Believe

by Katie Holland

  “Yes, I’m sorry,” Alix said.

  “What happened? I need the truth Alix, even if it’s bad.”

  So, Alix told her everything from the last twenty-four hours. By the time she was done, Sara was sitting on the bed in shock.”

  “I don’t even know what to say,” Sara mumbled. “I’m so sorry for attacking you. I can’t even imagine doing that.” Tears started falling down her face. “Why me?”

  Alix’s heart was breaking for her. “Shelley, I think it’s safe to open the cell door.”

  “I’ll open it, but I’m going to be ready for anything,” she told Alix.

  “I’m with Shelley on this one,” Ben said. “I’ll be right here, just in case.”

  Sara heard them and looked up. “Was it that bad?”

  “It wasn’t great. I think you were actually trying to kill me. Or actually, the me you thought was a Grynn.”

  “Oh my God Alix. I don’t think I can ever apologize enough. I owe you my life and my freedom, how could I ever do something like that to you?”

  “Sara, it was the Grynn magic in the contacts. I know you would never hurt me.”

  “You know for sure it was the contacts and I’m like not infected with their evil?”

  “Well we haven’t tested them for sure, but as soon as we took them out of your eyes and woke you up you seemed back to normal.”

  “I’m not taking any chances with you, Alix. Keep me locked in here until you know for sure that I’m okay. I won’t let them use me as a weapon against you.”

  “But Sara …”

  “No Alix. In fact, I think you should leave right now and lock the door behind you. I couldn’t live with myself if I was the reason something happened to you,” Sara told her seriously. Then in a gentler voice she added, “Please Alix, for my peace of mind. I need you and everyone else to be one hundred percent sure that I’m safe for you to be around.”

  Alix could see the sincerity in her eyes, so she left the cell and waved her hand for Shelley to close the door. It killed something inside her to see the cell door close on Sara again.

  “I’m going to get right on testing those contacts,” Alix said. “I don’t want you in there one second more than you need to be.” Sara nodded at her. “Can I get you anything?”

  “I’m actually really hungry.”

  “Of course, you are. One of us will be back down as soon as we can with something for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Alix, Ben, and Shelley left the black room and went to the kitchen. Natalie was there when they walked in.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Ben filled her in on Sara’s situation.

  “Oh Alix, I’m so sorry. But it’s a good sign that she seems back to her old self.”

  “Yes, it is, but this situation just sucks. And the thing is, she's right. We don’t know for sure if the contacts were the cause, a trigger, or just a reaction. We need to have a better look at those.”

  “I’ll take her something to eat,” Natalie said. “You go do what you need to.”

  Alix set the two small containers on the counter and stared at them. “It would be great if there was a place to go where we could look at these freely and not worry about what might happen. Shelley, is there somewhere at Fox Hollow that we could make that happen?”

  Shelley smiled at her. “I forget you’re still so new as a Nykara and Council member. The red room in the room of rooms is a safe place for testing magic.”

  “Huh. Well that’s good to know,” Alix said. “In the last forty-eight hours I’ve learned what three more of the doors do. That’s very useful. Should we go there now?”

  “I’m all for finding out what those are all about,” Ben said, pointing to the containers. “Can you join us Shelley?”

  “Yes. I’m all yours.”

  As they headed to the stairs Alix said, “We totally need a shortcut to the room of rooms. All these stairs are getting to me.”

  “Well Alix,” Ben said with a smile, “if anyone was able to make that happen it would be you.”

  “Ha. But I’m pretty sure the room of rooms is hard to get to, so that it can’t be discovered by accident.”

  “Just saying though, an elevator from the main floor to the room of rooms wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

  Alix smacked him in the arm, and they continued walking. When they were standing in front of the red door, she thought about needing to learn about the contacts and opened the door.

  The red room was very interesting. Part of it was set up like a lab while another part contained a small library. There was also a big open space that contained nothing. Alix guess that when learning about Grynn magic you never knew what you were going to need.

  They went over to the lab section. Shelley put on gloves, so they did as well. Alix smiled a little because this felt like Biology class and not her real life.

  Shelley turned on a couple of light switches as well as a TV. They watched as she carefully took one contact out of the container and put it under a microscope. It must have been hooked up to the TV because they could see the contact on the screen. She looked like she knew what she was doing, and Alix realized that she didn’t know what Shelley did for a living, so she decided to ask her.

  “What do you do when you’re not doing Council things,” Alix asked.

  “I’m a medical researcher at a university in Canada.”

  “I guess that explains why you seem right at home here,” Alix said

  Shelley took a pair of very fine tweezers and started poking at it. First, she looked at it flat, then turned it so she could see the edge. She used a higher setting to get even closer to the surface of the contact.

  “Do you see anything unusual?” Ben asked, a few minutes later. They may have been looking at the screen, but had no clue what they were looking at.

  “Yes, this is actually very exciting, in a scary kind of way. The Grynn have found a way to make the contacts out of a natural material and not plastic. I think it’s some kind of gelatin that has their magic infused right into it. It’s extraordinary. I bet one of the Grynn companies manufactures contact lenses. We need to look into that and shut it down. Who knows how many of these things are out there.”

