by R. M. Getsee
After turning and closing the curtains slightly so Emi didn’t turn into a pile of ash, but still leaving a small shaft of sunlight pouring into the room, I realized that I couldn’t avoid the question for much longer.
“It happened a while ago; I accidentally pulled my curtains down and found out that the sun didn’t hurt me.”
“How long have you known about this ability?” Damn it, Emi had that kicked puppy look on her face now. She seemed to have gotten better at using it; maybe she got some pointers from Roman.
I shied away from that thought, my chest constricting painfully every time I thought about him.
“I found out about it a few days after I came back from Rechters.”
I looked away from her hurt expression, focusing on the golden beam on my bedroom floor, slowly getting brighter as the sun rose higher.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” There was a trace of anger in her voice now.
“I just wanted to be normal,” It took a second for me to realize the meek, soft voice that had spoken was actually me.
“You’re not normal,” Emi put her hand on my arm gently, giving me comfort. “This just shows how special you are.”
“We still have to figure out how to stop the Jet, I’m having visions of him for a reason, and I doubt that it’s to help him.” I walked over to my closet and retrieved the heavy leather bound book from the shelf that I had been storing it on.
“I still think that this book can give us the answers that we have been searching for, if only we could figure out how to translate it.”
The cover of the book crackled slightly as I opened it as gently as I could. My brow furrowed in confusion as I picked out words that had once been an old archaic language. “This doesn’t make any sense,” I said looking up at them. “The book has changed.”
“What do you mean?” Emi looked at it over my shoulder.
Emi looked at me questioningly. “It looks exactly the same as it did last time we tried to read it.”
“No, this part was different.” I pointed at the paragraph that I was talking about. “See it’s in English now.”
She looked at me as if I was telling a bad joke and she didn’t understand the punchline. When I didn’t laugh and say I was messing with them Emi spoke slowly.
“No its not, it’s in the same weird language as before.”
“Are you kidding me? So I can translate languages in my mind now?” Quickly, I thumbed through the book, searching for more pieces of English text, hoping to receive some information that would give me some kind of epiphany that would explain everything.
Shoulders sagging I glanced up from the book, she was tense with anticipation, but looked hopefully at me, waiting for some huge revelation.
“Nothing else has changed,” I said, sighing.
Shoulders sagging we sank back down onto the bed, careful to stay away from the now bright golden beam of light that was shining through the small gap in my curtains.
“Well what does the piece you can read say?” She asked impatiently.
Flipping back to the paragraph I could translate, I started to read, “The prophecy of the five: It is said that an ancient evil will come for the earth, engulfing it in the darkness it has resided in for millennia. The earth shall be lost save for five, who have the power to stop the being from devouring the land.”
Looking up I met her eyes. “It stops there, I can’t understand anything else.”
I looked down at the floor, trying to process what I had just read.
“Soon I will be strong enough to get rid of you before you can unite with the other four.” The words were so quiet that it took me a moment to realize Emi had spoken at all.
“What did you say?” I asked her, trying to remember the familiar words.
“That’s what it said to you isn’t it?” Looking into her eyes I saw the excitement and fear in them. “The Jet, when it spoke to you the first time you said that he warned he would get rid of you before you could unite with the other four, maybe that’s what he meant.”
“That I am one of the five that have the power to stop it.” I said. It was a statement, not a question. Fear and excitement were now racing through me, each trying to over-take the other. I looked at the beam of light, for so many humans sunlight represented hope, and compared to the cold darkness of wherever the Jet was I could see why. “When I first made the sword appear, I saw a vision of four girls standing in front of me, I think that they were the others.”
“Ok so now we have to find the other four because he said you had to unite with them.” Emi continued. “Maybe that means you’re stronger with them.”
We both jumped as there was a knock on the door and Roman burst in.
“Alex I just wanted to apologies and explain-”
There was a dead silence as he stood there, directly in the beam of light that was still pouring in from the open window.
I clapped a hand to my mouth to hold in the horrified cry inside that was trying to rip itself from my throat.
As I waited for the rays of light to take effect, tears rushed to my eyes and my chest felt as if it were being shredded into millions of tiny pieces as I realized that the last words that I had spoken to him were in anger during a fight.
And it was my fault that he was about to die.
I hadn’t fully closed the curtains after my demonstration, kind of showing off my cool and confusing powers, and now because of me the guy I was crazy about was about to die right in front of me.
My knees buckled and I fought to stay upright. I memorized every inch of his beautiful face, from his pale smooth skin, the dark hair framing his face, the chiseled jawline with just a hint of stubble, as if he forgot to shave today.
Finally I looked at his bright, sparkling blue eyes; they held a depth that astounded me, like he had lived far longer than his nineteen years. They drew me in, drowning me in their pools.
During all of my silent hysterical rant Roman just stood there, illuminated in the golden sunlight.
I blinked, realizing that quite a few moments had passed and though he was standing in shock, he wasn’t burning.
