by G. Bailey
Sage inspects the front page of the book with a scrunched up nose. “A Book of Tales by Angela Nightingale? Ronan, that’s a children’s book.”
He nods. “I know it is. But it’s also based on factual information about the Enchanted Forest. In one of the tales, there’s a story about the son of a carpenter who gets lost in the forest. An imp offered to help him if the boy promised to repair his spinning wheel which could weave string into silver. Well, that night, the boy managed to fix it, and the imp sent him on his way. Little did the boy know the imp had lied, and he ended up wandering the forest until all the leaves in the trees had died. He returned to the cottage, starving and on the brink of death, but by the point, the imp and its home had vanished. Or at least, that’s what the boy thought. It was actually being hidden by the autumn trees. You see? The forest works in mysterious ways. What if what we’re looking for isn’t visible in summer? What if…”
“It’s only visible in a particular season,” I finish off for him, and he nods. “Then why are forced to come here every week?”
Ronan taps the book, giving a smug grin. “Because no-one’s been smart enough to crack the code. I could be wrong, but I’m willing to bet our task is being camouflaged.”
“I think you’re right,” Sage chimes in. “Also, what happened to the boy in the tale?”
“He starved to death. But that’s not the point.”
Sage snorts. “Be sure to tell your future kids that bedtime story!”
They laugh, and I turn to look at the trees, lost in thought. “The only clue we’ve been given is that our task is something that grows but never dies. Trees die, so it can’t be that. But you could both be right. The trees could be hiding it, in which case, we won’t find anything for another few months. What a waste of time this has been!”
“Not really,” Ronan says. “They probably sent us on this wild goose chase for exercise more than anything.”
Sage and I stare at Ronan like he’s just grown a second head.
“What?” he says, shrugging. “Exercise is good for you!”
Sage touches him on the shoulder. “Who hurt you, my friend?”
Ronan shrugs her off, grinning. “It’s the truth.”
“Tell that to my feet,” Sage grumbles, nodding to the others. “Looks like they’ve already started without us, including Jonah.”
“He hardly thinks we’re part of the team, anyway,” Ronan states. “We should at least pretend to be part of it.”
Just as they move to join the others, I grab their arms.
“Not to be a bad influence or anything, but we’ve pretty much sussed the clue out already…”
My friends both raise an eyebrow at me.
Sage asks, “What are you thinking, Buzzie?”
“How do you feel about meeting my little friend, Echo?”
They grin and follow me back towards the academy. I hope Jonah has fun aimlessly running through the forest on his own. At least now I’ll be spared any more of his temper tantrums.
Slipping through the iron gate, I lead my friends into the tower, and then I do the trick Zander taught me one night when I practically begged him to. I take my friends hands’ in mine, and wrapping the shadows around us like a blanket, I take our bodies into Zander’s apartment. This is much better than translocating or traveling through fire. There are more shadows in the world than there is light.
“Something is off today. Can you feel it?” Sage whispers and I nod, knowing exactly what she’s talking about. The academy has been eerily silent all day. There’s not a single student talking or running around like normal. Even the common area is completely empty.
We head to the cafeteria to grab snacks for the day. As we approach the doors, we see a bundle of students looking at a bunch of posters nailed to the wall.
Sage side-glances me. “Uhh, I’m going to grab snacks. Why don’t you see what it is they are all looking at?”
“If they have Oreos…” I drift off, too engrossed in what’s going on.
Sage chuckles before rushing off into the cafeteria. It’s usually quiet on the weekends anyway, so she shouldn’t find a queue. I push through the students until I get to the front and see the five new posters stuck to the wall.
Five wardens are missing.
And I know each and every one of them. They were the guys I turned into slugs. The whispers of the students around me seem to blast into my ears as I back away in shock. I completely forgot to ask Zander about them. That was over a month ago! And now they’re missing? Oh, fuck…
“They haven’t found any bodies. Do you think a creature ate them?”
“The parents are so upset. They gotta be dead.”
“Shame, they were handsome.”
“And that girl went missing yesterday. No poster yet, but there might not even be a search. She was only a shadowborn, after all.”
I don’t even look back as I walk away, my feet picking up speed with every step, and I don’t look where I’m going until I slam into someone. Large hands catch me, holding me in them as he grunts.
“Hey, where are you today, Vina?” Gage asks, holding me way closer than a teacher should. As if he notices the same thing as me, he lets me go super quickly and clears his throat. “Are you silently going to ignore me again? Our last few sessions have been awkward as fuck, I know, but I call that progress.”
“Are teachers meant to say ‘awkward as fuck’?”
With a big smirk, he crosses his arms. “I just did.”
Well. He isn’t wrong. They have been awkward, simply because we are making progress. I think.
“I have to get going. I need to find someone,”
“If you want to talk about it, you know where I am,” he offers, stepping around me and lowering his head to my ear. “And I mean anytime. I’m your friend first, Vina.”
Are teachers meant to say that? I almost ask him. I turn and watch as he walks away, and I suspect he isn’t joking. If I turned up at his door in the middle of the night, he would open it and help me.
