The Undying Illusionist

by Candy Crum

  It took every ounce of Arryn's resolve not to reach out and punch him right in the throat. It was one thing to be cold and terrible like Adrien had been, but another to be devious and misleading like Jackson—to be willing to use someone for their own personal gain.

  It disgusted her.

  She did her best to keep him from seeing that. She smiled again. "I'm flattered, Jackson. But like you said, we don't even know each other. Maybe we should fix that."

  Jackson nodded, his smile a bit too eager. "Yeah! I like that. When would you like to get together? I'd like to get to know you as soon as possible."

  Clearly, the man hadn't spent nearly enough time with Talia, because he was terrible at this fact-finding crap. Way too eager, way too desperate. Even if Arryn wasn’t aware of what he wanted, she certainly would've been suspicious.

  "I don't know. I'll have to think about that. With training and everything, I have a lot to do throughout the day. But I'd like to find the time."

  He nodded, exhaling heavily as if the conversation had greatly relieved him. "You have no idea how good that is to hear. I was so nervous. Everybody around here gets the wrong idea about me. I'm not so bad, and I was worried that you might think that I am. I'd really like to get to know you more, Anna."

  Arryn bit her lip to hold back the tirade forming in the back of her mind. "Arryn."

  He looked at her with a confused expression. "What?"

  Arryn stood straight. "Arryn. My name is Arryn, not Anna."

  He looked as if he wanted to curl up in a ball. His energy shifted once again. Confidence became nervousness and insecurity. "I'm sorry, I meant Arryn."

  Arryn waved him off. "No worries. But I do need to get ready for my next class. I'm heading to physical magic, though I'm sure that you already knew that."

  He nodded once before saying, "Yeah! Me, too. I have to go to physical magic, too."

  Jackson quickly said his goodbyes before grabbing his things and escaping from the room. It was no surprise to Arryn to see him head down the hallway in the direction of Talia's office instead of back the other way to physical magic.

  Arryn gave him a few minutes’ head start before leaving the room herself. While she did need to go to her physical magic class, she also needed to get outside for a bit. She wanted to stand under the trees in the courtyard and feel the purity in them.

  She knew it would calm her down just in case she ran into him again—or worse, Talia.

  She made her way down the hall and jumped as she turned a corner and ran directly into not only Jackson but Talia and Scarlett as well.

  Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat as she stared at them, knowing they had been discussing her and that they were also standing directly in the path of her exit.

  Before she could speak, she felt that familiar buzz in her mind, vibrating through her head and telling her that somebody was in her thoughts. She immediately went on the defensive, thinking of anything and everything she possibly could to keep them distant.

  "Hey!" Arryn exclaimed. "Sorry, I wanted to go outside and take a walk before class. It's beautiful outside. I didn't mean to interrupt."

  Talia smiled, but it was disturbing. "No worries. We just ran into Jackson. I was on my way to my office, and Scarlett's on her way to her classroom. Are you all right? You seem… well, just not yourself."

  Arryn couldn't keep the words lying bitch from crossing her mind as she faked a smile. She was about to speak when she saw Scarlett's eyes widen.

  Shit! Arryn thought. It's her, not Talia! She scolded herself for thinking anything more in their presence before giving a smile.

  "Anyway, it's nice to see you guys. Jackson, I'll see you tomorrow in class." Arryn waved and squeezed through them to get to the stairs.

  ***

  Talia stepped to the side and let Arryn go through, knowing full well it was in her power to crush her right there. Unfortunately, she needed to be posed as an enemy before she could even think of doing something like that. Otherwise, the people would turn on her and things would get a lot worse before she was ready. Everything had to stay on course.

  "Well? Did you get anything out of her?" Talia asked Scarlett.

  Scarlett's eyes still gazed after Arryn. Finally, she said, "She was definitely startled by seeing us, but all of the things running through her mind were pretty normal. She was thinking about her druid friend, about his attack. She is also thinking about her talk with Jackson. If what I saw is accurate, Jackson, you did an excellent job in the flirting department."

