Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Professor Stoll dismissed the rest of our class early. Pia and I followed him back to the classroom, where we sat in silence at two desks in front of the room.
He paced back and forth, tapping a finger on his chin and muttering to himself in confusion. I was scared to interrupt him while he was so deep in thought, but no one had even told me what was going on yet.
“What happened? What does he mean that I may have discovered my gift?” I leaned over and whispered in Pia’s ear.
She kept her eyes straight ahead as she spoke to me in a whisper.
“I never even got the chance to try and heal you.
You kept telling me not to, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to wield my magic,” she said quietly so as to not disturb Stoll, who seemed to be in the midst of an existential crisis.
“What are you talking about?” She couldn't have possibly heard me say that—I never actually said the words out loud.
“You didn't block my magic by putting up a shield, you stopped me from being able to use it at all.” Her head ripped towards me, her gaze hollow. “Maeve.” She said my name much too seriously for my liking. “You controlled me.”
I sputtered in complete shock, shaking my head in denial. “No. There's no way. I must have just threw a successful mental shield.”
I rotated away from her, turning my attention back to Stoll, who, to be honest, was freaking me out a bit with his consistent pacing and murmuring. All of a sudden, he halted and pointed a finger at Pia. “Go fetch Sebastian Hawthorne,” he demanded.
Pia didn't hesitate for a single second. Before I knew it, she was out the door. I watched her go and slouched my shoulders. She seemed really unsettled.
Professor Stoll placed his hands on my desk. “She's absolutely right,” he said, referring to what Pia just told me. I was surprised he heard her over his crazed muttering.
I shook my head again. “No, Professor, that's just not possible. Pia must have misunderstood what actually happened. I was trying to put up a shield against her magic, like you said. I was focusing on the ocean. I was telling her magic not to heal me, but it was all in my head. I—” I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Did I really say it out loud? I raised my gaze to his as realization dawned on me.
“How?” I asked so quietly that I could barely hear myself speak.
“I've heard rumor that this kind of magic could be possible from Blythe’s gift of the constellastone, but it’s never been proven.
It seemed impossible, so I never truly considered that you may hold this kind of power,” he replied with a turn of his back, making for a bookshelf in the corner of the room.
His finger ran down the bindings, stopping to pull a deep-blue manuscript from the shelf.
Dust flew into my eyes when he slammed the book down on the surface of my desk. Eyes watering, I blinked away the pain to read the cover out loud, “The Gods and Goddesses of Life.”
Without a word, Stoll flipped through the pages as if he knew the book like the back of his hand.
He stopped near the end, then read from the page aloud.
“As the strongest of the gods, Blythe is known for honoring the sacred constellastone. The goddess is devoted to captivating the minds of all souls within the realms of nature. Blythe is said to hold the most exquisite power of all the gods, though no one knows precisely what that power is. Every being with a soul is at the mercy of the goddess.”
He skimmed his eyes to the middle of the page.
“It is presumed through ancient tellings, that if the goddess were to ever find one worthy of her power, the individual would have noticeably different abilities than those gifted by one of the other seven gods.” He pointed a bony finger to an illustration on the bottom of the page, which showed Blythe standing open-armed under a sky full of constellations.
I moved my face closer to the image. The constellations were shaped as the aspects of nature that the other gods controlled. One constellation was shaped as a wave, representing Thea. Another was a tree, for Sloane.
“It is also claimed that there may be more to Blythe’s power than us mortals even know,” I read the last line of the page to myself, then raised my eyes to Stoll’s face. “How can we be sure about this? Are you positive that what I did was more than a shield?”
Stoll nodded and closed the book suddenly, his voice shaking as he spoke.
“Today when you thought you were shielding, you instead accidentally discovered the extent of your power. You took control over the psyche of your classmate without even meaning to. Think about it. Blythe’s the Goddess of the Mind—the idea isn’t so far out there.
” He stared at me for a moment, trying to see inside of my brain.
The examination caused me to twitch in discomfort, and my body tensed until he removed himself from my presence to return the book to its spot on the shelf.
