by Diana Nixon
“Okay, let’s try again.”
This time he stood in front of me. He put out both hands, and asked me to do the same. When our palms touched, I felt the tingling, meaning that Evan was sharing his powers with me.
“Now, concentrate on the power of the wind and make it blow over the sand I’ll create.” Earth was Evan’s element, and he could control everything that was connected to it, including sand.
I never tried using multiple elements. It seemed too scary to try. But now and then it felt so natural. I gasped at the full force of energy, overwhelming me. When the wind touched the sandy surface, I thought I would faint. Evan shifted, but I didn’t know what he did. When I opened my eyes I saw a thin blanket of sand, moving slowly up to my knees. It felt bad. As if it was a snake, wrapping around my legs.
“Stop it,” I said. But Evan seemed to miss my words. He made the sand move faster, covering a good part of my body.
“Stop!” I said harsher this time. Nothing happened. Then I tried to make the wind release me from the sandy cocoon. It scared the hell out of me.
“Try better,” Evan said. I knew he could feel the fear growing inside me, but somehow he didn’t pay any attention to it.
“I can’t!” I felt the sand touching my lips, and I panicked.
The torture ended. Evan let my hands go. “You can do this, Eileen. I know you can!”
“I … I can’t,” I said almost in a whisper, wrapping my arms around myself.
“Oh, no! You are … crying?” Evan put a palm on my cheek, making me look at him. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Well, you did!” My voice rose to a shriek, and I felt tears rolling down my face.
“Don’t … don’t cry,” Evan said, embracing me. “I thought you would get angry and increase the force of the wind.”
“You won. I AM angry!” I said, trying to stop the damn tears. I knew Evan would never hurt me intentionally. He wanted to help. “Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Can we try with something else? No more sand.”
“What about the fire?” Evan smiled uneasily. I knew he felt guilty for scaring me.
“Fire will do.” It was an essential element of all the Fairey’s.
This time Evan was less cruel. He didn’t try to kill me anymore. Besides, he didn’t possess the power of fire, so the only thing he could do, was to increase its intensity with the help of his magic. We tried to combine the powers of fire and water, creating circles around us, and making the powers overcome one another.
Water was the only element I didn’t like working with. It always felt like I wasn’t patient enough to control it. So in most cases the power of fire won, filling the space of the classroom with the bright, red flames.
The last attempt wasn’t successful.
“Ouch!” Evan cried, turning his head to see something behind him. “What the hell, Eileen! You fried my butt!”
“What?” I ran up to him. “Let me have a look.”
“I don’t think it's a good idea.” Evan groaned, closing his eyes in pain. “And I don’t think Christian will approve of you staring at my butt.”
“For God’s sake, Evan! Only you can think of such a stupid thing while being hurt!”
“Damn, it does hurt! I need to see Mrs. Webber. Like right now!” He headed for the door, forgetting about me and his duty to babysit me.
Great, he’s going to hate me for the rest of my life, I thought to myself. Or to be exact, he was going to hate me and the fire that always tended to fry a part of his body or face. Last time it was Christian, frying his eyebrows. Accidentally of course, but as far as I knew, Evan still nursed rancor against him.
Chapter 10. The Secrets
While Evan was busy taking care of his butt, and no one knew I was actually left alone in the classroom, I decided to visit William. I was still sure he would never hurt me.
I went out onto the street, silently praying not to meet any of my friends or Christian. Using the spell of invisibility inside campus was forbidden. So I chose the longest road to the dorms, and managed to get there unseen. Well, at least I hoped so.
I got to the third floor and knocked at the door. No one answered. I knocked again.
A few moments later, Will opened the door. “May I help you?” he asked half-smiling. Apparently I was the last person he expected to see.
“Can we talk?”
“Sure. Come in.” He opened the door wider and let me in. “I hope your watch-dogs are not going to burst through this door any second?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your bodyguards or whatever you call them.”
I laughed quietly. “You mean Christian and Evan?”
“Exactly.” Will went over to the coffee table and took a pack of cigarettes. “Do you mind?”
“Go ahead, poison yourself.”
“I don’t usually smoke in the presence of ladies, but you are different.”
“Not a lady?” I raised one eyebrow questioningly.
“Not a usual kind of a lady.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing bad, trust me. Rather on the contrary.”
“Does my presence bother you?” I took a seat on the big dark-brown chair.
“I guess your presence bothers most of Dever’s students.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Because you are special.” There wasn’t anything funny about the way he said that, and I frowned, wondering whether or not it was a good idea to come here.
“I could say the same about you.” I tried not to show my nervousness.
“Really? So you think I’m special?”
“Every person is special.”
Will rolled his eyes. “Right, but I guess it’s not what you wanted to talk about....”
He left the sentence unfinished, watching me.
“You know they forbid me to talk to you.”
