by Diana Nixon
I couldn’t believe that Will was actually here to help someone kill me. The sixth sense kept telling me that he knew the person who was trying to control my powers. Which also meant that he lied to me. About many things.
And I wasn’t going to forgive him. Though I wasn’t going to hurt him either. I needed to know the truth. And if he wasn’t going to help me with that, I was going to find it out on my own.
I never fell asleep that night. I took a shower, changed my clothes and went back to the Academic building. I needed to find a way to subject my secret enemy to the glare of truth. And I swore to myself that that person would never be able to control me again.
Thinking back over the moments when I felt the inexplicable outbursts of energy, I realized that all of those times I was alone, with no Christian by my side. Except for one time, that I thought had nothing to do with the mysterious person I was looking for.
And now I was alone too. And I was waiting … waiting for the damn bastard to feel my vulnerability, even if I was ready to face him.
I started practicing, using my magical power to create different objects that didn’t need much energy to create. It was a good distraction for someone who could be watching me there. It looked like I was fully focused on what I was doing. Though in reality I wasn’t paying any attention to the beautiful, multicolored flowers and stars, flying around me. I was watching the surroundings, trying to feel and see anything that would give out the presence of someone else. And I succeeded.
Ten minutes after the training started a white, barely noticeable spot appeared near one of the walls. There were no windows in the room, and I could rely only on my vision, but I was sure I wasn’t imagining things.
I felt my heartbeat accelerating, but the colors of my aura never changed. I tried my best to keep calm and look natural. And my trick worked.
When I saw the spot moving closer to me, I created a protective circle around me that wouldn’t let him get to me or affect my powers. The circle was transparent and no one but me could see it, so I was sure I was safe.
I kept moving slowly, playing with my magic. But the moment I felt the presence of a foreign power, trying to touch me, I closed my eyes and made the circle wider. When I knew I wasn’t alone there anymore, I cast a spell and left the circle, locking my guest inside it.
Thanks to Evan, I knew how to create protective circles. He also taught me how to make the circles obey me. And I made it break the spell of invisibility that the person inside it used to hide himself from my eyes.
“Well, well,” I sang, crossing my arms. “Who would have thought it was you. Good to see you again, Vanessa.”
Chapter 27. The Truth
The bitch was the last person I expected to see. Suffice to say that there was no love lost between Christian’s ex and me. I knew he would never be with her again, but every time I saw her, my blood boiled slowly. And now, and there it wasn’t going to help her.
“So, what brought you here today? Did you want to watch my training?” I tightened the circle around her, tying her hands behind her back. “I always knew that there was no brain in this curly head of yours.” I smirked.
Not a trace of emotions was on Vanessa’s face. She stood still, and the only thing that showed her anger was the red color of her cheeks.
“Funny thing, last night you didn’t feel the lack of words, and today you seem speechless. What happened to your bravery?” I was obviously enjoying the moment. I knew I needed to call someone to come and take Vanessa to the dungeon — the only place she belonged — but I couldn’t deprive myself of the pleasure in torturing her. In the end, it was exactly what she had been doing to me for days.
“You do realize that your silence won’t last forever, don’t you? If you refuse to answer my questions, you will answer the questions to the Keepers. And they can be very persuasive, you know?”
“Screw you!”
“Uh, what a bad choice of words!” I smiled gently, and took a step closer. “We are well-mannered girls, aren’t we? If you promise to behave, I will let you go. What do you say?”
“What do you want?”
“Now, this is a smart reply.” I applauded. “Let’s start from the most important question. Are you Will’s cousin?”
Vanessa laughed. “Yes, but trust me, Eileen, this is not the main thing you should ask me about.”
“You are right, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t talking to someone else. Next question. Why were you making me spend more energy than I actually needed to do things?”
“Because I wanted to see you suffer. Just like I was when you showed up in Dever and stole Christian from me.”
“I didn’t steal anyone. We were predestined to be together.”
“Bullshit! If you never wanted him, why wouldn’t you just leave us alone and find someone else to bind yourself with?”
“Who told you I never wanted him? I always did, and I still do. And he’s the only man I ever wanted to be with. It will never change. No matter how many of his ex-girlfriends I will have to deal with.”
The conversation was getting on my nerves. I needed to get the answers.
“What was the real purpose of your actions, Vanessa? If you think that I will buy your sweet talk about your love for Christian, then you are wrong. I know there’s something else. Something bigger than that. And you know it too. So why don’t you tell me the truth?”
“Will you let me go, if I tell you the truth?”
“I will,” I said without hesitation.
“I’m working for the Dragons.”
I froze, speechless. I was sure my jaw had just hit the floor, because that was one thing I never expected to hear in her reply.
“You what?” I asked just to make sure that I didn’t have any hearing problems.
“You heard me, Eileen. I work for the Dragons, though I’m not a member of the brotherhood.”
