Love lines

by Nixon, Diana

  “Of course you can’t remember. Have you forgotten who we're talking about? It was also Medellin’s home. She lived like a hermit. Like the rest of Dever at the time, her hut was well protected from the possible detection of humans. Now it can only be seen by Wizardy.”

  We stopped at the western gate.

  “Eileen has to stay here,” strictly said Evan.

  I was outraged. I put my hands on my hips.

  “May I ask why?” I stared at Evan.

  “You need to stay away from this place, remember? And you, Christian, shouldn’t go there either,” he pointed.

  “You can’t go there alone!” protested Christian.

  “I shouldn’t,” Evan agreed, “but I have to.”

  “I'll go with you,” Darcy said. “There is a lot of water around, it's my element. I can help you in case anything happens.”

  “Okay,” Evan nodded. “Let's go together. My сеll phone will be on, so if I call you, Christian, run for Patrick, he will come back from London. Tell him everything and let him bring additional help here. Ready?” he asked Darcy.

  “Ready,” she said and together they went through the gate.

  “You shouldn’t let them go alone,” I said nervously as soon as they disappeared.

  “I know. I should probably call my father right now,” agreed Christian.

  Luckily, we found out that Patrick was already in Dever and promised to come as soon as he found an assistant.

  Time passed, but there was no call from Evan. At one point we thought that maybe we had been wrong about the hut, then the phone rang. It was Darcy. Christian turned on the speakerphone.

  “Darcy, what happened?” he asked.

  “Christian! Evan went to the hut. We were right, there’s someone there. I think sending some help would be wise...”

  Suddenly the connection was lost.

  “Oh, God! Is he crazy? He went there alone!” I yelled in desperation.

  Patrick ran up to us with some girl. She was a bit older than me, tall and had long sandy hair.

  “Evan has already gone to the hut,” said Christian. “Hurry up!”

  “Who is she?” I asked Christian.

  “It's Elena Rozembry. She is a hereditary Wizardy. It’s a pity you couldn’t see her show yesterday. Apparently, she amazed everyone with her skills. Let's hope that my father chose her for her mastery magic skills.”

  My nerves were already on edge, my knees were shaking, so I went to the nearest bench and sat down. Christian was left standing at the gate.

  “Can you see anything?” I asked burying my face in my hands.

  “Nothing. Although, if you look yourself, you would be able to see more.”

  “I can’t. Or, rather, don’t want to,” I said dryly. Not to see or know what is happening now - it's one thing, but to see and know that nothing I can do to help them - is quite another.

  It seemed as if time had stopped. Not a sound could be heard from the lake. I was beginning to think that it might be worth a try to go out there and help, when Christian shouted:

  “Someone’s coming back!”

  This someone turned out to be Evan. In his arms he carried Anna. It looked like she was unconscious.

  “What happened to her?” I asked as he gently put her on the bench.

  “That son of a bitch, Eric Lanster was there! He used Anna in order to regain strength, he is not sick; he just lost too much energy. On what? I don’t know. I didn’t have time to learn anything. He nearly destroyed Anna! When I broke into the hut, she was unconscious, and that bastard was drinking the remaining portion of some prepared potion. When he saw me, he tried to escape. Patrick and Elena went after him to catch him, but I don’t know whether they succeeded.”

  “Where's Darcy?” I asked worried.

  “I'm here,” she said, breathing heavily. “Evan was running so fast that I barely kept up following him. How is Anna, is she getting better?”

  “I can’t tell for sure,” said Evan, touching Anna’s forehead with his palm. “We need to take her to Mrs. Weber.”

  I knew this name. Dorothy Weber was a former graduate of Embry, and now headed the Embry department. She was also a part-time local doctor. Naturally, she never used traditional medicine, since her own methods were much more effective than any pill. Her office was on the first floor of the Administration, which also served as a room for patient examinations. So we rushed Anna there.

