Bitter Magic

by Raven Steele

  I stumbled back at the sight of the Vyken, almost falling from the wall, but the momentum of my arms kept me in place. The Vyken’s eyes focused on me. I glanced around, frantically searching for a Guardian.

  He began moving toward me. Slow, deliberate steps.

  My breathing quickened. What is he doing?

  His pace increased until he was sprinting. I quickly jumped from the wall, inside Lucent Academy, and backed up.

  I’m safe. Lucent is safe, I told myself, breathing hard.

  I kept my eyes on the wall, all the while stepping back slowly. But all that changed when the Vyken’s tensed body appeared over the wall as if he were flying. He landed on the ground in a crouched position, and his head snapped up in my direction.

  I stopped breathing and turned to run, my hair tangling around my face. I ran as fast as I could, my bare feet kicking up grass and earth. Behind me, footsteps pounded after me.

  Scanning the area, I tried to decide which direction to go. The dorms at Chadni were too far away. To my left was Denelle Hall, which was probably locked, but straight ahead was the clock tower, a steel door at its base. I’d only been in it once before, and as far as I knew, it shouldn’t be locked.

  I pumped my arms back and forth, sprinting as fast as my tight muscles would allow. Every time I took a breath, my lungs felt like they were being shredded.

  Risking a quick glance over my shoulder, my heart skipped a beat when I saw the Vyken only twenty feet behind, blood staining the lower half of his face. The distance between us wouldn’t give me enough time to open and close the door. I needed to move faster.

  Focusing all my energy, I went beyond my Light to where the dark parts of my mind were, the parts I’d felt earlier tonight. They were power. They were dangerous. There, deep in the recesses of my mind, I found shadows of Mr. Steele, his strength, his speed.

  I willed it into me despite my earlier horror. A burst of strength, far surpassing anything I’d ever experienced, shot through me like a bolt of lightning. I sprang forward, putting a greater distance between me and the Vyken, and just in time too. I reached the clock tower and shoved my shoulder into the old, metal door. It opened with a great groan, and as soon as I was in, I slammed it shut.

  Now to lock it.

  I frantically looked around for something to use, but there was nothing. Only a dusty concrete floor and a circular staircase going up. Reacting quickly, I used my new strength to break the metal handle. I only hoped that would be enough.

  I backed up and stepped upon the first stair. A crashing sound, like the Vyken had just run into the door, echoed throughout the circular tower. So far the door held. I took another step up.

  Only a sliver of moonlight had found its way to the bottom of the tower, casting shadows in every direction. They shuddered when the Vyken pounded on the door. Dust billowed up from the floor and spun in the gray light like dancing dead fairies. The door wouldn’t hold much longer.

  Where are all the Guardians?

  I wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand and hurried up the stairs. Below me, the door burst open, and a great wind rushed up to greet me. Behind the thundering noise, I heard my name being called but far away.

  I paused midway up the stairs and glanced out one of the tower’s few windows. Christian was sprinting toward us, shouting my name. I glanced around at the buildings, expecting to see lights turn on, but no one heard his cries.

  Chapter 13

  I continued up the stairs, ignoring my pounding heart while I created balls of Light. This caused some of the dark power I’d summoned to dissipate. I stumbled forward on the last step, my bare leg dangling over the stairs. The Vyken’s clawed hand grabbed onto it, and when I jerked my leg free, his nails tore through my skin.

  I yelped and continued forward, scampering into the lone room at the top of the tower on all fours. I pressed my back against the stone walls, my hand shaking beneath several glowing Lights hovering just above my palm.

  As soon as the Vyken appeared in the doorway, I tossed a ball hard. He dodged it by jumping up along the side of the wall, his nails and bare toes somehow finding a hold in the thin cracks of the wall. I threw another one, but he was already moving, scrambling alongside the stones like a spider.

  I rolled away from the wall until I was in the middle of the room. I lost sight of him for just a fraction of a second, but that was enough. The Vyken was gone, or, I should say, hiding. He was still here. I could feel him. I looked up toward the rafters of the tower roof. Only complete darkness stared back.

