Awakened Magic

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I opened my eyes and blinked. Where am I? Pale walls came into focus across from me. Next to me was an empty wooden chair. This must be Liam’s room, and I was in his bed, a heavy patterned quilt pulled up around my shoulders. I threw it back and sat up.

The room was empty, and the door closed. Because I was in the basement, there were no windows to give a hint as to what time it was. I hoped I wasn’t late for breakfast.

I stood and stretched. My muscles were relaxed and my chest felt lighter. That must’ve been some power nap. And some major tears. They seemed to have padded my once-raw heart.

After opening the door, I peered into the hall. It was different down here from the rest of the school, with only concrete floors and partially finished walls. There were several small rooms that seemed more like prison cells. We could only assume they had been used by Vykens. Liam and the twins used a couple of them whenever they visited, which was a lot.

I stepped into the hall, listening for sounds. It was quiet except for . . . I turned my head, straining my ears. Someone breathed in one of the closed rooms at the end. Most likely Jackson.

Walking to it, I peered in through the small barred window. Jackson was lying down, staring at the ceiling.

“What do you want?” he sneered.

“Nice digs you got here.”

“I won’t be here for long.”

“Really? Cause, um . . .,” I gave the door a good hard tug, “this door isn’t opening any time soon.”

He didn’t say anything, but his brows drew together tightly. I didn’t know if this meant he was angry or worried. I noticed a plate of half-eaten spaghetti on a table next to him, and this made me wonder if it was later in the day than I had thought. I better hurry and ask my questions. “Do you know where Cyrus is holding Sophie?”

“Yes.”

My pulse raced. “Where?”

“Disneyland.”

“Don’t do this, Jackson. Just tell us so we won’t have to hurt you.”

“You won’t get the chance.”

I exhaled. This was going to be harder than I expected. “Do you like working with them? Vykens?”

He snickered. “They’re better than Auras. At least they don’t complain about everything.”

“But they’re also murderers, and I know at some point in your life, you knew this was wrong. So what happened?”

“I happened. I knew I wasn’t going anywhere as a Guardian. It’s a dead-end job. Literally. Trash collectors get paid more money than I ever would.”

I sighed, bored. “And you never thought you could just go be a doctor or something?”

“School’s too long, and then there’s all that student loan debt.”

“Sounds like you’ve considered all your options.” I was glad there was a door between us. “So where’ve you been all this time? I had quite the adventure trying to catch up to you.”

“Touring the country.”

I picked at the door with my finger, trying to decide which question to ask first. “Why do they keep you around? Technically you’re not one of them.”

“I’m good company.”

I laughed. “Oh, come on now. I know you better than that, so be honest. Why haven’t they killed you, or at the very least turned you?”

He sat up at this, his face twisting into a scowl. “If you think you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me?”

I thought about this out loud. “There could only be one reason. You must have something on Cyrus.” My brain continued to spin. “No, that wouldn’t matter. At this point he couldn’t care less what others think about him.” I tapped on the door with my fingernails. “Maybe you have something of his, something important.”

Jackson’s scowl turned into a smile.

“That’s it, isn’t it?”

“No Vyken would dare mess with me. I’m under Cyrus’s protection.”

“I don’t think he’s protecting you. He’s only keeping you around long enough to get back whatever you took from him.” I wrapped my hands around the bars. “So what is it? What could you possibly have that Cyrus wants?”

He sat up, peering at me sideways while his elbows rested on his knees. “Now why would I tell you that? Auras have never done anything for me.”

“What do you want?”

He stood and crossed the room to me. “I need cash and lots of it. I have to skip town and fast.”

“What’s the rush?”

“Cyrus. He’s going to have me out of here in no time—”

“Not possible.”

“—and when he does, he’s going to think I told you something valuable. He’ll drag the truth out of me any way he can.”

“Why hasn’t he done that already?” I asked.

“Because we had a deal, and I helped him from inside Lucent.”

