“I am Merlin Wyllt,” the man as he slightly bowed his head. “My face probably struck a chord with you because I was your pediatrician when you were a child.”
“My pediatrician? Have you visited me at Vulgate?” I did not even try to hide my confusion.
“Several times. I had been working for Vulgate for quite a few years.”
“Merlin Wyllt is our Grand Wizard and his occupation as a pediatrician was just a cover-up,” Mordred explained.
“But enough about me. Let’s talk about you,” Merlin addressed me.
“Before we talk about me, why don’t you release me from this handcuff?” I moved my hand to show him the shackle around my wrist.
“Mordred, would you mind?” Merlin said with an authoritative tone in his voice.
Mordred muttered some incomprehensible words as he wielded his golden button and the shackle dismantled and resolved in the air.
“Now, what would you like to know?” I said as I rubbed my aching wrist.
“Miss Gwen Smith, would you like to join Avallon Academy?”
“You cannot be serious,” Mordred objected.
“I could not be more serious.” Merlin glowered at him.
“Why would I do that?” I could not care less for their feud; all I wanted was to get out of there and Merlin’s offer sounded quite tempting to me.
“The heck I want,” I hurried to say before he changed his mind; or before Mordred came up with any more reasons why I should not join the what-in-earth-was-called Academy.
“Okay, young lady, brace yourself, it’s going to be windy.” Merlin started spinning his umbrella by its silver handle until a whirlwind of green and lime lights was created in the middle of the cell. As the whirlwind grew bigger, white lightning strikes appeared inside the swirl and a gentle wind breezed across the room.
“After you,” Merlin told me and pointed with his umbrella the emerald whirlwind.
Doubt conquered as I took one step forward. “What’s on the other side?”
“Your new home,” Merlin said calmly.
“I’d really love some more information.” I gulped.
“Sure, what would you like to know?”
“Well,” I stepped closer to him, “for starters, what is this windy thing that spreads lightings across the room?”
“Oh, you mean this thing?” Merlin asked politely before he shoved me into the whirlwind.
CHAPTER 5
*
After a couple of seconds flight through a bright tunnel, surrounded by lightning strikes and swirling blue and white lights, I landed on a comfortable yellow-cream couch in a what-looked-like an office with red painted walls and red velvet furniture.
I had always been dreaming of traveling the world on a private jet or luxury yacht, but I had to admit that hopping from one place to another in seconds by passing through virtual doors and colorful tunnels was more fun.
Once I landed on the couch, the portal shut down and the whirlwind vanished in a puff. I was sitting alone in the large dark room, wondering where on earth Merlin was.
My gaze focused on the portrait of a middle-aged wizard that hung over the mantel at the north end of the office. The voices of people talking tentatively outside the room echoed like buzzing bees in my head. The heavy wooden door opened with a noise and Merlin rushed into the room.
“Where did you come from?” I asked confused. Since Merlin did not hop with me through the portal, I thought that he had stayed behind, wherever that behind was.
“I’m not going to reveal all my secrets to you at once,” he said in his elegant way of talking.
“Fair enough. What about the reason I am here?”
“Yes, I think you are entitled to know that.” Merlin gently placed his umbrella on his dark cherry rosewood desk and slowly took his seat behind it. “You are lucky to have joined the most prestigious Academy for young people with extraordinary abilities and peculiar talents.”
“Is this what this place really is? Because it seems to me that all you are is a secret society that practices magic and does superhuman stuff.”
“In a way, that is what we are. And you are given the opportunity to join us.”
“What if I do not like it here and decide that I do not want to enroll in the Academy?”
“You will go to jail for misuse of powers. None of us, those with extraordinary powers, are allowed to use them without the permission of the Board of Wizards; or at least mine. And you had been using your power for a while before Mordred finally located you and locked you in.”
“Did you know all this time?” I was confused.
“I have been watching you since you were a toddler. Not only because of my occupation with the Vulgate orphanage, but also because I had recognized your ability to manipulate time. Every time you hopped time; I knew. Every single time.”
“And you did nothing to stop me; or at least to explain what was happening to me. You did nothing to help me cope with this talent, as you call it. Instead, you let me suffer, unable to understand why time was like a turbine for me.”
“You are right,” he said staring at me. “I did nothing to help you deal with your gift. I had to let you discover the depths of our ability and decide how far you wanted to go with it. I had to let you create your own personality without my guidance and interference. You were supposed to be the master of yourself. You were supposed to become a strong woman, brave enough to live the life she would long for.”
“That is what you think I have become?” I could not help but raise an eyebrow.
“No.”
That was not the answer I was expecting to hear. Amused by the baffled look on my face, Merlin cracked a smile, the first one since we met in Mordred’s prison.
“This is what I believe that you will become when your training is finished. The way you talked to Mordred under the stressing conditions of imprisonment showed me that you are gutsy and smart. I am intrigued to help you develop your gift and guide you to discover your real self. But enough for now.”
Merlin pressed a brass button on his desk and a beautiful young woman with long red hair entered the room.
“This is Morgan and she will show you your room and tomorrow, first thing in the morning, you will meet your new tutors and classmates.”
