Avalon

by Allison Sipe

  Aiden chuckled and said, "You may have my blood in your veins, but you're your mother's daughter. Naive and small-minded." He leaned closer to her. "Not one of my minions you say? Then why have you been running around the world and killing at my request?"

  Lila's eyes met mine for a pregnant moment and I watched as she started shrinking into herself. "I thought we were trying to stop The Lady from being awoken."

  Aiden shook his head, laughed and walked back to his seat. "Ian, do you care to tell my daughter what she's really been up to?"

  "Sir?" Ian said and stepped forward, his brow furrowed in concern.

  "Or better yet..." Aiden sat back down. "Clara, why don't you tell us?" A grin spread across his face. The expression made me feel sick to my stomach.

  "One thousand magical souls need to be sacrificed in the name of Morgana in order for her to return from beyond the Veil," the Soothsayer explained.

  "Morgana, but you never said anything about her. You said The Lady must not be woken," Lila said, raising her voice as her eyes glassed over with angry tears. She may not have wanted to believe me before, but there was no way she could keep her head in the sand now.

  As much as I'd been hoping for this moment, a small part of me wished to spare her the pain of finding out who her father really was. I couldn't imagine how awful I'd feel if I found out my only living relative was a monster.

  "The Lady of the Lake is the only one who can defeat Morgana," Clara spoke with solemn care. "If you had succeeded in killing The Waker, then there would be no one to stop her."

  "I don't believe you," Lila yelled at Clara and then looked at her father. "You wouldn't, you can't do this!" She stood in front of Aiden as a single tear trailed down her cheek.

  "Ian, do you mind," Aiden said with a tired sigh and motioned to have Lila removed.

  Ian reached for her arm and she pulled away. "You lied to me all this time." She shoved and elbowed Ian to free herself but his grip on her shoulders was far too strong. "I've killed for you!" she yelled as Ian dragged her out of the room.

  "Maybe you shouldn't follow people so blindly," Aiden suggested as his eyes passed over her like he was bored.

  Ian struggled to pull Lila out of the room without knocking over any furniture. As they passed me, her eyes caught mine for a fraction of a second, and then she was gone.

  "Thank you for your services once again," Aiden said. He touched Clara's shoulder and she kept her eyes averted from his. "Guard, please escort her back to her chamber." The guard who had assisted her earlier rushed forward and helped her to her feet.

  "Bring forward the Healer," Aiden announced. The guards on either side of me moved me forward and forced me down on my knees. "So you're the infamous Robert Maxwell."

  I didn't answer, though I refused to look away from him. If it wasn't for the guard’s hands on my shoulders, I'd have kicked his teeth in.

  "You must be relieved to hear that Violet's alive, are you not?" Aiden goaded me.

  I clenched my jaw to fight the insults begging to erupt from my tongue.

  "Come now, you must wish to say something."

  "Go to hell," I said through gritted teeth. The muscles of my arms strained against my cuffs and the guards had to tighten their hold on me.

  "Actually, I prefer to bring hell to us." Aiden smiled and sat back.

  "What could you possibly gain from bringing Morgana back into this world?"

  "I have everything to gain by returning the rightful monarch to her throne. The Magical World has been running unchecked for far too long. Can you imagine what we could accomplish if we all worked together? This could be our world. We wouldn't have to hide who we really are. That's all Morgana ever wanted," Aiden said. He sat at the edge of his seat with unbridled excitement and I could see the deranged passion in his eyes.

  "Morgana wanted power, not freedom," I corrected, foolishly trying to reason with him.

  Aiden smiled. "It's one in the same isn't it?"

  "Violet will wake The Lady and stop you."

  Aiden shook with laughter and then put his face just inches from mine. "Your precious Soothsayer will join you in death soon enough." He leaned in a little closer to my ear and whispered, "I'm going to enjoy feeling the life drain out of her."

  I shot up off of my knees and pushed the guards off of me. Aiden sat back and put up a shield. I tried to summon my Magic with every fiber of my being, but nothing materialized. The guards were on me again and one zapped me with just enough electricity to bring me back to the floor.

