Stolen Nights

by Rebecca Maizel

  ‘You sure are bossy for someone who’s most likely going to kill us both with this spell,’ muttered Vicken.

  As I walked to the shore to acquire what else we would need, Vicken got some of the wood. I stood at the water’s edge and watched the tiny ripples lap on to the rocky sand. This spell would act as a beacon – a calling. A vampire as powerful as Suleen, if he did not want to be contacted, could avoid it. But if this wasn’t a time of need, then I didn’t know what was. I reached into the warmth of my spell bag and unearthed a small empty jar. I scooped up some of the bay water and walked back to Vicken, standing above the driftwood pile.

  Jasmine was crucial for the success of a summoning spell. From the bag I took out a tiny box of amber resin, some jasmine and matches, then handed the jar of bay water to Vicken. As his fingertips touched mine, I smiled slightly, looking at my old friend. Our love, the one between Vicken and me, whatever it had been a hundred and sixty years ago, was over now, replaced by the love of friendship.

  ‘Let’s just do this before Odette decides to show up,’ Vicken said with a sigh. ‘I’m all itchy. I hate anticipation – it’s thoroughly human.’

  ‘You should begin the spell. You were the last one connected to the supernatural world,’ I said to Vicken. I meant that he was the last to be turned human by the ritual.

  I reached into the bag and pulled out the heavy leather-covered book of spells. My boots sank deeper into the sand as I stepped forward and handed it to Vicken. The gold print of its title, Incantato, glinted as the morning sunrise crested the horizon, out at sea. He opened the book to the page marked with a small red ribbon, looked from the spell to me and said, ‘Ready?’

  Draw a door in the sand . . . said a voice from my memory. I had almost forgotten. Once, long ago, Rhode told me he had performed a summoning spell. I surveyed the stack of driftwood and the area around it. When I stepped back from the pile, I placed my finger in the cool sand and drew the distinct outline of a door around the firewood. I met Vicken’s gaze for reassurance and said what Rhode told me all those years ago.

  ‘As long as there have been doors, there have been summoning spells – entryways, passages,’ I said, backing away from the door.

  ‘So we summon Suleen and he helps us with these vampires?’ Vicken said.

  And Rhode.

  ‘That’s the plan,’ I said, and lit a match so it flared between my fingers.

  I flicked the match and it flew in a wide arc through the air and on to the driftwood pile. Sparked by the flame and the supernatural ingredients, the wood hissed and smoke rose up to the sky. I opened the resin box and took a pinch of amber between my thumb and index finger and sprinkled it over the fire. Tiny orange flames flickered and hissed.

  ‘Begin,’ I commanded gently.

  Vicken looked down at the book.

  In Latin he announced, I call on you, Suleen. I summon you to appear before me in this sacred space.

  I bent down, took the jar and unscrewed the top. I sprinkled the saltwater so the fire hissed and crackled. The water slid over my hands, dropping in tiny pearls to the flames. There was an unnatural crackle and the flames burst up. I pulled back in surprise.

  ‘Wow,’ I said. ‘That was powerful.’

  Were the flames meant to jump in the air like that?

  I knelt down and with my arm fully extended took a handful of sand in my fist. I sprinkled the sand over the burning driftwood.

  Vicken didn’t need to hand me the book. I remembered this spell.

  ‘I give you the earth and the water. I call to you, Suleen.’

  ‘Lenah . . .’ Vicken started to say in a warning tone. He too had noticed the growing flames. I ignored him, keeping my energy and my intentions constant.

  ‘I summon you, Suleen, to come to us in a time of need.’ I dropped the jasmine flowers into the orange flames. The outline of the door I drew in the sand glowed a bright blue like the morning sky. Was it working? I needed to help Rhode. Needed to stop him smashing mirrors and performing ceremonial rituals of the Order of the Garter at my best friend’s grave. I wanted to stop him feeling the pain of seeing me with Justin. I felt a surge of need – someone had to come and help us.

  ‘I summon you!’ I screamed. ‘I call on you, Suleen!’

  A blast of orange flames!

  The driftwood exploded with a surge of energy like an inferno. It threw me into the air and I flew back, landing on the sand. And then . . .

  My arm.

  Red-hot flames crawled up to my elbow.

