Dacia Wolf & the Prophecy

by Mandi Oyster

  “You okay?” he asked when he regained balance.

  I gulped down huge breaths of air, trying to conquer the pain. “Sure.” Leaning on Cody, I made it down the hall. He sat in the stairwell, out of sight, while I hobbled into the bathroom.

  I stood under the shower, clinging to the wall for support. Piercing pain sliced through my leg with each bead of water that touched it. Blood and tears mixed with the spray washing down the drain.

  “You idiot,” I mumbled as I finished. How long is it going to take to get used to these new powers? I raised a couple inches off the ground and hovered while drying off. I dressed in a graphic tee and shorts, then pulled on a baggy pair of pajama pants to cover my leg and wrapped my hair in a towel. Dropping closer to the ground, I floated into the hall. Cody jumped up and hurried over to me.

  “Hey … you’re not limping.” He looked at my feet then back into my eyes. “Your leg better?”

  “No.” I rose up to eye level with him.

  “Oh. Why didn’t you do that before?” He rubbed his neck hard enough to loosen knots. “Not that I minded holding you.”

  “I hate to break it to you.” I lowered myself before anybody caught me hovering. “You’re dating an idiot.” I rested my head on his shoulder while we walked back. “But I didn’t mind leaning on you either.”

  Cody stepped into my room just as a door opened down the hallway. He looked out through the peephole. “That was close,” he whispered. “Marcy is patrolling.”

  I pulled the towel down around my shoulders and patted my hair with it. “Don’t be surprised if she stops by and asks if you’re here.”

  A couple of seconds later there was a knock on my door. Cody vaulted into my loft and hid himself the best he could.

  I took my time getting to the door. “Oh, hi, Marcy. What’s up?” I tried to keep my voice nonchalant.

  She stood on her toes, trying to peek around me. “Cody’s not in here, is he?”

  “No.”

  “I could’ve sworn I heard him in the hall.”

  I held my finger to my lips. “I just got back from showering, and Samantha’s still in bed. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t wake her. She gets grumpy when she doesn’t get enough sleep.”

  Marcy spun around and hurried back to her room, mumbling the entire way.

  Cody climbed out of my loft. “How did you know?”

  I laughed quietly. “Marcy doesn’t patrol the halls, and the only rule she has ever seemed to care about is the hours guys can’t be in here.”

  “Maybe because she’s never been on a date,” he suggested.

  “Now, be nice.” I smacked his arm. “She’s just doing her job. Besides, I’m not sure I’ve been on a date yet—” I rubbed my chin thoughtfully “—or do you call sitting in my room eating pizza a date?”

  His cheeks turned red. “What about putt-putt?”

  Making my tone as serious as I could, I said, “If that counts, I have to call this relationship off.”

  “Wha—”

  “If those were dates, you’re two-timing me.” He looked confused. “You did pay for Samantha to come along, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah,” he answered, “but, they should count.”

  “No, a date would just be the two of us.” Walking my fingers up his chest, I added, “Me and you … alone.”

  “Okay.” He put his hand over mine, flattening it over his heart. “Next Saturday dinner and a movie, just us.”

  I fanned my face with my hand. “Why, Cody Hawks, are you asking me out? That would be delightful.”

  Cody grabbed a strand of my hair. “I like the wet hair look.” His eyes darkened, and he eliminated the thin strip of air that had separated us. His body pressed against mine. He brought his mouth down.

  And I gasped. His leg touched mine. Black spots dotted my vision.

  He kept his hands on my waist but stepped back. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m s—”

  I put my hand over his mouth and swallowed my pain. “I know. Help me out of these”—I tugged at my pajama bottoms—“so I can sit.”

  Cody’s eyes dilated. I half expected drool to drip from his open mouth.

  “I have shorts on.” I pushed his chin up.

  “Yeah … right.” Cody eased them over my injury. Then he helped me sit in Cookie Monster.