“Why?”
“Because they promised to give something I’d been dreaming about for years.”
“Immortality?” She didn’t have to reply. I knew I was right.
“Yes, they said that if I helped them to destroy you, they would make me immortal.”
“Well, the thing is, Vanessa … they lied to you.” I was faking it, but there was no other way to get to the truth. “They all work for their leader. And the only thing he really wants is to become almighty. That’s why he needs me, or to be exact — my powers. People don’t mean a thing to him. As soon as he gets what he wants, he will kill the other members. Or he will turn them into his slaves.”
“Why would I believe you?”
“You don’t have a choice. Either you tell me the name of a person who hired you, or I will send you to the dungeon where you will spend the rest of your life. What will you choose?”
“Joseph Fairey. He told me to use your powers against you. He’s one of them too. And he wants to become the next Dragons’ leader.”
The next thought that crossed my mind was the regret about leaving William alive. He definitely needed a good shake-up.
I took my cell and dialed Patrick’s number. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I need your help with one of the students.”
“You bitch! You promised to let me go!” Vanessa tried to free her hands, but the ties were too strong to break through.
“Sorry, Vanessa. But you of all people know how sweet revenge is.”
I left the auditorium, trying not to pay attention to Vanessa’s screaming. When the door behind me closed, the sounds disappeared. I went out into the street and headed straight to Will’s. He was going to pay for not telling me about his father’s plans. And I didn’t think that any explanations of his would be acceptable in this case. It wasn’t the first time he lied to me.
To my disappointment, Will’s room was empty. But the guy from the neighboring dorm said he saw him in the stable. So I went there.
I stopped under the huge willow tree, fascinated by the grace and ease with which Will was riding a hors
e. He was jumping over hurdles, as if he had been riding horses for his entire life. There wasn’t a hint of hesitation when he came to the highest hurdles. He lowered his body and head like a cougar before another jump, and smiled happily every time the horse’s hooves hit the ground after the jump.
“Good work,” I said, finally revealing my presence.
“Eileen! What are you doing here? I thought … well, I was kind of wondering if you would ever want to see me again.” He got down from the horse and came to me.
“I think we have a talk to finish.”
Will nodded. “You have more questions, don’t you?”
I tried my best not to pin him to the fence behind him. I was in full control of myself, but I desperately wanted to smash him in the face.
“Why don’t we go somewhere else?” I didn’t want the poor animals to be hurt in case my patience wears off.
“Okay. How about a walk to the lake?”
“Perfect.”
I waited for Will to take the horse back to the stable and join me on the path to the Black Lake.
“So, um … what shall we start with?” he asked, watching me carefully.
“I’m not going to fry you, or anything,” I told him. “At least not until you answer my questions.”
He smiled. “Okay.”
“First of all, I want to know about the dream.”
“Well, there’s nothing special to explain here. All I wanted was to see if your bond with Evan meant something else than just friendship.”
“And?”
“You stopped that dream, remember? The moment you realized it was Evan kissing you, you woke up. You didn’t want it to go any further. So, yes, now I know that you are just friends.”
“You could have asked me. Or Evan. There was no need in sending that stupid dream.”
“I know. But I’m used to people lying to me, and unlike you and Evan, I can’t distinguish truth from falsehood. So I used my own methods.”
I stopped and looked into Will’s eyes, saying, “Well, you are not the only one whom people always lie to. Were you going to tell me about Vanessa? Or your father, being one of the Dragons?”
“Wow … I can explain everything, Eileen. This is not what it seems.” Will took a few steps away from me.
“You’d better be good at your explanations.”
He ran a hand through his hair, and I noticed that his palm was shaking. “I don’t know how you know about Vanessa or my father, but I didn’t come here to hurt anyone.”
“Then why are you really here?”
“I came to Dever to save Evan.”
“Excuse me?” Today was definitely a day when everything I heard seemed too unreal to be true.
“My father never wanted my birth. When he realized that I would be different from any other person he knew, he decided to make my mother get rid of me. And she almost did that, but a woman appeared in the hospital, and said she knew the way to save my life. She gave my mother a potion made of some flower that was supposed to protect both her and me from my father’s powers. And it really worked. He never managed to hurt either of us. So I survived and became one of the five Lords of mind. The woman who saved my life was Elizabeth Murray, Evan’s mother.”
William stopped, and I swallowed back the tears, burning in my eyes. Now I knew why there was no green color in Will’s aura. His birth wasn’t natural; his life was saved with the help of magic.
“Why … why didn’t you tell us about that?”
“Because it would ruin everything. You think it was my father who sent me here to spy on you and your friends?”
“Isn’t it true?”
“It’s not. I made him think so. I made him bring me here, because I found out about his plans and the brotherhood that he was working for. And I realized that I owe Evan a chance to live. So I came here to help you. All of you.”