“I wanted to apologize and explain what happened the other night.” He finished quickly, before turning and sprinting out of the room without any explanation as to why the hell he was still alive.
Chapter Nineteen
Roman did not appear in school during the next few days. As soon as I had shaken myself free of my shock I had jumped up from where I had been sitting on the bed and had lurched out of the room, chasing after him, but he was already gone.
Now he was ignoring the hundreds of calls and messages I had left him, and the calls and messages that Jared and Emi had left as well.
We both decided that we would not talk about it in front of, or tell the rest of the group what we had witnessed. We all knew that it would not be wise to discuss it in school either as the news would get out.
Emi was furious with him for not telling at me or at least Jared.
But I just couldn’t find it in myself to be angry with him though, I of all people knew what it was like to keep a secret from those you cared about, I had in fact been keeping this exact secret from everyone.
But now that I knew Roman could walk in the sunlight I wanted to know how, and if it had any connection to my powers or the prophecy of the five, or if it was just a big coincidence.
More than once I recalled the strange dreams I had been having about the Ancient from my vision, Osiris, and the words he had spoken to me. “The Ruby has awoken” had been echoing quietly in my mind since I had heard them being spoken, and they were now growing louder since Emi had pieced together some of the prophecy.
I was going crazy thinking about how I felt when I thought Roman was about to die.
No matter how angry and hurt I was at what had happened between him and Torah at the party, the tearing broken sensation flooded my chest as I waited for him to burn up.
It still hurt when I
thought about it and it was made worse by the fact that I hadn’t seen him in days didn’t make it easier. In that moment I realized my true feelings for him and I was trying really hard not to dwell on that huge revelation.
A giggling whisper caught my attention and I looked up from the textbook I was supposed to be reading.
Lyra, a straggler from Athena’s old group was whispering with the girl at her table and shooting a venomous look at me that told me exactly who they were talking about.
Turning back to my textbook I distinctly heard the word slut whispered to the other girl. Looking around once again I furrowed my brow as the two glared at me.
What the hell is up with them? I thought to myself.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class and I was distracted, groaning at the thought of the next class, combat skills.
I dragged my feet as I walked through the grey stone hall, on my way to the gym, I still hadn’t gotten the hang of not getting knocked on my ass in the sparring matches and I wasn’t too happy about having to spend an entire class in a group with Drake, I only hoped we wouldn’t have to be sparring partners again.
I had a feeling that after what happened at the party he wouldn’t be nice about it.
As I wondered down the hall lost in my thoughts about it, a large group jostled me as they walked passed shouting and mock wrestling each other in the typical guy manner, and I picked out Drake’s face among them.
“Sorry Ali.” He shouted, winking at me. “Didn’t see you there.”
I gritted my teeth at the annoying nickname and his hoard of alpha males all chimed in with a chorus of laughter and they all ran off leaving me confused and pissed off at his casualness, as if he hadn’t tried to sexually assault me nearly kill me the other night.
That confusion was nullified as I stepped through the doors of the large gymnasium and Emi ran up to me.
“Alex there you are!” She was out of breath and her face was a dark pink color, which for a vampire was bright red, and her eyes glinted in a burning fury.
“Emi?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
“That pig!” Emi cussed in anger.
“Who?” I worry started to knot in my stomach as I looked over at my friend, if Jared had done anything to upset Emi then I would have to pick side’s, and I really didn’t want to be put into that position.
“Drake.” Emi spat the word out as if the name was a bad taste in her mouth.
“Wait, what did he do to you?” Anger swelled up in me at the thought of him trying to hurt my friend and my fingers started to tingle, I was seconds away from sparking out the sword and running him through.
Emi noticed the small sparks of electricity that were jumping from my hands as they shook with rage.
“No, he didn’t do anything to me.” Emi said quickly. “The idiot told everyone you guys hooked up at the party.”
“HA!” The unexpected outburst was regarded with looks of curiosity from the class.
Emi, however did not seem to find humor in the situation as her face was radiating anger as she was throwing dirty looks at Drake’s group.
“That’s ridiculous.” I said. “He tried something and was rejected with vigor, that’s all that happened.”
Emi’s respond was quickly silenced by Mr. Aldridge, the martial arts coach for the day.
“Okay everyone.” He started, Alex really liked Mr. Aldridge. He was probably one of the most laid back, easy going teachers in the school, though he made them work hard. “Today we’ll be practicing the take down moves we learned last week, so everyone line up to be assigned a sparring partner.”
“Where’s Mr. Carlisle?” A pretty blond vamp from the center of the cluster of bodies that had formed in the middle of the room noted the other teacher’s absence.
Mr. Carlisle had always attended the physical training as well as the elemental training so he could see the progress we were making.
“Mr. Carlisle will be taking a leave of absence for the next few days, so it’s just me for a while.”
“Why?” This girl seemed to be pretty nosy, I had to remind myself not to judge others as the annoying blond kept trying to press the teacher for information.