  His eyes ran the length of my leg. “Looks better.”

  “Just because I got more blood cleaned off it.” I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice.

  Cody looked at the door then back at me, seemingly torn in two. “I should go to class.”

  “I’m not.” I pulled my hair into a ponytail. “I’m going through the journals. There’s got to be something helpful in them.”

  “Promise you won’t leave?”

  I crossed my heart. “I won’t. I don’t plan on doing anything stupid until my leg heals. Then, hopefully, after that, I still won’t do anything stupid.”

  Cody leaned down and kissed me. I twisted my hands in his shirt and drew him closer. For the first time since Nefarious attacked me, I wasn’t thinking about my leg or pain or dying. Shivers of pleasure shot through me. He pulled away before I was ready for him to and went out the door.

  I opened the ancient journal and flipped through the book, staring at an undecipherable language. I turned to the page with the young man shooting lightning bolts at Nefarious and couldn’t read it. I looked at the ceiling, then back at the page.

  Why could I read it before? Maybe it had to do with my frame of mind.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my bathroom bag sitting by the door. A gold chain spilled over the side of it, and I wondered if that was what was missing. I concentrated on the amulet and wished for it to come to me. It shook, knocking the bag over. The chain tangled in the handles and dragged the bag. It made too much noise, so I gave up.

  About an hour after Cody left, my boredom was interrupted by a knock. “Let me in.” Cody’s voice was rushed. “Please.”

  Samantha sat straight up in bed. “What was that?” she asked, still half asleep.

  “Cody’s back,” I said. The distance from where I sat to the door seemed insurmountable on my own. I pressed my hands down on the arms of the chair.

  “Oh, Dacia”—Samantha climbed down—“don’t get up.” She tried to hold in a yawn. “How’s your leg?” She opened the door.

  “Not good,” I said.

  Cody hurried in. “Thanks. There are a lot more girls in the hall at this time.”

  Samantha scrambled back into her loft. “Skipping class?”

  I nodded before realizing her eyes were closed. “Yeah.”

  Cody stood back from me. His expression was guarded.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You told Samantha your leg isn’t good. Because of me?”

  “Because I was attacked by a demon from the Abyss.” I shook my head. “Can you help me with it?”

  Cody wrapped my leg. “Need anything before I leave?”

  I pointed at my bag. “The amulet.”

  He brought it to me, then held my eyes with his. “Stay here.”

  Samantha climbed out of her loft. “I’m giving up on sleep for now. I’ll be back.” She grabbed her bathroom bag. “Don’t leave.”

  “I don’t have much choice. I couldn’t even get the door.”

  Chapter 30

  Hero’s Journal

  Will the amulet make a difference? I breathed deeply, opened the journal and peeked at it through squinted eyes. The gibberish morphed into comprehensible words.

  I flipped through the pages and found something about the vase Sarah had described to me in one of our earlier lessons. “The carafe seems to possess magical powers. I filled it with water before my journey. A
fter drinking out of it for three days, it appears as if not one drop has spilled forth from it. My instincts tell me it is intended to serve another purpose. However, for what it is designed, I am uncertain.”

  I searched the journal three more times and couldn’t find any other mention of it. Maybe he found its purpose and wrote about it on one of the destroyed pages, or maybe he never came up with another use for it. I need to see the vase. Maybe it was nothing more than a bottomless canteen, but if that was the case, when Sarah brought it over, it should still be filled to the brim with water.

  “Hey, Dacia,” Samantha said.

  The journal flew through the air, my hands shook, and my heart raced. Somehow, I managed to stifle a startled scream. Flames. Pain. Blood.

  “Are you okay?” She hurried over to me, picking up the journal on her way.

  “You scared the crap out of me!” I clutched my hand to my chest, trying to steady my breathing. “As soon as my heart stops pounding, I’ll be fine.”

