Love lines

by Nixon, Diana

  “No. Me,” Evan smiled happily.

  “You?!”

  “And here I thought you would be glad,” said Evan hurt, his smile faded.

  “No, don’t think anything bad. I'm just a little surprised.”

  “Actually, there’s nothing surprising here. I have already graduated from the main department, so training at the faculty of Wizardy can be combined with other activities. And you, by the way, are my first student.”

  “I don’t even know whether this is good or bad,” I muttered. Geez, I don’t usually act like a jerk! I shook my head in disgust. Something must be really wrong with me. “So, what will our lessons be about?” I asked, trying to sound friendly this time.

  “Well, first, I'll tell you about the history of Dever, about the founding families and other nonsense,” rolling his eyes, said Evan. “And then we move on to the more interesting part. You will have to attend practical classes of all the faculties.”

  “All of them?” I couldn’t believe my own words.

  “One from each faculty,” Evan replied, watching me thoughtfully. His eyes were as unreadable as Christian’s. I never knew what was going on behind their intent gazes. And I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know. I turned away to the mirror.

  “Thank you for this, because I thought that I would have to learn everything that is taught here before the start of my own classes,” I chuckled nervously.

  “Don’t worry, I'm not such a tyrant,” giving me a wink, said Evan. He reminded me of a hunter looking for his new prey. I didn’t want to be the one, but it was quite hard to resist his charm. “You have one hour to get ready,” he added as he was leaving through the door.

  Even yesterday, Evan seemed pretty nice. He had some inner attractiveness drawing people to him and making them stay under his secret spell.

  “Maybe this month won’t be that boring,” I said to myself.

  After taking a shower and finally approving of my reflection in the mirror, I was ready to go to the first lesson, when suddenly I felt Christian. Without thinking too long I opened the door, and found him there, leaning against the opposite wall with his arms folded across his chest.

  “I was wondering how long it would take you to feel me,” he said, smiling radiantly.

  “So you were sure that I would feel your presence?” I asked incredulously.

  “Actually, yes,” he said, coming closer.

  “And if not, you would have stayed in the hallway all day?”

  “Hmm... I think in our case, there can’t be any “if”, - he said, looking straight into my eyes. I had never noticed what a rich green color his eyes were. Just like emeralds.

  “What a thought!” I shouted mentally at myself. I couldn’t lose my head on the first day! That’s all I needed!

  “For example, now you feel... confusion? What makes you feel so?” Christian asked suspiciously, walking into the room.

  “Maybe you,” without thinking too long, I blurted out. And once again shouted at myself for being so stupid.

  Christian smiled leisurely and said:

  “Then I don’t mind. So, what caused today's anger, surprise and uncertainty?”

  Oh, no!

  “Did you feel everything that happened to me this morning?”

  “Aha.”

  “And why couldn’t I feel anything about you?” I wondered, putting my hands on my hips.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you just didn’t have time to think of me this morning,” he shrugged.

  “Are you saying that as soon as you start to think about me you can feel everything that I feel at that moment?”

  “Eileen, I don’t know how it works. But I think, yes. Let’s check it out.”

  “How do you propose we try this?”

  “Think about me. Try to feel what I feel at this very moment. I’ll turn around, so you can’t read my emotions on my face.”

  “Okay,” I nodded. “Let’s give it a try.”

  And then he turned away.

  At first I just stared at his back, but felt nothing. Then I closed my eyes and imagined... Him, kissing me yesterday. It confused me even more. I felt my own pleasure, and tension.

  “Christian, I can’t do this,” I said, giving up.

  “Can you at least say what you feel? And I'll decide whether it is right or not.”

  “This is ridiculous! I feel only my own emotions.”

  “What are they?” asked Christian without turning around.

  “Well, the inexplicable joy, a sort of excitement and inner peace.”

  Looking up, I saw quite clearly, his smiling face.

