Chapter 13 Keelan #2
I grabbed my little brother around the shoulders and held him as I shook through tears. Declan was too young to understand what was going on but was swept away in my emotions and began sobbing in unison with me.
The Mage watched through misty eyes.
“What happened to them?”
Atikus let out a breath and shook his head. “The details are a mystery to us.”
As he spoke, an awful tingle ran down my neck. The space between my shoulder blades and just below my neck stung and grew warm. I jerked away from Declan, unable to stand the sensation silently any longer.
“Kee?” Declan asked, his face contorted. He wiped at his face with pudgy hands, then made a grabbing motion in my direction.
I backed up so fast I tripped over my own feet and hit the ground. I reached up and grabbed at my shoulder, fingers digging at the sensation.
The tingling grew stronger.
It wasn’t painful, but it refused to be ignored. I looked up at Atikus, my eyes wider than they’d ever been. As I opened my mouth to ask one of the million questions racing through my mind, the Mage’s face shifted from sadness to curiosity to unbridled excitement.
“Keelan, what are you feeling right now?” he asked, his tone now urgent.
“Mage Atikus, I don’t know. It’s my back. It is warm and itchy. I promise I didn’t do anything. It just started.”
“Has this happened before?”
“Please, make it stop.” I grabbed on to little Declan again, holding him tight. I hoped that my brother would comfort me, but he squirmed to pull away.
Atikus’s brow furrowed. “It discomforts you?”
“Yes,” I wailed. My shoulders hitched. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”
But even as I cried out my frustration, the sensation started to fade and the skin on my back began to cool and settle.
Atikus reached out and placed his weathered hand on my shoulder. He stared into my eyes for the longest moment. In a measured, calm voice, he said, “Keelan, listen to me. Do not be scared. You are not in trouble.”
My lower lip wobbled. I had tried so hard to step up, to gird myself. I was the man of the house, after all. But in that moment, I felt so tiny. “Do you promise I’m not in trouble?”
Atikus assured me, “I promise, my boy. No one is mad at you, least of all me. But I need you to tell me everything about what you are feeling—from the moment it started to right this second. Details are important, so leave nothing out.”
I stared down at Atikus’s shoes. “It started when you told us our parents are gone.”
My voice caught, and I squeezed my eyes shut to stop tears from returning.
Atikus softened his tone. “It’s all right, Keelan. Take a breath. Focus only on the questions I am asking you. What did you feel that scared you so badly?”
“It was . . . like somebody put a warm cloth on my back, but inside my skin. It kept getting warmer until I paid attention to it. Then the bees came.”
“Bees?” The Mage’s face scrunched. Declan giggled and reached to catch a fistful of Atikus’s wispy white beard.
I ignored my brother. “Yes, sir. It felt like bees were crawling under my skin where it was warm. The feeling tickled at first but got stronger until it was like they all got mad and stung me. It didn’t hurt.”
“What were you thinking when the feelings started?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were you thinking about me? Were you thinking about your parents? Were you angry? What was in your mind when the bees crawled on your skin?”
“Oh.” A wave of embarrassment passed over me.
“Tell the truth, Keelan. I will not be angry with you.” Atikus leaned even closer.
I scuffed my feet and looked anywhere but in the old man’s face.
“I was thinking that you were wrong about our parents. No—that you were lying. It just popped into my head; I don’t know why. I didn’t mean to think that, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s real. Why would a Mage lie about something like that?”
Atikus stood, his joints expressing their dissatisfaction with his adventure near the floor. He stared down at my brother, then me. His lips tightened as he searched for words.
The longer he stared, the more I was certain that I was about to be scolded.
Atikus settled his gaze back on me. His voice grew firm, but somehow gentle, too. “Son, I have never lied to you. I never will. It breaks my heart about your parents, but they really are gone, and there is nothing the Mages or anyone can do to bring them back. I wish it were not so.”
In my heart, I didn’t believe him.
I knew I should have, but I couldn’t.
This time, I kept my disbelief to myself.
The bees didn’t return.
Atikus ran his hand through his beard, then placed it back on my shoulder.
“As for your bees, I know what is happening there. You have a Gift, Keelan, and it has awakened. I know the news about your parents is terrible and sad, but this is exciting, wonderful news. It is time to change your collar to gold, young man.”
