Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Selene
It had been a long trip to Dominica. Ender’s vehicle navigated through the snow with ease.
The guard—Guard Taylor—who had stopped us at the academy followed us all the way to the airport.
John messaged me, informing us that he was to ensure our safety until we were on the plane.
He was concerned there could’ve been a dark mage outside the dome and didn’t want us to be followed.
Surprisingly, I was relieved once it was just Ender and me.
The flights were uneventful, and Ender helped pitch in for costs, even though I had enough money stowed in my bag and the guard had attempted to hand us a prepaid Visa at our boarding gate.
I kept John updated through our travels, per his request, and Ender informed his guardian.
Though John was disappointed I hadn’t accepted a pair of guards to join us, he appreciated that I kept him up to date about our plans and our whereabouts.
He seemed slightly relieved I hadn’t gone alone.
I stared at the quaint island cottage that I had called home my entire life, part of it in shambles. Our own private piece of paradise, as Mom had called it. It was the only house for half a mile on either side along the ocean.
The door creaked open as I pushed against its cracked wood and stepped through the threshold. The broken pieces of wood, burnt soot trails, and glass shards brought together the disturbing memory of that horrifying day.
Fractions. I hate fractions. That had been my last thought before my world came crashing down.
I had been scribbling numbers on my homework, the swaying of the hammock making my writing even messier.
Viv’s cheers were distracting as she jumped over the small incoming waves like she was a kid again and not a teenager, water dusting her shorts.
The heat from the sun would dry them quickly.
“Girls!” Mom had shouted from the back porch stretching over a mix of sand and grass, the alarm in her voice giving me goosebumps. “Get inside! Now!”
I had shot straight up, clutching my notebook.
Never had I heard her voice so commanding yet full of alarm.
I went to wave Viv to hurry up, but she was frozen in place, her gaze fixed on the ocean.
My heart began to race as soon as the pungent odor struck me.
Before I could react, the ocean water rushed at us.
The water burned as its force knocked me out of the hammock and onto the sandy ground.
I sat up, coughing out water.
“Viv!” I shouted as I blinked away the burn from the salt and sand.
My blurry vision slowly began to focus on the three hooded figures standing at the water’s edge. Though I couldn’t see their faces, I could feel the one front and center staring at me, as if it were looking into my soul and freezing me to my core.
“Run.” Mom hoisted me onto my feet.
Viv had been blown back away from the water’s edge and was scrambling to her feet.
“Viv!” I shouted again and she turned. Her face was pale as she ran over to us.
“Now. Selene.” Mom never called me Selene.
I grabbed Viv’s arm and tugged her up the cottage steps as loud crashes that sounded like thunder boomed behind us. I have to get me and Viv out safely, no matter what. That had been the drill if we were ever attacked.
“Mom!” Viv cried out as I rushed her into the living room and led her behind the rocking chair. The same one Mom had rocked us in when we were little.
“Stay here.” I placed my hands on her shoulders. “I’ll get Mom. If I’m not back in five minutes, take the car and go.”
Before Viv could protest, I was running through the living room and toward the back door. Just as I reached for the handle, the door swung open. Mom rushed in, slamming the door behind her and locking it.
“The enchantment won’t hold for long.” Mom turned to face me, her brown hair astray and clothes soaked and torn. “Get Viv and go.”
“But—”
A loud boom echoed through the house as wood splinters and glass shards flew everywhere.
Water exploded through the back door, cracking its frame.
The rush of water sent me flying backward, parts of my home landing on top of me.
I shoved a wooden plank off my stomach and sat up.
Dust sparkled in the sun as if time had stopped.
A ringing in my ears began to fade, and I tried to calm my overwhelming panic as I stared at a hole where our back door and kitchen cupboards had been.
A hand touched mine and I glanced over to see Mom smiling at me. Why was she smiling?
“Sweetheart. You have a full life ahead of you.” Mom brushed a strand of hair from my face that had strayed from my braids. “No matter what happens, you need to take your sister to the safe house. Do not look back. Go. I will always be with you. I love you, sweetheart.”
My mom moved her hands in a circle and thrust them out toward me. Her air magic slid me backward, and she began an enchantment. Our house plants grew thick vines as she weaved them through each other, creating a wall and shielding Viv and me.
“Mom!” I slammed my fists against the wall, but it wouldn’t budge.
I used a nearby glass shard, lifting it with my air magic and bringing it to me.
I began chopping away at a vine, earning a small gash in my hand, but it was no use.
Though she was a level four and I was a five, the vines were strong and I couldn’t manipulate them.
She had used an enchantment and was more skilled.
“Stay away from my girls,” Mom gritted through her teeth.
Through the cracks, I could see one of the hooded figures. There was no way I could get to her in time, and running around the cottage would leave Viv completely alone.
Mom went to fight, but her body went rigid and she lifted into the air as the dark mage strode closer. From where I was, I couldn’t see her face, but I could hear her pain.
