“Have you seen Lana?” she asked, hesitant at first. Aiden stopped and turned slowly, confused.
“Not since the lake,” Aiden said.
Professor Baldwin knew then that Aiden didn’t know what Lana was, and she tried to backtrack to keep him from figuring out she was in danger.
“If I see her I’ll let you know.”
She smiled when he turned to walk out of the room. Why would Professor Baldwin ask about Lana if she was a Psychic? Unless she knew something Aiden didn’t? He didn’t want to think about her as anything but human. He couldn’t think of her as anything but that. He left his truck in the parking lot, heading straight for the Academy while he knew no one could follow.
Chapter 24
Lana sat on the divan near the window in the library of the Academy, reading over pieces of parchment decorated with images and small phrases. One depicted a large hall with more than twenty tall columns to support its vaulted ceiling. Every five pillars a vast chandelier with candles lit the hall and tables draped with crimson colored material scattered the area between the pillars and the walls.
In between the pillars, a four-foot wide violet carpet with thick gold edges ran from the large double doors entering the hall to the steps that led to a tall-backed gold and black thrown. She read the caption beneath the illustration: Kimar’s throne, the hall of the Greats.
Each image was beautifully sketched yet held no true information regarding them. She pictured the hall in her head, a plump king sitting on his throne, women in puffy dresses holding hands with men in tunics and riding boots dancing down the center of the hall. Some people dined at the tables between pillars and walls. She felt pressure on her shoulder, shaking her from the past.
“Are you ready for your next lesson?” Dimitri asked.
“Tell me the story of the Fury,” Lana said sternly.
“That is for another time,” he dismissed.
“Why can’t you tell me now?”
“Because the past is not important, what is important is that we strengthen your skills to ensure a successful outcome when we are pitted against the Darkness,” Dimitri said flatly.
“Why are you so confident we’ll succeed? Did you happen to see what happened to the previous Light Fury when he went up against the Darkness?” Lana pried.
“The previous Light Fury was a woman, and no I did not,” Dimitri said, his voice haunted by grief. “However, that is beside the point. My point is that you are much more powerful than you give yourself credit for. You just need to learn how to control it. I believe that with practice, you will be able to not only defeat the Darkness, but survive to live a long, prosperous life.”
“So, you never saw what happened to them? Clearly, they didn’t survive, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” she tried to stay level-headed, but she could not control the wind from forcing the bay windows open, the latch which held them closed swaying from left to right.
“They could have survived, and died later on from unknown causes,” Dimitri said calmly.
“How can you be so certain that I’ll survive if you can’t be sure how they died?”
“That is enough,” Dimitri yelled, his voice booming through the study. The wind died down until the windows shut. He walked over and slid the clasp into the D-ring to secure them. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you the story.”
He took a seat across from her on the scarlet velvet, placing his hands on his lap neatly. He clasped them together, closing his eyes. With a sigh, he opened them, the light green iris glowed a dull yellow.
"During the month of April in 1452, the cherry blossom trees began blooming. There was a strong rose-like aroma in the air whenever we stepped outside. Blossoms of every color seemed to grow all around. The Alucia woods, they were always a beautiful blue-purple color and when you were beneath the pines the sun seemed to glow a bright pink color. As amazing as the Alucia woods were, nothing compared the beauty of the cherry blossoms. There was this festival the king would host whenever they were in bloom. So many people from all walks of life would attend, even people who would be affiliated with the Darkness.
"Of course, we all knew who we were then, but these creatures never seemed to cause any trouble in the past. When Arin arrived for the festivities, the Darkness started causing trouble. Some of their vampires would take villagers and drain them, leaving them in the streets. They started causing hysteria, people went missing, other creatures we had taken in and protected from them to be exact. Arin tried to explain what was coming, seeing as how we were still very young and inexperienced when it came to using our power.
