by Serena Nova
My illusion fell away with the darkness, too, and I dropped my shield as fast as I could to keep some of the magic I had, a secret. My swords were still against her throat, a small trickle of black blood trailed down her neck, where she’d pushed too hard, testing my skills.
“Don’t kill her!” I heard someone yell from the box. I looked up at the person. It was the bald man from the Selection.
“You think you can tell me what to do?” I said to him. Before he could answer I pulled my swords through her neck, separating her head from her body. It slumped down to the ground, her head rolled towards the box I faced, coming to a stop in front of a few Witches. For a second it was still, then they screamed.
5
“Silence!” Miss D’Morays voice boomed around the arena. The screaming Witches froze, mouths open. They were screaming without a sound. I still stood behind the dropped body of the Ilunia, my swords dripped with black blood. Feeling the blood that slowly glided down my face, I knew I must have looked like a nightmare. Which was good, they needed to be scared, I needed as much of a cover I could get.
“Who are you?” someone asked from the box. I looked up at them. All of the council were at the railing, anger and disbelief rolling off of them. I could feel their magic in the air around me. I pulled mine back inside myself, to that hidden place within me. The one I’d learned from my Gran, the place where I had held my magic all those years. Nobody could feel anything from me now. I was as much of a Null as if I was born one.
Two of their faces morphed into something ugly, concentrating. I could feel their magic going over me, and I let it. I didn’t show I noticed it, but I felt it. One of them lashed out, using their magic as a whip over my back. I gritted my teeth and stood still, putting more effort in keeping my magic away. Now that I had used it, it took me more effort to keep it down. Still, I pushed it down.
Before it could happen again, Astra moved, breaking their attention off of me.
“Are you alright?” she asked me when she stood in front of me. I nodded, not wanting to say too much. She moved to my right and stood next to me. A silent support.
“Who are you? And answer this time,” a woman asked. I looked at her, her hair was in a high bun on top of her head. She was one of the healers in the group. She held her chin high and looked down her nose at me.
“Isadora,” I answered. No point in not saying my name with all the teachers around them. My eyes roamed over all the people in the box. I ended on the bald man wearing the most colours. Knowing he would be the leader, I kept my eyes on him.
“Why did you kill them?” another woman asked me, one of the twins.
“To save you all,” I answered.
“We asked you not to kill the last one, you didn’t obey our orders,” the bun lady said, more anger radiating from her.
I cocked my head to the side. I looked her over again, her face had started to turn red. Still I didn’t answer. Why would I? I wasn't there to explain that if I kept the last Ilunia alive, she would bring more problems or they would have tortured her. Death was the better option.
“You are a Protector, you obey our orders!” she screamed at me.
“No. She is not,” Miss D’Moray answered before I could say the same. “She still needs to graduate, you don’t have any authority over her. Yet.” Miss D’Moray turned towards the bald man, saying something that I couldn’t hear.
“You aren’t a Protector. Right?” the bald man asked me, when he turned back from talking with Miss D’Moray. I kept my mouth shut at that, letting them guess.
“You need to answer the question!” the bun lady yelled again, turning even redder. It made my lips twitch in a smile. Before I could answer, I heard people moving over the sands. As they moved towards me, I remembered that I wasn't the only one there.
“You got this,” Banu said from behind me. I heard a few more saying the same, and some of them told me they had my back. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling that these girls would have my back. It helped that they hadn’t really liked the Witches. Still, they chose to stand behind me, a Witch.
I looked at the teachers and the Selection, I knew I needed to give them something, to get them off my back.
“Yes, I’m a Protector.”
“You aren’t,” Thalia said, her finger pointing at me. For a second, I was tempted to just chop it off her hand. She always wanted to have all the attention. I shifted my gaze back towards the box. Instead for that turtwaddle of a Thalia to started talking again; testing my patience. I still had black smelly blood on me, and a shower would be the best solution to that problem.
“You are a Witch. We all saw it, you used magic.” Her finger was still in the air. I gripped my swords harder, heard the leather creak under my hands. “No Null could ever resist that much magic and live,” Thalia said.
“She isn’t worth it,” Astra said when she placed a hand on my shoulder, willing me to relax.
“The Witch is right. You are a Witch. The question is, why are you dressed as a Protector, a Null?” the bald man asked as he held his hand up towards the bun lady, silencing her. She folded her arms in front of her chest, which made her look like a mad child.
“Why not?” I answered back, my voice ringing clear in the silence of the arena.
The bald man slowly studied me, he turned his head a little. As if seeing me from another angle would change who stood before him.
“You need to answer the questions we asked. We are here in the name of the Kings!” the bun lady spat out, her face was still red. The anger now seemed to vibrate from her, almost heating up the area around her, if that could happen with her ice-cold heart.
“Ladies, let’s not start this here,” the bald man spoke up again. He looked at his colleague, urging her back towards a seat. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I could see the wild hand gestures which showed me he was mad. When the bun lady sat down, he turned back towards me.
“Listen up, young lady. Miss D’Moray may be right, we don’t have any say about you right now. However, remember that we get a lot of say in your life when you graduate. And looking at the fight you just delivered, you would pass that test with your eyes closed.”