“No,” I whispered, the world spinning. “No!”
The dark mage was controlling her by the water running through her veins. Blood magic. It could only be used by dark mages who had been powerful before their descent. Mom had told us stories, but they hadn’t existed for centuries.
A red glow radiated over Mom’s skin and black liquid floated through the air toward the dark mage who stood only a couple feet away.
He was siphoning her magic. Bursts of white light cracked through the red glow, like Mom’s good magic was pushing out the evil magic.
And it looked like the light was about to blow.
“Viv! Get outside!” I ran over to her and guided her outside.
Once I was reassured Viv would stay, I went back inside, but before I could make it halfway through the living room, white light burst out and I briefly shielded my eyes. The vine wall disintegrated, smoke filling the air.
Once everything settled, I found Mom lying on the ground and the dark mage a smoking heap in the kitchen, their black robe covering them.
“Mom!” I ran to her. Her skin looked like it had been burned, and her tears left clear streaks on her smudged face, but she was smiling at me.
“Don’t look at me like that.” It was the same smile she had given me earlier, except now, it seemed to hold a definite finality. She wasn’t coming back from this.
She searched my face—for what? I didn’t know.
“Your father, Sal. He—” Blood bubbled from my mom’s mouth and she coughed. Once her coughing stopped, her eyes, which were once full of life, faded, her head lolling to the side.
“No … no. No. No!” The world had ceased just like my mom’s heart, and an eerie stillness of magic crackled in the air and then burst outward like an invisible beacon.
I slumped over. My mother was my world. She had been with me my entire life. Not only was she my teacher, mentor, trainer, and mother, but she was the heart and soul that had fueled me. I would be lost without her.
“Sal?” Viv’s worried voice came from outside. I could hear her steps get closer to the front door.
“Stay out there, Viv!” I could not have her see Mom in that condition. But I still had to fight for her, fight the empty, dark void that had left a gaping hole inside me. Viv was my motivation for fighting.
The dark mage had moved—or so I had thought. I stared at the still body until the bloodied hand marked with a black circle on its left palm twitched. They were still alive.
One of the other dark mages had entered the enormous hole that had been our back door and part of our kitchen.
Before he could attack, I felt for the sand with my magic.
The sand at the dark mage’s feet rose. A scream tore from my throat as the sand swirled around the dark mage, eating away at each layer of fabric like sandpaper.
“Sal!” Viv hollered from the door. I turned to see her. Broken boards scattered around Mom, hiding the majority of her from Viv’s view. I ceased my magic as the dark mage fell to his knees. We had to leave. If we didn’t, the dark mage would—
“Hey.” Ender’s soft voice broke me out of my own nightmare.
I blinked as I came back to the present and my broken home in front of me.
Hot tears ran down my cheeks at the ache of the memory.
The cottage looked the same as when I had left Mom almost two months ago—except she was no longer lying lifeless on the floor and caution tape that had once sealed the gaping holes in the cottage now flapped in the warm breeze.
Ender grabbed my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine.
The pain lessened at his touch, but it still threatened to prick my heart a million times, over and over.
I squeezed his hand, glancing at him. His gaze was guarded as he watched me, and he almost looked …
looked like he too was in pain. A phantom pain stabbed my heart—I wasn’t used to empathy.
Before losing Mom, I had only ever been in pain from training. Mom had empathy, but she wouldn’t show it when she was teaching us to defend ourselves. If she did, we surely would have used it against her when we were younger. She had been so strong. She had taught us to be strong.
I swallowed, letting his hand go. It was time to look for any clues—not that there would be any. The council had probably searched the place, and it wasn’t like the dark mages would have left anything behind that indicated who they were. But I needed closure.
My entire life had been inside these walls and on this remote piece of land. Mom had rarely taken us away from the cottage, and usually, that had been to show us how to get to the cabin on the mainland. The island’s salty coconut air was all I had ever known.
An hour later, I hadn’t found anything. It had turned into searching Mom’s belongings among other things, reminiscing. The bedrooms were mostly untouched.
“I think I found something,” Ender called from the living room.
I clutched my mom’s favorite hoodie. It was white and had a small black outline of a ghost on it. Instead of dropping it, I brought it with me to put in my pack. Mom had loved celebrating Halloween.
“What is it?” I asked as I came down the hallway.
“Did your family have a phone?” He held an older-looking cell phone in the air. “It was under the TV stand.”
“No.” I grabbed the phone, dusting it off, and pressed the on button. The screen lit up, surprising me that it hadn’t been damaged in the pandemonium. “None of us had a phone.”
It took the phone a good solid minute to turn on, which felt more like fifteen. I clicked the inbox and a box popped up. My body stilled as confusion slapped me.
There was a message from an unknown number—the same message that had been sent on the phone hidden in John’s office.
They’re coming.