by Diana Nixon
“Okay, Sweetie, I got the point,” he said, looking at the circle cautiously. “Just don’t fry me alive. I kind of hoped I would have at least a few more dates in this lifetime.”
I smiled. “With whom?”
Evan’s eyes met mine, and I could swear he thought about the same thing I did. For a moment, I was taken aback, and it was the biggest mistake ever, because Mr. Smart-Ass Murray immediately used my weakness to turn the tables. In the blink of an eye, I was locked in my own fiery circle, with Evan coming closer and tightening the circle around us.
“Now, what will you do?” He asked, looking down at me. Our chests rubbed and I could hardly do anything, but stare at his lips, that were so freaking close to mine. “It’s getting really hot here, don’t you think so?”
Damn his intuition and the bond we shared; it was so difficult to stop myself from thinking about the things that were never supposed to cross my mind again.
“How about we cool off a little?” I closed my eyes, and wrapped my arms around Evan, mentally turning the fire around us into a pool. The water was not real of course, only Eileen possessed powers of all of the elements. But in our minds, we were still swimming under the water’s surface, with our faces inches apart…
I never thought I would be able to create illusions, but it turned out to be easier than I thought. Besides, my father said that escaping into an illusion would save us from any danger in current reality. That’s why he, William, and Frederick — Eileen’s dad who was a real expert in the magic of dreams — had trained us to cast simple illusionary spells, to be able to protect ourselves from reality if necessary.
That’s why now, I wasn’t afraid of drowning. I was controlling the illusion and not even Evan could break it.
He was looking into my eyes, as if it was the first time he saw me. His bright-blue pools looked even more magical under the water. Slowly, he wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me closer, his lips brushed mine.
That was it, the moment that made the warning bells ring in my head. I wasn’t ready to reveal my feelings, or see Evan’s. I knew the moment our lips locked I would feel it all, every single change of his emotions. And I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop.
I shut my eyes and forced the illusion away, bringing us back into the room that was dark again. I couldn’t even make the lights turn on. I was standing in the darkness, every beat of my heart echoing like a drum in the silence.
“Did you feel it?” Evan asked. I didn’t know where he was standing, but I knew he was nowhere close to me.
“I did,” I said, knowing exactly what he was talking about.
“What was that?” He asked again, a little nervous. I could feel his surprise, and knowing that I made those weird sensations intensify, didn’t help a thing. I felt even worse realizing that I went way too far. I wasn’t ready to deal with any of the above.
“Don’t go,” Evan said, catching me by the hand. The lights turned on, and I knew he wanted to talk about what had happened, but I was definitely not ready to discuss it with him right now.
“When did you start feeling that way?” He asked, already knowing that whatever we felt in the illusion was not just a coincidence. I would never be able to create an illusion of something that I had never experienced before. Too bad I didn’t think about that a little earlier.
I swallowed hard and pulled my hand away from Evan. “Do we have to talk about it now?”
“Actually, yes! You’ve just made me feel something that I thought was long-dead inside of me and now what? You just want to run away?”
“Yes.”
The look in his eyes was unreadable. I tried to listen to his feelings, but they all were gone, just like the thoughts in his head. He had blocked me.
“This is unfair,” I said, staring at him, a little angry.
“No shit? Was it fair to hide your feelings from me for this long?”
“What was I supposed to do?” I seethed. “I thought it was just a trick of my imagination. But you kept showing me all of your dreams, and I couldn’t get them or your thoughts out of my mind thanks to this bond. I kept staying awake hoping the damn craziness would stop!”
“Why didn’t you come and talk to me?”
“What would I say? Touch me? Kiss me? Make love to me?”
“Yeah, why not?”
I laughed nervously. “Seriously?”
Evan rubbed the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply. “Sorry, that is not what I meant. But you could at least ask me about my feelings. You knew I felt something new, but I couldn’t understand what it meant until you let me see your illusion. When you did that, everything clicked in my mind, and I finally realized what was going on with me.”
We both were a little shocked, and definitely not ready to proceed with our conversation.
“Let’s calm down and talk about it when we are less-”
“Turned on?”
I rolled my eyes. “You are not helping.”
“I wasn’t trying to!”
“Well, thanks for the reminder. And here I foolishly hoped you would change after your awakening,” I snapped.
“I have changed and you know it better than anyone else.”
“Which means you have become even more impossible than you already were?”
“In my case, anything is possible.”
I smiled a little. “Figures.”
“Okay, now can we please stop shouting at each other?” Evan’s voice lowered. He was standing looking at me, and I so wanted to know what his thoughts were now.
“I wasn’t shouting at you,” I said, swallowing.
“It’s your usual manner of talking, I know, but still?”
“Fine. I’ll try to be nice. Happy now?”
“Being nice has never been your specialty, young lady.”
“While being a pain in the ass has always been yours, right?”
Evan smirked. “You know me too well.”
“And that sucks.”
