by Lily Luchesi
She turned and sat in his lap so he could hold her closer, feeling her magic everywhere. It tangled with his, sending shivers down his spine. It took a moment to realise why his emotions felt so intense: because he was feeling hers, too, through the conduit of their magic. Green and pink weaved together until it was impossible to distinguish the two colours.
Daphne pulled away for breath and looked down at him, her pale blue eyes sparkling as she smiled, her cheeks pink.
“I love you,” Salem whispered.
“I love you, too,” she replied.
He pulled her down to him to kiss her again as his hands slipped to the hem of her blouse, feeling unbearably soft skin. His lips moved and he began to kiss her neck. She sighed and her hands tightened in his hair.
“Please, Sal,” she whispered, kissing his face.
Before he could do anything about her plea, a voice rang out loudly in the high ceilinged room.
“Gaia, I’m going to puke up my breakfast.”
Michael. Salem’s heart sank as he heard his voice and he pulled his lips away from Daphne.
She looked up and glared behind the couch, where Michael must have been standing. “What are you doing back?”
“Train was going to be delayed tomorrow. Mum figured I better get here early,” he replied. “And that’s the sight I’m greeted with? Honestly, Fraser, I thought you had better taste. I really did.”
“Go to Hell, Smith. Oh wait, Satan probably already kicked you out,” she retorted. Slowly she slipped off Salem’s lap, still glaring at Michael. “Why don’t you mind your own business for once and stay away from me? And Salem, for that matter.”
Salem put his hand on hers. “I don’t expect anything less from him. Come on, we can go back to my place.”
“Not if you don’t want me to tell Mrs. Fraser,” Michael threatened. “Unless I can get a kiss, too, Daph?”
“Are you blackmailing me, Smith? You know what, piss off!” Daphne cried. “You’ve always been such a wanker; you can’t handle anyone being liked better than you. I am so sick of you treating Salem and me like second class citizens.” With that, she stormed off, tears in her eyes.
Michael watched her and rolled his eyes. “Girls.”
Salem felt a quiet rage in his chest at the other boy. “Oi. You made her cry.”
“Did I? Or was it because she realised who she’s been snogging?”
Salem stepped up close to Michael and ignored his comment. “I can handle you treating me poorly. But now you’ve upset Daphne. And I can promise you, Smith, the next time that happens, I am not just going to walk away. Understood?”
Salem knew that threatening Michael was a bad idea. He had done it anyway, because Daphne meant more to him than his own safety. But he knew now that he needed to be aware of every single thing happening around him. Michael and Caelum were bound to get back at him for the threat.
I still can’t comprehend why Draven and Robert are friends with them, he thought as he waited on the front steps of the school for Daphne to arrive. Just as he was thinking that, he turned and saw Draven and Caelum walking up the steps, holding hands.
The bat and the cat, he thought. Wonder how long that will last. Probably right until the word “vampire” comes out of Silver’s mouth.
Draven’s eyes met Salem’s and he gave a small smile as they passed by him and into the school.
At that moment, Salem’s magic began to spark and he looked up, not surprised to see that Daphne was coming. She didn’t look happy, however. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her blue eyes were dark and downcast.
Salem went down the stairs to meet her halfway, his hands on her shoulders. “Hey, what happened?”
“Mum got word in London. Two apprentices were found dead since the Solstice, and another was kidnapped. She was recovered, but they said it was a Clan Munro family who took her.”
Salem’s stomach sank. “Are you sure?”
Daphne nodded. “And what’s worse? Michael told her about you and me. Finding us.”
“But we weren’t doing anything!”
“It’s my mum. She doesn’t need a concrete reason to get suspicious, especially … especially of a Sinclair.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes, and he knew why.
Just like Robert said, Clan Fraser wasn’t known for their openness or kindness. Once they thought someone was evil or Dark or anything of that sort, they wrote you off. And Salem had never received a warm welcome from Mrs. Fraser. Unlike Caelum, who was doted on, despite his equally Dark lineage.
