by B C Morgan
I bowed my head in fake respect to the brute that sat before me, and hoped with all my might that he bought the sack of shit that I was trying to sell him.
“So, you honestly believe that she is more sorceress than anything else?” asked Hades, his dark eyes practically sparkling.
“As I said previously, she is definitely portraying strength in that field, she does seem to resemble her predecessor a lot more than any of those who came before her.” I refuse to utter the name of her great grandmother, knowing that Hades would not welcome the name drop. It would be a lot better for him to utter her name, then myself.
“Oh yes, our dear Mihaela. I honestly believed we could have had that one if only her daughter hadn’t befallen such a fate. Mihaela’s death was a true shame, but the worst part is that I was not handed her soul to clutch within my very grasp, to torture eternally. She caused me too much trouble to escape unharmed, death was much to kind for that disgusting creature.” The poison spilled from his lips, and I made sure that my mind remained blank, just in case he had one of his spies about, trying to read my thoughts and prise my secrets out into the open.
“Very well Lawson, you may return to the girl, but no matter what she proves to be, once she hits eighteen, you are to bring her to me at once.”
“But why my lord, if she is not who you seek, why would she matter to you.”
I knew that I shouldn’t have spoken out to him, especially as his eyes flashed with rage. I was trying to think of the best way to get myself out of the mess that I had just created when I felt a splicing heat sear across my cheek as Persephone struck me.
“Do not dare to speak out against your King, I will not sit idly by as you question his decree. If he orders you to bring this child, then that is exactly what you will do. Do I make myself clear?”
Her tone was as cold as the colour of her dress, but I could have sworn that I saw a glimmer of warmth within her eyes, whether it was true or wishful thinking remained to be seen at that point, but I couldn’t help but cling on to that tiny thread of hope that had bloomed within my chest.
I kneeled back down before the Queen of the underworld, bowing my head before her and seizing her hand within my own.
“Yes, my queen, I should never have spoken out to My lord, I forgot myself.”
I placed a kiss on the black sapphire that sat upon her ring finger before she pulled her hand free from my grasp.
Hade’s looked at us in what I could only assume was amusement as he waved me on with a simple brush of his hand. It took a moment for my mind to register his gesture, but by that point I had been seized by the guards and thrown out of the palace. With the ordeal now behind me, I quickly shifted out of the underworld and returned to Kat’s place.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Unya
I had just managed to undo my spell when Marcus re-appeared, he had a glimmer in his eyes that told me he was well aware of what I had been doing while he had been with Kat.
“Tut tut Unya, you really shouldn’t have spied on us, now I cannot trust you,” His words rang true and I wondered if our friendship was over, but his face looked almost pleased, and it just did not add up in my mind.
“Please Marcus, I felt the ceiling shake and I had no way of knowing if you were okay after Kat attacked me, I knew she wasn’t the same person that she was when we first met. I wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt you, cause gods help her if she had,” I replied with a vehemence that I was surprised to realise was genuine.
“First of all I had no idea that Kat had done anything to you, I think you need to fill me in there and second I didn’t know you cared so much,” he said, practically bouncing on the spot.
“Of course I do, you’re a friend Marcus and a mighty great one at that, I won’t let anything happen to my friends, so obviously that would include you.”
“Don’t worry Unya, I’m not going to abandon you now, I just need you to know I will not be okay with you ever doing that to me again, but that being said I am very proud of you for being able to pull it off.”
He wrapped his arms around me as his smile brightened up the room and then he made me tell him everything that happened at Kat’s the day before until we were finally ready to leave for whatever location he had pre-selected.
Z
I honestly had no idea where we were, all I knew was we were standing in some sort of field as the sky began to darken with the night. The one thing I did notice was the northern lights that flashed through the sky and that was enough for me to realise that we were no longer in Devon, let alone England.
I stood bare foot on the grass as my black gypsy style dress swayed in the breeze.
Marcus demonstrated what it was he wanted me to do first and my mouth literally ran dry. I had no idea how he could expect me to do what he had just done when we had only been training for a couple of weeks at most.
“Don’t fret Unya, the summer solstice will strengthen your power all you have to do is call for it. I want you to close your eyes and feel the individual blades of grass sway against your skin. Feel the breeze as it strokes your skin and listen to all the noises that are being carried across the air.”
I did everything he told me too and I’m not sure exactly when it happened but I definitely felt an awakening happen deep within myself. It was as though I was one with the earth and air, as though we were connected on a molecular level and a spiritual one at the same time.
I could feel the breeze curling around my hair as we embraced one another like a mother embraces her new born child, it was beautiful and I hadn’t even realised that I had started to cry until Marcus gently wiped away my tears.
“I don’t understand how I could cry,” I stated barely even registering that I had said it out loud, in front of someone who did not know about that dormant side of me.
