Chapter 13 #2
The room erupted in a cacophony of lights and voices bouncing off the protective dome, and the sudden noise made Ember’s chest tighten, reminding her briefly of a crumbling mansion at the top of a hill, bits of stained glass flying through the air and cutting into her skin.
She closed her eyes as she drew in a breath, chest shaking as she tried to forget, to erase the nightmare that replayed in her mind on an almost nightly basis.
“You okay, Starshine?” Killian asked, as he gently squeezed her arm, his fingers lingering on her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps.
“Of course.” She nodded, shaking her shoulders loose as she looked toward the brick wall. “Just trying to focus.”
Killian nodded, a nod that told her he didn’t quite believe her but knew better than to pry.
Ember narrowed her eyes at the wall, holding her arm steady in front of her.
She took in a slow breath before quickly rotating her arm, flipping her wrist and flinging her palm open.
Ember’s chest shook as visions of a friend with brown curls and a glowing smile flitted through her mind.
Studying in the grass outside of Heksheim, laughing in the orchard at the Kitts’ farm, morning meetings at Hidden Moon.
Grief and anger moved through her veins like fire, igniting her skin as tears pricked the corner of her eyes.
“Destra!” she almost shouted, anger bubbling in her chest she wasn’t fully aware was there.
The wall in front of her crumbled, blasting into a thousand tiny pieces that flew through the air.
The room quieted as everyone whipped their heads around.
Ember dropped her arm, taking a step back and curling into herself as she folded her arms tightly over her chest.
“Very impressive, Miss Lothbrok,” Professor Walsh almost smiled.
“Perhaps we will learn the repairing charm next.” She silently flipped her wrist, and the wall quickly shifted back into place, not even dust left on the pristine floor.
“The trick with destra is to give enough power to the spell, but not so much that those around you are injured as well. It is a tricky thing to control this sort of raw power. Tricky, but not impossible.”
Fen gave Ember a smile, and the class continued, her chest feeling lighter as she practiced the spell repeatedly, focusing on not letting her anger give the spell more power than it required.
As quickly as the class began, it ended, and soon everyone was packing their bags and chattering away as they headed out the large wooden doors.
“I don’t know about you lot,” Fen announced, as he slung his bag over his shoulder, “but I could really go for a snack.”
Ember rolled her eyes as Killian nodded vigorously, and the trio set off out the door and toward the little cafe on the ground floor.
She stopped and turned around, watching Odette quietly pack her things.
Ember didn’t miss the fact that the girl was always alone—how people tended to walk in the other direction when she came down the hall.
Odette Quinn was odd, even by Vala standards, and Ember knew all too well how that felt.
After all, she was the one people whispered about in the hall for most of her childhood.
“Odette!” Ember smiled as the girl began to walk toward the large double doors. “Fancy some tea?”
Odette’s smile grew as she nodded. “That sounds lovely,” she replied quietly.
After quickly making their way down the moving steps, laughing as Killian tried—and failed—to slide down the banister, they slipped into the small cafe and found an empty table at the back of the room.
Killian made his way to the empty counter where tea kettles and coffee pots were charmed to pour themselves into waiting mugs.
Ember sighed happily as she slipped her bag off her shoulder and breathed in the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and tea with scones and jam.
Her mouth began to water as she pulled her Elemental Magic textbook out of her bag, flipping to the chapter she had been reading the day before.
Killian returned and placed a teacup in front of her before taking his seat beside her.
“One sugar and a dash of Invigorating draught.” He smiled as he pulled out his textbook and plopped it on the table in front of him.
Ember’s face flushed—did she really look that tired? And when had Killian memorized how she took her tea? She shook her head as she focused on the text in front of her.
“So, are we going to talk about last night?” Fen asked, bits of scones falling onto the table as he talked. Ember wrinkled her nose as she shoved a napkin in his direction and brushed the crumbs from the pages of her book.
“What’s there to talk about?” Killian asked, as he tore a piece of paper from a notebook and began folding it. “It’s not like we can change anything.”
“Maybe not,” Fen said, as he chewed thoughtfully, “but we can’t very well sit around doing nothing, either.”
