by LJ Andrews
At first, I thought nothing could ever taint my awe of Jade, but I’d seen Jade in the woods talking to Sapphire. The more I thought about it, she did speak differently. Most of the time I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then, of course, there was the unbearable pull to be close to her—I’d even hang around Raffi all day if it meant I was close to her.
Jade was intriguing in an infuriating way. I both despised and lived for my rambling thoughts of her gilded hair, bright eyes, and the mystery that was ever-present when she was near.
I relented and kissed Jenna on the cheek. Stepping back, I caught the full fury of her scowl. “Sorry, I got into some trouble earlier. One more strike and I’ll probably be sent packing.”
“Teagan punched one of the employees. In your defense though, he was lurking a little too close for comfort.” Mitch didn’t skip a breath with his lie. I clenched my teeth to stifle the laugh.
“You’re something else, Teagan,” Jenna said with a sigh. “Let’s do this again soon.”
“Sure.”
Jenna, Sloan, and Lacy wouldn’t be coming back—at least not to see me. What was wrong with me? A girl who would throw herself at me if I asked, and here I was tossing it all away over what? A girl who hardly spoke to me.
Lights out came too quickly. I was stuck in the middle of algebraic formulas and numbers with tiny letters that made no sense. Then again, math never was a strong point. Most magis had little use for these sorts of things and took courses in their unique talents senior year.
Since defectives usually ended up as assistants to the powerful, I saw little point in forcing mathematical theories down my throat.
I peeked outside my door for any life in the hallway. Convinced it was empty, I opened my window, and slipped onto the sloped roof.
A full moon rose over the treetops and I tried to solve the final problem with the summer breeze on my skin, the night in my lungs. In the end, I gave up and rested my head against the side of the house, thoughts wandering. School. This place. Of Aunt Liz.
The night after my sentence she’d cried. My aunt hadn’t known I’d heard her. She’d tried to paint Wyvern Willows in a positive light from the moment we’d left the courtroom, but I’d heard through the walls her wails and laments to my leaving. I wanted to call her, but that would have to wait until the morning. Each student was allowed one home phone call a week unless there was an emergency. I liked to call on Sunday since it was when most of the kids were calmest.
I’d reassure Aunt Liz that all was well, even if I couldn’t wait to leave. I closed my eyes, desperate to switch my mind to black.
“You shouldn’t keep coming here.”
My eyes snapped open. Sapphire. I peered over the ledge to the trees. He stood there, like before, arms folded, body tense.
“I will come to you,” he said.
Chest tight, I scooted back into the shadows of the gable. Darkness prickled the hairs on my arms, but I ignored the childish fear and listened.
Honorable Sapphire wasn’t alone.
Jade’s hair was pulled into a high ponytail; her flannel pants tucked into hiking boots. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I had to come. Who else will understand?”
“This strength is normal, you’re getting older. It was bound to happen.”
Jade hugged her middle and I froze when she pointed toward the house. “No, this is different—it feels different. Only one thing has changed, and you refuse to help me. What if this connection means something greater?”
“There is no connection,” Sapphire said. “You’re feeling more at ease with your body. That’s all.”
I tasted bile in my throat. Something about the way he spoke was like a dirty word. I wanted to rush Jade away. They shouldn’t be talking like this, yet I couldn’t find the will to stop listening.
Jade pointed at the house. “Say what you will, but something is happening here.”
There must’ve been an invisible fist crushing my windpipe because I could hardly draw air when Sapphire turned and glanced at my window. I crouched lower.
Why? Jade hadn’t said anything about me.
I dropped my head out of sight, ensuring I was out of sight. My heart pounded in my chest. Even if Sapphire was a friend of Jade’s family, it was strange that a grown man kept having secret, tense meetings with an eighteen-year-old. A tight swell filled my stomach, a sort of protective instinct I didn’t understand. Jade wasn’t helpless, but I wanted to stand in the way of anything that might harm her. She wasn’t weak, but I grew sick at the thought of someone threatening her. Distressing her. I was losing my mind, no mistake.
