin proudly held her head up high, leading Daren in the march and flicking her tail back and forth, appearing like she had no reluctance to be in her main form as she had shown before.
Even Federin had gotten in on the job, though he wasn’t much help. He rested on the table while a sign was propped up against him. Don’t laze around while Wyntier takes over!
“This is great. I think people are starting to notice,” Soran beamed.
<
br /> People were beginning to notice, but for reasons unknown to the kids, they looked mad instead of supportive. It had only been an hour before a bunch of Wyntier’s supporters rode by on their Changers, chucking wet piles of mud at the group before riding quickly away.
“Ugh. I knew we would meet trouble,” Vivienna complained, wiping mud off her new jacket.
“And it looks like more is on the way.” Soran pointed.
Professor Aurora and her unicorn Changer were stomping directly to them, absolutely furious. The teacher grabbed one of their boards and crumpled it up, tossing it to the ground. “What are you doing? You’re going to get me fired!” she hissed.
“You told us we had to do a project that showed Wyntier’s plans. We put in a lot of hard work for this and we’re not going to quit now,” Soran said defensively.
“As of this instant, you’ve all failed. Now pack up your things, and get in that school!” Aurora pointed to the castle and her unicorn danced uneasily, looking from left to right.
Soran straightened up and said, “No. People need to know about this. We can’t sit back any longer and watch these disappearances take place. You know why it’s happening just like we do.”
For a second, Aurora looked like she wanted to break down and join them before a guard came up behind Soran, shoving a pink ticket in Cameliyon’s hand.
“Are you the leader of this protest?” the guard asked.
“Not really. She is.” Soran pointed to Angel and the griffin stepped towards the officer.
“I don’t want to talk to a Changer or a bunch of dumb kids. Who’s the adult here?” the guard said rudely.
“We’re all students. But my sister’s nineteen,” Soran said.
The Accompany clomped over to Vivienna, his suit of armor rattling, and said, “I’m going to have to ask you to clear out, before I have to break this up by force.”
“Why? This is a peaceful protest! You can’t stop us!” Vivienna exclaimed.
“Yes they can, Vivi,” Cameliyon said in a quiet voice, reading the ticket that the soldier gave her. “We can’t protest anymore, because we no longer have the right. The Council’s burned our constitution. They’re rewriting all our laws.”
“This is ridiculous! They can’t do this!” Soran burst.
“Soran, shush,” Zorna said, glancing nervously towards the guard.
The guard turned to Professor Aurora and asked, “Ma’am, are you the one responsible for this?”
Professor Aurora gulped. “I had nothing to do with it. I’m just their teacher.”
“Then you allowed this to happen. Come with me.” He grabbed her arm and started leading her away, her Changer following. “This had better be cleaned up by the time I get back, otherwise, there will be more arrests,” he threatened as he pulled Aurora away, sneering at them from over his shoulder.
The group got very quiet. Their flyers and signs felt useless now.
“I didn’t mean to get Aurora and her Changer arrested,” Soran said quietly. “I just wanted to do something to stop all of this.”
“What did you think was going to happen? This was a stupid idea,” Daren said, already beginning to put away the signs. “Let’s hurry up and go, before more soldiers show up.”
Within a few minutes everything was cleaned up, the signs thrown in the trash. Soran felt terrible just looking at them. He hadn’t thought a couple of signs would get anyone hurt.
Martin noticed the look on Angel’s face. “Don’t be sad, Angel. It’s not your fault we got in trouble.”
Angel ruffled her feathers and sighed, the fire gone from her blue eyes entirely.
Professor Aurora and her Changer weren’t in class the next day, nor the day after that. They’d been replaced with an even worse teacher and his Changer, two individuals that probably could’ve been told to jump off a mountain for Wyntier and would do it. The kids heard no more of Professor Aurora, nor her partner. They, like many others, had vanished. Soran realized that he and his friends were to blame for her disappearance. He wondered if their small protest was worth whatever Aurora and her Changer were going through right now.
Pumpkin remembered. Pumpkin remembered everything. She hadn’t liked it...no, she hadn’t liked it at all. There was her Cameliyon, and her eyes were true black, glowing with the richness of night as a large crowd surrounded her in the middle of Nesting’s Haven. A swirling mass of dark power hovered around her form, but it wasn’t fire...Cameliyon didn’t have any power like that at all. This wasn’t magic, this was something bad…something much worse…
Black water, that’s what it was. That’s all Pumpkin could think to call it. Cameliyon cast her hands in front of her, into the crowd. Accompanies and Changers became infected by the black water as it flowed relentlessly into their mouths. Screaming in horrible pain, the creatures fell to the ground, clutching their stomachs as they began bleeding from the inside out.