  At the bottom of the tower, I heard Christian begin to ascend the stairs. “I’m coming, Llona!”

  Still staring up, I created Light again in the palm of my hand and willed it to rise. The closer it got to the rafters the faster my heart beat. Sweat rolled down the small of my back.

  Light began to fill dark spaces, exposing that which I wished to remain hidden. My Vyken was there, but he wasn’t alone. Another sat crouched on a beam. Where his left eye should’ve been, there was a gaping hole.

  I screamed just as my Vyken dropped from the ceiling, extinguishing the Light. He fell onto my stomach and pushed my shoulders into the floor. I tried to create Light, but he anticipated my move and quickly snatched my hands and pinned them near the top of my head.

  He bent forward and inhaled my skin. The warmth of his breath steamed my ear when he growled, “I’m going to eat every part of you.”

  Just then Christian burst into the room, breathing hard and eyes burning with a rage I’d never seen in him. Panic tore through me. He was too emotional, too upset. He wouldn’t sense the other Vyken until it was too late.

  “Christian,” I cried, but the Vyken on top of me shoved his hairy forearm into my throat, cutting off not only my warning, but air too.

  Christian rushed forward, failing to see and hear the Vyken falling softly from the beam behind him. Christian was almost to me when the Vyken behind him raised his hand. Moonlight glimmered off the long blade he carried.

  It only took a second to find the darkness inside me again. Strength filled my muscles, and I bucked the Vyken off me. I rotated to help Christian, but before I could, a black, thin strip from the shadows whipped out, almost as if it was an arm, and caught the Vyken’s leg. He fell forward and stumbled into Christian.

  Christian instinctively kicked backwards, hitting his attacker square in the chest. The Vyken crashed into the stone wall behind him. Christian turned around and stared in shock at the second Vyken who had almost killed him. His eyes darted to me, and I knew he realized his blunder.

  He briefly shook his head, then kicked at my Vyken who was scrambling for me again. I jumped to my feet, grabbed the blade the other Vyken had dropped, and hurried to Christian’s side. Both of us lowered into a defensive position.

  “You okay?” Christian said, his eyes focused on our enemies.

  “Fine. You?” I handed him the knife.

  “Never better.”

  The two Vykens also paired up and glared hungrily in our direction, hunched over and fists ready.

  The Vyken with the missing eye lunged first. Christian swung the knife but missed. The Vyken caught him in the back with his foot, sending him across the room and away from me. The other Vyken, the one who had smelled me, rushed forward. I dove out of the way at the last second. We did this a couple of times before I realized I was actually enjoying this cat and mouse game. Maybe it was because I didn’t feel like a mouse anymore.

  I smiled, and embraced the darkness that gave me so much strength and speed. This time when the Vyken lunged, I didn’t move. I let him crash into me. We fell to the ground, punching and shoving, but I managed to position myself on top of him this time.

  I should’ve used Light right then, but instead I wanted hand-to-hand combat to see what I could do. I swung hard, but he caught my fist and twisted it back. If it wasn’t for my new strength, I probably would’ve cried out and rolled into a ball from the pain. But not now.

/>   “Use your Light!” Christian yelled. He had his Vyken pinned up against the wall. Both of them were fighting for control over the knife.

  I ignored his advice. What I was feeling now was far more powerful than anything I thought Light could do.

  With my arm pinned behind my back, I threw my body forward and head-butted him. Dazed, he let go of my arm, which was already cocked and ready to go. I swung it at his cheekbone; it shattered under the force.

  The Vyken stared at me, in both pain and wonder, but his expression quickly turned to anger, and he bucked me from him. I somersaulted away and stood up, grinning.

  “Who are you?” he growled as he circled around me. I kept up the game, letting him move.

  “What are you doing?” Christian shouted at me. He had his Vyken pinned to the ground.

  Having fun, I thought.

