"Where's Perry?" I asked. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"
"No," she said. "Begin."
My questions were lost in a barrage of attack spells. Cyrus, it seemed, wasn't taking any chances. Unlike the day before, I didn't have to feign distraction; I was very curious about why the Council was one man short. Could it be they'd already kicked Perry off to make way for Cyrus?
A gray bomb tore through my magical defenses and flung me across the ground. I coughed for a moment, cursing Cyrus and his pressing need to show off.
Alexandra had retreated to join the rest of the council, and they weren't even watching. What could they be talking about, other than Perry's disappearance?
"If you're not even going to try, what's the point of you being a Warrior?" Cyrus said, standing over me.
"Aren't you the least bit concerned that Perry's missing?" I asked, coming to stand. "If we were to be seen by the entire council, why continue if a member isn't here?"
Cyrus shrugged, as if it hadn't crossed his mind. "It doesn't do to question, Gavon. You'll need to learn that before I become Guildmaster. I won't be as forgiving as your mother."
He surely wouldn't, and the horrifying thought of him lording over me the rest of my life got me back to my feet and fighting. I'd done a good job up until that point of ignoring what was to come—and how life would be when Cyrus was in charge. I just hoped he might leave me alone as long as I didn't challenge him.
"Enough," Alexandra called, coming to the center of the arena. "The Council has seen plenty."
I climbed to my feet gingerly, grateful today's torture was complete.
"Cyrus, they are most impressed with you," Alexandra said with a nod. "You've truly done well. You are ready to be inducted."
I waited for her to turn and tell me the same, but she said nothing to me. The silence stretched out until finally she nodded and began to walk away.
"W-wait," I said, stepping forward. "What about me?"
"You're not ready to be inducted."
A cold wind blew by, and I was sure I'd misheard. "Not ready?"
"No," she said, ignoring Cyrus's sniggers. "You've not demonstrated to me that you will be a useful member of the Guild. Therefore, you will remain my apprentice until you can prove otherwise."
Anger surged in my veins, my face growing hot and I spat out my response. "And how, pray tell, shall I prove my mettle, mistress?"
The quick rise of her brow boded nothing good. Even Cyrus had never spoken to her thus—not that I'd seen. But I was weary of these games. Of being treated as a second class magical to Cyrus. For no other reason that I was born Alexandra's son and couldn't be trained by her.
"To begin with, you will show deference to your Guildmaster," she said evenly. "And if you raise your voice again, I will make sure you regret it for a very long time."
I swallowed, readying myself.
But to my surprise, she disappeared in a plume of purple smoke without another word. Her torture would be to make me wait for punishment, to let my mind come up with a litany of possibilities. Would it be a week in the magic-less cellar? A month with magical binding, forced to do chores? Or would it be something more—physical pain? I'd rarely seen a lash, but the few times I had left a mark.
Or perhaps my punishment would simply be to remain her apprentice, bound to do her bidding.
"Hmph," Cyrus said, tossing me a smug look. "Tough luck, Gav."
It was all I could do to keep my mouth closed. Wisely, I left the sparring ring, as fighting outside a monitored match was expressly forbidden, and I wasn't all that sure I could beat him anyway.
Instead, I left for my sanctuary, knowing that if Alexandra wanted me, she could use her power as my mistress to call me to her. The apprenticeship began to chafe like never before, knowing I was no closer to freedom than the day it had begun.
When I'd first turned eighteen, and Alexandra told me I wasn't ready, I hadn't even thought to argue. But now? Cyrus, who never lifted a finger, Cyrus, who could fight in a ring but did little else valuable, Cyrus was getting inducted? I wanted to scream.
I paced in front of my cauldron, unable to breathe under the weight of Alexandra's yoke. There was nothing I could do, and that was the worst thing. I was stuck. Stuck as her apprentice, stuck as Cyrus' second and lesser magical. Stuck in this stupid world with the gray sky and cold wind.
