As I explain how I discovered my powers, and let out a select few bits of personal information, I start to question whether or not I’m still the same girl I was four months ago. I feel the same, for the most part, but my time has been so dominated by training for so long that I barely ever do the things that used to make me happy. I can hardly remember the last time I picked up a book, or spent the night at Rachel’s house, or watched my favorite movies. Hopefully, when I get home, I can try to work a little normalcy back into my schedule.
It’s Jasira’s turn to talk next, and she launches right into her life story, which in my opinion is much more interesting than mine. Her family’s lived in the same neighborhood in Iraq until two generations before hers, when the Du Alshfa clan began spreading to the United States. Every single member of the family could use magic from an early age, save for one. Jasira was the only exception, the only girl born into the clan that showed no proclivity for magic whatsoever. When her awakening finally happened at 15, her parents were so thrilled that they took her to Disneyworld, and ever since, she’s been working hard to catch up to her older brothers, who are both some of the most talented young men in the clan.
If I’m being honest with myself, I envy her a little bit. She has an entire community of family and friends to help her grow into a powerful spellcaster, while I only have Krystal on my side. And whereas her only goal is to prove she can be as strong as her brothers, I’m driven more these days by my need to survive. I appreciate all that Krystal has done for me, but I wish that her problems with Selene weren’t severe enough that our lives could be in danger. I’d like to think there is more to being a spellcaster than fighting for your life.
By the time Jasira’s done telling her tale, the sun is almost directly above us, and the heat mixed with the effort of walking for miles is making my shirt cling to my skin. Everyone’s running on very little sleep and no food, so we’re all grateful when Ryan calls for a short rest. I pick a spot on the bank of the stream between Ryan and Alyssa, and lay flat on my back, using my arms to hold up my head. Once we’re all settled in, Jasira nudges Alyssa with her elbow, and says, “Your turn.”
Alyssa pushes her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, and asks, “My turn to what?”
“Tell us about yourself.”
For a few moments, there’s no response. Alyssa only looks out onto the water, fondling the pewter pentagram hanging from the choker around her neck. Finally, she wraps her arms around her knees, and says, “Pass.”
Jasira sits back, and shoots me a disappointed look, which I respond to with a shrug. I don’t know what she’d expected to happen. Alyssa doesn’t strike me as the type to open up to near strangers. I am curious about her, though; I wouldn’t mind knowing how she knew I was a spellcaster, or why she warned me about Selene when reason says she should have knocked me out and kidnapped me for questioning when she put two and two together. Come to think of it, I’d like to know why she seemed so fascinated by me, even before my awakening. There seem to be a lot of mysteries surrounding Alyssa, and it doesn’t seem likely she’ll hand out the answers without a fight.
When she realizes that Alyssa doesn’t feel like sharing, Jasira asks Ryan about his life. Before he can begin, though, the sound of leaves crunching underfoot puts us all on alert, and we turn almost as one to see who or what is coming toward us. A tall man in a white, flowing robe strides toward us, his hands held out palm-first, presumably to show that he isn’t armed. We still take no precautions; all four of us are standing and ready for a fight before he gets within twenty feet of where we stopped to rest. “You can relax,” the man says as he comes to a stop, “I’m only here to congratulate you on getting this far. Especially you, Ryan… I’m sure the past couple of years have been rough for you.”
Through gritted teeth, Ryan responds, “I wouldn’t go there if I were you. I’m already in a shit mood as it is.”
“That’s a shame.” The stranger shakes his head, and says, “You know, for someone so dedicated to making it through these trials, you seem to have no trouble taking a break by the stream.”
“Seriously, I’m warning you-“
“You’re not in a position to be threatening me, little boy. Your strength compared to mine is like a grain of sand compared to the beach, and you would do well to remember that.”
“Or what?”
