“No—I’m not—what do you mean I’m—” Keira stammered, her knuckles white against the dark-blue upholstered armrests.
“Keira, please calm down. I don’t have time to ease you into this gently. This is not a game, my child. We are in the middle of a war.”
Keira was shocked into silence. The woman in front of her was a stranger. Her body carried an aura of contained power, her eyes were wells of ancient wisdom.
A fleeting memory washed over her, of herself as a young girl, standing in a glade near her home, arms outstretched and hair whirling in the wind. She was surrounded by small forest animals and Nagwa sat on her shoulder. Then came the more recent memory of power surging through her body as she defended herself in a London alley.
“I’m listening,” Keira said and sat back in her chair.
Victoria nodded in approval and began again. “We are the Guardians of the Akasha.”
“There is a name for this?” Keira asked. “I’m not just some—freak of nature?”
“Of course not,” Victoria replied. “Everything in the universe has a name; a purpose. Everything is connected. Akasha literally means ‘space,’ and that is what we do. Who we are. Everything around us, from the smallest atom to the biggest planet is connected through the Akasha. We see it, feel it and work with it.”
“What do you mean?” Keira asked.
“How do you call the wind?” Victoria asked in return.
Keira hesitated, she wasn’t even sure herself how she did it.
“And that is not the only thing you are able to do, is it? You can draw energy from your environment and use it to defend yourself. I bet it manifests as heat in your hands, doesn’t it?”
“How do you know this?” Keira whispered.
“I followed you one day, a long time ago. I saw you go into the woods and call the little folk and the wind to you. Your friend, the raven—”
“Nagwa,” Keira interrupted.
“Is that his name now?” Victoria smiled. “Well, initiates are able to manipulate the elements only after years of intensive training. You have been able to do it by yourself, since a very young age. And you also communicate with animals. It is rare members of the Families who manifest powers beyond the manipulation of space and energy, and those powers are different for each individual. We haven’t yet been able to explain why or how this happens.”
Keira closed her eyes; she had to remind herself to keep on breathing. She listened to Victoria explain how she had been protected and watched over, ever since she was a child.
Victoria spoke about the history of the Wilde Family and of her own role as their leader. Their lineage could be traced back for centuries.
“Wildes have rubbed shoulders with barbarian leaders and with kings; with empresses and prophets. We have fled persecution during the witch trials and joined the Holy Crusade. Through all of this, our High Priestesses have kept a record of our history and built their knowledge to, above all, protect the Akasha against those who wish to use it for their own gain.”
Victoria told Keira of all the other Families around the world who kept in touch with each other through the Council.
“Each of the Elders has specific responsibilities,” Victoria explained. “Mine include training initiates who have been identified by the Families as having magickal abilities. They are sent from all over the world to a school at the castle, where we are going to now.”
“A school? They get training?”
“Yes,” Victoria said. She knew what was coming.
“How could you!” Keira shouted. “Why didn’t you tell me? Do you have any idea the hell I’ve been through? Do you even know what it would have meant to me, to know that I’m not alone, to know that I belong somewhere, with people who are like me?” Her voice trembled as she strove to control her emotions.
In a rush, that sense of exclusion and complete aloneness returned. That feeling that haunted her throughout her childhood. She had known and accepted that she was different from her friends, that she could do things she couldn’t even explain to herself. But she had been able to push that aside and concentrate on the job of being normal, always trying her damnedest to fit in with society’s expectations.
She looked over at Simone, who still sat typing. In the shock of Victoria’s revelation, Keira had completely forgotten that they were not alone on the plane, but Simone gave no indication that she had heard their conversation.
“Even she knew?”
“Yes,” Victoria admitted.
Keira’s eyes brightened in sudden understanding. “Marco?” she asked.
“Yes. Believe me, Keira, there were times when I wanted to storm into that house and take you away to come live with me, but how would I explain that to your parents? If your mother saw what you could do, talking with animals, commanding the elements, she would have you committed with no qualms about it. Not to mention how much unwanted attention it would have focused on you from people you were better off not knowing about.”