I let go of Declan, shrugged off the Mage’s hand, and shuffled over to one of the big puffy chairs. So much had happened in such a short time, it was hard to wrap my head around everything.
My heart wouldn’t stop pounding, and my mind raced even faster.
I tried but couldn’t focus, so I turned to the last thing Atikus said.
“Why would a Gift want me?”
The Mage eased into the chair next to me, took Declan in his lap, and leaned forward.
“Keelan, a Gift doesn’t choose us. We are either born with one, or we are not. Magic runs through family lines, meaning there is a better chance for you to have a Gift if your parents had one. Both of your parents were Gifted with extraordinarily powerful magic.”
“I still don’t understand. Does this mean I can talk to animals or something?”
Atikus chuckled. “For some, yes, animal communication is their Gift. It probably is not for you, though. How can I explain this?”
He looked toward the ceiling. “Most people who have a Gift can do one specific thing. For example, a person with an ability that falls into the Natural pillar might be able to make plants grow faster or bigger, or they might be able to talk to animals. But not all three, just one of those.”
“Okay.” I drug the word out twice as long as it should have been. “But what does that mean for me? How do we know if I get to talk to flowers or bugs?”
At the mention of bugs, Declan perked up. “Prinnybugs!”
“Prinnybugs?” Atikus’s bushy brows lifted.
“Ladybugs,” I offered.
Atikus chuckled again, then pulled himself together. “About nine in ten people in Melucia have a Gift. That’s why you see so many people with gold collars or cuffs around the city. And yet, each of those gifts are unique.”
“I just thought people wanted to look fancy. It never made much sense, and those collars look stiff and itchy.”
Atikus barked a laugh that made Declan giggle and squirm.
“They can be itchy sometimes, but what they represent is an ability to do something special—something magical—and that is cherished and respected throughout our Empire.”
“Do you have a Gift then? Your collar is gold.”
“I do, my boy, I do.”
“Can you talk to trees?”
“No, not even close.” His grin widened. “My gift falls into the Mental pillar. I can recall anything I see, hear, or read, even the smallest detail others might not notice. It is not a flashy Gift that makes people’s eyes pop wide, but it is powerful in its own way.
It helps me be a better teacher and historian.”
I pointed to the cuff on Atikus’s sleeve. “Why do you have two lines of gold?”
Atikus nodded. “That’s a very good question.”
“Are you gonna tell me the answer?”
“Well, my boy, I like to reward very good questions with equally good answers,” Atikus said.
“A small number of people are born with two abilities, two Gifts. This only happens five or ten times in a generation. I am one of those lucky few. Our Arch Mage, Quin, also wears the double band. To my knowledge, we are the only two people in all of Melucia with two Gifts.”
“What about Empress Irina? I remember stories about her from when I was little. She could do anything with magic.”
“You are still little,” Atikus rumbled through another laugh, and Declan struggled to breathe between fits of giggles.
Irritated at the interruption of a good story, I shot my brother a stern glance that froze the giggle fit.
Atikus shook his head.
“Those are just tales, Keelan. Irina ruled the Kingdom of Spires over a thousand years ago. There is no doubt that she was a powerful Mage, and the histories even tell us she wore a golden robe, not one simply trimmed in gold.
Some think she did that to fool a superstitious people into believing she was a goddess reborn, but I have seen no evidence that she had more than two gifts. Three, at the most.”
While Atikus spoke, Declan escaped his chair and was straining on tippy toes to reach a bottle filled with swirling blue liquid set on one of the nearby shelves.
Quicker than I thought possible, the old man hopped up to intercept the toddler before he could do any damage.
“I think that is enough of a history lesson for one day. Your mind is probably spinning while your heart is still heavy. We should at least take the worry of ‘what next?’ off your plate.”
“What about my bees?” I asked.
“Our Mages will need to study your magic to understand what you are now capable of, but manifesting your Gift means you will be admitted into the guild and may attend the Academy. I am sure the Mages will also accept little Declan into our home so you two can stay together. Would you like that?”
My head was reeling.
I looked at Declan for a long moment before responding. “I guess so.”
Atikus mussed Declan’s dandelion-puff hair. “Excellent. I will talk with the Guildmaster tonight.”
I woke covered in even more sweat than before.
My head ached.
My heart ached.
Everything in me ached.
Somehow, I had to win my brother back. We’d already lost so much. We couldn’t lose each other, too.