  ‘Damn it,’ Vicken cried, and scooped handfuls of sand on to the flames. I rolled on to my back and sat up just as the flames extinguished. Swaying back and forth, only then did I realize that my wrist was badly burned and I was screaming. I hadn’t heard my own terror. I drew in a deep breath. Those flames had come from nowhere. They shouldn’t have grown to that height. Vicken grabbed the spell book, then dragged me up the slope towards the car, though my feet kept slipping in the sand. I glanced back at the door that I had drawn in the sand and at the now barely smoking driftwood.

  The door. The door was gone!

  ‘What happened?’ I grimaced as my arm throbbed. ‘Has it failed?’ I groaned in pain. Vicken opened the passenger door and I slid on to the seat.

  We were soon out on the road but the bumps made my stomach churn.

  ‘Where’s the hospital?!’ Vicken yelled, panic rising in his voice.

  ‘Infirmary. Go to the infirmary at Wickham. I need to be near my room. The barrier spell,’ I yelled, not daring to touch my forearm. ‘If we called anyone with the spell, we need to be in a safe place.’

  My skin seared – I wanted to plunge it into ice. I leaned my forehead on the glass, hoping to cool the pain. We ripped around corners, but Vicken was driving fast and every time he turned a corner it made my arm throb.

  ‘It’s best you don’t look at it, love,’ he said. ‘It’s not having its best moment.’

  We turned a corner quickly and my shoulder hit the glass, sending pain down my arm.

  ‘This was your great idea!’ Vicken yelled. ‘Summoning Suleen. Using elemental magic to call him too. Who told you not to meddle? Fire, the element herself, told you not to meddle. But no! Lenah Beaudonte won’t listen to the bloody Aeris!’

  ‘Can you keep your criticisms to yourself, please?’ I hissed, gripping my hands together even tighter to support my burnt wrist. I shouldn’t have looked but I did and my stomach lurched. The skin had bubbled – a red raw blistering mess. Just when I thought I couldn’t take the movement any more, we pulled through the Wickham gates, waved through by the security guard, who recognized us. It was busy for a Saturday morning. Even with the weekday students gone, dozens of people were out in the grounds, studying or relaxing. We screeched to a halt. Vicken ran to the side of the car, opened the door and the pressure of his arm around my shoulder comforted me as he helped me to stand. Voices. Pain in my arm . . . so many voices.

  Lenah!

  Are you OK?

  Someone get Justin!

  In a messy shuffle, Vicken and I made it to the infirmary door. I was sure my legs would give out. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry. I hated pain. This pain was so intense that I was sure my arm was going to be scarred for life.

  Vicken threw the infirmary door open. We stumbled inside even though I could barely stand. A nurse popped up from behind her counter; she yelled for the doctor. I leaned on Vicken, grasping my arm. I couldn’t help it; tears bit at my eyes. The burning of my arm and the waves of pain overtook me. I finally understood the human relief at seeing a doctor as a woman in a white coat ran into the foyer and towards me.

  I fell into the doctor’s arms and vomited on the floor.

  CHAPTER 17

  ‘How did you manage to do this?’ Nurse Warner asked about an hour later. Thick white gauze was wrapped around my arm from my wrist almost to my elbow.

  ‘I was cooking on a campfire,’ I replied. A blatant but necessary lie.

  Why
had the spell failed? I wondered again.

  ‘Well, you were lucky, young lady,’ said the nurse. ‘An open flame can result in third-degree burns. These are bad second degree. From now on, eat at the union.’

  ‘Look at it this way . . .’ Vicken said as he leaned against the wall across from my bed. He had not left my side. ‘Now you’re in the club.’ He pointed to his eye, which had almost healed, the skin now tinged just faintly yellow. Rhode’s battered face flickered through my mind.

  ‘Lenah?’ Justin’s voice reached me from around the corner. He burst into the room and came to the side of the bed. ‘What the hell happened to you?’ he asked. ‘You left this morning before I could—’

  ‘Only a few minutes, Justin . . .’ Nurse Warner said with a lift of her eyebrows. ‘We can’t have a zoo in here.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am,’ he replied. He took my good hand into his own and kissed my fingers.

  ‘This is making me sick,’ Vicken said, rolling his eyes.

  Justin shot Vicken a murderous look just before the nurse walked out. ‘I’ll be right back with some pain meds, Lenah,’ she said.

  Once she was gone, Justin asked, ‘Was it Odette?’

