Dark Is Her Nature

by Judith Berens

  “Hey.” Emma slid into the seat next to her and looked around the room for Leo.

  “Hey. He’s in the vault. What’s up?”

  “The assembly is starting. I figured you would want to come.”

  “It’s mandatory, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah.” Emma giggled. “Grab Izzie and meet us there.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Alison sighed and returned her books to the shelf. The librarian poked his head out and stared at Alison, nodding as she gave him a sloppy salute. The flower in his hat actually smiled for once, instead of blowing the normal raspberries. Alison finished cleaning up and headed up to their room, poking her head in to find Izzie lying across the bed reading a book.

  “Hey, the assembly is starting.”

  “Yay.” Izzie rolled her eyes. “So excited to hear about someone else’s perfect life.”

  “Not sure it was perfect.”

  “Maybe wasn’t, but is now.”

  “Oh, come on.” Alison smiled. “We gotta go. It’s mandatory, remember?”

  “How could I forget?” Izzie rolled out of the bed and slipped her shoes on. “Ms. Berens reminded me like a hundred times.”

  “Oh yeah, this is Ms. Berens’ granddaughter. Totally forgot.”

  Over the months Izzie had sunk deeper and deeper into her thoughts, trying to pull out the things she couldn’t remember. Everyone just wrote her off as a typical brooding teenager, but for her it was more than hormones. She wanted to know why her mind was so fuzzy, why she didn’t have the typical memories everyone else had, and if she did they just sprang out of nowhere like they had escaped a trap. For the last two weeks, she’d been having dreams with the same sweet and even-toned woman’s voice telling her over and over how proud she was of her. It was getting to be more than a little frustrating for her, but Ms. Berens just brushed her off anytime she brought up the subject.

  She shuffled her feet along the floor and Alison smiled and put her arm around her shoulder. The two girls walked down to the bottom floor, then took a left and entered the auditorium. The place was packed, and everyone else was super excited to listen to Leira’s story. This was the woman who had lived most of her life as a human and then suddenly learned she was a Jasper Elf, a race that was virtually extinct both on Earth and Oriceran. Everything after that had been dark-magic-kicking Rhazdon-smacking elf-loving history. She had become a legend in the magical community.

  Alison and Izzie squeezed down one of the rows to the two seats Emma had saved for them. Kathleen looked excited and Peter had a picture of Leira in his lap, hoping to get an autograph. Izzie rolled her eyes and sat back.

  “I don’t understand. She’s like a celebrity, but damn…she’s just a cop.”

  Alison elbowed her and gave her a sideways glance and the two elves in front of them turned around and shot Izzie menacing glares. The lights dimmed, and the headmistress walked onto the stage to a rousing welcome by the students. She pushed a piece of her long brown hair behind her ear and waved her hands, wearing a small smirk.

  “Thank you, everyone, for coming,” she began excitedly. “Today’s guest is visiting from Washington DC, and was originally from Austin, Texas. She has been a human detective, a civil servant with the United States magical sector, received tutelage under our very own Turner Underwood, and now serves as a freelance agent helping our magical community fit in here on Earth. So, without further ado, I present my granddaughter—Leira Berens.”

  Izzie sat up a bit as Leira walked onto the stage. She had the same dark hair as the headmistress, but hers was pulled back in a tight ponytail. She was wearing a white button-down shirt, black dress pants, and flats. Izzie could tell she wasn’t used to dressing up, and she looked uncomfortable. Around her wrist was a bracelet that dangled and shimmered in the stage lights. The students cheered and chanted as she approached the microphone.

  She stepped up and smiled awkwardly, gazing out at the crowd. She leaned forward to say something into the mic, but it gave a strange hissing sound. Leira flipped the mic off and closed her eyes for a moment, and streams of light moved up her body, and the symbols on her arms and neck began flipping too fast to read. She pulled the energy to her throat, and as the light faded she opened her eyes and smiled at the crowd.

