Laura scanned the menu, then slid her eyes to the prices.
‘Stella! You are not paying this amount of money for my food!’ Laura exclaimed, shocked.
Stella laughed, ‘trust me Laura, money is no problem for us. We are given money from the Minor Court for all schooling expenses.’
At that moment, the waiter approached the table and began taking orders. Once all orders were placed and everyone had received their drinks, Stella began to talk.
‘Since we left so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to cover the full bases of the plan. Now that we are all here I would like to make sure everyone’s on the same page,’ Stella paused for a moment as a waiter walked by. ‘We will begin searching for the Istha Map tomorrow and should we locate it and discover it serves no use, we will continue to repeat the process across the world until we find what we are looking for.’ Stella paused once again as three waiters re-appeared with everyone’s dishes. Once all the plates were set down and the waiters had left, Stella continued. ‘Now, if we do happen to find what we are looking for in one of these places then we will decide how to proceed form there. Sound good?’
They all nodded, even Leo, as they dug into their meals.
‘Great. Anyone have any questions?’ Stella asked. They each shook their head and continued to eat. ‘All right then, tomorrow morning we will meet here at 8 ready to have breakfast and go.’
Laura took that opportunity to ask her pressing question from the airport. ‘Stella, how did we get through the airport with all the…’ she paused and then in a whisper, finished, ‘weapons in our bags.’
Stella laughed lightly, then replied in her own whisper, ‘We can cast the invisibility charm upon ourselves and others, and we can also cast it on objects. That is what we did before we left.’
Laura shook her head, still unable to believe that these people, Enchanted, were capable of so much.
They finished their dinner and one by one, they rose from the table, heading to their rooms to acquire some much needed rest. Soon it was only Stella, Leo, Drew and Laura left at the table.
‘Well, it’s nearly 9.30, I think I’m going to hit the sack,’ Laura said, rising from the table, ‘good night everyone.’
‘All right Laura, you go hit the… ah… sack,’ Leo said and Stella bid her goodnight with a laugh at her husband.
Laura was halfway across the room when Drew called for her to wait up.
‘Trying to leave me with the oldies,’ he accused as they passed the front desk and took a right.
‘Hey, they aren’t that old. And I think sitting with them and having a chat will do you good. They’re incredibly smart, and wise.’ Laura protested.
‘And I’m not?’
‘Well…’
Drew scoffed, ‘I’d prefer walking a young lady safely to her room.’
Laura laughed, ‘how chivalrous!’
He shrugged, ‘whatever you say.’
‘And I think I can get safely to my room myself, thank you,’ she objected.
‘You never know what’s out there, Ace. It’s a cruel world,’ Drew said, and almost ran into a child that was bolting full speed down the hallway.
‘Hey, watch it punk!’ The kid shouted and veered around Drew, sprinting off.
Drew stared after him in utter disbelief.
‘Maybe it’s you who needs to be walked safely to your room,’ Laura retorted.
Drew raised his hands in protest, ‘In my defence, that kid was like a centimetre tall. Anyone could have missed him.’
‘Whatever you say,’ Laura mocked him, and they continued on their way to her room.
‘Okay, well goodnight Drew. I trust you will be okay to make it to your room alive,’ Laura said. She rested her hand on the door knob, testing to make sure it was unlocked, then pushed it open.
‘I think I can make it.’
‘Good.’ She turned away from him.
‘Ace, don’t forget, 5am practice,’ Drew added.
‘Goodnight Drew,’ Laura said as she closed the door, locking it behind her.
The room was dark, save for the moonlight peeking through the curtains.
‘Laura?’ She heard Grace call.
‘Yeah, it’s me,’ she said pulling her jacked from her shoulders and making her way to her bed.
Gemma was sound asleep in her bed and Grace lay staring at the ceiling.
‘Oh good, I could have sworn I heard my brothers voice,’ she said as Laura pulled the sheets back, not bothering to change, and jumped into bed.