  I charged the Vyken and leapt into the air, legs forward. My feet connected with his chest, sending him several feet back into the wall. He bounced off it and fell forward, face first. Dust billowed up around him, and when he looked up, his fangs were bared and eyes glowing.

  I nodded my head. “Let’s go, creeper.”

  Snorting, he rushed forward. I dove out of the way but wasn’t fast enough. His clawed hand raked the back of my head, and I felt his nails slice into my flesh. I dropped to the ground on all fours, blood dripping from my neck and turning my hair red. It was the first time my hair had ever been another color. I liked it.

  I stood slowly, trying to shake away the pain. By the time I was up, the Vyken had his arms around my chest and was tightening. I glanced at Christian. Somehow in his scuffle the knife had been knocked from him. He still had the upper hand, straddling the Vyken, raining blows on his head, but without the blade he wouldn’t be able to do much more.

  The grip tightened on my chest, but it didn’t hurt as much as it should’ve. With blood running down my gown and Christian needing help, I acted fast.

  Taking advantage of my shorter height, I bent forward fast, flipping the Vyken over me. He landed on his back, gasping. Before he could do anything else, I picked up his head—the feel of his matted hair and hard skull felt like a rotten melon. I twisted hard and actually laughed when I heard one “pop” after another as his vertebrae snapped.

  The Vyken let out an agonizing cry of anguish and pain. While he writhed on the floor, I walked to the knife and picked it up. I felt Christian’s eyes on me, but I didn’t look over.

  Raising the long blade above my head, I said, “Ashes to ashes,” and slashed the blade across the Vyken’s neck. His head burst first; the ashes sticking to my blood-soaked hair. I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes, feeling like I could conquer the world.

  “Blade!” Christian yelled. He was breathing heavy and had sweat dripping off his forehead. But it was the way he was looking at me, like he didn’t know who I was, that made me lower my gaze.

  I hurried over to him and handed him the knife. The Vyken beneath him was still struggling, but his one good eye was such a mess that he couldn’t see out of it to properly get at Christian.

  With one swipe of his hand, Christian beheaded the Vyken. Before it had even turned to dust, Christian was coming toward me.

  “Let me see that wound,” he said.

  “It’s fine,” I said, brushing his hand away. I still didn’t look at him. I was afraid of what he’d see in my eyes.

  “Llona—”

  “Where are the other Guardians?” I asked. “How come you’re the only one out here?”

  I went to the window and looked out. All of Lucent was asleep, unaware of the danger. Christian came up behind me. I felt him lift my hair to examine the wound. I was careful to keep the bite marks on the opposite side of him.

  “There was a miscommunication,” he said. “Spencer and Jackson were supposed to be out here, but apparently Spencer’s nose got broken, and he failed to find anyone to replace him.” He paused. “This looks bad, Llona.”

  He removed his white shirt and pressed it against the back of my head.

  “It will heal,” I said. I reached up and replaced his hand on the material, continuing to press it to my head. I turned around. “About Spencer—”

  “That’s why I came out here. I was hoping to find Jackson, or even better, you, to see if it was true. That’s when I saw the Vyken chasing you.” He looked at me, but again, I averted my gaze. “Did you really punch Spencer?”

  “Yes.”

  Christian was quiet for a moment before he said, “I’m sure he deserved it.”

  “Maybe.”

  Christian moved next to me and peered out the window, searching left and right. “One thing I don’t understand is where the hell Jackson went. He should’ve heard you screaming or me yelling. I don’t get it.”

  “Maybe he was fighting his own Vyken out there.”

  “Maybe.”

  I turned to him, meeting his eyes, but I was careful to step to the side of the window, where shadows covered my face. “Why are there so many?”

  Christian shook his head. “I don’t know. Something’s wrong here. I felt it the moment I first arrived at Lucent.”

  He took hold of my hand. Moonlight covered him, illuminating his blue eyes and accentuating the muscles on his bare chest. I, however, remained in the darkness.

  “You could’ve died tonight,” I said.

  He smiled. “Lucky the Vyken tripped then, eh?”

