Bitter Magic

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

May jumped, barely missing a jolt of Light. “Llona!”

I glanced down at my bloodied knuckle as shocked as May looked.

“Why did you do that?”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. I guess it’s this place, my aunt, those girls . . .”

“Some of them were okay,” May said, her voice quiet.

I was about to disagree with her, but thought better of it. May was right. They were kind, to her.

May traced her finger on the wall where I’d punched it. “I know there are some weird things here, like the chimes and the fancy meals, but it feels good to finally belong somewhere and not have to hide who I am.”

“I get that. Why don’t you go back?” I stared at a drop of blood trailing down my finger, mesmerized.

May glanced toward the closed doors. “That’s okay. I think you could use the company.”

“Actually, I’d like to be alone for a while. You know, clear my head and stuff.”

“You sure?”

I nodded and swiped the blood across my jeans.

“Okay. I’ll come see you after dinner.”

Back in my room, I sat on the bed and blotted a tissue against my knuckles. Where had that rush of anger come from? Sure I was upset, but enough to punch a wall? I’d never done that before.

I sat up, my chest heaving with a sudden breath. There was only one thing I felt like doing right now, and there probably wasn’t much time to do it. I opened my door and rushed down the long hall to the commons area. It was a large room in the center of Chadni Hall filled with chairs and tables for studying. Four halls, two on each side, led to the girls’ dorm rooms.

I’d spotted a phone here on my way up, but looking at it now, I decided it was too public. Another stupid rule of Lucent’s were no cell phones. I glanced around. Not far away, near the elevator doors, was another room. A plaque on the wall next to it read “Nurse.” I tried the doorknob, but it was locked. Figures.

After making sure I was alone, I produced a small ball of Light and held it up to the doorknob for inspection. It was just like my lock at home. Steadily, I used my fingers to shape the Light into what looked like a nail and then guided the small spear into the hole of the doorknob until I heard a click.

I grinned, loving how easily my abilities had become to control.

Flipping on the lights, I ducked inside and closed the door. The small white room looked like a miniature doctor’s office with a single hospital bed, swivel chair, and clear jars filled with cotton balls and wooden sticks. A phone hung on the wall to the right of me.

I glanced at my watch. It would be 3:30 p.m. on the West Coast. After I left Wildemoor, Christian had flown home where he would go back to training younger Guardians. This is what the Auran Council wanted while they figured out what to do with him. They were still upset that I’d killed the Vyken when it was Christian’s responsibility. Completely stupid.

I picked up the receiver and dialed his cell. I couldn’t wait to talk to him. He was the only one who really understood me. I would’ve called him sooner, but I couldn’t ever escape our escort. It had been almost a week since I’d heard his voice.

After six rings it went to voice mail. I listened to the sound of his voice until I heard a beep. I debated whether or not to leave a message but decided against it and hung up. As much as I hated to admit it, maybe it was better if we didn’t speak for a while, at least until I figured out what was going on with me.

I grimaced at a sudden and sharp pain in my heart.

Laughter echoing from down the hall had me jumping. I shut off the lights and focused my sensitive hearing.

“Another Fury, can you imagine?” a girl said. “Vykens will never bother us now.”

I chuckled to myself. If only they knew about their own power. The things we could do.

Holding still, I waited for the girls to pass by before I quietly opened the door and stuck my head out. The hall was empty. I stepped out and returned to my room. I can stay here, I reasoned. This was only temporary, a few months, maybe a year of my life. I’d fix whatever was wrong with me, learn what I could at Lucent, and then get out of here and back to Christian.

I touched my lips, remembering Christian’s kiss goodbye. It went beyond a kiss of lustful passion; it was tender, kind, and although we had never said it to each other, full of love.

I fell sideways on my bed, clutching a pillow to my chest. Guardians aren’t supposed to get involved with their wards, but the moment I met him last year, I felt a connection. And as much as he had tried to deny it at first, he did too.

Swallowing hard, I grimaced at the thought of my recent dreams. What if Christian knew of my recent nightmares? The darkness and the violence they held. Would he feel differently?

A sharp knock at my door interrupted my thoughts. I opened the door.

“Llona?” a woman asked. She was older, maybe in her fifties, wearing tan slacks and a blue polo shirt. She carried a black bag.

“Yes?”

“I’m Abigail Watts, the school nurse. I believe you missed an appointment.”

I scrunched my face. “Right. Sorry. I completely forgot.”

“No problem. I can draw your blood here.”

