It took some time before I managed to control all of the overwhelming emotions in my mind. I hated how emotional I was sometimes, exacerbated by the recent events. I hated the way everyone came up to me to speak in Sybra, but I still managed to feel alone in these crowded streets. When I finally remembered I was walking away from the Kartica, I was probably miles into Sybra. I sighed, remembering that I hadn’t been taught to teleport yet and that my legs were around starting to complain.
I thought that no one would come up to me on my long way back, but I was wrong. As I was walking, heading back to the Kartica, my hand was grabbed. I instantly jerked it away, shocked by the foreign contact. I turned to see who it had been. In front of me was a boy around my age.
He was dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He was wearing a rough white shirt and a pair of black pants. He wore a golden necklace around his neck, stating he was a Ones of Within member. I gave him a confused look, mind racing.
“Are you okay? You seem to be… I don’t know, in your own thoughts.” He said shrugging.
“Yeah, I’ve been told that a lot recently. I’m fine though, just have a lot on my mind.” I answered, a little bitter.
“Ah, I see. What sort of things is on your mind?”
“Well… it is sort of a long story…” I replied. As friendly as this guy seemed, I really didn’t want to talk about it, especially with a stranger.
“I have time.” He shrugged, “It’s Hunter, by the way.”
“Call me, Natalie.”
“Well, Natalie,” Hunter smiled, “Want to get something to drink? On me, of course.”
“Sure, a drink sounds great.” I’m not sure what compelled me to grab a drink with him, but a few minutes later, we were sitting down at the bar of a restaurant, two drinks before us.
“So, what’s bothering you?” Hunter asked, leaning back in his chair. I wanted to ask him why it mattered so much, but it sounded rude. So, instead, I just told him.
I don’t know what condemned me to tell Hunter anything about what had been in my head. For some reason, it was easier just telling a person I had never met what had been going on with me and how it was affecting me. It told him about my dad, coming to Aughmortor, the Shadow Bringer, my disappointment at not finding my mother here, the recent events, everything.
The strange thing was that after I spilled what I had been keeping for the past two months, I felt instantly better as though a huge burden left my shoulders. The whole time I had talked, Hunter had just listened, commenting on something every once in a while. After I had told him everything, it was late, and I had no idea how long we had been talking.
“That is a lot of problems you’ve been keeping inside.” Hunter commented, taking a long drink from his glass.
“Yes,” I agreed with him, “Yet I find it hard to tell people I know well about my problems.”
“It can be hard sometimes. With people you know, there’s all kinds of expectations. Social standards and ideas.” He smiled at that.
I smiled also, enjoying his company before I thought about how late it must have been. “I should go, it’s late,” I stood up, but wished I could stay longer. “Are you apart of the Ones of Within? I haven’t seen you around.”
“No, my Vatra’s not ready yet, unfortunately. Hopefully, James will decide I’m ready one of these days.” Hunter replied.
“I’ll see you again soon then.”
“Yes, I guess you’re right.”
“Thanks so much… for everything,” I said politely.
“For what?” Hunter laughed, “Spending a few coins on a drink for you?”
“No, for listening.”
Hunter’s face turned still and withdrawn. “It’s too bad you don’t have anyone else you’re willing to share your problems with.”
“I agree…” I said, finally. “Well, I’ll see you then.”
With that, I left quickly, wondering if my friends were worried about my absence and thinking about Hunter’s sympathy towards my problems. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him about my life, especially with all these warnings about spies and everything. Somehow, I didn’t really care.
#
When I finally got into the Kartica, I made my way to the feast. Like I expected, it had already started. When I walked through the door, tantalizing scents of delicious food hit my nose. I was hungry after all the walking I had done today. The moment I stepped into that room, I knew that I would come out of the door full. I looked for my friends, wondering what to expect. They were sitting at the usual table, laughing among each other, like they didn’t even notice I wasn’t there. They had forgiven each other a lot sooner than I had expected, as though their harsh blows meant nothing, and I was the only one affected by them for some strange reason.
I turned my head away from them, looking at a long table that stretched across the side of the room, that wasn’t usually there. It was full of foods, all different kinds. I wondered how long it had taken the cooks to make all of the food. There were cakes, fruits, cheeses, and meats, anything I could name. I didn’t think that we would be able to eat all of the food.
I quickly grabbed a plate and went down the line of food, piling all sorts of food on my plate. The supply was endless; there were several types of meats, spinach casserole, tama tart, and a variety of different potato dishes just to start. When I headed to our table, I noticed that there were two tables pushed together, and other groups were eating with us. I quickly walked over, my friends noticing me for the first time since I had entered the room. I sat down awkwardly, beside Kat and Austin, my eyes searching for my friend’s faces. Austin seemed glad to see me and Kat didn’t act altogether too upset, but Patrick wouldn’t meet my eye, and Emilie was a little withdrawn. Adam seemed uncomfortable with the situation, so I guessed he was wondering what Emilie was thinking. I took a fork and stabbed it into an unrecognizable thing on my plate with my head low. I wished, silently, that the other group wasn’t here, so we could talk among ourselves.
