by T. L. Clarke
Jessica rounded on her angrily. "Are you serious? We are talking about our binding oath to protect the balance of the universe; this is what we were born to do. This is the only reason we have any powers at all. It is our path and oath."
Rosa looked around wildly, standing back to back with Hannah. "Well, I stand with Hannah, and I will not back down."
"Rosa, no, you are not thinking right." Olivia reached to grab her hand.
Hannah snarled at her like an animal, "Leave her alone. Don’t you dare touch her." She flicked out her hand, sending a black burst of energy that shimmered and danced, stopping Olivia dead in her tracks, shoving her hard onto the ground.
"Enough!" Victoria screamed. "Hannah, don’t make me regret not following the Conclaves’ orders to slay you where you stand."
The Circles quickly clasped hands, forming a large circle around both Hannah and Rosa.
Hannah swung around, looking at them wildly. "You can’t be serious? You think that you can get rid of me by casting some weak banishing spell and without a fair trial before the Conclaves? You have no right. My scarlet pendant and gifts belong to me. I promise you, you are all finished—you hear me, finished!" she screamed.
Victoria’s eyes narrowed. "There is no love between us, Hannah. I’ve seen your cruelness up close and personal and would take absolute pleasure in wiping you off the face of this earth."
Hannah smiled cruelly. "And I know you all too well, sister. It must have taken all of your strength not to kill me given all the dark secrets I know about you."
She looked around with desperation. She knew that it was useless to even try to use her powers to break free from the middle of the circle. Once the circle was cast, there was no breaking free of the boundary of pure, concentrated power. But she tried anyway. She ran full speed across the circle, but as she reached the outer edge, she slammed hard against the invisible force of energy. Her body went limp. like a rag doll, as it bounced into the center of the circle.
Rosa looked at Olivia with tears glistening. "Please, don’t do this."
Olivia wiped away her trail of tears before looking away.
"Please, Jessica, this is not right." Rosa looked at Jessica with pleading eyes.
Jessica looked at her with hard eyes.
Rosa’s eyes pleaded with Victoria. "Vicky, please?"
"I wish things were different, Rosa, but this is out of my hands now." Victoria looked at her sadly.
Coldly, Hannah looked at them. "Don’t waste your time, Rosa. The die has been cast, and they are not moved by your weak pleas."
Victoria looked at them unemotionally.
The Circles chanted in unison, "We stand together for the goodness of the Circles. We stand together for the goodness of the Eternals. We stand together for the blood that we have spilt for the Elementi. We open our minds, transcending our powers, revoking all evil, and binding your lives. Your scarlet is useless, your powers denied, expelled from our circle and binding your lives."
Jessica reached out her hand, flicking her fingers quickly. A brisk wind sailed through the cavern, ripping Hannah and Rosa’s scarlet pendants from their necks, then sailing them back through the air effortlessly and dropping them into the center of her hand.
"It is done." Olivia shook her head sadly.
Hannah laughed scornfully. "You Circles are seriously weak. You think that this is the end? Never. This is only the beginning." With pure hatred in her eyes, she rubbed her hands together, quickly generating black sparks that sputtered and sizzled from the tips of her fingers. She closed her eyes tightly. "Darkness, come to me. I serve you faithfully."
They gasped as a dark cloud enclosed first her hands, then slowly engulfed her entire body.
"Oh my Athena, the darkness is here!" Jessica screamed furiously.
With distain, Hannah looked at her. "Yes, and the world that you know is about to change." She laughed chillingly. "My vow to each of you is that, with my last waking breath, I will break the Circles and Eternals." She looked at Jessica, Victoria, and Olivia scornfully. "And you three will be the first to be destroyed, and then your daughters. This I solemnly swear."
She lifted her arms, casting a dark cloud around Rosa and herself, and when the cloud disappeared, so did they.
She snapped back from the past when she saw Rosa scurrying toward the trees. She approached her smiling with satisfaction.
"So?" Hannah looked at her sharply.
"My sweet Rosalinda has agreed to help us. I told you that she would."
