“I’m not special,” he said.
“Well, we’ve all heard the story of how you nearly died. That’s kind of special.”
“So, Reuben tells you everything?”
“No, not everything, he doesn’t tell us why he favours you over his nephew, and Jasper knows it as well, that’s why he’s acting out.”
“Okay. I think I’m gonna go, there’s nothing keeping me here. The classes that I go to, people talk about me in, teachers are constantly glaring at me and I already know what they’re talking about.”
“See, special.”
Daniel shook his head and walked out of the barn. In the bright day he could see the bruises on his arms, shining purple and blacks, popping up in welts. He held his hand over his eyes as they adjusted to the light.
“Oh, there he is, I thought he was going to die,” a passer-by whispered to his friend.
Great, I think they were betting on that as well, Daniel whinged.
He made his way to his room, walking as slow as he could, wanting to enjoy the day but not the company. He swiped his card to unlock his dorm room, something he hadn’t done in a while. His room was black from the drawn curtains. He flicked the lights on and the first thing he sees is Carlie, kneeling on his bed, glaring at him.
“No, go. What are you even doing here?” he asked, rolling his eyes.
She bit her lip and winked. “I’m here for you, silly.”
“No, I don’t care. Leave!”
She huffed. “You’re no fun.” She climbed to her feet, throwing herself off his bed. “Y’know Jasper hates you right. So, how about you get back at him?” she asked, folding her arms.
“I don’t know what you do, but I know that you take from people, yeah, you take their energy,” Daniel said, “so what is it about me?”
“Exactly, you’re powerful, stronger than Jasper, heck, even Mark’s stronger than Jasper,” she said, “I should know, I’ve had Mark.”
He closed his eyes and nestled his fingers across the bridge of his nose. “You’re a whore. But you weren’t born a whore,” Daniel said, ushering her out of his room.
“Huh? I do it for the thrill, and just because I’ve had sex. It’s not scary. Besides, I wouldn’t want to take that precious little seed from you,” she grinned, pushing a hand up to Daniel’s chest to feel his heart pounding.
“Yeah, I don’t care, just leave will you!” he slapped her hands from his chest.
“Are you hoping to,” she winked, “with that girl?”
“Who?” he asked, and then gulped. “Mia?”
“Mia?” she asked, and then smiled. “Soon, all your other ties will be gone, and then you’ll want me… in fact, you’ll want me more than I need you.”
Daniel frisked himself for his phone, but he didn’t have it. “Where’s it at?”
Carlie huffed and then left, running down the hallway.
He slammed the door shut and started throwing stuff up into the air. He threw his duvet on the floor, and then his pillow, searching around the frame of the bed to see if it had fallen into one of the crevices. He checked under his bed, and saw Jac’s duvets from before he’d been so violently confronted and shunned somewhere Daniel couldn’t connect with him.
A buzz came from the drawer of his bedside table. He yanked the drawer and there was his phone, glowing as the ‘low battery’ sign flashed. He sighed and picked it out, but there were no missed calls, no text messages or anything. He typed Mia’s name in and phoned her.
“Hey,” she answered.
He sighed. “You’re fine?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I think people know about you,” he said.
“Well yesterday you told me that people spotted us, it would be hard for them not to have caught me on your back. I mean, I was strangling you almost,” she chuckled.
Daniel pulled the grille of the phone away from his face. He was thinking of ways to word it, he told himself that he couldn’t come off as paranoid. He couldn’t. He pushed the phone back to his ear.
“I need you to stay at home, just be ill for a few days. I’ll try and see if you're in any harm. Don’t worry though, you’re probably not, but just to be safe,” he said.
“Okay then. Are you sure I should stay off?”
“Yeah, just pretend you're ill for a few days or something.”
“Fine, but you’re going to have to come back and see me. They’ll just have to take some more of your blood,” she laughed.
“I don’t know what he attempts to get from my blood. He was just really angry, and now I don’t understand why I was so angry when he was so nice to me when I started.”
“Teachers are like that, one minute you could be a good student in their good books and then next bam you’re being slammed into detention,” she huffed, “I need to go, dad’s just shouted me for dinner.”
“I’ll phone you later.” He ended the call and started to make his bed with a little peace of mind.
There was a knock on his door, and it was times like those he wished he had a peep-hole in there, but he didn’t and nobody did, he’d only ever seen them in some of the places on the Lowerlands, like Jac’s house even though his house was in the treetops. The knock came again, stern and solid.
“Who is it?” he asked, standing with his hand on the door handle.
“Lunch is being served,” a girl said.
He let his heart rest back behind his lungs, and he pulled on the door handle. The door whacked him in the face as Mark and Jasper barged in, and he heard a girl whimper her apologies.
“Again?” Jasper laughed.
“What?” Daniel asked, picking himself up from the ground.
“Coming onto Carlie like that, she doesn’t like scum,” he said.
Daniel grinned, he thought that Jasper might as well have been ‘scum’ the way he let his girlfriend go around everyone, and he could see the humility in Mark’s eyes, because he knew that he wasn’t the best of friends.