  Vicken frowned but didn’t say anything.

  ‘Not Odette. Vicken and I attempted a summoning spell,’ I said.

  ‘Summoning?’

  ‘To call Suleen,’ I explained.

  ‘Guess it didn’t go too well, then?’ he asked.

  ‘Yeah, guess not, mate,’ Vicken said, pushing away from the wall. I slid off the bed, and when my feet touched the ground Vicken held the fingers of my burnt arm and Justin held my other arm. I sighed, just wanting to lie down. Nurse Warner came back in, examining the label on the small brown bottle she held between her fingers.

  ‘Vicken, you should take Lenah back to her room,’ she said, and looked up. Her eyes travelled back and forth between Justin and Vicken. ‘Or Justin should. You guys figure it out.’

  ‘Justin needs to hurry back to his lacrosse practice,’ Vicken said with a smirk.

  ‘Stop it,’ I hissed at him.

  Nurse Warner handed the pill bottle to Vicken. ‘The instructions are on the bottle, Lenah. I suggest you follow them.’

  ‘How about I bring you some dinner tonight?’ Justin asked, letting go of me as Vicken led me to the door.

  ‘Great,’ I said. ‘That sounds perfect.’

  As the three of us walked out of the treatment room, I kept glancing at the door of the infirmary, waiting for Rhode to walk through.

  No, Lenah. This is how it’s supposed to be. Justin is here for you. Not Rhode.

  ‘You must keep this covered. Come back on Friday and we’ll unwrap it and see how the burn is doing,’ said Nurse Warner, following us through the door.

  ‘I’ll bring her,’ Justin said, glaring at Vicken.

  They made me take a pain pill before leaving the infirmary. They said it would make me sleepy. Justin kissed me again before Vicken led me down the pathway towards Seeker.

  Sleep would be good, I thought as Vicken prattled on and on about how much he loathed Justin.

  Sleep, I thought again.

  Sleep would keep me from wondering why Suleen had not come to save us. Sleep might lead to dreams that might explain why the spell had backfired. Why, after all this, Suleen had not come to save Rhode.

  ‘Now, remember, when you shower you have to wrap that gauze, cover it with a plastic bag to keep it dry. Are you even listening to me?’ Vicken asked.

  I lay back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling fan. Round and round it went. The blades. What happened to them? The spinning made them smear across the ceiling.

  ‘Who painted the ceiling?’ I asked in a daze.

  Vicken looked up at the ceiling and then down at me. He raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Why didn’t he come? Why didn’t Suleen come to me?’ I asked. ‘Is it because Rhode doesn’t forgive me? Did I tell you that? He thinks after all my unspeakable evil acts, my soul is black.’

  ‘He said this to you?’ Vicken asked.

  ‘No, not exactly.’ My eyelids kept slipping over my eyes, again and again. My, they were heavy.

  ‘OK . . . time for you to sleep,’ said Vicken. ‘I think those painkillers are finally taking effect.’

  ‘I love sleeping,’ I replied dozily. ‘Do you think we’ll die? That Odette will kill us?’

  ‘Oh, good,’ Vicken said with a sigh. He pulled a blanket over me, tucking it around my body, a familiar gesture now. ‘Let’s discuss this now, or maybe we should wait till you’re in your right mind.’

  ‘Right mind?’

  ‘I have to run,’ he said. ‘But I’ll come check on you later. Don’t perform any more spells.’

  Spells, I thought as I watched the ceiling fan again. Spells that don’t work. Spells where I am hurt. Slowly . . . I fell asleep.

  I stand in the centre of the gymnasium, alone. It’s decorated with shining white stars and snowflakes covered in glittering sparkles. This is familiar. The room is decorated just like at the winter ball last year. I look down and touch the silk of a long gown. I’m wearing my gown from the dance! Above me, the ceiling lights flash blue and red, over and over, reflected on the floor. The DJ plays a slow song, but no one mans the booth. The music is loud here, vibrating on the empty wooden floor.

  Where is everyone? I go to take a step but I pull my foot back – what is that? I almost stepped on something. A necklace? I look down and pick up a leather strap. Hanging on it is Justin’s rune pendant. I look around. He wouldn’t have lost it so easily. Not after everything he told me. He has to have this back.

  ‘Justin!?’ I call out to the empty room, yelling and straining my voice over the music. ‘Justin!’ I yell again.