  It was then I remembered what really happened: a thin shadow slicing forward, catching the Vyken’s leg. But that was impossible, right? Maybe I’d imagined it.

  Christian squeezed my hand. “You okay?”

  I lowered his shirt from the back of my head. “You were careless. You rushed in when you shouldn’t have.”

  “I thought he was going to kill you.”

  “It’s me, Christian. If I had been anyone else, you would’ve noted your surroundings first. Listened closer. You probably would’ve been able to see him too.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  I sighed in frustration.

  “I get where you’re going with this,” he said. “Really, I do. You think that I’m only thinking of your safety, and guess what? I am. But that’s what boyfriends do. Forget about me being a Guardian for a minute. If I was just a regular dude, I would’ve done the same thing.”

  “But you’re not regular. You’re special, and because of me you’re not using your gifts, which is going to get you killed.”

  Christian pulled me into the moonlight with him and wrapped his arms around me. The skin on his chest was warm against my face. “You worry too much. At least about the wrong things. We need to figure out what’s going on around here.”

  I nodded. He was partially right.

  “I’m going to see you back to your room, and then I’m going to talk to some of the other Guardians.” He turned me around. “Let me see that wound again.”

  I stepped away from him. Already it was feeling better, and I didn’t want him to see how fast I was healing. “I’m fine. Really.” I held out his shirt. “Do you want me to throw this away?”

  His expression pained. “Yes. I don’t ever want to see that much blood outside of you again.”

  I lowered the stained material. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Christian said nothing to me the rest of the way back to Chadni, and I didn’t speak either. I was still too stunned by what had happened, specifically with me. I was hoping it had escaped Christian’s notice, but when we stopped just beneath my window, he said, “I have to ask, Llona,” he paused as if searching for the right words. “What happened back there? Why didn’t you use Light to kill the Vyken? And how come you were so strong?”

  I stared beyond him, past Lucent and to the forest beyond. What could I say? I hardly knew the answer myself, other than Mr. Steele’s bite had left something inside me, and I . . . what? Sort of liked it now?

  How disgusting was that?

  Chapter 14

  Morning final
ly came, but you wouldn’t know it by looking outside. The sky bled a deep gray, a promise of rain. Ever since I’d said goodnight to Christian and returned to my room, I’d been listening to the wind howl all night.

  Christian. I never could give him a good reason why I was able to fight the Vyken the way that I had, but, gratefully, he hadn’t pushed the issue. He seemed to have bigger things to worry about, like how two Vykens had gained entrance to the academy.

  Because I had no appetite, I decided to skip breakfast and take my time getting ready. Whether I would admit it or not, I really didn’t want to face May and Kiera. Or Christian, if he showed up.

  My door opened. Tessa stood in the doorway holding an armful of towels, looking surprised.

  “Sorry,” she stuttered. “I thought you’d be at breakfast.”

  “No problem. Come on in.”

  She disappeared into my bathroom.

  “You know I can get my own towels, right?” I said loud enough for her to hear.

  Ever since I had asked Tessa about the smell in my room, upsetting her, I’d made it a point to be as friendly as I could. I figured we’d become friends eventually, and then she’d tell me the truth. But now I didn’t want to wait. While she was still in the bathroom, I darted across the room and shut the door.

  Tessa walked out of the bathroom and said, “You are not required to—” She saw me blocking the closed door. “What are you doing?”

  “I want answers.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” she stammered.

  “My room. I asked you once before about the funny smell and you bolted. You know something. Tell me, please?”

  “How can you even smell it?” she said, her voice low.

  “So I’m not crazy! What happened in here?”

  “We’re not supposed to talk about it.”

  “If anyone has a right to know, it’s me. I’m the one who has to live here.”

  Tessa sat down on the bed, facing the window. She looked small and helpless with her hands resting gently on her lap. “A girl named Britt lived in this room before you. I was her servant for over three years. She was beautiful and kind, loved by everyone. But something happened. She stopped smiling. She stopped talking. Eventually she even stopped going to classes. The teachers tried to talk to her, but she would get angry.