"You’re very lucky that she did. Our whole plan is hinging on her help." Hannah’s face distorted cruelly. "And I’m still not convinced that she is strong enough to do what is necessary, but that’s your job to ensure that she does."
Rosa looked at her. "Don’t worry about me holding up my part of the bargain. What about your part?"
"Oh, my part is coming together very nicely. Our dear friend should be feeling the effects of the dark spell as we speak, and soon her soul will be locked away in Hallowed Eternity, before they could even think to react."
Rosa looked at her with worried eyes. "And what about the other part of the plan?"
"That, too, is coming together nicely. The Eternals are on the brink of war, and the queens are divided. It’s just like we anticipated." She looked at her threateningly. "But the most critical part of our plan relies on your daughter. And if she does not complete her task, we fail in our mission, and that will not do."
"Then we will not fail." Rosa looked at her with confidence.
Hannah sneered. "We better not fail, for I assure you that the first person to pay will be your daughter."
"What does that mean?"
She smirked. "That means she will be quickly eliminated, and so will you."
chapter
TWELVE
When we got back to our room, we were majorly tired but totally excited about what the morning would bring, given that we were actually starting real Warrior training. As comforting as their company was, I needed to have some alone time, and a hot shower was just the ticket.
I walked into our huge private bathroom and marveled at the over-the-top opulence. The walls were decorated with a tile mosaic of tumbled stone and handcrafted tile, and a fireplace roared in the corner. I peeled off my jeans, then hurriedly raised my T-shirt, my fingers hesitated a little too long on Justice’s shirt. Something about wearing it seemed too intimate, too personal. I huffed with annoyance; I was getting all sentimental over a guy who hated me.
I peeled off his T-shirt, swiftly tossed it onto the heap of dirty clothes, then quickly stepped into the glass-enclosed steam shower. I let the steaming hot water beat onto my body, easing all the stress of the day and mercifully allowing my brain to turn off and just relax before reluctantly stepping out of the shower. I briefly allowed my feet to luxuriate on the floor warmers as I wrapped a warm, fluffy white towel around me before striding over to the foggy mirror and wiping it clean. I grimaced; my face was drawn and tired. My eyes were half closed with weariness as I rubbed a towel through my curly brown hair and twisted it into a loose ponytail.
After getting dressed, I walked back into the bedroom, flopped down onto the bed, and half listened to Brooklyn’s rapid-fire rehash of all the latest gossip at Transcendence while Jessica and Zora sat beside her with rapt attention. It was nice to see even Zora getting wrapped up, enjoying the gossip. I started to drift off into a deep sleep when someone banged on our door.
I jerked nervously, quickly sitting up, looking over at the door. The last time there was banging on the door, there was major trouble.
We all just stared at the door, frozen, as it swung open slowly to reveal a tall, leanly muscular woman standing in the doorframe, looking at us impatiently. She wore all black, her jeans hugging her body, accentuating her curves. Her black hair was cut into a stylish, sleek bob.
Brooklyn cleared her throat noisily. "Good order, peace, and justice, Circle Petra."
Her brown eyes narrowed. "G
ood order, peace, and justice," she responded gruffly, her eyes immediately focusing on me. "Neophyte Gabrielle, come with me. Your presence has been requested by the council."
Brooklyn, Jessica, and Zora looked at me nervously. I could see it in their eyes—we were so busted for sneaking into that secret Eternal meeting. But why was I the only one being punished?
I scooted off the bed, pulled on a pair of jeans and my sneakers, then walked over to the door quickly. I didn’t care; they could tie me to a pole, leaving me out in the desert. I was not going to rat out my friends. I’d been in trouble before, and I would take all the blame for sneaking into the meeting.
Circle Petra briskly marched me out of the castle and across the courtyard without saying another word. When we finally reached the other side of the castle, she stopped in front of a huge, bold, ornately carved gold door, pushing it open briskly.
"Follow me."
I looked around in utter amazement as the warm air, lightly scented of vanilla mixed with cinnamon, greeted me pleasantly. Warm torches flickered invitingly with every step we took across the shiny wood floors.
