Chapter Six
Professor Julian comes back an hour later.
“Ahh,” he says. “You look somewhat refreshed from your travels. And I see the servants brought you bedding and clothes.”
“Yes, thank you,” I respond.
He looks around the room as if there’s some hidden compartment. “Where’s Gielle?”
I shrug and smile sweetly. “She must have had something important to do.”
Julian frowns and his brow wrinkles. After a moment, he says, “Well, we have a few hours yet until dinner, so I thought I would introduce you to a couple of the other professors.”
I nod and follow him out of the room. My room, which still feels incredibly odd.
We travel down to the second floor and across the huge castle to the opposite wing.
I can’t get over how huge this place is, and how utterly out of place I feel.
The stone walls seem as if they rose from the roots of the earth.
Glowing lanterns in crystal sconces line the walls, their flames flicking an unnatural shade of lavender that is clearly derived from magic.
Massive chandeliers hang from the ceilings in the large public spaces, wrought of metal and glass, each one designed differently.
Some look like flowers, others like leaves, and yet others like the teeth of some ancient creature.
Here and there a stained-glass window takes up an entire wall, casting rainbow hues across the stone tiles.
As we walk, my eyes soak in every detail.
We pass a library filled floor-to-ceiling with books, with strange ladders that appear to be made of glass leading to the highest levels.
Inside, I see a broom moving of its own accord, tidying up.
Another room, which is rounded on the exterior wall and two-stories tall, a tower it seems, has a domed ceiling made entirely of pale-green glass and several enormous metal telescopes designed to look at the night sky.
Then there is a room filled entirely with plants and trees, a forest inside the castle.
There’s a hum of crickets from within, and the scent of soil and flowering things.
I have never been inside a castle, at least to my memory, but I know enough from reading to understand that this castle is not ordinary at all. It is a castle filled with magic, a castle created by fae. A castle that is not meant for my kind.
“Ahh, here we are,” Professor Julian says, pulling me from my observations.
We enter a room that looks like a personal study with a large window on the far side overlooking the castle grounds.
Gray sky and vibrant green fields can be seen beyond.
There’s a long polished wooden table on one side of the room, covered in strange artifacts and stacks of books.
The opposite wall is covered in maps, and I notice there are little dots and icons moving about the maps slowly, though I have no idea what they represent.
A cat sits in a leather chair in one corner, licking its paw as cats are prone to do and looking perfectly ordinary except for the vibrant blue of its fur.
Two fae are waiting for us.
“Embyr, let me introduce you to Professor Wyllora and Professor Gwynoch,” Julian says, waving a hand toward them. They both nod in greeting, eyeing me intently and in a less than friendly manner.
Professor Julian gestures to the fae woman on the left with long black hair and stunning lavender eyes.
“Professor Wyllora is Head Incantrix of the House of Souls. She’s an eleventh-degree spirit summoner.
” He pivots toward the second woman, who is just as tall as the first (of course, all the fae are tall and lithe), but with long silver hair and dark skin.
“Professor Gwynoch is Head Incantrix of the House of Sky. Twelfth-degree air elemental.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I say. I know enough from my travels to know that an Incantrix is the fancy term for a magic wielder, though I have no idea what the degrees mean, or how many levels there are. I file that away mentally for investigation at a future date.
The professors both offer me thin smiles, but it’s clear they are less than enthused to be here. It seems Professor Julian is my only ally at Shadow’s Keep.
“I brought you here, Embyr, because I figured we shouldn’t waste any time in discovering why you appeared at our doorstep, and why you’ve been hunted all these years.
” Professor Julian fixes me in a gaze that makes me feel a bit like a butterfly about to be pinned to a board.
“Whether you realize it or not, there must be something about you that these hunters wish to gain.”
There’s a moment of silence, and under the weight of three sets of heavy gazes, I have to fight the urge to flee the room. Especially since it’s clear from the expressions on the faces of the other two that they don’t believe there’s anything special about me.
So, I decide to rob them of the satisfaction and cut right to the heart of it. “I am flattered, Professor Julian, but what if I’m a perfectly ordinary human? And what if this is all some coincidence, or perhaps I’m only being hunted because of some family vendetta I can’t recall?”