  “Eileen, you’ve just described everything that I feel at the moment.”

  “But, I don’t understand. I was sure there were my feelings.”

  Christian raised my chin a little, our eyes were exactly opposite each others’.

  “Maybe our feelings are the same, and you can’t determine where yours end and my own begin,” he said.

  His touch caused a soft pulsing on my shoulder, I saw the golden lines, shining with millions of colors coming from his hands to my face. It felt so good. I stopped breathing and felt Christian’s fingers caressing the line of my chin. He was standing so close, I could barely think straight. Our proximity was playing funny tricks with my mind, making my body tremble, imagining all the spicy pictures of us in each other’s arms in my head. I swallowed I took a step back quickly. All the shining disappeared.

  “See?” said softly Christian. “Our feelings are the same.”

  “I think we shouldn’t rush things,” I began hesitantly, berating myself for the words that I didn’t want to say, but still willing to make some kind of clarity in everything.

  “And now you feel remorse and determination to do something,” he admitted.

  “Ah, please, don’t put me in an awkward situation! I really don’t know what else to say. We both need time to sort all this out.”

  I walked closer to him, took his hand and said without paying attention to the beautiful golden light, instantly illuminating our hands:

  “I’m really glad that you're near, Christian. I felt safe with you and yesterday you helped me a lot. But my life has turned upside down just in two days! Give me a little time to recover,” looking hopefully into his incredible emerald eyes, I said.

  “As long as you need,” he replied softly, kissing me like yesterday on the cheek before leaving.

  Chapter 8. The history of the founding families (Eileen)

  Going to my first lesson with Evan, I just couldn’t stop thinking about Christian. This time I really felt everything. A mix of frustration and resentment from my last words took most of him. Trying to focus on his feelings as best as possible, I could discern a thin ray of hope from which the entire range of his emotions instantly lit up with warm golden light. This warmth passed to me, greatly improving my gloomy mood.

  “Weird,” I thought, but the warmth seemed to be not just a feeling...

  “Eileen!” called Evan, adjusting to my steps. “Ready for the first lecture?

  “Does it really matter?” I asked, still thinking about Christian.

  “Of course!” he said excitedly. I rolled my eyes in response.

  “Well, Professor, I'm ready, so you may start,” I replied seriously.

  “Good. Let's start from the very beginning. What do you know about the history of this place?”

  “Only that Dever was founded by seven families, many centuries ago.”

  “To be exact - seven centuries ago,” Evan pointed.

  “I also know that the idea of a foundation was proposed by the Fairey family,” I remembered.

  “That’s right. Let’s talk about them more detailed.”

  We came to a small park, where the air was filled with all possible and impossible aromas of different flowers. I could smell jasmine, roses and lilies, a mixture of hydrangeas, apples and lemon tree.

  “This is Embry’s pride. Here you can find thousands of the rarest plants f
rom around the world. Let's sit down over there,” said Evan, pointing in the direction of the bench at the foot of a weeping willow. “So the Fairey. Jason and Gabriela Fairey were precisely those who first came up with the idea of protection human world from everything supernatural. They met through their talent to read people’s minds. Unfortunately, over the years, the Fairey have lost this ability, so that now, they rely primarily on their intuition and reading auras.”

  “Jason and Gabriela went to travel around the world to find other talented people. Reading thoughts, it wasn’t difficult. So, coming back to England, they already knew about the existence of four more families, all of whose members had different unusual gifts. In France, they met the Meridin family, whose members were all able to interpret dreams. In Spain - the Embry clan, one of the most numerous at those times, where everyone knew about the properties of any plant, and particularly flowers. In Italy, the Fairey were introduced to the Ventura - experts in the future, and the Vero who could separate truth from falsehood.”

  “And how did they find the Feta and the Wizardy families?” I asked.

