by A. L. Knorr
"Saxony, no!" I screamed.
Saxony rolled over in a panic, blazing eyes searching for something to latch on to. Her back slid along the ground as her hands tried to get her hair out of her face so she could see.
Vines and branches sprang from the earth at my behest, wrapping around Saxony in an effort to slow her trajectory. Desperately, she latched onto the plants. She dug her feet into the ground, fists tangled in my vines, her whole body lifted like a pillar being raised by the ropes of ancient builders. As if giving herself over to the momentum with one last Hurculean effort, she sprang. Her entire body combusted in the air as she made an impossible leap at the ithe. A red rainbow of light stained the sky as a human torch flew across the garden. She let out a hoarse cry as her body flew forward.
The creature only arched itself back, opening its shoulders and spreading its arms in a wide and deadly hug. I thought I heard its awful voice come through the wind: Come to me.
One moment her cry filled the air, and the next it was cut off totally and completely. She was just gone. It had swallowed Saxony up, flames and all. Her light died instantly. I screamed; my head pounded with rage. My vines and branches shot forward, only to disappear into the body of the ithe.
The wind stopped, and the sudden silence deafened me.
"What have you done?" I released my anchor and staggered forward, dizzy and disoriented.
The ithe stood at the end of the path and slowly turned its back to me. It became as thin as a blade before flattening out again, its back looking near identical to its front save for the lack of that long chin. It calmly walked into the woods as if it hadn't just murdered one of my best friends.
Enraged, I bolted after it. Tree branches ripped at my face and torso. I tripped over a root and rolled my ankle painfully before correcting and scanning the trees in a panic for my quarry.
It was nowhere.
"Come back!" My throat burned as I sucked in breath. Anger and helplessness choked me. Hot tears burned on my face. "What have you done?"
At a loss, I barreled through the woods. The trees grew thick, the ground slick and mossy. My clothes grew damp and then wet; my hair wrapped around my neck like a hangman’s noose. The sound of my own ragged breathing blocked out the sounds of the night. I broke through into a clearing where a hill of open, treeless land rose steeply into the sky to surpass even the treetops. Panting, I stopped to listen for the ithe’s footsteps, anything. Panic wrapped its cold thin arms around me and began to squeeze.
A crow gave a burnt cry and a flap of wings sounded off to my right. A moon graced the sky now, shining cold blue light on the barren hill. My eye caught on something at the top, a small square shape blocking out the stars.
Distantly, I heard the sound of my name and froze, listening. Where it came from or even if I had only imagined it was unclear. I heard it again and gave a gasp of hope. It sounded like Saxony, heavily muffled.
I climbed the hill, hoping for a better view from the top and a better position to listen from. My feet slipped on wet grass and thorny bushes sliced at my ankles. It seemed like nature had turned against me. I had to use my hands, fingers digging into wet earth, to help me climb. Halfway to the top of the hill I heard my name again, closer but still so muffled and far away sounding.
I yelled with all the power I had. "Saxony?"
"I’m here." It was as if she was calling through a long thin tube, or maybe through thick layers of wool. "Help!"
As I crested the hill I realized the thing at the top was man-made. Moonlight glinted on mortared stone and a circular bitumin cap.
A well.
"Help, Georjie!"
Placing my muddy hands against the well's cap, I pushed with all my strength. The scraping of concrete against stone was like the sound of a tomb being opened.
"Georjie!" Her voice echoed from the bottom of the well.
Horror crawled up my spine, its nails sharp and digging deep. I tried to call back, but panic choked my voice.
"I’m here." Her voice echoed so distantly, as though the well reached all the way to the center of the earth, and she was at the very bottom.
"No." I gave a hoarse cry, pushing the cap off completely. It hit the ground hard and rolled a short distance before falling over. Peering into the darkness inside the well, I had seen nothing blacker.
I found my voice. "Light a fire, Saxony," I called.
"I have." Her voice echoed faintly up from the pit.
