God, this girl had a complex. What the hell did she think she was playing at?
I turned, ready to give her one last smile before I took the last two steps and plunged through the veil, knowing she would see me even if the dark had swallowed her.
But the massive cavern wasn’t dark anymore, it was filled with glittering violet light that shimmered from the girls’ hands, from the girls’ skin.
Magic, unharnessed illegal magic dripped from her fingers.
The Drain had magic.
The Drain had illegal magic.
“What the fu…?” Both words and air were sucked away as a blast exploded from her, dark purple light flooding everything as the stone both above and below me collapsed.
The last thing I felt was the fire against my skin, and piles of rock against my head.
5
Sia
“This group is fine, there are a few broken bones in the back, but I sent some of the Skȓíteks to heal them. They may be whining like spoiled brats, but they will be fine. Did you get them?” A woman’s voice swam through the buzzing sound that was cleaving my head into two uneven halves.
Ripping everything in half.
High pitched ringing rattled against bones that felt splintered and broken, as though the shards were stuck out at odd angles. Okay, so I had no way of knowing if it was that bad, I couldn’t see anything beyond the painful yellow glow of the most fluorescent sun in existence. Something heavy was covering my face and smothering both the incessant buzzing that was trying to explode against my skull and the screams and yells that were filling the cave.
“Hello?” The one word question caught in my swollen throat, filling my mouth with blood and sending a new wave of pain over me.
I guess moving was out too, the agony was too much. Even if I tried, I couldn’t lift so much as a finger.
It was like I had been hit with a bomb.
A bomb.
That girl, the one with the mohawk. The last thing I remembered was the sparks dripping from her fingers like jelly. Liquid lightning, just like the illegal, uncentered, magic that we had learned about in school back when they had taught us about the war. But that was impossible. They had captured all the Vilỳs and reserved power for those who won the Gauntlet, not some punk Drain that was inside of it.
I needed to get out of here, tell someone, warn them. Find her so they could execute her before she caused more damage. If they wouldn’t kill her because of their damn morals or whatever, I would.
I tried to shift my weight, and push myself to sitting, but the best I got was rolling over. The cloth that had been covering my head slid to a slick tile floor with a slap, the blood-stained fabric followed by a stream of vomit that sent whoever had been rushing toward me back, the green and red splattering over the toes of their black converse shoes.
“This is really not how I saw this day going. Nasty.” The same woman from before spoke from above me, but I didn't dare move. Not that I was sure I could, even the dim reflective light from the floor was increasing the crippling agony. Whoever that was better take a step back, more sick was coming.
Thankfully, my stomach was empty. Bits of bile splattered over the ground before I was forced onto my back, blinking furiously at the long fluorescent light above me.
The cave had gone, replaced by so much light that if it wasn’t for blood, vomit, and smoke I might have thought I died. That, and the pain. I was in so much pain I didn’t even realize I was laying on a soft feather bed.
Soft feather bed.
Oh god.
The hospital they took the losers too.
I can’t have lost, not after all that. My father was going to be furious, and hopefully not at me.
“If you are going to do that again, roll over the other way and aim for the red sneakers. I like my shoes.” The woman spoke again, her shoes squeaking against the tile floor as she came around the side of my bed, each step splintering my bones.
Damn this pain, I couldn’t push past it, but I sure wasn’t going to show it.
“Did you catch her?” I tried to ask, but the words came out all garbled, more blood filling my throat. Blood and vomit. I couldn’t breathe.
“Hold still,” the woman grumbled, a palm spreading square in the middle of my forehead, her fingers tapping against my nose. The pressure was making my head spin, my stomach lurch, and I gagged.
“Remember what I said about the red shoes, kid,” she said, still tapping my nose.
“Why are you assuming that I don’t like my shoes?” A deep male voice barked back as the woman's hand grew very warm. Warm and comfortable.
Like a hot water bottle that was radiating through my veins, my muscles. I had felt something similar when my mother would use her magic to heal me, but this was stronger, more powerful. More like fire.
Real magic. Eternal magic.
I tried to turn to see who was there, who was touching me, but her hand gripped tighter, her palm spreading over my eyes as she held me in place.
“It’s not that you don’t like your shoes, Thom. It’s that I don’t like your shoes. You look like…”
“Don’t say it.” The man, Thom, warned. The slight laugh in his voice was out of place.
“You need a feather hat.” I could hear the laugh in her voice as he sighed, the sound cut off by more footsteps, these ones didn’t rattle my bones as much anymore.
She was so much more powerful than I expected the Eternals to be.
“Can I get an update?” The new voice said, this one familiar. This one I had heard on the radio and on TV so often that I probably could have picked it out of a crowd.
The King’s brother, Ryland.
I tried to turn, but the warm-handed woman held me down harder, the heat from her hand growing.
“The cave is clear,” The gruff-voiced Thom began. “We moved everyone who had already been bitten to the Academy to clear beds here. We’ve got Etma and the other Skȓíteks healing and releasing those with minor cuts or broken bones. Jos mentioned something about transporting the worst ones to Imdalind, so we moved them together…”
“And this one?” Ryland cut Thom off, and every single one of my muscles tensed, thankfully not feeling like they were going to snap like a rubber band inside of me. I was sure he was talking about me.
