Chapter 21
Ziv guides me through the crowded halls. Without him, I would more than likely be going in the opposite direction. I really don’t want to be grouped in with the other novices, but he was pretty clear I don’t have any other option.
As the throng thins, I know we’re getting closer to our destination. A sliver of unease sours my stomach. I don’t know what’s making me more nervous—the realization that Ziv will be leaving me, or the unknown of being with the other novices. I would be lying if I said seeing Kage wasn’t adding to my worries. It will be the first time I’ve seen him since Ziv told me the handsome blue demon is also linked to me. It helps explain why he’s been in my thoughts so much, but that doesn’t make anything less awkward.
He’s never appeared particularly happy to see me, and I’m not certain that will change now that I know who and what he is to me.
Ziv stops a few steps before a set of wide double doors. Without thought, my body follows his, coming to rest beside him. Before a word can be spoken between us, Kage emerges from the room, his glowing, pupilless eyes already trained on mine, as if he knew exactly where to find me. The delicate current between us is easily recognizable, now that I understand the reason for my fascination with him. It’s not as strong as the one between Ziv and me, but even now I can feel it growing like a thin vine, searching for sunlight.
“Demon,” Ziv greets. If I’m not mistaken, there’s not nearly as much hostility in his tone as there was the last time he spoke to Kage.
“I’ll keep her safe, fallen.”
It feels strange to be talked about yet ignored at the same time. I take one last glance up at Ziv before getting the nerve to step away from him. There’s an infinitesimal shift of his shoulder, as if he’s going to move, or maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, hoping he would stop me from leaving because he just continues to stand there as I step toward Kage and the open room behind him.
With hasty movements, Kage steps to the side, giving me a wide berth. It’s an obvious sign he’s uncomfortable with my nearness. Ziv made me promise I wouldn’t touch the demon, but I doubt I even could. He avoids me like the plague.
I fight the urge to look over my shoulder when I cross the threshold of the room, but the impulse evaporates when I get a good look around. The space is huge, almost as big as the first arena Ziv walked me through, but the floor isn’t made of sand, nor are there seats for spectating. There are, however, plenty of other individuals, all seemingly in their early twenties, and a heavy air of suspicion.
It feels as if time stops when I enter the room. Every head is turned in my direction. A male leans over to speak to the person beside him, drawing my attention, and his features strike a chord of remembrance. He came to see me several months ago. I remember being terrified when he sent a swarm of insects at me. I think it was one of the times I actually screamed in terror, but his horde parted around me as if there were an invisible pillar of protection around me. He didn’t give up though, he just kept sending them for me. I remember wishing I could disappear, but his magic only affected the bugs, not me, so I just had to stand there, feeling like creepy crawlies were all over me, and wait for him to grow weary. It felt like hours, and when he finally stopped, he tried to attack me. Luckily, there was another male with him who stopped him, because I know Philip would have stood and watched him beat the shit out of me.
I don’t realize I stopped moving until I hear someone farther in the room beckon, “Join us, won’t you?”
The small group parts for the male, and I’m not surprised to see it’s the same one who kept bug boy from pummeling me. He’s dressed just like all the other instructors I’ve happened across, including Ziv, wearing black from head to toe. There doesn’t seem to be much more of a requirement, considering all the cuts of clothing and materials are different, but it does set them apart from the novices, who all wear shades of ecru.
A moment of recognition passes between us, but I can’t pretend to know what it means, other than an acknowledgment that we each remember each other. Kage passes me to get closer to the group, but his eyes are locked on the side of my face as he does. There’s a small part of me that wonders what bug boy was whispering to the person beside him, but the thought is fleeting. I have much bigger things to worry about, starting with the instructor, who is facing off with me.
“Briar.” He says my name with too much familiarity, and I’m not the only one who takes notice. Kage steps right in front of me, creating a very obvious barrier between me and the instructor.
“It seems you’ve made some better friends since the last time we met.” There’s an air of mockery in his tone meant to belittle me, but I learned to ignore most verbal jabs a while ago, especially when they are weak. However, I don’t know how or if I should respond.
“Considerably.” Kage takes the guesswork out of it for me. Does it make me weak to let him answer for me? Yes. Do I care? No. The inky-haired demon finally steps to the side, allowing me to see the instructor again. The smile curling his lips is directed at Kage but doesn’t falter when his eyes shift to me.
“How about a demonstration of your power? I’m sure everyone is dying to see you in action, Briar. Oh…” He winces with feigned embarrassment. “Poor choice of words, considering recent events.” The indication that he believes I killed the other novice is clear, and I’m not interested in convincing him otherwise.
The instructor looks around the room, scrutinizing everyone before his eyes land on Kage. He taps his finger to his lips and muses, “I wonder…”
I know what he’s going to say, and apparently, Kage does too, because he takes a step away from me and firmly states, “No!”
