by June Leung
“Hey! It is not my fault the clan has nothing fun.”
In the library, they split up to look for something interesting. The library was comforting, and the smell of antique books and wood never got old. Lia’s eyes relaxed in the warm yellow light. She walked past various tall bookshelves at random, hoping to bump into something fun.
At a corner, Lia walked into a woman with golden hair and glasses putting a few books from a cart up on the shelves. “Hello Sophia. Hard working here, huh?”
“Oh, Lia! Glad to see you here. Fancy reading a book today?”
Lia took a step closer to the cart, peeking over the books. “I don’t know, kind of hoping to stumble across an interesting title. Who returned these books here?”
Sophia picked up a few more, putting them back to the shelf. “William just sent them back earlier. He seemed to really be looking at the forbidden magic recently.”
Lia seemed to catch a mischievous glint in Sophia’s eyes, she asked, “He took out new ones after returning these?”
“He did, but I don’t know whether they’ll be worth his time. If it is in the books, we should’ve found them much earlier.”
“I’ve only heard of the other kinds of magic from rumors.” Lia eyed the top book. The Bloody Mystery—The Guide to Summoning the Devil. It sent a chill down her spine, especially when she thought about how Adrian ripped the gang’s men apart. If this was about him, the title wasn’t that far off. “Do you think they exist?”
“Everyone would hope forbidden magic doesn’t exist. If it is forbidden, there’s probably a reason. Better not to poke the beast, though. William never actually talks about it, so I don’t think he knows a lot.” Sophia turned to the cart when Lia was holding the book. “You want to take a look at this?”
“Um… I guess I will give it a try,” Lia said. Sophia nodded with a small smile on her face, but it seemed forced. Lia asked, “Something’s on your mind?”
Sophia’s eyes widened and she quickly schooled herself, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Nothing. I’m just wondering why both you and William are suddenly that interested in finding out about dark magic.”
If Sophia knew it was dark magic, why did she call it “the forbidden magic” a short while ago? Lia said, “Since the meteorite monsters, he’s been talking about his suspicions. I haven’t been around long enough to even know why, but he seems to be worried.”
“You can’t blame him. From what I heard, if they are real, it would be scary,” Sophia hummed, putting the last book from the cart into its place.
“Do you know anything about dark magic?”
Sophia flinched, flicking her eyes to Lia. “Why do you ask?”
She looked suspicious. Lia wanted to ask more, but she wasn’t supposed to know a lot either. If Sophia told William, Lia might get into trouble. Lia said, “I think there may be something in the books.”
“Oh, you aren’t wrong. But I think most of the books are just fiction; at least I don’t have a way to prove any of them to be real.” Sophia smiled, fixing her tied up hair. “Got to go. Enjoy your book.” She pointed at the cart, bidding Lia goodbye. Lia waved back.
Lia headed to a corner in the library. Helen was already there with a book opened in front of her. She was staring at the ceiling. Lia gently knocked on the table. “Hey, you don’t have to be here with me. I know you don’t love books. I’m fine reading by myself.”
Helen startled, shaking her head. “Nah, I’m fine reading with you. I’m just thinking about something.”
“What are you thinking about?” Lia raised her brows and took a seat.
Helen stared blankly in front of her for a while longer, rubbing her temple. “I don’t know. I think you should be safe now after we fought those that were after you. But I can’t shake the feeling something is wrong.”
“What kind of wrong are we talking about?”
“That William may find out something. And something’s going to be wrong with you. I guess I’m anxious not knowing what will happen, like there’s a large grey cloud above. Will it rain? Will it bring a storm? Will it just disperse and nothing will happen?”
“Other than it dispersing, none of them sound good,” Lia said. Helen’s hunches had been very accurate before—was it bad to hope she was wrong?
“Yeah…” Helen sighed, tucking her hair behind her shoulder.
They stared at each other for a while longer before they each buried themselves into their book of choice.
Lia ran her hand along the fabric cover of The Bloody Mystery—The Guide to Summoning the Devil. Was it really about Adrian and his magic? If so, would it have something relating to her?
She flipped to the index page, going down the entries. While she was sure she knew every word, she wasn’t sure she understood the phrases. It read a bit awkwardly. She flipped to a random chapter, hoping the passages would be easier to understand.
It read, “Rejecting the offer from a devil seldom means death, but rejecting them down the road could be dangerous.” Adrian did offer her to take his trade for more power, but since her dark magic showed up, he didn’t talk about that. She sighed; even with their relationship now, she couldn’t even forget him. Despite what she told him, part of her still wished the banter they had would come back some day.
“The devil seldom asks for more than one could give, but what he wants will always matter. What they could give is beyond the imagination of the mortal mind.” She’d be happy enough if he would let her know what he felt. He was quiet when that topic came up.
She jumped over to the last chapter of the book. It read, “Regarding the death of the devil: nobody has tried to kill the devil. The devil is believed to be able to read the minds of mortals. With every attempt to kill the devil, he has never been summoned successfully, thus no one knows what is needed or how one can kill the devil. It is also not known of the number of devil(s). It is believed that the devil is invincible until the last of his bonded mortals is killed.”