As I marched over to the cauldron, I began summoning ingredients. Lavender, spider webs, frog legs, beer, wood, whatever my magic could bring me. All of it went into the cauldron. Gone was my scientific approach—now I just wanted results. After the cauldron was nearly overflowing with black, viscous potion, I levitated it and carefully began pouring the infinity loop.
Then I gathered the rest of my energy and threw it at the line on the ground, just as the bright flash of light split the world.
Only this time, the flash came with an incredible force of power. I flew backward, slamming into the hard, rocky ground and lay there for a minute, pain singing through every inch of my body. I blinked at the dark sky above, my ears ringing. Now that my magic had dissipated, so had my rage, and I felt rather stupid for what I'd done.
Presumably, I'd be sparring in the morning, so expelling all my magic in a tantrum was very irresponsible. Besides that, I'd used up much of my potion-making materials, which meant I'd have to answer some uncomfortable questions with an Enchanter tomorrow. Not to mention, someone in the village had probably seen that bright light, and they might come here to find me working in potions—
Pop.
I shook my head. That was an odd sound—almost like the hissing of a teapot, or the crackle of magic. My magic had severed when I'd released the attack spell, so it shouldn't still be hanging around.
Gingerly, I lifted my head. There was…for lack of a better term, a tear in the air. A white, writhing dangerous-looking thing suspended above the cliff face. Magical bolts crackled from the center as it rolled into itself, undulating as if it were alive.
Slowly, I came to my feet. What had I done?
I observed the rippling creation for a few minutes, trying to time the crackling, but there was no rhyme or reason to it. Cautiously, I crept closer, jumping back when a bolt hit my shoulder. It was magical, but painless.
With trembling fingertips, I reached toward it. There was nothing but energy between my fingers.
Then something hooked around my navel, and I fell forward.
Three
I landed hard on a surface that gave easily under my fingers. Coughing, I spat the gritty dirt from my mouth and wiped my face. But there was something off—the smell. The air was salty, but also with a pungent, sulfur odor. The dirt I was lying in was a lighter shade than I'd ever seen before. I grabbed a handful and watched as it slid through my fingers. It moved like water.
Tilting my head up, I took in the sky—no longer gray and overcast, but black. Black and expanding as far as I could see. And twinkling with…
Stars.
I was looking at stars for the first time.
Tears sprang to my eyes as I took in their beauty. It was more incredible than any book had described it. I was accustomed to seeing stars in constellations from astronomy books, but I could no sooner discern a pattern as count them all.
But if there were stars, did that mean…was I…
Had I returned to the old world?
The sound of laughter drew my attention. I gathered my wits and stood, brushing the dirt from my clothes. As gracefully as I could on shifting ground, I drew closer to the sound, which included laughter and movement.
It was just as I came across them that the first moan of pleasure echoed through my ears, and I realized I had stumbled on something private. But it was too late.
"Oh shit," the girl screamed, grabbing her shirt and covering herself. "What the…? Get out of here, you perv!"
I froze, unaccustomed to seeing a woman in that state of undress. She wore nothing but a pair of pants that had been cropped close to her rear,
and a white shift that covered naught but her bosom. Her scrambled attempts to cover herself only revealed more of her naked body, and I could do nothing but stare.
Until her paramour stood, fists bared.
"Ya deaf? Get outta here!" he said, marching toward me.
My defensive instincts kicked in, and I fired off an attack spell. The purple fireball hit him square in the stomach, and he fell backward, unconscious immediately.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" the girl screamed at me, rushing to cradle her lover's head. "You can't just use magic in front of a nonmagical. And you can't attack them! How did you even do that anyway?"
I stuttered like an idiot, my gaze drawn to the skin on her lower back, where her backbone was visible.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" she demanded, standing and marching toward me with her shirt still clutched in her hand.