  Ben got on his phone and started looking up companies owned by GRN Enterprises. Shelley continued to examine the contact when Alix had a thought.

  “Can the Grynn magic that’s trapped in those contacts be neutralized?”

  “You could probably do it,” Shelley said. “So far, you are the only living person that can destroy Grynn magic.”

  “What did you do with it before I came along?”

  “Anything that was found to contain the evil magic was stored in a magically locked safe or safe room.”

  “Like the one at Fox Hollow.”

  “Yes Alix, precisely,” Shelley said.

  “So, it wasn’t just that the Grynn magic that I removed from Logan was too strong to destroy, but that until I got the Power Stone none of it was able to be destroyed.”

  “Exactly. Do you want to try and destroy this?” Shelley asked, pointing to the lens on the microscope.

  “Sure, I don’t know if I can without the Stone, but it seems like such a small amount that I’ll try it right now.”

  Shelley removed contact and carefully set it in Alix’s hand. Alix cupped her hand and put her other one over it like she had a grasshopper in them. Concentrating solely on what she knew Grynn magic felt like she pushed her magic into the small thing in her hand. She immediately felt the evil. It may have been a small amount, but it was powerful. She now understood why Sara was so sure she had seen them as Grynn.

  Her powers had grown a lot since she’d first gotten her tattoo, but even with all that she was capable of she wasn’t able to destroy the little bit of magic in her hand.

  “I’m going to need the Stone,” she conceded.

  “Don’t look so down on yourself, Alix,” Shelley told her. “No one else in the Nyka
ra world can do what you can-- with or without the stone. I’ll stay here with the contacts and you run and get the stone. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Alix let Shelley take the contact and she took her gloves off. Ben had found a chair and was still busy with his phone. She left the red room and went straight to get the Stone from her room. Shay was just coming out of her room and they almost ran into each other.

  “Hey,” Shay said. “Where have you been?”

  “In one of the room of rooms with Ben and Shelley. I’m going to get the Power Stone to destroy the Grynn magic that was causing Sara to attack us.”

  “Can I come with you?”

  “Sure.”

  Alix went into her room and got the small white bag that held the Stone. Shay was waiting in the hallway and together they went back to the red room.

  Shay didn’t want to be in the way, so she went and sat with Ben. Alix saw them talking, but she was too focused on what she needed to do to hear what they were saying.

  With the Stone in her right hand on her tattoo she felt the energy flow through her. Shelley put both contact lenses in her left hand and stepped back. Alix surrounded the Grynn magic with her own. When she did that it started to fight back. She maintained her little bubble of magic and slowly decreased its size. When it was only slightly larger than the contacts, she thought about them evaporating into nothing. The Grynn magic was trying to fight back, but it was no match for Alix and the Stone. Several seconds later, the contacts containing the evil magic were destroyed forever. She slipped the Stone back into its little bag and put it in her pocket.

  “It’s always so cool watching you do stuff like that,” Shay told her. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to it.”

  “I’m not sure I will either,” Alix said smiling at her.

  Alix hoped that no matter what happened in their lives they would still always be amazed by the magic.

  Chapter 14

  “Let’s go tell Sara the good news,” Alix said.

  The four of them left the room and went the few steps to the black room where Sara was still being held. They found Natalie talking to Sara while she ate.

  “Hey mom,” Ben said, announcing their arrival.

  “Hi everyone. I thought I’d keep Sara company for a while,” Natalie told them.

  “That was nice of you,” Ben said.

  “Guess what Sara?” Alix said, “The contacts were full of the Grynn’s evil magic. They may have been small, but they had some potent magic in them.”

  “Really? Wow. So, you’re positive that’s the only thing that was causing me to act that way?”

  “I believe so. Shelley and I did an extensive search for anything Grynn in your body and that’s the only thing we found. I think it’s safe to let you out of there.”

  “I agree,” Shelley said, and opened the door to the cell.

  Sara stepped out cautiously as if she wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was a good idea.

  “Let’s go upstairs and talk,” Natalie suggested.

  Everyone left the black room and went to the kitchen. It was late enough that they had to start dinner. Alix and Natalie started getting things out of the fridge while the others sat at the breakfast bar.

  “Sara,” Alix said, while she was chopping vegetables, “we never really got a chance to talk about what you remember. You said you went to school for an extra credit class. Walk us through your whole morning, from the time you got up until you arrived at school.”

  “Um, okay. The class started at 8:00 so I got up at 7:00, threw on some clothes and ran out the door. I drove to the university in Bozeman. I parked outside the Culinary Arts building. And then … I … um … I don’t know what happened after that.”

  “I need you to think back and try and remember if you were followed or saw anyone suspicious in the parking lot,” Alix told her.

  Sara was quiet for a few minutes. “I can’t think of anything,” she said, sounding disappointed.

  “I think I can help with this,” Shelley stated.

  “Of course, you can,” Alix said, stopping what she was doing. “I don’t know why we didn’t think of it before.”

  “Actually, it’s better if the person can remember on their own if possible,” Shelley told them. “That way they’ll retain the memory. I can look at their memories, but I can’t guarantee they’ll know anything more than when I started.”