"However, we were not inexperienced in battle. She explained what we’d already suspected, that the Darkness had found its way into our lives and was threatening to tear our world apart. Our human villagers became ill, spreading a deadly plague throughout the land. Kingdoms, villages, small farming towns all came in search of aid and protection but we were not equipped to fight what came next.
“Whenever we found the Diviner’s they claimed they had been exiled from a kingdom known to practice dark magic,” Dimitri paused. "Terra was the one with whom I spoke with frequently. She assured me they were harmless, although they were creatures who were famous for their illusions. When they’d proved themselves worthy of freedom, they clung to us, their saviors. Leressi, you’ve had an encounter with her, have you not? Well she was different, and she had trouble integrating into our society. It wasn’t until the festival that we saw who she really was.
“She’d betrayed us, calling the Darkness once she knew Arin was among us,” Dimitri sighed. "Screams broke out in the streets, demons, vampires, dark witches; any evil creature you could imagine swarmed the village. Before we could do anything, Arin had already been captured. Julius, a good friend of the king’s, had been the one to take her, dispatching horsemen to find and kill anyone affiliated with not only the king but us as well. He made everyone believe we were not to be trusted, that we had lied and used the humans and other creatures and that we needed to pay.
“We chased him down but Benedict caught us before we could reach Julius, leading us away from the real battle and up to safe ground. EJ and I had been separated from Wiley, who had gone to find the Diviners,” Dimitri paused, seeing the questions bubbling in Lana’s eyes.
“How does Aiden fit into all of this?” Lana asked.
The double doors separated then, Aiden pushing them open. Dimitri stood, putting him between the Ruby Fury and her.
“What have you told her?” Lana could hear the anger in his voice.
“The truth,” Dimitri said.
“She doesn’t need to know about this world, Dimitri. She’s a human, and humans have no business playing with magic they do not understand,” Aiden said. Lana could see a small ring of orange dancing around his pupil. She gasped, placing her hand over her mouth.
“Aiden calm down, this is not the time for your temper to get the best of you,” Dimitri said calmly. Lana knew story time was over, and her training regarding the element of fire would begin soon. “Lana has something to tell you.”
“I’m taking her home, Dimitri,” Aiden pushed Dimitri aside.
“No, you’re not,” Lana said, trying to keep her voice steady.
“You don’t understand the kind of danger you’re in if you stay here,” he said, kneeling next to her. The glowing ring had disappeared as he tried to seem as normal as he could around her.
“Go ahead Lana, tell him,” Dimitri said, clasping his hands behind him.
“I’m not human,” Lana stumbled over the words, her voice cracking. She had refused to look at him when he came near her, afraid of what she’d see.
“I don’t understand,” Aiden said. She played with the ring on her finger, spinning it around. He saw the amethyst gemstone sparkle in the light from the window, the heat rushing to his cheeks. He turned on Dimitri, flames dancing in his irises. “Why did you not tell me what she was? You let me believe she was human?”
“I told
you at the club house but you had that belief from the moment you met her, Aiden. No amount of my trying to educate you on our find would change that,” Dimitri said. “We found her many years ago, and you were nowhere to be found, so why would we disrupt your vacation?”
“You really think I would have been angry had you told me what you’d found?” Aiden laughed.
“Yes, considering how you’re acting now,” Dimitri said. “Here’s the best part, Aiden. You get to train her. Your power is the only one she has yet to master. I hope you can get over yourself long enough to prepare her for what is to come, because otherwise we will ultimately be destroyed.”
Aiden started to turn away when he saw a white puff of smoke behind Dimitri. Lana had left the Academy, and they had little to no idea where she would go.
Lana found herself in the entryway to her home, staring at herself in the mirror. Water stained her cheeks, dark circles formed beneath her eyes and her normally curled hair fell flat down her back. She headed into the living area, stepping over broken porcelain, couch stuffing, and burnt floorboards. Before she reached the kitchen, she paused, turning around to face the fireplace. She was being watched, seeing black as she hit the floor.
