Chapter 42 #2
“It’s not like they are going to send us away if it isn’t. I’m his sister, it’s totally fine.”
A lot of fans — mostly female — lean over the railing to be able to talk to the players. Games like this make the social barrier thinner and make it easier to talk to someone you wouldn’t normally talk to.
But as soon as Aramis sees us, he walks to the side and pulls himself up on the balustrade, balancing on one of his shadow discs so he can meet us. “Hey gorgeous, are you enjoying the game?”
“You’ve played better before, brother, I must say, but I am enjoying myself, thank you for asking.”
“I wasn’t talking to you, dork.”
“Huh, I was completely unaware of that.”
I grin, loving the dynamic between the two of them. “I do. You’re all very fast. Sometimes I can’t even see the ball.”
Arlo joins us, clapping Aramis on his back. “You haven’t seen this one at top speed yet, Mai. No one can beat him.”
“Oh, but I think she does, she has already rid —”
My face burns and I slam my hand across her mouth, pulling her away from the railing.
“We should head back, good luck in the second half.”
I pull her along and remove my hand as soon as we’re in a safe zone. Tears roll down Ami’s cheeks from laughing so hard. “Come on babes, don’t be so prudish. We all know Aramis can shift into an animal, how you’ve ridden him is of none importance.”
“Amira, please!” I beg her, pulling my shoulders high so I can hide between them.
She opens her mouth to say something that will probably only deepen my embarrassment, when the signal sounds that the game will begin again.
The players get a little more competitive as the game proceeds. Random obstacles appear. Conláed nearly sets another player on fire because he was playing dirty, which earns him a card.
“Earning three cards can disqualify a player. Although Conláed is the captain, he can be a real dick on the field. Besides it as well, but even more so out there. But playing fair is his number one priority. If someone on the other team doesn’t share that opinion, he changes his priorities.”
I search for him on the field, and as soon as I do, something shifts, an uneasy feeling settles inside of my stomach. A rumbling sound in the sky draws my attention, but since no one else looks up, I must have imagined it.
Yet there is this urge inside me to get up and walk towards Conláed.
He has my full attention, even when he doesn’t have the ball.
I think they score again. My eyes keep going back to him.
He somehow notices, finding my gaze and tilting his head to the side only for a split second as if to say ‘what’s up?
’, before the ball is passed to him. He nearly misses it because of me, and he draws his attention back to the game.
Something’s wrong, but I can’t put my finger on it. The sky grows even darker and goosebumps erupt on the back of my neck.
Screw it. When your instinct tells you to act, you should listen.
I stand up, faintly hearing Ami call my name but there is no time for explaining. I move on auto-pilot, taking the stairs down, until I reach the railing, it’s as close as I can get without walking onto the field.
Conláed launches into the sky and is about to pass the ball down to his teammates, when a dark poisonous green lightning strikes him in the back. He curls outward, legs and arms stretched back, before he starts falling to the ground at an incredible speed.
“No!” I shout, moving before anyone else really notices what is going on. I jump high and land on the field amidst the players. I reach out my hand high above me, fully aware that if this doesn’t work, there is no way he will survive the crash.
But I have to try. When I call for my powers, they answer immediately and a protective cocoon of flame is forged around him. Someone else slows down his fall, yet when he hits the ground, I fall on my knees, unable to stay upright due to the impact of his crash.
I am with him in a heartbeat, stepping inside of my magical shield with one single thought like a mantra inside my head.
Please be alive. Please be alive. Please be alive.
“Conláed?” I whisper, falling to my knees next to him, my fingers searching for a pulse in his neck, where dark tendrils crawl up from his spine. Nothing. I feel again at his wrist, but no heartbeat to be found.
Tears well up in my eyes and I don’t even care that they fall or who might see them. A crowd gathers around us, professors run across the field, shooting magic up into the sky. But as long as I am breathing, that shield will not go down and no one shall enter.
“What do I do?” I whisper to myself, knowing deep down there is nothing to be done.
Heal him, Mailene, you have the power within you.
The voice is faint and I haven’t heard it in so long, I nearly brush it away as me going insane. But he has always been right, so why not this time?
“How do I do this?”
You know how.
That is all the help I’m going to get, so I place a hand on his heart, the other on his cheek and close my eyes, focusing all my energy on him. Nothing happens, my breathing becomes faster, panic is like a fist around my throat.
“Come on,” I whisper to myself. I dig deeper, search for the spark deep within me and feel the faintest tingling at the tip of my fingers.
But when I open my eyes and look for any sign that he is healing, I see nothing. His chest remains still, no moving eyes behind his closed lids, no twitching fingers.
No heartbeat.
Nothing.
A faint golden line shimmers between us and I watch as it starts to fade, the cord growing shorter until it touches my heart and a pulse makes my body twitch
I rest my forehead against his, and a cry escapes me as I inhale his smokey scent. I close my eyes. “I am so, so sorry Conláed, I…”
I don’t even know what to say, but the hollow feeling in my chest speaks a thousand words. I just lost a part of me, a part that I didn’t even know I had.
And as my lip trembles, the tears roll down my cheeks, the flame inside me extinguishes and all there is left is a coldness I’ll never recover from.
Tu-dum, tu-dum.
Tu-dum, tu-dum.
Tu-dum.
No.
From my heart, an inferno ignites, spreading through my veins and turning my blood into pure golden wildfire. I raise myself until there are only mere inches between us and place my hands on his cheeks. “Come back to me,” I whisper and send my firestorm into him.
I chase away the cold and darkness that was already spreading within him, replacing it with flames, burning away the poison that wraps around him like ivy.
I barely notice it when hands clasp around my wrists, but when those same hands cup my cheeks, I snap out of my trance.
The energy that hums through me goes silent and I release Conláed’s cheeks, moving away from his hold and cover my mouth with my hand. I shake uncontrollably, unable to look away from a now very alive Conláed.
“Maily?”
It’s the third time he calls me by my name, funny how that’s something I notice now. I laugh, the sound a little hysterical. I wipe away the tears, lower my hands and notice how they glow, a pattern I can distinct between the scars. Fiery sparks fly all around us.
Breathe in, breathe out.
The shield around us evaporates, and I stand, or at least try to. I feel like a deer on ice, a wave of dizziness nearly making me fall to my knees again.
Conláed pushes himself up on one arm, but it clearly asks a lot of his energy. “Maily, please…”
I ignore him and look around me, the field is swarmed and the chaos and panic is feelable. Professors order the students to return to the academy immediately, casting protective barriers to keep us safe.
I watch as the medics of the Sanctum rush to his side, including Althea, and step back.
Mrs Delalune is close too, her gaze focused on the sky, before her eyes find me.
There is no judgement, fear or anger to be seen there, only…
surprise and worry, but I turn away from her as well and when Aramis stands there with the girls and the rest of the team, I… can’t.
“You just fell from the sky, Conláed, let us check you first.” I hear Althea say.
“I am fine. I need to get to her.”
“No, you don’t and —”
“Mai?” Aramis says my name so carefully, but I jump up either way and walk back, creating more distance between us, between what the hell just happened.
My heartbeat is frantic and although I feel so weak and tired, I keep walking, begging that no one will follow me.
“Let her go, Aramis. She needs a moment.” Mrs Delalune says before I close off all the sounds and search for the one who might have an answer to what I have just done.