In response, the man folds his hands in front of him, and a shimmering, dark blue aura surrounds him. His eyes glow the same exact shade of blue, and there’s a sudden flash of light that washes over us. At first, I assume that whatever just happened had no effect on us. Then, I become aware of the ground rushing up to meet me. By the time my body connects with the ground, I’m so dulled to the world around me that I can’t feel the impact at all. The sound of beating wings reaches my ears, but soon fades as if their owner is flying away, or I am drifting from them, and then there’s nothing left but silence.
Chapter 14
My eyes fly open as if I’ve been scalded in my sleep, and though my surroundings are pitch black at first, the seemingly empty space around me slowly begins to come into focus; a desk appears first, then a chair, then a bookshelf. It takes me several seconds to register that I’m actually in my room, lying under the covers with my clothes on. There’s no sign of Alyssa, Jasira, or Ryan, nor is there anything to suggest I ever left home at all. It’s as if the last twelve hours never happened at all.
I throw the sheets off of me, and swing my feet over the edge of the bed. I’ve got no idea how I got here, but I can tell something isn’t quite right. Just as I get to my feet, the lights go out, and a shriek pierces through the night. I tiptoe over to my light switch, and flick it a few times, to no avail. I look out into the hall, and though all the lights are off, I can tell I’m not alone by the sound of someone faintly sobbing and pleading. I hazard a guess that the sounds are coming from the kitchen, so I blindly grope my way down the hall towards the only other sign of life in the apartment.
As I inch closer and closer to the kitchen, the sobs increase in both frequency and volume. The back of my neck begins to prickle slightly as I reach for the kitchen’s light switch, which isn’t working either. Then the streetlamp outside the window flickers to life, casting an eerie orange glow over the scene before me; for a split second, I’m relieved to see my mother, sitting alone at our tiny square table. It isn’t until I take note of the tears streaming down her face that I question why she’d sounded so strained.
I take a step towards my mother, but a slight movement in the corner of my eye makes me hesitate. A man cloaked in shadow glides from a corner of the room, and pulls my mother towards him, making the chair scrape loudly against the tiles. She doesn’t even have time to scream before the shadowy figure grabs her by the hair, and pulls her head to the side with such force that I can hear the vertebrae in her neck snapping as one. Blood gushes from a tear in her flesh, and it isn’t until he leans down to drink from the wound that Nick’s face comes into focus.
He spots me, and pulls away from my mother to flash me a smile. It isn’t his normal, gorgeous smile either, but one that twists his features into something dark, even slightly psychotic. “It’s about time you saw me for what I really am,” he says as blood drips from his chin. “Remember when you asked me why I don’t go after humans? And you ate up all that bullshit about my sister?”
I shake my head, and try to back away, but my legs won’t obey. I can only stand and watch as the boy I thought I knew licks his lips, and actually wipes his bloodstained hands on one of our clean dishrags. “Truth is,” he continues, “I don’t go after humans because they just taste too goddamned good. I lose control, and something like this happens.” He gestures toward my mother, then holds his finger under the current of blood flowing from her neck for a few seconds, and sucks it clean again. “It’s nothing personal… I was just hungry, and I figured Regina would make a decent meal.”
“No… this can’t be happening…�
�
“It can, and it is. Heather, you’re gonna have to come to grips with the fact that you’re dating a monster. And if you can’t, well… I’ll move on to someone who can.” Nick snaps his fingers, and Rachel walks in from the living room. In all the time I’ve known her, she’s never worn anything remotely revealing, but now she’s sporting a plunging neckline, fishnets, ridiculously short shorts… basically, the exact opposite of her usual attire. She licks her lips seductively as she approaches Nick, and when they’re close enough together, pulls him down into a passionate kiss. Their tongues dance, her hand tugs on his hair, and my mother’s blood smears all over both of their faces.
I don’t know whether to scream, cry, or vomit, which doesn’t matter, as I’m paralyzed to the point where I can’t react at all. Instead, I’m frozen, an unwilling spectator to what’s quickly becoming a gory peepshow. Something in me withers and dies as I watch my boyfriend lift Rachel clean off the ground to seat her on the table, and shove his hand up her low-cut shirt. My best friend’s legs wrap around Nick to pull him in closer, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Nick reaches out and tips over the chair, and my mother slowly slides to the ground into a pool of her own blood, her neck still bent at an unnatural angle.