I might've had something to say, had I not looked into her eyes. They were the bluest color I'd ever seen, and the spatter of freckles along her tanned face took my breath away. She was unlike any girl I'd ever seen, her golden hair falling to her shoulders and framing her heart-shaped face perfectly. But it wasn't just her features, it was the way her nose crinkled in anger, how she stood in front of me undressed and unashamed. She was as fierce as Alexandra—and I was terrified.
"Hello?" She was now waving her hand in front of my face. "Are you there, pervy?"
"What is that?" I choked out.
"What is what?"
"Pervy? I've never heard the term."
She blinked once, twice, three times. "Are you high?"
I glanced at the ground, where my feet were planted firmly on the sand. "I don't appear to be?"
"Dude, what is your deal? Are you foreign? What's with your clothes?"
I could've asked her the same thing, but decided not to, as it might draw my gaze down to her breasts once more. "I'm from New Salem."
"What the actual hell is New Salem?"
I blinked. "It's…um." A question I'd never had to answer before. "It's a town where magicals live."
"Yeah, I've lived in Salem my whole life and never heard of it," she said, quirking a brow and crossing her arms. I wished she hadn't, for it propped the tops of her breasts upward, and I was already struggling not to stare. "What are you doing here? And how'd you use magic on Renny? I've never seen magic like that before."
"I don't know what I'm doing here," I said honestly. "I don't even know where here is…"
She chewed her lip and finally covered those beautiful breasts with another shirt. It didn't help much. "I don't really know what to do with you, but I know you can't use magic in front of a nonmagical. That's like…impossible."
I looked down at the man I'd attacked, finally realizing what I was looking at. "You mean…he's a nonmagical?"
"Yeah, duh."
I couldn't believe it. "I've never met a nonmagical before. They look…just like I do."
"Of course they do, dumbass," she said, running a hand through her golden locks. "Man, this is some shit. You're talking about some town called New Salem, and you don't know what a nonmagical is. Hell, I've tried to use magic in front of Renny before and I can't. And you with your weird magic…"
A worried tone had come through in her voice, so I held up my hands. "I'm not…I mean, I won't hurt you."
"Yeah, well, you hurt him," she said, nodding to the unconscious form below.
"I promise, it was unintentional," I said then cleared my throat. "I didn't mean to…interrupt your lovemaking."
She coughed roughly. "Uh, that's not what we were doing. We were making out at most."
"Making…out?"
She huffed, but then lost her anger when her paramour grunted and moved. "Look, you're obviously lost. Let me take you to my mom and see what she thinks."
"What will happen to your friend?" I asked curiously.
"Renny is…well, let's just say he's baked all the time, and this won't be the first time he's woken up half-naked on the beach," she said with a half-hearted shrug. Then, she paused and chewed her pink lip. "Please don't mention any of this…"
"Any of what?"
"Us making out. She'll totally wig out on me."
I didn't understand any of what this girl was saying to me, but I assumed she meant that I'd found her and the boy in a compromising position and that her mother would be upset. How could language change so much in…
"What year is it?"
She stopped and I nearly ran into her. "You don't know what year it is?"
"I…"
She sighed. "It's 1989."
"Nineteen…" I couldn't believe my ears. The Council hadn't kept good records of the time that had passed, believing it to be immaterial. The general consensus was that it hadn't been that long since we'd been banished.
But it had been three hundred years almost exactly.
"Are you okay, dude?"
"Yes, of course. My apologies."
"So Goddamned formal…"
The shifting terrain turned into a hard, black substance, on which houses sat in front of vibrant green pastures. Even though it was dark, the world was illuminated by magical balls of light in boxes all along the streets—and, surprisingly, inside the homes.
"Is magic known here?" I asked, breathlessly. "This thing, is it magic?"
"Dude, it's a lamp," she scoffed. "Electricity? Do you know what that is?"
I shook my head, and she rolled her eyes.
"You're buggin'," she muttered. "I'm buggin'. Maybe I'm still high."
I was beginning to wonder if she wasn't referring to her elevation. "You said that it's impossible to use magic in front a nonmagical."
