Bitter Magic

by Raven Steele

  I set my jaw and squared my legs beneath me. “What do you want me to do?”

  “I’ll worry about the Guardians, you just find out more about the blood. I know they draw an Aura’s blood at least once a month. It would be nice to know who implemented the program. You also need to find out where it’s being kept.”

  “Sounds like I’ll be doing a lot. Tell me again, what exactly will you be doing?”

  His brow furrowed. “You probably haven’t realized it yet, but I can’t get much done during the day.”

  “Why not?”

  “Vyken blood. Sunlight burns my skin.”

  I hadn’t even thought about that. “Why doesn’t it me?”

  “You have an Aura’s blood, remember? It counteracts the defect.”

  “Easy enough problem to solve.” I held out my arm to him. “You can have some of mine.”

  Liam jumped away from me as if I had thrust a poisonous snake at him. “Please don’t do that. Ever. I don’t want the temptation.”

  “But if it will help you—”

  “I said no.”

  “Fine,” I said, surprised by his sudden hostility. “I’ll see what I can find out, but stay close. I still have a bunch of questions.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good.”

  I returned to Lucent feeling better than I had in a long time. I had a chance. A small one, but a chance I could live without turning into a monster. Plus, I wasn’t alone. Someone else knew and understood what I was going through. That, more than anything, gave me a thread of hope that I might just survive.

  As soon as sunlight invaded my room, I jumped out of bed. I didn’t even know why I bothered lying down after last night; I hadn’t slept at all.

  The discovery last night had really freaked me out. I was tempted to tell Sophie, but then I remembered why I wouldn’t. I could hear what she would say now: “Llona, an Aura’s blood is sacred. Why would anyone here want to give it to Vykens?”

  Well, guess what, Auntie? This perfect world you’ve created isn’t so perfect.

  I picked up a rubber band and was about to pull my hair back when I saw the bite marks in my reflection of the mirror. I examined them closer, surprised to see that they didn’t seem as red as before. I ran my fingers over the raised bumps and winced. They still hurt though.

  Because I still had time to waste before breakfast, I studied Britt’s journal again, hoping I’d find a clue to what had been going on at Lucent. I flipped through the pages several times until I thought I’d found something. I didn’t think anything of it before, but after last night, I didn’t know what to believe.

  Three months before Britt died, she had started dating Jackson, and she really liked him. I thought about this. Jackson was always lurking outside the walls at night, but he was a Guardian. A Guardian working with Vykens was almost impossible to believe, despite what Liam had said.

  But then, who else would do something so horrible to Auras? Just then the chimes sung their song. I closed the diary and tucked it into my bag.

  On my way to the dining room, I stopped by May’s room. When she didn’t answer, I skipped the elevator and took the stairs since my body was feeling more energized than usual. Must be a full moon. I was pretty much over its pull, but every once in a while I still felt it.

  I walked into the crowded dining room, searching for May. The smell of ginger and sliced oranges drifted out from the kitchen, and the aroma perked me up. I found May sitting at a table talking to Ashlyn and her friends. I gritted my teeth and prepared for the worst.

  “Hey,” I said and sat down next to her.

  She looked at me surprised. “I didn’t think you’d make it to breakfast.”

  “How come?”

  I picked up my blue pill and was about to pop it into my mouth but stopped when she said, “I stopped by your room at midnight but you weren’t there. Figured you’d had a late night and would sleep in.”

  I lowered the pill, noticing that Ashlyn was listening closely and watching me even closer. “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “I saw you,” Ashlyn said to me.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “With your old Guardian. Christian’s his name, right?” She smiled sweetly. Like the devil would right before he dragged my soul to hell.

  May must’ve noticed how I bristled because she said, “What are you getting at, Ashlyn?”

  Ashlyn looked around the table, as if to make sure everyone was listening. “You two were speaking like you knew each other well, almost intimately.”

  I gritted my teeth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t I?” Ashlyn smiled again.

  I curled my fingers around the fork’s handle in front of me. “What’s your problem?”

  Ashlyn leaned forward. “We’ve all heard about your mother—”

  “Don’t go there,” I warned. My other hand balled into a fist, practically crushing the pill in my palm.

  “—and it sounds like you’re following in her footsteps. Anyone can tell you’re crazy about your former Guardian.”

  May grabbed my arm. “Let’s go.”

  But Ashlyn wasn’t done. “Hopefully, though, Christian gets as far away from you as he can before you both end up dead.”

  I jumped to my feet, my chair falling backwards. I was about to throw myself across the table to beat the shit out of her, but May blocked me.

  “Leave,” she said. “Now. You can’t afford to get in trouble again. I’ll deal with Ashlyn.”

  I glanced over May’s shoulder at Ashlyn’s smug smile and said to May “One of these days I’m going to punch the Light right out of her.”

  “Fine,” May said, “but not now. Go cool off.”

  “Whatever.” Before I walked away, I tossed the pill at Ashlyn. She yelped when it hit her in the forehead.

  Freaking great. I’d put May in the middle of me and the other Auras. That’s the last thing she needed. She deserved so much better.