When I glanced over the ledge again, they were gone. Jade had disappeared back into the darkness and Sapphire had slithered out of view.
Crawling back into bed, I stayed awake well into the night until I finally settled that in the morning I would ask Mr. Sapphire exactly what he was doing with Jade Drake.
Chapter 7
I didn’t say anything to Sapphire, at least not the next day, or the next. Every time I tried, the words fumbled over my tongue and I walked away. Like a coward.
I wanted to speak with Jade, but each day in Mrs. Tiddel’s English class, whatever it was about the girl, I suddenly didn’t care about her late night escapades at the reform house. Until it happened again. My stomach clenched as the next Wednesday night brought Jade’s glowing blonde hair to the edge of the forest.
She pointed at her chest. I couldn’t see why because of Sapphire’s hulking form. That was it. No more. Something had Jade troubled enough she would continually risk being seen on the property, and Sapphire was clearly not willing to end the behavior.
I couldn’t play the coward anymore.
In the morning, I slipped on gray sweatpants and T-shirt. The house was silent, only the wooden stairs creaked as I sneaked to Sapphire’s office. What would I say? I had little trust for Sapphire, but my greatest risk was the man sending me home. He could with one word, and Aunt Liz would personally see me behind bars.
Yet, the closer I came to the office I knew it had to be done. For Jade’s sake.
Sapphire’s office was empty. My shoulders slumped, until I noticed the front door cracked open. I peered over my shoulder at the empty halls, the gray dawn cast the wood floors, white walls in haze. At my sides, my fingers twitched. Doubtless I’d get in trouble for leaving without permission and before the bus arrived.
Still, I opened the door and stepped outside. A faint mist danced over the lawn, but there wasn’t any other sign of life. I knew Sapphire rose before dawn. He was a machine, but I had no clue where he went.
The trees called to me. A good place as any to start. The air, the spice of the forest, calmed my breaths the closer I came. Beyond the heavy shrubs and spruces, breathless gasps and pants stacked on the silence.
Sapphire grunted as he pulled his body up and down, using a thick branch as a chin-lift bar. His arms bulged and seemed as though the muscles might burst through his skin if he pressed them much further. For a heartbeat, I considered leaving, but I stayed.
“What are you doing out here, Teagan?”
My pulse raced. I hadn’t made a sound and he’d never looked at me.
Sapphire wiped his brow with a towel hung over a branch.
“I—” Be a man— “I . . . look, I’ve seen you outside with a girl from school a few times now. I know she’s eighteen, but I think it’s shady.”
Sapphire’s eyes narrowed. “You saw me with who?”
I forced myself to stand tall when Sapphire towered over me. “A girl from school. Jade Drake.”
Sapphire chuckled. “No, I think you’re mistaken, Teagan. I know the Drakes, but I don’t make a habit of meeting the teenage daughter at night.”
I glared at Sapphire, my courage bleeding through somehow. “I know what I saw.”
“Teagan, do I seem like I’m that kind of man?”
“No, but does anyone really seem like that sort of man?”
“Va
lid point.” He wiped his brow again, staring at the sunrise through the trees. “You’re positive it was Jade?”
I furrowed my brow. “I saw what I saw. Are you trying to convince me otherwise?”
Sapphire didn’t look disappointed, truth be told, he stared at me with a bit of bewilderment. “No, I suppose I’m not. Look, the Drakes are old friends. Jade came asking for help with some trouble with her mother. I told her exactly what I’m telling you now—she needed to come during the day, to stop sneaking out, and that was the end of it. There’s nothing inappropriate going on, Teagan. I assure you.”
“Then why did you just try to lie?”
“I didn’t want to embarrass Jade, but I shouldn’t have. I have nothing to hide. You can even speak to Ms. Drake if you want. I give my word I view Jade as a niece or something. You met at school?”
“Yeah, we have a class together. I don’t know her that well.” The longer Sapphire spoke, the more I believed his every word. And the trees weren’t helping. Their soothing songs slowly washed away the rabid need to defend Jade Drake.
