by Diana Nixon
Putting my palms together and closing my eyes I imagined a flow of silver liquid burning in my veins. The creation of magical silver had one peculiarity – you always had to create a molten metal first. And only then you could transform it into something tangible. The quality and the power of energy radiating in both cases were different. Creating molten silver I felt incredible joy, but creating silver things I was full of confidence, as if they could protect me from anything. Despite the fact that all those feelings were very familiar, their combination had a strange effect on me. I couldn’t understand if I was ruling over this magic or the magical power was consuming me.
This time the result of my experiment turned out to be a small silver dagger. The reflections of a dim, lonely lamp were shining on its surface. The blade was thin and sharp.
Just what I need, I thought looking at the blade in my hand.
I can’t control what my silver magic creates. But strangely enough it always makes me create something useful. So this time it was probably my sense of insecurity and my desire to get some kind of a weapon that made me create that dagger. Anyway, the silver piece in my hand proved that my unique gift still had its power.
The door behind me opened quietly and Tara entered the classroom.
“How did you find me?” I asked, turning around in surprise. She was the last person I expected to see that morning.
“Oh, I wasn’t looking for you, actually,” she replied. “I was surprised to see you here. I thought you were getting ready for the trip. Am I interrupting something?”
“No. I’ve just finished my training,” I said, putting the dagger into my pocket. “Is everything okay? You look nervous.”
“No, I’m fine. I mean… I don’t know. Do you know what’s been going on with Eileen recently?”
“Well, it’s pretty hard to say what her usual behavior should be. Why?”
“I can’t see any of her future actions or decisions. But she can’t stop thinking at all, right? I mean, every one of us think about something all the time. We even plan what time to go to bed, or have lunch. But I don’t see anything at all about her. It seems weird. Don’t you think so?”
“Yeah, you are probably right,” I said, frowning. “I’ll talk to her later.”
“Thanks.” Tara smiled, relaxed. “Of course, I could ask her myself, but I think she will tell you more. And, Evan… don’t doubt your powers. You will do everything just the way it should be done,” she added, squeezing my hand.
I smiled in response. Surely she realized that I was there not just to have fun. And she always knew when I was worried about something. Just like she did now.
I came back to Eileen’s room and found it empty. Looking around, I noticed that my luggage was gone. Then I saw that a note had been left on my couch. It said that I had to hurry up so as not to miss my plane. Looking at my watch I realized that my training took a bit longer than I expected. So I shut the door hurriedly and ran to Patrick’s apartment. I hoped that it wouldn’t be too late and someone would be waiting for me there.
“Where the hell have you been, Evan?!” Amanda shouted from the threshold. “Do you want to stay here and miss all the fun?”
“Have you ever heard of me missing the fun?”
“The taxi is already waiting downstairs,” Patrick said. “If everyone’s ready we can go now.”
“Has anyone seen my suitcase?” I asked, looking around the room.
“Don’t worry, Evan. Your luggage is already in the car,” Eileen said.
“Thank you, dear. I knew you wouldn’t forget about me.”
“Actually, you should say thanks to Amanda. She dragged your bags there,” Eileen added, nodding towards her friend.
“Really?” I asked, surprised. “Oh, no, I can’t believe that! She just can’t wait to get rid of me!”
“That’s exactly my point, Evan,” Amanda snapped, heading for the door.
We left talks for later and went to the taxi. I remembered Tara’s request and came to Eileen. “Is there anything I should know before we leave?” I asked, scrutinizing her aura for any signs of lies.
“What do you mean?” she asked, puzzled.
“Well, maybe there is something you are worried about, but don’t want to tell me.”
“Evan, I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said, facing me, her eyes full of irritation. “You know perfectly well what worries me.”
I nodded and took a step back. I didn’t notice anything suspicious in her aura, so I let her go. She wasn’t lying but I had to be on the alert all the time.
“I hope you will keep in touch,” Tara said, coming to me.
“Sure. So will you, right?” I smiled, taking a lock of hair away from her eyes.
That tender gesture surprised both of us. Tara froze and looked at me wide-eyed. I wished I could read her mind and see all the mysteries of her deep gray-blue eyes.
I shook my head, clearing my throat to break the tension and she took a step closer to hug me goodbye.
“Be careful,” she whispered, caressing my cheek with her breath.
“You too,” I said, inhaling deeply before letting her go.
Suddenly I remembered the day when Tara left Dever. Now our feelings were different, but I still didn’t want to leave her alone. Besides, her staying in my brother’s company wasn’t making me happy at all.
“It’s time to go,” Amelia said, opening the taxi door. She, Eileen and I took the back seat, while Patrick sat on the passenger’s side.
The road to the nearest airport took no more than half an hour and in accordance with my calculations, we would land in Paris in less than three hours. We didn’t know how long our trip would last, so no one mentioned the date of our return.
“There’s no wind today,” Eileen said thoughtfully. The sadness in her voice surprised me. I had never thought that she liked bad weather. Though, speaking about Albion it was quite hard to determine what good weather meant to the British.