‘Yeah he was just saying goodnight,’ Laura said, snuggling down into her pillow.
‘Oh, okay.’ She hesitated, ‘well goodnight Laura.’
‘Night Grace,’ and with that, Laura drifted off into a deep sleep.
Laura stood stone still in the dark musky alley way. It was well into the night, and the sky was a blanket of bright stars. The moon was full, beaming down over her, lighting up the cracked concrete footpath. Then she was moving. She was following two people dressed from head to toe in black. She couldn’t see their faces, but assumed from their bulky and thin figures that the one on the left was male, and the other female.
As she followed these people, she took in her surroundings. On each side of the alley were large brick walls. Behind her was the main street, but in front of her, she couldn’t see a thing. Seemingly out of nowhere a door appeared along the brick wall and Laura hid in the shadows as she watched the male knock, then step back, waiting patiently. Slowly the door creaked open and a thin, white hand appeared, beckoning them in. Quickly, Laura hurried forward to the door as it swung shut.
She stopped, forced herself to count to sixty, than slowly turned the handle. The door wasn’t locked. She pushed it open, peeking inside.
She was in an empty hallway, dully lit by one single light hanging from the ceiling. On her left was the sitting room, on her right, three closed doors lined the wall. Laura entered the house, carefully closing the door behind her. Muffled voices floated down the hallway, and Laura crept to the last of the three doors. She could hear their voices clearly now. An older sounding man with a stern voice was speaking.
‘I don’t know what I can tell you. With all the research I have done, I have not come across anything quite like this. And unless I know what it is I am dealing with I cannot formulate a Charm strong enough to protect her.’
‘ There must be a way to speak with the Gods and to have them examine her. I fear that she is in more danger every day.’
Laura sucked in her breath. That voice was one she had heard thousands of times as a child, scolding her when she left the house without telling anyone, or wandered off in the supermarket. It was her mothers.
‘Cara, you know how incredibly difficult it is to summon the Gods. We need at least fifteen people who all agree upon the purpose of the summoning. I doubt we will even find ten,’ the man said.
‘Kane, please. You have been a dear friend to us. You have watched her grow up. Please, there has to be something you can do.’
There was a long pause. ‘There is one thing I can think of. But I don’t think you will like it,’ Kane replied grimly.
Her mother whispered so quietly, Laura nearly didn’t hear her, ‘anything. Just tell us.’
‘Sacrifice. If you sacrifice your mortality to the Gods, they will in turn protect your daughter.’
Laura gasped, ‘No!’
‘What was that?’ Kane inhaled, ‘were you followed?’
Laura stumbled back down the hall. She had been much louder then she had anticipated. Throwing the door open, she jumped out into the alleyway and took off sprinting down the path. Her mother was too fast for her though, and clamped her hand around her daughter’s wrist.
‘Laura stop. Laura, look at me.’
‘No mum, please don’t!’
‘Laura, look at me.’ Her mother said more sternly this time.
Reluctantly, she turned to her mother.
‘Memorias,’ Cara whispered, and t
he night disappeared around her as Laura felt the familiar feeling of being hauled backwards.
‘Mum, please!’ Laura yelled as she reached for her mother, but the blackness consumed her.
Chapter Ten
Learning To Trust And To Be Trusted
Laura awoke startled, gasping and sweaty, mouth dry. Twisting the cap off her drink bottle, she gulped down some water. As she was screwing the lid back on, the memory of her parents last conversation flashed through her mind. Was this what they had been discussing? Sacrifice? Laura was confused, unable to piece it all together. She had absolutely no clue what these dreams all meant. Her mind was struggling to keep up with all the new information she had been fed in such a short time, let alone being able to process anything else on top of that.
Incapable of shaking the eerie remnants of her dream, she sat up and glanced around. Grace and Gemma were sound asleep and the room was dark, save a small peep of moonlight seeping through the curtains beside her. Looking at her watch under that light, she managed to make out the time. It was nearly 4.30am.