  “Did that work?” Her voice was magically amplified. “Good. Thank you, everyone, for such a warm welcome. My grandmother did say there was an amazing group of kids here at this school.”

  Leira looked around the auditorium, shaking her head in awe. “This is great. I went to a regular human high school, and we didn’t have anything like this. Just a small auditorium with a few poorly-made stage pieces for the theatre.”

  She swallowed hard and paused for a moment, and Alison saw that her energy was growing nervous. She had fought some of the most dangerous wizards on both planets and room full of teenagers made her nervous? Alison liked that because it made her more real, but she could see Izzie’s irritation. Izzie looked at the edge of the stage where the headmistress was standing with her hands clasped in front of her, pride all but seeping from her skin. Next to her was a furry troll about three feet tall with a tuft of green hair. He was devouring a bag of Cheetos and wiping his now-orange paws down his front.

  Leira pulled out a piece of paper and cleared her throat. “So, I was born and raised in Austin, Texas, a place I miss very much. I had my trials as a human, never knowing inside of me was more magic than Harry Potter had.”

  The crowd let out a laugh. Emma looked at Alison and smiled in awe. “She’s so great.”

  “My mom always talked about Oriceran and the Light Elves—too much at the time, I suppose. She was put into a mental institution for many years, proving just how little the humans knew. The next few years were spent under the care of my grandmother—your headmistress—until her disappearance. Little did I know that my mother was telling the truth and my grandmother was stuck in the World in Between. I worked hard, didn’t really make that many friends, and ended up going to school to become a cop. What I really wanted was to be a detective, so I busted my ass and finally became one. I took on all kinds of cases in Austin, from murders to robberies. In the meantime I constantly searched for clues that would lead me to my grandmother, but there was no trace.”

  Alison looked around the room, spotting the soul colors of Claire and Scarlett sitting on the edge of their seats, completely enthralled by Leira’s story. So far Alison could imagine her trials, giving her the sense that Leira too had always felt like she didn’t belong.

  “One day I started to see funny things around me and I thought, ‘Well, hell, I’m going crazy just like my mother.’ That was when the Light Elves jumped through a portal into my tiny living room—the day that changed my life. I was hired to do a job for the Queen of the Light Elves, and that turned into a much bigger thing. My magic started to sprout, and kept growing until finally they realized I was no normal elf. I was a Jasper Elf, one with special human DNA. Do I think of myself as special? No.” She chuckled. “But I did find that between my magical abilities and my human instincts I made one hell of a detective.”

  Everyone clapped and cheered as the furry troll ran onto the stage to bring Leira a bottle of water. She tousled his green hair and he hurried back to the headmistress.

  The crowd got quiet again.

  “You see, as a human, I never felt like I fit in, not unless I was chasing a perp down the street. And as a Jasper Elf, it was worse. None of the magical folks wanted to be near me, and the humans just didn’t understand. I was stuck between again, somewhere I really was tired of being. As time went by I used my strengths as a cop to run down some of the worst dark magic creatures out there, including Rhazdon, all while trying to understand this extremely powerful gift of magic that was apparently trying to take me out.”

  The crowd laughed. Jasper Elves were special; they harnessed the true energy of pure white light. Legend said that they became so engrossed in the peace of the light they allowed themselves to
be enveloped by it, leaving the world behind. Alison looked at Izzie, who covered her mouth as she yawned.

  “I decided to combine my experience as a cop and my new magic to help both the magical community and my home planet. I worked with many amazing people, but in the end decided to go out on my own, taking assignments with whatever organization needed me the most. Now don’t be fooled: this is not the end of my story. This has come with heartache, loss, stress, and near-death experiences. It has been a struggle to find my place in both worlds, but I know that if I can do it, then you can too. You have to learn what your strengths are and figure out just where you fit in and can be of service. Sometimes you might even have to create your own place.”

