by Diana Nixon
“You know what? The weirdest thing is that I can’t see any of his movements as well,” Tara admitted, focusing everyone’s attention on her words. “It’s like he doesn’t move at all, staying constantly in the same place. You wanted me to follow his actions after the escape, but there is nothing I can see about him.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what Anna said.” I nodded, watching her thoughtfully. Tara’s visions were always well detailed and clear, but even now her abilities were not enough to help us. She was the former student of the Ventura faculty and her main specialization was seeing the future.
“What about Eileen? Can she feel anything?”
“No,” Amanda said sadly. “She lost her bond with Christian as soon as he disappeared. Besides, she is too stressed to feel anything at all. And last night she scared me half to death, waking up screaming in the middle of the night. It was getting windy outside and I got up to close the window, when suddenly she started crying.”
I frowned hearing her words. “You didn’t tell me about that.”
“I thought you knew. You were watching her sleep, weren’t you?”
“Actually, I was. But I didn’t hear anything,” I replied with worry rising in my heart. I didn’t like it when something was wrong, especially when it came to Eileen.
“Maybe she was already awake when she started crying, and you couldn’t control her emotions out of her dream,” Tara supposed, feeling my tension.
“Maybe you are right,” I said doubtingly. I couldn’t miss such a weird incident, could I?
“Frederick is coming back today,” Patrick said. “Let’s hope he will bring some good news.”
Having no idea where Christian was, we decided to use our beloved method of following magical traces.
The thing is that magic always leaves traces, and especially dark magic. As we all knew, the last one was Mr. Lanster’s favorite. That’s why we decided we would find him by following his recent actions. We also supposed that Eric could be hiding Christian in some pretty obvious to us place. As he wanted Eileen to guess where that place was, we thought that it should be at least somewhere familiar to her. That’s why we started with Norfield, her home town. So Frederick had gone there yesterday but we still didn’t have any news from him.
“What about other places he might go to?” Tara asked.
I looked at her again and realized that her presence still bothered me. I couldn’t control myself and concentrate properly, making my evil brother smile every time Tara and I paid some attention to each other.
“We wanted to check in Gloster as well,” Amanda replied, “but I don’t think Eric is such a fool as to stay so close to Dever.”
“Well, he is a fool,” I pointed, “but not such a fool. Anyway you are right. Gloster will be our second place to go to.”
“Maybe I could go there?” Tara suggested. She seemed to be relaxed and focused on the problem. Apparently, I was the only crazy cat in the room. “I spent almost all my life there, I know places where someone like me could stay or even hide in,” she added, thinking out loud.
“I will go with you,” Kevin said. “It’s better to have some back-up.”
“Good idea,” Patrick agreed, blinking at my attempt to protest that protective proposal. “Amelia and I are going to France. Christian studied there and Eric was born there. This country means a lot to both of them.”
“Okay. So what shall we do next?” Amanda asked.
I was still too angry about my brother’s jerky behavior to hear her last question.
“Evan? Are you with us?” she asked again.
“Sorry. What did you say?”
“Do you have any other ideas of where else we could look for Eric?”
“Actually, I was thinking about those prompts that he gave us previously. I still think we should go to the mountains, because this is the only thing so obviously connected to the fear of heights.”
Just a few days before the escape, Eric was taken to Dever, where he was locked under the supervision of the local Keepers. We were afraid he would hurt Eileen, as he was one of those who wanted to get her powers, so we found him and dragged him here, hoping to get the answers we needed and not to let him do anything stupid. Unfortunately, his mind was affected by the silent spell, and he couldn’t think straight, so all of his answers sounded like nonsense and only later we realized that he was prompting. We thought that he knew where the Cup of power was, the one that so many people wanted to find to become almighty, though we needed it to protect Eileen’s life, which could be taken away with the help of the very Cup.
“Do you want to go to the mountains alone?” Kevin asked with that irritating grin on his face I wanted to smash away so badly.
“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can,” he said, smirking. “Tara, would you like to have a snack before you sleep? It’s late and we have a lot of things to do tomorrow, so… I hope no one minds if we go and take a rest?”
I didn’t know whom that question was addressed to, but Tara and I could see its hidden meaning pretty clearly. Kevin couldn’t wait to be alone with her. And, well, to get on my nerves one more time.
“Actually, I wanted to see Eileen first,” she replied, obviously ignoring his invitation. Yeah, it serves you right, Bro! I mentally applauded Tara for being so brave. I knew it was almost impossible to make her do something she didn’t really want to do.
“Isn’t she asleep yet?” Kevin asked. He never gave up so easily. But this time his persistence was simply irritating, making my blood boil slowly.
Before anyone could answer, Amanda’s cell phone rang. “Seems like she is not,” she said, showing me Eileen’s ID on the screen. “Hey, babe! We just mentioned you. Are you okay? Aha. I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.”
“Is she okay?” Patrick asked as soon as Amanda finished the call.
“She was quite surprised to wake up in an empty room. She didn’t think Evan would let her stay alone that long. She even thought that something might have happened to us,” Amanda said. “Tara, if you still want, you could go with us. But don’t be surprised about the mess in the room. Evan lives on our couch now,” she added, poking at my ribs.