Holding back a groan, she climbed from the warmth of her bed, pulled her training gear from her bag, and made her way to the bathroom. The jetlag had set in and her eyes were glues shut as she changed. She was pleased when she pealed back the bandage on her arm to find that her cut was sealed and the stitches dissolved. A purple-red jagged line covered the length of her forearm, and yellow bruising was still visible, but she was surprised at how quickly she had healed. Only a matter of days.
As she stood there, her thoughts turned to her mother, and her stomach churned with worry. Where was she? Was she okay? Was she even still alive? Did she know that her husband was…gone?
And then Laura was back by her father’s side. He was gripping onto her hands, pleading for her to stay with him. The memory was tearing her heart apart as she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She was crying, and she hadn’t even realised.
She looked down and yelped. Blood covered her hands. His blood. Blinking, she realised that her hands were clean. She whimpered as she allowed the tears to fall. She had wanted to do as he had asked, keep strong, but how could she? Her father was gone. Forever. And there was not a single thing in the world she could do to bring him back.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, staring at her hands, but eventually the tears dried up, and she managed to compose herself enough to leave the bathroom. She heard Grace stir, and considered waking her up, but decided against it. Maybe training with Drew would do her some good. Putting on a brave face, she left the room, quietly sealing the door shut behind her.
Drew sat lazily upon the reception desk, munching on an apple. Laura glared at him as he grinned back, and tossed another apple across the room to her. She caught it out of sheer luck and took a bite.
‘You know, part of me had hoped that kid had come back for you. Then I wouldn’t be up at this ungodly hour. Remind me again, why are we up this early?’
‘Because unless you want everyone to see you train, this is the safest time to do so. I’ve picked our location, I suggest we get going,’ he said, jumping down from the desk and sitting the core of his apple on the bench.
‘Won’t people see that?’ Laura asked.
‘Exactly.’
He crossed the foyer, holding the door open for her. ‘I disabled the alarms for the next three hours, so let’s hope no robbers decide now is the perfect time to attack.’
‘Well, with my brilliant defence skills I have now acquired I’ll be able to hold them off.’
‘Doubt it,’ Drew said as he led her across the lawn.
Laura wondered why the forest he led her too would be ideal, until they broke through it into a clearing.
‘You know, your wit is going to get you in serious trouble one day,’ Laura said.
‘Who says I’m joking?’
‘Well you’re just rude then. Which I hope does get you in trouble.’
He flashed her his familiar charming smile, ‘all right, defence for the next hour. Then I’ll show you the basics of attack.’
So, for the next hour Laura defended herself against Drew’s attacks, learning new techniques from him as they went. He showed her the right positions to stand in, and reminded her to keep her feet grounded.
‘Balance is the key. If your attacker unbalances you, recovering is difficult and they can easily finish you off,’ Drew repeatedly told her.
He showed her how to avoid receiving a heavy blow from a fist or weapon and taught her how to block other possible attacks. He then showed her the best methods of ducking or jumping kicks.
‘Okay,’ Drew said as Laura brushed the grass from her clothes after being tackled yet again. ‘You are getting better.’
‘You just decked me.’
‘But it took me a good 2 minutes to do so, which can make the world of difference during a fight,’ Drew said. ‘Now, time to show you attack. You know how to block a punch, but after you block it, you need to know how to attack them during that split second they are off guard. Now, throw a punch at me.’
‘What I’ve been waiting for all morning,’ Laura muttered, doing exactly what Drew asked and putting in much more force than she should have.
Within a second Drew had blocked the punch as he had shown her, gripped her wrist tight, and twisted her arm behind her back. Once again, he was using her own strength against her, for the more she tensed or tugged at her arm, the more it hurt.
‘This position is one of the best to get an attacker into. If you are quick enough and don’t allow them to head-butt or kick you, you can proceed to tackle or draw a weapon on them. But there is another one move I want to show you that is just as good.’