“That took you a while.” Emilie commented, glancing at my colorful plate.
For a second, I could feel the white lie forming, but my guilt shoved it away. No more lies for now. “I met someone in Sybra and I lost track of time talking to them.” I didn’t really owe her an explanation but gave it to her anyway.
Emilie waited for me to elaborate, so I improvised by shoveling a forkful of food into my mouth. I ate, savoring each bite, wondering if I could get out of here before the other group left. I was content to listen to the conversations of others while I ate the amazing food.
“That girl we heard had a beautiful voice.” Patrick was talking to one of the members of the other group. I felt frustrated when I looked at Patrick. He was still angry with me, and I didn’t know what to do about it. All of my anger and frustration had drained out of me after talking to Hunter, and I almost wished I had stayed with him instead of coming back here. It was different, talking to the other group, but not unpleasant.
“Yes, an amazing voice! People here have such skills, it is amazing.” The person from the other group that was talking had red hair, like Patrick, but lighter, and it was long and curly. She had pale skin, with a few freckles on her nose and cheeks.
I glanced between her in Patrick, slowly processing what I had noticed. Was she… blushing? Honestly. I quickly averted my gaze when she glanced in my direction. I tried not to smile, but the corner of my mouth wouldn’t obey. It looked like someone was going to be spending a lot of time with us. Even though I was smiling, my heart was heavy. I hated that Patrick was angry with me. The music played on the streets today was the first music I’d heard since coming to Aughmortor. The lack of music was a huge change I was still adjusting to because on Earth, I always listened to music. One of the Vatras displayed in the parade involved singing that could make people fall asleep if they directed their Vatra to them. I tried not to act like I was listening to their conversation.
“I would have never thought the competitions on the g
rounds would have involved singing!” So many people were there. I had wondered how the competitions had gone since I assumed my friends had gone without me.
“I personally think the member cheated and used a Vatra.” The redheaded girl laughed.
“No doubt,” Patrick agreed, mildly amused. I wanted to ask what had gone on at the competitions, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk.
“What happened at the competitions?” I asked, the question directed right at Patrick, my curiosity getting the best of me.
“There were a lot of them.” Patrick answered, purposefully vague. It was clear he wasn’t ready to talk to me.
“I guess you aren’t willing to share then.” I replied icily. I turned my head to ask Austin.
“Go ahead and ask someone else. I see how easy it is, preying on us all for what you want.” Patrick snapped, losing his patience with me.
My head whipped in his direction; I didn’t even want to know what my expressions looked like, but I knew I didn’t want to know. “Preying on all of you for information?” I turned my head away from him so he couldn’t see how upset I was. “Is that what the rest of you think?” My words were quiet, but I made sure each one that left my mouth thickly entwined my meaning.
“No,” Dominic said softly. Kat and Austin shook their heads, and Adam followed suit after a quick glance at Emilie.
“No.” Emilie said, her eyes meeting mine. Challengingly. She wasn’t done with the conversation earlier, though; I could tell in her eyes. Lyte didn’t answer, but it was obvious that she didn’t agree with Patrick.
“I’m sorry, Patrick,” I apologized, even though I knew it would take a little time. Patrick’s eyebrows raised at my apology, but his stoney expression seemed to waver ever so slightly.
Suddenly, I felt a feeling I wished I would never feel. Magic. It was stabbing into my mind, delving into it. My fork dropped from my hand, clattering onto the table, but it sounded distant and faded. I refused to let my mouth open to let out any signs of my agony, agony from the delving into my mind. My fingernails dug into the palm of my other hand at the pain in my head.
It was like fire, burning my head; I had felt the burn of fire before. I had been about nine. My dad had taken me to a local camping site, and I was playing with the campfire, with a stick, like I always loved to do. Well, the stick had fallen out of my hands. It was so close to the fire, but I thought I could get it without getting burnt. My dad had been fetching something from the tent. I tried to grab it, and suddenly, the fire had become bigger, dramatically bigger by my reach as though someone had thrown paper strips on it. My hand got badly burned by the event, and I still even had the smallest scar on my hand from it.
The magic weakened enough for me to think, so I stood up warily, grabbing my jacket. I could feel the eyes of our group centered on my sudden change in mood. “Well, I’m not very hungry anymore. I’ll just go to sleep.”
Secretly, I wanted to leave so I could try to follow the strands of magic. I wanted to know who they were and why they were here- it had to be a Shadow Bringer. I knew it was stupid, but I couldn’t help my curiosity. I walked away from my friends, praying they wouldn’t try to follow me. Let me find this Shadow Bringer; I’d kill them. It was time I fight with a real Shadow Bringer. I opened the door and slammed it behind me, hoping no one followed me. I didn’t want anyone’s help. With my eyes closed, I started to let the magic guide my path. But, like always, there was a distraction.
A hand grabbed my arm, shaking me a few times. “Natalie, what are you doing?” I could hear to fear in Emilie’s voice, and it made me guilty. “I could feel that magic from anywhere… I told them that it was me. That I needed to talk to you. But, Lyte and Patrick are certainly not going to believe it.”