Gage is a good guy.
And he doesn’t need a friend like me in his life. Good and bad don’t mix.
Talking of bad…
I swiftly turn on my heel and rush to the top of the academy. My legs burn by the time I get to the top of the million-odd steps and into the corridor of the wardens’ apartments. Remembering which is Zander’s doesn’t take long and I bang his door a few times, waiting for him to answer. He doesn’t, and I swear under my breath.
“Always try the handle first. Magic isn’t always the easiest route,” I reply and I hear Pitch chuckle in my head as I turn the handle and the door opens easily. I step in, surprised to see Zander just come out of the bathroom with Echo in his hands, wrapped in a white towel.
“First off, did you kill those wardens?” I demand. “The spell I did only lasts a few hours and they were safe when I left, but apparently they’ve been missing for weeks!”
“Corvina-”
“If you did kill them, why? They had their punishment and murder is a tad extreme,” I blurt out, knowing I’m nervously rambling. Why does this guy make me nervous? He could be a murderer for all I know.
Though technically I am one.
But I didn’t kill those sluggish guys. What if Zander accidentally did? Or worse, what if he purposely got rid of them?
“Corvina-”
“And is there any way someone saw us in the clearing? They could tell someone and then I’d be locked up in the Shadowborn Prison quicker than I could blink, and that can’t happen!”
“Corvina, Echo is dead. I just found him,” Zander softly tells me and I pause in shock for a moment before rushing over. Just like Zander said, Echo is cold and lifeless in the blanket, though there doesn’t look like there is anything actually wrong with him.
“How did it happen?” I ask, pulling my eyes away from Echo and the window o
utside. The full moon is still in the sky, but we don’t have much time.
“Tell me the truth, did you kill them or know who did?” I question, making sure his eyes are on mine the whole time. You can tell a lot from someone’s eyes when they lie or when they tell the truth.
“I swear I left them alive, and I haven’t a clue where they are. I suspect they are dead, but it wasn’t me,” he promises, and I believe him. I doubted he did it in the first place. Zander is a protective asshat but not a kill-for-no-reason guy.
“Okay,” I shakily nod. “I have certain powers I haven’t shown anyone and they can save Echo.”
“Echo is dead. You can’t save the dead.” He just manages to say the words without his voice cracking. He’s really cut up about this. And so would I be if I didn’t know I could save him.
“If you bring them back to life, you sure can,” I say and his eyes widen. Necromancy is a lost skill in the world and forbidden to practice, yet I was doing it by accident the first few times and since then Pitch helped me learn how to control it.
He said it’s normal for me.
But now I know it’s really not, so I don’t know why he would tell me that. I guess I was just a scared kid back then. “We need to head into the woods, into a beam of moonlight. We also need a small fire, blessed thistle, Cedar and cinnamon.”
Zander stares at me for a long second, where I can see his mind running a million times a minute until he makes his decision. “I will gather what you need. Wait for me here.” I nod and Zander comes over to me, handing me Echo still wrapped in a towel. I hate how cold he feels in my arms, and without my knowing it, a single tear falls down my cheek.
I only notice it when Zander brushes the pad of his thumb across my cheek, wiping it away before he disappears into the shadows.
I lay Echo down in the middle of the pile of herbs I’ve made as Zander gets me some twigs.
“Where do you want them?” Zander asks from right next to me. The moonlight shiens down on us, and it highlights his brown hair and his eyes, which are made that much more alluring in the night.
“In a circle around Echo. We need to set the herbs on fire under him,” I say and Zander nods. I kneel in front of the offering as Zander finishes the circle and hands me a lighter. “Stand back. You don’t want to be near as I do this.”
“I’m not going far,” Zander promises, but I hear him wisely back away a little bit.
I light the herbs, knowing the fire won’t hurt Echo. The magic I cast will protect his body until this is over. I lift both my hands in the air, letting the dark magic flow through me as I draw the skull symbol in the air above Echo. The smoke caresses the glowing purple symbol as I finish the drawing, already sensing the presence that always appears when I use necromancy.
“I call upon the lost spirits:
Find my friend.
Return him to his body.
I plead to you.
I respect you and I offer you a price.”
I hold my hand over the fire, letting it burn my skin until I flinch, knowing pain is needed. It’s the price for this spell to work. I cry out as my hand burns and the magic swells in my soul before blasting out with a bang. I fly across the clearing, smacking into something as I land. The world is silent as I gasp for air and look up at Zander hovering over me, his body perfectly lined up with mine.
Protecting me.
“I don’t need protecting,” I breathlessly warn him. What is going on with us? Desire and a longing I shouldn’t have for some guy I can’t have blasts through me until it’s all I can focus on. My eyes betray me as I flicker my gaze to his soft, pink lips and back up again.
“From yourself? Yes, you do,” he whispers, and then he kisses me.
I don’t expect it.
Especially not the way his lips seek and explore mine like we’re meant to always find each other.
His hands sink into my hair, pulling me against him as we kiss like two lovers starving for each other’s touch. I can’t get enough. His tongue explores my mouth, sparring with my own as I grip his shirt with one of my hands and ball the material, moaning against his lips.