Keira took a few deep, slow breaths, trying not to hyperventilate. She had to clear her mind and try to understand this, logically, analytically.
“You mentioned an International Council,” she said. “So, this is a worldwide thing?” She had difficulty imagining the scope of this secret. “What exactly do they do?”
“Yes, this is a ‘worldwide thing,’” Victoria nodded. “The Council’s role is, and has always been, to utilise the Families’ vast resources to ensure that the Akasha is kept safe.”
“Safe against what?” Keira asked.
“The question is not what, but whom. Keira, you have to understand that the world consists of many layers of existence. The general public knows only one of those layers—their immediate environment and that which they can touch, hear and see. Even when they do experience anything ‘strange,’ or anything that belies the general doctrine, they don’t believe their own senses. They prefer not having a light shone into the darker corners of the universe. They feel safe in their cocoons and are suspicious of anything that threatens their view of reality.”
“But it is not reality, is it?” Keira asked.
“No. But it is to them, and we want to keep it that way.”
“Why?”
“What do you think would happen if the masses find out that the Akasha, and therefore time itself, can be manipulated?” Victoria countered. “We are powerful, but we are a tiny minority in the general population. We would be overrun. The world would be altered beyond understanding.”
“Time—it can be manipulated?” The enormity of the idea penetrated through the anger Keira had wrapped around herself.
“Yes, the knowledge exists to manipulate time. There is a record—a book—and it is one of the Guardians’ objectives to keep anyone from accessing the knowledge in that book and tampering with the Akasha. This is why we are facing a war. Only I never expected it would be with one of our own.”
“War?” Keira felt like a parrot.
“Yes. There is one who believes the Guardians should use their power to change history, to take their place as rulers of the world. Unfortunately his support has grown to the point where logic and reason no longer prevail.”
“Who is he?” Keira asked.
“His name is Daemon. He lobbied for years to have Council funds assigned to studying the Akasha and how it could be used for personal gain.” Victoria scoffed. “Oh, he was clever enough to not use those exact words. He tried to make it sound as if he’d be doing humanity a favour by altering time and changing a few historical events. That goes against everything the Guardians stand for. Who will be the one that decides what will be changed? Who will decide which child gets to be born—and which child does not?”
“He wants to be God.” Keira rubbed her arms where the gooseflesh had broken out.
“Yes, and I can assure you he will not be a loving or merciful God,” Victoria answered. “We were already funding research into the so-called metaphysical sciences, but Daemon was
n’t satisfied. He kept on pushing, manipulating, and attempting to intimidate Council members to support his cause. People who spoke against him disappeared, or suddenly, inexplicably, changed their beliefs and joined him.”
“Surely you could have done something, told the police and had him arrested?” Keira couldn’t believe that in today’s day and age, people could get away with such tactics.
“We did do something. We dispatched the Draaken. Daemon retaliated…” Victoria broke off.
“What happened?” Keira asked.
“We underestimated him, that’s what happened. He struck at Draaken families. Loved ones were murdered. This time he made no secret of the fact that he was involved and that it would continue if we didn’t back off. So we did, which was another mistake. We should have eliminated him when we had the chance.”
“Aunt Vic!” Keira was shocked at her Aunt’s casual reference to killing another human being.
“Well, that option is no longer available to us. He is too well protected, now. His support has grown to the point where they are threatening to overthrow the Council and take power. His arrogance knows no bounds. He has openly declared his intention to seize the Book of Knowledge, which will only happen over my dead body.” Victoria’s face reflected her grim determination.
“So, this is all about a book,” Keira said.
“War is never so simple that it can be shrunk down to one single factor, Keira. However, it is one of the major reasons. This book has been under the protection of each successive High Priestess and each one of us has added our knowledge and experience to it. It contains everything from rituals for protection and for destruction to names of Guardians who have held some of the highest offices in governments around the world. It is our collective memory.”
