by Evie Wilde
Oliver moved between us. “I don’t think so. Dash’s skin is getting its color back. I don’t think Sonny healed him, but I also don’t think he’s going to die now.” He turned to me. “Let him finish. I think it’ll be okay. I’ve read about medicine men like Sonny. Yeah, some are quacks, but he appears to be the real thing. The dust he blew over Dash is supposed to suck the poison from Dash’s skin. It’s working.”
“But if he’s that good at healing, he’s probably also that good at making people sick,” I said. I raised my hands when they started to protest my remark. “Have it your way.”
“He needs to help Braeden next.” Cassandra was hell-bent on letting Sonny continue his charade. I hated to admit it, but it looked like Sonny was actually helping the situation, though I still thought he had caused it in the first place. This way he looked like the hero he wasn’t. Sonny turned and started toward us, his eyes squarely on me. I considered punching him in the face as he approached.
“Don’t,” Cassandra whispered. “We have to let this play out.”
“If he hurts any of you…”
“I think Dash is going to be okay,” Sonny said. “I got most of the poison out. He needs rest now to let his body’s immune system take over.”
“What about Braeden?” Cassandra asked. “Can you help him like you did Dash?”
Sonny looked at me. “As long as I’m not interrupted, I think I can do the same for him. Whatever sickened them has to be dark magic. It’s the only thing that could have done this. I’ll see what I can do.”
I hated being fucked with. I put my arm around Cassandra. “As long as it helps my friends and my girlfriend, I'm good with it.” I could see Cassandra blushing, and I tightened my arm around her waist. Sonny needed to know what most people on campus already knew. “Time to help Braeden. Go ahead and work your magic.”
We followed Sonny to Braeden’s bedside, where he reached into his pouch. He repeated the incantation he’d used on Dash, and then crushed something in his hand.
“So, did you all come to the academy together?” Sonny asked, and blew a cloud of darkness over Braeden. The substance dissipated, and Braeden coughed. Sonny then glanced at Cassandra.
“No,” Cassandra said. “But once we were all here, we were naturally drawn to each other, like we were here because of each other.”
Sonny turned and looked at Cassandra. “That’s sweet, it really is. Where are you from?” He turned back to Braeden but kept talking to Cassandra. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
Oliver glanced at me and scowled. I gave him a gentle nod. “We’ll leave you to your work, Sonny.” I grabbed Cassandra’s hand. “We need to see our mentor. We’ve got training to do.”
“We can’t leave Dash and Braeden,” Cassandra said as we dragged her away.
“We can,” Oliver whispered. “They’ll recover.” He motioned over his shoulder. “Sonny was getting too nosey. Why’s he asking so many questions?”
Cassandra shrugged. “I thought he was just making conversation.”
“I’ve known the guy too long. He never just makes conversation. He was after something.” And I was going to figure out exactly what that was.
CHAPTER SIX
Cassandra
“Aurelius will know what to do,” I said.
“Bringing up his name presents an even bigger question.” Kyler stopped at the building’s entrance. “Why is Aurelius not down at the infirmary trying to help?”
“Maybe he doesn’t know yet,” Oliver chimed in. By the look on his face I could tell he was still struggling to figure out exactly what happened at the festival. Oliver felt guilty for not figuring out a way to dispel the poison hex. He would fret over it until he came up with a solution.
We climbed the stairs to Aurelius’ office but stopped before entering. “You need to stay calm when you tell Aurelius about Sonny,” I said to Kyler.
Kyler nodded. “I’m good now.” His eyes said otherwise. “I’m serious. I’m okay. I think he knows now he better watch his ass while he’s here.”
“Good, but when this is fixed you need to tell us why you went off like you did.” I got the feeling he wouldn’t. “I told you, you could tell me anything without being judged.” I placed my hand against his face and gently stroked his cheek, moving to my toes to kiss him on the forehead and feeling his warm breath on my neck. I shuddered with pleasure and wondered if he felt me do so.