  "Thanks!" Jackson said, a little too excited at the praise.

  Talia rolled her eyes. "Jackson, thank you. You can go now. We'll meet later."

  Jackson began to protest, but Talia's stern look shut him down quickly enough. With nothing more than a nod, he turned to walk down the stairs.

  Scarlett watched his retreat. "You didn't have to be SO cold, did you?"

  Talia shook her head, clearly annoyed. "Back on task, mystic. Was there anything else on her mind that we should know about? Because she seemed awfully jumpy."

  Scarlett smiled. "Well, she did call you a lying bitch when you mentioned casually running into me. Other than that, she either doesn't have a clue or she's gotten very good at controlling her thoughts."

  Talia rubbed the bridge of her nose. "That girl is gonna be the death of me if I don't get to her first."

  Scarlett looked at Talia pointedly, raising her hands to her sides. "I keep telling you that you need to end her. Get her out of the way. But no, you gotta do this the hard way."

  Talia sighed and looked at Scarlett with disdain. "Yes, I know. It looks like it's time to change things around here. We need to turn everyone against her—fast. We need to make sure Amelia doesn't trust her, or anyone else for that matter."

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  After a long evening of training followed by a terrible night of sleep, Arryn wasn't in the best mood the following morning, and her trainees took notice.

  She was very rough on them that morning, making them repeat shots over and over, one right after another until they hit their target dead-center. Only then would she allow them to change positions or switch out. Merely hitting the target wasn't good enough this morning; only perfect accuracy would do.

  Not wanting to waste her time on anyone else, she took Maia out into the field and continued training from horseback. She'd gotten very good at shooting at moving targets, and she didn't want to slow down now.

  When her trainees saw her in action, they realized why she was so hard on them. It was because she was good. Very good. If they were gonna have their asses kicked, they wanted it to be by somebody who knew what they were doing, not like the typical Guard training they received every day.

  By the time Arryn got to the Academy, she was physically and mentally exhausted, and in no mood to deal with any shit. It was like the calm, peaceful place inside of her had broken and her ability to keep her mouth shut was long gone.

  Arryn was sick and tired of playing by the rules. She was fed up with tiptoeing around while trying to figure things out. Arryn had never been one for backstabbing and lying. When she had a problem, she confronted it head-on, none of this sneaking around bullshit. She hated it.

  And she planned to do something about it.

  As she strolled into the Academy, up the stairs and down the hall toward Talia's office, she thought about how much her life had changed over the last few weeks. She thought about the good that was clouded by the bad.

  The remnant attacks. The missing students. Doyle and his vague message. Elon and his stunning information. The only thing that she couldn't quite figure out was Talia. And that ended today.

  Arryn didn't even bother knocking when she reached Talia's door, just opened it and walked inside, shutting it behind her before crossing the room and having a seat in front of her desk. Talia didn't say a word as she watched Arryn's every move.

  Seeing Talia's shocked face, Arryn was fully aware of the sh
itty expression on her own, but she didn't care.

  "Good morning, Arryn," Talia greeted her. "Please, come in and have a seat."

  A half-smile spread across Arryn's lips at the Dean's sarcasm. While she couldn't stand her, she did appreciate a good sense of humor.

  "Thanks. I think I will." There was a pause as Arryn sat there, studying Talia. She looked into her eyes to search for something redeemable, but she couldn't see anything, good or bad. More confusion. She didn't like it.

  Arryn leaned forward and reached her hand across Talia's desk, palm-up, as if she expected Talia to lay something in it.

  Talia looked down at Arryn's hand before meeting her eyes again. "What? I don't understand."

  Arryn smiled. "I didn't either the first time a druid extended her hand to me, but I learned. Now, I'm extending my hand to you. I'm asking you to take it because I want to know who you are. I can't get a read on you. And I'm done with playing mind-fuck games. Either you're good and I owe you an apology, or you're a piece of shit and I need to rip your fucking head off. So, let's play, shall we?"

