by KB Anne
The old wizard was acting strange, constantly pacing, flinging his hands in the air for no apparent reason, behaving like we took him away from something and he was anxious to get back to it. It started last night as Scott and I gnawed on the dried beef and stale bread he gave us as our dinner—and I use that term lightly. And now, with the same rustic food for breakfast (oh joy) he’ll wear a circle into the stone by the time we’re done eating. I’m not one to judge someone for acting outside the definition of “normal.” It’s one of my life’s missions to be different from everybody else, either on purpose or by accident, but he just might be something else entirely.
I pop another grape into my mouth, opting to skip the desiccated mystery meat, and trying not to long for the scones that Alaric gave me on our first morning together—when everything between us was new and wonderful, and we were just a boy and a girl falling for each other without the knowledge that one of us was a reincarnated goddess and the other was a werewolf, and—holy feck! Carman made the scones. I never thought about that before, but she must have.
Is it possible she bewitched me like Breas did with the biscuits? Were my feelings for Alaric even real, or did she spell me into caring about him and then it just felt so natural I continued?
No. NO. I’m not going to start doubting our feelings for each other. His love for me and my love for him are real. Those memories of prior lives together are real, and I will not question them. I will not corrupt them the way Carman corrupted everything else. My nails dig into my palms as I think about all the things I wish I could do to that witch if only my goddess side would allow it.
I stare off at the far corner of the keep. Last night I swear I saw someone standing there, albeit invisible. Initially I thought it was Madigan, and that somehow he came through the portal with us. But Gallean’s energy barriers would have kept him out—unless the ability to become invisible makes someone immune to magic . . .
But Madigan would have eventually revealed himself to at least one of us after Gallean showed us to our rooms. And I could have sworn I heard Gallean talking to someone in the courtyard before I fell asleep. Maybe it was the girl I sensed in the seomra de rúin.
Or I’m going insane and sitting here is only making it worse. I shove the plate away from me.
“Let’s get on with the training, shall we?”
Gallean stops in front of me. “You must bolster your energy with fuel before you begin. I’ll not have you wallowing during a session. You can watch us while you finish eating.”
I reach for a block of cheese and gnaw on it while Scott and Gallean begin a complicated dance of lifting and pushing away a ball of energy. They rise and fall in rhythm with each other. So much for actually learning anything important.
“Dance moves for the next America’s Got Talent aren’t going to protect anyone from werewolves, rogue gods, or evil Fomorians.”
Scott stops, ready to defend Gallean and his dancing feet. Gallean gestures for Scott to continue before responding to me. “I am not sure what America’s Got Talent is, but I assure you that while you lounge around eating your breakfast, Scott and I are in every sense preparing for battle.”
I snort. I had no idea wizards could be so wildly entertaining. “And just how are these moves able to combat mortal enemies?”
Gallean stiffens.
I might have gone too far, but what can I say? The wizard brings out the bitchiness in me. I mean, it’s like sending the blind Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story into a fight against an entire battalion of stormtroopers. He might manage to flip the switch and not get hit by a blaster, but he’ll still die from the explosion.
“We’re handling energy. We’re harvesting it from the space around us and using those ‘dance moves’ you speak of to manipulate the energy.”
“I can see that, but how does positive energy combat an eyeball that can turn you to stone?”
The wizard narrows his gaze at me. “And why is it that you’re worried about the monster who turns people to stone?”
“I assumed you already knew the reason. Aren’t you the all-knowing, the all-powerful wizard?”
Scott shifts uncomfortably. He’s wondering if I’m antagonizing the wizard too much and if he’ll need to fight him to protect me, or if he should just let him smack me around a little bit to knock some sense into me.
Gallean waves for me to join them. “I see that you and I are going to need several contemplative conversations together. It takes you a long time to trust another—as it does me. And as yet, I don’t trust you.”
It’s the first time anybody has ever voiced their distrust of me out loud. I mean, sure, plenty of teachers didn’t trust me. That’s why they hid the scissors and staplers. The principal didn’t trust me either, because every time he had given me a free pass, I proved to him that he shouldn’t have. I came to embrace the distrust of those in authority in Vernal Falls, but my friends and family always trusted me. I lied, I cheated, I stole, and they trusted me in spite of that. And now here’s this man, this all-knowing wizard who doesn’t trust me even though he knows I’m a reincarnated goddess.
Scott goes on guard. He figures I’ll either go after Gallean or hurt myself. But he needn’t worry. Rather than being pissed off and annoyed with Gallean’s attitude, I’m actually starting to like the old guy.
“Can you show me how to do that?”
Scott gives me a smug smile as if to say, “I told you so.” I roll my eyes at him and begin to fall into the rhythms the wizard’s modeling for us.
I lift my outstretched hands facing palm up toward my chest. I can actually feel energy form into a ball. I push the energy ball out in front of me, almost releasing it. Before it fully escapes, I pull it back into my chest and push it down. My hands move up and down in the rhythm of the flow Gallean and Scott are in. I’ll never admit it to them, but I feel the energy coursing through the air. I’ve always felt it, but I’ve never used it.
