by Diana Nixon
“What’s wrong?” I asked, seeing her go very pale.
“I don’t know. Everything was fine and then … a picture appeared in my head.”
“What picture?” Evan asked.
“It was a place with lots of anguished flowers. It was an old, big house; cold and dark.” She stopped, and I realized that she was trying to see more.
“Someone’s screaming in pain.” Tara’s eyes watered, and she started trembling. “Oh. My. God. That’s … Kevin.” She looked at Evan, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Where is that house? Do you see other people there?”
“Only their hands. The two pairs are holding Kevin’s hands. And there’s someone else, who is … tattooing him?”
“What do you mean?”
“The wings. The tattoo will look like the wings.”
We all froze.
“They found him,” I said.
They were the members of the Dragons brotherhood that Kevin had been hiding from for a long time. The last time we saw him, he was here, in Dever. He was the one who warned us about the spell, and the Dragons looking for it. He also said he wasn’t with them. But apparently now he was about to become a new member of the brotherhood.
The waves of anger and worry came from Evan. I was standing too close to avoid the vibrations of his aura. And he was out of control.
“Hold him!” someone shouted, and only later I recognized Patrick’s voice, coming from the entrance. He was supposed to be there with us, but he came later.
I could feel Evan’s emotions, and I couldn’t move. Neither could Amanda, who could feel him as well as I did.
“We need to stop him,” she said in a barely audible voice. “Tara, don’t say anything else. He’s going to kill them all.” Amanda read Evan’s thoughts.
By the time I came to myself, Evan was nowhere around. And neither were Patrick and Christian.
“Where did they take him?”
“To the dungeon,” Tara said. I wanted to say it wasn’t a good idea, but she stopped me half-way. “It’s for the best, Eileen. Trust me.” Of course, she could foresee his every step.
“What else did you see?” My legs were too shaky to stand, so I took a seat on one of the nearest chairs.
“Someone asked Kevin about the stone and the keys.”
“Both were mentioned in Alexis’ letter to Kevin.”
“Yes, but we thought the letter said about the keys to Nora’s house. What would Dragons need them for?”
Nora, or Normandia Wizardry, was Eric’s and Alexis’ grandmother who changed the lines of destiny in my palm. A few months ago Alexis killed her, stealing her powers. Now Nora’s house was empty, and as far as we knew, there wasn’t anything that the Dragons would be looking for.
“Maybe we were wrong, and the keys were not to Nora’s house.”
“But to what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe to some secret place where Dominic’s sapphire is hidden.”
Evan’s father had a ring with a magical sapphire that contained his powers, and was supposed to be devolved to the next Dragons’ leader. According to Marion’s words, Evan was its true owner, and if he had the ring, he would become the head of the brotherhood. Not that he ever wanted to.
“We need to find the damn ring and destroy it,” I said. “And until then don’t tell Evan anything about it. He needs some time to recover after the recent news, and it's better not to give him any more reasons to freak out.”
The day was uncharacteristically warm, but I still felt shivers running up and down my spine. I hated the idea of Evan, locked in one of those wards of the dungeon. I didn’t want to go down there, but I had to. I needed to make sure that he was fine. Well, as fine as it was possible, considering the circumstances.
Amanda was walking silently beside me. I knew she couldn’t stop herself from reading Evan’s mind. Most of the times she blocked our thoughts, but not this time.
Now we all needed to do our best to help Evan. There were cases when people became insane losing control over their powers. The more powerful they were, the more insane they became. And Evan was one of the most talented and strongest wizards I’d ever seen. I didn’t want him to spend the rest of his life at the madhouse.
“By the way, this is for you,” Amanda said, giving me a piece of folded paper.
“A note from Will?”
She nodded and put her hands back in her coat pockets.
“What did he say when you asked him to write a note?”
“Nothing, but I guess you will be surprised to read what’s written there.”
I unfolded the note and read the following:
“If I had a chance to become an animal, I would become a zebra, who doesn’t give a damn shit about the number of black and white lines on her body. I would be singing and dancing, enjoying every day of my colorful life.”
I smiled, reading the note. “What did you tell him to make him write such nonsense?”
“I said I was preparing a task for one of my classes, studying the habits of different animals.”
“Was he drunk when you saw him?”
“No. But sometimes it’s really hard to say if he’s drunk or not.”
True. Sometimes I couldn’t say when he was wearing a mask or was himself. But something inside me was telling me that his every action and word was carefully chosen. He was one big mystery for me.
When we came to the dungeon, we saw about a dozen people, standing in front of Evan’s ward. My father and Patrick were among them too.
“What’s going on?” I asked, coming closer.
“We are deciding about the number of guards to leave with Evan.”
“He doesn’t need any! He’s not a criminal!”
“Eileen, Honey, calm down. No one says he’s a criminal. But we need to be sure that he won’t escape or do anything else to put himself into danger. Do you understand?”
Did I? I did. No matter how hard it was to see Evan locked behind the bars.
“Can I stay?”