“By getting other Guardians to switch sides.”

The corner of his mouth rose. “Among other things, but our arrangement was supposed to end tonight. I’d give him what he wanted, and he’d pay me an insane amount of money to leave forever. I was planning to go to Amsterdam, but now all that’s changed, thanks to you. And if I don’t get out of here, like within the next few hours, I’m a dead man.”

If what Jackson was saying was true, and we did give him what he wanted, we might learn everything about Cyrus, including where he was hiding Sophie and the other Auras. “I’m sure the Auran Council will oblige you, but first you have to give me something so I know you actually have information they will want.”

He stood and brushed his hands off. “Deal.”

“So what is it?”

He walked toward me slowly. “I know where the witches are. I hid them.”

“Witches?”

“That’s all I’m going to say. Get me a bunch of money, and I’ll tell you everything, but hurry. There’s not much time.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You keep talking like you’re leaving. No one’s going to get you out of here.”

“Maybe it’s you who should be leaving.” His gaze slowly met mine, and I shivered. “There’s a storm coming, and anyone within a twenty-mile radius of this place isn’t going to survive. In a way, I feel sorry for you girls. You simply have no idea.”

“Don’t feel sorry for us. It’s you that should be worried.”

“Ah, feisty Llona. You think you’re so strong, but your world’s about to be turned upside down.” He laughed.

Air caught in my chest, and I instantly thought of Christian. “What do you know?”

He laughed harder and said, “I wish I could be there to see your face.”

A familiar anger, burning from my Vyken-half, made me punch the door. “Tell me!”

“What’s going on?” Liam said from behind me.

I turned around, my chest heaving. “This jerk’s telling lies.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Jackson said from within his cell. I hit the door again.

Liam took hold of my arm and pulled me toward the stairs at the end of the hallway. “You okay?”

“I was actually feeling pretty good till he got me all riled up.”

He let go of my arm. “You felt good?”

I nodded and smiled a little, despite the conversation with Jackson. “Yes. Better than I’ve felt in a long time. Thanks for letting me crash in your room. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“Not at all. I’m just glad you’re feeling better. I’d say you even look better.”

“I didn’t realize I was looking bad.”

His smile faded. “Not bad, just sad.”

I cleared my throat and glanced away. “What time is it?”

Liam turned up the stairs. “Late. Everyone’s been asking for you. I’m glad you’re awake, because I was out of excuses.”

I bounded after him, trying to decide whether to tell him about Jackson now or when we were all together with Dr. Han. “Did I miss breakfast?”

“And lunch and dinner.”

“You mean I slept a whole day and night?”

“I always said you were lazy.” He grinned and dodged my lazy punch.

I followed Liam into Cyrus’s office. My smile disappeared. Once again, painful images tried to resurface, and I stumbled, but this time I caught myself on the desk.

Liam glanced back at me. “You good?”

I nodded and sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll get used to it.” As soon as my head cleared, I swallowed and said, “Before we go down there, I have to tell you what Jackson said.”

“Go on.”

“Something’s been bothering me for a while. I couldn’t ever understand why Cyrus treated Jackson like his right-hand guy. I mean, I know Cyrus has other Guardians working for him, but he doesn’t keep them as close as Jackson.”

Liam took two steps toward me, intently listening.

“When I was talking to Jackson just now, he was pretty convinced that Cyrus was going to bust him out of here as soon as possible to keep him from talking. And I’ll admit, Jackson did seem a little spooked.”

“But that’s impossible! The tunnel door is sealed, which means someone would have to open it from the inside or come through the school, passing countless Auras. Besides, Arik and Aaron are downstairs.”

“I agree. I’m not convinced Cyrus is coming for him, but Jackson is sure of it.”

“So what does Jackson want?” Liam asked.

“He wants money and his freedom in exchange for telling us everything, including where Cyrus is holding Sophie and the girls.”

“But how can we trust him?”