"Yep," she said, eyeing me.
"I don't understand," I replied. "What do you mean impossible?"
"Meaning I couldn't even summon a Tootsie Roll if a nonmagical was standing in front of me," she said. "I can't even speak about magic to a nonmagical. Makes me feel like my throat is closing up. There isn't magic in front of nonmagicals. Period. End of story. That's all she wrote."
"That's…incredible," I replied. "But does that mean… The nonmagicals don't know about magic?"
She shook her head. "Not even a little bit. We have to hide it. Sometimes it's just easier not to use it, you know? I forget I have it sometimes, especially when I'm out with my nonmagical friends."
I slowed, stunned. For me, magic was always there to grab onto. It was another tool, like a pen to paper. I could never just "forget" about it.
"Things are much different in New Salem," I said after a long pause.
"Like Amish different?" she said.
"I'm sorry, but—"
"You don't know what that is. I'm starting to understand."
She stopped in front of a large house with bright light shining from all the windows. I followed her onto a small porch, observing the gray wood as she fumbled with a set of keys and jammed them in the door lock. Then, with a grunt, she pushed the heavy door open and beckoned me inside.
"Moooooooom."
I started at the sound. Children in New Salem never addressed their parents in such a way. Alexandra would've strung me up by my ankles.
"Mora, what…" The woman who appeared was incredibly powerful, but she was no Warrior. Her magic was the oddest I'd ever felt. It was Warrior and Healing and Charming and Enchanting all rolled into one. But, as I looked at her daughter, I sensed no magic from her. Or rather, I did, but it was bound tight. No wonder she'd thrown me off.
"Mora, what the hell did you bring home?" the woman asked, increasing her power with every step down the staircase.
"I dunno, Mom. Some weird kid who appeared when I was out for…a walk. I thought you'd want to know."
"Go finish your homework," the woman barked. As the girl darted up the stairs, the woman grabbed her by the arm. "And I smell weed on you. Have you been hanging out with that boy again?"
"No, Mom."
"Lie to me again, and you'll be without magic for a
nother month."
Ah, so that explained the lack of magic from the girl. Well, at least that brand of punishment hadn't changed in three hundred years.
The woman continued down the stairs, and even though I was fairly sure I was more powerful than she, I still backed up a step. I wasn't as brave as my new blonde friend.
"And who the hell are you?" she asked, as she reached the bottom step. "And what kind of magic do you carry?"
I licked my lips nervously. "My name is Gavon McKinnon. I'm from New Salem, but—" I winced as her magic surrounded me, ready to expel me from her house, "but I promise I mean you no harm."
"New Salem has been kept separately," the woman replied. "How did you get here?"
I picked my words carefully, While the younger woman had no idea what New Salem was, and our history, her mother certainly did.
"I don't…know exactly. I'd been experimenting with potions and magic, and then it just happened."
"What?"
"A t-tear between our worlds, I suppose you could call it." I swallowed hard, stepping back once more. "Next thing I knew, I stumbled upon your daughter and…"
"And her pothead boyfriend," the woman finished with a glance up the stairs. "Are there more of you?"
"More of… In New Salem?" I nodded. "We number a few hundred, maybe."
"And do they know what you've done?"
"N-no," I said, then, as her magic flooded the room, I quickly added, "And I won't tell them."
She snorted. "As if I could trust the word of a Separatist."
"I'm not a Separatist," I said with a hearty laugh. "My ancestors were, but they're long since dead. I doubt many in New Salem even know this world exists."
"If you know what's good for you, you'll keep it that way. Now get the hell out of my compound."
Warm magic surrounded my body, and before I knew what was happening, the world shifted around me, and I was back to the sandy place where I'd first entered the world. It took me a moment to realize what had happened, and I marched toward the bright lights of the city, but found I couldn't go very far. This older magical had some power in her—although it still paled in comparison to the power of my guild.
Dawn and Devilry Page 2