“One more thing,” I said before I closed the door behind me.
“Please,” said Merlin.
“How do you know that I will not try to time hop?”
“Because you cannot. I have cast a spell on you so you will not be able to. Did you try to escape Mordred’s cell by manipulating time?”
“Oh, heck ... I did not,” I said puzzled.
“Did you even think of trying?”
“Er ... no,” I admitted even more confused.
“It is because we had constrained your gift with our magic,” Merin said while moving to close the door in front of me.
“Wait!” I yelled. “Where on earth is this place? What kind of magic did you use to send me here? Oh, and where is the prison Mordred had locked me located?”
“That is more than one thing. And you will get to know the answers to all your questions soon. However, now you are going to call it a night,” Merlin said and closed the door in my face.
“Do not take it personally. It is just Merlin being Merlin,” Morgan said as she led me through a sequence of dim corridors decorated with portraits of men and women dressed in clothes from different eras.
“Which means what exactly?”
“Merlin is the most powerful wizard in the world,” Morgan said as she turned right into another corridor. “He is capable of arranging a meeting with the President of the United States in the middle of a red-alert situation. Even the NSA and MI6 are fully aware of our existence and practices.”
She stopped in front of a door. “Merlin’s longtime friendship with the President of Russia has proven beneficial for our organizations. Avallon Academy has been granted the discreet liberty of working underground to
serve its cause, while international secret organizations that work with us benefit from the information our undercover agents gather without them getting their hands dirty.”
She put the key in the keyhole. “We have been working to closely monitor the movements of a group called the Black Sword Riders over the past few months, and so far, we have been able to prevent a deadly attack by them. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to keep doing this for much longer, so we need to recruit as many people with peculiar talents as we can in a short time.” She opened the door and motioned me to enter the room.
“This is your room. You will find a change of clothes in the closet and your uniform which you will be wearing every day from now on except on Sundays. Sundays are uniform-free days.”
CHAPTER 6
*
It felt so warm and snuggly, just like a mother’s hugs. Or at least what I thought a mother’s hug would feel like. The thick, fluffy blanket around my body offered delightful warmth. The sound of a crackling fire reminded me of the large sitting hall in the Vulgate orphanage.
I opened my eyes and with my head barely protruding from the warm cocoon I was wrapped in, I perused the dark bedroom. I could not believe that I had a room of my own.
The iron bed I was lying on, covered in etchings of large flowers, glowed in the light of a marble fireplace set against the opposite wall. My gaze fell on a round table in the middle of the room. A dusty iron candlestick had been placed on its surface. That room needed a good cleaning. A small spider web covered a piece of the elaborate carvings on the headboard of the bed. I would deal with that later.
That was not the reason I could not sleep. I raised my body and sat up on the soft mattress. I shyly shrugged off one end of the blanket and glanced down at my body. I was dressed in the long, white silk nightgown that I had found lying on the bed when I entered the room. The sleeves were wide and lengthy, their edges garnished with thick white fur. I wrapped myself again with the old-fashioned blanket and moved to get out of the bed. When my feet reached the dirty floor, they touched on something. It was a pair of old silk mule shoes trimmed with fur which I had not noticed before.
“Quite old-fashioned – like I have gone back in time.”
I put on the mule shoes and approached the heavily carved rectangular mirror that was next to the fireplace. When I looked at my reflection, I could not help but laugh. With the long nightgown and old-fashioned shoes, I looked like a diva from the roaring 20s.
I picked up the iron candlestick from the table and explored the room at the light of the candle. An emerald embossed wallpaper covering the walls was the only happy touch in the badly maintained room. Obviously, I was not a guest of honor, or they did not have the time to clean up the room.
A shabby velvet curtain on the wall behind the bed caught my attention. I pulled the heavy fabric forcefully and a dense cloud of dust covered me. Once the dust faded away, a quatrefoil window was revealed. I looked anxiously out of the window at the darkness, trees, and starry sky. There was no light and no indication of another person. A shudder ran down my spine.
The flame of the candle flickered. I went to the light switch and tried to switch it on, but it did not work.
Great!
I turned to the steeply pointed ogive door and took a deep breath. It was time to get out of this room.
The door opened with a cacophonous creaking. I looked through the opening; the dark hallway was empty. A wrought iron lantern over the entrance to a stairwell gave off the only light. With the candlestick in my hand, I headed to the staircase and began descending timidly. Now I could notice all the details I had missed as I was walking fast, almost running, to catch up with Morgan’s fast pace.
Alas! My light breeze extinguished the candle, leaving a smoking trail behind. The dim light from the starry sky passing through the skylight above the stairs lit the balustrade. It was decorated with antelopes holding shields. The end of the staircase led to a hallway. There, I had to choose between two options: open the lancet arch door that broke the monotony of the wooden wall or continue to climb down the stairs. I chose the latter and I ended up in another hallway with an arched stained-glass window between two ogive doors.