  Aiden laughed and clapped his hands loudly. "Such a show of strength, but we must get down to business. My associate..." he said and looked up at the woman in blue, "has informed me that Violet was without Magic until you healed her, is that correct?"

  "Why don't you ask your Soothsayer?" I choked out, fighting the pain rushing through my body.

  "She's..." Aiden hesitated. "Limited in her gifts."

  "Why would I tell you anything?"

  "Do you think you have nothing to lose, Robert? Do you think I can't make your life a living hell until I end it?"

  "Go ahead." I held his eyes with mine to show him I wasn't afraid of a little pain.

  "If you don't have any care for yourself, what about your family?"

  I opened my mouth to insult him further but hesitated at the mention of my family.

  "That's what I thought," Aiden said with a grin. "You wouldn't want them to suffer just because you wouldn't answer a simple question."

  I almost shook with anger. "You won't get anywhere near them," I vowed.

  "Do you really want to make that bet? I've got someone very close to them right now. All I need to do is give the order."

  "You're lying."

  "Am I?" His lips pursed together, mocking me.

  I kept my mouth shut.

  "Fine, how about I demonstrate what's in store for your family," Aiden suggested. He stood and circled behind me, stalking me like prey. "This is going to hurt." I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

  He waved his hand over me and fire ripped through my veins. My entire body felt like lava was coursing through it but I refused to cry out in pain. I slumped to the floor, unable to hold myself upright as my vision started to blur.

  The pain vanished as quickly as it had come. My breathing was ragged and my heart raced like a terrified mouse.

  "You're a brave one," Aiden noted as he looked down at me, satisfied. "Now tell me, did she have Magic before you healed her?"

  "Screw you," I said and spat at him.

  "Very well." He waved his hand again and pain fired through me like a thousand knives. This time it felt like I was freezing from the inside out. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe without icicles stabbing my muscles and bones.

  "I can make it stop, just tell me what I want to know," Aiden offered as he hovered over me.

  Small noises escaped my throat but no coherent words came out. Even if I'd wanted to answer him I couldn't.

  Aiden moved back to his chair and waved his hand over me. The ice in my veins vanished and my body temperature quickly rose back to normal.

  "I can do much worse, I promise you. So what'll it be?" Aiden asked. He held his hand in a fist and examined his fingernails as I picked myself up off of the floor.

  "You think a little pain is going to get me to talk?" I challenged. My voice was ragged and I hardly recognized it.

  "Very well then." He raised his hand and all of the air was ripped from my lungs. "I'd say you have about sixty seconds before you pass out and maybe two, two and a half minutes before you're brain dead."

  I gasped for air but couldn't get a breath to save my life. My eyes started to tear up and my lungs burned from a lack of oxygen. I felt dizzy and darkness encroached on my vision.

  "Don't think I won't kill you. I can find someone else for the ritual. Maybe your sister, or your brother. Jake, is it?" Aiden asked.

  He dropped his hand and a rush of air filled my lungs.

  "Last
chance to save your family," Aiden promised. "What's it going to be?"

  "You really are a monster," I croaked.

  "Yes or no?" He fumed. Aiden was clearly past the point of being patient.

  "Yes." I coughed as I took another ragged breath. "She was without Magic."

  "So it wasn't until after you healed her that she came into her gifts?" The woman in blue asked, standing by the fireplace.

  "It would appear that way," I said, looking in her direction.

  "Fascinating," she said under her breath. "You're bonded then, correct?"

  "I don't know."

  "Now, now, Robert. The truth," Aiden cooed.

  "I'm telling you the truth. I don't know if we're bonded."

  "If they are, it might be worth keeping him alive so I can study him," the slender, dark woman suggested.

  "No. If they're bonded we can't let them have that kind of power. He must die."

  "But sir."