“Yet, you found the guts to stand up for her because you thought she was in trouble. That’s an honorable characteristic, Teagan.”
“I’m known to have a few. Listen, I’m going to ask Jade her side, sir. I don’t like it, and I can’t shake the feeling like I’m missing something in all this. Are you the same magis guild? You’ve never really said what sort of power you have.”
One side of his mouth curled into a sly grin. “I’m defective. I thought if anyone noticed it’d be you.”
Defective? A bit of relief came knowing someone successful shared the same burden—no! Sapphire was creepily sneaking to meet Jade. I needed to keep that in the forefront.
“I’m sorry I lied about meeting Jade. I should have been open or how can I expect you to be open while you’re here?”
“Yeah, sure.” I didn’t like how his voice had a weird way of calming me. He could be lying about being defective and be manipulating me for all I knew. “I’m going to go get ready for school.”
“Probably best. Nothing is going on, Teagan. I promise.”
“Yeah.”
There was something wrong here. Even for a magis district secrets bubbled in the soil and I couldn’t shake the feeling they were about to burst.
***
“Hi again,” Jade said as she took her seat in Mrs. Tiddel’s class. Both Raffi and Dash followed, scowling at me like I was an infection.
“Hi.”
Jade arranged her books, then positioned her head on her hand and just stared at me. Her sparkling green eyes were unblinking, studying everything—it should have made me uncomfortable, but I admitted I enjoyed feeling her gaze. She wasn’t shy about her stare either.
“What?” I chuckled and faced her after a long pause.
Raffi and Dash were both turned toward us, their lips pressed tight. Everything about the two guys screamed they hated that Jade spoke to me, but they kept quiet.
“Nothing,” Jade said. “I just find myself prone to look at you. Is that too forward to say?”
“Uh, no.” I checked to make sure Mrs. Tiddel wasn’t looking. But to the teacher, Jade and I weren’t there. “Actually, I wanted to ask you about last night.”
Jade furrowed her brow, for the first time since I’d seen her perfect face, she wasn’t bright and smiling. “What about last night?”
“You were talking to Sapphire again,” I said. I needed to tread carefully. Pushing her away or embarrassing her was the last thing I wanted. “I want to make sure you’re good.”
“What do you mean I was talking with Mr. Sapphire?”
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t have a volatile temper, but at times frustration came too close to the surface. “He already fessed up, Jade. But he tried to convince me it was all in my head, too. I saw you both.”
“You saw us?” The space between her brows pulled together.
I tossed my hands a bit, surprised Tiddel still didn’t notice. “What is it with you and Sapphire thinking I’m completely oblivious or something? You were maybe fifteen feet from my window. Yeah, I saw you.”
“I don’t understand.” Her voice was soft enough that I wondered if she intended for me to hear.
“Were you trying to be sneaky? Because if you are, I might suggest staying in the trees, not right out in the open on the lawn.”
“Sure, thank you for the tip,” Jade smiled, sadly. “Your concern for me is sweet, Teagan. I promise Konrad Sapphire isn’t seducing me or anything. He’s like an uncle. He was just helping me sort through something. I promise.”
“His name is Konrad?” I pinched my lips and dropped my stare to the desk.
“Be kind,” Jade said, voice brighter. “Don’t tease him too much.”
Raffi and Dash must have kept their silence too long, because in a single breath they both shot their heads to the side as though their invisible gags were removed.
“Enough,” Raffi said through his teeth.
“Will you calm down?” Jade said. “We’ve finished our conversation.”
I took that as my cue to listen to the lesson. Mrs. Tiddel had an old book in her hand. “The history of fire magic.”
The history nerd in me delighted learning more about dead magic. Fire magic was one of the elemental powers that founded all magic. But the true veins of elemental power died long ago. People talked about it less and less.
“The war of the royal dragons and guardian mages,” she went on. “They don’t like it when I go over this stuff, but by golly, you all live in a town called Wyvern Willows. You ought to know a bit about the wyverns, yeah?”