Why was it that he was accepted and absolved of his bloodline’s past atrocities, yet Salem was still ostracised? Was it because he rejected his blood and Salem didn’t? It didn’t make sense. And it hurt Salem more than he cared to admit.
Salem took Daphne’s hand and said, “You know I’m not like them, don’t you?” Their argument from the year before lingered in the back of his mind, and his heart clenched, concerned that his hasty, prejudiced words had come back to haunt him.
She looked up into his eyes and nodded without hesitation. “I know, Sal. Moreover, my magic knows. And I trust that more than anything else.”
He leaned down to kiss her and she smiled into the kiss. Relief rushed through him at her reassurance that she wasn’t just another Fraser snob.
“Come on, let’s go to class.” She threaded her fingers with his and led him into the castle. Magic sparked between them and he was assured that she was right: their magic knew things their hearts and minds could never comprehend.
“Something the matter?” Robert asked Salem later that night as they were both studying in Robert’s living room. “I mean, you typically look like someone killed a puppy in front of you, but tonight is especially dour.”
Salem rolled his eyes. “So kind, Ainsley.”
“But seriously, what’s wrong?” Robert pressed.
Salem sighed. “Did you hear about the missing and murdered apprentices over break?”
Robert nodded.
“Well, they think our kind did it. Clan Munro.”
“Why are you whispering? Think your little girlfriend can overhear us all the way across Inverness?” Robert teased.
“It isn’t funny,” Salem insisted. “I think we should call another meeting, because nothing is being done about the apprentices being harmed. We need to decide what to do, who to talk to.”
“Draven Silver’s father?” Robert suggested.
Salem gave a half-hearted shrug. “Possibly. But Silver doesn’t want us to meet him. And not like Silver can sneak out of the Coven in the middle of classes and get to London, can he?”
Robert leaned back in his chair. “That makes me wonder … what’s Silver hiding that makes him so protective of his family? He’s not Clan Munro, so it’s not that he’s trying to hide his bloodline…”
Salem looked back at his homework. He didn’t want to possibly show on his face how close Robert was to the truth. He didn’t know why he was protecting Silver. Perhaps because he was the only one who never outright tormented him out of their little group. Or because Daphne was close to him. Whatever it was, it kept him quiet.
Robert sighed. “Whatever. Mate, call another meeting tomorrow. We’ll get this sorted right quick. Because I can’t have people breathing down my neck — and neither can you — when our last year of school is coming up. I have too many plans for that.”
The next day Salem had double Brewing and Medicinal Magic with Robert, Daphne, Draven, and Kimberly Morrison. He was partnered with Robert, and Daphne and Kimberly were at a wooden table across from them.
All through the first hour, Kimberly had been shooting wary glances at the two of them, sometimes ignoring her work. Daphne kept nudging her to get her back to focus.
At first, Salem wondered if Kimberly fancied Robert. Until he read the plain, undisguised disgust in her eyes.
In the middle of the second hour, Salem bent down to retrieve dried gryphon feathers when he heard a tell-tale ‘plop’. It sound
ed like something had been dropped into a full cauldron.
As soon as he sat up straight, his cauldron bubbled up uncontrollably, and no spell would stop it before it splattered all over him and Robert, covering them in deep golden and grey liquid.
Unbidden, he cursed out loud and jumped up, afraid to get any unfinished potion in his eyes or mouth. It could be deadly. Of course, his actions brought everyone’s attention to their table. His face burned as he felt dozens of eyes on him.
The Brewing teacher gave him a glare and said, “Looks like you added your snail shells too soon, Sinclair. I’ll have to give this potion a failing grade, but you can make it up if you have an essay in proper potion management to me by Friday afternoon.”
An essay on potion management? Salem thought angrily. I am so good at this, I could run circles around you, old man.