“Alive, but it was touch and go there for a bit.” The girl said, all humor from before gone. “She’s awake now so I would go get them so we can question her before we get her bitten and off to Imdalind. Did you guys get a hold of her parents?”
“Unfortunately. Do you know whose daughter this is?” There was a pause, my heart swelling as I prepared for the awe and respect that usually came with my family name. That would fix this. “She’s a Demarco.”
“Shit. I’ll go speak to them,” Thom said as more footsteps cut through the mumbling cries of pain from the other victim.
I was no longer so sure they were talking about me. Touch and go? Add such disdain with my name? Ridiculous. The conversation around me no longer made sense, especially now that most of the pain was gone.
I had no interest in laying here in confusion, I needed answers. But, even without pain, I wasn’t moving, no matter how hard I tried. Didn’t help that the girl’s palm was now fully covering my face, the warm weight holding me down.
“Seriously, kid, stop moving.” The lady said, tapping her fingers over my cheekbone now. “You are going to hurt yourself.”
“Perhaps if she could see she wouldn’t be fighting you so much.” Ryland’s voice was as I had always heard it, strong, powerful, and perfectly correct.
I didn’t know who this bitch was, but this was the closest I had ever been to any of the Eternals. Ryland was right there and I didn’t need one of the Skȓítek guards to be keeping me from him. Injured or not this wasn’t an opportunity I planned on wasting. I shifted my weight again and tried to say something that ended up being nothing more than bubbles of drool and blood that drizzled out of the corner of my mout
h.
That got her to move.
“Yeah, well, she probably needs to sit up if we are going to get anything other than blood out of her,” The girl said as her hand shifted to my collar bone, the radiating heat moving with her. “But I don’t dare move her until Jos gets here. She threw up a minute ago and fractured another bone in her spine. Add that to the ruptured kidney, a punctured lung, and half a dozen broken bones. A fractured spine is nothing!”
“Fractured?” The word was bubbles of panic and I instantly tried to shift again, my eyes furiously blinking as they tried to adjust to the blinding yellow glow of the fluorescent light.
“Oh, hold up,” she said, her wobbly shape hovering over me as what looked like grey smoke shrouded us, dimming the light and pulling her into focus.
It wasn’t some dumb guard. It was Wynifred. Thomas’s wife. Cail’s mother. I was surrounded by not one, but two of the royal family. Three, as I suddenly realized that Thom was short for Thomas.
Holy sh--
“Ha-ha, will you look at that, she recognizes us,” Wynifred said with a smile that wrinkled around her dark eyes.
“Either that or she is horrified because you told her that her back is fractured,” Ryland said, leaning over me from the other side.
Oh god, his eyes were even bluer from close up. I couldn’t look away, the light sky blue was like pools among his dark hair, pulling me in. I could only hope that Rowan’s eyes were as stunning.
“Naw, I’ve seen that look before.” Wynifred waved her free hand to the side as Ryland stepped out of my line of vision. I tried to turn but nothing happened, well nothing but a lightning bolt of pain down my spine. I winced.
“What is going on?” Again, the words were unintelligible, although thankfully there wasn’t quite as much drool that time.
“Screw it. If this hurts kid, don’t worry. I’ll heal it, or cauterize it, or whatever I need to. I’m sure you have questions, so do we, and we need to have this conversation quick so we can get your magic awakened and send you off to Imdalind so you can heal the right way.”
Imdalind. She hadn’t said the Academy, just Imdalind. The underground city where the royals lived, where magic comes from. Where I would live one day. Soon.
Images of a beautiful homecoming were wiped clean when a wind wrapped around me, lifting me to sitting as both mattress and pillows were lifted and lodged behind me to keep me upright. The motion ripped me apart, my joints and bones screaming as they twisted and moved in ways I was sure they weren’t supposed to. I grit my teeth, desperate to keep my scream inside, but it ripped its way out, splattering blood over the white sheet and buzzing in my head.
Screaming made everything worse. I had never felt anything like this before, and I had put myself through hell preparing for the Gauntlet. This felt like I had been turned inside out.
Heaving, I grit my teeth and locked the scream inside. Stubbornly refusing to face any of the Eternals as anything less than what I was.
I would not scream again.
Besides, Ryland and Wynifred were not the only ones here.
Mira stood not too far off, eyes bouncing between me and the dozens of other moaning, blood soaked people in the beds around us. Dozens of us had all been caught up in whatever that girl Gemma had done, although none of them were screaming. None of them had their own entourage of Eternals, either.
That entourage was about to get bigger.
The King and Queen were headed my way.
Ilyan and Joclyn weaved their way through the rows and rows of beds, tapping the metal frames of those who were still unconscious. They glanced between each one, mumbling to Wynifred’s daughter Analine about who knows what as they came closer.
As they walked right up to me.
Ilyan towered over Joclyn, their jackets and perfectly tailored trousers stained with blood and dirt. Joclyn even had a massive hole in the knee of the once black fabric. They were beautiful, elegant, and even with the pain I sat up as best as I could to watch them, to watch the long golden ribbons of their crowns twist around each other from their braids.