“By using the energy around you, you are able to maintain your own strength,” Gallean says as if reading my mind.
Great, another one of them.
“When you use your own energy—as you have a tendency to do, Gigi—you wind up depleted. If your enemy were able to withstand you for a short burst of time, they would soon find they could get the upper hand and, in your case, kill your earthly form and rid the world of a god forever.”
I try to swallow the lump in my throat. I’ve thought about my own mortality before, but I’ve never really considered the impact my death would have on the world. Gram, Dad, Granda, Clarissa, they all told me what would happen, but I didn’t believe them. It took Gallean to make it real for me.
The thought of Brigit, a goddess who cares about her people more than anything, no longer existing is a fate the world should never experience. I will not do that to them.
“Would I be able to use this energy in a fight? At the bonfire on Samhain, I couldn’t do anything. I watched my father get attacked and Scott tortured, and all I could do was stand there like a fucking asshole.”
“You were able to do something.”
I remember the shield I dropped over myself, then Scott, and how I could stretch it to include others. “Yes, but what good is a shield?”
“As soon as someone entered the shield, they were protected. You were able to protect them and keep them from harm. You could stretch and manipulate the shield. You can throw it out in front of you or to the side or behind you.”
“But—”
“But that takes energy, and you can either deplete your own or harvest the energy around you.”
“I guess it’s harvest time then.”
* * *
For the next few hours we practice our dance routine. In the beginning I was clumsy, and awkward, and freaking uncomfortable. I felt like I was thirteen all over again, but at least those were emotions I was well familiar with. Once I was able to manipulate and push and pull that energy, it was like the skies opened and a giant beam of light
shined down upon me. It soon became a natural movement, and I could feel the power of energy generating around me and within me and the way it felt to pull and push it. Best natural high ever.
I juggle an energy ball back and forth in my hands. “Can I shoot one of these at someone?”
Scott continues to manipulate his. “Leave it to Gigi to think about violent ends.”
“Easy for you to say, Scott. Your power wasn’t hampered when we were fighting.”
His shoulders slump. “But I wasn’t able to draw on my power then.”
Gallean keeps moving even though Scott and I have both stopped. “When were you able to use it?”
Scott glances at me. “It wasn’t until the power swirled around me in a tornado and Gigi admitted that she was in love with Clayone’s son that I was able to control it.”
Gallean pulls a large energy ball back into this chest. “There are many lessons, and they occur when they are meant to. It is important to take advantage of the lessons when they arrive. Do not regret the past. Look forward to the future.”
The emotional level lies heavy on us, and I take it upon myself to bring some humor to the situation. “Gallean, I didn’t know you also wrote greeting cards for Hallmark.”
He pushes the energy back into the ground. “Again, I don’t understand your references, Gigi. Scott, there is no point lamenting on the limits of the past. It only holds bad energy. It’ll only hamper your progress for the future.”
Scott returns to pulling and pushing the energy. He’s really taking the training seriously. I guess I am too. As I crack my neck from side to side, preparing for my next round of energy work, something catches my attention at the end of the tunnel. I move to look more closely and sense the energy mass from yesterday.
With Gallean’s training and my increased awareness of the energy particles around me, it’s clearer. I concentrate and try to read the mind of whoever might be hiding in the shadows.
Gallean steps in front of me. “Shall we continue with our afternoon activities?”
If he thinks he can distract me after I’ve had a full night’s sleep, he is mistaken. “Is someone standing there?”
He shifts uncomfortably, still blocking my line of sight.
I move to get a better angle, but his giant body keeps getting in the way. “Who are you hiding?”
“No one.”
Scott’s mind fills with an incredible need to discover who it is. He heads for the tunnel, but not at regular human speed. He moves at super-fast god speed.
“Don’t!” Gallean yells as Scott nears the end of the tunnel. “It is not time for you to meet.”
We both stop and look at the wizard. “Meet? Who are we meeting?”
I stare down the tunnel again, trying to form a body out of the energy particles. Whoever was there has disappeared.
Scott senses as much too, and suddenly appears next to me at his super-fast god speed. Of course he gets blessed with increased athletic prowess, and I can almost read shadow minds—big fecking deal.
“How was this person able to penetrate your protection boundaries, Gallean?” he says.
“That is not your concern.”
He stands in front of the wizard. “I disagree. It is our concern. There are monsters ready to kill us. I believe we have the right to know how this person was able to penetrate your protective barriers and observe our training. How do you know this person is not an enemy? Or somebody who will pretend to be your ally and then turn against you?”
Scott has never questioned a person’s truth before. It’s always been that way. But now I see him for who he really is—the powerful God of Love filled with passion.
Gallean straightens to his full height. As tall as he is, he is nothing compared to the god before him. “Who are you to question me? You arrive at my keep. I agree to train you, and this is the gratitude I receive? Be gone today. Be gone from my sight.”
Well, that’s an unexpected turn of events. Scott wanted nothing more than to get to the Shadow Realm and learn to control his magic from Gallean, and now Gallean wants to kick us out?