  ‘I always loved that dress,’ a familiar voice says.

  I spin to face the gymnasium doorway.

  Tony walks up to me dressed in a tux, looking exactly as he did at the winter prom. Alive and well.

  ‘The girls picked it out,’ I say, referring to my dress. Tony stands before me, his hands in his pockets. The familiar gauge earrings and sunny smile are just as the last time I saw him.

  ‘I lost Justin. I can’t find him,’ I say, looking around the empty gymnasium.

  ‘He’ll turn up,’ Tony says calmly. ‘Do you want to dance with me?’

  ‘Yes,’ I smile, and wrap my arms around him.

  We spin in that gymnasium, my best friend and me.

  ‘I would give anything to see you again,’ I say, taking in the handsome features of his face.

  ‘You will.’

  ‘When?’

  He spins me again so my dress twirls out around me. But when I face Tony again Odette is standing before me; we’re dressed identically. I gasp, backing away from her. Her hair falls long and straight over her shoulders.

  She wipes blood from her mouth and says, ‘He tasted the best.’

  *

  The next morning, dressing, I noticed the scent of tobacco in the air. Vicken must have checked on me during the night. Thinking of him, I dropped a dagger in my boot.

  He tasted the best.

  Odette’s words kept ringing in my ears as I walked out of Seeker and across campus. Yes, Odette could be out in the daylight. But so could I. I had people on this campus who loved me, and people who, if I needed them to, would help me. And after that dream I had to see Tony’s portrait. I hadn’t wanted to until now. I hadn’t been in the art tower since his death, but now it was time.

  I walked across campus, inhaling the warm morning air, trying to clear my head. Students called out to me.

  Hey, Lenah – how’s your arm?

  Lenah, what happened?

  I tried to shake the haunting memory of the dream away in the bright sunshine, among the crowds of students on campus. Tingles swept up and down my arms, down my legs to my toes. I hated those white pills that made me feel as though I had taken double opiates and absinthe combined, something I remembered from my vampire
days. I kept walking, though it was difficult not to grab at my burnt arm; my heart pumped blood into that arm, every pulse sending a throb to my fingers. I squinted into the sun and shielded my eyes with my damaged hand. I continued past the union and the crowded meadow in front of Quartz dorm. For a moment last night my best friend had been alive. How cruel to have him near me again, then taken away in the morning, but I would find comfort from him even in his death. I was going somewhere I could feel close to him and have him around me.

  Now that Hopper had finally been reopened, students pressed out of the building holding art easels and thick black portfolios. I looked at their hands, at the paint on their fingers and clothes, and the charcoal under their nails. They reminded me of Tony, with his paint-smeared face and bright smile. I was so absorbed in my thoughts I almost slammed straight into Justin.

  ‘Heads up,’ he said, and smiled that lazy, cocky smile. ‘I was just coming to your room to check on you. I knocked twice last night but you never answered.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said, stalling. ‘Those pills really knocked me out. I didn’t hear you.’

  He took a step towards me. ‘I’ve been worried about you. First with Odette cutting you, then Ms Tate dying, now this summoning spell and you getting burned.’

  The intensity of his gaze made me pause. An uncomfortable beat passed between us. It reminded me of the night of my birthday.

  ‘I think I’ve been cool with this whole thing,’ he continued. ‘I want to help you. On your birthday, I thought we were . . . I thought you were with me.’

  ‘We are,’ I said. ‘I mean, I am.’

  ‘Good,’ Justin said, and caressed my shoulder with one hand.

  ‘Look, can we talk later? I’m just going to go upstairs, to the art tower. And if I don’t go now I’ll never go. You know what I mean?’ I said.

  Justin’s back stiffened. ‘You’re going to see the portrait?’ he asked.

  I nodded in reply.

  His eyes widened. With his free hand he reached up to the pendant around his neck and rubbed at it nervously.

  ‘I can’t go up there,’ he said, and dropped his hand from my shoulder. I could see the twitch of his mouth as he tried to formulate the words. He shook his head and frowned, then met my eyes. Without blinking he said, ‘I’m not ready. I didn’t think Tony and me were friends, but when he died – and I saw what I saw . . .’ His voice trailed off. It was clear he was still wounded by witnessing the horror of Tony’s death. Justin and I had got there too late.