  I headed upstairs, shaking my head. Later, I’d get her alone and talk about it, but first I needed to do some investigating before classes.

  I stopped at the nurse’s office and knocked on Abigail’s door.

  “Come in,” she said

  I opened the door and closed it behind me. Abigail sat at her desk, staring down at a stack of papers, pencil in hand. She looked up at me and smiled. “You couldn’t have come at a more perfect time, Llona. These words were beginning to look like hieroglyphics.”

  I dropped into a nearby chair. “What are you working on?”

  “As I’m sure you’ve heard, Cyrus is back. He wants a full report on how all the girls are doing. He’s always worrying about their health.” She glanced at a clock on the wall. “Don’t you have class soon?”

  “I do, but I had a nightmare last night and wanted to discuss it with you first.”

  She lowered the pencil to the desk. “What was it about?”

  “I was in a car accident and rushed to the hospital. I’d lost a lot of blood, and because no one was with me, a nurse gave me normal blood.” I sucked in a shaky breath. “It killed me.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “I know.” I leaned forward. “But it got me thinking. What if something did happen to me, and no one was around to give me the right kind of blood?”

  Abigail smiled. “You’ll be fine. Normal human blood and all. It will just make you feel like you have the flu. I know, because it happened to me once.”

  “But what if I don’t want to feel like that?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Is there a way I can keep a bag of blood with me just in case something bad happens?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Like in your purse?”

  This time I laughed. “No, maybe in my car or something. I just want to know where it’s at in case I ever need it.”

  “Honestly, the best place for it is here. We keep it under lock and key and as long as
you stay in contact with us, we’ll respond quickly to an emergency. And when you leave Lucent, your assigned Guardian will have some on hand too.”

  “Do the Guardians over at Waverly have access to our blood?”

  She pursed her lips. “There’s no need.”

  “But what if one of them really needed it. You know, in case we’re hit by terrorists or something.”

  Abigail squirmed in her seat. “First, nothing is going to happen to us, and secondly, if for any reason a Guardian needs blood, he’d only have to get the key from myself or Cyrus.”

  “You two are the only ones with keys?”

  “Yes. Sometimes the other faculty members will ask to borrow it, but it’s always returned.”

  Maybe someone had made a copy of the key. They’d be able to do it easily enough.

  Abigail rested her arms on the desk. “What’s this all about, Llona?”

  I searched her eyes, her kind expression. I decided to keep talking. “There was something else in my dream. A Vyken was drinking my blood, and it wasn’t just him. There was a whole line of them, just waiting for their turn.”

  “Are you having a lot of these nightmares?”

  “Not really, but they’ve definitely scared me. What if a bunch of Vykens did gain access to our blood?”

  Her eyes grew big, glassy, and blue. “That would be really bad indeed. They could destroy Auras.” She began to fan herself with her hand. “Now you’re giving me nightmares!”

  I stood up. “Well it was just a dream, right?”

  “Thank goodness.”

  I opened the door, but before I left, I asked, “One last question. Where is the blood bank room?”

  “It’s in Denelle Hall safe and sound.”

  “Thanks. And have fun with all your paperwork.”

  I headed straight for Denelle, passing several girls on their way to class, books in hand. School would have to wait. I wanted to see this blood room.

  I hid at the rear of Denelle where I wouldn’t be seen and waited until all the girls were in class. After several minutes, I opened the glass door and peered inside. The hallway was empty. I hurried into it and began to check all the rooms, but didn’t have to go far.

  At the end of a small hallway that branched off from the main corridor, I smelled blood. Lots of it.

  Chapter 20

  I rested my hand on the doorknob to the blood storage room and turned it, but it was locked.

  “What are you doing?”

  I froze, but when I realized I recognized the voice, I exhaled and turned around. “Hey, Tessa.”

  She stood at the opposite end of the hall in an open doorway. She came toward me. “What do you need in that room? It’s a hundred percent off limits.”

  It took me two seconds to decide to trust her. Besides, she seemed to know more about the school than anyone. “Can you keep a secret?”

  She pointed to her head. “You’d die if you knew the secrets this vault contains.”

  “Here’s one more for you. Last night I went outside again—”

  “That was stupid.”

  “Liam was there. I got him to tell me why he’s hanging outside the walls all the time.” I quickly told her about the blood and the Vykens getting access to it.

  “That’s messed up. So what are you guys planning?”

  I turned the doorknob, but it was locked. “I need to get in here and look around.” I produced Light in my palm and held it up to the lock so I could see its inner workings. It was just like Abigail’s. Nice.

  “What are you doing?”

  I shaped the Light in my hand like I’d done before. “You’ll see.” In less than a minute the door opened.

  “Cool trick,” Tessa said. “Who knew Auras would make great thieves?”

  I smirked and slipped inside. When Tessa reached to turn the light on, I stopped her. “Leave the lights off. Just in case.”

  “But I can’t see anything.”

  I produced more Light and sent it across the room, giving us just enough to see what we were doing.

  Tessa gave a low whistle. “This place is creepy.”