“But, sir,” Daphne began. “It wasn’t him. It—”
“Kindly sit down and be quiet, Miss Fraser,” the teacher said, interrupting her.
Daphne glared at Kimberly. “What did you do that for?”
She shrugged. “Now they can look as nasty as their Clan’s actions.”
Daphne’s mouth dropped and she took hold of half a cup of pureed musk pods. Before anyone could react, she poured the whole, stinking thing over Kimberly’s perfect, caramel coloured hair.
Everyone went completely silent as they watched the putrid substance slowly slide down her face, staining her robes. As if she had been in shock at first, she prematurely let out a disgusted shriek. Tears gathered in her eyes as she shot up from her chair, sending some of the liquid flying.
“Why would you do that?” she cried to Daphne.
“Because you could have poisoned my boyfriend, you daft cretin!” Daphne replied.
“Miss Fraser—” the teacher began.
Daphne stood up and said, “I’m in trouble. I know. I will go see King Edelstone myself, no need to order me about. But if you had any brains, you’d be just as vexed with Kim as you are with me.” With a turn of her head, she stalked out of the dungeon, shooting Salem a wink as she passed him.
Daphne’s punishment was to go to the main hall and clean up after everyone had gone home. But the punishment part was that she had to do it all without magic. It would take her at least two hours.
Salem started to walk home alone, his emotions conflicting with each other. On one hand, he was happy she had stood up for him. On the other, he hated that she had to, that he had been unable to stand up for himself. He didn’t want her to get in trouble on his behalf.
At home, he slammed the door and was surprised and wary to find Caelum and Draven in the sitting room with Robert.
“What is going on?” he asked warily.
“After what Morrison did to us, I wanted to get everyone together to talk about this whole Dark thing. But Daphne had detention, and Michael refused to even look in my direction,” Robert explained.
“So you’re stuck with us,” Caelum added, looking uncomfortable.
Salem sat down gingerly on a chair. “And?”
“And we think you’re right,” Draven said. “Someone should go to the PID about this. Because Edelstone is ignoring what’s happening.”
“Doesn’t your mother work for the PID, Salem?” Robert cut in.
Salem nodded. “Yes, but she’s a courier, using magic for menial tasks. At least, that’s how she describes it to me. I doubt anyone would listen to her.”
Caelum and Draven shared a glance and Caelum went to open his mouth. Draven shook his head, and the shifter listened, closing his mouth with a snap.
Suspicious, Salem thought. “And what about you, Silver? Can you not talk to your father? What does he run again, the blood bank?”
Draven’s already pale face became ashen and his mouth dropped.
“He is part of the graveyard shift who helps take care of nocturnal offenders,” Caelum said snippily. “They have a vampire to run the blood bank.”
And if you had half a brain under all that hair, you’d get what I was implying, Salem thought.
“I can call him,” Draven said softly. “I think his higher ups would listen to him and maybe send someone to get answers or weed out the ones doing this.”
“So people stop looking at us like we’re going to slaughter every apprentice we see,” Robert commented.
“It’s quite ridiculous to think that I would have a vendetta against apprentices. My mother is one, after all,” Salem added quietly.
Draven and Caelum stood up. “All right. He’ll call daddy dearest and I will tell Daph and Mike what we agreed,” Caelum said. He turned and headed for the door without another word.
“See you guys at school,” Draven said before he followed Caelum out.
Robert watched them walk down the street. “I don’t get Lynx. It’s one thing to dislike what his parents did. It’s another to turn your back entirely on your bloodline.”
“You mean you agree with some of the things Clan Munro stands for?” Salem asked.
Robert nodded. “Like not admitting apprentices. Maybe don’t kill them, but — no offence to your mum — don’t let any random mortal come in and use our powers. But we have to stop everyone from thinking Munro is synonymous with evil.”