  “Good Lord! What happened to her?” exclaimed Mrs. Weber as soon as we stepped into her office. “Put her here on the couch and be careful.”

  “We don’t know, but we hope that you can help us,” said Evan. “Our only guess is that perhaps she spent too much power, being forced to prepare some potion.”

  “What kind of potion takes away a few years of your own life?!” wondered Dorothy.

  “What do you mean?”

  “It's obvious! She donated part of her life, but for what?”

  We all looked at each other in confusion.

  “Is that even possible?” asked Evan puzzled.

  “Of course! Usually something like this should be done only in extreme cases, such as saving the life of another person who is near dead.”

  We again exchanged glances.

  “But she will get better, right?”

  “It will take a long time, but, judging by her condition, you managed to get her here just in time. We'll figure out how to fix this,” replied Mrs. Weber, mixing some red and green liquids in a bottle.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “There’s nothing to be thankful for, darling. Let’s get her feeling better, and then say thanks. Right now she needs to get rest. I have one remedy, which should help soon, and when she wakes up, we will decide what to do next.”

  We nodded and went silently out into the hall, where ran into Patrick and Elena.

  “You haven’t found him,” guessed Evan, watching their disappointed expressions.

  “No. Didn’t even notice the direction that he escaped in. Who is he, anyway?” asked Elena. “I've never seen anyone that fast!”

  “I'm more interested in how he knows how to leave Dever without going through the gate,” said Patrick.

  “It's Eric Lanster. He seems to be one of the Wizardy,” pointed Evan. “My guess is that he knows about the magic spells around Dever from Alexis who, by the way, was the one to bring him here.”

  “Yes, but who is he? Where did he come from? Personally, I’ve never heard his name,” said Elena.

  “You wouldn’t have heard it,” I replied. “Evan, would you able to recognize him?”

  “Of course,” he said trying to understand the train of my thoughts.

  Everybody stared at me in bewilderment.

  “Christian, do you still have the photo, which shows Alexis and her mother?” I asked.

  “Yes. It’s in my room. Shall I go get it?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “Eileen? Are you saying that you know something about him?” Evan asked.

  “We will check it out soon. There is one theory.”

  Christian returned a few minutes later with the very old photograph.

  “Here, Evan, look. Is this the person you saw in the hut?” I said, handing him a photo.

  “Here he looks much younger, but that's definitely the same person. Eileen, but it’s...”

  “Alexis’s brother,” I confirmed his guess.

  “’What?! She has a brother?” asked Patrick stunned.

  Evan and I looked at each other. I immediately recalled Tara’s words about a man and a woman preparing a trap for me. So here was a man, and Alexis - was that woman. And they both wanted to get my power.

  “So now we have one less enemy,” concluded Evan, reading my mind and alluding to the absence of Alexis.

  “Yes, but the remaining one, in my opinion, is so much more dangerous,” I said. “And if he knows how to leave Dever, passing through magical defense, he also knows how to get back.”

  J
udging by the faces of all those present, my words were a shock to them. No one had thought of this before.

  “We need to change the spells and the order of the elements,” concluded Patrick. “Immediately!” he added, walking rapidly towards his office.

  Chapter 25. Council’s day (Christian)

  This morning I woke up at dawn, when the first sun’s rays hardly appeared out of the mountains. Today Nora’s hearing was to be held. Evan, me and my father had to go to London. Eileen, however, didn’t know anything about our plans. I still couldn’t decide whether to tell her about it or not. On the one hand, I didn’t want to lie to her, because I’ve been hiding recently a lot of things from her. Granted that was done for her own good. But on the other hand, she would want to go with us, and that was something none of us could allow. Since Frederic Fairey was recovered from his illness he had to testify in court too and his meeting with Eileen wasn’t a part of our plans yet.

  Someone knocked at the door.

  “Evan!”

  “Actually, I hoped to catch you already dressed,” he said, looking at me from head to toe. “Do you know that we are leaving in forty minutes?”