“Eileen, are you okay?” I asked worriedly.
“Yeah. I'm fine,” she said, taking a deep breath.
The more I watched Eileen, the more Tara’s suspicions seemed reasonable. Something was definitely wrong with her. And it wasn’t about our trip.
There was something else. As if she was waiting for some event or sign....
Chapter 4. Paris
Eileen
We were on the way to the airport. Despite the fact that the trees outside the window were flying in front of my eyes with incredible speed, it still seemed that the car was moving too slow. Patrick was talking quietly to the driver, Amelia was sleeping lightly beside me, and Evan and I were absorbed in our own thoughts.
I felt like nothing on earth. I wasn’t excited about the upcoming flight, and the idea of leaving Dever at the most unseemly hours worried me a lot. Of course, I wanted to see my mom, but running away from our problems seemed like the last thing I wanted to do at the moment. The only valuable reason for this trip was our determination to find anything useful about the magic of dreams. At least, I still hoped that it would help us to find Christian.
My heart stopped the moment I saw a huge snow-white liner that was supposed to take us to France. “It was definitely a bad idea,” I said nervously, feeling my palms sweating.
“I can’t believe that!” Evan exclaimed. “Your courage has failed you in the end! But you flew before, didn’t you?”
“Trust me, Evan, this is not an argument.”
I remembered my last flight. I spent almost two hours suffering from the nightmares I didn’t want to see ever again.
“Everything’s gonna be all right,” Evan encouraged, hugging my shoulders.
I didn’t know if he trusted his own words. Maybe he was talking about a successful outcome of our trip. Anyway, there was no way back, as we started getting aboard.
Already on the last step I felt a light breeze touching my cheek. Hearing the very same familiar singing I stopped, enjoying the wind’s balm
y embrace. I heard the words of a beautiful song, playing in my mind:
"Waking up with the first ray of sun,
I saw you were gone.
You took my light, you took my soul,
You left me there alone.
You’ve become my dream, you’ve become my world
And thinking about you now,
I still hope you’ll be with me one day,
Even if it will be just for a while….
Being away from you is tearing me apart;
I’m dying to reach a hand and touch your lips,
To savor their taste, to feel the beating of your heart,
To hold you in my arms and spend forever like this.
No matter how long is the distance, separating us today,
I know that tomorrow and ever I’ll be looking for my way
To be with you again, to say “I love you” one day…."
“I miss you too, I’ll see you soon,” I whispered through the wind that was playing with my curls, interweaving them with the words of its mesmerizing song.
Since the day I first heard Christian’s voice in my head, I had been waiting to hear it again. I didn’t know if he could hear me too, but I knew that his singing wasn’t just an illusion. And I knew that it wasn’t magic. It was him, trying to reach me through the damned dream. It was so good to feel him again. Even if it happened so rarely.
No one knew about the voices in my head. I didn’t tell anyone, trying to keep that small secret to myself. The wind was a thin thread still binding me with Christian and I didn’t want to lose that bond again. That’s why I liked wind so much. It brought me hope….
Taking a deep breath, I went to my seat next to Evan, who was studying carefully the brochure of safety instructions.
“Oh, no! Just do not tell me you have an aviophobia!” I laughed.
“Of course, not! Where did you dream that up?” he replied, hiding a brochure.
I barely managed to hold back another grin. Evan’s pale face was confirming my previous guess. It wasn’t his first flight, but somehow the idea of getting into the air was making him uneasy. I knew that he needed some time to relax, so I got off his back, took my iPod and chose a list of my favorite songs.
The last time I saw my mom was a few months ago. It was at the beginning of the summer, on her wedding. She and her new husband Chris were about to go on their honeymoon. And judging by the place of their present residence they still were on a honeymoon. Paris, love, and you know, all the romanticism.
This time I made sure of my stepfather’s name, just in case I would forget it, because keeping the names of all my mom’s husbands was really too much.
I saw Paris just once. A few years ago my beloved grandma Stephanie Mitchell came up with the idea of showing me the world and being passionately in love with everything French, she decided to start with Paris. There were only two things I still remembered about that trip – fiendish heat and raging thirst. It seemed as if all the streets of the city were burning with invisible fire, making all the locals and the tourists hide in the cafes, restaurants and other places with good air conditioners. Despite my grandmother’s efforts, my memories of Paris were vague. They were also ruined by the sunstroke with all the ensuing consequences that I would never be able to forget about. Being born in Britain I wasn’t used to baking sun, but the desire to see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and walk along the Champs Elysees was much stronger than my fear of frying myself to death. Of course, the regret of being so stupid came much later when the fever knocked me down, tying me to my bed until the end of our trip to Paris. Anyway, I still hoped that one day I would be able to see the true value of all its sights. Even if this time won’t be much different from the previous one.