“Hey! It’s not my fault!” I protested in defense. “You didn’t want to move into my room.”
“No, thanks, Evan. I’ll see you damned first! I can barely stand seeing you so often in ours!”
“You wouldn’t be upset if it was Lucas, sleeping on your couch, huh?” I asked, winking.
“Of course, I wouldn’t! If my memory serves me well, you were the one who forbade him to stay with us.” Amanda glared at me accusingly.
“It wasn’t just my will, it was a necessity.”
“Seriously? Would you be so kind as to explain what kind of necessity there was?” she flared up.
“It’s hard to concentrate on Eileen’s protection, when there is so much foreign energy flowing around.”
“Sorry Evan. I didn’t think about that,” she mumbled guiltily, blushing slightly.
“Don’t worry, I’m used to your constant complaints.” I smiled, hugging her in response.
Once I thought that Amanda and I could be more than just friends. But we were too alike to be together without fighting day and night. So she moved on and it had been a couple of weeks already since she started seeing Lucas Stanton. She seemed pretty happy being with him, and he, in turn, was ready to do anything possible and impossible just to see her smile.
Sometimes their relationship made me jealous. No, I wasn’t jealous about them being together, rather about the absence of my own soul mate. Tara used to be the one, but, unfortunately, I lost her. I couldn’t even imagine that after so many hard attempts to forget her something would recall my former feelings for her. I couldn’t help myself. Everything started from the very beginning. Knees trembling, heart beating faster, thoughts blurring, blah-blah-blah… damn, the feelings were so familiar! I sighed.
Amanda�
�s voice brought me back to reality. “Let’s go then,” she said, turning to the door.
“Kevin, would you like to meet Eileen?” I asked my brother.
“Maybe next time. I don’t want to interfere in your group’s secrets,” he replied. Fine by me, I thought to myself. So Amanda, Tara and I left, leaving him with Patrick.
“Jeez, why is he smiling all the time?” Amanda asked when we went out into the street. “Is it some kind of personal trade mark?”
I laughed, hearing her comparison. “You are absolutely right. He thinks his smile is so amazing, that no one, especially the ladies, can resist.”
“Right. But he’s your brother after all, so that’s probably your family trade mark,” she pointed out, obviously trying to dent my ego.
This time Tara burst out laughing.
“Hey, you don’t think that I’m as much of an asshole as he is, do you?” I asked, amused. Personally I thought that Kevin and I were two completely different people, despite our obvious similarity of appearance. He was reckless and spoilt. And I… well, I could be reckless sometimes too, but definitely not day and night.
“Of course, I don’t think so! You are, well, just Evan,” Amanda said, shrugging.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She and Tara exchanged telling glances without saying anything aloud.
“Man, and I thought you have already changed your prepossession about me,” I said to Amanda.
“Sorry, Evan. That will probably take a little longer than you’d expected, giving me all those sweet smiles of an exemplary good boy.”
I was greatly amused by her answer. I knew she was joking, but still couldn’t believe her words.
When we entered the room, Eileen was sitting on her bed, speaking to someone on the phone. “Okay, Mom. I promise to call you more often. Yes, I do remember about your present. I will think about it. Yeah, love you too,” she said, hanging up. “Tara! What a pleasant surprise!” she exclaimed, looking at me questioningly.
“I’m glad to see you too,” Tara said, hugging her.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, Patrick asked me to come….”
“Oh, it’s about Christian, right?” Eileen guessed. “Can you see something?” she asked with her eyes full of desperate hope. God only knew what was going on inside her heart.
“No.” Tara shook her head regretfully. “But I wanted to see you just to know if our meeting would help me to improve my visions.”
“Of course. What do you want me to do?”
“Just stay calm and try to concentrate on Christian’s image and I will try to see anything through you.”
“Okay.” Eileen nodded obediently. She got back to her bed and Tara sat next to her. She wasn’t doing anything special, she was just watching Eileen closely.
A few minutes passed and I thought I saw a flash of confusion on Tara's face.
“What do you see?” I asked her quietly.
“Lots of things actually, but it’s hard to decipher anything useful. There is one thing however…” She stopped, taking a deep breath.
“What thing?”
“I hear some kind of melody all the time,” she said, frowning. “Eileen, do you have a music box or anything of the sort?”
“A music box?” Eileen looked puzzled. “Oh, well, maybe you are talking about this,” she said, showing Christian’s birthday present.
Tara opened the box, but there was no music coming from the inside.
“Weird,” she said. “I could swear that the melody was hidden here.”
“Actually, no one can hear this music,” Eileen said. “The box was charmed. Only I can see the contents,” she explained.
“So you do hear the melody, right?”
Eileen nodded.
“Thank God! I’m not going crazy,” Tara said, smiling. “At least not now,” she muttered. “So what exactly is hidden here?”
“Just some small things, jewelry and memories, of course.”
“Are there any memories about Christian?”