  "My decision is final, he will serve as the last puzzle piece to release Morgana from her prison beyond the Veil. If you want to run tests, then do it before the week is out." Aiden stood and adjusted the cuff of his shirt. "Take him back to his chamber and let the guards know that Alyssa may have full access to him," he said to the two men still holding onto me and left the room.

  "I'll be visiting you shortly, Mr. Maxwell," Alyssa said, giving me an eager smile before following Aiden.

  The guards allowed me to stand and we walked back to my prison in silence.

  I wished I knew what was going on with Lila. She had made such a scene and it was clear that she had been manipulated into doing her father's bidding. It would have been better for us both if she hadn't gone toe-to-toe with Aiden in front of everyone, but there wasn't much I could do about that now. I had to admit, I was relieved she finally knew the truth about Aiden, but now the entire compound would be watching her like a hawk and escaping would be that much harder.

  Day 8

  Another sunrise and another sunset and still I was no closer to getting home. Laying on my lumpy mattress in my blood-stained shirt and dusty jeans with my arm over my eyes, I tried to imagine I was lying on Violet's couch. Clara paced in her cell and I let myself believe it was Violet, padding around the kitchen. My memory kicked up the image of her in tiny cotton shorts and a baggy Beatles t-shirt making coffee. My chest swelled and more than ever I wished I could see her face again, hear her voice.

  Tap, tap, tap. The sound of metal clinking against metal made me sit up straight.

  "Hello, Robert. May I join you?" Alyssa asked, standing outside my cell. Her ringed finger was still touching one of the bars.

  "Like I have a choice," I mumbled, annoyed that she had interrupted my brief reverie.

  "I'm not here to hurt you. I would just like to gather some information."

  "Whatever you say," I sighed as she stepped inside.

  She put her silver case on the bed next to me, popped the latches and pulled out a pair of black gloves along with a small leather pouch.

  "I'm going to take some blood from you," she said, unrolling the black pouch and producing a needle and a few empty vials.

  "What do you want my blood for?" I asked.

  "I have an interest in genetics and I'd like to see if there is anything in particular that allows you to pass on Magic through your ability."

  "Other Healers aren't able to do the same?" She piqued my interest. I had often wondered why I was able to pass my Magic to Violet.

  "None that I've worked with." She shrugged. "There's something very unique about you and Violet. I'm hoping to find the anomaly that allowed you to transfer Magic, so I can reproduce it."

  I looked Alyssa over once more and hesitated. The last time someone experimented with Magic, Chernobyl went nuclear and killed a couple dozen people. But what other choice did I have? If I refused, the guards outside my cell would storm in and force the blood out of me. Reluctantly I nodded my consent. She knelt down in front of the bed and took my forearm in her hand. Wrapping a tourniquet around my bicep, she began to feel for the veins in the crook of my arm. I watched her with curious eyes. Her coarse, red hair sprang out in tight curls all over her head and her caramel complexion was more than just sun-kissed. Her features were different than any woman I'd ever seen, and I wondered what her genetic makeup might be.

  "I know that look," she said with a smile.

  "What do you mean?" I studied her smooth features. She wasn't like anyone else I'd met here. There was a calm confidence about her that made me wonder how she fit in with Aiden's group.

  "My appearance is unique. People are always curious."

  "I didn't mean to be rude."

  "Not at all." She dismissed my words with a quick wave of her manicured hand. "I'm half Scottish half Ethiopian."

  "That's an interesting mix," I noted.

  "Make your hand into a fist for me." She tapped the veins on my arm. "There we go." Pushing the needle into my arm, she connected the first empty vile.

  "My parents were very interesting people," the woman explained. "My mother's family immigrated to the UK when she was just a girl. She ended up working for Aiden's father as a guard at one of his labs. That's how she met my father. They hit it off right away, but my dad wasn't Magical so they had to hide their affair. It wasn't until my mother got pregnant that they finally came forward. Luckily, my father was able to convince Mr. Partridge senior that my mother should have me so they could study me once I was born. They didn't know much about human and Magical births back then and I was the perfect subject."

  "So they experimented on you?" I asked. I did nothing to hide the horrified look on my face.