"I can't see you. Make it bigger." I thought I’d bust a vocal chord from yelling so hard. My eyes strained into the darkness, desperate to see something, anything that would reveal the bottom.
Distantly, a small red flame flared. A tiny white face appeared in the flare, with eyes like black holes. Those black holes expanded, and then I was falling into them.
"Georjie, wake up." Lachlan's voice came from a distance, and for a moment, I thought he'd fallen into the well also, but the word 'up' was sharp, and the dream could not resist it.
With a gasp and jolt, I woke. My face and forehead were damp, my chest slick between my breasts. Lachlan's face formed in the gloom, hovering over me, concerned. His warm hand was on my shoulder.
"It was just a dream."
Relief poured through me like storm water through a canyon. I felt like I'd never get enough oxygen to satisfy my burning lungs. I reached for Lachlan, and he folded me into his arms, stroking my back and shushing softly into my ear.
"You're alright," he said. "It wasn't real."
I nodded, incapable of words. My heart sent hot torrents of blood through my head, every pulse accompanied by a wave of pain in my temples.
Lachlan released one arm from around me and half rolled away. He rolled back holding a glass of water. "Drink this."
Gratefully, I took the glass and drank deeply. He took the glass away and put it back on the nightstand. I rolled onto my back and lay with my hands over my eyes.
"I'm sorry." I felt my heart begin to slow. "Did I wake you?"
"No, I was awake. You’d only been asleep for twenty minutes when you started breathing weird. Must have been some nightmare."
I looked at him in the dark. "It was so real."
He hovered over me, bracing himself on his elbow. "The worst ones are like that. Do you want to tell me about it?"
I shuddered. "It was awful." I told him about it, keeping my sentences short and my descriptions spare. He listened quietly and with a growing seriousness. When I finished, we lay in silence for a while. I found myself wondering if the dream had been concocted by my own irrational sleeping mind, or if it had been sent as a warning. Maybe it was my subconscious answer to the question Lachlan had posed just before I'd fallen asleep ... and the manifestation of what he'd implied—that involving Saxony was a bad idea.
"Sometimes a dream is just a dream," I said quietly. "But sometimes it’s more than that. Do you think?"
He didn't take long to answer. "I do."
"And if this was more than just a dream, then I don't want to tell her about Daracha. I think I'm supposed to figure this out on my own."
Lachlan didn't answer for a time, then he shifted in the bed to face me. "I'm here, Georjie. I know I don't have any supernatural powers. But I'm here."
I reached out and took his hand. Rolling onto my side, I faced him in the darkness of the bedroom. I ran my fingers through his hair and kept my next thought to myself. His presence was a comfort to me, but there was nothing he could do.
I was, essentially, on my own.
Chapter Eight
After breakfast the following day, my plan to take Saxony out for a walk in the forest behind Blackmouth was thwarted when clouds heavy with rain closed in and the sky opened up. Mom and Aunt Faith had gone with Jasher and Evelyn to visit the local museum. Lachlan had gone to meet his mom's side of the family for an Easter lunch. Saxony and I sat curled up in one of the large window seats in the first floor parlor, looking out as a steady downpour soaked the earth.
"You l
ook as gloomy as the weather," said Ainslie from the doorway. She held a mop and a feather duster the size of a show girl’s headdress in one hand and a neon green jug in the other.
"What's that?" My eye was drawn to the bright plastic jug.
Ainslie lifted it and made a face. "Pest deterrent. Something's been eating the heads off my roses again. It happens from time to time. I’ve never figured out why.”
"Deer, maybe?"
She shrugged and looked pained. "If it’s deer, then they've only recently developed a taste for roses. They never used to eat my blossoms and there’s no deer tracks in the soil so I don’t think so.” She looked doubtful. “I hope I don't have to ask Gavin to build a fence around the garden." She considered us, her gaze passing from one bored expression to the next. "Why don't you go down to the spa and test the hot-tub?"
I blinked and straightened my spine, something crackled. "There's a spa here?"
"It's closed during the off season, but Gavin turned on the tubs to warm it up when he knew your family was coming. They should be nice and toasty about now. It's small, and there’s no windows, but ..." she shrugged again. "Just an idea."