  “Sorry.” She handed the journal to me. “I figured you wondered what happened to me. I was gone longer than I planned.”

  “I figured you bumped into someone. Maybe … Dan,” I added to hide my fear.

  She grinned, and it lit up her whole face. “No, I saw Vanessa leave, so I took off after her to find out what’s going on with Cassandra.”

  My heart turned to lead and plummeted. “Samantha, you shouldn’t have.” Now I knew how they felt when I took off on my own. “You could’ve been hurt.”

  She rolled her eyes as if to say, Hey pot, meet kettle.

  “I told her Bryce confronted you about Cassandra. She looked a little surprised, but then she told me to mind my own business.”

  “Sounds about right.”

  She sat across from me and leaned in conspiratorially. “I told her Bryce seemed pretty upset about it and that I hoped Cassandra would be fine. At first, she just looked at me. Then she admitted they’re all concerned about her. None of them have seen her move for several days.” Her voice rose excitedly. “This is the interesting part. Even though they haven’t seen her move, Sunday morning when they checked on her, she was dressed, and her shoes were muddy. Saturday night when they left her, she had pajamas on.”

  I looked at my mummified leg. No words were able to filter from my brain to my mouth. How could she? She was there. She watched while Nefarious tried to kill me.

  “Well,” Samantha prodded, “aren’t you going to say anything?”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “I’m processing.”

  “Vanessa told me I can hang out with them whenever I want.” She cringed and gave me a half smile. “I think I’ll pass. After what they did to you and Cody, I don’t want anything to do with them. Anyway, since I was trying to get information from her, I told her that’d be nice.”

  “Wow.” I pulled my hand through my hair. “How is she getting in and out without being noticed?”

  “Probably the same way Cody is.”

  “Yeah.” I bit my cheek to keep from grinning stupidly at the mention of Cody’s name. “If Nefarious is controlling her, why is she in a trance throughout the day?” I knew Samantha couldn’t answer my questions, but I thought maybe asking them out loud would help me come up with some answers. I wasn’t having a lot of luck with it on my own. “I wonder if they know her leg is cut.”

  “I doubt it. I think, with everything else she told me, she would have mentioned that.”

  Warmth flared in me, sending tiny sparks throughout my body. My mouth spread into a slow grin. “Cody’ll be here soon.” I pulled on my lip with my teeth. When did I turn into that girl? “He needs a key.”

  Samantha stood at the door and looked out the peephole. A few seconds later, she opened it.

  Cody’s fist was in the air, ready to knock. “Hi. Leaving?”

  “No, opening the door for you.”

  Understanding flickered across his face as he walked over to me. “Any better?”

  “About the same.” I shrugged. “I don’t know how it looks.”

  He focused on me so intently, I wondered if he could see through to my soul. “I thought it’d be better.”

  “Yeah …” I didn’t want to think about my leg or why it wouldn’t get better. Every time I did, I wondered if I’d still be sitting here when Nefarious came for me. Some hero I’d turned out to be. “I need to talk to Sarah.”

  Samantha pointed at herself then Cody. “Why don’t we get lunch while you call her?”

  Cody brought me the phone before leaving.

  I called Sarah, and after going through the customary small talk, I said, “I need to see the vase.”

  “Did you find something?” she asked.

  “No”—my shoulders hunched forward—“but something tells me it’s important.”

  “I’ll bring it to your lesson tomorrow.”

  After I hung up, I flipped through the journal, but it couldn’t hold my attention. My mind wandered to Cassandra. I needed to figure out what was going on with her, what role she played in this mess. But how?

  Chapter 31

  When The Voices In Your Head Aren’t Yours

  The new-fallen snow glistens in the sunlight as if fairies had sprinkled glitter across the ground. For a moment, I wonder if they played a part in the beauty that surrounds me. The once bare trees are stunning in their new coats. It’s a winter wonderland, and a smile tugs at my lips.