Salem nodded. “I agree. I always embraced the extra powers Clan Munro gave me. And because I do, because Lynx doesn’t, he’s loved, and I am reviled by all but Daphne.”
Robert pursed his lips. “For now. Power means followers. And being Clan Munro might be a bitch now, in school, but one day everyone will regret how our Clan has always been treated. And if she falls back into her mother’s ideals, that might include your girlfriend.”
Salem wanted to disagree, but he had been worried about the same exact thing. Daphne considered him the exception to her hatred of Clan Munro, and everyone considered Caelum to be an honorary Fraser. What if she one day were to wake up and tell him he either had to reject his bloodline or give her up?
It was his biggest fear, right after someone targeting his mother because she was an apprentice who dared to marry someone from Clan Munro.
He went up to bed and sighed heavily, willing the tears away. She had been his everything almost from the moment they met. And were she to break away from him, he was positive that he’d never be the same again.
He wasn’t sure he could survive a broken heart.
Chapter 12
Salem felt poorly when he woke up the next day. It had taken hours for him to fall asleep, and when he woke, all he wanted was to bury his head under the bedclothes and vanish. So distraught was he, that he wound up being late to class.
“Mr. Sinclair, out of every student here, I thought that you were the one I could always count on for being on time,” Donahue said, slightly scoldingly.
“My apologies, Mrs. Donahue,” he said, quietly slipping into his seat next to Robert. He stared at his folded hands, barely taking notes as Donahue explained about a particular hand movement for a spell. He simply didn’t care as much as he once did about being a great wizard. What did his skills matter, when all everyone saw was his Darkness? Darkness he didn’t ask for, but embraced anyway?
Why should I dampen my abilities? Who am I trying to impress? Clan Fraser? Daphne? I was born with these powers, gifted them by Gaia. It would be awful of me to deny her gifts.
His thoughts were getting darker and darker, and he knew he needed to get out of his own head before his emotions caused him to harm himself … or someone else.
It happened far too often for him to be comfortable. His powers were directly connected to his emotions, yet they only really came out when he was angry. Or worried. And neither of those things were good. By the time students were in their last year of official schooling, they were expected to have complete control over their magic.
To have his inability to rein in his powers made public, it could cost him everything. Because unstable magic meant an unstable magician. And if the PID saw and thought that he was a danger to
the public, his powers would be revoked. It was the biggest shame a magician could suffer.
Yet everything made him want to lash out without meaning to. His magic bubbled beneath the surface every waking moment, and it took every ounce of concentration he had to keep it inside. The only time it ever felt calm was around Daphne. Yet even she noticed a difference with him.
As they were lounging in the Common Room during study hall, she wrapped her arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder. “Your magic is jumping against my skin today.”
“What?” Salem asked. He often forgot that Clan Fraser could see and feel others’ magic in a unique way.
“It’s sparking,” Daphne explained. She gently ran her fingers along his arm in what he supposed was a soothing manner. “Is everything okay?”
Salem sighed. “Yes, love. I am merely frustrated with the growing divide within the Coven. Lynx gave up on his Munro blood and is on the side of the Light. However, I do not wish to do any such thing.
“I was born this way, with this Clan’s blood in my veins. I don’t believe it was an accident. I believe I should love and embrace my powers, but by doing so, I distance myself from the Light. … From you.” He held tightly to her hand, as if by doing so, he could keep her close. He could make her stay.
She was silent for a moment, and he was glad that she didn’t discount his words with a flippant comment.
“Sal … I can’t deny that this rift between Light and Dark worries me. And yes, you worry me. I love you, but the deeper you enmesh yourself into the Darkness, the further you will grow from everyone on the side of the Light, not just me,” she admitted. “And I don’t want to lose you to the Darkness. I think my heart would literally break if that were to happen.”
While he knew she was being honest, he was still hurt that she thought he’d go so deep into the Dark that she could no longer reach him. He knew, deep in his heart, that it could never happen. Not as long as she lived.