He released Laura from her position and again she threw a punch at him, fist formed as he had told her. He blocked the punch with his forearm and drove his knee towards her stomach, stopping just as it came in contact with her.
‘Now this move will cause much pain to them, and if you are quick enough, you can then knock their feet out from under them. Okay? Try with me.’
Laura nodded, and waited as Drew positioned himself then pretended to hit her. She blocked the blow, pushed his fist away, rendering him off guard, and thrust her knee up into his stomach with all her might. She had planned on pulling back like he had, but she was too late.
Drew doubled over with pain.
‘My God, I’m so sorry!’ She gasped, reaching out for him.
He stood up, holding his stomach with one hand and waving it off with the other, ‘it’s fine,’ he wheezed, despite not needing the air, ‘good job.’
‘Are you okay?’ Laura asked, attempting to hold back her giggles.
‘Just fine.’
Laura covered her mouth with her hands to smother the laughs that were erupting from her lips.
Drew gave her a thumbs up, ‘top marks.’
Half an hour later, Laura was sure she was finally getting the hang of fighting. Drew had shown her several different moves, all in which she had managed to perform well enough to earn his approval.
Drew flicked the hair from his eyes as Laura brushed the grass and dirt from her clothes from yet another fall. She was getting better, yes, but she was still nowhere near Drew’s level.
‘Now,’ Drew said, ‘time for one of my favourite moves. Hit me.’
Laura did. In an instant he’d raised his arm, blocked the fist, and unbalanced her. Pushed her backwards, sending her sprawling over his outstretched leg. At the last minute before she hit the earth, he darted around, arms going beneath her, lowering her softly to the ground. His face was close. Very close.
Her eyes found his deep green ones, and she sucked in a breath, butterflies fluttering wildly in her stomach.
Then Drew broke away, a frown on his face, ‘uh, we better keep training.’
He pushed up from the ground, tugging her to her feet with him. He held her hand for a moment longer than was necessary, before quickly backing away and continuing on with th
e lesson.
‘So, usually I would kick you then sweep my leg around underneath you, not push and trip you, but I thought that would probably hurt too much. You can try kicking me instead.’
Laura’s thoughts were jumbled and she wondered what had happened. Blinking hard, she shook the thoughts from her mind. This was no for her time to be daydreaming about boys. No, this was a time for her to fight.
‘You two were up early,’ Stella mused, joining Laura and Drew for breakfast.
The ‘incident’ as Laura decided to called it, seemed to be long forgotten by Drew, but certainly not by her. She couldn’t help but watch him a little closer now. She seemed to notice his movements, the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes as they locked with hers every so often.
‘Yeah, thought we would get some training in this morning,’ Drew said.
‘Oh, good. How is it going?’
‘She is learning quickly. We are certainly on our way,’ Drew answered, avoiding Laura’s gaze.
‘I feel much more confident now that I know I can fend off any raging lunatic that comes at me,’ Laura added in all seriousness.
Drew shook his head, ‘she’s psycho. Nearly killed me with her knee.’
Laura raised her eyes to his to find that this time, he was watching her, clearly amused.
‘Serves you right for leaving that apple core on the bench! Not to mention the alarm system!’ Drew had re-activated the alarm system while Laura kept watch, and they were almost caught more than four times.
‘Uh… what?’ Stella asked glancing from Laura to Drew.
They both trained their eyes on their menu, refusing to say anything else on the matter.
Leo joined them at that moment, closely followed by Caspian and Logan, then Gemma and Grace not long after. They settled around the table and ordered their breakfast, gossiping about the latest news in the human world.
‘What so people just… make out in public?’ Grace squeaked, ‘what happened to romance and chivalry?’
‘That was thrown out the window years ago. Now it’s all about PDA. Apparently it’s cute,’ Laura muttered.
‘PDA?’ Caspian frowned.
‘Public Display of Affection,’ Leo informed him.
The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) Page 11