Though Kyler nodded again, I could sense he had no desire in talking about whatever past he had with Sonny. I let it go, and we entered Aurelius’ office.
Aurelius looked up from the book he was studying. “How are Dash and Braeden?” he asked, concern on his face. He looked significantly older.
“You know what happened?” Kyler asked, and I sensed his anger growing again. I wrapped my arm around his, hoping to calm his emotions. Although I agreed Aurelius should have been down at the infirmary, I knew Aurelius was our closest ally. I also knew Aurelius probably had a good reason for not being there.
“I was made aware after the first student fell ill,” Aurelius said. He held up his hand when he saw Kyler ready to reply. “I’ve been studying the effects of the poison on the students. I've compared the symptoms with possible hexes. Then I realized we’d yet to discuss the dispelling of hexes. We shall do that now.”
“You have a curing spell?” Oliver asked and took a seat in front of Aurelius. I loved the way new knowledge excited him. Oliver often spoke highly of his parents, and I believed his upbringing had a lot to do with his outlook on life. He loved knowledge, and in doing so everything was black and white with him. My decisions, often based on emotions, sometimes boggled his mind because he based decisions on hard evidence, facts, and equations that presented him with outcomes he could study. He did, however, understand me and my desire to inflect emotion into everything I did.
Aurelius shook his head. “Not yet. But you need to be prepared for situations such as this.” He rubbed his ear, a habit I'd picked up on over the summer. When he rubbed his ear, it meant he was contemplating a decision he’d made in the past. “I should have done a better job preparing the five of you. We need to rectify that mistake.”
“Spell and anti-spell,” Kyler said. “It seems simple. Just reverse it.”
“It’s not that simple,” Oliver interrupted. “I’ve been reading about this very thing.”
“Of course you have,” Kyler quipped. I gave him a scolding look. Having Oliver’s knowledge had saved us on a number of occasions.
Oliver stood and started pacing the room. “There’s the distinct possibility what happened was caused by actual poison rather than a hex. It could also have been caused by a potion. That’s what we have to figure out.”
“In either case,” Aurelius interrupted, “the probability of dispelling the poison through a hexing spell is very small. Could it be done? Yes, but the chances aren’t good.”
“Which is why nothing we’ve tried so far has actually worked,” Oliver said. “Whatever was used at the festival is probably not a hex.” He sat down to ponder the possibilities, working through his equations.
“What do we do now?” I asked. “I don’t like sitting around doing nothing.”
“First things first.” Aurelius eyed us sternly. “Who wants to be my test subject?”
Oliver’s hand shot up. “Me!”
Kyler and I backed away. “I’ve been a frog,” Kyler said, “and I didn’t like it.”
“This won’t hurt, I promise.” Aurelius stood and rounded his desk, stopping in front of Oliver. “Premis adaptius,” he said and waved his wand at Oliver.
Oliver shrugged as if nothing happened, and then he began to turn purple. He raised his purple hands and stared at them, turning them over. “Cool!” Only Oliver would see the coolness in such an event.
“Change him back,” Aurelius said to me.
I shrugged. “With what?” I knew he wasn’t going to give me an answer. It was on me to figure it out. I st
udied Oliver for a moment and then said, “Premis adaptius originus.”
Nothing happened, so I repeated the hex with more inflection in my voice. Nothing again. “I don’t understand,” I said. “I heard what you said.”
“You repeated my words, but did you repeat my actions?”
Kyler’s eyes grew large when Aurelius pointed his wand at him. “Oh, man, not again.”
“Premis adaptius,” Aurelius said and waved his wand at Kyler.
“Ha,” Kyler said when nothing happened. “I’m immune.”
Oliver started laughing. “I don’t think so.”
I stepped away from Kyler as he turned green.
“Try Kyler,” Aurelius said.
I wanted to say I already did, but I didn’t think Aurelius would find the humor in the joke. I waved my wand at Kyler who held up his hands for me to stop. I repeated Aurelius’ words and waved my wand. Again, nothing happened. “I don’t get it?”