That had me chuckling, I had indeed won with my eyes closed. Yeah, I had been blinded by the darkness the Ilunia made, still the same thing.
“It is wise for you to answer the questions we asked you,” he continued, not noticing my chuckle. Since the fight had ended, my emotions had calmed down, and my adrenaline surge had stopped. It made me feel exhausted. That was the first time I had used that much magic in years, it made me ache. I now wanted to get into a hot shower, to make sure my muscles wouldn’t cramp over.
“No,” I responded. Most of the people around me gasped for air. I could see a smile on Ragdan’s face, it was there and gone in a flash.
Before the bald man could speak, I continued, “Listen up, you guys made a bunch of Witches fight against Ilunias. How you managed not to get them killed is a miracle. I’m not sure why you guys kept going with this test. I don’t think any Witches from the other school passed the test?” I looked at them all. They didn’t answer. “No, I thought so.” I wanted to place my hands on my hips. Only I still held my swords. Not wanting to get the sheaths dirty I kept them in my hands, next to my body. The black blood had already dried on them, which meant that it would be harder to clean them.
“No, I will not answer your questions. I will not listen to anymore of what you have to say. I saved your sorry asses. I made sure none of you were killed, and I showed the Ilunias some kind of mercy.”
“‘MERCY?’” the bun lady yelled. I just rolled my eyes at her. Why couldn’t she shut up?
“Yes, mercy. Because you would have experimented on them, used them as you see fit. Like you used these Witches. And don’t start with the, ‘it is for the good of the world and the Kings’ and all that slapstick shit. You are just a selfish bunch of people who don’t understand the world.”
“And you d
o?” the man who had stood in the shadows asked, when he stepped forward. I heard Astra sucking in a breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her stiffen when she noticed him. Not wanting to show I had seen that in front of the man that made Astra react like that, I answered.
“No. I don’t know shit about the world. But I know more about the people who live in it.” My family’s past was on my mind. “If you all would excuse me, I need to clean my swords. And you should clean up this mess.” I used the tip of my sword to indicate the dead bodies of the Ilunias on the floor.
With that said, I turned around. The Protectors that had been behind me opened up, letting me pass through them towards the entrance we’d come through. The doors were open, and I walked into the darkened halls of the Arena. The cool air rushed into my lungs when I took a deep breath. I wiped my swords clean at the sides of my pants, they were already dirty, before I placed my swords back in their sheaths. I moved my shoulder to relax my muscles. I could hear footsteps behind me, I let my magic go a little, feeling who it was.
A power greeted me back, friendly and something I had always felt around me. Even without my magic roaming free. I could feel her water, fire, and earth magic dancing around her. It always reminded me of a waterfall in the spring; the power from it and the soft feel of the spring weather.
“You feel different,” Astra said, when she caught up to me. I had slowed down for her.
“I know, you can feel my magic now.” I gave her a small smile, focused back on the walk towards the school. All the magical creatures had their own feel of magic, almost like a scent.
Before we could talk more, I felt someone coming before I had even heard them.
“Isadora,” a male voice had called out to me. It was only a matter of time before one of them would have followed me. They would never have listened to me. A sigh escaped me before I turned around. Astra stood next to me with her hands clenched at her sides and her back stiff. She didn't like this man. It made me step a little in front of her, to protect her.
I focused my attention on the man in front of us. Luckily for him, he was a few feet away.
“My name is Icas Nox,” he said, and I heard Astra swallow. This made me switch my balance, widening my stance, so I could get into action when needed.
“I’m not here to fight you,” he said, his hands palm open towards me.
“Yeah sure,” I answered.
“Look, what you said–you are right. You did the right thing by killing those monsters. They would have done a lot of harm if they had the chance.”
He waited for an answer. I waited for him to keep on talking.
“Okay, listen. The whole goal of this test is to find the strongest Witch.” His eyes flicked for a second towards Astra. I positioned myself even more in front of her. His eyes moved back towards me, a brief smile on his face and a flicker of satisfaction in his eyes.
“And we found her.” With that he smiled, through it never reached his eyes. I didn’t move a muscle, just looked at him. Waited for the end game of his whole performance. His eyes flickered back to annoyance, and I could see his hands flexing and feel his magic gathering. He was losing his temper.
“You need to come with us to the Kings.”
This made me laugh, really loudly. I stopped abruptly and said, “No.” Then, I turned around, pulling Astra with me.
“We can order you,” he said then.
“Oh, hell canaries no,” I said back, and kept walking towards the doors that would lead us outside.
“Listen.” I could feel his magic closer now. It made me stop; I didn’t want Astra to get caught in the crossfire because he was strong. I looked over my shoulder at him. He stood there, his hands still open towards me, his nice gesture completely failing. It made me roll my eyes, I would roll them out of my head if I kept doing it.
“You are more than qualified to become a Protector,” he said with a sneer on his face. “That means you will graduate, you will fall under the order of the Council. And with me in that council, I will bring you to the castle, to the Kings.” He waited for a reaction from me.
