by Diana Nixon
“Can you at least tell me what it’s about?”
“It’s about your double. I know where she is.”
I should have known better when it came to my family, I shouldn’t be surprised about the numerous secrets it had. My aunt knew about the existence of Dever, though I never got a chance to ask how she managed to find out about it. And now she said that she knew about the existence of my double that even my father didn’t know anything about. Obviously we had a lot of things to discuss.
“Did she tell you anything else about the girl?” Evan asked. He, my father and Patrick met us a few minutes after the conversation with Patricia, and started asking questions that I had no idea how to answer to.
“No, Evan, I told you she didn’t tell me anything else. She said it wasn’t a phone conversation and that she wanted to see me.”
“Okay, what if we take her here?”
“We can’t risk her life, Evan,” my father said. “The less people will be here tomorrow, the more lives we will save.”
“Dad’s right,” I said, turning to the window of Patrick’s office. “We can’t bring her here. Are there any trust-worthy people outside? Someone we could ask to meet with Patricia?”
“Lucas’s parents live not far away from Gloster. I could call Jared and ask him to go and talk to her.”
“What if she doesn’t want to talk to him?”
“Then we will have to wait for the moment when it’s safe enough to let Eileen leave Dever’s territory.”
“Well, that may take forever to happen,” I said. Four pairs of eyes stared at me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it. I know how important it is to keep us all safe. So yes, she will have to talk to Jared, or she will have to wait a few more days to share her big news with me.”
When we contacted Lucas’s parents, they said they would gladly help us, as it was actually the only thing they could do, considering that they were not allowed to come to Dever. And of course they were worried about their son, who was here with us, and who was going to fight the Dragons. Not that we told anyone about the last thing of course. The official version of the reason that made us hide under the water was the strangers’ invasion.
To my surprise, Patricia agreed to meet with Jared. Apparently, the news she was going to tell him, was too important to wait for the meeting with me.
Evan wanted to talk to Will, so Christian and I went with him just in case he wanted to twist the poor guy’s neck. Our friend was still angry at William for hiding so many important things from us.
“Man, I thought you would give me a break,” Will said, opening the door.
“Not in this life,” Evan snapped.
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s behave guys. Another fight between you two, is the last thing we need right now.”
“Okay, Mommy,” Evan sang. “Now, I’ve got a few more questions for our beloved Lord of Mind. First of all, I wanted to know about other Lords. No one ever told me why there are only five of you. And where are the others?”
Will’s expression changed from careless to deadly serious, and once again I thought that his face was familiar. Though he assured me that we had never met before.
“Originally there were seven Lords; one in each of the founding families of Dever. Our birth still remains the biggest mystery of our world of the supernatural. No one knows where we get our powers from, and why we can’t control any of the elements or magic. When people found out about the existence of Lords, they wanted to kill them all, as they thought that we were too dangerous; that we could subject the whole world, controlling everyone and everything. But they didn’t know that the power of our compulsion didn’t affect humans. People from our world never wanted to accept us. That’s why we used to live hiding from everyone. But a few centuries ago, the members of the Wizardy family killed two Lords of the Vero and the Ventura clans. They took them for the members of some unknown clan who tried to learn how to rule over magic. And since then only five Lords have been born every century. I don’t know where the others are, and I don’t know how old they are. But I can feel when one of them is near. I didn’t know that I could do that until one day, when my father and I went to Florence. I felt something strange inside me, I looked at my palms and saw an intricate drawing, spreading all over the lines of my destiny. It stayed there for no more than ten seconds, but I knew what it was. Another Lord was somewhere near. And he or she could feel me too.”
“How strong is the power of your compulsion?” Christian asked.
“I can make you see and feel anything I want: from love and joy, to hate and pain.”
“This is amazing!” Evan exclaimed. “Dude, you are going to become our secret weapon in the fight with the Dragons.”
“It’s not as simple as it seems,” Will said. “I won’t be able to do a thing if I don’t go with Eileen. If I stay with you, the Dragons will be out of my reach, just like we will be out of theirs. And just for the record, I think they have their own Lord too. As I’m pretty sure he’s the one to make the members of the brotherhood obey their leader. No magiс is able to control so many people at a time.”
“We never thought about that,” Evan said. “But if they have a Lord, why don’t they use his powers to get what they want?”
“I think they don’t know they have a Lord in their ranks. We don’t show our true nature. We hide it as much as we can, pretending to be Wizardy, Fairey, or a member of any other family with special gifts.”
“So that’s why it wasn’t a problem for you to enter the Wizardy department!” I said. “You would have made them think that you possess magic, right?”
“Yep, that was the plan.”
Evan gave Will a murderous look. “I never liked you, and I was right in my assumptions. You are one damn liar.”
“Evan!” I warned. “You promised.”
“I’m telling the truth, Eileen. No wonder people hate Lords of mind.”
“Evan!”
“He’s right,” Will said. “I’m a freak, and I know it.”
“Good for you,” Evan muttered.