  “I don’t care,” Sara said. “If it can help, I want to do it.”

  “You’re positive?” Shelley asked.

  “Yes. I want to be part of the solution and not the problem. What do you need me to do?”

  “Just turn to face me. I’m going to put my hands on your head. You’ll feel my magic enter you. It’s very important to not try and push it out. Just relax as best as you can.”

  Sara turned to face Shelley. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “I’m ready,” she told her.

  Shelley placed her hands on either side of Sara’s head. Alix could tell when Shelley’s magic entered her as Sara jumped a little, but other than that she seemed fine. The two of them stayed that way for several minutes. Eventually Shelley removed her hands.

  “I think someone in your cooking class is a Grynn,” Shelley announced.

  “What? How can that be? I’d have noticed a Grynn in class with me.”

  “What did you see?” Alix asked.

  “First, I need to know something. Sara, how did you sign up for the class?”

  “We received an email about it and I just replied to the email,” she told Shelley.

  “So, there wasn’t an announcement in class or anything?”

  “No, just the email.”

  “Okay. From what I was able to get from your memories, as well as your subconscious, was that they were waiting for you in the parking lot, but they were cloaked. As soon as you turned off your car, they were suddenly surrounding you, four of them. Before you could do anything, they used magic to knock you out. That’s when they took you.”

  “Why do you think it’s someone in her class?” Ben asked.

  “There were no other cars in the parking lot were there Sara.”

  “No, not that I can remember. I thought I was early or that no one else wanted to be at school on a Sunday morning.”

  “So, you think she was set up?” Ben suggested.

  “Yes, that’s what I’m leaning toward.”

  “So now we have to find out why,” Alix said. “Were you a specific target or just happened to be the first Nykara they encountered?”

  “Always more questions than answers,” Shay said.

  “What are we going to do about me going to school?” Sara asked. “It’s my dream to get a Culinary Arts degree and I don’t want the Grynn to stop me from doing that.”

  “I have an idea about that,” Shelley said. “Let me make a few phone calls and I’ll let you know what we can do.” Shelley left the room.

  Sara got up from the breakfast bar and started helping with dinner. Alix suspected it was a way to take her mind off what was going on.

  An hour later, they were all sitting at the table eating dinner. Shelley joined them since she told them she was waiting for someone to arrive. About halfway through dinner the sound of someone buzzing at the gate got everyone’s attention.

  “That must be Brayden,” Shelley said. “Rick, can you help me with your intercom system.”

  “Certainly. Come with me.”

  “I wonder who Brayden is?” Shay asked.

  “Me too,” Alix admitted.

  When Shelley came back, she was accompanied by a guy that Alix guessed to be in his early twenties.

  “Everyone,” Shelley said, getting their attention. “This is Brayden. He’s going to be going to school with Sara to keep her safe. Brayden, this is everyone. There’s a lot of names to remember, but you’ll get it.”

  The adults were the first to introduce themselves to Brayden. The kids went as a group.

&nbs
p; “Welcome, Brayden. I’m Alix, this is Ben, Shay and Logan.”

  “It’s an honor to meet you, Kaelneth,” he said.

  Alix giggled. “We’re so not formal around here. It’s just Alix.”

  “Okay,” he said smiling. “Since you’re the only one I haven’t met can I guess you’re Sara?”

  “You’d be guessing right,” she said.

  “Why don’t we go to the den and get to know each other better,” Ben suggested.

  They all agreed and followed Ben.

  “So,” Shay said, “tell us about yourself.”

  “Okay. Well, I’m nineteen and as a kid I grew up on a ranch in Texas.”

  “That explains the accent,” Shay said, with a grin.

  “When I was twelve, I started at military school. My dad was a Warrior and I guess he was hoping I’d follow in his footsteps. Luckily for me I did.” He showed them his tattoo. It was a great white shark. “I’m a Warrior, but I have some Artist in me as well.”

  “What is your Artistic specialty?” Sara asked.

  “I like to cook,” he told her.

  “That explains why you’re here,” Alix said. “How did you end up in Montana?”

  “I was always top of my class at military school, so when I got my tattoo, I had an instructor that was Nykara and put me in a special program. I was able to graduate, but I also learned all types of advanced skills. After school I was sent to a top Warrior training program. When the Kaelneth finally came among us and the Grynn trouble started I was assigned to the team here.”

  “Lucky for us,” Alix said. “Where will you be staying?”

  “I was told there was an extra room at Sara’s house. Shelley suggested I live with her so she can have protection twenty-four hours a day.”

  “Oh,” Sara said, her cheeks turning a little pink.

  Alix had to smile at her.

  “Will that be alright?” Brayden asked her.

  “Of course,” she said. “It’ll be nice to have some company. So, what will you be doing while I’m in class?”

  “I’m going to be in class with you. Shelley said they were able to enroll me as a transfer student and since it’s only three weeks into the year, she said they let her do it.”

  “One of the administrators must be Nykara,” Alix said. “We’ve been able to do things that I don’t think would have been possible at any other university.”