Jasper swung for Daniel and he dropped to his knees. He then stumbled forward from the force and went to hit Daniel again and missed. Mark grinned, but when Jasper glared at him he hushed and joined in on the attack.
“I’m going to Reuben,” Daniel said as they both closed in on him.
“Go for it, he’s my uncle, he’ll probably praise me for scaring the runt,” Jasper laughed as his hands eased at his waist. “Besides, this is retaliation for your friend who wasn’t supposed to be here. You know how long it takes to heal?”
Daniel found his question funny. He knew how long it took to heal, everyone knew their own healing time, but not many people knew each other’s. Jasper swung his fist and caught Daniel at the temple—he flopped to his feet, his body poured like jelly, hitting the ground. Mark kicked him and then they both ran away.
“You’re both weak,” he shouted out at them, pushing his door shut. He hauled himself onto his, coughing and holding his stomach. “You’re both weak.”
Daniel found his phone and called Reuben, he told him about what had happened and Reuben reassured him that they would be dealt with severely, and they wouldn’t be allowed to go near him again, also, all of his meals from now on would be delivered to his room. Daniel sighed, he couldn’t help but think that this was just another way to keep him in his room.
He dropped his head to his pillow and closed his eyes. His eyes shot open, his spine became tighter, he pushed his chest out and let out a huge groan. Then the white noise ate into him, sending his eyes fluttering into the back of his head and his muscles contracting all over his body.
Seconds later, the noise stopped. Daniel’s body dropped back to his bed and he took his first breath, he clamped his hands over his head as though his skull was going to implode and then he pounded on his chest as it ached and tried to itch at his heart.
“Can you hear me? Jeez, just—” Jac’s voice came through, making Daniel’s eyes water and his ears popping.
“Yes! Yes! I can hear you!” he said,
relieved at the cool prickle soothing his body.
“Finally. You don’t know how long I’ve been trying to get through.” Yet Daniel could have guessed, probably just as long as he’d been trying to get through. However, Jac wasn’t in a state of constant worry about whether there was a body lying in a ditch besides the mountains, not like Daniel had been worrying.
“What happened to you?” Daniel sat up in his bed, holding his head.
“Where to start? I fell through several layers of trees and broke my arm, but I didn’t know I was still in the Upperlands until a man tried to kill me, he thought I was some bird or something, anyway, he saved me and then told me my way back to the Academy. Apparently he shares my same hate for Reuben or he would have killed me.”
“Are you okay? Where are you now?”
“I’m near the gates, but I should be inside by the morning. So what happened when I left?”
“I went to see Mia.” Daniel took a deep breath. “And then I nearly exposed the island to the rest of the world, when I got back Reuben was real angry, he even took some of my blood.”
“Blood? He took some of your blood?”
“Yeah, he said that it was in case I did anything stupid. Why?”
“Dammit, Daniel! You’re at the school of all that is knowledge and you don’t know the importance of blood yet?”
Daniel ground his teeth together, he could feel the lecture coming on from Jac as his heart and head throbbed in consecutive beats. “Well, we touched upon it.”
“Don’t you remember all those stories about people the people whose blood had been hexed? Do you remember the end, or the middle? Or the part where their power slowly started to kill them, and yes, in the end they died.”
“That was just a horror story though.”
“No, it wasn’t. I need to talk to you, now!”
“You are.” Daniel frowned.
“I knew you shouldn’t have gone to that school. I could have taught you, at home, in fact, you could have lived with me. I even asked Roan, but she didn’t approve. She told me that if the Academy didn’t want you then she wouldn’t have had much’ve a choice.”
“But Jac, I’ve learnt so much here, and I know you know lots of stuff an’ all, but—”
“At least I wouldn’t have tried to hurt you!”
Daniel closed his eyes as a low hum vibrated in his head.
“I really need to tell you something, face-to-face.”
“I’m getting a bit of a headache, so I’ll speak to you in the morning… if you get passed the security.”
Daniel’s head went light as he severed the connection. He laid back down and blinked, each time his eyes stayed closed for a longer. He opened his eyes, and smoke had started to fog his vision. He jumped up at the thought that he was being gassed out, waving his hands in front of his eyes, but he couldn’t see them.
“Help!” he said, from the croak in his voice.
A giggle caught his ear and he turned, catching a glimpse of a girl running behind a light orange clay wall. He spun around, taking in the new scenery, definitely not his bedroom anymore, but it reminded him of something Karsar would’ve done, if he was into the lighter and brighter colours.
He started to lose himself in the new scene as he rushed off behind the wall to find the girl. Following the trail of faint giggles and hums, he kept catching up to her and her giggling became louder. And then she stopped, and stood right in front of him. Her face, he knew her face, she was the one who had almost cost him his life.
“Hey, hold up!” he said, as she rushed off.
The sun beamed heavily from the sky. Daniel glanced up to it, and it left dark spots freckling his sight. He rushed after the girl, trailing her fingers on the orange walls. The tips of his fingers started to tingle, and as he stopped to take a look at them, he noticed thick red welts on the tips.
She continued to giggle and run her hands along the wall, smoothing over all the lumpy orange clay like a professional.