I almost jumped when we walked past the life-sized statues of Warriors holding huge jewel-encrusted swords at chest level. As I walked further, I noticed that some of the statues had huge wings protruding from their backs, in different stages of opening. So creepy, I could almost feel their eyes following me, stalking me as we walked past.
Petra abruptly stopped at a heavy oak door, pushing it open quickly. "You’ll get dressed in here. Be quick. I don’t have all day." She lightly pushed me in, shutting the door firmly behind her.
I didn’t know whether to be annoyed or happy when I looked around the ultramodern room stuck in the old casing of a castle. The large, shiny crème floor tiles expanded the entire length of the huge room with a large fireplace on one wall, large glass sliding doors on the other, and the object of my affection, a large flat-screen TV anchored to the wall in front of a large L-shaped chocolate leather and suede sectional couch. This was the kind of room that I would have loved to just veg out in while gorging on junk food and watching music videos and reality shows, like, all day. But I knew that this was not a social visit. It was far from it. I had been summoned because I was in whole lot of trouble. It seemed the grown-ups were pissed.
I walked further in, spotting a formal-looking black dress draped across the back of the couch.
"Are they serious?" I mumbled loudly.
I hated dresses, and I definitely wasn’t going to dress up for my punishment. That was just plain cruel and unusual punishment to demand it. I plopped down on the couch and lay down with my arms crossed defiantly, refusing to look at the stupid dress that seemed to be calling to me, "Wear me! Wear me!" Absolutely not!
There was a soft knock on the door before it was slowly opened. I looked over quickly, expecting to see Petra standing there with sword in hand, ready to cut me into bite-size pieces for having the audacity not to be dressed. But surprisingly, it was Veda standing there, looking drop-dead gorgeous as usual in a tight knee-length black dress, sexy black stiletto heels, and her black hair glistening perfectly. But there was no smile on her warm cinnamon brown face as she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her quietly. She just stood there, looking at me like a disapproving mother, with her pouty lips glistening with red lip gloss.
She walked across the room, her heels clicking rapidly. I looked at her defiantly. Even though she seemed real cool for an adult, even she couldn’t make me wear that stupid dress. She stood before me with her hands perched on her hips and foot tapping impatiently.
"You know there’s really no point of being so stubborn about this. You will wear that dress." Her voice was icy and remote.
I burrowed further down, looking back at her crossly. "Ugh, I hate dresses. You all can just skip the rest of the punishment. Making me wear that dress is punishment enough. Believe me."
She sighed loudly, flicking her hair over her shoulders. "Gabrielle, they’re waiting to see you, and believe me, this crowd is not real big on waiting, especially on Neophytes." She reached over and grabbed the dress, the dropped it on my stomach. "The dress must go on. This is not a request. It’s an order," she said with a hard glint in her eyes.
I knew that I would not win this argument. In fact, I had a sneaking suspicion that if I did not move, like, right now, that she would personally dress me herself. That would be way not cool.
"Fine." I snatched the dress as I stood up.
She smiled. "Thank you for your cooperation." She turned around, giving me her back as I yanked off my clothes but left on my sneakers. I shuddered as I pulled on the repulsive black dress that glided over my body, fitting perfectly.
As if she could sense that I was done, she turned back around, assessing me coolly and smirking at my defiant stance of leaving my sneakers on.
"See, it wasn’t that bad. You didn’t burst into a ball of fire by the mere touch of the dress on your body," she mocked, picking up a pair of black ballet flats from the floor. "Okay, let’s go to the mirror." She placed a warm hand under my elbow, gently escorting me to the floor-to-ceiling mirror tucked into the corner of the room.
I was truly shocked at my image in the mirror because it didn’t even look like me. I looked delicate and tiny in comparison to Veda’s tall stature. The black dress hugged curves I didn’t even think I had. I moved slowly from side to side, watching the hem of the dress sway above my knees. My cappuccino-colored arms glowed in the sleeveless dress. My almond-shaped hazel eyes looked unsure against my tightly controlled heart-shaped face.