Lia carefully traced her finger along the old, yellowed page as she reread the sentences. Was the information accurate? Or was it even about Adrian? He didn’t seem that invincible when he was slashed by the gang’s men nor shot by the crossbows, but he did heal quickly.
Wait, I should be here to forget about him. Why am I choosing to read a book that may have a link with his magic? Dammit… Now I want to ask him about his magic. My magic.
Lia shut the book in a whim, pushing it away.
“Hey, something wrong?” Helen asked.
“Nothing… I wonder why I have to think about him all the time…”
Helen glanced at the book and chuckled wryly. “I guess we should try to do something else. Maybe the library isn’t the best place to be.” Lia nodded.
The two of them picked up their books and handed them back to Sophia at the counter. She smiled at them as she thanked them and set the books aside. Lia swore she saw a mischievous glint in Sophia’s eyes when she looked at her, but she couldn’t point her finger at the reason. No way Sophia would know about her dark magic, right? No one in the clan other than Helen should know.
Chapter 4
Lia
Lia and Helen went to the arena, hoping Patrick had already finished his session so the two of them could have some fun together. When Lia pushed open the door, there was a loud bang inside. They hurried in.
“What’s happening?” Lia asked.
Patrick was on the floor, supporting himself with both arms. William stood by the control panel up on the balcony, looking down.
“Oh, nothing’s wrong, I just asked William how strong the glass shield is, and he told me to try it out. Let’s say it didn’t go well.” Patrick chuckled, standing back up.
“I told you the shield is strong.” William walked down the stairs from the balcony as the glass shield slowly retreated to the side of the rectangular field area. Lia and Helen met Patrick in the center of the field.
“So that was the bang? I thought
something exploded,” Helen said, looking between William and Patrick.
“I shot at the shield. And had fun evading my own blast.” Patrick shrugged, fixing his messed up curly brown hair with a soft smile.
William said, “I thought the two of you would be outside. The weather is great today.”
“I wanted to, but Lia didn’t.” Helen rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, not today.” Lia shrugged.
“Even training seems fun to you?” Patrick asked with amusement.
“I wanted to play video games, but she banned me from it.” Lia smacked Helen’s shoulder playfully.
“Hey, you’ve been playing for hours straight every day. Can’t blame me for trying to stop you.” Helen deadpanned, shoving Lia gently.
“I will start the game mode for you two then. Have some fun,” William chuckled, shaking his head, he turned to walk up to the panel.
“You two have fun. I’ll go grab a late lunch. See ya tonight.” Patrick stifled a yawn as he waved them a goodbye.
Lia and Helen remained in the field. Helen nudged Lia’s side. “Ready to be beaten in real life?”
“Right back at you!” Lia rolled her eyes, tickling Helen. The glass shield slowly emerged from the sides, closing above them. With a beep, the competition mode started.
Different types of virtual monsters began appearing in the field. Helen and Lia wielded their magic, getting ready to fight.
Remember, do it slowly, don’t make William more suspicious than he already is…
Lia focused her thought and her power, taking out just the needed amount. She hauled an ice ball at a werewolf, hitting it in the shoulder and knocking it off its course. It rolled on the ground, trying to free his frozen arm. She shot ice shards at it, putting an end to it.
“Sorry, I already shot down a zombie, so the first kill is mine!” Helen shouted while she aimed at a small beast the size no larger than a cat, sending leaf blades flying at it.
A beast with extra sharp fangs dashed towards Lia on all fours. She raised her hand in front of her, willing an ice blast. She managed to freeze the beast split seconds before Helen’s leaf blade hit.
“Sorry, am faster!” Lia laughed as she turned to a dinosaur-like monster which was snarling at them with sharp fangs.
“Grrr!” Helen huffed, looking for another target while moving to the side from the jaw of a dino.
The two of them were shooting at monsters and occasionally stealing each other’s target. Lia often glanced at the scoreboard, making sure the two of them were close. If she were to win, the score still needed to be close.
As she shot at the monsters, something felt off. It wasn’t as exciting as she remembered. Maybe the virtual monsters weren’t that challenging, or there was something lacking in them that made hunting them down boring.
The virtual monsters actually aren’t living before I ‘kill’ them—is that the reason?
Her mind went back to the gang’s base, when Adrian and Benjamin tore through their enemies. It was much more tense than now. Maybe the stakes were high enough to make it interesting.
After the last monsters fell, Lia and Helen stared at the scoreboard, Lia won by two points. She patted Helen in the back with a smug smile. “Sorry, you aren’t beating me this time.”
Helen crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You got lucky this time. This time only.”
“You two seemed to really like this mode, huh?” William asked as he approached.
“Only trying to beat the overall high score is getting boring,” Helen said.
Lia nodded, her mind still wandering. Slowly nausea spread in her stomach. She blinked, she better get out before William could find out anything. “Helen, the restroom together? I may have drunk too much soda earlier.”
“Oh sure!” Helen raised her brows but followed without question. William rolled his eyes, muttering something about women going to restrooms in a group. The two of them waved him a goodbye, agreeing to show up for training the next day.
Outside of the arena, Helen grabbed Lia’s arm. “Hey, you don’t look good.”