“It was just a thought,” the instructor defends. “Doyle, how about you?” He moves on to the other person so quickly, it’s easy to assume this was his plan all along.
A large male weaves through the small group. “Instructor Arnold,” he says, but he never takes his eyes off me. Kage shifts again, almost like he wants to move to block me, but I widen my arms, keeping him at bay while signaling the challenger can come closer.
This is familiar. I hate it, but I know what to expect. If anything, I’m a little surprised he didn’t sic bug boy on me again. I drop my arms and brace myself. Maybe I should have warned Ziv about what happens if I get bombarded with too much magic. Too late now, but I make a note to mention it next time I see him. I have a feeling he would go a little crazy if I up and disappeared for a few hours.
“Wait a minute!” Arnold calls loudly, taking my attention from the approaching male. “Kage, give them some room.”
“I’ll be fine,” I promise, hoping he will stay out of it. I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me.
Without warning, or so much as an introduction, the boy flings his arm out, and a bolt of lightning streaks from his fingertips. Terror grips me for the millisecond it takes for the charge to reach me.
Three tense heartbeats pass before someone mutters a low, “Holy shit, that should have killed her.”
“Syn was my friend,” the lightning wielder sneers.
It’s not a leap to assume he’s talking about the novice who died. “I didn’t kill Syn or anyone else,” I tell him truthfully, but I doubt he’ll believe anything I say. He still looks like he wants to kill me. I might be in trouble if he decides to give it a go with his bare hands instead of magic.
“Quite impressive,” Instructor Arnold mumbles, but I don’t take my eyes off Doyle, not even when I feel Kage’s gaze drilling into the side of my face. “Let’s see how she does against Aggie.” Another novice steps forward to take Doyle’s place. I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to test me against the entire class.
Kage makes his way in front of me. It’s a valiant effort I wish I could allow, but it’s a waste all the same. The instructor isn’t going to let me out of this, and even if I did get out of it now, it would only postpone the inevitable.
Kage nearly jumps out of his skin when I lay my hand on the middle of his back before he spins around. “I’ve got this.” I try to use my eyes to communicate everything I would say if we were alone and I knew him better.
When I face off with Arnold, Kage still seems spooked about the fact that I touched him, but I didn’t break any rules. Ziv explained Kage’s ability only works with skin-to-skin contact, and he’s wearing a shirt.
I scan the line of novices, wondering where the next attack will come from, but a door at the back of the room opens, distracting me. Syrinx casually leans against the doorway as if she’s expecting a show.
I look back just in time to see a single female become more than ten in the blink of an eye. I’ve encountered mimics before, but they are tricky, especially if I can’t keep track of the right one. Her copies will pass right through me, but not the real one. She’ll be able to inflict damage.
In eerie unison, every one of the females runs straight for me. I lean back on my heels, prepared to take a blow as they converge on me. Two copies pass through me. I don’t keep track of what happens to them after, I’m too busy watching to make sure I don’t get gutted by the real one. The next three leave me feeling slightly woozy from the magic, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. When the original comes for me, I sidestep her advance, and she lets out a howl of frustration.
“Echo!” Instructor Arnold yells excitedly.
Everyone in the room covers their ears just as a boy, who looks no older than my youngest brother Conner, opens his mouth wide. I look around as many of the novices in the front bend at the waist, tilting their heads from left to right while still covering their ears, but I don’t hear a sound. He snaps his lips closed, and I could almost laugh at the perplexed expression on his boyish face, but Arnold bellows another name, and another, until bug boy is the only one left. I’m tired, tired enough that I know I’m waning. If too much more magic is pushed through me, I’m going to end up going ghost.
I look over at Kage, who has remained near my side the entire time. He looks dark, as if even the color of his skin has shifted to a midnight hue, but his eyes glow a bright, ethereal violet.
“If I disappear, I’ll be back,” I warn him, but I’m not sure he hears me over the growing buzz. Even knowing the many legged creatures aren’t going to touch me, I still have to fight off my revulsion. The sound of their legs, pincers, and wings is enough to make me want to cover my ears, but I won’t let them see me sweat. Bugs pour from the floors and walls, and I have no idea if they are real or conjured from the boy’s imagination, but nearly everyone else seems to have the same intense reaction as I do—horror.
Several people skitter away, taking refuge as far away from me as possible. I don’t blame them. The flies reach me first, loud and thick like a wall of moving blackness, followed by beetles that roll over each other like a tide coming into shore.
I hold my breath as they begin to part around me, but it doesn’t stop me from seeing the things up close and personal. I screamed the first time this happened, but not this time. This time, I think about what Ziv said, that I could turn their powers back on them, and I imagine doing just that. I imagine the hard-bodied centipedes crawling into the boy’s mouth and out his nose, down into his ears, and eating whatever brain matter he may have in his head.