Veda reached down and, with a decided snap, pulled off the stretch bands that held my thick, curly brown hair into dog-eared ponytails, allowing my hair to cascade fluffily around my shoulders.
My hazel eyes widened with shock. I looked girly. In fact, I looked…
"Very pretty." Veda finished the sentence for me.
I looked over at her suspiciously. How in the world did she know what I was just thinking?
She looked at me deeply through the mirror, placing her hands gently on my shoulders. Our gaze locked in the mirror for what seemed like an eternity; suddenly, she unlocked her gaze with a sigh, abruptly turning on her heels and striding away toward the door without a backward glance.
She paused with her hand on the doorknob. "Remember that no matter what happens in there, don’t be afraid. Most importantly, listen to your instincts. They will never betray you." She opened the door and walked out silently.
I exhaled quickly, not even realizing that I had been holding my breath until I heard the snap of the door closing with finality. Suddenly, I was really nervous. This was bad; whatever I had done was bigger than sneaking into a stupid meeting. I just didn’t know what it was. I quickly pulled off my sneakers and slipped my feet into the black ballet shoes.
Petra opened the door briskly. "Gabrielle, it’s time." She looked at me meticulously, nodding her head with approval of the dress. "Let’s go."
I walked swiftly across the room, following her down the hallway. She was amazingly hulking in comparison to my shorter and skinnier frame. Why was I just noticing all of my clear differences in comparison to the rest of the Eternals? I was admittedly fragile looking in comparison to every Eternal that I’d met for far—which I guess wasn’t good since that meant I really stuck out like a sore thumb. I talked about Jessica’s weight insecurities like she had nothing to worry about, but here I was frantically obsessing about everything that was wrong with me. This was so not the right time to have a body image complex. Ugh.
"Gabrielle? Where is your head? I’ve been talking to you for at least five minutes." She gave me an annoyed glare.
"Sorry, what?" I responded with a scowl.
"I was talking about protocols," she replied briskly. "As I was saying, once you get in the Eternals’ chamber, walk straight up to the center, right before the platform, and do not move. Second, there is absolutely no talking, unless you’re directly a
sked a question by a member of the council. Third, always, and I mean always, look them straight in the eyes, no matter what. Don’t be afraid, little one. Bravery. Honor. Strength. Words to live by."
I gave her a sidelong look. Was this gruff, tough Circle actually trying to give me some sort of pep talk?
She stood before a huge, solid, ominous door that looked like it was made out of real gold, then looked at me briskly. "Courage, Neophyte. I sense that in you. Use it. You’ll definitely need it in there." She pushed the door open, shoving me in unceremoniously.
What in the world was she talking about? Protocols? Courage? I was in serious trouble. It so sucked to be me right now.
I walked timidly into the dark Eternals’ chamber, trying to remember everything that Petra had just said. Okay, something about not moving. Wait. No. Go to the center first. Don’t talk. My thoughts were jumbled and confused as I walked in further. I was going to be toast. Why hadn’t I paid closer attention to what she was saying?
A warm burst of air shoved me in the back as if urging me to walk forward. With each step I took, the torches anchored to the wall lit up one by one, in rhythm to my steps. I was really trying not to freak out, but a feeling of panic suddenly overwhelmed me. I abruptly stopped, my legs wobbling with indecision, and felt an overwhelming desire to run for my life.
The burst of warm air shoved me again, hard. In fact, the air was so rough that it pushed me so fast that my feet were no longer touching the ground, but floating above it like a puppet on strings. Before I could react, I was unceremoniously plopped facedown in the center of the huge chamber.
I pushed my hair off my face with anger as I scrambled to my feet. Really, whatever that was, I was so going to kick some major butt. I was now standing in front of a huge platform with no one on it. There was, in fact, dead silence but I could feel the piercing, silent stares all around me in the shadows. Torches suddenly lit, warming the chamber and giving it an eerie glow. Now I could see all of the Eternals dressed in burgundy ceremonial robes with their hoods firmly in place. Over their hearts was an emblem of what looked like a large gold bird with a huge green tail and outstretched purple wings.