“The power affects us all differently, I wouldn’t worry about such a reaction,” He replied, trying to settle me, not realising how frayed my nerves were and how even that was unheard of as far as I was concerned.
“You don’t understand and I haven’t got it in me to try to explain it to you. I don’t cry Marcus and to have such a reaction is such a foreign concept to me, it physically blows my mind.”
He clutched my hands within his own as he explained, once again, what it was he wanted me to do and then he slowly backed away, ensuring that he reached a safe distance from where I was standing.
You see the task Marcus had set me was mind-numbing, it did not seem possible, especially with how I caused an earthquake the last time I tried to call upon the earth.
He wanted me to create a ring of fire around myself; he then wanted me to use the air to spread the fire up so it created a wall of fire, at least three foot high. If I managed to do that, I was then expected to call water from the very air to extinguish the flames and then restore the ground to its former state, grass and all, so no one would ever be able to tell we had been there.
The fire was probably the easiest part and I was looking forward to that part the most. I had taken to that element with the least amount of struggle, I felt more connected to the naked flames than any of the others.
This probably went hand in hand with my volatile personality, but who was I to question any of this stuff.
I called the flame up into my palm while maintaining the connection I had with the air, striving up from the ground around me. I pushed the ball outwards so that it hit the ground, with very little effort it to grew around me until I was surrounded by a low circle of fire.
The flames would occasionally lick my skin, and the heat continued to intensify. It didn’t hurt, not in the slightest it was more like a long awaited reunion between lovers.
It felt as though the fire was a part of me, not just an element that I could call upon, something more transcendent than that.
I glanced quickly towards Marcus and saw him nod in appreciation of my work so far, it wasn’t a huge gesture or anything, but it seemed to ground me somehow.
I called on the air to help me spread the wall higher but I lost control as the fire began to grow and grow, until it was at least ten feet tall and spinning around me. It felt like I was standing in the middle of a twister built up entirely of flames, I had no idea what I should do when Marcus was suddenly standing before me.
The flame seemed to be trying to reach him, not liking the fact that he was now intruding on this moment.
“Say the words Unya and I will end this, I promise you there will be no judgement on my end,” he promised this while looking at me with kind eyes, but I knew my stubborn nature would not allow me to back away from this.
I shook my head almost viciously, before indicating with a slight nod that he should remove himself from the centre of what I had somehow created. He noticed the fingers of flame trying to clutch him within their grasp just in time, as he quickly dematerialised before me, but I knew he was only on the other side. Even if I could no longer see him myself, I knew I had no reason to doubt him.
I realised it was time to extinguish the flames that were growing faster and higher with every second that ticked by. I called to the water that was surrounding me, hidden within the very air I was inhaling, but instead of pulling the water to me I seemed to conjure a dark and foreboding rain cloud instead.
I wasn’t sure how I had done it but the rain was released in a torrential fall as it hit the flames and slowly beat them down, leaving nothing but the wisps of smoke, dying embers and thoroughly charred earth in its wake.
I raised my gaze towards Marcus and saw him standing there completely gobsmacked. I didn’t have time to contemplate his reaction though before I was lowering myself down towards the ground and placing my hands down onto the charred ground, smelling a faint whiff of burning flesh as I connected with the still smoking earth.
I closed my eyes and imagined the soot being blown away and the blades of grass re-taking their place, stronger and healthier than they had been before. I imagined wild flowers taking root and opening their petals to the sunlight that would be bound to hit them once morning struck.
I stayed like that for a few more moments, until I felt the earth beneath me begin to shift and my feet moving without my permission. My eyes shot open and I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing, as the ground began to raise beneath me, creating a natural looking hill that hadn’t been there before.
The grass looked so much greener up here, with wild flowers sprouting up all over the place, I quickly broke my contact and felt like I had succeeded in proving my capabilities when everything that I had created, remained.
“I did it Marcus,” I stated, hoping he would be pleased with me.
“I can see that you did amazing Unya, but that hill will not go unnoticed. Especially not to any natives that may wander to here, it would definitely be hard to miss.”
He placed his palm down onto my hill and I gathered that he was trying to reverse whatever it was I had unwittingly done. He stayed there for a few minutes, before shaking his head in defeat.
“Your magic is strong Unya, there is no way I can undo what you have done, as for how you put the flame out in the first place, well that was definitely far from elemental.”
“What do you mean? I called on the water just like you had told me to do,” I wasn’t sure why I was trying to explain my actions to him, especially as he was the one that had been guiding me.
“Yes, you did, but somehow you managed to take control of the weather, instead of just the water that surrounds us naturally, it was impressive don’t get me wrong.”
He broke eye contact and started to pace the area, either staring at the ground or up towards the sky. “That was not born from the sorceress in you, if anything, we have somehow managed to unlock another of your god like abilities instead.”