“True, but apart from that, now I also know that you love me. Which is kind of unexpected, but-”
“Wow, hold on there, he-man. Who said anything about love?”
“You.”
“I must be having memory problems.”
“You can deny it for as long as you wish, Amanda, but I still know that sooner or later you will say it aloud.”
Unbelievable…
“In your dreams!” I snapped, turning to the door.
“You’ve seen my dreams, Baby. I don’t talk much there.”
Well, hell… Why would such a pretty face be given to such an arrogant asshole?
Chapter 8
Eileen
“You did what?” I stared at Amanda in shock. I didn’t expect her to be so open about her feelings with Evan. She of all people should know how fast Evan’s tastes in girls changed. Not that I didn’t want the two of them to be together, but I thought they would at least give each other a little bit of time to figure out what was going on between them.
“I know, I shouldn’t have showed him my feelings. But he was close, and it just happened before I knew it… God, I don’t know what I was thinking!” Amanda sat on the couch, hiding her face in her hands. “Now, he will start laughing at me!”
“Oh, no, Dear. Why would you think that?” I kneeled next to the couch, brushing a few locks of her hair away from her face.
“Because he has already made himself clear about his wishes. And trust me, you don’t want to hear the rest.”
“Why? Is it that dirty?” I laughed.
“Not funny, Eileen! Not funny at all!”
“Okay, I’m sorry, Amanda. But knowing you and Evan, I can say for sure that burning the sheets will happen sooner than you expect.”
“You are talking just like him now! What the hell, Eileen? You were supposed to be on my side!”
“I am on your side. But it’s hard to support you having such a strong bond with Evan. He will do his best to let me know about his feelings f
or you. And you know why? Because he wants you to admit that the illusion you created was more than just an illusion.”
“So what am I supposed to do now? He has just broken up with Darcy, I’m still in a relationship with Lucas, and I can’t stop thinking about kissing Evan! Gosh, I’m in a whole mess of a trouble.”
“Well, first of all, you need to talk to Evan again and explain the things mentioned before. He can’t keep stalking you knowing that there’s a guy who still thinks he’s dating you.”
“That knowledge will hardly stop Evan from slipping into my bed when he knows you are not here.”
I burst out laughing. “I know.”
“So your point is?”
“I’ll try talking to him, okay? At least I know he won’t try to tear my clothes off, which makes me think I will have at least a few minutes to straighten him up.”
“You’d better be right. Otherwise, Lucas will hate me for the rest of his life, and I don’t want to break his heart.”
I sighed, hugging her shoulders. “You will have to break it, sooner or later.”
“So you think that whatever craziness is going on between Evan and me is real?”
“And you still hope it’s not?”
She nodded, trembling slightly.
“I wish I could say different, but I’m sure that the feelings are more than real. I had the same doubts about my love for Christian, but the more time passed, the stronger our feelings became.”
“So fighting them is pointless?”
“I’m sure you can find a better way to spend your life than fighting against something that is so much stronger than any other feeling you would ever have.”
“I’m a lost cause.”
“No, you are not. But you need more time to get used to the way your heart beats whenever Evan is around. Trust me, the day you let your defenses down, you will become very happy.”
“Promise?”
I smiled. “Promise.”
Keeping promises had always been hard, especially when it came to Evan. But I still wanted to try my luck. Somehow, I had always been one of a few people he would listen to.
I found him talking to my father near the entrance to the Administration building. They both looked worried and I wondered if their worries had anything to do with me.
“Hey,” I said, coming closer. “Is everything all right?”
“Not really,” Evan replied. “Someone tried to break into the house where we left the Cup of Power.”
“What? Who would want to get it? It doesn’t work anymore, does it?”
“That is what we all thought,” my father said. “But the Cup is a magical creation. It still has power.”
“So you think someone wants to use them? For what?”
“This is what we need to figure out,” Evan said. “Wanna go with me to Gloster?”
“Sure. When?”
“Now?”
“I’ll tell Christian about you two leaving for town,” my father said.
“We promised him we would not run away together anymore.”
Evan smirked. “It’s not like we are going for a date or anything. Besides, Frederick can tell him that there was an emergency and we couldn’t wait for Christian’s classes to end.”
“Okay. Let’s go then. I will also call Melanie and tell her to meet us in Gloster. She’s visiting her mom now.”
“What do you need her for?”
“There’s something I need to check out.”
“With the help of her dark magic?” Evan looked at me suspiciously.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Be careful, kids,” my father said, kissing me on the forehead.
I didn’t want Christian to get angry, so I sent him a message saying that my father asked me and Evan to go to town and check on the Cup. I knew he wouldn’t be happy about that.
“Just try to stay out of trouble,” he texted in response. “Well, as much as it’s possible.”
I smiled. “I’ll try my best.”
“And why doesn’t that convince me?”
“Because you know me too well.”
“I also know how much you and Evan love cruising for a bruising.”