“Please, just stop!” he gasped for air, clutching his chest and bending over. He tried to reach out for her.
She tripped up in front of him and he rushed over to her. She looked up at him and gave him a slight smile. He leant over her to get a full view of her face, and then she gripped him by his t-shirt and shoved her hand over his mouth. She replaced it with a single finger and then shushed him.
“I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to be here, but everyone seems to be playing dirty. Nobody but those key to your power can tell you, so get away. Get out of it!” she shouted from behind her gritted teeth.
“Who are you?”
“Ary—Aryna. But I can’t say any more… when you know, you know, and I’ll come and find you.”
“You live outside the island, and you haven’t you been killed.”
“I’m sorry, Daniel, I’m sorry, I can’t answer your questions, but when you’re free of your ties, and you will learn to break free of them, then I will answer your questions. Don’t worry, I will find you, but I’m not promising you that we can meet back here. If they find me here, or even know that we’ve talked, there will be some filthy war,” she said, curling her top lip.
“But… you said I was him… who?”
“I’ve said too much already, I can’t intervene.” She looked into Daniel’s eyes. “It wasn’t a coincidence we met in the coffee shop, I just needed to know.”
“You’re confusing me, please, just, I need to know.”
She grinned and then turned. Daniel reached out to grab her hand and it became dust in his fingers. She was gone, and the reality around him saturated his body in the dust and sand.
Chapter Thirty
Daniel woke to a snapping sound and the faint mumble of his name. He groaned and waved a hand in the direction of the alarm clock. The snapping got louder, and his name became clearer.
“Daniel get up!” Jac said, sitting at Daniel’s side.
Daniel shot up and slapped a hand against his forehead. “I’m in bed,” he said, smiling. “Why didn’t you just wake me?”
“I didn’t want to shake you in case you attacked me or something.”
“Oh,” he said, scooching up against the wall. “How long have you been here?”
“Not long, a couple of minutes. I climbed through the window,” he said, nodding at it, “though I unlatched it this time.”
Daniel yawned and then smiled. “Did you climb?”
“Yeah, but it was easy. Anyway, I needed to tell you something yesterday, but I was told to tell you in person. And I saw your dad.”
“What? My dad?”
“Yeah, he was worried about you being hurt in the school fight. All of the Lowerlands know about it. It was you right?”
Daniel scoffed. “So, where’s my dad at now?”
“He’s at home, he had to work, although he wanted to come up and visit you. I told him I was coming up, and you know, I think he was reassured.”
“Ah, that’s all I would have needed was him getting into an argument with Reuben. He worries about me too much.”
“Yeah. Well he needs to.”
Daniel climbed out of bed and got dressed while Jac sat on the edge of his bed, lost in thought. Daniel looked in the mirror above the sink and turned to see the side of his head where Jasper had hit him. There was nothing there now, unlike the first time Jasper had punched him.
“I think I’m healing a lot faster now,” Daniel said, combing a hand through his hair and ruffling it up. “How long does it normally take you to heal?”
“Quick. Although I do get those days when it’s really slow,” Jac said, rubbing at his arm. “I could have broken my arm, like, forever, and ever. But because my the process has sped up, a lot, I’ve been healing pretty quickly. Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering, I always thought that over time you just healed faster and faster.”
“You should know, this school is fancy as shit. But no, it’s in the blood, in fact, there are a lot of things that determine
who we are, and it’s to do with our blood.”
“Oh, god. You’ve been talking to my dad, haven’t you?”
“Yes, no. Why?”
Daniel raised an eyebrow at Jac. “Because I know he’s told you the story.”
“So you know then?”
“I don’t believe it. He’s been telling me that story since I was little.”
Jac nodded. “You did end up here though.”
“Yeah, but he said I’d do great things with power, and I haven’t done anything great yet, except take a beating and not retaliate. Or maybe one of the great things I do is beat Jasper up.”
“Well then do it and see if that is one of the great things your dad was talking about. But I still think he means greater things.” Jac smiled.
Daniel shrugged. “My dad reads a lot, so, you shouldn’t really believe anything that he says. And anyway, I can’t pick a fight with him, because if I hurt him he’s got Mark, Reuben, and all the classes.”
“So you’re thinking of the repercussions now.” Jac grinned. “Well, you only have to ask, because I’ll happily kick the shit out of him for you.”
Daniel shook his head. “No you can’t. Reuben would probably kill you, and Jasper hasn’t even attacked you for nothing yet.”
“Well the last time we met, I gave him something to remember me by, so he probably has it out for me,” Jac said. “You know you don’t have to stay here, we can find our own adventure, like we said we would.”
“No, you’re not beating him up, he’s a jerk, yeah. But you’d probably be killed, and I don’t want that. And no, I can’t leave, I’m learning so much here.”
“Please.”
“No.” Daniel glared into Jac’s eyes. “I’m staying here.”
“What? Where everyone seems to hate you?”
Daniel bowed his head and hummed. “I do miss home.”
Jac sighed. “See, you have it rough here.”
“Oh, and that reminds me, I’m having horrible lucid dreams, where people just keep popping into my head, in fact, they’re making me tired so that I’ll fall to sleep.”
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