Our plane landed at Charles De Gaulle Airport around midday. Just as I expected, the weather was warm. Taking our luggage, we headed for the exit, where dozens of people were waiting for the passengers of the other flight. Among them I saw two familiar faces. My mom and Chris smiled broadly when they saw us. Catherine’s cheerful shouting attracted not just my friends' attention, but also all the people around us.
“How sweet, they are meeting us with flowers. As if we were the Olympic champions!” Evan commented. “Will there be any rewarding gifts as well?”
“Well, if you are talking about all those entertainments, that I’m sure Catherine has planned for today, then - yes. Don’t forget that she doesn’t know anything about the real purpose of our visit. So just relax and smile.”
“I can do that,” he said. I rolled my eyes, chuckling. Apparently, feeling the ground under his feet, made Evan feel much better.
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so glad to see you!” my mom exclaimed, locking me in her arms. “You have changed, love, and you look so grown up!”
“Good to see you too, mo… I mean Catherine,” I said, taking a step back. I almost forgot how much she hated being called mom. “Hi, Chris.”
“Mrs. Clark, good to see you again,” Patrick said. “Do you like Paris?”
“Oh, I adore this city!” She clasped her hands happily. “I would gladly stay here forever, but Chris can’t live without Britain. I can’t do anything about it!”
While everybody was exchanging pleasantries, Evan was standing aside, as if being on guard. I looked around but didn’t notice anything suspicious.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah, I’m fine” he said, still frowning.
“You sure?”
“Just saw something, nothing to worry about.”
“Guys, it’s time to go now. There is a dinner waiting for us at home,” Catherine said.
“I love French cuisine!” Evan said excitedly, taking her by the arm.
I didn’t like such a rapid change of his mood. Usually it meant that he wanted to sidetrack someone’s attention. And this time that someone seemed to be me.
We had to separate into two groups as one car wasn’t enough for our big, noisy crew. I couldn’t wait to ask Evan about the reasons for his strange behavior, so I chose the car he headed for.
“I didn’t expect to get rid of you so easily,” he said.
“Good. We have a lot to talk about,” I replied with a warning glance.
There were also Amelia and a driver in the car. Fortunately, the guy turned out to be quite talkative, and despite his Pidgin English he managed to distract her with some conversation.
Moving closer to Evan, I said quietly, “Just spit it out! Whatever is on your mind. And don’t even try to mess around with me.”
“Okay, seems like I have no other option.”
“Well, you could jump out of the car, of course. But I wouldn’t suggest that,” I said, looking out of the window. “Something tells me that you would land straight into the river.”
“Very funny, Eileen. I’m not even sure if there is anything to tell you and.…”
Catching another warning gaze, he finally decided to share his observations. “All right. So when we were at the airport I felt the presence of some strange energy.”
“What do you mean strange?”
“I couldn’t decipher its owner and I didn’t know what it meant.”
“Has this ever happened to you before?”
“No, never. The thing is that every person has not only his specific aura but also his specific energy. And usually these two things are connected. But the energy I felt today didn’t belong to anyone.”
“How can you be so sure about that? There were hundreds of people around us. You could have missed someone.”
“No, Eileen. Our energy always flows around us. It can’t stay far away from its owner.”
“How close should it be to its owner?”
“Two or three steps away, maximum.”
“Really? Looks like I still have a lot to learn about things,” I said thoughtfully.
“You will learn everything. Just not everything at once.”
“You are going to tell Patrick about it, aren’
t you?”
“Actually, I wasn’t going to.…”
“Evan we can’t hide this. It’s not the best time for keeping secrets. We have to make all the decisions together. Remember?”
“Probably you are right. I’ll talk to him later.”
“There’s one more thing I wanted to discuss with you,” I said.
“What is it?”
“It’s about Kevin. When was the last time you talked to each other? I mean before his arrival to Dever.”
“Hmm, it’s a good question. I don’t remember. We don’t talk very often. Usually we congratulated each other on birthdays and other holidays. Why?”
“Darcy came to see me before we left Dever. I asked her about that conversation with Kevin. And you know what? She said he asked her about different things, including Camilla.”
Evan raised his eyebrows, surprised. Darcy’s grandma was a local historian, who was killed a few years ago by Eric’s sister Alexis, who also used to be the former head of Dever.
“I asked her about that conversation too. But she didn’t say anything about that.”
“She said she was the one to talk about her grandmother first. And it looked like your brother wanted to know more. But he knew Camilla too, right? So what was the reason of asking Darcy about her?”
“I wish I knew. I should probably warn Tara to be more careful in his presence,” Evan said, reaching for his cell.
“Right. And it’s a good excuse to call her again,” I threw off.
“Just be quiet,” he hissed.
“Why? You are not going to deny that you still feel something for her, are you? Come on, Evan! It’s too obvious!”
“I think, young lady, that you know too much. And I already regret the day I let myself cry on your shoulder.”
“If you feel better when I’m silent, then I will be silent.”
“Yes, please. I would really appreciate that,” Evan said, sending a text message to Tara. Apparently he changed his mind about calling her in my presence. I shook my head, smiling and turned to the window.