by Logan Byrne
“That must mean there aren’t any scouts outside, then, right?” Blake asked.
“Hopefully, at least for now, anyway,” she said.
The camp wasn’t too large, at least in comparison to ours, but the people below were much more deadly. Duskhowlers. There must’ve been twenty, maybe thirty of them, and they looked even scarier without their masks. Some of them looked put together, while others were scarred and snarling as they walked around. They looked like savages, like they prowled the forest looking for flesh late at night. They were what nightmares were made of. “We need to get pictures,” Faus said, fumbling in his bag for a camera.
He pulled it out and took a few pictures, the camera almost silent as it captured the faces of the men below. This was greater than anything we could’ve hoped for. The men were now being marked and could be further identified by the council and those back at our camp. In an attempt to move closer, though, Faus brushed a rock the size of my hand with his elbow, causing it to roll down the hill. The sound alerted a couple of the men below.
We pulled back, hiding, my heart racing. Faus put away his camera, looking shaken. “We need to get out of here,” Charlie said. The chatter of the men below didn’t exactly sound friendly and heartwarming.
“We can’t call our ride here. They’ll take us,” Britta said.
“Just run,” I said, standing up.
They must’ve seen the tops of our heads, because suddenly a horn went off and the cheers and roars of the duskhowlers below erupted. This time running down the hill was a breeze. Blake shifted as Faus fumbled with his bag and tried to reach the radio. “We have to call for help. We’ll never make it out of here alive,” he said, pulling out the radio.
As Faus fumbled with the radio, he tripped, likely on a root or branch. The radio flew out of his hands and rolled towards a small ravine that was covered in leaves. “The radio!” I yelled. Charlie and Blake looked back and quickly stopped.
I ran for it, sliding onto my butt and falling down the hill, before grabbing it just as I slid into the ravine. I grabbed the edge with my right hand, struggling, the radio in my left, when sparks erupted around me. The duskhowlers were in hot pursuit.
Blake roared, grabbing my hand and pulling me up like I weighed absolutely nothing. Faus jumped the gap, huffing and grunting, little tufts of hair slapping his face. “You can’t shift, not here!” Britta said, scared.
“I can’t. I can’t help it!” he said, trying his hardest to hold back his rage and fear and not transform in front of us.
“This is a call to Mirian or anybody at the camp. Come in,” I said into the radio as we ran.
“This is control, we read you,” a voice responded.
“We’re under attack by duskhowlers after infiltrating their camp. We need an immediate rescue of five individuals right now or we’re all done for,” I said, huffing.
“I’ll call for authorization,” the man said, calm as ever.
“What did they say?” Britta asked.
“He’s getting permission!” I yelled as a pulse of dark magic hit a tree next to me, shredding a hole in it. “Shit!” I yelled, my eyes as wide as the moon.
A familiar voice came on the radio. “Lexa?” Mirian asked.
“Mirian! Thank god! You have to get us out of here now. We have a little ground on them, but we’re going to die if you don’t send a teleport!” I said.
“Have they seen your faces?” he asked.
“No, but we saw theirs. Just please send help to our location,” I screamed, utterly over this back-and-forth dance we were playing.
“Transport inbound,” he said. “We’re tracking your location now.”
I couldn’t be sure how much time had passed. Maybe it was seconds, maybe minutes. The world stood still for me. I could hear their happy cries behind me, like they were savages who’d found a fresh kill to eat, but that kill was me, and I was going to be taken. Why did Faus have to knock into that rock? We were perfectly fine, they didn’t even know we were there, and now we were all about to be taken by the worst of the worst dark magical people.
“Prepare for transport,” Mirian said, and the same man from yesterday appeared in front of us.
“Grab on!” he yelled. We all stopped and grabbed onto him. I took a deep breath before we left, warping and twisting through reality before being dumped on the very streets we called home.
Out of breath, we all lay back, gasping for air. Faus’s face was beet red. Mirian and Pote immediately descended upon us. “What happened?” Pote asked with both curiosity and anger in her voice.
“It was my fault, Chancellor. I accidentally hit a rock while taking pictures and it alerted them to our presence,” Faus said, owning up to it.
“Pictures?” she asked.
“We got their faces,” he said, rummaging through his bag and handing her the camera. “It’s not all of them, but it’s some of them. Hopefully it helps.”
“Thank you all for your help. If what you found is good, then consider your third trial accounted for,” she said, whisking off towards her tent.
“Wait, so it might not be over?” Blake asked, sitting up.
“I’ll make sure you’re credited for your help,” Mirian said before walking towards Pote’s tent.
“Gotta love politicians,” Charlie said.
“Lexa?” I heard later that night as I sat in my tent and tried to study my spells.
Britta walked inside. It was the first time we’d ever been alone together. I perked up, sitting on the edge of my bed. “What’s up?” I asked.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said before, about your past and what you did,” she said.
“I’m not that same person, if you’re afraid I am. I want to be different,” I said.
“No, it’s not that at all. I wanted to see if maybe you knew somebody,” she said, making my eyebrows rise. She pulled out a grainy picture from her pocket. “Do you know this man?”