I gave him nothing. I was the Full-Blood here, he was nothing, and that meant he couldn't do anything to force me.
“And if you try something.” His eyes moved towards Astra again, a hungry gleam in them. “I will make sure you come, there is always some motivation to be found.”
That had me reacting.
“You want to blackmail me? A Protector who just killed three Ilunias, and I’m not even graduated,” I said as I turned around, making sure I would be facing him. My voice dropped low, nobody threatened Astra. Me, I was fine with that, Astra was the wrong direction. I had to give him credit, he didn’t flinch.
“No, not blackmailing. Just finding the right motivation . . . to make you see my side of things.” A smile crept onto his face. I had to suppress a shiver.
“There is only one decision for you. And that is to come with us to the Castle. And you choose to make it a hard decision or an easy one.” And with that, he turned around.
If I had balls, he would have had me by them.
I turned around, too. Astra had moved next to me, her face a little pale. Before we reached the door, we were caught up with three other ladies. Three I was really happy to see.
“What are you going to do now?” Banu asked. I didn’t hear anything in her voice, no hatred or disgust. Except her honesty and her friendship.
“I’m not sure.” I wasn’t, not after the talk with that Nox guy. Astra grabbed my hand in hers and squeezed. “You can’t let him blackmail you. You have to go and hide, like you said you would do.” Her blue eyes were filled with tears, hopelessness written on her face. It made me stop.
“And leave you here, with him and what he planned to do?”
“What are you talking about?” DeeDee asked. I ignored her, they would find out soon enough.
“You have to, Isa, if they get you. . . .” She didn’t finish her sentence.
“What–?” DeeDee started again, always the nosy one. I held up my hand to silence her for a moment.
“Come to my room. I need to shower and clean my weapons. I will explain a few things to you girls.” I looked back towards Astra her hand still in mine. “And we will talk about that whole blackmailing shit, also.” I pulled her with me, out of the Arena and into the sun.
6
We entered the dining hall. The room was filled with the rest of the students. The whole hall went silent when we entered. I knew I must have looked a mess, covered in blood with a Witch next to me and three other Protectors at my back. I’m sure they had felt the blast of magic the Ilunia used to shatter the shield, and their curious looks confirmed my thoughts. Nobody said anything when we walked past them. But when we walked through the door leading to the hall, the whispers started.
We walked through the hall that led us towards our room. A walk we had made daily for years. And this would be one of the last times that we would walk it together. I squeezed Astra’s hand, she squeezed back. I’m sure she thought the same thing.
Astra opened the door for us, and we walked in. The room felt cold, this place where we had grown up and lived for years. My mind took a darker turn, sadness surrounded me and for a moment I wanted to lay under the covers and cry the ugliest cry you could think of.
“I’m going to take a shower,” was all I said instead. I heard murmurs from the others, even though I’d already blocked them out. Before I reached the bathroom door, I pulled off my swords and placed them against the doorframe. I would clean them later. I entered the bathroom, the scent of the shampoo Astra had used that morning still lingered. Lavender, a smell I didn't like, normally. Now, it reminded me of what I would have lost if I hadn’t reacted earlier. My breath hitched inside my body, my throat closed, and I felt the warm liquid of my tears running down my face. I hiccupped, catching the breath I had desperately needed. My lungs filled with air and the smell of lavender; I was lost.
That ugly cry had
arrived. I turned on the shower fast, not wanting them to hear me. While the room filled with steam, I got undressed, pulling off the clothing covered in blood, which had already crusted over. I pulled the elastic from my hair, it fell down and brushed my naked back, it still hurted a little after the impact of that much magic, luckily it was already getting better. Still a shiver ran over me, not from the cold but the relief to be out of those clothes, to let them be a memory and nothing more. I stepped under the shower, the hot water warming my body, as it turned black around my feet from the blood of the Ilunias. That was when the anger reached me. I screamed.
The door burst open, and Astra and the girls filled the room. Astra looked at me, and the others looked around, searching for the non-existing threat. When they couldn’t find anything, they turned their eyes to me. I felt them burning into me.
“It is okay,” Astra said. She always had known what was going on with me. “I’m safe. We are safe, and you did good.” She stood in front of the glass doors, I saw her shape in front of it. Her blonde hair was reflected by the bright light of the bathroom. They had it turned on, I hadn’t even noticed that I hadn’t.
I heard footsteps, they left the bathroom. Except Astra, she and her blonde halo stayed right where they were. I released the sob I had been holding. “Shh, it is okay, Isa. You can cry.” Astra’s voice was low and soft, soothing. So, I cried, more and more.
I released the fear, the pain, and the anger I had felt. I kept the hate for the Selection council. The hate that they would use creatures like that, would place the Witches in danger without so much as blinking at it. I would need it for the next time I would see them.
After a while, Astra’s soft voice filled the room. She had been talking the whole time, only it had taken a while to reach my ears. It was what had calmed me down. I stayed there for a few more minutes, listening to her, letting the warm water run down my body and calm the rest of my emotions. I needed my brain awake and alert.