  There was a moment of disbelief in Talia's expression before it changed to one of annoyance, or maybe even worse. Finally, Talia's eyes narrowed as she leaned forward on her desk.

  "Those are pretty brave words coming from someone who has absolutely no idea who I am. If I'm as bad as you think, then what is stopping me from turning you to ash? What is it that keeps me from turning this entire building," she laughed then, lifting her hands and motioning to everything around her before returning them to her desk, "hell, this entire city into my own personal fire pit?"

  Arryn pulled her hand back and relaxed into the chair, crossing her arms in front of her as she glared across the mahogany desktop between them. She shrugged.

  "You know, I've been asking myself that for a while now. Kept going back and forth with it. Everyone around me said that I was crazy. Hell, I even started to believe that I was crazy. I mean, what person in their right mind meets someone and just automatically hates them?" Arryn asked.

  Talia shook her head. "If anyone had asked me that before I met you, I would've said that I didn't know. But now that I've met you and developed quite a hatred for you, I would have to say you and I are a lot alike in that department."

  Arryn laughed. "You and I are nothing alike. I know you'd like to think that. You have everyone else fooled, even Amelia. The woman who desperately wants to see the good in everyone. But you’re the fool if you think that’ll last forever. She’s very gullible, but she’s not an idiot."

  Arryn knew damn good and well that Amelia was smarter than her words let on, but she wanted to place the idea that she and Amelia weren’t as close as the Dean would choose to believe.

  It was only a small thing, but Arryn didn’t want anything to happen to Amelia while she was baiting Talia and hoping to out her.

  A dark smile spread across Talia's lips. "And what would you say about that delicious friend of yours?"

  Arryn's expression became amused as she realized Talia was trying to use Cathillian against her. "Well, he is certainly pretty to look at, but there's not a lot going on upstairs. So yes, I would call him gullible as well. Me? Not so much. You see, it took a long time, but I finally realized why I'm clinging to this feeling so hard."

  "Is that so? Please, do tell."

  "I'm so happy that you asked!" Arryn chirped. "When I came to the Dark Forest, Elysia, the daughter of the Chieftain, told me that she chose to trust me because of my potential for power. Not only physical, but with nature. She said that I was strong, pure. She once told me that I had likely been touched by nature magic all my life, but I didn't know it."

  Talia rolled her eyes. "Fascinating."

  Arryn laughed again. "Thank you! I'm so glad you think so. Because here's where it truly gets fascinating. Of course, the last few days I've been thinking hard, and then even harder on top of that. And finally, I remembered something. I met Adrien once. I even shook his hand. The funny thing was, when he touched me, I felt cold. I felt empty. There was something about him that I just didn't like. I'd forgotten about it, but lately lots of memories have been coming back, including the one where my father told my mother that Adrien had a daughter."

  Arryn paused, letting that sink in. Talia's eyes briefly widened before her stony mien returned.

  After a few moments, Arryn continued, "Then I remembered something else. I remembered the initial reaction I got when I met you. I smiled, and I was happy to see you. I was excited about what the future might hold, and then I took your hand. And I felt cold. I felt empty. It reminded me very much of the way Adrien had made me feel. Now, I have no way to prove you’re his daughter, but I do know that those memories are real, and so is the warning that Doyle gave. He told us that Adrien had someone inside the city. I have a feeling that was you."

  Talia's eyes narrowed as she studied Arryn. It was obvious that she was weighing her words carefully. Finally, Talia said, "Again… If you are so sure that I'm bad, why the hell haven't I ended you? Why would I help rebuild a city I only planned to take down?"

  Arryn shrugged again. "I don't know. Perhaps you don't want to be the Chancellor of a broken city. Perhaps you want to be Queen in your prosperous Queendom."

  Nodding her head, Talia remarked, "Interesting theory. But like you said, there's no way to prove whether you are right or wrong, so I guess you'll just have to learn to trust me."