“It’s better if you leave him alone for a while. You know how much he hates compassionate gazes.”
“I know, but….”
“Christian! Take her out of here. Evan can feel your emotions, Eileen. And trust me, he has enough to deal with at the moment apart from the power of your bond.”
Dad was right. Feeling each other wasn’t always good. Our feelings mixed, and every single twist of the mood felt stronger.
“Let’s go.” Christian put an arm around my shoulders and led me to the exit. “He’s going to be okay,” he said, touching my hair.
Christian was the only person who always knew what to say or what to do to make me feel better. It was one of the reasons I loved him so much.
I didn’t protest when he joined me in his bed that night. It was good to be in his embrace when so many sad thoughts were running through my head.
The powers we possessed were the most incredible and the most dangerous things in our lives. No one knew if there would ever be a moment of weakness, when we wouldn’t be able to control them. It was unpredictable.
I remembered the day I inherited my powers from my father. It was my eighteenth birthday. Frederick filled the golden medallion with his powers and gave it to me; though at that very moment I didn’t know who it was from.
I reached for the bedside table where I put a music box, presented by Christian. There were many things I kept in that box: jewelry and other small souvenirs, dear to me. Everything was in its place, except for one thing.
My father’s medallion was missing….
Chapter 12. The Escape
“What do you mean, it’s gone?” Christian asked sleepily. The moment I realized that the medallion was missing, I woke him up. “Are you sure you put it in this box?”
“Yes! It has always been here.”
“When was the last time you saw it?”
“I don’t remember. Before Christmas, I guess. I wore it a few days before … o
h, my God!”
“What is it, Eileen?”
“Kevin was talking about the medallion! He said the Dragons had something that belonged to my father. He said they could use that thing in a combination with the old spell to take away my powers.”
“That’s impossible.” Christian frowned.
“He also said that I knew exactly what he was talking about. But I never thought it was a medallion!” I groaned. “What do we do now?”
“We can’t change anything, Eileen. If the medallion was stolen, we won’t find it on our own. We need to tell your father and the others about it. But it’s two in the morning, and I’m sure neither of them will be able to come up with anything now. You need to sleep, and tomorrow we will think of something. Okay?”
Sometimes it felt like Christian was even more reasonable than me. I had a bad habit of panicking when I didn’t see the way out. But he had a point. This time there was no place for panic.
I couldn’t fall asleep for hours, so when the sweet oblivion of a dream swallowed me, it felt like the best thing ever. I found myself standing in the middle of a beautiful meadow.
The weather was warm, and everything around me was sparkling in the sunlight. I was barefoot, but the grass was very soft, as if I were stepping on the clouds.
Suddenly I heard a noise. I turned around and saw the same black horse I saw in one of my previous dreams. She was moving slowly towards me, but I wasn’t afraid of her. Rather, I wanted to come closer.
When she stopped a few steps away from me, I hesitated. Then the horse raised one leg and hit the ground, making me jump from the vibrations under my feet. A second later I saw small golden sparkles, scattering from the place where her hoof touched the grass. They looked like tiny balls, spreading all over the meadow. Every single flower they touched turned into a crystal red rose. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It looked like magic, but I knew that the dream wasn’t magical. It was real.
When I was about to touch one of the roses, the scenery changed, and I shivered from the cold I felt on my skin. This time I was in a dark room with the only half-broken chair near one of the walls. I looked around and noticed that my vision wasn’t clear. The room was flickering in front of my eyes, and I immediately realized that this dream was created by someone I couldn’t see.
“Hello? Is anybody here?” The image flickered again, and I lost my balance. My back hit the wall.
“Shit,” the voice in the darkness muttered. “I’m sorry Eileen. I can barely control the damn thing.”
“Evan?” I breathed a sigh of relief. “You scared me half to death. How do you feel? Did they give you something to reduce your powers?” Now I could see him very clearly. And he didn’t look good.
“I don’t remember. But I feel like crap.”
He touched his forehead and wiped away a few drops of sweat. “It sucks to be me now.”
“Do you need anything? How can I help you?”
“Take me out of here.”
I shook my head. “I can’t. They won’t let me.”
“Yes, you can do this. Please, Eileen. I need to help Kevin. I know where he is.”
I froze, shocked. “What?”
“The moment Tara described the place she saw in her vision, I knew where it was. It’s our old house in the south of Britain. I guess he has been hiding there since the moment we saw him in Dever.”
“But, Evan, we can’t go there, knowing that the members of the brotherhood might be there too. It’s very dangerous!”
Sadness flowed into his expression. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Besides, they have my father’s medallion. The one he gave me for my birthday.”
“Crap. This is bad. Very bad.” Evan closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. “Take me out of here, Eileen, and I will find Kevin and the medallion.”
“Evan I….”
“I know you hate breaking the rules, but this time it seems like the best that you can do.”
“Why don’t we talk to my father first?”
“No, don’t tell him a word. If he finds out about our plan, he will make sure you never leave Dever. Find Tara. Tell her she will go with us. We need her help.”
