Emerald (The Silvia Saga Book 1)

by Jenna Lee

  Harlan spends the next several hours teaching me how to kick, punch and defend myself. By the end of the session I am pretty confident with myself. I believe that I will be able to fight off anyone who tries to fuck with me. Harlan doesn’t even give me a ‘job well done’ or anything. He just says, “We are done for the day,” and walks off.

  “What the fuck is your problem?” I yell out in frustration. He is such a jerk sometimes. No not just sometimes, all the fucking time.

  I take my time stretching out my muscles. I know they will be tender tomorrow. I look up to see Jolie coming toward me.

  “How did you go with Harlan? I bet you had a lot of fun,” she jokes. I shake my head.

  “You have no idea. He’s such a jerk,” I admit to her, which has her laughing out loud.

  “Oh, Dara, you make me laugh. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re not done for the day, yet. We need to have a session to continue your teachings from yesterday. It’s important to do it all again to keep it all fresh in your head.”

  I really don’t mind training with Jolie. It’s fun, I love embracing and learning magic. I had only scratched the surface. I couldn’t wait to see what other cool shit I could do. Jolie breaks into a huge smile, hearing my thoughts and we head into the dome.

  “Today we are going to do what you did yesterday by bringing your power forward. But today, I want you to try and do something else. Rather than lifting up the couch and throwing it, I want you to focus all of your powers onto this dummy figure here,” she says, pointing to the mannequin I hadn’t noticed before. She continues, “Basically, I want you to destroy this dummy with your powers. Reckon you can handle that?” she asks.

  This gets me all giddy and excited. “Yes, lets nail this bitch,” I say, pointing to the poor dummy that won’t look so crash hot, once I am finished with her.

  I position myself in front of the dummy. I start by relaxing my body and going to my happy place. My beautiful forest, Silvia, with the unique purple-leafed trees, the vibrant green grass. Once I am in my relaxed zone, I head deep within and find my beautiful purple sphere. This time it is even easier to gain access within the sphere. It seems that each time, it was easier and easier to enter.

  The barrier is not putting up as much force as it did the first time. I am greeted with beautiful blue smoke, which I mentally grab a hold of and start to pull it out of the sphere. I am met with a force once again, and it takes concentration and energy to bring the smoke forth. Finally, I manage to break it free and it appears in my palms. I turn my attention to the dummy that’s ahead of me. I repeat what I did yesterday, releasing my power to the dummy.

  Unlike yesterday however, it doesn’t go where I planned. Instead the energy passes the dummy and heads toward Jolie who is standing to the left. She screams stepping out of the way. The force misses her by an inch, slamming into the back wall leaving a huge hole. My magic drops instantly as I rush toward Jolie who is now on the ground.

  “Oh my god! Fuck! Jolie, I am so sorry. I have no idea why I missed, and it went for you. I am so sorry. Are you okay?” I ask, all in a blabby rush.

  She puts her hand up stopping me from talking any further. She takes a few deep breaths and finally says, “Jesus, Dara if you wanted to take me out, you just had to give me some notice first. Luckily, I was paying attention and it didn’t hit me. Otherwise there would have been hell to pay right now. You need to focus more on your target, don’t get distracted, or this will happen again. The magic will go toward something else, other than the real target,” she explains. I am just relieved she is okay.

  Pull your shit together, Dara, I think. You almost hurt your friend. You need to try harder, I tell myself. I spend the rest of the day and far into the night practising the same thing over and over again until I think I have mastered it. There is no way I am going to bed until I get this right. I nearly hurt Jolie, and I couldn’t get it out of my head.

  Realisation hit me that I needed to try harder.

  As next time I could really hurt someone I loved.

  Chapter 26

  Dara

  The next couple of weeks are filled to the brim with training. Most of my training is done with Jolie, channelling and practicing magic. I am absolutely exhausted. Every day is exactly the same. Sleep, train, eat, train repeat. I groan and turn over in bed as I listen to the guys and Jolie arguing just outside my bedroom door.

  I instantly sit up as I hear Jolie say, “Let’s go in right now and discuss this with, Dara. After all, she has to be involved in this as well. It’s not right keeping stuff from her.”

  I am so glad that Jolie has my back. They all enter as I sit up in bed, adjusting myself making sure nothing is showing outside of my pyjamas.

  Blair comes over and sits next to me on one side of the bed. Oliver follows him and sits on my other side. Declan sits on the end of my bed giving me some space, and Harlan, as usual, towers over me ready to hit me with the news. What on earth could they be arguing over this early in the morning? I wonder.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, as I can’t stand the silence any longer.

  Harlan clears his throat and motions for Declan to explain. Interesting, I could have sworn it was going to be the Harlan show, as usual. Instead, he surprises me when he gets Declan to explain. This shit must be serious. He is getting the brainy nerd to break the news to me, great.

  Declan moves forward on the bed and finally speaks, “Dara, we have heard news from town that James has sent out even more Slayers in search for your Emerald stone. Based on the description of your dream, it is the Emerald stone that you will find first. I hate to be the one to say this, but we need to move out at first light. We can’t let the Emerald be taken by the wrong hands. It is rightfully yours, and you must be the one to claim it first,” he explains.

  I sit there with my mouth open. It takes me several minutes to process his words. We need to go in search of the stone already? I thought I would have more time to prepare. I am not ready for this, I can’t do this, and I start to panic. My breathing becomes shallow. I need more time to train. Blair places his hands into mine, trying to calm me down. It works slightly but I am still a mess. I can’t believe what I just heard. Reality has just dropped down, and I needed to step up and fulfil my destiny.

  I take some calming deep breaths and go to my happy place, as Jolie has taught me. I need to calm down and prepare myself mentally for what is about to happen.

  “Okay, I am a little freaked out right now. I thought I would have more time to prepare. I just don’t think I am ready to fulfil my destiny yet. But, I know I have to and I will use everything in me to make you all proud,” I admit to my Warriors. Each one looks back at me with pride in their eyes.

  Even Harlan looks at me, which makes my heart beat faster. Oliver shifts beside me bringing my body close to his, giving me a tight hug, comforting me and letting me know that I can do this and he, as well as all the guys, and Jolie, believe in me. Just as my father did when he set this up. He had faith in me and knew I wouldn’t disappoint him. That I need to step up for the sake of Silvia’s future. I am doing this not only for him, but for Anna and Albert, and most of all, for my Warriors. I keep feeding positive thoughts into my mind, because if I don’t keep doing that, I would literally be dying from all of the negative thoughts that threaten to come up.

  “Alright,” I say confidently, with every ounce of strength I have, “Let’s do this. It’s now or never. I won’t let James near or hold my Emerald. It’s mine.”

  I get up out of bed and head to the bathroom. I look back at my Warriors and see pride in their eyes. They believe in me and that alone gives me all the motivation I need. “I got this, I won’t let you down,” I mentally tell them all. They nod in agreement and head out of my bedroom, giving me my last moments of privacy before we leave. I hop in the shower and enjoy the hot water on my back. I don’t know when I will have another one, so, I cherish this moment.

  I
wash every inch of my body while mentally preparing for what’s to come next. I know it’s time to get out and get ready. To say I am not scared would be an understatement. I am absolutely shitting myself, but the voice inside my head keeps repeating positive thoughts.

  As I come out of the bathroom I see an outfit on the bed. There is a note sitting on top that reads:

  To Dara,

  We believe in you, and together, we will retrieve what is rightfully yours.

  All our love,

  Your Warriors xoxo

  PS – You’re going to look totally hot in this.