The Arch Stone: Foxway Academy: Book 1

by Adam Faulkner

  “What’s wrong, Emilie?” I think he was genuinely concerned. It was hard to work out what the professor was thinking a lot of the time. I looked at him for a moment, then looked back out into the hall.

  “Everything…” I sighed.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Greyford asked, appearing next to me. I shook my head. “You know, a large part of my job as headmaster is to make sure that my students are safe. Both physically and mentally.”

  “Look how that turned out…”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Nothing… I’m sorry. It’s just that… I’ve always had so much control over my own life. My mum never restricted me. She let me make my own choices. I’ve grown up being completely in control of my own life. I guess it’s kind of ironic, given how I was adopted. But now, my brain’s completely messed up. And not just with the voices. I don’t know what’s going on anymore. For the first time in my life, I’m feel like I’m not the one in control…” I explained.

  Greyford nodded slowly.

  “I can see that you’re going through a lot…” he agreed. “You know, we haven’t had to offer this for a while, but, if you need it, Miss Artemis is a trained counsellor,” he eventually suggested.

  I thought for a moment, and nodded.

  “I think… That might actually help…” I agreed.

  Greyford nodded.

  “I’ll talk to Miss Artemis right away. Go to the counselling room instead of my office tomorrow.”

  “I don’t want to miss any lessons for it… Especially not my Reality Magic sessions.”

  “Reality Magic takes a remarkable amount of concentration. You know that. There’s no point even trying when you can’t even think straight. It would be wasted time to teach you at the moment.”

  I leaned on the railing and sighed.

  “I suppose you’re right…” I reluctantly admitted. “I’ll be there…”

  Greyford nodded and turned around to leave.

  “Hey, professor?” I called back. I heard him stop moving. “Thank you… For trying to help me…”

  Greyford turned back around.

  “You’re important, Emilie. You are the holder of one of the most powerful and dangerous artefacts that we know of. Someday, you’ll realise what that responsibility really means. And, when that day comes, you will need to have all the strength you can get. Both magical and mental.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, very worried at this point.

  “The Arch Stone chose you. When you touched it, it changed colour. It became yours. But there’s more than that…” he elaborated, though it didn’t really give me any more information. Of course he wasn’t going to give me a straight answer. I honestly wasn’t sure what I had expected. “You’ll find out, soon enough…” He turned and carried on walking away. “Good afternoon, Miss George.”

  He disappeared through the doors, leaving me on my own again.

  “I guess a little therapy couldn’t hurt…”

  You’re not going to be able to get rid of us…

  “I don’t think I need to. You arseholes I can deal with. But you’re not everything.”

  These voices were so narcissistic. I wonder what that says about me, given they came from my own head.

  14

  I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this counselling session as I walked into the room. It felt like a very stereotypical type of therapy room, with cheesy motivational posters on the walls and a sofa in front of a small coffee table. I looked around. Artemis was supposedly the school counsellor, and the person in charge of student welfare (Which, thinking about it, meant that it made sense that she would teach the Basics of Magic class), but she was nowhere to be seen. I hesitantly sat down on the sofa and waited. It took almost five minutes for Artemis to eventually appear.

  “Sorry, I’m late… Someone decided it would be a good idea to start a campfire in the courtyard.”

  “Um… Okay…”

  Artemis sat down behind the desk and pressed her fingers together, resting her elbows on the table.

  “So, Emilie… I hear you’ve been having some problems recently.”

  “Uh… Yeah, I guess…” I really wasn’t sure what to say.

  “Anything you want to talk about?”

  You can’t talk to her… You can’t trust them… Of course, the voices were being useless at this point.

  “Piss off…” I hissed at my brain.

  “Sorry?” Artemis exclaimed in shock.

  “I was… I was talking to… to myself… Sorry…”

  “You mean you were talking to the voices?”

  “You know about that?”

  “Of course I know. Max filled me in on your situation completely.”

  “Max?”

  “Professor Greyford,” Artemis hastily corrected herself.

  “You seem to know him pretty well.”

  “Yes, I suppose I do. I have worked here for a long time, you have to remember.”

  “I suppose…”

  Artemis sighed.

  “So, the voices. Are they the problem?”

  I hesitantly shook my head.

  “I’m… I’m getting used to them, actually… It’s just that…” I trailed off.

  “What?”

  “I don’t really have anything specific… I just… Don’t know anymore…” I (badly) explained. “Everything’s just kind of blended together in one massive pile of…” I trailed off.

  “Of what? Nothing you say is wrong.”

  “Of shit.” I bluntly finished. “There’s not even anything specifically bad. Not to me, at least. It’s been so long that there’s probably not any risk to my life from the accident, I’m getting used to the voices, everyone’s alive… But…”

  “You don’t have to give me a specific answer right now, if you don’t need to,” she assured me. “What about your sister? Is she alright?”

  I looked down.

  “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve barely seen her since the accident. She’s just hidden herself away… I don’t think I’ve spoken to her at all for two weeks now,” I explained. “I don’t know why, I don’t know if I’ve done something wrong, I don’t know if she’s okay. Even Mary can’t seem to get anything out of her.”