  “They were not looking for them. Rosemary Feta saw them on the lines of her own destiny. She was curious and went with her husband and two daughters to find the Fairey. As for the Wizardy...” Evan paused only a moment, making a deep breath. “Medellin Wizardy also found them herself. She was the most powerful magician of those times. She didn’t need to see the lines of fate or read minds. She knew everything. By joining six other families later on, she wanted to make her department a special one. No one was against, as each family knew that the possession of magic was the greatest gift. That’s why nowadays the faculty of Wizardy is the highest level of education in Dever.”

  “I see. But you didn’t say to which of the families you belong.”

  “I am,” sadly smiled Evan, “a descendant of the smallest family – the Wizardy.”

  “Wait, I thought you said that Medellin Wizardy came to the Fairey alone,” I said blankly.

  “In fact, even then she wasn’t alone. Medellin was pregnant, and only after some time, other families found out about it. Marietta Ventura saw the birth of a child and told the others. Perhaps no one would ever know about the birth of Lily, Lillian Wizardy, but for her. Lily’s father was a poor guy who was bewitched by Medellin and tied to her by the love spell. Only she didn’t know that there were other things in this world, much stronger than witchcraft. Another woman was in love with that man too and her love was so strong that the strength of the spell fell and eventually Medellin was left alone. Later she realized that she was pregnant and wanted to get rid of the baby, but thanks to Rosemary Feta the girl was saved by combined forces of all six families. In addition, Medellin had a son, who was about ten years old. She didn’t tell about his existence to the rest of the families.”

  “Wow! I had no idea about all of these. Looks like a whole soap opera. So what happened to her husband and the woman for whom he dumped her?” I asked.

  “No one knows. Since no one of Feta or Ventura could see anything, everybody decided that she just left them alone.”

  “It sounds like a miracle,” I pointed.

  “At least, this is still unknown,” said Evan, shrugging indifferently. “I think there was enough experience for the first lecture?” he asked, smiling.

  “Even too much,” I answered, smiling back.

  “Well, then, see you tomorrow, at this time in front of the academic building, okay?” shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, he said, as if asking the permission to invite me for a date. Of course, I didn’t say that aloud.

  “Okay,” I nodded shyly. “Thank you for the first lesson. I think I'll stay here a little longer. I like flowers very much.”

  “Of course, the rest of the day is at your disposal.”

  Giving me his charming smile for the hundredth time, Evan left.

  I had no doubt he was a dream of all the girls in Dever. Being a high-brunette with bright sky-blue eyes, he could afford to be in the highlight of everybody’s attention. He wasn’t however, the center of mine. My own thoughts went back to Christian. The memory of him sank me into the vortex of his emotions. It was a mixture of annoyance, anger, and despair. I was sure a hundred percent that the feelings were clearly not caused by my behavior or me in general.

  “What is he doing then?” I thought wonderingly.

  Chapter 9. The grief (Christian)

  Vanessa...

  I could smell her sweet perfume even before I noticed her hand on my shoulder. Funny enough, but I haven’t felt such a wild annoyance because of her touch before. I didn’t get much pleasure as well. I rather was simply indifferent. Now I had to do my best not to break down and take her hand off my shoulder.

  “Christian, I've been looking for you everywhere! I have great news. Patricia Rowley is throwing a party tonight, and we're on the guest list!”

  “No! Not that again!” I groaned mentally.

  “Sorry, Vanessa, but, first of all, you didn’t have to look for me everywhere. I'm always in class at this time, and secondly, today I can’t go with you. I need to practice as the Festival is too soon, and I’m still not ready with my show.”

  Perhaps my speech was a little abrupt, but at that very moment I didn’t care. To smooth over the consequences of my rudeness, I added more gently:

  “Invite Evan. He will keep you company.”

  At that time, my friend was standing in front of the audience, chatting with a group of some girls.

  “Okay then, Evan won’t refuse,” Vanessa said, quickly turned around on her heels, and headed for the door.