“Um … yes. They kind of made it clear yesterday.”
“They came here?” I couldn’t believe anyone actually dared to do something like that behind my back.
“Evan and Christian dropped in last night to knock the hell out of me.”
“They what?” Now, that was something I would have never approved. “Did they hurt you?”
“Not even close.” William laughed. “But I got the point — I need to stay away from you.”
“They think you can hurt me.” I looked into his eyes. They were not drunk today. What surprised me a lot, was that today William was uncharacteristically serious. Though I didn’t know him well enough to say what his usual behavior was.
“What about you. Do you think I can hurt you?” Will stopped in front of me and bent down so that now our faces were on the same level. My grasp on the chair arms tightened. Not that I was scared. But there was something in his eyes that said I should be really careful with my words.
“No,” I replied, meeting his stare.
He was watching me for what felt like forever. Then he smiled at his mental joke and went to the opposite chair. “Brave, beautiful and powerful.” He took another cigarette, and I caught myself thinking about the amount he could smoke at one sitting. “You don’t have to be scared, Eileen. I will never hurt you.”
“I know.” It was true. I trusted him. “I just … keep thinking about what makes others think differently.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Maybe the way I behave.”
“Do drinking and smoking help you overcome your problems?”
“I don’t have any.” He smiled leisurely.
“Then why do you drink and smoke? You do realize that they can expel you?”
“I don’t think so.”
I didn’t like the way our talk went. His short answers didn’t help me find out anything new. I wanted to know more about him. And I knew that he wanted to know more about me. So I decided to use a different technique.
“Okay, I’d better go before anyone notices my absence.” I ro
se and headed for the door.
“Wait,” Will said, catching my hand. “I’m sorry. I was glad to see you, Eileen. And you can come here whenever you want. I don’t care if others don’t approve of it.”
I nodded. “Don’t let anyone threaten you.”
“Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”
“Good.” I smiled and left.
The weird conversation left me with more questions than I had before. William was a withdrawn person. It was hard to make him say anything he didn’t want you to know. And I wondered why….
Obviously his father controlled him, and he didn’t like it. But he wasn’t a child. He had his own life. Maybe he wasn’t strong enough to get rid of that control?
If I didn’t know he was about to join the faculty of Wizardry, I would have never said that he was a magician. Yes, he had some power, but I couldn’t understand what kind of a power it was. I didn’t feel the presence of fire that was supposed to be his main element. He was a pure Fairey after all, wasn’t he? There were no traces of earth, water or wind, and that was strange too. And there sure as hell was no magic in him … so what was his gift?
There was only one way to find out.
When I returned to Christian’s room, there was Amanda, sitting on his couch.
“Where have you been?” she asked, watching me curiously.
“Training with Evan.” I didn’t want anyone, including my best friend, to know about the meeting with William.
“Wrong answer,” she said, smiling.
“How did you….”
“I saw Evan at Mrs. Weber’s office, and you were nowhere near.”
“Oh, well I was….”
“With Will?”
“Yes.” I looked at Amanda, cautious. She wasn’t angry. Rather on the contrary. “What’s so funny?”
“You, breaking the rules. Don’t worry; I’m not going to tell anyone about your escape. So why did you go to him?”
“To talk.”
“And?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged. “He didn’t tell me anything new, except for the fact that your brother and Evan threatened him.”
“I know.” I stared at her speechless. “Well, I read that in Evan’s thoughts.”
“And you never told me about that?”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to add any more fuel to the fire.”
“Great, thank you, my dearest friend. But I am angry now, and you, holding back something so important like that, is not helping matters.”
“I’m really sorry, Eileen. I didn’t want to quarrel with any of you guys. And now, when I can read some of your minds, I will always be the one responsible for hiding things. But I can’t change it. So please, don’t blame me. I’m not thrilled about what’s going on here. Can we talk about something else?”
“Like what?”
“Like presents for Evan’s birthday. Have you already decided what to give?”
“No.”
“But the birthday is in a week!”
“I know, but I don’t know what to choose.”
“What about a present from Christian?”
“He said he found something, but never said what it was.”
“Uh, guys, you are impossible!” Amanda groaned. “How on earth am I supposed to prepare the best birthday ever, if you don’t even have presents?”
“We will come up with something,” I assured her.
“Not just something! It must be a special present!”
I laughed. “Just look at you! You do care about Evan!”
She grimaced in response and headed for the door. “Remember — one week!” she said before leaving.
I sighed. I had no idea what present to give Evan. Amanda was right, it should be something special. Just like Evan himself.
He wasn’t just my friend. He took a very special place in my heart. He was talented and smart, and he always knew everything. It was impossible to hide anything from him. Last time I didn’t want him to know about my plans, I had to use an amulet made by Anna. It was a combination of different herbs that hid my true intentions. But still Evan knew that I was up to something. And I was really glad he did, because it helped us to save Christian, and return safely from the magical dream he was taken to.
