“No, the bond was still there. It was her terror that disappeared. I could feel it so clearly one moment, and then I couldn’t.”
The rest of us exchanged puzzled looks.
“Is that normal?” Ivy asked.
Josh didn’t seem to hear her. “No, not disappeared...her terror was muffled. It’s hard to explain.” He paused for a moment. “It was like when she’s asleep. I can feel her emotions, but they’re less intense.” He paced back and forth under the skeletal branches of the weeping willow. “She went from complete terror to being asleep in only two seconds. I think someone used magic on her.” His face took on the haunted look again. “Her emotions were so vague, I could barely sense them.” His eyes glinted with tears. “I hurried to wake my parents. Even if they didn’t approve of my Binding with Celia, they understand what it feels like to be connected to someone. I explained what happened, and we used our crystal to contact Celia’s parents.”
The suspense when he paused in his story was almost more than I could bear, but I didn’t want to rush him.
His voice dropped to a miserable whisper. “But she was already gone. They searched the whole house and the property around it, but Celia was nowhere to be found.” His voice broke on the last word, and he collapsed to his knees.
“How did her parents not hear anything?” Gray asked.
“I don’t think Celia had a chance to scream. Whatever happened, it was over before it began.”
I shuddered at the idea of someone stealing me from my bed. “How did he get into the house?”
Neil spoke up. “Most Magicals aren’t able to ward their houses with magic, and there hasn’t been much need. For the last hundred years, the monarchy and the Koban were quick to crack down on anyone abusing their magic.”
“I should’ve been there for her,” Josh said. “I should’ve never let them separate us. We would’ve been stronger together.”
Noah put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, it’s not fair to beat yourself up over this. You had no idea this would happen.” I did my best to take my own advice.
“It doesn’t matter. I failed her, and now she’s gone.”
“Maybe we can make the most of this situation,” Ivy said. “We have something up our sleeves.”
“We do?” Gray cocked his head to the side.
“We might,” she amended hastily. “I doubt that person expected Celia to be bound when he kidnapped her, and maybe he still doesn’t know.”
Josh didn’t lift his head. “What can I do? She’s gone.”
“I don’t know,” Ivy answered. “But you’re the best chance she has right now. Whatever you can tell us could end up saving her. You never know.”
He shrugged. “There hasn’t been anything so far. I haven’t been able to feel her since she was taken.”
“Maybe we should get a teacher before we try anything.” Neil, ever the voice of reason, took a step toward campus.
Josh’s head whipped up. “Wait, something has changed! She’s no longer so muted and her emotions are coming through more clearly. Whatever magic or elixir they used on her, it’s finally wearing off.” He kept his eyes closed. “She’s scared, but it’s not the intense terror from the other night.” His tiny smile turned down at the corners. “She’s curious about her surroundings.”
Beads of sweat broke out on Josh’s forehead. “I think… someone is approaching.” He was silent again. “She recognizes the person, but it’s not someone she likes.” He took a deep breath. “She’s terrified of him.” His voice rose in anxiety.
Josh slumped to the side, and his eyes rolled back in his head. “Get it out!” He screamed, thrashing on the ground. “Get it out!” His back arched in pain, and he grabbed his head.
Noah leaned away from Josh, his eyes screwed shut in pain.
Ivy’s hands flew to her mouth as she stared at Josh.
I froze. What could we do?
“What do we do?” Ivy’s voice shook.
Neil grabbed her by the shoulders. “Ivy, run to the office and get Headmistress Elsie.”
Ivy took off, and Neil turned to Gray. “Gray—”
“I’m on it.” His fingertips sparkled like fizzers before he laid them on Josh’s chest. Josh’s skin glowed brightly wherever Gray’s magic made contact before the brightness sank in and disappeared.
I tugged on Neil’s sleeve. “What should I do?”
“For now, stay here. Stay safe.”
I scuffed my foot on the ground. Why was I always so useless? I should be helping too. Shoulders hunched, I turned to Noah. “You okay?”
He nodded, still grimacing. “I wasn’t prepared for that blast of emotion from him. It caught me off-guard.”
“Elements above, I can’t find anything to heal,” Gray cursed impatiently. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” His hands stopped glowing. Worriedly, he turned to Neil.
“Look at him,” Neil stabbed a finger at Josh’s form. “There’s obviously something wrong.”
My heart raced and adrenaline made me bounce on my toes, but there was nothing I could do with the excess energy. I put a hand on Neil’s arm. “He’s doing everything he can.”
Noah put a hand on both brothers’ shoulders, and a bit of tension eased from their expressions.
“Get it out of her!” Josh screamed again.
“It’s not Josh that’s in pain,” I said suddenly. “It’s Celia!”
Chapter 10
Josh, caught in the grip of a horrible waking nightmare, whimpered on the ground.
I reached for Neil’s hand, needing comfort in the face of such naked agony.
Headmistress Elsie appeared with Ivy trailing behind her. “Out of the way.” She kneeled next to Gray and examined Josh. Where Gray’s hands had looked like fizzers, Headmistress Elsies’ glowed like firebugs with a pulsing light that grew brighter and brighter.