I paused for a moment, thinking back to our conversation, “He said he knows where the witches are, that he hid them for leverage over Cyrus and to get a lot of money.”

“Witches? As in the three witches who originally created the Shadow?”

“He wouldn’t say anything else, but, yeah, I assume so. We need to contact the Council right away and tell them to give Jackson whatever he wants.”

Liam paced the room and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Liam?”

He turned around. “You can tell the Council this morning. They’re here.”

“Here? Why?”

“Remember? The meeting about Lucent’s security and who should take Cyrus’s place as president?”

I groaned, frustrated that I had slept so much. I had wanted to prepare some sort of speech, something motivational that would make them change their minds about Auras learning to fight, but so much for that. It was a small hope I had anyway.

“Don’t worry about saying anything to them though,” Liam said. “I’ll find Dr. Han and tell him about Jackson’s demands. I think it should be him that requests the Council’s assistance in this matter.”

I nodded in agreement and followed him from the room. A request like that would have to come from someone inside their circle. The Auran Council consisted of nine members, three from each Auran school. In addition to Lucent, there was Ellie Academy in Ireland and Ruddy Academy in Australia. I was still upset at them for waiting so long to have this meeting. They should’ve met the day after Cyrus attacked Lucent. We were lucky we hadn’t been attacked again.

The moment I walked into the dining room with Liam at my side, all eyes turned on me. It reminded me of my first day here. Except this time I was a different person, stronger and more focused. I was not the angry, confused girl who didn’t know what was happening to her.

And this time was also different because I had friends. They surrounded me now. Liam left me alone and joined the twins at a nearby table.

Tessa hugged me first. “It’s so good to see you!”

I squeezed her back, noting how she’d changed. Her hair was cut into a bob, and she was wearing normal clothes, fashionable even. But more than that, she looked happy.

Tessa and I had grown close over the last several months, which, according to others, shouldn’t happen. Lizens were supposed to serve Auras and nothing more, but, like many things at Lucent, I thought that rule old fashioned and, honestly, stupid.

I glanced around at the other Lizen women as they began to serve breakfast to the Auran girls. They, too, looked better and less depressed. As soon as Cyrus was gone, Dr. Han had announced that Lizens would be paid for their work should they choose to stay at Lucent. Most did. Tessa, however, only worked three days a week. The other days she attended a local college even though she was only seventeen. I couldn’t be more proud of her.

“My turn, hog,” Kiera said and pushed Tessa out of the way. Kiera hugged me hard. She’d grown stronger. Good. She pulled away and narrowed her eyes at me. “Sleeping the day away didn’t do you any favors. What happened to your hair?”

“As if I could change it.” I attempted to smooth it back, wishing I would’ve ran a brush through it first before coming in here.

We moved to Liam’s table. Everyone avoided the seat next to him. It was just a given that it was meant for me. May sat on my left, and next to her was Aaron. He was leaning toward her while she giggled about something he was saying. They seemed a lot closer than when I left. Something I’d have to ask her about later.

“Are you ready for today?” Arik, who was sitting on the other side of Aaron, asked me through a huge bite of pancakes.

“Not really, but I’ll think of something to say.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to wing it,” May groaned.

I sort of smiled and shrugged.

May shook her head. “That’s not good.”

“I know! I’ll probably say something I’ll totally regret and end up offending everyone on the Council.”

“That was bound to happen either way,” Liam said, grinning. He leaned in closer and added, “Dr. Han’s right over there. I’ll be right back.”

I nodded and swirled my fork through the syrup on my plate, thinking of what I should say to the Council. I couldn’t screw this up. If I could get them to back me up, then a lot more girls would join my class.

Before I knew it, breakfast was over.

“You’ll do great,” Liam whispered in my ear. I looked up, surprised to see that everyone was gone from our table. “Dr. Han’s waiting for us.”

I inhaled a solid breath and stood up. I may not know exactly what I was going to say, but I couldn’t wait to speak. Lucent Academy had to change if we were to survive.