  Almost on cue, Mary charged through the door. She looked more worried than I’d ever seen her.

  “Miss Merriway, whatever is the matter?” Artemis questioned.

  “Emilie… It’s Raven… She’s gone…” Mary panted.

  My eyes widened.

  “What…” I croaked.

  “She just left… I got back from class and the dorm was empty… Apart from…”

  “Apart from what?” I interrupted impatiently.

  “She left a note…” Mary replied. I stood up. Artemis didn’t even argue. Not that she would have won. “Emilie… I’m sorry…”

  “That doesn’t matter right now. You need to let me see the letter.”

  *

  Mary took me straight from the counsellor’s room to their room in Umbra dorm. And, of course, the voices weren’t being particularly useful.

  It’s your fault... She left because of you…

  They were getting louder. That wasn’t a good sign.

  I tried to push them to the back of my mind and kept walking until we got to the door. Mary sighed and pushed the door open. Raven’s normally mess-filled side of the room was completely clean, and a sheet of paper had been left on the bed. I moved to pick it up, but stopped.

  Do you really want to read it? It’s probably just blaming you for it all…

  I shook my head in a futile attempt to get rid of the voices and picked up the letter.

  ‘Firstly, Mary: I apologize for leaving you with this to deal with. You have been a good friend and I am grateful that you were able to accept me as you did.

  Now, to anyone who is reading this: I understand that disappearing like this may seem impulsi
ve and rash, but I assure you, this decision is one that I have not come to lightly. As you may know, one month ago, I saw someone who I would much rather forget. But I let my anger overcome me. When I saw him, I was unable to stop myself. And, because of that, the one person that I felt that I could truly care about was hurt. That was my fault. And I wish more than anything that I could change what happened. But I can’t… And that is why I cannot stay here.’

  “I stopped reading at this point,” Mary interrupted. “The next part… It seemed private.”

  I looked down.

  ‘Emilie… I… I’m sorry. What happened to you. It’s terrible, and it was all my fault. You should hate me for what I caused, and with that in mind… And knowing that you don’t… I can’t stay here knowing that you’re…’

  I stopped. The bottom of the page was littered with damp patches. “Raven… She was crying as she wrote this…” I realised, as my own tears joined Raven’s on the page.

  ‘I can’t stay here knowing that you’re hurt because of me… So, I’m leaving… I need to… I need some space… I hope that we are able to see each other again, one day. Goodbye, Emilie. I’m sorry…’

  I stumbled back, letting the letter drop down to the ground. Mary put her hand on my shoulder. “Emilie…”

  “She left… She left me…” I mumbled.

  It really is your fault…

  “Shut up!” I screamed at the voices that were starting to take over my head. “Archaeus… Invoco… Elementum… Gelus…” I muttered as I tried to reset my head. I collapsed on the floor as the magic energy flowed into my arm. “Shit…” I muttered as I rubbed my temple. Mary rushed over and helped me up.

  “Emilie…”

  “I need to find her…”

  “How? Raven doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who could be found if she didn’t want to…”

  “I know… But… There must be something…” I thought for a moment. “I think… I have an idea…”

  I climbed to my feet and moved towards the door.

  “Where are you going?” Mary questioned.

  “I’m not sure how much use it’s going to be, but I think I know someone who might be able to help us.”

  *

  For once, I knew exactly where I was supposed to find the thing I was looking for. Being a Friday, there was, typically, a massive, wild party at Nightrain Dorm.

  “Who are we looking for?” Mary asked, shouting over the obnoxiously loud music. Admittedly, say the music was obnoxious, but the worrying amount of noise actually managed to mask the voices a little, which was genuinely refreshing. I ignored Mary as I looked around for the answer to her question. Eventually, I saw her dangling over the railing. When she saw me, Leigh’s drunken eyes widened.

  “Hey! Emilie! Over here!” she shouted over the music. I sighed and waved.

  “Leigh Silvemist… Why her?” Mary questioned as I pulled her towards the railing. I stared at Leigh, who was still hanging over the railing.

  “How the hell did you manage to get yourself here?”

  “I… Vodka’d…” Leigh slurred. I pulled her back over the edge of the railing.

  “Vodka’d… Sure…” I muttered. “We need to go. Did they put that weird soberness charm up again?”

  Leigh nodded.

  “Right then, come on.” I draped Leigh’s arm over my shoulder.

  “Whatdoyouneedmefor…” Leigh mumbled as I guided her towards the door.

  “You said your speciality was reading magic, right?”

  “Yeah…” she drunkenly replied as we walked through the door. The instant we went through the doorway, Leigh’s head snapped up. “Wow!” she exclaimed. “I’m always surprised at how well that works...” she admitted. It took me a second to adjust to what had happened.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, not really believing that one spell would be able to completely erase all traces of alcohol from the body, and even more sceptical that it was safe.

  “Yeah, I feel great. So, what was it that you needed help with?”

  “Your magic… You said you specialise in reading magic, right?”

  “Yeah, what about it?”

  “You said something about Psychometry. What was that again?”

  “It’s a form of magic that lets me read the history of an object,” she explained. “What’s going on? You seem…”

  “Raven left.”