If the wizard was hoping to defuse Scott’s tension, he made a grave logistical error. “You refuse to train us?”
Gallean stands as a formidable opponent even without tapping into his magic. Scott’s not backing down and neither is he. Powerful energy swirls in the air. I sense Gallean harnessing the energy around him, but Scott uses his own. Soon a tornado forms above his head.
I remember Gallean’s lesson from earlier, about how if I were to use my own energy and an opponent was able to withstand it, they could defeat me once I was depleted. Looks like my brother needs a refresher.
“Scott, you must control it. Don’t use your own energy.”
He has so many thoughts whirling around his brain I can’t get a read on him. All I know is that he refuses to be swayed.
“Scott, you can’t win this. What are you doing?”
“There’s something he’s not telling us. Something really important. That shadow belongs to somebody important to us. Important to me.”
Gallean’s stoic face reveals not even a hint of emotion. “And I told you, you’re not ready to meet yet.”
His response infuriates Scott. The tornado builds. It sounds like a freaking freight truck is barreling down at us. “Who are you to decide? Who are you to tell us who we can meet and when?”
My brother unravels before my eyes. He keeps tapping into his own energy and his well is quickly depleting.
Gallean appraises his demeanor. “You are unable to use magic here. Gigi is also unable to use magic here.”
This was news to me. “Then why are we here if not to use our magic?”
“You were sent here to learn to use the energy around you. You will learn how to manipulate the energy, but not your magic.”
Gallean called Scott “the Angry One” the very first time we met in the seomra de rúin. I didn’t see it before, but I see it now. If it comes to a fight, it won’t end well for either one of us.
15
Seven of Swords
Caer hadn’t slept again last night. The betrayal she’d felt at the hands of the wizard proved too painful to do much else than curl up in a tight ball, slice open her soul, and let it pour out onto the cave floor. The final insult had come when he wouldn’t allow her inside the courtyard to watch because the sister could see her too.
Was the sister as powerful as the wizard? The question kept plaguing her. It was doubtful. She was too young to have possessed mastery of skills that had taken the wizard decades, maybe even centuries to learn.
Caer wished her assassination attempt hadn’t been interrupted by the wizard. If she had succeeded, it would have been her in his courtyard today training with real blades and swords rather than pushing and pulling energy around like the brother and sister.
After much internal debate and an almost insurmountable amount of conflict, Caer knew she couldn’t stay away from Gallean’s keep. She’d heed his warning and observe them from outside the tunnel. Even from a distance, she could still learn from him. As he’d said, she had acquired most of her skills that way anyway.
She held her shame close to her. The tantrum she had thrown in front of the wizard after he refused to continue training her embarrassed her. The wizard didn’t comprehend that, for Caer, everything had changed once he finally acknowledged her presence. Finally someone else knew of her existence aside from Balor. Someone else knew her story.
She still didn’t understand why he wouldn’t allow her to meet the brother and sister. He spoke of their trio of power and not being able to control it. If the most powerful wizard couldn’t control it, how would three untrained individuals be able to when they finally met?
She stepped cautiously through the first barrier. She felt her invisibility waiver, but it stayed in place. The three barriers kept out everyone with the exception of Caer, and now, the brother and sister. If the three of them could pass through, who else could? It
was a question she’d need to ask Gallean if she could get him alone.
After each barrier, she checked to ensure her invisibility was intact. At the final one, she slid over to the outside wall of the keep and peeked down the tunnel. The three danced in the same courtyard she and Gallean had trained in for hand-to-hand combat the day before. Frustration reblossomed within her. The dance wouldn’t teach her how to fight Balor. If she mimicked the wizard’s movements, she didn’t know if she could adopt them into battle formation. She wouldn’t know until she was in the thick of it. She’d watch and learn from him for now because it was her only recourse.
* * *
After only a few hours of practice the brother and sister sat and ate again. They spent more time stuffing their faces and wagging their tongues than training. Each day that she had practiced with Gallean, they had eaten breakfast and then hadn’t stopped training until evening. She was glad they hadn’t wasted time eating when she’d had so many lessons to learn. Thank the gods too, because the brother and sister ended her training.
They were of a weaker constitution than Caer. Gallean took pity on them. He did not pity her. She didn’t need his pity. Pity implied weakness, and Caer knew weakness would only get her killed.
After their break she studied the sister. What made her more worthy of Gallean’s attention than Caer? They’d only been at it for a few minutes and already sweat beaded on her brow. She shouldn’t be fatigued so soon. She’d never last in a real battle.
Suddenly the sister’s spine stiffened. She spun around and stared at her. Caer swallowed. She couldn’t possibly see her, and there was no reason she’d suspect someone was watching them. The brother followed his sister’s gaze and began heading in her direction. Before Caer could think, he was almost upon her, moving faster than any human she’d ever seen.
Gallean yelled at the brother to stop.
Go, he roared in Caer’s head so loudly she threw her hands to her ears, thinking her head would explode.