  “Yeah. I was just going to dress. Look, do you still think it would be better if we leave without telling her?”

  “Do you think that it’s better to tell her the truth? Patrick has already told you that this is not a good idea. I’m sure it’s better to let her think that we just went to town. Besides, today her grandmother is expected to arrive, so they will have plenty of catching up to do, which, I’m sure, is planned without us,” he grinned.

  “Eileen is used to our constant protectiveness, but I think she will get mad if she finds out where we were, and that we didn’t tell her,” I said worried.

  “And we are used coming up with excuses, so we’ll think of something. Trust me, it’s the best thing that we can do now. Hurry up, Patrick and I will be waiting for you in the car,” commanded Evan before leaving.

  I quickly got dressed, grabbed a few necessary things and went downstairs. On the way, I went to check on Eileen. Of course, she was still asleep, so I left a note on her bedside table.

  I smiled, looking at her. I liked to watch her sleeping. Sometimes she talked in a dream, and I could hear some of her secrets that she didn’t want to tell me. Most often, these were words about how she was worried about me, how she was sorry about Anna, who still wasn’t in the best condition, and about how much she missed her family.

  I wished I could protect her from all the worries and troubles. I tried to do all my best, just so I could see that radiant smile on her face. All of this was very trying each of us. Evan began to pursue his studies outside the academic building, away from the place where she felt the presence of foreign powers and energy. Darcy continued to periodically review her palms, talking about how much you could learn about a person just by looking at their hands. My sister had the easiest duty - she only had to remain herself, steadfast and steady as a friend and to make Eileen smile. Despite the fact that she spent much time with her boyfriend Lucas, she never forgot about her best friend.

  As I expected, Lucas wasn’t a stupid guy, he quickly realized what was going on and without any further explanation from us he vowed that he would keep his mouth shut.

  Only one player of our team was still on the bench - Anna. She still was under the supervision of Mrs. Weber, who continued to give her all sorts of concoctions. Anna said the taste of them was just unbearable. She regained consciousness a few hours after Evan had saved her from Eric. Despite the weakness and persistent dizziness, she managed to joke all the time and participate in our tumultuous discussions of daily events. Every night we all came to see her. Mrs. Weber, of course, wasn’t happy to see so many people near her patient, but upon seeing how much happiness our presence gave her, she silently left us and retreated to give up some privacy.

  Once again I smiled to my sleeping angel, kissed her forehead and left.

  It was only two more weeks before Eileen’s birthday. For myself, I decided that, despite all the fears that paralyzed us all because of this upcoming event, I will try to make it a real celebration. Our friends supported me. Darcy and Amanda took the lead in organizing a party. We decided it would be better to arrange it outdoors, in one of the gardens of Embry. My sister was a master in the decorations, so I didn’t doubt that Eileen would like her work. Evan was busy preparing real fireworks, with the help of his magic. My goal was to purchase gifts on behalf of all guests. Since the preliminary list of presents had already been made up, I had only to order everything needed and arrange the delivery. About my own gift, I really wasn’t sure yet. I had a few ideas, but still couldn’t decide what to choose.

  “Good morning, son!” said my father when I got in the car.

  “Hi, Dad. Why are we not flying in one of Dever’s planes?” I wondered fastening the seat belt.

  “A thunderstorm was announced today, so all of our planes are grounded,” he replied.

  “That’s why you’d better make yourself comfortable, Christian. This is going to be a long ride,” said Evan from the back seat.

  “And why mom is not coming with us?” I asked.

  “She’s already there. Together with Frederic. Amelia still fears for his health, so said she would accompany him on his way from Norfield.”

  “That's our mom!” I smiled. “Do you think Nora will be sentenced to life imprisonment?”

  “Personally, I very much hope that, but...”

  “But?” I raised my eyebrows questioningly.

  “There is a chance that she would be declared insane. And that could significantly mitigate the punishment.”