“What about Christian?”
“He plays for our team. Wake him up, create an illusion, a mental vision of me in the ward, and pull me out of it with the help of the spells we used to save Christian. Before you do this, go to the hill where we usually cross the border of Dever. We will have only a few seconds to disappear unseen.”
“Oh, Evan, I have a bad feeling about that.” My palms were sweating, and my heart was beating fast.
“I risked my life a lot to help you.” A little bit of humor sipped into Evan’s voice. “Now it’s time for you to help me.”
“And here I thought you were helping me out of kindness!”
“Of course.” Evan smiled again and disappeared.
I opened my eyes abruptly and found myself in Christian’s room.
He was awake. “What’s wrong?” he asked, touching my cheek.
I hesitated for a moment, and then I told him about Evan’s plan. His expression changed from surprise to anger.
“Has he lost his mind?” Christian flared up. “This is insane!”
“I know. But I also know that he has a point. If we let anyone know about the place where Kevin is, no one will ever let either of us leave Dever’s territory. And we need to be there for Kevin. Marion once said that the new members of the brotherhood swear an oath of loyalty a few days after the initiation, or tattooing. Before that they can’t control them, which means we can use Tara’s gift to foresee Kevin’s actions, and stop him before he does anything really dangerous. He was tattooed only yesterday, which in turn means that we have about 48 hours to find him without being tracked by the Dragons. They won’t be able to foresee our intention to find him. If we try to help him after the power of the oath subjects him, the Dragons will see the changes in his aura, caused by Tara’s efforts to follow him. And we don’t need any more problems.”
“Damn it, Eileen. I don’t like any of this. Do you really think the four of us can stand against the Dragons?”
“If we manage to get to Kevin unseen, we won’t have to face any of them.”
“Is there any other way to help him? Why don’t you use the same spell you are going to use to free Evan?”
“Because Kevin is too far away from here, and I can’t create an illusion that covers such a huge territory. This is impossible.”
“Great...” Christian’s grip on my hand tightened. “How much time do you need to create an illusion?”
“A few minutes.”
“Okay. We can do this, right?”
I nodded and smiled slightly. He kissed my lips quickly, got dressed and went to find Tara. A moment later my cell phone rang.
“Crap,” I muttered, looking at the screen. It was Amanda. Apparently she could feel my nervousness. “Sorry, Honey. It’s better for you to stay out of this,” I said aloud, knowing that she would read the words in my mind.
I pushed the ‘cancel’ button and turned off the phone. I didn’t have time to explain anything to her. But I was sure that no matter what crazy things we were about to do, she would cover for us.
I rushed to Christian’s bathroom and took all the necessary ingredients I needed for the spell. I kept them just in case I would ever need to create an illusion again.
And I hated illusions. It was one of those spheres where everything you did was controlled by someone else.
Thank God, this time that someone was Evan, and our goals were equal.
“I hope you won’t screw it up, girl,” I said to myself, when I rushed to the hill, where I was about to meet with Christian and Tara.
They were already there, waiting for me under one of the oaks. “Kevin is still in that house,” Tara said. “He’s weak, and he can barely move. I think we have some time before anyone comes back to take him away.”
“Good.” I kneeled under the tree, took some flowers and herbs from my bag, started a fire and put them into the red flame, pronouncing the spell that took me to Evan’s ward.
The feeling of being there was different from what I felt breaking into Eric’s illusion. There was no freezing wind or snow. Just Evan, sitting on his bed.
“We need to hurry,” I said, taking his hands in mine. He nodded, and we closed our eyes to let the fog of the spell swallow our bodies and bring us back to the reality.
As soon as we left Dever, we ran to the nearest village, where we could find a car, as running all the way to the south of Britain wasn’t an option.
“Are we going to steal it?” Tara asked, looking at a small, silver Rover.
“I would say we will borrow it,” Evan replied, smiling. Yeah, he was an expert in borrowing cars. I remembered the day when he, Marion and I returned from Paris. We didn’t want anyone to know about us, being back to Britain. So we went to Norfield and stayed at my place. Until my stepfather, aka Walter Black and a member of the Dragons, showed up there with the finding crystals, charmed to sense my presence. Of course, we needed to get out of there as soon as possible. And it was the first time Evan borrowed a car from my neighbors.
This time we needed to change about a dozen cars to get to a small town called Bradburt without being arrested for car theft. It took us twenty hours of driving at a break-neck speed, with a few stops and Evan’s unstoppable comments about my driving skills.
When we got to the town, the light began to fade. We left an old, black Volvo near one of the gas stations and went to the house, where according to Tara’s visions, Kevin was.
It used to belong to Evan’s parents, but he didn’t know who the new owners were. But judging by the mess around the house, they didn’t care about their front and backyards.
“There’s a back door on the other side of the house,” Evan said.
We tiptoed to that door and stopped, hearing the voices coming from the inside.
Evan turned to Tara. “You said Kevin was alone there.”
The girl frowned. “I still feel like he’s alone there.”