“If a hex isn’t working, you need to find the source of the hex,” Aurelius said. He turned to Oliver. “Put your hands back on the arms of the chair. What do you see, Cassandra?”
As I turned to look at Oliver, a snarky retort on the tip of my tongue, I noticed the difference. The chair was purple. I glanced at Aurelius, and he nodded. I waved my wand at Oliver. “Premis adaptius originus.” The change was slower than I would have liked, but Oliver’s purple skin became pale once more. “Ha!” I said.
“I don’t understand,” Oliver said.
“When Aurelius placed his hex on you, your hands were resting on the purple chair. Your skin adapted to the color of the chair. When I tried to reverse the hex, your hands were resting in your lap.”
“Originus didn’t work because my hands weren’t on the original spot.” Oliver shook his head, disappointed he’d missed something so obvious. He pulled out his computer and took note of what he missed.
Aurelius turned to Kyler. “His hands were in the pockets of his green pants. Hold your hands away from your pants,” he said to Kyler, and Kyler did. He waved his wand and said, “Premis adaptius originus,” and touched Kyler’s pants with his wand. The pants changed to yellow and so did Kyler’s skin.
“When you changed the original color of the pants, Kyler’s skin changed as well,” Oliver noted.
“What’s the point of all this?” Kyler asked. “We still have sick and dead friends.”
“The point is,” I said, waving the wand in Kyler’s direction to change his skin back to normal, “if we can find what did this, find the source, we can reverse most of the damage that has been done.”
“Precisely.” Aurelius playfully clapped.
“And what if we know who started the hex in the first place?” Kyler said. “What then?”
“Kyler, we don’t know that.”
He ignored me and continued talking to Aurelius. “Sonny is a medicine man, a witch doctor, I’ve known him for years. He’s perfectly capable of doing something like this. I've seen him do similar spells.”
“I’ve heard of him.” Aurelius paced the room. “I know about your past, but it’s a past you need to let go. The two of you should be able to coexist at the academy.” He looked at each of us. “We’ve talked about what hatred can do to a person. We should all look at the hate we have for others, especially if doing so works in favor of the greater good. The only way we survive in this world is to fight for good with the intent of making what’s bad into what’s good.”
“You don’t know him,” Kyler said, raising his voice. “And who are you to talk about the greater good? Look what’s happened to this campus over the past year. Is that for the greater good? Is it?” Kyler quickly moved to the door. “Maybe instead of holding up in here you should go out on campus once in a while and see what’s really going on.” Kyler slammed the door as he left, leaving us speechless.
“I’m sorry about that, Aurelius. He didn’t really mean what he said.” I glanced at Oliver for help. “We don’t know what went on between Sonny and Kyler that’s made Kyler act like this. We’re at a loss.”
“We think you do a lot for us and the academy,” Oliver said. “He’s just mad and didn’t mean what he said.”
Aurelius shook his head. “No, he’s right. I need to understand what’s going on around campus.” He stood, and we followed him to the door. “Let’s check on the sick and see how they’re doing. I'll see what else I can do to help”
Aurelius led us down the steps, and Oliver and I glanced at each other. It was not how I pictured my first date with the guys. Things had gone to shit quickly. The only silver lining was learning a bit more about hexes. And I hoped Aurelius could do something about the chaos hitting the academy. If not, people would soon lose faith in his abilities.
We stepped outside into the darkness, and a billion stars looked down at the calamity that had overtaken the Enchanted Academy. Aurelius slowed so we could walk side by side.
“I’ve experienced this exact thing before,” Aurelius said. “A similar poisoning years ago at another academy.” Oliver and I glanced at each other. “It was much worse than here. It affected nearly three hundred students and most of the faculty. I lost several friends.”
“Damn,” Oliver said. “I’m sorry.”
“It was during the final match of magic battles between the classes in the arena. Every student, faculty, and administrator were in the stands.” Aurelius chuckled. “People went crazy on all the junk food being sold in concessions. Everyone particularly liked the funnel cake and the strange sugar covering the greasy treat.” We entered the courtyard, and Aurelius stopped, needing a break. “The first bite made me sick, and I threw up immediately. It wasn’t the poison, I just didn’t like the taste.”
