Chapter Eleven
Selene
“Welcome back.” Sydney lounged on her bed, drawing on her tablet. “Are you coming to dinner with us tonight?”
“Not tonight.” I went farther into our room, Viv walking in behind me. Sydney had been the one to convince me to go to dinner the last few times. She was growing on me, but I didn’t have an appetite and Viv and I needed time together. I clutched the box in my arms.
Sydney looked up, her expression falling when she saw us.
“No problem. Maybe tomorrow.” She set her tablet down and climbed off her bed. “I think I’m going to go for a walk before dinner. Let me know if you need anything.”
I nodded, and Viv kept her head down, her hair falling into her face. Sydney wasn’t going to go for a walk—it was raining—but the privacy was appreciated.
Once the door closed, I set the box, which was still nested inside my jacket, on my bed. I had put the urn back inside its box, not wanting to draw attention on my way back to my dorm. A student walking around with an urn would raise enough questions.
My shirt was drenched but the box remained dry.
I turned to face Viv but before I could say anything, she ran into my arms.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.” I wrapped my arms tight around her.
“What I’ve said before … I’m,” Viv’s chest heaved as she tried catching a breath, “I’m not okay, Sal. I miss her.”
“I do too.” I squeezed her tighter as her tears dampened my shoulder.
“It’s my fault.” Viv’s voice cracked. “Why don’t you hate me?”
I pulled back to look at her, pushing her wet hair out of her face. “It’s not your fault.”
“It has to be.” She sniffed, mustering up enough composure so she could speak clearly. “All because I had wanted to go into town.”
I didn’t let myself react, but I remembered the night she was referencing very clearly.
Mom had gone into town earlier that week to get some supplies.
A few days later, she had come down with a cold.
The third night of what we believed was the flu, she was starting to feel slightly better but was exhausted.
She had fallen asleep in her bed early that night, unrousable.
After my shower, I had gone to see if Viv wanted to go lay out on the cool sand and watch the stars at our secluded Caribbean island home.
When I couldn’t find her, I began to panic and checked out front.
The side-by-side was gone and nailed to the tree where it was normally parked hung a note with Viv’s handwriting.
Went into town. Be back in two hours. I would have invited you, but you’d say no. Maybe next time.
-V
My panic had turned into agitation. She had known we weren’t allowed to leave unless it was authorized by and with Mom, and that rule was to keep our family safe.
Viv had even turned off the perimeter alarms. I had hopped on my bike and went after her, knowing it was going to take me at least thirty minutes of hard pedaling to get to town.
I had found the side-by-side hidden off the path.
Leaving the bike there, I had begun searching through the small town—it shouldn’t have been hard to find her.
It hadn’t been until I heard a couple grunts outside a row of houses that I found her.
When I had rounded the corner, she was holding a cat as three boys sat on the dirt, a mix of shock and anger in their eyes.
“V,” I said, not wanting to use her name, “what happened?”
“They were picking on this poor little thing.” She strode toward me, stroking the diluted tortoise shell cat who happily purred in her arms. “I didn’t use any magic,” she added quietly.
I had glanced behind her at the boys on the ground, checking to see if they picked up on her whisper. Two of them were rubbing their shoulders while the other was slowly making his way to his feet. The one attempting to stand appeared to be slightly older than me.
“Come on. Let’s go.” I put a hand on her back, leading her toward the way I had come and eyed the content feline in her arms. “We can drop the cat off at a building a few blocks up.”
Vivian snapped her head in my direction. “She likes me. She can ride in my lap.”
“We are not taking her home.” I scowled. “Mom’s not going to believe that a cat wandered that far out into the forest. She’ll know it came from town.”
“You’re …” Viv stumbled with her words as she glanced at me. “You mean you’re not going to tell Mom?”
Not if Mom doesn’t find out on her own.
Instead of answering her question, I nodded in the direction in front of us. “I saw cat food and little huts made for the street cats underneath a canopy. She’ll be fine there.”
We dropped off the cat—Vivian no longer arguing once she realized she couldn’t take it home—and continued making our way to the side-by-side and my bike.
But before we made it, a shadow fell in front of us and I recognized him as one of the three boys Vivian had downed.
He had been the one getting to his feet.
Based on his frantic breathing, he must have run to be able to cut us off. He wouldn’t have been a concern if he hadn’t been pointing a small firearm at us.
“Crap,” Vivian muttered.
Crap was right. The hands of the teenager were shaking, but his narrowed eyes and set jaw didn’t hold back his determination and the anger fueling him.
Was he drunk?
I didn’t have time to ponder that question because his finger squeezed the trigger.
Viv was already starting to dive, but I dove at her anyway, covering her as we fell to the dirt.
The closest cover was a tree to our left and a building to our right, but neither were close enough.
The boy fired two more shots, missing each time.
Yep. Either he’s drunk or has awful aim.
While Viv and I stood, I tried to think of a way to subdue him while avoiding getting shot—and without magic. We couldn’t let them know what we were.
Before any ideas came to mind, another shot came from behind me and a touch of static filled the air as a bullet whizzed by my shoulder.
I swirled around to see one of the other boys flying into a nearby closed mini store, a blue barrel full of liquid rolling after him.
Viv had her arms stretched out, having used her water magic to strike the boy with the water barrel.
Being a level four water mage, she could be dangerous.
If she hadn’t used her magic, I probably would have been down with a bullet in my chest.
The assailant’s eyes had widened, and he briefly lowered his gun. When he went to raise it again, I projected my magic, feeling the cool, smooth surface of a nearby rock, and flung it at his head. He fell to the ground. I hoped the rock had hit him hard enough that he would forget the last hour.
“Let’s go,” I said to Viv, and we started running, unsure where the third boy had gone.
The memory dug its sharp nails into my mind.
It was my duty as Vivian’s sister to protect her—instead, I chose to be her friend that night.
If I had told Mom what had happened, she would have taken precautionary measures, and honestly, we might have relocated.
Mom would have been alive if I had been more mature instead of worrying about the consequences for Viv and that she’d hate me.
My shortsightedness had opposing deadly consequences.
“No. Viv.” I put my forehead to hers. “Do not put the blame on yourself. There are a hundred different ways the dark mages could have found us. No one would have believed three drunken teenagers. Plus, do you really think they went around saying they were shooting at a couple of girls who could move objects with their minds?”
Actually, that’s probably exactly what happened—or a version of it. But sometimes, small lies help protect a person from themselves. Mom had always been careful on her runs into town, but I wasn’t going to let Viv think it was her fault—I could have prevented both that night and Mom’s death.
Viv pulled back, looking at the urn on my desk. She set her shoulders back, a sign that she was building her walls back up. I couldn’t tell if she believed what I had said, but I had my doubts.
“I don’t think they’re gone,” Viv said after a moment. “The dark mages who were after Mom, they’ll find us.”
I looked across the room, staring at the abstract art hanging on Sydney’s wall, the reds and blues mixing together like hot flames.
And I would do my best to keep them away from Viv and prevent them from hurting her.