No part of this scene could actually exist, not if I know either of these people the way I think I do. I don’t want to believe that any of this is real, but I only know of one way to check whether or not I’m dreaming. I realize what I should have done the moment I woke up in my bed, and suddenly, I’m able to move again. I tear my gaze from the sight of Nick and Rachel dry humping, and run as fast as my legs will carry me back towards my room.
I don’t need the light on to know where everything is in my room, so it doesn’t bother me that the switch still does nothing. I run to my bed, and as I search along the headboard with my fingers, the sound of cloth ripping reaches me from the kitchen. My fingers eventually land on what I’m looking for; the necklace that once belonged to my father. I stroke the grooves of the chain, only to find that the chain is inexplicably smooth. What’s more, the wing-shaped pendant at the end has completely disappeared. I’m definitely dreaming. The only thing to do now is wake myself up.
Despite concentrating as hard as I can on pulling myself from the dream, when I open my eyes, I’m still in my room. It seems I’m gonna have to wake myself up manually. I tear out of my room, run right past the kitchen without looking in, and down the hallway to the stairwell. Whoever is influencing the dream must have realized that I’ve caught on, because the door won’t open until I blast it off the hinges with a spell. I take the stairs upward two at a time, until I make it onto the roof. The ground shifts and sways under my feet, but I sprint towards the edge of the roof, and leap, praying that I won’t feel the impact as gravity takes over, and I plunge to the ground.
When I open my eyes again, I’m laying on the ground face-first, and feeling groggy. Though my vision is still blurry, I can just make out Alyssa’s form to my right. As everything comes into focus, I notice that her cheeks are surprisingly stained with tears, and her fists are clenching and unclenching repeatedly as she sleeps. We seem to have been moved from our spot by the stream; rather than grass and dry leaves, I find myself lying on a bed of smooth rocks and twigs. We’re surrounded on all sides by frighteningly high walls made of some dark gray stone, except for an opening above us, and an exit that leads to steps made of a similar material. The strange man from earlier sits cross-legged a few feet from where we lie, with his eyes closed and his hands folded together. The top half of his robe is undone, and white skeletal wings protrude from his back, fully unfurled and held perfectly still, despite the warm breeze blowing by.
It seems he doesn’t notice that I’ve woken up, so I creep as close to him as I dare, and try to think of ways to wake up the others. One violent option comes to mind very quickly, and since this man made me watch my boyfriend and my best friend basically defile my kitchen with my mother’s dead body in the room, I don’t consider any of my more subtle options. I get a little closer, then raise my right foot and kick him as hard as I can in the face. He falls over backwards, his eyes snap open, as do everyone else’s, and he asks calmly, “What was that for?”
“For fucking with my mind, you freak! What’s wrong with you?”
“I didn’t do much, actually.” The man wipes a trickle of blood dripping from his nose, and says, “All I did was put you to sleep, then take what your unconscious mind holds dear, and turn everything you love into your worst nightmare.” There’s a ring of truth to his story, so I refrain from kicking him while he’s down, as I had been planning to do. Then, the next words out of his mouth rekindle that temptation. “You should be thanking me.”
“Why the hell should I thank you?”
The man pushes himself back up into a sitting position, and says, “I find that to know yourself is to know what it takes to break you.”
“I’m missing how that’s relevant to my question.”
“You’ll see someday. For the moment, you need only understand that you’ve passed, albeit in an unconventional way.”
“So, wait… This was a test?”
“That’s right.”
I’m so upset that I’m shaking, and visibly so. This man honestly thinks he can get away with toying around with my mind... and for the sake of his sadistic test? No, I’m anything but okay. The images of Nick and Rachel pressed together won’t leave me for a long time. I intend to make this man suffer for what he’s done. I go to kick him again, but he grabs my foot before it can make contact, and flips me over onto my back with ease. I get the sense that fighting him won’t end well for me, so I roll over, pull myself upright, and back away. “This isn’t over,” I mutter. “If we ever meet again, you’d better be ready for a fight.”