“Beautiful.” Of course, that was the first thing I said that made any sense.
“Yeah, you say that now,” Wynifred gave me a wink and put her warm hand back on my shoulder, the palm hot against my bare skin thanks to a massive hole in my shirt. I was actually amazed the thing was held together as well as it was.
Oh well, I had bought the thing last week and had already worn it once before, it was due to be tossed anyway.
“How is she?” The queen asked in a voice so windy that I almost didn’t recognize it as the powerful woman from before the gauntlet.
It was only her voice that was calm, however. Everything else about her screamed of power, the way she stood, the dark glint in her silver eyes as they looked right at me, through me maybe. It was hard to tell. Hell, it was hard to breathe underneath that look and I fell back against the pillows with a gasp.
“Well, you know, I’ve seen worse. She’ll be fine, but I think you're right about the bite…” Wynifred’s rambling was cut off as Mira stepped up to Ryland, clearing her throat and giving the woman a glare like I had never seen before.
Oh. My. God. They were everywhere. Mira and Ryland on one side, Wynifred on the other and the freaking King and Queen right in front of me. I didn’t know where to look.
“Fine. Fine.” Wynifred said, clearing her throat. “My lord, my lady, this is Sia Demarco. She is the witness to the attack. Miss Demarco, I give you the King and Queen.”
Everything in my life had been leading up to this moment. This moment was nothing like I had imagined it. I was not being praised for completing the Gauntlet first, nor was their son anywhere around and wearing a tuxedo. I was covered with blood, my hair a mess, and I wasn’t even sure that I could form coherent words without bleeding all over myself.
Still, I was going to try.
“Your Majesties.” It was mostly understandable, and thankfully limited with the blood and drool combo. The head bow, however, didn’t move beyond an inch, but they didn’t seem to notice.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sia. Although I wish it had been in better circumstances,” Ilyan began, stepping closer to the bed and blocking my view of the Queen. “Judging by your injuries it appears that you were the lone witness to the attack. We believe we have the attackers in custody and have been speaking to others involved, but we are hopeful that you can give us the information we need.”
“I will be of as much assistance to you as I am able.” It was getting easier to speak, thank god. It was going to be impossible to create the right impression if I had blood oozing from the corner of my mouth.
I tried to bow again, that time my head moved a fraction of an inch. It barely hurt, although I was sure that was from Wyn’s burning palm against my shoulder, and her magic that was quickly turning me into a furnace.
“Good to hear,” llyan gave me a smile. “Can you tell us what you saw?”
“There were these Drains… Mortals…” I quickly corrected when Wynifred’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “They were in the last room, the one without light.”
“How many were there?” Ilyan prompted, his voice growing to the same deep tone as I had heard before the doors had opened, the rumbling baritone shaking the broken bones in my back. A tiny shadow of pain rippled up my spine and I cringed, prompting another wave of heat to radiate from Wynifred’s hand. I didn’t want to see what condition my shoulder would be in after this.
“Seven, maybe more.”
“What happened?” They all leaned in at Ilyan’s question, except for Mira who took a step back, going into guard mode. God. I was broken to bits and I still wanted nothing more than to be like her. She was such a badass.
“I saw them huddled around one of those cards, they were talking about the end and some plan. I didn’t have ti--” I paused, my heart thundering as I lay there. Wynifred’s warmth cascaded through me, weird pricks running up my spine that almost f
elt like my bones were piecing themselves back together.
I wanted this. I wanted this power. To be among them. This was my place, and there was only one way I was going to get there.
“I didn’t know what they were talking about,” I continued, clearing my throat to make up for the pause. “But there was something about the way they were speaking that scared me. I didn’t have much time, I know you only let so many into Imdalind Academy, and I waited to run, so this might be my only shot…” I paused again, adding a dramatic pout that may not have all been acting. “It was a risk, but I followed them, and when they started taunting others, threatening to throw them into a crevice; I fought them. I tried so hard to stop them. The others got free, but one of the girls with them fell in. The main girl, this girl with a pink mohawk, Gemma I think, she was pissed and tried to push me in too. But I ran, and then they caught up with me, and then…”
I sped up with each word until my voice caught and I heaved, trying to force in a shuddering breath. Okay, so maybe this super-magic healing hadn’t reached there yet. That hurt. I gasped and winced undoing the dramatic impact I had been trying to make.
They were looking at me with pity.
The vile, disgusting look was not one I wanted.
“I tried to stop them, My Lord,” I said softly, hoping to wipe the look from their faces. “I really did. That kind of thing… I can’t believe it.” Pause. Sniffle, I even tried to wipe my nose, not realizing my arm still didn’t move. “Did many people get hurt?” Or rather, how many Drains got hurt. How many Drains were knocked out of the competition? “Did the gauntlet get called off?”
They all exchanged a look, looking from the King to me and back again, before Queen Joclyn stepped out around Ilyan’s towering frame, a darkness fading from her eyes.
Just like before the doors to the gauntlet had opened. The Drak sight.
Paranormal Academy Page 26