“To my room instead,” Lia barely managed to utter the words. She was focusing on the power rush, trying her best to calm it down. It would help if she could sit down or lay down as soon as humanly possible.
They dashed down the corridors. Helen opened the door to the guest room, helping Lia rest on the bed. The nausea was gone, but the dizziness was overwhelming. Her body was on fire, burning hot when she rubbed her own arms. Helen frowned deeply. “What should I do to help?”
“It… will be OK. Maybe you should get out of the room.”
“But you look pale. I…”
“Then get close to the door. Get out as quick as possible if something happens.” Lia winced, holding her head.
You don’t need Adrian to help. Slowly, from the head to the arms.
Lia struggled to push the urge of attacking something down, collecting the pieces of her power that seemed to turn her body into a fireball, threatening to burn everything nearby.
You have to do it right, Lia. Helen is here. Adrian won’t be here. You can’t hurt Helen. Slowly, slowly, from arms down to stomach.
The power seemed to be under her control again. She directed it into her stomach, feeling the warmth pooling there. It was still strong, urging her to do something. She rubbed her temple, trying to come up with something harmless to busy her power.
She spread out her palm in front of her, willing an ice ball. It slowly formed, glowing white. She held the ice ball, focusing on keeping it existing. As the ice ball kept emitting light, it slowly used up some of the power. She kept the ice magic trick going until she felt fully in control of herself.
“Phew!” Lia let out a sigh of relief. She rested the ice ball she created on her forehead, cooling herself down. This ice magic was sometimes handy.
“So…” Helen raised her brows at Lia, standing next to the door.
“Oh, I’m fine now. Sorry for scaring you.” Lia gave her a rueful smile, patting the spot next to her on the bed.
“I’m not very scared. I’ve seen scarier things.” Helen smacked Lia’s arm, snuggling close to her. “How long do you think you can keep your power in check?”
Lia’s smile faltered. “I don’t know. Just trying to buy time… Maybe if I don’t use that much magic, it will get better.”
Helen nodded with a crease on her forehead, lying down beside Lia. “Maybe it will be better after we have dinner and you get some rest. I will ask Patrick to pick up takeaway for us instead. I think he’s going out anyway. So I can stay with you if you don’t want to go out. You have me worried.”
“Sounds good. I hope I can stall for as long as possible. Hopefully, my power will be under control soon.” Lia winced, tracing her fingers along the fold of the blankets. She felt like a scary monster looming around Helen and she might hurt her like she did before.
“Did he tell you how long your training would last?”
“He had no idea either, or he didn’t want to tell me. Who knows? He said it depends on how much power I actually have, which he has no way to find out.”
“Oh… I guess we can only wish it’ll get better.”
“Yeah… And I’d prefer you to stop talking about him.” Lia rolled her eyes, sighing heavily. She walked to the window, looking at the sunset.
The orange glow of the fading fireball painted the sky with beautiful colors, and she soon lost herself in the view. One of the only good things about being magicians was that they seemed to be rich, and somehow had the best view of Zitannas. Not only the guest room, but William’s office also faced the sunset. Adrian’s place had a full sea view.
Chapter 5
Lia
During breakfast the next day, Lia bumped into William in the lounge. He was chewing on his toast. “Morning, William.” Lia smiled warmly to him. He nodded.
Lia poured herself a bowl of cereal with warm milk before sitting next to him. He took a sip of his co
ffee and said, “It seems like you are always here suddenly. Before, you avoided us like the plague.” He eyed her with a glint of amusement.
“No way I see here as the plague. Here will always be my home. It’s just…” Come up with something, Lia! “I kind of want some more peace after being attacked. It feels safe here.”
He nodded, forking up his fried egg. “I doubt any unsolicited creatures dare to come in. I am not going to make things easy for them.” He bit down on his food and set the fork down. “But one thing. I tried to track whoever attacked you, but every string seemed to break, and nothing was left for me to track.”
I’m not surprised…
“Hm… Is there a chance they gave up after failing? Maybe sending killers after me is getting expensive?”
“I doubt it. Or whoever commissioned for your life gave up. I think it is a group of bounty hunters, which makes them hard to trace. They are a smart bunch.”
Lia nodded, chewing her cereal. It felt wrong to let William find something that didn’t exist anymore, but he wasn’t going to believe that she could fight them by herself. It would be difficult to keep Adrian and Benjamin out of the story.
“I am still looking into the dark magicians.” William said. Lia almost choked on the milk, she barely held up from coughing her lungs out.
“Found anything?”
“Not really. I have a hunch they have to be somewhere though. I don’t know which is more pressing: the people after your life, or the possibility of dark magicians still alive.” His face was unreadable, looking at Lia for her response.
“Um… so you think they are different people?”
“The dark magicians wouldn’t fail twice. Not that I wish this would happen, but if the dark magicians are doing this for your blood, they would also attack Patrick and Helen, but nothing happened to them.
“I am thinking about the collector earlier, seeing you stole the meteorite. Maybe he found out and wants you dead. He sure is rich enough to get some bounty hunter behind you.” He tilted his head to the side as he stirred his coffee.