  Everyone stood to give Leira an ovation. They were in awe of her life and her strength and motivated by her story. Alison stood up slowly and clapped, wondering if she would ever find her place. There were big differences between Jasper Elves and Drow, one being they usually fought on different sides. People were always less afraid of the light than they were of the dark, though in reality, both could be equally destructive.

  “Thank you, everyone. I just want to add one thing to that story, which is that I didn’t do any of it alone. I had help from all over the place. It started with a noble Light Elf, then a fuzzy little troll came into my life, and it went from there. There were humans and magical people all over who lent a hand to help me find my place. So just remember, when you feel lost and like you don’t have a place in this world, the people who are there to help will lift you up, whether it’s family or friends.”

  Alison smiled and reached over to take Izzie’s hand. She could see Izzie’s boredom in her energy, but she could also see the pain in her soul. Izzie gripped back tightly and looked at Alison, shaking her head but not saying a single word. She knew Alison was there for her—and vice versa—but the world was really becoming a lonely place. All she could do was hope it turned around for her and got easier for Alison. They deserved their chance, just as Leira Berens had deserved hers.

  When the event was over some of the students went to the front to talk to Leira, but Izzie and Alison made their way to the dining hall to grab some dessert. Neither of them said much; they just enjoyed not being alone and having the space to think clearly. They sat down at their normal table, and a three-tiered chocolate cake appeared in the center.

  Alison raised an eyebrow and Izzie shrugged. “Sometimes you just need some sweet with your bitter.”

  Alison paused, then both girls burst into laughter. That was damn right! Sometimes you did need to mix the good with the bad. It was the only way you would still get up every morning and forge ahead. She just hoped Izzie could find that balance too. She needed it badly.

  27

  When the weather started to change to winter, Alison received another box. In it was a carefully-wrapped long black coat with some sort of fur on the inside. Below that was another gift, messily wrapped in comics from the newspaper and tied with a shoestring. Inside was a brightly-colored scarf and a wool hat with a pair of matching gloves. She couldn’t help but laugh at the scarf. It was the warmest thing she had ever worn. With it came a note with the familiar raised bumps in Braille.

  This was made from some sort of strange animal. An alpaca I believe they said.

  Hope you like it.

  Brownstone.

  She had worn it a couple of times, but it wasn’t until that night that it became cold enough to really bundle up. Alison slipped quietly out of her bed and dressed, pulling on her coat, scarf, and hat, and shoving the gloves into her pockets. She looked over at Izzie who was sleeping soundly for once and she thought about nudging her but smiled instead and left her alone.

  “Good for you, my friend.”

  Alison carefully maneuvered down the stairs and out the front door. She didn’t even realize how cold it was until she reached the hill and a cold burst of wind whipped across her rosy cheeks. She loved it though, the cold made her feel alive, and she was curious as to what kind of magical creatures would be out in the coming winter night’s air.

  Alison made her way through the pasture and over to the stables where she saw the light was still on. She carefully pushed open the barn doors, the wind blowing the straw through the air. She shut the door behind her and smiled at Horace who was finishing up grooming one of the horses. He looked up as the dogs raced across the barn, almost knocking Alison off her feet.

  “You’d think they would get used to seeing you every night.”

  “I like the warm welcome.”

  “Where’s your friend?”

  Alison smiled at the word, friend. “She was practically snoring. I left her in her warm bed.”

  “Probably smart. Sounds like the kind of thing friends do for each other.” Horace reached over and grabbed a wooden stool, setting it down next to him as he cleaned out the horse’s hooves. “Come on have a seat. It’s a cold one out there tonight. Wasn’t sure if you would make your normal trek. I’m sure if you talked to Ms. Berens she’d let you wander the mansion or even the garden building.”

  “I like the outside, it doesn’t make me feel so pinned in. Besides, who knows what kinds of plants are in the garden area, I like my limbs where they are.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it. The Vampire Plants don’t like the cold, so I have been building little huts around them. Luckily, they don’t like human blood, but it took them a minute to figure that out. I swear I woke up the next morning half expecting to have fangs and sparkly skin.”