“Maybe it’s better this way” I opened my eyes, and they focused on Emilie’s face. She shrieked, letting go of my arm.
“Your pupils are turning black!” Emilie shouted. I heard her whispering Jakost under her breath to cease the magic.
“No, let them bring me there! I’ll kill them,” I said savagely. The dark magic ceased from existence as she ended her Jakost, and my eyes started to focus again until I caught myself meeting Emilie’s gray eyes.
“Well, if that’s what you aim to do, at least let me come along.”
“Why do you want to come with me? Aren’t you mad at me?
“Sure, I’m not super happy with you right now, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not my friend. I would never let you go into this alone.”
“There’s no reason to be worried about me,” I said calmly, pulling my arm from her grasp.
“Tell me what’s going on, Natalie.” Emilie said. The tone in her voice contradicted anything I’d ever known about her. “What are you hiding?”
“What? Are you accusing me of being the Shadow Bringer now?”
“No, you aren’t the Shadow Bringer, and I know that. It’s…”
“How do you know?” I said softly, “How do you know it’s not me?”
“I can’t tell you. Shay would kill me.”
“So, you’re working with Shay?” I laughed, remembering Dominic’s words from earlier. “So he was right!”
“It’s not like that, Natalie.”
“Then tell me the truth. If she’s on our side, then why don’t I get this information? Why are you the only one?”
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know,” Emilie muttered, “For one, I know James doesn’t want you involved. How can you expect us to tell you things if you refuse to talk to us?” Emilie asked imploringly.
“And say what? What do I have to say?” I snapped, “What is it that you want to know so badly.”
“Tell me what you were thinking about earlier. When you lied to us all.”
“Anything but that.”
“Natalie…”
“I was doubting all of you. I was contemplating who the traitor in the prophecy is. Do you really think it’s one of us?”
The raw look of fear on Emilie’s face unsettled me because Emilie was always happy and never acted like this. “I think so,” She said, finally. I knelt to the ground, pressing my fingertips against my forehead. While the magic was gone, the pain still radiated from it.
“How can I trust you, any of you, if you could be the Shadow Bringer?”
“Natalie, I’m not the traitor. You have to believe me.”
I averted my gaze from Emilie’s desperate face. In my heart, I knew it couldn’t be her. I had to believe my intuition. “What else do you want to know?”
“What brought up those thoughts?”
“I don’t know, I’ve just been thinking really dark lately.” I whispered. “And Dominic and I were talking earlier, and it brought up some thoughts.”
Emilie looked at the ground, her face suddenly turning hard and imperceptible. “What’s going on between you and Dominic?” She asked in a cool, neutral voice.
“What do you mean?” I said, automatically feeling defensive again.
“Just tell me,” She said wearily.
“I don’t know. I wish I did.”
“All right,” Emilie said after a slight pause, “I’ll tell you what’s going on. James thinks there’s more to you than you think.”
“What do you mean by that? He’s barely looked at me once since I joined the Ones of Within.”
“He says your past is too mysterious. With your mother’s disappearance-“Emilie raised a finger to silence me before I protested, “He thinks there’s a connection between the Larta and the Ones of Within, and he’s trying to find where it is.”
“I’ve never been outside of Sybra, Emilie. I don’t know anything about the Larta except what you’ve told me and my instructors.”
“Listen,” Emilie leaned closer, “Promise you won’t tell anyone?”
“About what?”
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone about this, okay?” Emilie said, looking around nervously.
“I promise.”
&nb
sp; “You know that Shadow Bringer that connected itself to our transportation to Aughmortor?”
“What about him?”
“James wasn’t telling the entire truth about him. They did manage to question him before he was released in the middle of the night. .”
“What else did he say?”
“We managed to find out there’s a connection between the Ones of Within and Larta stronger than we expect. He also mentioned something about a girl called Mara,” Emilie said quietly.
“Mara? Doesn’t sound familiar.”
“I can’t tell you,” Emilie said, frowning and looking deeply afflicted.
“Tell me; they’ll never know.”
“You know how James said that the Ones of Within were complete? During your initiation?”
“Yeah, he said that at the ceremony, right after I got here.”
“He was lying,” Emilie said flatly, “One of our recruits we’d been monitoring disappeared a few days before we came to get you. She just disappeared from Earth. The Definirati couldn’t locate her anymore. We thought she might’ve died, you know. But, we think magic was used to block the Definirati from following her path. That’s not even the most mysterious part about it… the girl’s name was Mara.”
“Did the Larta take her?”
“Yeah, we thought she might’ve been the Chosen One since Lucia had purposefully taken her. But then, Dominic received his Vatra.”
“Emilie, I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Emilie said hesitantly, “The Shadow Bringer mentioned your name… he said that we wouldn’t be able to trust you if we knew who you were. He refused to give any more information that night, so they were planning on questioning him further the next day. James was sure, after that, that you were the Shadow Bringer.”
“James thinks I’m the Shadow Bringer?” I laughed ironically. “No wonder he hasn’t been able to look at me.”
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