“You didn’t go back for more,” I said.
“Nope. In fact, I didn’t even try the other foods.” He started walking again. “Just before the start of the final match, people began feeling ill. Some fell over the rails and died from hitting the ground. But most of those who died did so from the poison. People were vomiting and holding their throats and stomachs.”
“You stopped it?” Oliver asked.
“Yes, I did. I cast a spell across the entire arena. And then I watched the poison rise from those in the arena. It looked like rain falling up rather than down.” His chin touched his chest. “But I could do nothing to bring back the dead.”
“You knew a hex had been placed on the sugar,” Oliver said. “That’s how you were able to dispel the hex.”
Aurelius nodded. “The sugar gave it away. I knew immediately how to fix the problem. What’s happened at the festival? I just don’t know.”
“But you weren’t sure if the poisoning at the arena was a hex?” I asked.
“No, I wasn’t,” he said. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
The instructor at the entrance to the infirmary saw us coming and moved out of the way. He made eye contact but quickly looked away. Inside, things had not changed much since the last time we were there.
“Just like before.” Aurelius shook his head in despair.
“You don’t know what it is?” I asked.
“I don’t,” Aurelius said. “I’ve cast eleven spells since it happened, and none of them worked.” He put his hand on my arm. “Conquering this hex will take someone special, someone who can call upon magic from deep within their soul.” He held his stare until the guy on the stretcher next to us began to moan.
“He’s in pain,” I said. “Surely there’s something we can do. “
Aurelius waved his hand over the young man, and he stopped moaning. “It’s only temporary. Let’s check on the others.”
We worked our way around the room, Aurelius temporarily relieving pain, me only consoling and holding the sick. It was as if I were back to having lost all my powers again. People looked to me for relief, and I could offer nothing but words.
I looked to my left where I could see Dash sitting next to an unconscious Braeden. Dash had given u
p his bed to a sicker student but stayed by Braeden’s side. This is what it meant to be part of our little group.
“I thought you two were going to die,” I said and wrapped my arms around Dash before checking on Braeden who mumbled something I couldn’t understand. I held his hand and felt his energy had stabilized, but he was nowhere close to being cured.
“We were on the fucking edge. I thought I was a goner.” Dash rubbed his face and shook his head as if trying to wake himself up from a nightmare. “Anyone know what the hell happened or who did it?”
Aurelius joined us and placed a hand on Braeden’s shoulder. “We need to get him better. He’s stabilized, but if we don’t get the poison out of him it’ll spread again.”
“You guys scared the shit out of us,” Oliver said as he moved next to me. He looked at Braeden and shook his head. “He’s bad.”
Dash looked around us. “Where’s Kyler?”
Aurelius, Oliver, and I made eye contact.
“What?” Dash asked and stood, still wobbly on his feet. “Where is he?”
I put my hand on Dash’s shoulder, and he slowly calmed. “He tried to beat up Sonny earlier,” I said. “He stormed out of Aurelius’ office before we came down here. I’m not sure where he is. He may have gone into the forest to think.”
Aurelius turned and motioned at the resting Sonny. He was sitting in a chair with his face in his hands. “They have a history, and whatever it is it sits squarely on Kyler’s shoulders.”
“Maybe we should ask Sonny.” Dash started toward Sonny with the intent of beating information out of him. I grabbed his arm, knowing another fight would ensue.
“He may have saved your life, Dash,” I said. “Though you still look like hell.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Do you know why Kyler hates Sonny? Surely he mentioned something over the years you’ve known each other.”
“Not a clue,” Dash said. “But if Kyler thinks Sonny has something to do with all this then I’m on Kyler’s side. If he’s as pissed off as you say, then he’s got a good reason to be.”
“I know him.” Aurelius stared at Sonny, leaving the rest of us speechless. “Maybe while I was still part of the council.” He looked at each of us. “Be careful with him. Kyler may not be completely wrong.”