The wood felt cool against her cheek, feeling a faint wind fall over her. She blinked, the room coming into focus. Black and white Converse sneakers were a foot from her face, a magazine as a makeshift fan held by the intruder in her home. She saw his lips moving but couldn’t make out his words. They were muffled, like water had been stuck in her ears. Lana tried focusing on his face but blinked multiple times, the image never sharpening. She rolled onto her back, rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands.
She left her hands over them, the image of a wooden home with a straw roof and twigs strewn together as a makeshift door. The only lights in the room were of candles, illuminating the features of a bucket for a sink filled with dirty water, and two long wooden planks with straw and blankets for beds.
Lana sat on the plank behind her, reaching into the bucket for the rag she left the morning before. A shiny dinner plate leaned up against the back wall of the hut doubled as a mirror. She caught herself staring at her reflection revealing her shoulder length hair pulled back with a piece of twine, her gray eyes were tired and drooping slightly. Candles illuminated the small room, casting dark shadows on the left side of their mother’s face, beads of sweat dotting her forehead. She wrung the water from the rag, placing it on the pale woman’s skin.
“You have always been so good at taking care of people,” she croaked. “You will make a wonderful bride someday, Aleana.”
“The doctor said you just needed rest,” Aleana whispered. “You can’t leave us…”
Donovan etched away at a dull knife with a rock, the scraping distracting her. She looked over at him, dark shadows on the right side of his face shielding his features – cheekbones identical to hers, plump lips, and a small ball for a nose with a thin bridge and dark brown eyes. His hair was in his face, a black color and matted.
“The doctor was wrong,” he said. “There is nothing left to do but let her go in peace.”
“Go with your brother, my daughter. Be free of this place,” her mother coughed. With a bony hand, she traced Aleana’s cheekbones to her jaw line, turning her head to the left.
Her mother’s voice turned into a whisper, forcing her to place her ear closer to her mother’s mouth. The only words she could make out were ‘meet again’ before her mother let out a long breath, her eyes glazing over with death. Lana inhaled deeply, sitting up and pushing herself away from him. She looked at his face, hoping her memory would aid in sharpening the image before her. Luckily, she could make out his features. The cheekbones, jaw line, even dark eyes. She began to shake, mumbling the words.
“You’re supposed to…be dead,” she said breathlessly.
“Calm down, Lana,” he spoke clearly then, walking like a duck toward her. He put his knees to the ground, then his palms.
“No don’t come near me,” she shrieked.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m not here to hurt you,” he said.
“How did you…”
“Survive? I could ask you the same thing, Aleana,” he said.
“That’s not my name,” Lana said, her voice wavering.
“And Donovan is not mine either,” he said, a smile forming on his face. His lips curled back but no fangs dropped. He was not a vampire.
“What are you?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“Already jumping right into the water, I see,” Donovan said.
“Get out of my house before I call the police,” Lana said, finding the strength to stand. She braced herself against the small end table against the wall, keeping a wary eye on her brother.
“You really should be sitting down, you took quite a hit. I think you even dented the hard wood,” he said, looking at the floor and then back at her. He stood as well, towering over here by almost a foot.
“And you really should be leaving,” she broke eye contact.
“You look tired, sister. Why don’t I carry you to bed? Maybe we can talk more in the morning?” he offered.
“Apparently you’re deaf. Get out of my house!” she pointed in the direction of the front door, her voice cracking as she spoke. “You’re dead to me, Donovan.”
His facial expressions once held concern, then humor, but twisted to disgust. He took two steps toward her, looking down into her young features. She hadn’t aged a day since they’d last seen each other the evening her mother died.
“You never were one for manners, Aleana. I’d think twice before speaking to me in that tone, it may do more harm than good,” Donovan said. His breath was hot on her face as she stared at his chest, refusing to play his game. “Good night, sister, I hope we meet again.”