I hesitated. I don’t know why I was afraid to have my blood drawn. It wasn’t because I feared needles; I just felt funny giving away my blood to people I didn’t know.

Abigail must have noticed my hesitation because she said, “Did Sophie explain why we need it?”

She moved a short brown curl off her forehead. Dark circles hung under her eyes. I wondered what could cause a nurse to look so worn out in a school where students rarely got hurt.

“She did,” I finally answered. “Come in, Ms. Watts.”

“Please, call me Abigail. Have a seat on the bed, dear.” Abigail scooted over my vanity seat and sat across from me.

From within her black bag, she removed an IV bag, tubing, and a needle. “Rest your left arm on your thigh, face up, please.”

I did as she asked. “So all the girls give blood once a month?”

Abigail nodded. “For several years now.” She looked down and frowned. “What did you do to your knuckles?”

“Scraped ’em,” I answered quickly and snuck my right hand under the pillow on my lap.

“It looks bad. Do you want a bandage?”

“No. It’s fine. Doesn’t even hurt.”

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “You look like her, you know.”

“Who?”

“Your mother.”

“You knew her?”

She paused, and I swore I saw sadness in her eyes, but just as quickly as it had come it was gone. “I did. I was a nurse when she was here years ago. You may want to look away.”

I flinched when the needle pierced my arm. “What was she like?”

Abigail plugged the IV tubing into the needle. Blood flowed from my arm into the clear plastic bag. “She was very kind but difficult, too.”

“How so?”

Abigail smiled. “Let’s just say she had a mind of her own.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not when you have a dying race you’re trying to protect. Auras who try to do things their own way usually end up dead.”

“But she was happy, more so than I’ve ever seen anyone else.”

Abigail squeezed my hand gently. “I don’t doubt that. I guess what I’m trying to say is, sometimes Auras have to think of themselves as part of something bigger. Just like a clock won’t work if it’s missing a gear, we can’t afford to lose a single Aura. We mourned for your mother, truly, we did.”

I stared at the blood leaving my arm. I had a sudden urge to draw it back into me.

“You’ve been through a lot, Llona. If you’ll let us, we can help.”

I considered this. I desperately wanted someone to talk to, and since no one else was around, I might as well try Abigail. She seemed nice enough. I started with the one question no one ever seemed to know the answer to: “Why can’t I change my hair?”

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“My hair. It’s always the same. I can’t cut it or color it.”

She laughed, but it was a kind laugh and not at all mocking. “It’s the Light in our DNA. It affects some of us physically, changing certain parts of our makeup.”

She held up her left hand, revealing a sixth finger. “I think it did this to me. We all have things about us that we would like to change. Very few of us are ever happy with our appearance. Personally, I think your hair is lovely. There are lots of people who would love to have your hair, especially those who have lost theirs to cancer.”

“I guess if you put it like that,” I said, feeling stupid for asking the question.

“You’re a special girl, Llona. Whatever happens here, just remember your focus: to become a better and stronger Aura. There are so few of us.”

I was about to ask her what she meant when a head popped in the door.

“Am I interrupting?” May asked.

Abigail glanced down at the bag, which was almost full. “Nope. I’m finished. Come on in.” She pulled out the needle and pushed a cotton ball onto my arm.

“Hold this, please,” she told me.

“How was dinner, May?” I asked.

Abigail placed a Band-Aid over the cotton ball.

“Not bad.”

“So, you’re May?” Abigail asked. “The recently discovered Fury?”

“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” May said.

Abigail went to her and, inches from her face, said, “Be careful and know exactly who you are.” She leaned away and smiled. “You girls have a good night and remember, if you ever need to talk to someone, my office is near the commons room.”

As soon as she closed the door, May said, “That was creepy.”

“Right?” I agreed.

May slipped off her sandals and wiggled her toes into the tan carpet. “You’re lucky you have carpet.”

“Don’t you?”

“No. I have the same hardwood that’s in the halls.”

I found it odd that my room would have carpet when our rooms were so close. “Yeah, well I would rather have hardwood floors than a stinky room.”

May inhaled deeply. “I don’t know why you keep saying that. It smells fine in here. How’s your hand?”

I looked down at my right knuckle and was surprised to see that it was almost healed.

May noticed too. “Wow! I can’t believe how fast Auras heal.”

“Neither can I,” I said, knowing I had never healed this fast before.

Before I could think too much about it, May asked, “Have you called Jake yet?”

“Not yet.”