"I don't mind not seeing the weather about now." Saxony pulled her gaze from the window where rain blurred the glass. "Shall we?"
Ainslie turned to leave, looking back at us. "Come on. I'll show you where it is."
"Did you bring your bathing suit?" I asked as we got off the window seat and crossed the parlor.
"You don't need them," Ainslie said. "There are disposable ones down there you can use. We keep the spa very clean, and synthetic fabric suits are against the rules."
I looked at Saxony. "That okay with you."
She wrinkled her nose fetchingly. “Disposable bikinis are a little weird, but I'll deal."
We followed Ainslie to the elevator at the end of the hall. We crammed in together and went down to the bottom level.
"Reminds me of a game we played as kids." I blew Saxony's hair away from my face and shifted to keep my elbow out of her ribs. “Ow.”
"Sardines." Saxony got off my foot. “Sorry.”
"That sounds claustrophobic.” Ainslie squeezed out first when the door opened.
"I've never been down here," I said as we found ourselves in a glistening hall of white marble. White columns lined the corridor leading to a small front desk. Glass tiles gave glimpses into the spa beyond the walls. "Snazzy."
Ainslie set her bucket down on the floor and led us to a set of glass double doors. A sign mounted on silver pegs to the right of the door proclaimed Blackmouth Highland Spa. Through the doors were a small lobby and waiting area and beyond that were changerooms where we found disposable bikinis and slippers as well as bathrobes.
"Leave the bathrobes on the pegs outside that door." Ainslie pointed at a third glass door where moisture beaded heavily and ran down the glass in rivulets. An inviting white glow sparkled through the beads of water.
"You'll find showers, a lounge, three tubs and a small pool. Just follow the instructions and don't stay too long in the hottest one. Enjoy! I've got to get back. Let me know when you're out so I can come down and clean properly."
We thanked Ainslie and she left the spa to us. We each chose a locker and began to change.
"This might be even better than walking in the pretty Scottish woods." Saxony giggled as she pulled up the paper bikini bottom and looked down at herself. The briefs pooched out in the crotch with enough space to hold a grapefruit. "They must be gender-neutral."
"That explains the pouch.” I pulled on my own bottom and looked down.
"The manufacturers were a bit overgenerous to the fellows," Saxony observed, plucking at the pocket. "It's big enough for a joey to hide in."
“Speak for your own experience,” I replied with a cheeky grin.
Saxony made a scandalized squeak as her mouth dropped open.
The tops were much better fitting, a simple bandeau of stretchy fabric made from paper and elastic to stretch across any size of chest. We left the bathrobes hanging on the pegs Ainslie had shown us and went into the humid spa area.
Rather than white, the spa was lined with shiny black stone inlaid with quartz. It caught the light and glimmered softly. Sconces with soft white bulbs lined the walls giving the room a glow similar to moonlight. Our pale winter skin looked ghostly against the dark walls and floors. A small circular tub sat in the middle of the room with a sign etched into a pole standing in the centre. Water circled and bubbled in a clockwise direction around the pole.
"Shall we start here? Then?" Saxony peered at the instructions in the gloom. "Looks like we're meant to walk around the pole against the flow of water. Wow, this is a little more involved than your typical hot tub."
We got into the tub and began to journey slowly around. Jets shot water of varied temperatures at our legs, some cool and others warm. We exclaimed with delight when we discovered part of the floor of the tub was lined with small pebbles which pushed at the bottoms of our tender feet. My sensitive soles loved the feel of it, and my body began to relax. I was reminded how much I had changed in such a short time. I would never have enjoyed my feet being stimulated in this way before I'd become a Wise.
"What's been going on with you, Georjie?" Saxony took out her hair clip and recaptured the locks that had fallen out as she looked at me expectantly.