And then her brother’s eyes began filling up with black, the same water that surrounded Cameliyon. Soon, Pumpkin’s own eyes turned dark, and she was no longer herself, but a being of the black water. She was the first part of the twin prophecy, and she would side with the evil. Wyntier would win.
Pumpkin awoke from her rest in the dead in the night, terribly frightened. She looked in the mirror on the opposite side of the moonlit room. Cameliyon and Martin were resting in the bed next to her, and their eyes were closed. She let out a cry of horror as she saw that her own eyes shone pitch black. An instant later, the darkness from them faded away.
“Are you alright, Pumpkin?” Martin asked his sister the next day, worried. They watched as Soran fell headfirst through the skies above, only to be swooped up by Zorna as a black Pegasus, saved before he ever came close to hitting the ground. It was Moorock’s class, and they were being taught the Accompany dive today. Soran and Zorna could perform it without flaw already, though the others were struggling to even attempt it.
Pumpkin shook her head. Both she and her brother were both Pegasi. “I’m fine, Martin. I just had a bad dream last night.”
“Excellent, Soran!” Professor Moorock praised as the two touched ground. “Marvelous form! Now you three have a go.” He pointed at Cameliyon and the twins.
The Accompany stood up nervously, getting on Pumpkin’s back. She took off and Martin flew after her, his brown wings pumping vigorously.
“I’ll drop her and you catch her!” Pumpkin cried to her twin. “Ready, set…”
“Don’t do it!” Cameliyon screamed, but it was too late. Pumpkin had already turned sideways and Cameliyon was plummeting through the air. Martin waited a few seconds before diving after her. Cameliyon was screaming her head off as she fell, crying out to anyone to save her. Martin caught her long before she hit the ground, fluttering down to the courtyard. Cameliyon clung to Martin, bawling, as they landed.
“Miss LeEdna? Are you quite alright?” Moorock asked as he went to Cameliyon’s side. The other students in class were laughing at her, as if they found her terror funny.
She shook her head and Martin said, “Maybe I should drop her this time, and Pumpkin should catch her.”
“No! Don’t do it again! You’ll let me fall!” she protested. She slid off of Martin and grabbed her bag as Daren walked to her side, Soran following.
“It’s not the end of the world, Cam. Federin and I can’t do it. He won’t even let me ride him,” Daren said, trying to comfort her.
“Just get away from me!” she snapped, pushing Daren away. She slammed the courtyard door behind her as she left, leaving her Changers behind. Daren’s cheeks burned and he angrily glared at the ground, avoiding everyone’s gaze.
“She…” Pumpkin let her head down. “She doesn’t trust us enough to let us do it.”
“If she can’t trust us then who can she trust?” Martin asked, his voice a mixture of hurt and disgust.
Moorock came forward and said, “It’s not a problem that she can’t do the dive. I know many Accompanies who still can
’t do it to this day.” He waved to the rest of the class. “You’re dismissed.”
Moorock sighed. He rubbed his face, turning away from Soran and his friends, who were watching curiously. “Cameliyon must learn to trust her Changers. Otherwise, it’ll end up in disaster.”
“What do you mean?” Zorna was a phoenix again and was bobbing his head as he sat on Soran’s shoulder as the rest of the class left the courtyard.
“Sit down. It’ll be a long story.” Moorock sat cross-legged on the grass and the rest followed suit. Angel slunk out of Soran’s bag as an ermine, crawling to her friend and sitting upon his knee.
Moorock cleared his throat. “A few years ago, when I was still a young Accompany, I signed up for the army with my Changer. Wyntier and Vera joined too, along with your uncle, Soran, though I can’t remember his name…he had a dragon Changer…something with an I…”
“Keota and Ionan?” Soran asked.
“That’s right. Wyntier was jealous of Keota for years after he was bonded to Vera…he had always wanted Ionan instead. I remember there were times when Wyntier tried to steal Ionan out of Keota’s dorm and leave poor, resting Vera in his place by the bedside. I helped him once, and got a nasty burn for it, too. Ionan didn’t take kindly to being stuffed in a bag in the middle of the night.”
“But it doesn’t work like that,” Soran said. “You can’t just go around swapping Changers. They choose you, not the other way around. They won’t be with anyone else. Ionan wouldn’t have stayed with Wyntier even if you had succeeded.”
“Wyntier doesn’t think like that. He sees Changers as property,” Moorock said grimly. “After he realized that wasn’t going to work, he tried persuading Ionan to make the switch. Of course, he always refused.”
Moorock continued. “So Wyntier was stuck with Vera, to his dismay, but he decided to make the best of it. After he graduated, Wyntier tried getting into the Council. They rejected him completely, and it made him very bitter. He decided to sign them both up for the army. Back then, I was Wyntier’s shadow, so my Changer and I joined him, and Keota and Ionan followed suit.