It takes me a minute to realize the sound I’m hearing are screams, and another to know they aren’t coming from me. As the chittering and buzzing fades, along with the disappearing horde of bugs, I’m able to see bug boy writhing on the ground.
No one else speaks as the boy continues to wail with pain, not even the instructor, who is now at the back of the room, far from the fleeing insects and dying novice.
“Kage!” Syrinx booms as bug boy’s final shriek dies.
Kage’s head snaps up, making me wonder if he might not have noticed her standing there the entire time. The realization of what he did sinks in, but I have no idea what the consequences will be.
“This was an exercise for Briar.” Something about her voice seems off, as if she’s fighting to keep herself calm.
“Then Eli should have been more careful.” Kage looks down, and my eyes follow his gaze. There are several dead bugs littered around his feet. Syrinx’s lips tighten into a hard line.
The small number of insects wouldn’t have posed a deadly threat to Kage, but he didn’t cast the first stone. I’m hoping that means he had every right to defend himself, even if what he did in retaliation was probably overkill, literally.
“Arnold warned you to give them room,” she argues, but the strangeness in her voice is gone, and now she only sounds perturbed.
“I haven’t moved since this bullshit started. He knew exactly where I was and should have been able to control his ability better.” Kage doesn’t back down.
“Is that so?” Her question is soft, leading. “I suppose that holds true for your own ability then. You should be able to control it when you touch our new novice.”
“I’d rather test my aptitude on Instructor Arnold.”
“I’m sure you would, but I make the rules at Ivy, and you’re here to do what I tell you.”
Kage balls his hands into fists. “No.”
“Touch her,”Syrinx whispers, and Kage stiffens, but Arnold’s reaction is much more telling. He snaps his head around to stare at the headmistress as if he’s shocked by the instruction.
“No,” Kage grits out through his teeth.
“Well, well, Briar. It seems you have even more in common with Elora than I first thought.”
“Who is Elora, and what does that mean?” I question, even though I’m reasonably sure she’s making a reference to the other void.
“It seems you’re collecting my acquisitions.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m sure you don’t. Let’s both hope no one else dies for you, Briar. Their death might outweigh your usefulness.” Syrinx leaves the room with her threat hanging heavily in the air.
I exhale with the knowledge she wants me dead.
I’m still shaking as Arnold dismisses us. The urge to get away from Briar and keep her safe from me is so strong, I nearly give in to it and leave her alone with the vultures who already proved they were willing to hurt her.
If Briar wasn’t my mate and my need to protect her wasn’t paramount, Syrinx’s command to touch her would have amplified my desire to do so, making the directive impossible to ignore. What if next time, when she tries to use her powers of persuasion on me, I’m not strong enough to resist? Briar isn’t safe with me. I need to tell Ziv.
“So that was a fun first day,” my creature jokes.
I stop dead in my tracks, because I have no idea how she could make light of what she just went through, all because Arnold and Syrinx were on some fucked-up power trip.
“It could have been worse, right? I mean, what if those bugs were actually effective and touched me?” She shudders. “I feel bad for wanting to thank you for killing him, but…” She leaves the rest hanging.
“I should have killed them all, but they would have me put down if I did,” I admit, hoping it will explain why I didn’t do a better job of shielding her.
“If I went around killing everyone who tried to do me in first, the stench of death would be smothering.” She shrugs in acceptance. “Ziv said you’d know where to go next.”
“Food, I’m supposed to take you to get food.”
“Huh, for the first time in forever, I’m not starving, but I could eat. What’s after lunch?”
“Combat,” I answer robotically.
“Yay, I can’t wait to get my ass kicked again. Maybe I won’t eat. Last time, I wanted to throw up a couple times.”
I have no idea how to respond to her or her chattering. She finally looks over her shoulder and realizes I stopped walking a while ago. “Aren’t you coming?” Her features fall, letting me see her disappointment at the idea of me not accompanying her.
“I’m coming.”
She perks up. “Good, I’m not sure I could find it from here.” Disappointment weighs heavily on me with her explanation. For a moment there, I allowed myself to believe she was happy because she was with me. “I was also hoping we could…I don’t know, talk,” she offers while looking at the ground. The ugly feeling of irrelevance dissipates with her shy proposal.
“What do you want to talk about?” I question hesitantly. I’m not sure how I’m going to respond if she asks what I was doing under her bed.
“Whatever, I’d just like to get to know you, if that’s okay. I mean, I get it if you don’t want to,” she says quickly, as if she’s giving me an out.
“Okay,” is all I can manage, but she gives me a little smile in response, then starts walking again, only to turn down the wrong hall.