Now, thinking about that time I couldn’t believe we succeeded. Back then it felt like our plan sucked from the very beginning. Christian lost his memory, and I couldn’t believe that he didn’t remember me of all people. It was the hardest time ever. Thank God, I didn’t have to suffer forever. Now we were together, and he remembered every single moment he spent with me, just like I remembered every single thing about him. Like the way he smiled when he was happy. Or the way his expression darkened when he was sad. Or the way he touched and kissed me. Or the way we made love….
Okay, it wasn’t the best thing to think about at the moment. I needed to come up with a present for Evan. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts, and reached for the book that my father once gave me. It told about the meaning of numbers.
Evan was born on January 12th. According to the book, a person who had number 12 in the date of his birth was cheerful, communicative and stubborn. How very true, I thought to myself. I knew how much Evan liked useful things. And a present for him should be symbolic.
Suddenly I remembered our trip to France and Evan’s memories about his childhood and family. Despite all the bad things that happened, I knew Evan loved his parents and his elder brother Kevin. So I thought my friend would love to have something reminding him of them. Finally, the decision about the present was made, and I switched my thoughts back to William. There was only one person who could help me find out the truth about him.
Patrick.
During one of the trials he had to go through to become a new head of Dever, he was asked to recognize the gifts of a few strangers, who wrote him short notes. I didn’t know what method he used, but all his answers were correct. And the only thing I needed now was to make Will write me a note. I couldn’t go to him again, so I called Amanda, and asked her to help me.
“I need you to see Will,” I said.
“What for?”
“Make him write something, anything. It doesn’t really matter. All I need is a piece of paper with his handwriting.”
“Oookaaay,” she said slowly, apparently trying to understand my intentions. “Do I have to tell him that you need that note?”
“Don’t mention my name. I don’t want him to become suspicious.”
“Right, as if asking him to write something isn’t suspicious by itself.”
“Please, Amanda. This is very important!”
“Okay, I can do this. But I want to know every single detail of this secret operation. Got it?”
“Got it.” I hung up the phone and started pacing the room impatiently. I knew Amanda well enough to be sure she could make Will do anything. And I hoped he couldn’t foresee future or read minds, because if he could, I had just signed my own death-warrant.
Chapter 11. The Prisoner
Christian and I went to the Great Hall to see if any of our suspicions about the old spell’s location were true. Amanda didn’t show up, and I started doubting her numerous talents. Did Will know she was up to something?
“You okay?” Christian asked, noticing my thoughtfulness.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I played my best smile and took him by the hand to make my reply look more convincing. He didn’t ask any more questions.
Darcy and Evan were in the Hall. The latter pretended he didn’t notice me. Apparently he was still angry about the morning accident. I chuckled quietly, as he raised his eyebrows questioningly. I shook my head and cleared my throat, trying to suppress the laugh.
A few moments later we were joined by Tara and Amanda, who nodded slowly to let me know that she got what I needed.
“You don’t look good,” Tara said, coming up to Evan. “How do you feel?”
“Better than ever,” he snapped, shooting me a glance.
“She actually fried it,” he corrected.
“That’s what I’m saying.” Amanda smiled innocently.
“It was an accident,” Evan muttered.
I couldn’t stop myself from giving him a hard time, “Who told you that?”
He stared at me, shocked. “You did that on purpose?”
“You almost choked me. Remember?”
“Almost is a key word here.”
“Okay, you two, stop it!” Christian stood between us. “You can have another training to get back at each other. But not now and not here.”
“It will be my pleasure,” Evan said, smiling.
“We will see,” I responded, smiling back.
“Hey, guys! Come here!” Amanda called. She was standing in front of the founding families’ portraits. “Am I imagining things, or do the eyes of the Faireys’ look up.”
None of us had ever noticed that before. Amanda was right. Fairey’s were the only family whose eyes looked at the….
“This is impossible,” Evan whispered, following their glances.
“Evan, can you draw an imaginary line between the portrait and a point on the opposite wall?” Tara asked.
He put his right hand up and drew a thin white line that reached nothing else but the sun picture with the very symbol we saw on the map. Only later we realized that Evan’s line turned into an arrow.
“Unbelievable,” Christian whispered, stunned. “The road to the spell starts right here.” He pointed to the portrait. According to the map, the arrow was the second symbol we found.
“There was one more symbol before that, remember?” Evan said. “Something’s missing. The arrow is too thin. I can barely see it. If it was supposed to show the way to the spell, it should have been bright and well lit-up.”
“We need to close the windows,” Amanda said.
And so we did. But nothing changed.
“We need a natural darkness,” I guessed. “Why don’t we come back later tonight?”
Everyone nodded. Everyone, but Tara….