  "They took blood samples every few weeks and charted my development, but they never hurt me. My father made sure of that."

  "Why are you telling me this?" I shook my head and adjusted myself on the bed, making the springs squeak in protest.

  "So you'll see that not all of us are monsters." She looked up at me, wide-eyed and innocent. I wasn't buying it. She may play the sweet and wholesome act, but she couldn't have ended up in Aiden's company without having a few sharp edges.

  "Experimenting on your own children sounds pretty horrific to me," I noted.

  "Without science, we wouldn't know as much as we do about Magic. Studying how each gift works gives us a better understanding of what the limitations are."

  "And let me guess, Aiden wants to know how I was able to pass on my Magic to Violet so he can recreate the effect?"

  "You don't miss a thing." Alyssa looked up at me from under her eyelashes.

  "And you're okay with helping that psychopath?"

  "I'm not helping him, he's helping me. Without his support and resources I wouldn't have access to people like you," she pointed out as she switched the full vile for an empty one.

  "People like me? You mean prisoners." I scoffed at how casual she was about the fact that I was here against my will.

  She sighed and said, "He's not as bad as you make him out to be."

  "Please tell me, you're joking." My eyes almost fell out of my head. How could everyone around here be so naive? Could Aiden really be that charismatic?

  "He wants to help the Magical world and give you freedom."

  "And you think Morgana is the way to do that?"

  "Morgana was mistreated in her time. All she ever wanted was to be recognized for who she really was. That's something all Magical people can relate to, am I right?"

  "Being recognized for your gifts and wanting to rule the Magical world are two completely different things."

  "Well then, we'll have to agree to disagree." She switched the full vile of blood with the last empty one.

  We sat in silence while crimson liquid trickled into the clear tube hanging from my arm. She pulled the needle out once she had everything she needed, leaving a tiny drop of blood on my skin.

  "Can you release the Magical barrier so he can heal himself?" Alyssa asked.

  One of the guards waved h
is hand over the lock on my cell and the blue force field shimmered then fell away.

  "Thanks," I said as the tiny pinprick in my arm disappeared and my Magic returned.

  "If I may," she said, reaching for my arm again.

  I held my forearm out and she wiped away the blood, looking at the smooth skin where she had just pricked me.

  "Incredible," she said with a smile. "This next bit is a little messier." She rolled up the sleeve of her blazer, pulled a scalpel from her bag and cut a deep wound in her forearm.

  "What the hell are you doing?" I exclaimed and shot to my feet.

  "Heal me." Her face remained emotionless and her voice was steady as she extended her arm toward me. Dark drops of blood splattered onto the dusty gray floor as I stared at her, horrified.

  "Go on," she encouraged as she pushed her outstretched arm toward me.

  I exhaled loudly out my nose as I grabbed her wrist and released my Magic. I could feel the warmth spread through my arm to hers and heal each layer of tissue and flesh. The wound stitched back together on a cellular level, healing not just the tear in her skin, but rebuilding the nerves and fibers that made up a person's arm. With little effort on my part, the bleeding stopped and the wound closed up nicely.

  "Please don't do that again," I said, releasing her.

  She removed a towel from her bag and wiped the blood from her wrist.

  "Not even a scar," she said under her breath.

  "You've had your fun, now I think it's time for you to go," I said, turning away from her. Was everyone here certifiably crazy? Who willingly harms themselves like that?

  "Here, clean yourself up." She threw a clean towel toward me. "There are a few more details I'd like to go over before I leave you." Her high heels clicked across the floor as she moved to the bed and pulled out an odd-looking, clear box from her bag. The box had a slit in the middle big enough to fit a hardback novel. Moving her case, she sat down on the bed with the contraption in her lap and tapped the empty place next to her.

  I moved toward her but wasn't in the mood to sit. "What is that?" I asked, nodding at the box.

  She picked it up and said, "This will take measurements as you use your healing ability." She pressed something on the clear surface and it sprang to life. A menu appeared across the top and she pressed a few buttons on the touchscreen.