I grabbed the picture and looked it over, not recognizing the man at all. I wasn’t sure why she would ask me this, either. “No, who is he?” I asked.
“Oh, sorry to trouble you then,” she said.
“No, you aren’t troubling me at all. How come you wanted to know if I knew him? Should I?” I asked.
“He’s just…a bad man. I knew he’d been in criminal circuits, and I thought if anybody here would know who he was, his name, you would be my best shot,” she said.
“Did he do something to you?” I asked.
“He killed my brother,” she said, hanging her head.
“Oh,” I said, taken aback. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It happened when I was a little girl, maybe three or four. My brother hooked up with the wrong crowd, and one day he just didn’t come home. They found him, his body, a week later and narrowed it down to this man who committed the murder, but they couldn’t identify him. I know the picture kind of sucks, but it’s all that I have to go on,” she said.
“I’m sorry I can’t help more. I wish I could,” I said, patting her on the back.
“It’s okay, I knew it was a long shot anyway,” she said, standing up.
“For what it’s worth, I think your brother would be proud of the woman you are today. I know I didn’t know him, but you’re a really amazing witch,” I said.
“I’m glad you decided to give this place a try. I know it might not be as exciting as what you did before, but I can’t imagine you not being here anymore,” she said with a smile before walking out of my tent.
8
A couple days passed before we heard any word from Pote or the other leaders about the men we’d taken pictures of during our mission. It was a tense time. None of us knew if we would get the information we’d worked so hard to find. Some of them said no, but I made the point that the people who obtained it should be privy to it. It seemed only fair, to me at least, considering we risked our lives for it. Some of the others didn’t necessarily see it that way.
/> “Chancellor Pote is requesting they be brought to her chambers at once,” a guard said, interrupting Ms. Moon as she taught us during class. The guard was clearly pointing at us. We got up as Ms. Moon nodded and kept on with her lessons, and we walked out with him.
“What is this about?” Britta asked as we followed him.
“Matters are classified,” he said, likely because he didn’t have a clue. He was just sent to round us up and nothing more.
We walked through the doors to her chambers, the same ones I’d been in weeks ago when I came here, and saw her and Mirian, as well as a couple others from the council sitting there. “Good morning, we hope you’re all well,” Pote said as we approached.
“Good morning, Chancellor,” we said. Faus’s tone was nervous.
“I’m sure you five are wondering why we called you in here, so we’re going to just cut right to the chase. We have identified most of the men in the pictures you got for us, and we thought we should talk to you about them,” she said.
“We will help in any way we can,” Blake said.
“Firstly, I know we touched on this briefly, but did they see any of you? Your faces, at least. It is quite important we are absolutely sure,” she said.
“No, I don’t think so. Our backs were to theirs the entire time,” I said. The others nodded and agreed with me.
“So you’re positive?” she asked.
“As positive as I can be, yes,” I said, my hands in my pockets. I wasn’t positive, as I wasn’t sure I could ever be with something like this. There was no real way for me to know what another person saw or didn’t see, and all I could go by was what I remembered. We were far away, we never turned around to face them, and they didn’t catch up to any of us.
“The reason we ask is because we want to start moving forward with your placement in M.A.G.I.C.,” Pote said, causing my stomach to drop a little.
“But we still have more schooling to do,” Britta said.
“We understand that you all may feel a bit of apprehension, or feel that you aren’t ready. But even if that were true, we don’t have time to fool around much longer. We know that the men in the pictures have ties to Kiren Nightstorm, and it isn’t wise to sit on our hands much longer. If he is setting up camps of duskhowlers all around the magical realm, having them wreak havoc on us and any other outposts, then we need to start figuring out a way to stop him once and for all,” Pote said.
“We wouldn’t be sending you right away, not tomorrow or even the day after,” Mirian said, breaking his silence. “You would also not all be heading out to the same departments within the force.”
“Well, when would we go, and where?” Britta asked.
“Some of you, like Faus, are needed in auxiliary support roles instead of actual field roles like Lexa and Blake. We are going to try to make sure these sorts of changes happen so that we have roles that not only play to your strengths, but also keep a wide net of eyes on their operations. I, of course, will be there as well,” Mirian said.
“You’ll begin training around the clock to prepare you for departure, which we believe will be around two weeks or so from now, maybe less. It depends on how quickly you progress. You’ve all been signed up for the next trials testing with the department, so you will soon take the final exam,” Pote said.
“Mirian, can I speak to you?” I asked, my hands fidgeting a bit.
Pote nodded, and Mirian and I walked outside and off to the side. “Something bothering you?” he asked, as if his proposition wasn’t pure lunacy.
“I get the severity of all this, but I don’t think I’m ready for something so rash. I haven’t been a mage all that long, and my skills aren’t nearly good enough for something like this. I don’t think I’ll pass the exams,” I said, my self-doubt taking over.