  “I doubt that this is possible, Patrick,” Evan said. “Most likely they will regard her actions as just an abuse of her power. Taking into consideration Camilla’s murder and an attempt to kill Frederic, I don’t think the Council will lighten the punishment.”

  “Anyway, we will have to wait for the hearings to dispel all doubts.”

  “What I don’t understand is why they are having a single hearing only,” I said.

  “They have decided that to divide it in different hearings is meaningless,” Dad said. “So here's the deal, Alexis’s hearing will be separate and you, Christian, will be called as a witness . They need a sufficient amount of evidence from you so that it will close any questions of testimony pertaining to Dever.”

  “Will they question me today as well?”

  “Maybe. But since you were not directly involved in her capture, more attention will be given to those directly involved in that operation. You may be questioned about how you know Nora. Frederic said that we shouldn’t mention Eileen in this case and it’s better to tell them that Amanda told you about her visit to Nora. Some of Vero will be there to prevent anyone from lying. So by saying that Amanda told you isn’t lying, but you won’t then involve Eileen either. Anyway, before answering any question, think precisely about how you respond. We don’t want to cause unnecessary suspicion. Better to let everyone think that Nora’s abilities became known by accident. There may be those who are her supporters, so we shouldn’t draw much attention. Do you understand?”

  “Of course. We're trying to hide Eileen’s powers and her involvement in this case as much as possible. I think that there are still people, watching us in Dever. Especially now, that we know about Eric, I doubt that he just abandoned his previous plans. We must be very careful.”

  “That's right,” agreed Evan. “But will you stop discussing the obvious and give me an opportunity to finally get some sleep? It seems like every night is complete misery for me. I can’t sleep, since I am constantly tormented and obsessed that something might happen, and I would miss out on all the fun,” smiling, he added.

  Despite the fact that the words were spoken with Evan's usual ease, I knew that he was dead serious. Such thoughts disturbed all of us. I often wake up in the middle of the night and go to check on Eileen. She gave me her key so that I could enter t
he room at any time of day or night. My sister didn’t like that, but I promised not to do it unless it was necessary.

  The remaining few hours we passed in silence. We stopped several times to take turns driving and to give everyone a chance to get some sleep. A long hard day was ahead of us and we didn’t know what time we would be getting back. We knew that some rest would give us extra strength that we would all need.

  The building of the Council was in the heart of London, not far from Hyde Park. We left the car in the parking lot and went inside, where my mom and Frederic were already waiting.

  “It’s good to see you, my dear,” she said, giving me a hug. “Is everything all right with Eileen?”

  “Yes. She’s okay.”

  “So she doesn’t know where you are?”

  “I left her a note saying that Evan and I went into town, so I hope that explanation will be enough to appease her. Well, at least for now.”

  “Relax, Christian,” my mom said taking my hand. “She knows how worried you are about her, so even if she knew where you were, I’m sure, she would understand.”

  “God forbid,” I replied hopefully. “Frederic! I am so glad to see you recovered so quickly.”

  “All thanks to Amelia,” he said. “I have never needed anybody's help before and, quite frankly, never thought I would, so I was surprised when it actually happened,” he added, smiling at us.

  “What did you tell Rebecca?” Evan asked.

  “That we were going to court,” said Frederic. “Of course, she didn’t betray her emotions, but something tells me that this isn’t something she considered as unimportant.”

  “The hearing is about to begin,” my father said. “It's time to take our seats.”

  Council Chamber as a whole didn’t differ from those that could be seen in detective dramas or TV shows, where the main events took place in the court. The only difference was the rich decoration of the room itself. Council members and other participant’s of the hearing seats were made of mahogany. The floor was made of dark marble, in it was a reflection of the majestic round crystal chandelier shining.

  We took our seats in the second row, next to the other witnesses. I was surprised that there were more than twenty of them. The Council’s secretary announced the beginning of the hearing. What surprised me even more was the absence of the accused.