“You really should watch your temper, Heather.” The man folds his wings, and rearranges his robe so that it’s covering his chest again. He watches me curiously, and says, “In all my years testing the spirits of young spellcasters, none have ever slipped from under my spell. I’m impressed… so much so that I’m willing to offer help with the next trial.”
“Help how?”
“A clue, to speed along the process. One member of your group was more deeply wounded by this trial than the others. When they divulge why, the quickest path ahead will be revealed.” The man turns to walk away, and with every step, he becomes more and more transparent until there’s nothing left to see.
I stare at the spot where he once was for a while, half-expecting him to come back, but he never does. I’m still fuming when I turn back to face Alyssa and the others, who are all looking up at me in shock. When none of them say anything, I ask, “The hell are you guys looking at me like that for?”
Jasira’s the one who says, “You just kicked a god.”
“What?”
“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that was Morpheus.”
Ryan scratches his head, and asks, “Who?”
“Morpheus… ancient Greek god of dreams?” Jasira looks around at the rest of us like we’re insane. “Am I the only one who took a Mythology class?”
“Wait a minute, we’re up against gods?” Ryan clambers to his feet, and wipes some dried leaves and dirt off of his jeans. “No way, that’s impossible.”
“Impossible doesn’t seem to be a word that people here understand.”
While I’m inclined to agree with Jasira, I can’t wrap my head around the idea that there are gods wandering around this place… wherever we are. It occurs to me that the Guardians may be gods themselves. There are more pressing issues to be dealt with, though. “How are we going to find the Guardians now?,” I wonder out loud. “Following the stream was our best shot.”
“I was just thinking that, actually,” Ryan says. “Any ideas, you two?”
Alyssa remains silent, as she has since she’s woken up, but Jasira apparently has a plan. “I think we ought to try and find any source of f
resh water before we worry about the Guardians. We can last a while without food, but without water we’re screwed.”
“Oh, that’s a brilliant idea. And in exactly which direction do you expect to find water?”
Jasira just shrugs, and says, “There’s only one direction to go in right now, let’s give that one a shot.” And with that, she heads towards the exit, and starts making her way up the stone stairs. Alyssa pauses for a moment, and takes a good, long look at me before following Jasira.
I start to follow her as well, but Ryan grabs my arm and holds me back. I give him a questioning look, but he keeps his eyes trained on the ground. He seems to be making up his mind about something. When he finally speaks, he says, “I’m sorry about earlier… the whole fire thing. I got carried away. I just… there’s a lot more at stake here for me than any of you, but that doesn’t excuse me acting like a jackass. So… yeah, I’m sorry, Heather.”
I’m surprised and impressed that Ryan actually has the humility to apologize to me. Not so impressed that I’ll automatically let him off the hook, though. I catch him off-guard with a punch to the gut, and when he doubles over, I mutter, “Apology accepted,” and make my way towards the exit.
The stone steps go up higher than I expected; I’m climbing for a long time, and even though I’m in pretty good shape, I’m panting by the time I reach the top. Jasira and Alyssa are standing fairly close by, staring out into the vast expanse of sand before us. There’s nothing but sand as far as the eye can see in every direction, and the sun glaring overhead. The four of us stand in a line, just staring into the distance. Then, Ryan mutters, “Any chance we can turn back?”
That gets a weak laugh out of everyone, and I’m actually very tempted by the thought. I don’t do very well in intense heat, so I’m pretty sure the desert will be the death of me. I actually turn back to see if there’s a way to go back the way we came, but when we weren’t looking, the stone steps somehow disappeared. There’s no way back, and none of us even knows which way is forward. The only thing I’m sure of is that until this point, we’ve had it easy.
Spellbound (the Spellbound Series Book 1) Page 10