  The room was much bigger than I had thought and cold too, like we’d walked into a giant refrigerator. My mouth salivated at the overwhelming smell of blood, but I forced the desire away, even more repulsed with myself.

  I continued surveying the room. Two desks sat at the rear, papers scattered over the top of one of them and an older-looking computer rested upon the other.

  Moving down the aisles, I checked the names of students and the dates written on the bags.

  “Who have you noticed come in here?” I asked Tessa, who was following behind me. The dates on the bags were recent, all within the last few months.

  “Abigail comes in here a lot. And I’ve seen Ms. Haddy and Ms. Crawford.”

  “Can you think of any other reason a teacher would come here other than for blood?”

  “Maybe they keep their own here?” Tessa suggested. “Or they could be making a delivery.”

  “Maybe.” I continued down the aisle and raised my hand, letting my fingers trail across the plastic bags holding the blood. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t—” Just then I felt a faint but familiar feeling. My mind spun, and I stumbled back, my arms outstretched. “Whoa.”

  Tessa put her hand on my back to steady me. “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe they’d do it.”

  “Do what?”

  I carefully reached toward the bag of blood I’d just touched. When my fingers were within an inch of it, my hand began to tingle like it had fallen asleep. I wondered why the sensation wasn’t stronger.

  “It’s a Vyken’s blood,” I whispered.

  “Vyken?” Tessa whipped her head around frantically. “Where?”

  I pointed at the bag with a girl’s name written on it. “There.”

  Tessa’s eyes grew, mirroring my own horror. “In the bags? All of them?”

  I shook my head and began to walk up and down the aisles again, my hands stretched out.

  “I don’t think so. These,” I touched several bags while I walked, “are Auran.” I returned to where Tessa was. “And these,” I trailed down the row, both hands touching blood on each side, “are all Vyken.”

  My skin began to itch as if spiders were crawling up and down my arms and legs. I stopped moving. The rabbit hole was a lot bigger than I expected. “What is going on here? This is the one place everyone told me I’d be safe, but I think me and every other Aura are in more danger than ever before.”

  Tessa’s glossy and sad eyes met mine. “You should leave, somewhere far away. I’ll understand.”

  “Huh?”

  She patted me on the arm. “You have every right to be frightened, after everything you’ve been through.”

  “Frightened? I’m freaking pissed-off!” I walked past her. “I just spent a year dealing with Vyken crap. Out there.” I pointed far away.

  “So are you going to leave?”

  “Not in a million years. Lucent Academy is supposed to be safe for Auras. Someone’s going to pay.”

  “But what can we do?”

  I stared at the Vyken blood. “We’ll destroy it all. Starting with the Vykens’.”

  I started to walk back to it, but Tessa stopped me. “You can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Because then they’ll know we’re on to them. We need to figure out who’s doing this, then we can destroy them.”

  “Screw that,” I said and knocked her arm away, but she grabbed me again.

  “This is not the time to be impulsive, Llona. Think for a minute. There’s something a lot bigger going on here than just someone selling Auran blood to Vykens.”

  This stopped me. “Like what?”

  “Why was Auran blood replaced with a Vyken’s?”

  “So no one would know blood’s missing.”

  “Bu
t why with Vyken blood? Why not with a human’s? Wouldn’t that have been easier?”

  Tessa had a point.

  She continued, “What would happen to an Aura if her blood was transfused with a Vyken’s?”

  My head snapped up.

  “It would probably kill them,” she answered.

  I shook my head, knowing the real truth. “That’s not true. It would turn them. The poison.”

  My hand pressed against my neck. “Like a bite.”

  “Turn them into a Vyken? But how do you know?”

  I met her gaze. Could I tell her? Before I could answer my own question, the sound of the outside door opening made me extinguish the glowing Light on the other side of the room.

  “Llona?” Tessa whispered.

  I reached for her in the darkness until I found her arm. I pulled her to me. “This way.”

  We moved quietly to the opposite wall while heavy footsteps grew louder. I stopped when I reached the desk I’d noticed earlier. “Quick! Hide under this.”

  I slipped next to her just as the door swung open.

  The light flipped on. Both of us sunk farther to the floor. As long as whoever had just come in here didn’t look toward the desk, we would go unnoticed.

  Tessa tightened her grip on my hand, and when I saw her face I was afraid she was going to scream. I squeezed her hand and even transferred Light to her. She visibly relaxed and began to breathe normally again. I gave her a reassuring smile.

  As soon as I felt she wasn’t going to freak out, I signaled her to be quiet, then slowly inched my way over to where I could see around the desk. Standing three rows over was a man, his back to me. He was reading the labels on the bags of blood.

  After a moment, he lifted a bag off its hook and placed it inside a briefcase. He turned to the side, and I saw who it was. I quickly covered my mouth and slid closer to Tessa. For several seconds, nobody moved. I was afraid he’d hear my heart pounding and discover us hiding, but then he began walking. The door opened, the lights turned off, and the door closed.

  Both Tessa and I sighed at the same time.

  “That was close,” Tessa said. “Who was it?”

  Light appeared in my palm. I raised it in front of us. “Dr. Han.”