Awakened Magic

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Not far away, a figure stood next to a tree, and by its height, I’d guess it was male. He was bathed in darkness, the moon’s light unable to penetrate through the heavy canopy of trees. Although I couldn’t see him, there was a stillness to him that disturbed me.

But that voice.

I took a hesitant step forward.

“No,” the voice commanded.

I gasped and nearly lost my balance. “Christian?”

It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. I stumbled forward, not caring if I wasn’t supposed to or not. I had to know.

I kept my eyes on the figure, afraid to look away for even a second, but then I blinked and he was gone. What the hell? I hurried faster toward the spot where I’d seen him, but when I reached the tree, no one was there.

“Christian?”

I strained my ears, using my sensitive hearing, an ability I’d inherited from my Guardian father, but heard only a faint breeze breathing through the tops of the trees.

I stayed there for several minutes wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. I must have. I saw Christian get buried by a wall of dirt, thanks to Cyrus and his power to control earth. Plus I’d attended his funeral.

But that voice!

Even the way he had said my name, so full of emotion. It had to be him! I instinctively reached up to touch the necklace he had given me. The Greek word etched into the metal pendant meant “Endure to the End.”

When nothing else happened, I decided to head back to Lucent. A few hours of sleep would give me a better perspective on what I’d seen and heard.

Before I walked through Lucent’s front doors, I inhaled deeply. My chest tightened as I stepped over the threshold, but when I saw May asleep on a couch in the lobby, I relaxed.

I sat next to her. May had been my best friend ever since a lab accident during our junior year. That was when we both realized we were different. She a Fury, and me an Aura. Bonded for life.

But I worried about her. Her mentor at Lucent, Dr. Han who was also a Fury, claimed her ability to control and manipulate fire would one day test her. Most Fury’s, because of their dark power, eventually joined the Principes Noctis, a group of supernaturals obsessed with controlling the human race.

But May was good. And my best friend.

I nudged her on the shoulder. “May?”

She moaned and moved to turn over, but then froze and opened her eyes wide. “Llona?”

I smiled. “I’m back. You really didn’t need to wait up.”

She threw her arms around me, squeezed me hard, then pulled away. “But today was special. You got him, Llona.”

“Took forever, but, yeah, finally.” I sank into the sofa. I had left two weeks ago to go to Jake’s wedding. Afterward, I met up with Liam in Coast City to follow some leads which eventually led us to Jackson.

“We need to celebrate. First thing in the morning with Kiera and Tessa. Finally, our best-friend foursome will be reunited.”

I laughed. “I’d like that. Anything new since I’ve been gone?”

“Kiera’s doing a good job teaching your class,” May said. “I can’t believe how much she’s learned. She’s a natural at it.”

I breathed a sigh of relief as my gaze lifted to the ceiling. Carved wood trim made squares against crème-colored paint. “That’s good to hear, but all the Auras could be if they’d only let go of Lucent’s ancient rule of no fighting. It’s stifling them. You’d think after what happened they’d be lining up to learn this stuff. Speaking of which, any more sign-ups for the class?”

“A couple. Still, though, that only makes six. Are you tired?”

My eyes lowered to May’s. Dark circles hung under her eyes.

“A little,” I lied. I was hoping to talk to her about what I’d seen in the forest, but it could wait.

“Get some rest then,” she said. “We can talk more in the morning.”

I stood up, taking her with me. “Good idea.”

We rode the elevator up to the third floor. The whole way she told me about Dr. Han and some new things he was teaching her about being a Fury. I was surprised there was more for her to learn. In my mind, she was already a pro at controlling fire.

“I’m glad you’re back,” she said when we reached her room.

“Me too.” And I meant it. Even with all the painful memories, Lucent also held good ones.

I opened the door to my room. Everything was just as I had left it, even the smell of blood. It used to really bother me to know that a girl had killed herself in here after going crazy from being bitten by a Vyken, but now I used it as a reminder of what could happen to me if I ever gave in to the poison.

Not tired in the least, I took a shower. I hoped it would calm my mind and relax my tense muscles. But thirty minutes later I was still wound as tight as the clock in the tower staring back at me from my window. Beyond it, the sky was turning a dark gray as light began to invade the night.

I backed away from the window, wrapping the towel around my body tightly, and went into my closet to get dressed. There was no way I was going to sleep, not with the way my mind was racing. Jackson was just downstairs in the basement. Besides knowing about Sophie, he might know something about what I had heard in the forest.

Dressing in jeans and a black sweater, I opened my bedroom door. My sensitive hearing heard some girls already awake in their rooms. May’s room was quiet.

I was slow going up the stairs to Cyrus’s office on the fourth floor. As of yet, that was the only way to get to the secret basement where Jackson was being held from inside the school. The only other entrance was underground and about three hundred yards outside Lucent Academy. This was how Cyrus had been sneaking Vykens into Lucent, but now that entrance was sealed shut with a new security system.

The closer I came to Cyrus’s office, the more my heart began to pound. Thunder actually. Sweat broke on my brow, and my hands began to tremble.

Face my demons, Liam had said. Cyrus was the demon—more like the devil—who took those I cared about the most.

As I expected, I found the door locked. Technically this should have been Dr. Han’s office now, as he was the new president, but Dr. Han had no desire to change rooms. I reached into my pocket and removed a key. Dr. Han had given one to everyone who knew about the secret rooms in the basement, which was just a handful of people. The lock clicked, despite my shaking hand, and I pushed open the door.

The room looked exactly the same. Oversized chairs, oversized desks, and bookcases. The room was as big as Cyrus’s lies.

This was the first time I’d come back since that night I raced after Sophie to stop her from seeing Cyrus. I had failed. Now Sophie was gone, and Christian was dead. No matter what I thought I saw or heard earlier, I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d seen him die.

Breaths escaped my lungs in shorter and shorter intervals. It was stupid of me to come up here. I thought enough time had passed since that horrible night.

I was wrong.

The memories of that night bludgeoned my mind, and I blinked rapidly, trying to push them away. One after another, I recalled how Cyrus had tricked Sophie to come closer where he would be able to grab her. I should’ve stopped her. I knew there were Vykens in the room. Why didn’t I try harder?

I stumbled back until I was against the wall.

After Cyrus took Sophie, Vykens came. More than I could count. We tried to protect the Auras by barricading them in the kitchen off the dining room. People were bleeding. People were dying.

I slumped to the floor, fighting hard for every breath.

Cyrus had appeared briefly in those last moments, when I wasn’t sure if any of us would survive. And when he left, Christian chased after him.

Once again, I should’ve done more. It’s like I let him die.

My vision blurred, turning a dark red. I was going to pass out.

“Liam,” I breathed, knowing his highly sensitive hearing would hear me.

And he did.

In the blink of an eye, he was picking me up and carrying me behind the wall and down the stairs.

For the first time, I cried for Sophie. I cried for Christian. The pain squeezed my heart until I thought I would crumble.

Liam set me down on what I assumed was his bed. My eyes remained closed. His hand gripped mine. I don’t know which of us was squeezing harder.

I thought of Christian’s funeral back in Wildemoor. Guardians from all over the world had come to pay their respects, not necessarily just for him, but also for his father who was well known by Guardians and Auras everywhere.

Many had spoken to me that day, but I couldn’t remember what they’d said. I just remembered wanting to run away.

Liam was right. I hadn’t grieved. Stay busy, that is what I told myself every day.

But what I’d been trying to avoid hit me like a freight train now. I continued to cry, quietly and painfully, until the tears began to slow. My breathing matched their pace.

And then I fell asleep.