In his absence, I remembered what Pia said happens to her when she harnesses her power. She felt a tingle in her amethyst as her power rushed through her. When I tried to block her out today, I felt something similar in my face—in my constellastones.
“I can manipulate minds,” I said the words to myself, needing to speak them aloud to make them seem real.
That will need some time to sink in.
I was already the odd one out with my constellastones. If the other students didn't think I was a mutant before, they certainly would now.
Stoll sat down behind his desk and placed his head into his hands. I took on a similar pose, looking down at my lap and picking the skin on my fingers. Neither of us looked up until the sound of heavy footsteps came marching down the hallway.
I raised my head as Sebastian strode into the room, wearing a look of concern on his face. Our eyes met briefly as he gave me a sideways glance, and he seemed to relax a bit when he saw me alive.
Lowering my head once more, I broke our connection. Unsure as to why, I felt slightly embarrassed. I should have been ecstatic over the discovery of my power, but everyone’s reactions didn't make it feel like something to celebrate.
I tuned out their voices as Stoll explained what happened.
I did however peek up from the corner of my eye, expecting to see Sebastian's mouth agape with shock, but he didn't look surprised at all.
His expression was completely static as he stood there with his arms crossed, his hands clutching the muscles of his biceps.
I didn't know how he was able to keep his composure when hearing information as insane as this, but I guessed it had something to do with his years of being a soldier.
I raised my gaze a bit more so that I could really look at him. We had a rough start, but gods…
Everything about that man was impeccable. His broad shoulders. The sharpness of his jawline. The way his dark hair always laid perfectly. Every little detail about him was ethereal.
Maybe it was the way the sleeve of his shirt was rolled up, but I was just now noticing that he had a tattoo on his upper arm. I squinted my eyes to try and see it better. It looked like it could be a dagger, or maybe a sword? Regardless…hot.
He was deep in conversation with Stoll, so he didn't notice how my cheeks flushed as I watched him run his hand through his hair. The movement caused his bicep to flex and tighten, which in return caused a chain reaction through my body that began in my stomach and ended in my—
My almost inappropriate thoughts were interrupted by the figure of the man I was daydreaming about hovering over where I sat. Sebastian’s body blocked my view of Stoll, but I heard his feet scurry out of the room.
My cheeks paled as I tilted my neck back to look up at him. He was so silent that I feared he knew the things I was just thinking about him.
The intensity of Sebastian’s unfaltering gaze created a tension that was begging to be broken, so I spoke. “Turns out my gemstones didn’t screw me over after all,” I said playfully, although I was sure he could sense the apprehension in my voice.
The corner of his lips raised into a faint smile, and he offered me his hand. I wasn't sure if he even realized that his thumb rubbed across my wrist as he helped me up from my desk, but I did.
“Stoll filled me in,” he said, releasing his hold on me all too quickly.
I swallowed the knot in my throat and nodded. “So you're aware that I’m a freak who can control minds?”
“I already knew you were a freak. The mind control, however, is news,” he teased, smirking as he stepped aside to let me exit the classroom first.
I fake gasped. “Rude.”
He chuckled, moving to walk beside me once we were outside.
“So, what happens now?” I asked him, so many questions clouding my brain.
“Unfortunately, Stoll is informing my father right now about your power emerging. He is going to want to speak with you, which is where I’m taking you right now.”
I stopped walking.
He stopped as well, turning to look at me. He didn't say anything, just waited for me to yell at him over having to meet with the king.
I wanted to, but I held my tongue.
“I don't want to see him, either, if it's any consolation.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek to hide the smile that his comment sparked. Then I swallowed my pride and forced my legs to continue forward.
The air was warm today, soaked with the smell of fall creeping its way in.
I inhaled deeply, also noticing the faint aroma of salt that had drifted its way to us from the sea.
There was a refreshing breeze, the same one that was always present when in such close proximity to the shore.
The wind blew some hairs free from my braid, and I brushed them aside, tucking the pieces snuggly behind my ears.