After briefly thinking, I decided that the door on the right would be my choice. With one hand, I held the candlestick up in front of me and with the other, I carefully opened the door and entered a cold room with a few pieces of furniture, a burning fireplace to the left, and two stained glass windows on the right. After I carefully closed the door behind me, I moved to the stained gothic windows and looked outside. I was at ground level. Holding the candlestick tightly, I turned the knob of the east door and pushed it timidly. A half-lit chamber was revealed behind the small opening. On the opposite wall, there was another door leading to a strong light source. I pulled out of the mule shoes, picked them up, and started walking on my tiptoes. I wanted to continue my quest unnoticed.
As I was crossing the elongated chamber, I noticed arched bookcases full of old books. My careful footsteps led me onto a thick oriental rug that covered most of the wooden floor. The carpet felt dirty and worn beneath my feet. An old leather sofa was placed in the center. Just like a firefly is attracted to the light on a dark night, I continued toward the door and the shining light.
“Hello, there!”
A husky male voice that came from the couch made my heart bounce. I lifted the iron candlestick as a shield.
“You’d better wear your shoes, or your feet will get dirty,” the man added, still invisible.
Maintaining a defensive stance, I took a step back and looked over to the leather sofa. A man was sitting in the dim light with his back toward me.
“Who are you?” I asked him.
“Who are you?” the man responded.
“Do not bother, I am leaving,” I said and walked towards the exit. I entered a vast empty hall. Carved wood columns were the only decoration. A heavy wooden chandelier with dozens of candles was hanging from the ceiling. A huge iron gate was visible in the distance.
Freedom!
I threw away the candlestick and mule shoes and raced in a frenzy toward the exit. That was my chance to get out of that damn building. I reached the front door and grabbed the huge door handles. I pulled them, but the door did not open. It did not even move. I pulled again, with all my strength, but the door remained still. I kicked and hit the door with my fists, but it remained closed.
“Don’t do that—it’s pointless,” the man whispered in my ear.
Numb with shock, I tried to understand how he could possibly be standing beside me. I hadn’t seen him following me, or even getting up from the sofa in the library chamber. And yet, there he was, standing beside me, with his hot breath caressing my shoulder. I kept my face turned toward the huge door, but out of the corner of my eyes, I sought to see the shape of his body. He was a tall, slim man with shoulder-skimming, slept-in ice blonde hair.
“Do not be afraid, I am not going to hurt you,” he said, taking a few steps backward with his hands up.
“Who are you and what do you want from me?” I tried to give my voice a decisive tone and hide the fact that I was about to faint from fear.
“The question is who you are,” replied the man kindly.
I cautiously turned my back to the door and came face to face with the man.
“Hello, gorgeous,” I almost uttered but I somehow managed to keep that thought to myself.
He placed the silk mule shoes I had dropped in front of my bare feet, and then moved back again, creating a safe zone between us.
“I told you that you should put your shoes on. Are you hungry? I am going to have an early morning snack. Would you like to join me?”
Noticing my unwillingness to follow him, he added, without turning to look at me, “Do not waste your time trying to leave this place. We are all bound to it by a spell.”
I watched him disappear into the darkness of the vast hall. The place looked like a Gothic mans
ion from another era. I went back to the huge windows and looked outside. The dark silhouettes of the trees that encircled the building were all I saw. I tried once again to open the door, but it was in vain. I tried to flash forward in time, with no luck.
Unable to find another way of escape, I decided to follow the advice of my empty stomach and go the way where the mysterious man had vanished.
A shiver ran through my body as I crossed the huge room. The sound of my heels broke the disturbing silence.
“Open the door on your right.”
A gust of warm air hit my body when I entered what seemed to be a kitchen. A large lit hob warmed the place up nicely. Two stalls with kitchenware and a tawdry kitchen table with a few clay crockeries on it filled the place.
“Wrap yourself with this. You shouldn’t have left your room so lightly dressed. This old building is as cold as an igloo,” the young man said and put a green velvet blanket over my shoulders. I welcomed the well-maintained blanket. As the adrenaline left my system, I realized how cold the place was.
The young man pulled out a wooden chair near the table and dusted it. He nodded for me to sit down and went back to the hob. When he returned, he had an earthenware bowl in his hands. The smell of steaming hot soup filled my nostrils as he placed it in front of me. Next to the bowl, he put a silver spoon and a clean napkin.
“Sorry, but this is all that was left from yesterday’s dinner,” he said, and a timid smile was painted on his face.
“Did you cook it?”
“Oh, no, I am not the cook of the Academy. I am a student just like you are.” The dimples in his cheeks deepened as he smiled. He sat in a chair opposite me and crossed his ankles.
“You know who I am?”
“You must be the newcomer everyone has been talking about all day yesterday.”
“Am ... am I?” I stammered.
“Yeah. Why don’t we start eating?”
I reluctantly took the spoon in my hand and tossed the soup. Slices of chopped veal floated on the fatty surface and the smell was quite heavy. However, my need for food overcame the disgust I felt at the smell. The first spoonful of the soup did not amaze me but did not disgust me either. The second went down easier, but it was after the third spoonful that I realized I was devouring my food. With both hands, I lifted the bowl up and sucked down the last drops of the soup. I left the bowl on the table and wiped my mouth delicately with the napkin.
The Cursed Sword (Avallon Academy Book 1) Page 3