I glared at him, saying, “He’s here to save your life!”
“Well, I never asked him to do that.”
“You could have said thanks at least!”
“He didn’t do anything to save my life! What shall I say thanks for?”
“Why do you always have to be such a jerk?” I snapped.
“Maybe because I don’t know how to be anything else?”
I was at the end of my patience. “You can be better than this,” I said, before leaving the room.
I shut the door behind me and went out into the street. I knew if I stayed, someone might get hurt. And no matter how badly I wanted to run back and smash Evan in the face, I knew I needed his eyes to see well tomorrow.
When I was about to enter the dormitory, Marion called me. “Eileen! Can I have a word with you?”
“Sure.” We entered the lobby and sat on a couch near one of the windows.
“I wanted to know if you managed to decipher the last symbol from the map?”
“Um … I thought I did, but apparently I was wrong about its meaning,” I said, disappointed.
“What do you mean?” Marion asked.
“Well, I know that the last symbol has something to do with a horseshoe and the clock. But when I tried to put a horseshoe into the hole in the Hall’s wall, nothing happened. It refused to move, and I didn’t know how to make it move. I tried different spells, but none of them worked.”
“Maybe the problem is not in the spells you tried, but in a horseshoe itself?”
“How’s that?”
“Maybe it should be some certain horseshoe, and not just any?”
“Hmm … I didn’t think about that. But where do I find it?”
“I don’t know. Have you even seen any other horseshoe apart from the one you found at the stable?”
“I don’t remember. Maybe I did.”
“Well, think about it. Maybe you will remember s
omething useful.” She rose to her feet and smiled uneasily. “We need this last key, Eileen. If you can’t find it, tomorrow’s battle will end in nothing.”
Thanks for the reminder, I thought to myself as I went to my room.
Chapter 29. The Paradise
The screen on my laptop flashed, indicating the arrival of a new e-mail. I opened the letter titled Surprise, and found a few pictures sent by my mom.
“Oh, my God!” I exclaimed, excited. There were the pictures of my room with new decorations and furniture. So that was the surprise my father was talking about!
The old pale-pink walls were done over with ivory color. The dark-brown furniture was replaced by the huge white bed with many small pillows on it, white wardrobe and a matching vanity table. The curtains and the carpets were bright red, and looked perfect in my new, snow-white room. I liked it a lot.
Smiling, I wrote a short letter to my mom, who no doubt was looking forward to my reply. When I was about to hit the ‘send’ button, I saw something that made my heart miss a beat. The old wooden door with a horseshoe and roses was gone….
I stared at a new, shining white one, and Marion’s words came back to my mind.
“No, it can’t be possible,” I whispered. Then I rushed to my cell, and called my dad to ask him about the missing door.
“I think we’ve left it in the garage. Your grandma refused to get rid of it. Why?”
Thank you, Stephanie, I said mentally.
“I think this door keeps the key to the place where the old spell is hidden.” I was sure that the horseshoe I needed was hidden inside the wooden door with the charmed drawing that had been protecting me for ages.
“Well, Honey, I don’t know what to say … I need to talk to Patrick. Are you sure what you are looking for is inside that door?”
“Yes, Daddy. And please hurry, we are running out of time. If I don’t get that thing by tomorrow night, we all may die.”
There was no point in hiding the truth. The lives of dozens of people depended on that horseshoe, and I needed it as soon as possible.
My father promised to find the door and the horseshoe, and the only thing I could do was wait.
When it was about eight in the evening, someone knocked on the door. When I opened it, I saw a beautiful bouquet of lilacs with a note attached.
“Someone once said that when you are in love, you can’t fall asleep, because the reality is finally better than your dreams. And you are better than any dream I have ever had. I want to live and breathe with you; I want to love you like no one else; I will comply with your wishes, and I will give up everything I have just to spend this night holding you in my embrace….”
I pressed the note to my heart and smiled sadly. Christian wanted me to spend the night with him, and we both realized that it could be our last night together….
The moment I entered his room, I was stunned by the paradise I got into. Palms and flowers were everywhere. A small waterfall was on my left, and a table with candles and champagne was on my right. Birds were singing, and millions of stars were shining over my head.
“How did you do that?” I asked Christian. He was standing a few steps away from me, leaning over one of the palms.
“Just a few spells can turn any hell into a paradise.”
“But you can’t cast spells.”
“Yes, but I have a friend who’s very good at that.”
“Of course, how could I have forgotten about him.”
“Come here,” Christian said, outstretching his hand to me. “I thought you needed something to remember while fighting the Dragons.”
“So you think that thinking about you will help me concentrate on the fight?”
“I’m sure it will give you a reason to survive.”
Christian opened the bottle of champagne and poured it into the glasses.
“Let’s talk about it tomorrow,” I suggested, taking one of the glasses.
“And I suggest not to talk at all,” he said in a low, throaty voice, the sound of which still vibrated in the air when he leaned closer to kiss my lips.