“NO!” Pitch shouts in my head, making me cry out from the pain.
Zander pulls back instantly, his pupils blown. “Shit, did I hurt you?”
I shake my head. “It’s just my hand. I forgot about it for a second there,” I lie and pray he can’t tell the difference yet. Pitch’s jealousy and anger burn through me, and I feel bad for a moment. I don’t want to hurt Pitch…and yet I want to kiss Zander again.
“So did I,” Zander grumbles, climbing off me. “Do you think it worked?”
I chuckle as I look up and see a flying frog/cat/bat hovering in the air by Zander’s head.
“Yeah, it worked. There’s only one problem. Echo can fly now.”
Breathless, I stare in awe as Corvina casts a necromancy spell on the fledgling demon. Her hair lifts around her like a wave, and the magic makes her skin glow an ethereal silver mixed with tints of purple.
It’s a clue about who she is…to those who know what she is.
The foolish Warden watches her in rapt awe, his intelligence clouded by lust, like many of the males around her. She has the allure and charm of a fae.
The magic of one too, it seems.
The creature’s pathetic body combusts into fire, or at least that’s what it looks like on the outside, before coming back to life. I’m glad I sneaked into the warden’s room last night and snapped the creature’s neck. It was a test to see if Corvina would lose control of her magic in a burst of anger, but instead, there is this glorious reward.
Next time, I think I’ll take something bigger than a creature.
Maybe I can take a friend of hers, and then we’ll see what this Corvina is truly made of.
The Devil’s Drop is a landform that got its name from the monsters that first crept out of its depths when Eris sent them to the Enchanted Forest. Now it’s just a place where students like to hang out, throw parties, and get drunk on the weekends.
“Izy, didn’t you mention that a pack of Gossamers still nest here?” Sage asks, falling into step beside me, Ronan and Izora, leaving Professor Gale behind. I’m still not sure why we agreed to break curfew and attend a party with a teacher, but there you have it, we are doing just that. No thanks to Sage.
“They did up until about a year ago,” Izora answers. “Zander and his pathetic Junior Wardens flushed them all out. That’s why they were loitering around the school in the first place, then Stonehart roped Zander into teaching part-time rather than going to the royal courts to serve the queen or king like all Shadow Wardens do.”
For a minute, as we walk towards the Devil’s Drop, I think I see Gossamers moving through the shadows, little sparks of light blinking like stars. But it’s just an illusion from the pixies fluttering between the trees.
When we emerge from the clearing, a powerful wave of magic ripples through the air. I can feel it lifting the hairs on my arms and the nape of my neck, sending a static chill through my body. By the scent of burning leaves alone, I know it’s a containment spell, probably one to keep the sound suppressed so the academy can’t catch wind of it. Smart, if not for the fact that Professor Gale is Sage’s plus one.
We step over the magical line, and the instant we do, the clearing changes.
The trees are filled with crystal lights and floating orange lanterns. Blaring music rustles the leaves, people are dancing and laughing, and the air is cloying with alcohol and food that makes my mouth water. The gorge itself is corded off with a protective barrier; I can see it shimmering in the lights, and there is nothing but blacknes
s down below.
Izora points to the assortment of tables someone has frozen to keep all the bottles of alcohol cool. “I’ll be over there if anyone needs me. Is that all right, Professor?”
“You’re all old enough to drink whatever the fuck you want.”
I gasp in horror. “Professor Gale! Did you just swear?”
“He does a lot more than that,” Sage whispers, nudging me on the shoulder and winking. “A lot more. He can do this thing with his to—”
“Out of school, call me Jakob,” he quickly intervenes, his cheeks heating up at whatever Sage was about to say. “You owe me a drink.”
I watch him drag Sage off to one of the makeshift bars. Izora follows them, though she gets sidetracked by her best friend on the dance floor. Nobody seems to bother about a teacher being here. Maybe he’s a regular at these kinds of parties? Who knows. That guy must have some serious skills because he’s managed to make Sage like him, and he’s chilling out with everybody like he’s just another student.
“Vina, you came!” Ronan shouts, coming up to me. “Do you like beer?”
I accept the proffered bottle and take a sip. “Not really, but damn, do I need it.”
“Hard day, huh?”
I think about Echo, and my heart sinks into the pit of my stomach. “Yeah. You could say that. I wonder what Izora is doing.” I smoothly try to divert the conversation.
I don’t want to tell Ronan that I broke every rule in the Book of Zorya to bring Echo back last night. I also still don’t know how he died, but I have a hunch it wasn’t natural causes. I know Zander had no part in it. He was so shaken over the ordeal, and while he might be a Shadow Warden, I don’t think he’s a killer. He’s not like me.
“She’s over there, dancing.”
I follow Ronan’s finger to the crowd of students moving to the music. She’s dancing with another girl who I think is her best friend from the year above. Kione is making out with a cute boy next to them, and Willow Greene and a bunch of scantily-clad girls are dishing out their best white girl moves. Willow looks like she’s trying to find her keys.