I stood there slightly confused, wondering how something like that could have happened, before it dawned on me, I had more going for me than anyone ever anticipated and it made me want to know about the prophecy more than I had before.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Lawson
It was clear Kat hadn’t had an uneventful experience with Marcus if the practically empty bottle of vodka was anything to go by.
She held it tightly against her chest and she stared off into space, I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help her, but couldn’t stop myself from thinking lately, I had done nothing more than aggravate her even more, and that was clearly something she did not need right now. I decided to give her the space she obviously craved when Kat’s words stopped me in my tracks.
“She’s with him you know, he says there’s nothing between them but I can’t stop this feeling of jealousy that is raging through me right now.”
She tightened her hold on the bottle until it shattered and rained down glass all over her, splashing her with the last of the liquid that it had held.
“Who are you talking about?” I asked, feeling as though I should have already known the answer.
“Unya and Marcus of course, he claims that there is nothing going on between them. I want to believe him but he said that she was helping him with his broken heart, so how the hell is she doing that if they really are just friends. It sounds highly suspect to me and the worst part is I think in some backwards and possibly unintentional way, he actually threatened me because of her.”
I swallowed thickly, trying to remove the strange feelings that had overcome me, trying to pretend with all my might that I hadn’t just been struck down with jealousy and possessiveness, something I definitely had no right in feeling.
“What do you mean he threatened you, what did he do?” I tried to rein my temper in, it was beginning to flare to life, knowing that it would not help this situation in the slightest.
“He basically told me if anything happened to her he would hold anyone associated with the culprit responsible, he’s definitely protective of her. And it’s pissing me off, I love that girl I do, but I don’t think I can trust myself to be around her right now, not with the way I am feeling anyway. I just keep picturing myself squeezing her weak little skull like a grape, until it’s crushed within my hands, and that isn’t me. I hate feeling so out of control, I’m trying to hold on to the girl that I used to be, but the Erinyes side is getting stronger and I don’t know if I can hold it off much longer. Oh, and while we’re still on the subject, he also wants me to re-evaluate my loyalty to you, regardless of me and him. I think he wants me to tell Unya the truth about you, because he can’t bring himself to do it, knowing that he would be betraying me. Not that it’s stopping him from replacing me with that little human though.”
I had no idea how to respond to that, so I just wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me, she tried to fight the embrace at first, but she did eventually give in. Truth be told, I was worried about her, not only were her eyes a permanent red now but even her veins and begun to take on the same colour as well. No one knew how the changes would affect her when they finally happened, but I don’t think anyone even suspected this would occur, that she would eventually be replaced by the nature she had tried to lock away in some box within herself, only opening it when her job called for her to rely on it.
Z
Despite my lack of approval in regard to Kat and Marcus’s relationship, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the possibility of him and Unya being together.
I didn’t blame her for not telling me about their friendship, seeing as we didn’t really have any semblance of friendship between us, but it still aggravated me a hell of a lot.
I wanted to know if there was something going on between the two of them and just how far Marcus would go to protect the hard arse girl who had the tendency of worming her way into your unsuspecting heart. Even though I would vehemently deny she had ever done it to me, I still couldn’t shake the fact that I was still very much jealous of the relationship she had seamlessly struck up with the sorcerer.
It also didn’t help that I refused to get any sleep, i
n case Hades decided to pay me another visit. So, all I could do was let my thoughts run riot within my brain and I tried to shake Unya free from my mind.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Unya
Another week had passed since the summer solstice and I finally managed to convince myself to speak to Mihaela about the things that I had learned. To say she was shocked would be a great understatement, she even seemed a little scared, I just wasn’t sure what caused that feeling to rise up within her.
“Please say something Nonna, you are acting really strange, I guess I thought you would have been pleased to have such a connection with me.”
“Oh Nipotina, it is not that simple, you are clearly growing stronger by the minute and I have no idea what that means for you. Even the ancestors aren’t talking and that is a huge deal, seeing as they usually never shut up. They won’t talk to me about the prophecy or who your father could be. They won’t even explain how you have come to be so powerful before you even hit eighteen. I’ll be honest with you dear; I am scared of what could happen when you are finally hit with that final surge of power and how you will be when you come out from the other side of it.”
“I don’t understand why that would scare you, doesn’t it mean I will stand a greater chance of protecting myself if I really am the one that the prophecy talks about.”
“There is something I haven’t told you, it’s not that I wanted to keep it from you, it’s more of the fact that it hurts me to speak of. But it’s only fair you know the full story of my past and just why your mother and aunt may have turned out the way they did.”
I sat forward in my seat, waiting for her to explain her words, I would give anything to have a much wider understanding into the two minds that had destroyed my childhood so much.