“I understand your concerns, but I have to disagree with you. During your month here, you’ve made tremendous progress that only a witch of your caliber could do. I see you study, your wand skills are impeccable given your situation, and you routinely blow us away with your knowledge of spells. It’s as if you’re a sponge who retains everything she reads,” he said.
“I appreciate the words, but I just get afraid, is all,” I said.
“Relax, you’ll be fine,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “The next two weeks will be intense, and you’ll learn more than enough to pass the basic mage entering the program. You aren’t meant to be a master when you enter, Lexa. They’ll teach you even more as you go along.”
I nodded, taking in a deep breath, and realized that he was right, and I really had no choice in the matter anyhow. I chose this life for myself, I chose to come here and work with them and their cause, and I had to own up to the sacrifice and promise that I made. If I went back on it now, it could cause problems down the line that I wouldn’t be able to deal with.
We walked back inside the tent as Pote was speaking with the group. “We will begin training tomorrow morning at dawn, so be prepared to wake up early. You all are dismissed,” she said.
There was an overwhelming feeling of stress hanging over us, like a cloud perpetually following us as we walked outside and stood in a circle. Charlie scratched his head, a confused look on his face. Faus and Britta both looked as scared as ever. Blake wasn’t giving off much emotion, staring blankly. I stepped in and took over.
“We can do this, I know we can,” I said, trying to be a leader and put some positivity back into us.
“I’m not even sure what this is anymore. It just seems like we’re pawns in some scheme,” Charlie said, his pessimistic nature coming out even more than usual.
“That’s not true, Charlie. We’re doing good,” Britta said.
“I agree. It might not be the best situation, I agree, but we can do this. We have schooling and tutoring, more than the average person trying to join the academy, and we’ll beat them all. We have to,” I said.
“And what if we don’t?” Charlie asked.
“Then we’ll deal with that once we get to it, but for now we have to stay positive and alert. The reality of our lives now is laid out in this plan, and we have to give it our all or else a lot of innocent lives are at stake. Think about your parents. They might not be around much longer if Kiren gets his grip on this world,” Blake said, looking at Charlie.
“I just hope you all are right. I hope your positivity is worth it,” Charlie said before walking back towards class. The rest of us followed, not saying anything the entire walk back, not even a peep or a cough.
“You really like looking up there, don’t you?” Blake asked later that night as I sat on the ground and looked up at the sky. He sat next to me, his knee brushing against mine, before he pulled it away.
“You don’t get much of a view of the stars when you’re stuck in the city. There are too many lights,” I said.
“I don’t even remember what all those lights are like. It’s been so long since I’ve been in the city, at least for any real length of time,” he said, his biceps bulging from his shirt as he propped himself up with his hands behind him.
“I imagine there have been problems with living here for so long,” I said.
“There have, but it’s also been pretty nice, I’d say. It’s safe, relatively, and I always have a warm bed and a meal waiting for me. Besides, the education is top-notch,” he said.
“Must be hard to grow up here, though, since there aren’t many girls your age here,” I said.
“Yeah, but every now and then somebody new comes into the camp and into the picture,” he said, looking at me.
It had been so long since I’d had a boyfriend or even just a guy to hang around with. My line of work wasn’t conducive to relationships—or at least that was what I was told, and I believed it. I’d built up walls that weren’t easily shaken, but I didn’t need to do that anymore. There was a cute guy right in front of me, one who seemed at least somewhat interested, even if we were from two different places and living two very different lives. I
guess that could be the best thing, though, to have somebody who isn’t like you. People like that can make you better.
“Yeah? So a new girl came in who you like?” I asked.
“A new girl who I’m into did come into the picture. Sometimes I get too nervous to talk to her, though,” he said.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because she’s nothing like I’ve ever known before, and that makes it hard to talk to her. You see, she came from a rough life, a rough upbringing, and that makes me nervous,” he said.
“It shouldn’t. All that should matter is what’s happening now, not what happened in the past, even if it did suck,” I said, a few rogue butterflies working their way through my stomach. The innocent and very vague flirting was starting to make me feel.
“I just sometimes wonder if I’m tough enough for her,” he said.
“I think you are,” I said, the glow of his changing eyes stuck in my mind. There was nothing tougher than a werewolf, after all.
“Then maybe I have nothing to worry about after all. I’ll have to ask her out sometime,” he said.
“I think she’d say yes right now if you asked her,” I said.
“I’ll have to talk to Britta, then,” he said. The blood rushed from my face. I probably looked like a corpse.
“Oh, yeah,” I said nervously.
“I’m kidding! I meant you,” he said, laughing a little.
Sitting up, I punched him in the arm, hard, the kind of punch I would use if I were trying to escape a bad job. His head jolted backwards and he grabbed his arm, rubbing it, a look of immense regret on his face. “Are you sure you don’t have a bit of werewolf in you?” he asked, laughing it off.
“I’m all witch, all the time. You better be good before I find a hex to put on you,” I joked.
“I love that fire. I’ll think of something and get back to you. If not, I might lose a limb next,” he said, standing up.
“I look forward to it,” I said, alluding to the loss of limb and not the joke.