“Wow … that’s kind of unexpected.” I took a deep breath, trying to wrap my thoughts around everything of the above. “How did you know that your father belonged to the brotherhood?”
“One day, when he came to see me in New York, I noticed how pale he was. Of course, he never told me about the reasons for that. But I followed him back to his apartment and saw the tattoo, forming on his shoulders. I knew what that tattoo meant, because I saw it before. And then I started following his every step just to find out more about the brotherhood. When I realized what was going on, it was too late to change his plans. But I still had a chance to save dozens of innocent lives. I didn’t want my father to become suspicious, so I made him think that my coming here would be a great opportunity to spy on you, and tell him about your plans. But what I did in reality was completely different from his plans. I have been watching you, Evan and your friends since the moment I came to Dever. I know that you want to destroy the old spell and the brotherhood. And I will help you as much as I can.”
“What does Vanessa have to do with all of the above?”
“She’s my cousin, and her mother, Valentina, is one of the Dragons too. She and my father are helping the current brotherhood’s leader. And they wanted to make sure that you would be unable to control your powers when it came to taking them away from you. They hoped that seeing your craziness, your father would lock you in the dungeon, and you would stay there without Christian or any other protection that you used to be surrounded with. And Vanessa was a perfect candidate for someone who would drive you straight to the dungeon. She hated you because of Christian, and she gladly agreed to help my father.”
“Do you realize that by destroying the brotherhood, we will kill your father as well?”
Will smiled sadly. “Who says I care about what happens to him?”
“You hate him so much?”
“Hate is not the word, Eileen. He made me go through hell to become who I am. And you can’t even imagine how much I had to pay to stay alive.”
“What about your mom? Where is she now?”
“I wish I knew.” Will looked at the sky. “I hope she’s safe and sound, and that she still remembers me. And loves me.”
“You don’t know if she’s … alive?”
“I never saw her. She disappeared after my birth, and my father said she left us, because she couldn’t stand the thought of her child being a freak.”
“Then how did you know about Evan’s mom saving your life?”
“I met Elizabeth about ten years ago. She found me, and told me the true story of my birth. My father still doesn’t know anything about that meeting. But Elizabeth made me look at my life from a different point of view. She made me see the sense in it.”
“She made you think that your mother is still alive, didn’t she?”
“Yes. And one day I will find her. And no one will ever take her away from me again.”
Chapter 28. Questions and Answers
I knew it wouldn’t be easy to tell everyone else about Will’s father. But I could have never imagined that the news about the members of the brotherhood crossing the border of Dever would turn the campus into a military camp. The guards were everywhere. The students that were in Dever were questioned and examined for any traces of Dragons tattoos. The beginning of a new semester was postponed indefinitely. No one was allowed to enter or leave. It was decided to hide Dever under the water. Thanks to its transparent, diamond shape, no one could see it there. We were like fishes, swimming in a huge aquarium.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Christian asked, watching the sky that now was replaced by the water.
Personally I had a different opinion about that. “It’s creepy,” I said, feeling goose bumps all over my body.
Christian put his arms around my shoulders and said softly, “You are scared, and it’s not surprising. But my father did that for the best. Besides, hiding Dever under the water has always been the most effective protection.”
“How about tomorrow?”
“They will return Dever to its original place for three minutes to let the Dragons’ leader
in. Nothing has changed about our plans. We are still going to destroy the brotherhood.”
“I’m not sure I can do this, Christian,” I said, looking into his eyes. “What if I fail?”
“You won’t,” he replied firmly. “You can’t fail, Eileen.”
“You are not helping, you know?”
He smiled. “I know, but there’s nothing else I can say. You need to be strong and believe in yourself. Because we believe in you, and we will do everything possible and impossible to help you. There’s no way back, Baby. We will do it together. Okay?”
I nodded and leaned closer to Christian’s chest. My gaze drifted to the watery sky again, and a shiver ran down my spine. I wasn’t ready to face the Dragons.
Christian’s cell rang. He frowned, looking at the screen. “The number’s unknown. Hello?”
There were a few seconds of silence, but then a woman’s voice said, “Hi, Christian, it’s Patricia Clark, Eileen’s aunt. I’m sorry to bother you, but I couldn’t reach my niece, and I thought that maybe you could help me find her.”
I took the phone from Christian. “Hi, Patty, how are you? Is everything okay?”
“Oh, thank God, Eileen! I thought I was too late to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About the darkness coming to swallow you.”
Under normal circumstances I would think that my aunt had some serious problems with her head, but now and there her words put me on the alert.
“Okay, um … can you explain what exactly you are talking about?”
“Can you meet me somewhere in Gloster? I have some news that can’t be discussed on the phone.”
“I’m afraid it’s impossible. They closed Dever because of some … foreign intruders, and they won’t let me out.”
“Oh, Dear! We need to talk. As soon as possible! This is very, very important!”