Some of the panic left Gray’s expression. “I couldn’t find anything physically wrong with him, ma’am.”
Headmistress Elsie gave him an appraising look. She was the head of his academy, and since there were so few Light Magicals in school, she and Gray had a special connection.
“We think Josh is fine,” I interrupted. “But we believe something is happening to Celia that’s affecting Josh.”
Her gaze swiveled to me before returning to Josh, who was gripping his hair and moaning. “Why do you think that?”
“Well, we talked to him about Celia before this happened. And then he decided to check on her.”
Neil jumped in. “I believe he was using their bond to try to read Celia’s emotions. He was doing a pretty good job, too, before he collapsed and started screaming. Before that, he said Celia was afraid of someone approaching her. Then this happened.” He gestured at Josh, still writhing on the ground. “He wasn’t able to identify where she was being held or who she was with.”
“This is worse than I imagined,” she muttered. “You,” she snapped at Neil. “Help carry him to the infirmary.”
Neil used his Air Magic to levitate Josh off the ground.
Ivy, Noah, Gray, and I walked uselessly nearby.
After he deposited Josh on a bed, she shooed us away. “There’s nothing more you can do here. Go back to your dorms.”
With slumped shoulders, we turned to leave, but she stopped us again. “And tell no one what happened tonight. I need to talk to the rest of the staff, and wild rumors around the school won’t help anyone.” She fixed each of us with her steely glare until we nodded in agreement.
We stood in the hallway for a minute. “I guess we should go back to our rooms,” Gray said.
Neil nodded, and Ivy and I split from the three boys. I chewed my lip and gazed at the tile floor of the hallway, Ivy padding silently beside me.
Headmistress Elsie’s voice echoed in the empty hallway. Her magic was the most effective way of making announcements all over campus because her voice could travel on the light. “I need all teachers to c
ome to the head office for a staff meeting. Now. All students return to your dorms.”
It was going to be a long night.
The next day, I glanced at the clock a half dozen times during lunch.
Ivy laid a calming hand on my arm. “Settle down.”
“Yeah, you’re making me nervous,” Neil agreed.
“I want to talk to Henry.” Just then the chime sounded, and I bolted from my chair. “See you later.”
I made it to his class in record time, only to find it empty. “Prancing Pegasi,” I cursed, pacing the empty room. He always got onto me for being late, and the one time I was early, he wasn’t even there.
Half an hour later, he walked into the room, looking tired and disheveled.
I stopped pacing. “What happened to you?”
He rubbed a hand wearily over his face. “I spent most of the night and a good part of the morning with your friend, Josh. We weren’t sure if he would make it for a little while, but he’s all right now.” He tottered to his desk and collapsed into his chair.
I bounced on my toes, a million questions lying in wait on my lips.
“I know we normally don’t use class time for meditation, but today’s an exception. We’ll start with that today.”
I put my hands on my hips. “How can I focus on meditation now?”
Henry rubbed his eyes. “Believe it or not, Emmie, meditation is a critical skill for all Magicals. Especially in times of stress. ”
“But I’m not all Magicals. And I’d rather hear about yesterday.”
“Just because you can’t use your magic right now doesn’t mean you won’t have to deal with people using their magic against you. After what I saw last night—”
“What? What did you see last night?”
He shook his head. “If you work seriously on your meditation for the next half hour, I’ll tell you about last night.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” He disappeared into the back to take a shower.
Josh screaming on the ground, the lost princess, the kidnapped girls. I sat, determined to master some semblance of control. Around and around my mind went, only the promise of information keeping my butt glued to the floor.
Henry came back twenty minutes later and scribbled at his desk.
I fidgeted and rubbed my butt. “Can you give me some pointers?”
He walked over. “Asking for help is already a good sign. You can be quite stubborn sometimes. All right. I’ll teach you a new technique that might help. First, you need to completely empty your mind.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
“And learn patience,” he chided. “One way to empty your mind is to visualize yourself inside a room.” He settled next to me on the floor, folding one long leg over the other. “Try it with me. Close your eyes and picture yourself standing in a large room filled with all of your thoughts and concerns.”
Easy enough.
“Imagine them floating around your room. Then, one by one, take those concerns and shove them out the door. Collect them individually and then lock them away until there’s nothing left.” He took a deep breath, and I found myself immediately following suit. “Do this until you’re the only thing in the room.”
I did my best to follow his instructions.
Henry waited until I was ready.
“All right.”
“Now I want you to imagine building a wall around yourself piece by piece. Once you’re completely covered, practice holding it until you can’t anymore. The thoughts you’ve locked out will keep trying to break through, but envision your wall standing strong.”
Stone by stone I built up a wall until I was protected, but in a disappointingly short amount of time, I was out of mental stamina. I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter. My concentration snapped, and my eyes flew open as I gasped. I wiped a hand across my forehead. Was I really sweating? That was kind of pathetic.