The Professor juts his chin out stubbornly. “Even if that is the case, that must be quite the vendetta for someone to hunt you relentlessly for eight years. That isn’t nothing, is it?”
“I suppose not,” I say slowly. “But I—I hate to impose on your hospitality only to disappoint you.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about that, hmm?” He crosses his arms over his chest and looks down at me. “Come over here by the window. We’re going to do some simple tests.”
I hesitate a moment before forcing my feet to carry me across the room. I hate the way my heart pounds in my chest. “What kind of tests?” I ask when I’m in position by the window, though I know very well what he’s going to say before he says it.
“Magical ones, dear. Now, relax and let us get to work.”
Professor Gwynoch approaches me first, looking at me disdainfully with her turquoise eyes.
She raises elegant hands in the air before her, and I feel a stir of magic.
It feels like a storm brewing… the air growing tighter, an electricity riding on it, a faint taste of metal and rain on the back of my tongue.
A chilly wave of air spirals up and around me, a slow-moving cyclone that encircles my body.
I can feel the moisture on it, and when I fidget in discomfort, I bump into a wall of mist and feel a small zap like lightning against my skin.
I freeze and fight to keep myself from clamping my eyes shut in fear.
After what seems an eternity, the professor lowers her hands and the magic falls still. “Nothing,” she says in a cool tone, casting a pointed gaze at Professor Julian.
Looking unruffled, Julian gestures for Professor Wyllora to approach.
My whole body tenses as the raven-haired fae comes toward me. The elemental air magic had been unnerving enough. What kind of test is an Incantrix who specializes in dead spirits going to perform on me?
Wyllora does not raise her hands as Gwynoch had done.
She simply stands before me, hands clasped behind her back.
I don’t notice anything at first, but then the air begins to grow cold.
Not cool and misty as it had before, but downright icy.
I feel a shiver of air move past my left shoulder, and I flinch.
I can’t help it. There’s another whoosh of air, and riding on it, a soft susurration, a whisper.
My heart starts pounding so loudly I’m certain they can all hear it, my blood feeling like fire in my veins.
The soft stirs and whispers grow in numbers until there are at least a dozen different voices, so faint that I can barely hear them, but loud enough to make me question my sanity.
What’s most unsettling is the way Professor Wyllora’s gaze sweeps back and forth beyond me. She’s clearly looking at something I can’t see. Many somethings.
This test goes on for nearly a quarter hour.
Finally, the voices cut off abruptly and silence falls around me. Wyllora turns to look at Julian. “Nothing yet. The spirits will investigate and get back to me.”
My mouth feels dry, my tongue thick and heavy. “You…you spoke to my ancestors?”
“No, of course not,” she says sharply. “If I had, then I would have answers already. The ones I did summon will seek your ancestors and see if we can discover something useful.” Her tone indicates that she finds this incredibly unlikely.
“And what did the first test do?”
Professor Gwynoch looks bored. “I was testing to see if you had a reaction to the air element. You did not.”
“I could feel it, though… like a storm,” I say.
“That’s not the reaction we’re looking for,” she scoffs.
I raise my brows. “But… it’s not as if I could have magic.”
“On the contrary,” Professor Julian says, “most humans possess at least some magic. It’s just further below the surface and takes more training to summon it, unlike the fae.”
“And you think… you think I possess some sort of magic?”
“One would assume, given your history.” He shrugs. “Why else would these hunters go to such trouble?”
“I can think of several possibilities, Julian,” Wyllora says dryly.
He ignores her, staring at me again in that way that makes me feel like an experiment, a specimen.
“And what is your magic type?” I ask him.
“Oh… I am an earth Incantrix,” he responds as if this is obvious. “Though that is only my primary magic. I dabble in others.”
“And you’ll test me as well?”
“Naturally. But we’ll go outside for my tests.” He turns to the other professors. “Thank you for your time, Professor Wyllora, Professor Gwynoch.”
They turn to leave as if they can’t exit the room fast enough.
“Follow me, Embyr.” Julian turns and leads the way back out into the hallway.