“I don’t actually know, but it’s probably personal reasons. Now everyone line up.” The handsome vamp used a commanding, final tone and the girl relented, looking disappointed at not getting a satisfactory answer.
The class all moved to form a line in front of the handsome vampire and as he called out names, then we split off to the sparing formation, facing each other on the mats.
I closed my eyes, praying that he would pair Emi and I together, I really hated getting thrown on my ass by sweaty testosterone filled guys as they always tried to subtly grope at me as I went down.
As my name was called I opened my eyes and let out an audible groan, looking to see Drake waiting for me on the mats with an evil glint in his eyes.
“Looks like you’ll get another chance to be underneath him Alex.” Lyra’s comment to me was met with hushed sniggers from the class and some flat out laughter from Drake’s friends.
Taking the high road I met her eyes with a silent glare and raising my chin high I walked towards the mat, trying to exude a confidence that I really didn’t have.
“Ready to be on your back again?” Drake’s jab was met with laughter from everyone again and this time it took Mr., Aldridge to silence the class.
Balling my hands into fists I waited patiently for the rest of the class to be paired up and looked to the teachers mat for further instructions.
“Now, face your partners and take turns practicing the maneuvers I showed you.” The instructor called from off the side of the mats and the class sprang into action.
Suddenly a hand wrapped around my throat and I was thrown into the air, landing with a hard thump on my back, the air hissing out of my lungs from the force. Blinking hard to clear the spots from my vision, Drake’s face came into focus with a smug expression and a mean glint in his eyes.
“Are you okay, Miss Morgan?” There was concern on Mr. Aldridge’s face as I struggled to get to my feet.
“Yep,” I said through gritted teeth, refusing to give in and risk looking weaker in front of everyone. “I’m just getting warmed up.”
*********
The thud of people’s bodies hitting the mat echoed around the hall as I once again scrambled to get to my feet. I was really trying to get the advantage and bring him down just once, but despite his size he was surprisingly fast.
“Morgan,” Mr. Aldridge called, drawing my attention to him as I once again feebly blocked a blow to my face. “Could you come over here?”
Rubbing the bruise that was forming on my rib I broke away from the sparring match.
“Alex,” he started, I shuffled uncomfortably; it was just weird to be called by my first name by a teacher, no matter how casual or nice they were. “You seem to be having difficulty keeping up with your combat training.”
I looked at my feet, I hated being less than perfect in any aspect of my training as I did not want to prove right peoples low expectations of me.
“I know. I really am trying. It’s just hard for me to keep up with some of the more experienced fighters here.” I swallowed as I waited, expecting him to rip me a new one, or just give me a disappointed look, I did not however, expect the older vampire to laugh.
“You are more powerful than you give yourself credit for.” He said, a smile still glinting in his eyes. “You could easily take down any or all of the people in this room, including me, if you wanted to.”
“How?” I asked, puzzled, “I’m the weakest one here; I could barely outrun someone if they wanted to fight me.”
He chuckled again, “My dear, fighting is not all about brute strength, or even speed. It’s about the spirit you put into it.”
“I still don’t understand.” I said, feeling stupid that it was taking so long to get the point he was trying to make.
“Our power, chan
neling elements, it runs through us like an electric current. While most people throw themselves into a battle using physical power, others, like me, use our energy to win a fight.”
“So you think I can channel my energy to stop getting my ass kicked by everyone?” I blushed as I realized that I just cussed in front of yet another teacher, but Mr. Aldridge just laughed quietly.
“I suppose you could put it like that. You have a lot of power running through you, so much potential, I’m a good fighter and I only have one affinity, you have all of them.”
“How can I do it then?” I asked, I really wanted to be able to hold my own in a fight and I would take any advantage I could get.
“It’s quite simple.” He said. “Just close your eyes and breath, don’t think about it just feel the power thrumming through your body and move with it.”
I did as he said and after only a few short moments I could feel it there, like an electrical current jolting through my body, it was kind of like the power I’d felt when I had produced the sword, but softer, and harder at the same time.
Grasping that feeling I opened my eyes and I gasped as everything had become so much clearer, my eyesight had sharpened to pinpoint accuracy and I could see the lights of the gym reflect off of the thousands of dust motes floating in the air and I could the buzzing of the electrical lights and hear every drop of sweat that was sprayed as people threw their partners to the ground.
“Now you feel it don’t you?” Mr. Aldridge was looking at me with a satisfied glint in his eye.
“This is amazing, I can feel everything.” There was wonder in my voice much like when I had expressed my admiration for the secret garden with Roman.
I jerked my thoughts away from that path quickly.
I did not want unanswered questions and the dull throb in my chest to ruin the feeling of power I was riding.
“You have great power in you Alex, you need to believe in yourself and embrace it.” Mr. Aldridge gestured to the mat where Drake was waiting impatiently and I walked back to meet him.