My tummy tightened, and flashes of my nightmare lit through my mind. "Aside from finding the mummy in the ruin, things have been pretty tame, actually," I lied. In my mind, I asked her forgiveness and promised to tell her everything as soon as it was safe enough to do so. For now, I needed to deflect. I didn't even want to tell her what I'd learned about my father because it would only lead to more questions. "Tell me about Arcturus, Saxony."
Saxony looked down at the water, her hanging curls corkscrewing even more tightly than normal in the humidity. The features of her face were soft, but her brows pinched at my question.
"I love it, but there are some things I don't like. Like some of the other students." She frowned. "And it’s difficult to get good grades on my high-school courses when I'd rather be in the fire classes."
"Every school has bad kids. I guess a school for supernaturals is no different." I winced pleasurably as my feet struck the pebbly patch on the bottom of the tub.
"Supernaturals are worse, trust me." Saxony made a face. "The bullies we knew at Saltford High have nothing on the bullies at Arcturus."
"But you're stronger than all of them anyway, right?" I put my hand on the pole and it squeaked under my palm.
Saxony nodded modestly, still looking down.
"What kinds of things are you learning?"
“Well, because I’m a year younger than everyone in my year, and still finishing high school, I don’t actually get to take as many classes as the rest of them. But, I’ve heard about the ones I haven’t been able to take yet from friends. The classes are really varied because the kids who inherit the fire are all so varied themselves. Not everyone is happy to have the fire; some of them just want to learn to cope with it, or use it for something totally unexpected."
"Like what? For instance."
"Like pyrotechnics for theater companies."
I gave her a look of surprise. "You mean they aren't teaching all the magi to become soldiers or assassins?"
Saxony laughed. "Actually, not very many of the students have temperaments suited for combat or covert jobs. That's why they offer other classes, so the kids have options."
"And what about you?"
Saxony dipped her hands into the water, watching the way it swirled. "I'm challenged in ways that none of the other students are because of my status, but I still don’t know what I want to do after I matriculate.” Her dark lashes lay against her cheeks, hooding her strange mage's eyes. She wiped the sweat away from her face. "Do you want to get out? I've had enough of this tub."
We moved to the next tub, a salt water pool installed beneath a low ceiling speckled with tiny b
lue lights.
Saxony lay her head against the cushion on the back of the tub and looked up at the blue lights. "So pretty. It's like an illusion, this ceiling."
Looking up and relaxing my neck, I saw what she meant. Somehow it looked like a high cave full of bioluminescent algae, but the ceiling was actually low enough to touch.
"Very relaxing." Saxony rolled her head along the back of the tub.
"You said you had something to ask me." I crossed my legs and put my hands behind my head, stretching my back.
"Yeah, well it's not actually me that wants to ask, it’s Basil. But I said I would." Saxony pushed a piece of wet hair away from her eye. "You remember I told you that Basil keeps dossiers on supernaturals, not just individuals of significance, but all the types of supernaturals out there."
I nodded.
"Well, he's hoping you might consider visiting Arcturus, as a guest presenter who would give a class on your species. Just be warned, he'll grill you like no one else you've ever met. I've never known a more curious, studious person in my life. It's like he's building the most thorough database on supernaturals that might ever exist. He started it in the late eighties, and he says there is still so much he doesn't know because it’s first of all so hard to find supernaturals, and second of all so hard to get them to talk." Saxony shrugged. "No pressure. I said I would ask. I plan to ask Targa as well.”
"I'd totally do that,” I said, adding mentally: if I survive Daracha. “I’d be excited to see your school, meet more supernaturals. Far as I'm concerned, the more we know—even other species—the better it is for us. It would be good to have a network, not to feel so alone."
"Really?" Saxony was beaming at me. "Thanks, that's awesome. Basil will be thrilled.” She lay her head against the tub again. "Wait until I show you something I learned at Arcturus. It seems like a little thing, but actually it was crazy difficult to do."
“Show me now?" She’d piqued my curiosity.
We left the tub and went to the lounge where clean towels sat neatly stacked in a corner. Soft classical music piped in from the ceiling, and a half a dozen reclining chairs with stuffed pillows were lined up against one wall.