I can’t but admit that the champagne, and his lips, moving slowly over mine, was a very dangerous, but such a sweet and tempting combination. And I drowned in it, enjoying every single moment of Christian’s touches and love.
I thought I should have put on something more appropriate for a night like that, but then I realized that our clothes were the last thing we cared about at the moment.
When Christian broke the kiss, he took the glass from my hand, and carefully placed my arms around his neck, his eyes never left mine. His gaze was full of heated passion, and I didn’t want anything, but to stay like this forever: melting in his embrace, savoring his lips and trembling from the fire that his touches were sending through my body.
I unbuttoned his shirt and slid my palms down his chest, and to the waistband of his jeans. He took me in his arms and carried me to the bed, which was decorated with transparent white fabric that was moving slowly, as if it was in the wind.
Kissing me, Christian shoved his clothes out of the way and did the same with mine. Where there was nothing but a thin layer of air between us, he put one palm on my right shoulder, where the fiery tattoo was. I felt it growing all over my back, intensifying every single emotion I felt.
Christian’s lips touched my cheek, then moved to my chin and down to my neck, my collarbone, and to my chest. I closed my eyes and dropped my head back, waiting for more.
“I love you, Eileen,” he whispered, caressing my belly with one hand and sliding the other one down my hip.
I opened my eyes and saw the intensity of his gaze, staring back at me.
“I love you too,” I whispered against his lips, as I pulled his head closer to deepen the kiss.
Those words of love were the only words we said to each other that night. Our feelings were so strong that we didn’t need any phrases to tell each other about what we felt. We surrendered ourselves to the power of our love.
I felt so whole, as if a part of me that had been missing for days, was finally restored. Our movements matched each other’s perfectly, and we drowned in the waves of passion overwhelming us.
We fell asleep when the first rays of morning sun illuminated our small paradise. The palms and birds were gone, but I could still feel the magic of everything that had just happened. I was truly happy. And no one could take that happiness away from me. Not even the Dragons.
When I woke up the next morning, Christian wasn’t there with me. I turned to his pillow and saw a piece of paper on it. When I unfolded the note, I wanted to cry….
“I promise it’s the last morning when you wake up without me. When tomorrow comes, I will be there with you. And I will be with you tonight, but for now I’m not ready to say good-bye. That’s why I left before you woke up. I wanted to remember you happy … and I know that there will be thousands if not millions of happy moments with you. I believe in this, and I believe in you. I’ll see you when everything’s over.
With endless love and tenderness
Yours forever
Christian”
No matter how hard I tried not to start crying, I failed. I put my face into my hands and let the tears flow.
I think I would spend the rest of the day like that if it wasn’t for Marion and Evan, showing up to take me to breakfast.
I knew it would be an all-about-staying-alive-tonight breakfast, but I didn’t have much choice about that. Besides, I was dying to find out about Jared’s conversation with my aunt.
“So, is everything ready for tonight’s meeting?” Marion asked.
“Yeah. Everything, except for me,” I replied, staring at Christian’s empty seat. He never missed the breakfast, and his absence wasn’t helping matters. But maybe he was right. No one could predict the outcome of today’s fight, and if we were not supposed to see each other again, not seeing him now was probably for the best. Neither of us was ready to say good-bye.
“Eile
en, you need to get a grip on yourself. Take a deep breath and do what you need to do.”
Evan chuckled at Marion’s words. “That’s the easy part!”
I grimaced in response. “Thanks for your support.”
Evan winked at me, but no matter how relaxed he wanted to seem, I knew he was afraid of the Dragons too.
“Now, let’s repeat the plan again,” Marion said. “Eileen, you will have about five minutes before the Dragons join you in the illusion. Use this time to find the spell. If you don’t have enough time to destroy it, just leave it like that and concentrate on the brotherhood. As soon as its leader appears, make sure he can’t hurt you. Create a protective circle around yourself, and start reading the spell that will kill the leader. We will make sure that no one will be able to reach you until you finish the reading. When you read its last word, break the circle and let the magic finish the job for you. Don’t hesitate under any circumstances. There might be people you know, but don’t forget that the only thing they want is your death.”
“Okay, Marion. I will try my best to finish that as soon as I can.”
“You can do this, Eileen,” Evan said. “I’m sure you can.”
“Well, thanks. Sounds encouraging.”
“And one more thing, Eileen,” Marion said. “Don’t forget to keep your mind open for Amanda. If you block her, we won’t be able to help you.”
I inhaled deeply. “I know. But what if Will was right about one of the Lords being a member of the brotherhood?”
“Your illusion will be connected to ours. If anything goes wrong, we will take you out of there, even if the old spell isn’t destroyed.”
“No, Marion! It’s too risky!”
“It’s too risky to leave you there without any protection, Eileen,” Evan said. “Only you will be able to cross the bridge between the illusions. The Dragons won’t be able to track you. And it’s better to leave them there forever than to lose you.”
“But sooner or later they will find their way back to reality, and who knows if we will ever get another chance to kill them! Wait, you said they can’t cross the bridge?”