Evan laughed as I showed him the message. “Damn true.”
“Get back to your classes. I’ll call you when we are back. Love you.” I hit ‘send’ and got into Evan’s car. The ride promised to be interesting.
The late February weather left much to be desired. The ground was still covered with snow, mixed with mud and chilling-to-the-bone wind. We couldn’t wait for spring to come. According to Christian, spring was the most beautiful season in Dever, with Embry gardens blooming and the annual ball that turned the surroundings into one magical world.
I didn’t rush to ask Evan any questions, even though I was sure he wanted to talk about Amanda. He was so good at hiding his emotions, but this time, of course, he did his best to show me all of them.
“So what do you need Melanie for?” He asked, breaking the silence.
“I’ll only tell you if you promise to not get angry, okay?”
He frowned, giving me a side glance. “I don’t like the sound of that, but I promise I won’t get angry.”
Then I told him about my conversation with Kevin and my idea of sending Melanie to the blacksmith who could potentially know where the farm that Elizabeth had mentioned was.
“What makes you think that your plan will work? I heard that Peter is a very secretive person. He doesn’t even talk to those he doesn’t trust.”
“I still hope Mel will be able to talk to him.”
We stopped at the entrance to the house where the Cup of Power was hidden. Melanie had already been waiting on the porch. It was the first time that Evan saw my cousin after we woke up. First, he smiled gritting her, but a moment later, they both flinched as if being attacked by an electric shocker.
“Wow, what the hell was that?” Melanie asked, rubbing her forearm where Evan’s hand had touched it.
“You are still full of darkness,” Evan said, taking one more step back.
“That makes two of us,” Mel said, staring at him.
I looked at the two of them, worried. “Can anyone explain what is going on here?”
“Apparently, Evan’s new blood consists of more dark elements than he will ever be able to control.”
Evan eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “You are not the first person making me feel that.”
“Well, dark magic users always feel each other.”
“But you are pure now.”
“So what? The darkness is still there, sleeping inside me and I bet waiting for someone to wake it up.” Melanie smirked. “Fucking blood.”
I looked at Evan, who still looked a little shocked. What could all of these talks about the darkness mean?
“Too bad you can’t remember any of those memories I saw a few days ago,” I said.
“I still don’t get it… How could I show you things that I never witnessed?”
“But your blood did,” Melanie said.
“What do you mean?” Evan asked, confused.
“Something tells me that you were not listening carefully to the lectures about the mysteries of blood.”
Evan rubbed the back of his neck, smiling slightly. “Yeah, well, I hated the view of blood, so I skipped most of them.”
“Then you should know that one of the blood’s strongest qualities is the ability to transfer memories that consist of powers, emotions and knowledge. Which means that blood can tell us more than its owner would ever be able to remember.”
“It explains a lot,” I said. “Including the darkness that you can feel inside of you now.”
“Yeah, looks like I need to attend one of Christian’s father’s classes again. I’m sure he will be happy to know that I missed everything he was trying to teach me once I was his student.”
“Okay, we will deal with it later,” I said. “Now, why don’t we go inside and check on the Cup?�
�
The moment we crossed the threshold of the house that was charmed from the floor to the ceiling, we felt that something was wrong. Chaos reigned in the rooms; the furniture was torn and broken, shatters of glass covered old carpets.
“Someone was here,” Evan said, looking around.
“Looks like the someone was really pissed, leaving without the Cup,” Melanie added.
“But the house was protected.” I said. “How did he or she manage to get inside?”
“Frederick said that the intrusion could happen only at midnight when the powers of magical spells fall.”
“Which means whoever was here, knew about that and had only sixty seconds to find the Cup. No wonder he or she failed.”
“Exactly.” Evan nodded. “But there’s one more thing that we should take into consideration. Only a very powerful magician could create such a mess in less than a minute.”
“How many people knew about where the Cup was hidden?” Melanie asked.
“Not many.”
“Did Will knew about it?” I asked.
“No, why?” Evan asked, curious.
“He still thinks that the Lord that is trying to break into his mind, is working for Elizabeth. So if Will knew about this place, the other Lord could have seen this place in his thoughts.”
“Do you think my mother wants the Cup? What for?”
“Maybe she knows something that we don’t know about the thing.”
“Like a way to make it work again?”
“Anything is possible.”
“I think we should take the Cup away from here.”
“You sure Frederick and Patrick will approve of it?” Melanie asked.
“We don’t have a choice. We can’t leave it here.”
“Okay, let’s do this,” I said, taking Evan by the hand.
The Cup was hidden with the help of one of the spells invented by Christian’s father and it needed at least two magicians to be cast.
Evan and I stood in front of one of the walls, closed our eyes and let our magic do its best. Mentally, we pronounced the spell and the wall disappeared, opening an invisible door into the hall, leading to the underground.
“Careful, ladies,” Evan said, going down the old staircase.