  “You read too many books, I doubt vampires—if there were such a thing—would have sparkly skin.”

  “Yeah? And when I was a kid I never imagined plants with fangs or flying stone figures either. I’m not ruling anything out at this point.”

  Alison laughed and reached up, petting the horse as it lowered his head toward her. He was kind with soft brown hair, a streak of white running down his head all the way to the tip of his tail. The kids nicknamed him Skunky, but Alison liked his original name, Lightning. He had a soft soul, a kind one, and it didn’t ever spike. There was a little magic in all Earth animals, something Alison found intriguing. Magic right under the human nose and they kept them as pets.

  “You should have probably given up on tonight’s walk, you have midterms in a couple of weeks. Then it’s winter break.”

  “I’ve been studying for weeks. Ever since Leira Berens came. Her story is inspiring, and she’s done a lot for the Earth magical community, I just have a hard time connecting with it. She is pure light, a lot easier for people to be at ease around. Drow are known for being dark creatures.”

  “You gotta stop reading those books and just go on your own journey. A being is not predisposed to be light or dark, they choose that path. Magic doesn’t force itself on anyone, you have to choose whether you want to give into the pull of the darkness or fight for the light. At least that’s how Ms. Berens explained it to me, just like humans and their vices. They choose to give into the dark, it’s a hell of a lot easier than searching out the light sometimes, that’s for sure. All creatures, human and magical alike have similar struggles, you just gotta remember we are all living, breathing creatures and all have the free will to make our own choices. Don’t let books and descriptions weigh you down. Be who you want to be.”

  “Wow, those are powerfully inspiring words there.” Alison declared with a smirk.

  Horace shook his head, scraping the mud out of the horse’s hooves. “You sure know how to deflate a balloon don’t you.”

  Alison laughed, bumping him with her shoulder. “I’m just kidding. I know what you are saying. I guess at some point I need to come to terms with the fact that my heritage doesn’t define me. My title doesn’t define me, it’s me that does.”

  “Yep, like me and my wild red hair. I embraced it, but you won’t find the crazy in this boy, not unless you have some whiskey and a Texas football game.”

  Alison laughed shaking her head. “Never drank whiskey...”

 
“I’d hope not.”

  “And only watched football a couple of times. Humans are interesting with their contact sports.”

  “I heard that Tom Brady is an elf. Not really fair but he swears he never uses magic.”

  “Yeah.” Alison scoffed. “Me either. Izzie told me about that story you were telling her.”

  “Yeah? Which one…”

  “Mmhm.” Alison got up from her stool and paced back and forth. “About the boy who killed someone with magic. If this kid had a following, was dabbling in dark magic, and ended up killing someone, even by accident, how did they let him go with no punishment?”

  “Well, that’s the next part of the story. When he went up in front of the Silver Griffins to tell them about what happened, he could see they already had their eye on him. The Silver Griffins, at the time, were in charge of handing down school punishments for the worst crimes. They started to question him on his dealings with dark magic, his collection of followers, and how he could have saved the boy if he really wanted to. They hounded this kid over and over, beating him up, pushing him around, until finally he snapped. He screamed to the council, telling them he wasn’t sorry he died, it made him a better wizard. That he learned from his death, and that he would never again taste the strangling wrath of light magic.”

  “Wow.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Horace chuckled, scooting his stool down to the back of the horse and picking up his back leg. “So, the council lost it and they expelled him from the school. He was underage so all they could do was remand him to the custody of someone on the council until his 18th birthday. Well, before they could come to collect him he disappeared and hid out until he came of age. No one had a clue where he went, they searched and searched but couldn’t find him. Some think he created a portal back to Oriceran, but back then portals were highly regulated and there was no record of anything like that. Anyway, when he returned it was obvious that he had no remorse for his crimes. He was even darker than before, but because his talents were only so-so, the council just let him live, keeping an eye on him until they no longer feared him for a movement.”