  "Oh, I don't think so. Like I said, the only way I'm walking out of here trusting you is if you give me your hand. I might not be the mystic I think you have on your payroll who looks through my head all hours of the day—and yes, I can feel that—but nature magic is on my side, and that's all I need."

  "And if you find something you don't like?" Talia asked, her voice low. Arryn heard the warning in it.

  "I can't kill you today. I need to prove your guilt. I suspect that's the reason I'm still alive. Am I right? Amelia knows I don't like you. Amelia knows I don't trust you. If you kill me, you're the first person she'll start with. That's the only reason you haven't made a move on me yet. It's the same reason I haven't made a move on you. Because Amelia trusts you."

  Talia stood, shoulders squared, and smiled down at Arryn. Taking the hint, Arryn also stood, mimicking Talia's confident stance.

  As a dark smile spread across Talia's face, she extended her hand. Arryn took it, and that cold, empty, dead feeling almost immediately began rushing through her. It was only through sheer will that Arryn was able to hide it in her expression, but judging by the almost sadistic look on Talia's face, she knew.

  Just before Arryn let go, Talia challenged her. "Let the games begin. And have fun trying to prove it."

  Arryn smiled as she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

  Now, I can really get to work. Time to do what I was meant to.

  ***

  As soon as Arryn had left the room and the door was safely closed, Talia began pacing the room. She had no idea why she'd been so confrontational. It was the worst possible scenario, and she’d failed to act properly.

  Nature magic was unfamiliar to her, so she had no idea how one's natural energy was any different than any other person’s. She’d assumed it was no different, just heightened by the nature magic.

  Still, she couldn't help but wonder, if she'd focused on positive intentions could she have fooled Arryn's test? Somehow, Talia was certain that if there was anyone in the city capable of taking her out, it was the Arcadian druid, but that couldn't happen.

  Talia refused at all costs to let it.

  As soon as she was sure Arryn was long gone, Talia made her way out of the office and down to Scarlett's classroom. Before Talia had even reached the door, Scarlett was stepping outside, closing it and quickly striding toward Talia.

  "You called?" Scarlett asked.

  "How did you know?" Talia asked, her demeanor slightly off. She was well aware that she wasn't behaving the way that she normally would.

  Scarle
tt looked at her incredulously. "Are you serious? I heard you mentally screaming my name all the way down the hall. What's going on?"

  Talia shook her head, nervously looking around for anyone who might be listening—especially Arryn.

  "Just…" Talia nodded as she pointed to her temple, tapping it twice.

  A few moments later, Talia saw Scarlett's eyes turn white and then widen, as they stared into her own before returning to normal. "I think you just fucked up. A lot. What the hell were you thinking?"

  "I don't know!" Talia said, her voice quiet, but her actions explosive as she turned her hands in the air. "She was sitting there, confident, challenging me. I've never had anyone get under my skin like that. I've never met anyone like her. I have always been able to keep my calm, no matter what, but that girl…" she growled. "I want her gone. Now. There's no more ‘well maybe we can do this, or maybe we can do that.’ Now. It has to happen now."

  Scarlett nodded, gently running her hands down Talia's upper arms in an obvious attempt to soothe her. "Right. We can do this, but remember what you said. It has to be thought out, planned. It can't be random, it can't be what I would consider my way. I feel like in the condition that you're in, you'd be willing to walk right into her classroom and tomahawk her in the face, and we can't do that, now can we?"

  Talia didn't much care for being talked to like a child, but hearing facts and logic from Scarlett in a soothing tone was proving surprisingly helpful. At that moment, her annoyance with her partner was lessened, and she felt grateful.

  "Amelia went to talk to Elon recently," Scarlett told her. "I snaked that out of Arryn's mind. Amelia told her that he knew all about her father. Maybe we can…"

  Talia smiled. "Yes. Elon was my father's engineer. He knows almost as much as Doyle did. I want you to sneak in and talk to him. Also we need to find out which students have any kind of attachment to Arryn, but I assume that we're looking for a noble. When we find the person, we will kill them, take their blood as we have been, and we’ll make sure that Arryn gets caught."