  “Great!” I thought. I’ve got one problem solved. I was worried much more about the Festival of Arts, which was to be held in two weeks. That event was important for the whole University. On this day all the graduates had their final tests, which actually ended up being a part of the Festival’s program. In addition, each department represented their best students of the current academic year, each of whom prepared a performance. As possessing fire was my special ability, so it was the main idea of my show.

  Even before my arrival to Dever, when I was twelve years old, I accidentally started a fire in my father's office. Of course, I was punished. My parents, as it turned out, didn’t immediately realize that in the absence of any incendiary materials it was quite difficult to start a fire. Later it became clear to me that no devices were needed. The fire was in my hands. And now, after so many successful attempts to build a castle out of it, my performance was about to fail. Well, not really. Of course, the flame still appeared, but its effect couldn’t be compared to the previous times. Because of this the castle figure seemed blurred and vague. And it made me feel anger.

  Despair overwhelmed me at the thought that I could end up failing everything. So I decided to leave my futile attempts for later and went to visit Eileen.

  Passing by Evan, I noticed that his aura was glowing with the red and purple-blue tints. A girl.

  “As always,” I thought, smiling to myself. Although, he seldom revealed such a deep interest to any of them. And obviously the one wasn’t among those around him at the moment.

  I can read auras pretty well. They are a kind of reflection of the people themselves. All the feelings, as well as any character have their own colors. For example, the presence of bright green, my favorite color, reflects the sensitivity and kindness of its owner. Yellow means friendship, openness and attractiveness. But the presence of dark red means instability and short temper.

  Funny, but I paid no attention to Eileen’s aura. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I already could feel everything she felt.

  Just coming to her room, I remembered that I hadn’t asked about the beginning of her studies. But I didn’t feel her presence at that moment. She probably wasn’t in the room. Although I could feel my sister’s aura very clearly.

  “Christian! Come on in quickly, I must tell about everything going on!” clapping her hands, she cried. A few guys passing
down the hallway anxiously smashed up to the wall.

  “I can hear you, Amanda. There’s no need to scare away the entire dormitory,” I said, walking into the room.

  “Oh, come on! I am sure, they had the same experiences of their first day,” she said, closing the door behind me. “Can you imagine that the History teaches Loren Spine in his own person!”

  “Yep, trust me I can imagine that,” I said, nodding meaningfully. Loren was one of many local celebrities. A few years ago at the Festival, he made a huge picture of water - a miniature copy of Dever. Since then no one else has yet managed to excel him in the ability to control the power of water.

  “And the Basic laws of magic are taught by our father,” Amanda added less enthusiastically.

  “I know that tone, little sister. Believe me, I have already been you, and nothing happened. As you can see, I’ve passed his exam on the first try.”

  “I'm not sure I’ll be that lucky. He made it quite clear that he would not let me have an easy time of it.”

  “You know what? I can make you happy a little. When I was in your shoes, he expected me to do a lot more than any other student.”

  “Well, thank you, Christian, for being such an understanding brother! Now I know whom I can come to complain to.”

  “Don’t be mad,” hugging her shoulders, I said. “I’ve said that just to prevent you from taking offense at him later. By the way, do you know where Eileen is?”

  “No. I’d like to talk to her as well, but I have no idea where she is. In the morning I didn’t have time to ask what she would be doing today. Didn’t you come to see her earlier?”

  “I... yeah, I did, but still needed to ask. Okay, tell her that I was looking for her and wanted to show her something.”

  “I will, for sure.”

  Pausing to think for a moment, I didn’t notice Eileen, who was just coming to the dormitory. She seemed to be too busy with her own thoughts, because she faced me at the very entrance.

  “Excuse me. Oh, hey Christian! I didn’t notice you,” she said embarrassed.

  “And didn’t feel,” I admitted. “Apparently, being wrapped up in our own thoughts, we don’t feel each other, because I hadn’t noticed you as well. So how was your first day?”