  As I cross the wooden bridge, an eerie feeling makes the hairs on my neck stand at attention. The amulet warms against my skin. Just as I turn back, the all too familiar voice echoes through my head, “Surrender!”

  My breath rasps in my throat. The thud of my heart beats painfully against my ribs. My head swims. I take a deep breath to fight off my panic.

  Once my dizziness fades, I search the trees for a glimpse of Nefarious.

  A warm breeze blows my hair back, and a loud “whoop, whoop” sounds above me. I look up to find Nefarious soaring through the air. His monstrous wings flap, swirling the snow around me. Pulling his wings back, he dives like an eagle. I throw my arms up in front of me and long for protection. He ricochets backward as if he flew into a wall. The force from the impact knocks me to the ground. I jump to my feet and run toward the dorms.

  Nefarious roars. “Your powers have developed. It is time for you to die!”

  I look over my shoulder and see him lift off. On foot, I’m no match for his speed. He’ll be upon me any minute. I come to a dead stop, close my eyes and will myself back to the dorm. Nothing happens. I hear the “whoop, whoop” of his wings, followed by the sound of his whip cracking. The thought of being entangled brings tears to my eyes. I long to sit in my room. When it doesn’t happen, I fly into the air. The whip hits the pavement with a loud crack.

  I turn to see a fireball hurling through the air. I dodge out of its path. As soon as it flies by me, I turn and shoot ice at it. The fire gives way to ice and crashes to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. I turn back to Nefarious and continue the flow of ice from my hands.

  He swerves through the air to keep from being hit. Another fireball flies toward me. I nick it with the spray of ice, but it isn’t enough to stop it. I dart to the side. Flames kiss my arm, igniting my sleeve, as the fiery sphere soars past me. I throw my coat to the ground and pat out the flames on my shirt, careful not to touch my singed arm. There’s no time for pain, so without giving my burning arm a second thought, I search the skies for Nefarious. He flies toward me with another fireball speeding ahead of him. I can’t dodge this one. I hold my arms in front of me and will it to stop. As the heat from the flames reaches my body, I scream.

  “Dacia, wake up.” Cody shook my shoulders. “You’re having a nightmare.”

  I opened my eyes and yelled, “Let go of me!”

&n
bsp; Cody dropped my arms and looked at me like I’d slapped his face. Without saying a word, he backed away.

  “I’m sorry, Cody.” I lifted the blanket to show him. The sleeve of my favorite sweatshirt was gone, and my arm was burned from my shoulder to my wrist.

  “Sorry.” His expression said he’d take my pain if he could. “You screamed. I wanted to wake you before anything happened.”

  I pulled a trembling hand through my hair. “I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

  Samantha’s alarm clock buzzed. She smacked it and rolled to a sitting position. “I thought—” a deep yawn silenced her “—I thought I’d get to go back to sleep. You okay, Dacia?”

  “Been better,” I answered. “I’m skipping again today.”

  She looked down at me through heavy eyes. “Your grades are going to plummet.”

  “Probably.” Anger bubbled up inside me, not at her but at the situation. I’d worked hard to get good grades. I held my hands up like two sides of a scale. “Good grades.” I tipped my hands. “Save the world.”

  Cody patted my knee. “If anybody can do both, it’s you.”

  I rolled my eyes. Right now I couldn’t even get up on my own. “Help me down the hall?”

  “No problem.”

  I put my weight on Cody as he helped me out of the chair. I lifted myself so my feet were just above the ground. We passed a few people in the hall. Most of them just looked away as we went by. Right now, I was glad for my lack of friends. I didn’t need a bunch of people asking me questions.

  Marcy returned to her room as we passed it. She shot Cody a nasty look and said, “Make sure you’re out of here on time tonight. I have a test in the morning and don’t want to be up all night because you can’t read a clock.”

  “According to my watch—” he glanced at his wrist like he had one “—it’s a little early for you to start harassing me, so back off.”