“I still need to call my mom too. Some lady in the dining room said we could use the phone in the commons room or downstairs in the lobby after seven.”

“Cool. Let’s go. I’ll try calling Christian after Jake.” I turned around and almost ran into Sophie, who was standing in the doorway. I gasped.

She narrowed her eyes. “Call Christian?”

“I just wanted to see how he’s doing, that’s all,” I stuttered.

Sophie closed the door. “I think we should have a talk, Llona.”

May looked from me to her. “Maybe I should go—”

“Stay,” Sophie said. “Llona may need to be reminded of what I’m about to tell her. Sit down, please.”

Both May and I dropped to the bed and eyed each other worriedly.

“I have a confession, Llona. About you. And Christian.” Sophie walked to the window and peered out. “I know Christian was staying at your house for a while—”

“It wasn’t what it seemed!” I blurted. How did she know? Jake wouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t think anyway.

Sophie turned around and gave me a kind smile. “I know, Llona. It was your special circumstance, I understand. You felt you were being hunted and thought a Vyken was after you. Having Christian close by made you feel safer. I know all about it.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t just think a Vyken was after me. I knew it.”

“It’s true,” May said.

“Of course it is. Christian’s report was very detailed, including the part where you—not him—killed the Vyken.”

“That wasn’t his fault,” I said, my hands tightening into fists. “I snuck out of the house while he spoke to the police about . . .” I swallowed, unable to say Tracey’s name.

May looked at me sympathetically.

Sophie sat down on the vanity chair and placed her hand over mine. “This isn’t about what happened. This is about your future.”

“My future?”

“You formed a bond with Christian. Most Auras do with their Guardians, but I’m worried that your bond, because it was created under unusual circumstances, might be different than most.”

My pulse began to race. Did she know we’d kissed?

Sophie inhaled a deep breath. “I’m afraid you may feel more strongly for Christian than you should. It’s only natural, after all. You haven’t been properly trained, and you might think it’s acceptable because of your parents’ relationship, but,” she motioned for me not to interrupt, “I want to reiterate that a relationship between an Aura and her Guardian is dangerous. Your mother knew this, but she ignored it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Sophie withdrew her hand and looked away. “Laura came to me the night before she was married. She was having doubts about your father, Mark.”

“No way,” I said, knowing how much my parents loved each other.

“It’s true. You see, your mother kept having dreams, nightmares are more like it. In them, she would see Mark dying a hundred different ways. At first, she thought she was just nervous because they were going against everything they’d been taught, but after a while, she became convinced it was a premonition. I told her if she felt that strongly about them, then she shouldn’t marry him.”

My mouth dropped open, but Sophie continued, “When we finished talking, Laura had decided to do just that. She told me that if their union meant Mark might die, then it wasn’t worth it. However, the next day they were married. Mark must’ve said something to convince her otherwise.”

“My parents were happy.”

“Of course they were, but both of them are dead now, and I know that if they hadn’t married, they’d be alive today.”

“You can’t know this.”

“Maybe not, but I feel it. The only good thing to come out of their union was you.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I don’t want to see what happened to her, happen to you or Christian.”

“But nothing’s going on with me and Christian.”

She stared at me for what felt like a very long time. “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

“Well that should be easy to do, seeing how he’s not here, right?”

“Just remember what I said.” She stood and walked to the door and opened it. Before going through, she added, “If you’re really in love,” she cleared her throat, “I mean, in the future, when you think you’ve found your one true love, you will sacrifice everything for their safety.”

The door closed. I stared at the back of it, trying to process Sophie’s words.

May spoke first. “I’m sure your mom never regretted her decision to marry your dad.”

I nodded, feeling numb. The smell of blood in my room had grown stronger somehow.

May rubbed my back in slow circles. “Are you okay, Llona?”

I jumped up and inhaled deeply. “I’m fine. Just weirded out by my aunt. She can be so dramatic sometimes.”

“Do you believe what she said?”

I turned my back to her. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it.”

May was quiet for a minute, then, “Do you still want to call Jake?”

I stared down at a full suitcase on the floor. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”

May stood up and nodded. “Will you be okay?”

“Of course,” I lied, my stomach knotting into impossible loops.

After May left, I hurried to the window and threw it open. I gulped in as much cool air as my lungs could handle.

I was having nightmares and in them people were violently dying. I hadn’t seen their faces to know who they were but that hadn’t mattered to me. Because in my dreams, I was the one holding the bloodied knife.