She beamed and started passing around her copy of the old book of passages from the lost magic. Students read paragraphs about how the dragons ruled, but other passages said mages ruled. Both had connections to the earth, the elements. Like fire and water and air.
“Teagan, would you read the last paragraph on page eight?”
I took the book from the student in front of me and studied the old, yellowed parchment, the slant to the handwritten words. I cleared my throat, almost feeling a sort of reverence. “Dragon folk lived with a council of wise ones and monarchies. Mages served high priestesses and high priests. For mage folk power drew from the earth, similarly to how dragon folk spoke to elements. Earth bonds were often formed between species.”
“Understand?” Tiddel said. “Everything today is very orderly and class driven, even with defective class and human class. But once upon a time species bonded together for survival and protection. Magic crossed for the benefit of magic. Cool, huh?”
I raised my hand before I could think better of it. “But I thought mages and dragons killed each other off.”
Tiddel nodded, undeterred. “And that’s what makes a good story. Conflict. Major, gory, death-bringing conflict. It’s a bit hazy, we don’t know what happened, but somewhere along the lines alliances turned to war.”
Raffi and Dash muttered something to each other, but I couldn’t hear over Tiddel’s voice.
The remainder of the class we were assigned a short story assignment—to write our theory on what happened to bring the Dragon Mage wars. When class ended, Jade nearly leapt from her seat, discomposed. She didn’t say a word as she left.
Outside, I waited for the bus alone. Mitch was held up with one of his teachers and Graham was nowhere to be found.
“Hey, defective.”
An audible groan escaped my throat when Raffi and Dash stomped toward me. Jade wasn’t around, and it only made the encounter more unpleasant.
“Clever,” I muttered.
Raffi rested a palm against the wall near my head. “I want you to stay away from Jade.”
“Did she tell you that? Or is your insecurity saying this?”
Raffi stuffed his hot face directly next to my nose so I easily absorbed the fiery gleam in his eyes. “Stay away from her. I won’t ask next time.”
“Are you serious, man?” I
chased the space between us, chest to chest. “Are you really threatening me? You know nothing about me or who I’ve spent time with. Wolvyn, fae. Thieves.”
Raffi chuckled. “We’re impressed, but I wasn’t threatening. I promise you I won’t ask next time.”
He punched the wall—full on punched the brick school wall—before both he and Dash filtered back to the students leaving for the day.
Stunned was an understatement. I was certain Raffi’s fist did more damage to the bricks than his skin.
I slumped against the wall feeling foolish for being so drawn—borderline obsessive—over Jade. More than ever, I wanted nothing more than to finish this sentence and leave Wyvern Willows as quickly as possible. I wanted to go back to Aunt Liz, hang out with simple pixie girls like Angie; I wanted to be anywhere away from the spell Jade had unknowingly cast over my entire soul.
Chapter 8
Sleep evaded me. After the house fell silent, with no sign of Sapphire and Jade near the trees, I dared open my window.
The air was rife with sap and pine and breathed calm into my body. If I listened hard enough, just like when I was an imaginative child, I could almost translate the song of the night birds and crickets. The old Guns N’ Roses T-shirt was worn and thin, but I liked how it allowed the chill of the breeze to wash over my skin.
“Hi, Teagan.”
I froze. Beneath the trellis, Jade smiled up at me.
“What are you doing here?” I scanned the yard for Sapphire. He had to be close.
Jade shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”
“Sapphire will see you, and I’ll get in trouble.”
“I think you’re already breaking a rule by being on the roof after lights out. What’s the harm in breaking a few more?”
I couldn’t help it. She relaxed the constant angry buzz I’d carried most of my life. The smile spread over my lips and I lowered my voice. “No girls allowed. Sapphire says so.”
Jade tugged on the vine covered trellis. “Well, Teagan, I don’t know what you had planned, but I just want to get to know you a little better. Maybe see if we can be more honest with each other.”