  “Oh…” Leigh muttered. “Emilie, I’m sorry…” she thought for a moment. “That’s why you need my help then. You want me to try and track her down.”

  “I was hoping you’d at least be able to give me somewhere to start, yeah.” I admitted. “Will you?”

  “I don’t like your sister much. I’m sorry to say it, but everyone here’s pretty hesitant towards her, given what she did-”

  “That wasn’t her fault…” I muttered.

  “-but that’s a conversation for another day,” she finished. “I may be less than fond of Raven Blake, but you, Emilie George, are my friend. So, of course, I will help you find your sister.”

  “Thank you.” I quietly said to Leigh as we left for the Umbra Dorm.

  *

  When we got back up to Raven and Mary’s room, the letter was still lying on the floor where I had left it. I picked it up and handed it to Leigh.

  “Can you read this?” I asked. Leigh looked over the paper for a moment and nodded.

  “I think I can.” She put the paper down on the bed. She held her hands out in what looked like the Vulcan peace thing from Star Trek and crossed the middle and index fingers over. She flipped her hands up, and brought them together, on top of each other. Finally, she closed her eyes and brought one of the hands down and touched the paper. Sparks jumped around her hand for a moment, and then she picked the paper up. I looked at Leigh. She seemed distant. I opened my mouth to ask if she was okay, but Mary covered my mouth.

  “You need to let her concentrate. If you throw her off none of this will mean anything,” she whispered into my ear. I nodded as looked on at Leigh. She was crying. I wondered what she was seeing that would cause something like that. But there was more to it. Her eyes were glowing, just barely. It was a strange, subtle yellow shine. I assumed it was a side-effect of the magic. I didn’t know a lot about Reading Magic, so it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I figured I’d just roll with it. There’s the last month-and-a-bit in a nutshell. Anyway, eventually, Leigh blinked, snapping back to reality. She dropped the letter and wiped her eyes.

  “Leigh? Are you okay?” I asked. She was shaking.

  “So much… Emotion…” she mumbled. I sat her down on the bed. “Sorry… When I do that… It’s not like I’m looking in, I’m not an observer… It’s like I’m there… Like I’m the person who was there…”

  “So, what you mean is…” I trailed off.

  “I felt… Everything that Raven was feeling when she was writing that letter…” she quietly confirmed. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like that… She was really torn up about leaving… More than I’ve ever seen anyone else…”

  “Do you have any idea where she might have gone?” Mary asked. Leigh looked at me, then nodded at Mary.

  “I don’t know where she might have gone, but I know what she’s doing. She’s gone to look for someone...” Leigh explained. I jumped off the bed.

  “She’s gone to look for her mother...” I realised.

  How interesting… I twitched as I tried to shake away the voices that were starting to grow again. She’s gone on a wild goose chase… I wonder how dangerous that could be…

  “Shut up,” I whispered.

  “You alright?” Mary asked concernedly.

  “Yeah, I’m good. They’re not too loud yet… I just need to stay calm…”

  “Well, we’ve got somewhere to start, at least. That must be worth something.” Mary hopefully reminded me.

  “Yeah, I guess… It doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better though…” I sighed. “I guess I�
�m just going to have to think on the way.”

  “The way where?”

  “Wherever Raven’s gone. I need to find her.”

  “No, you can’t just leave. We have no idea where she is. You have no idea where to start looking.”

  “But I can’t just leave her. Every second I waste here, Raven is getting further and further away. I need to find her.”

  “What do you think you can actually do?” Leigh asked.

  “I… I can look… I can search around…”

  “You can go on a wild goose chase? You haven’t got any clue where you’d start searching.” Leigh argued.

  “She could be in danger…”

  “Even if she’s not back to full strength after the accident yet, Raven’s still pretty damn tough. She can take care of herself,” Mary assured me.

  I opened my mouth to keep arguing, but I honestly found it hard to dodge her point. She was right, I knew that. Raven was an incredibly strong fighter. But with Elijah still out there… I couldn’t help but be worried for her. Mary put her hands on my shoulders.

  “We’ll find her, okay. I promise. But we can’t just jump into this without thinking, Emilie. We need to think this through, we need to be careful,” she tried to calm me down. It worked. I sat back down on the bed. I slowly nodded.

  “Okay…”

  15

  I couldn’t concentrate on any of my work. I sat in my lesson just staring blankly into the distance. It had been a day since Raven had left, and I hadn’t stopped thinking about it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I kept running the letter over and over in my head. I just couldn’t get my head around it. And the more I did, the more I felt like it was my fault. Should I have tried harder to talk to her? I’d spent the last month thinking that I should just give her space; that she just needed some time. But was I wrong? Did she want to talk about it? Was she avoiding me, or did she need help? I had no idea, and that was pissing me off more than anything else that was happening. It wasn’t that Raven had left, not completely. It was because, whatever she said in the letter, I couldn’t help but feel that it was my fault. Though that may have been the voices seeping into my unconscious.

  I sighed and looked back down at my work. I was still taking this magic physics class, and I really didn’t understand any of it. Most of the time I just gave up and stared out of the window.