“And what do you propose we do?” Killian replied. “Go knock on doors across the island and demand we check their property for abducted children?”
Fen shrugged as he tapped on the table thoughtfully.
Killian folded his paper a few more times before laying an origami on the table in front of him.
He mumbled under his breath, and the bird began to flutter its wings, floating up from the table and flying around Fen’s head, pecking lightly at his glasses.
Fen fought the paper bird as Killian laughed, and Ember sighed as she laid down her pen.
“I don’t think it’s the citizens around the island we have to worry about,” she said, as she took a sip of her tea and silently summoned the bird toward her, laying it gently in the middle of the table.
“Oh?” Killian said, as he leaned back in his chair. “Care to share your thoughts with the class, Starshine?”
“I mean, think about it,” she said, as she closed her book. “The Guard has been all over the island placing and reinforcing wards. Chief Thornsten himself has been overseeing it. Even a more experienced ward breaker would struggle to get through them.”
“So, what are you saying?” Fen asked, as he scrunched his brow. Killian levitated the paper bird in the middle of the table, and it fluttered gently over to Ember, nuzzling its beak against her hand. Ember smiled as her cheeks flushed, and Killian shot her wink.
“I think what she’s saying,” he said, as he slowly turned his eyes from her to Fen, “is that the call is coming from inside the house.”
“What?” Fen said, as he pushed her glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Think about it,” Ember continued, as she took another sip of her tea.
“The only way the kidnappings make any sense is if someone in the Guard had something to do with it. The wards are not only keyed to the people in the homes, but to certain Wardens as well. They have full access to take them down or reconfigure them whenever they want.” She tapped her finger on the table thoughtfully as she lowered her voice.
“The only thing that makes any sense is that it’s an inside job. ”
“You think Chief Thornsten is behind this?” Odette asked, as she summoned a cup of tea and took a sip. Fen jumped, almost like he forgot she was there. She was so quiet it was easy to miss her if you weren’t looking.
“Not necessarily him,” Ember said, as she shook her head. “I can’t imagine he would get his hands dirty like this. But someone underneath him? Absolutely.”
The table grew silent as they each lost themselves in their own thoughts.
If this wasn’t a random thing, if there were government officials behind this, what did that mean for them?
For the island? This felt like too much for any one person to tackle alone, let alone a group of sixteen-year-old kids.
“You saw something last night, didn’t you?” Odette asked quietly. “When you touched the wisps, you saw something.”
Ember swallowed dryly, palms beginning to sweat. She had tried not to think about the vision she had, about the woman sinking beneath the waves—about the unearthly song that came from her lips.
“It was just a strange dream.” She tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, but the tremor in her voice was evident. “There was a woman in a boat during a storm. I think she was drowning. I thought it was my mum at first, like a memory of sorts, but now I’m not sure.”
Odette just nodded her head as she furrowed her brow. “How interesting,” was all she mumbled.
“So, what do we do now?” Fen asked quietly, as he looked around them.
“Not hatching any evil plans, are we?” a voice said from behind them.
Fen stiffened, and Killian instinctively grabbed Ember’s hand under the table as the Ellingboe twins waltzed up next to them. Ember felt Killian’s grip tighten as Oryn placed his hand on his shoulder.
“What do you want, Oryn?” Killian said through gritted teeth.
“Now, now, cousin, why the hostility? That’s not how you treat family.” Oryn grinned, flashing his teeth at the boy beside him.
Ember gently squeezed Killian’s hand—partly for support, and partly because he was cutting off the circulation to her fingers—and she felt him relax beside her.
“We were just coming to see if you would be coming by the manor this weekend,” Veda said, as she adjusted the sleeve of her sweater. “Daddy seems to think a family meeting is in order. He and Uncle Magnus asked us to relay the message.”
Killian rolled his eyes as he drummed his fingers on the table. “If my father needs me, he can ask me himself. I don’t need to hear it from the two of you.”
“Feisty today, aren’t we, cousins?” Oryn asked with a smile, as his eyes drifted to Ember, looking her up and down. “Lothbrok seems to be rubbing off on you.”