“Almost all of them are about him,” Eileen replied sadly. I could see how hard it was for her to talk about him, let alone recall the moments they shared.
“Can you watch those memories right now?” Tara asked. “I know, Eileen, it must be the last thing you would like to do now, but it would be really helpful.”
“Sure,” Eileen agreed without hesitation. She was ready to do anything to bring Christian back. Even if it meant crashing her heart into pieces over and over again.
She took a deep breath and opened the box. She was sitting quietly, her eyes closed, but the magic coming from the gift was flowing around her, making her aura shine with bright golden sparks.
“Wait, slow down,” Tara said. “What was the last one about? Can you watch it once again?”
Eileen nodded. Neither Amanda nor I said anything. It seemed as if both Tara and Eileen were now watching some silent film, trying to understand its meaning. Their eyes were empty and dull, their postures frozen.
“Oh my God,” Eileen whispered, blinking.
“What is it?” Amanda asked impatiently, coming closer to her.
Eileen and Tara exchanged horrified glances.
“She saw how Eric did this,” Tara said quietly.
“What?!” Amanda and I exclaimed in unison.
“That night, I left one more memory in the box,” Eileen said in a trembling voice. “It was about the last time I saw Christian. But I didn’t realize that the memory was so long. How is that possible?” she asked Tara. “Did I really see it?”
“As far as I can see it myself, yes, you did. I know it’s weird and I don’t know how to explain this. I can only guess that the memory was something you saw in reality but not in a dream. Maybe you were already awake, but didn’t realize it. That’s why the vision was blurred and stuck somewhere deep inside your mind. You couldn’t remember that part, so leaving your memory in the box you didn’t notice anything suspicious.”
“Um, girls, I’m really sorry to interrupt your extremely exciting conversation, but can anyone tell me what the hell is going on here?” I flared up. I hated puzzles and even more I hated guessing.
“When Eric was kidnapping Christian, Eileen wasn’t asleep. Well, at least she wasn’t deeply asleep, so she saw how it happened,” Tara explained.
“How did he do that?” Amanda asked, swallowing hard to stop the tears burning in her eyes. I’d never seen her so vulnerable, and now she seemed to be so very small and fragile. I wanted to comfort her but I knew that any words of mine would not be able to diminish her sorrow. The only thing she really needed at that moment was her brother’s return.
“This is the most extraordinary magic I’ve ever seen!” Tara said, surprised. “Christian’s disappearance wasn’t fast. The image of his figure was blinking for a few seconds before sinking into the darkness. It looked like a screen of some old TV set, being turned off.”
“Who knows how this dream theft works,” I said tiredly, rubbing my temples.
“You are the one who can send false dreams, Evan. So tell us, how do you do this?” Tara asked. Her words reminded Eileen about the fact that sending false dreams was something I used to do every night.
“Uh, Eileen, please, don’t look at me like that!” I groaned in exasperation. “Neither you nor I like this, but as I have already said I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. So try to withhold your anger, as we have already discussed that.”
“You mean you have already discussed that and there was no way I could protest,” Eileen admitted resentfully.
“Please, don’t make me feel even guiltier. You know I’m not really excited about everything I have to do. But I can’t break Frederick’s orders. Sometimes he scares the hell out of me! I’m not as strong as he is, so try to be reasonable and behave yourself. We just need to get through this little mess, and then everything will be over. I promise,” I tried to bring her to reason.
Eileen
knew about her father controlling her dreams, but she didn’t want me to do the same thing. She thought that my staying in her room was more than enough to protect her. But Frederick had his own point of view. That’s why now I was right on my way to becoming Eileen’s worst enemy.
“By the way, I liked that dream you sent me last night,” she said, smiling slightly. “Thanks.”
Her words significantly improved my mood and I smiled back. “You are welcome. Though I’m not sure what exactly there was in the memory. So tell me, was it all so romantic and sweet to meet Christian at fourteen?”
“Even at fourteen he looked amazing.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” I chuckled. “Speaking about my abilities, I don’t even know how they work. It was probably one of those lectures I slept through successfully.”
“Evan!” Amanda warned. “We don’t have time for your stupid jokes.”
“Okay, okay. Well, as far as I know there is no theory about how to control dreams. It’s just a gift that you do or do not have.”
“The energy that radiates from you when you are doing this, is something I can’t understand,” Eileen said, watching me thoughtfully. “I can’t repeat your actions. I can feel everything but I can’t do the same thing myself.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Dear God, have you finally blessed me to hear that she can’t do something? Seriously?”
“If I were you, Evan, I wouldn’t start to celebrate too soon,” Tara said, ruining my joy. “Just give her time to reveal all her talents.”
“Uh, come on, Tara! Can’t you give me at least a few minutes to enjoy my new discovery?”
“Sorry, Evan, but time is something we can’t let you waste at the moment.”
“Why, on earth, are you always so reasonable? Well, yeah, you are probably right,” I agreed unwillingly. “Anyway, I’ll try to find out more about false dreams. Maybe Frederick will help me. He’s an expert in that, after all. Eileen, what was the present your mom was talking about?” I recalled her previous conversation.