Henry’s brow was furrowed with concern. “How did it go?”
“It was more exhausting than I expected.”
“That will get easier over time. Like any muscle in your body, your ability to meditate will grow stronger the more you use it.”
“So, how did I do?”
“Well enough,” he admitted, standing. He offered me a hand, and we walked over to sit in our usual chairs. “What happened last night was something we’ve never seen before.”
I bit my lip to keep from interrupting.
“It seems that some kind of Dark Magic affected Celia’s mind.” His hands clenched, and I shuddered. “We don’t know what kind of effect it had on her, but even just from their bond, Josh was in grave danger last night. Headmistress Elsie was barely able to bring him back.”
“Josh is okay?” What about Celia?
“He will be.”
“So, did the teachers figure out why that happened?”
He looked at me, not saying anything. I maintained eye contact, determined to not be the one to break the silence first.
“We have a theory,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Well? What is it?”
“No magic we are aware of should be able to do that to Josh, and that was only a shadow-effect.”
“A shadow-effect?” I had never heard the word before.
“A shadow-effect can only affect bound couples. You typically don’t hear about them because Bindings are such an intimate experience, and the couple would most likely discuss such things between themselves.”
“So what is it?” I had always wondered why Henry wasn’t bound to anyone.
“First, tell me what you know about it.”
“The Binding is a life-changing event that every Magical can experience once. When you’re bound with someone, there’s no going back.”
Henry flashed a ghost of a smile. “That’s not completely true. It is actually possible to sever a Binding, but there are consequences if you do.”
My mouth fell open. “Really? I’ve never heard of that.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “It’s not widely discussed because it’s discouraged. If you sever a Binding, you can no longer Bind with anyone else. On top of that, you run the risk of losing your magic completely. It’s a grave decision.”
I chewed on that information for a moment before volunteering another fact. “I also know that Magicals legally have to wait until they’re eighteen to bind.”
“True. Until your eighteenth birthday, your magic isn’t considered fully developed. It’s dangerous to Bind early because there’s no way to tell how the magic will react.” He steepled his fingers together. “Your friends, Josh and Celia, got lucky. It was equally possible their magic could have rejected the binding and destroyed itself. In rare historical cases, both partners of such failed Bindings have been left completely magicless.”
I bit my lip. What would be harder: having magic and suddenly losing it, or never having magic at all?
I folded my arms. “If binding early is such a big risk, why don’t they simply segregate the schools? Wouldn’t that be the easiest way to ensure no one had to worry about it?”
Henry drew in a long breath. “If only it were that easy.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Before Ackley was founded, they tried separating the young Magicals, but it altered their magic.”
“How?” I whispered.
“We aren’t sure, but it’s pretty widely agreed upon now that magic needs to be exposed to a variety of other magics, from boys and girls, when developing to help it prepare for the binding.” He grew quiet and looked at me with troubled eyes.
“It’s okay to talk about it, Henry. I can handle it.”
He blew out a breath and opened his desk drawer and excavated a thin book from his messy drawers. “Read this, and we’ll talk more tomorrow.”
I pulled the book toward me and cracked it open.
He reached over and shut it. “That’s homework. We still have normal classes today.”
I sighed and put the bo
ok in my bag. It was going to be a long few hours.
Back in my room that night, I propped the book open in front of me at my desk and scribbled notes.
*Magicals can Bind with any Magical, but the better the match the stronger the bond. If you choose wrong, there’s no do-over.
*Bound couples can develop feelings for others after the binding if they weren’t a good match from the beginning, but they can’t separate. It is a lifetime commitment.
*When couples are bound, their magic is now one. A Water Magical and Earth Magical that bind would now have command over both elements.
*The binding is sacred to Magicals, and the closer couples are before the Binding, the more they can do with their bond. Some have even been known to be able to read one another’s minds.
*When couples are bound, their senses and magic are bound, making them more powerful but also more vulnerable. What happens to one part of the binding can affect the other person. These effects are called shadow-effects and there is still much that isn’t known about them.
So that’s what happened to Josh? He experienced a shadow-effect of what Celia went through.
I slipped my notes into the book and put it back into my bag. Our discussion couldn’t come soon enough.
The next day, Celia’s absence in History class hit me harder than before. Though we’d been partners for only a brief time, we’d become friends.
The teacher droned on about the first Dark Magical in Andar’s history, while I doodled in my notebook. Where was Celia?
Ivy groaned as we walked out the door after class. “I am not looking forward to the test next week. I’m completely unprepared.”
“What test?” My head was still full of Celia, Josh, and the man with the scar.
Ivy and Gray exchanged a look.
“Girl, weren’t you listening at all?” Ivy said. “Our mid-term is next week, and it’s worth a quarter of our first term grade.”
“Great,” I responded. “That’s exactly what we need right now. Tests.”
“Well, we are in school.” Gray pulled on a lock of my hair.
I swatted his hand away. “I know, but there are bigger things going on than lectures and exams!”
Unleashed Magic (The Chronicles of Andar Book 1) Page 12