“Wait,” Lana called after him, the man stopping in the doorway. “He said your name in the woods…”
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name, but he said you would be pleased he found me.”
Donovan looked back at his sister. “It can’t be…”
Lana swallowed hard, clenching and unclenching her fists. “Please tell me it isn’t true.”
He returned to his original place in the living room, taking her left hand. He turned it over, revealing the amethyst ring. Placing his left hand in his pocket, he replaced the ring and showed her his hand.
“We’re…”
“Supposed to kill each other…” Lana finished his sentence, her voice shaky. Tears stained her cheeks, her brother reaching up. On instinct, she flinched. Last time he raised his hand to her, she bruised. He always said he was preparing her for the attack, making her stronger so she would survive. No amount of her repeating those words in her head after he left forgave him for the abuse he inflicted.
“I never found you, got it? We don’t know what the other is, do you understand?” Donovan’s voice was frantic, his hands clasping around her wrists hard. “You can’t tell anybody you know who I am, what I am or question what we’re supposed to do.”
“Donovan, I’m scared.”
“We will figure this out, do you understand? This isn’t what we’re supposed to be, supposed to do.”
“But the prophecy…”
“Screw the damn prophecy. You’re my sister. I can’t…”
“Donovan, don’t leave me again,” Lana cried. He shook his head and was gone in a matter of seconds, racing out the front door and into the woods. She collapsed on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Visions of her past life came like a flood, drowning her in her own tears. She saw her mother’s glossy eyes, the way Donovan stood guard at their door when they’d heard screams resonating through the village. He looked toward her with eyes that said goodbye, throwing the door open and disappearing into the fog. Fire and smoke choked her out of the small house, forcing her to seek lower ground.
She’d found a horse but was pulled off it the moment she mounted. She found herself fighting back
against a large man with gray hair and white eyes. Before he had the chance to slit her throat, a man with blond hair cut his head off, reaching a hand toward her. He pulled her onto his horse, riding off into the forest and leaving the burning village behind.
The next vision Lana had, she was raiding villages with Roderick, a childhood friend who’d saved her from the man threatening her life. He taught her how to shoot with bows and arrows and how to hunt. They’d been traveling at night through the forest from town to town, stealing food and supplies to survive. Roderick made camp while Lana found a nearby river to clean up in, but he was gone when she made her way back to the camp. She tracked the headhunters down, unable to free Roderick before they beheaded him in return for what he had done to their men weeks prior.
She’d changed her appearance, her name, started a new life in a town named Aramore. There she was a tailor who’d make dresses and tunics for the local townsfolk. The headhunters hadn’t thought to look there. She’d cut her hair short and stayed behind closed doors, only traveling out of her home for supplies, most of which were brought to her door.
Years later, Lana turned up on a small dirt road during a cold, rainy evening in 1840. She’d been traveling for months without food or water, trying to find a way to end her nomadic life, but nothing had seemed to kill her. For almost two centuries she’d lived, unable to fall ill, become fatally wounded, die of her own volition or even at the hand of another. She had no family or friends, and had lost hope that she’d never find out who she really was.
Exhausted and starved, Lana lay on the side of the road wrapped in a thin blanket. A horse drawn carriage pulled up, a man with brown hair and jade green eyes coming to her side. She was unconscious and developing a mild case of hypothermia. She woke up in a bed with a man named Elijah by her side, telling her she was ill and needed to rest. Lana met the love of her life minutes later, finding more than one reason to attempt another try at having a normal life.
Lana shook herself from her devastated and lonely past to find herself rocking back and forth on the floor in her living room. She’d cried so much her eyes were dry and sore, the liquid sticking strands of hair to her cheeks. She’d never thought she’d see her brother again the night he’d left her alone in the village, and she hated him for never finding her. She wondered why it took him so long to search for her, but didn’t want to hear the answer.
The Fury's Light Page 15