“It is a database,” Keira said.
Victoria gave a rueful laugh. “I suppose so. But it is not stored on any mainframe known to man.”
“And Daemon believes that if he could access this memory, he’d be able to manipulate time. Is the Book safe?”
“Yes. For now.”
“Aunt Vic, why are we really going to Europe?”
“We are going to the castle, as I told you. But I have called a full Council meeting there on Saturday. Members are arriving as I speak. At this meeting, I will introduce you as my immediate successor as Leader of the Wilde Family. It is also my wish that you will stay and receive training, and eventually become the next High Priestess,” Victoria answered, her tone crisp and business-like.
“What? You can’t do that!”
“Why exactly not?”
“You don’t—you can’t—I don’t know what you are thinking! It is one thing to tell me I am part of some worldwide group, but to tell me I have to lead these people—fight a war—it’s insane! You don’t even know me. You don’t know who I am. You can’t make all these people depend on me. People get hurt when I use this—this magick.”
“Calm down!” Victoria’s voice whiplashed through the plane. Keira’s face froze in shock, but she got a grip of her emotions and closed her mouth.
“Keira, I don’t have time to repeat myself. I have told you about the Akasha—the connectedness between all things. But there is also the Void—the unconnectedness. Where the Akasha is matter, the Void is antimatter, endless nothingness. In the beginning, the Akasha and Void were one entity, until they were split apart during the Creation. For a very long time, however, the veil between the two entities was thin and those with enough power could enter the Akasha, or the Void, and return. Unfortunately, there are things in the Void—” Victoria paled and wiped her hand over her face.
“Aunt Vic?”
“Some of those foolish travellers were followed and when they slipped back into the Akasha, and into our dimension, things from the Void slipped through as well. It took the combined power of all the Guardians alive during those times to banish the beings back into the Void. It was then that one of our ancestors, a High Priestess, managed to install a gate between the two entities. It is guarded by the Gatekeeper. This history is recorded in the Book of Knowledge. If Daemon gains possession of the Knowledge, he could banish his enemies into the Void, and invite other beings out. He would be unstoppable.”
Keira’s mouth had gone dry. “But surely that’s not possible?”
Victoria merely looked at her. “The Guardians will make sure it doesn’t happen, whether possible or not.”
“Aunt Vic, I mean no offence, but why wasn’t this book destroyed a long time ago? If it is so dangerous, why leave it lying around for Daemon to find?”
“First of all, it is not ‘lying around.’ It is in the most protected place I know of. Secondly, it contains our knowledge and our history. I think it is James Burke that said: ‘If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you are.’”
Victoria sighed in frustration. “If only I had more time with you—but I will give you what I can. Besides, the Draaken will be there as well. They will all help and protect you.”
Keira’s mind whirled with a million unanswered questions. Doomsday scenarios raced like movies on fast forward behind her eyes; faces of family, Alison and Sammy, appeared and disappeared. Images of Nagwa and the woods folk wavered and vanished.
He would change time, she thought. How many times did she wish she’d never been born? Would she be born if Daemon changed time? The thought of non-existence suddenly seemed less appealing.
“This is too much,” she shook her head.
Victoria leaned forward and took Keira’s hand in her own. “The one thing that I will regret for the rest of my life is that I didn’t come for you sooner. Please forgive me—”
She was interrupted when the pilot announced, “Ladies, we will be landing in fifteen minutes. Please stow away any bags or loose items and fasten your seatbelts. Thank you.”
“Keira, there is one more thing,” Victoria said. “You couldn’t have known, but every time someone uses magick, it causes a ripple in the Akasha. We call this a signature. Each Guardian’s signature is unique. Some of us—especially trained magickae—can identify individuals by their signatures. The other night, when you defended yourself against attack, I sensed your signature, which means Daemon did as well.”
“So he knows who I am?” Keira asked.
“He didn’t at first. You haven’t used your magick in many years, so your signature is relatively new. But judging by the strength of it, you are the only one alive today who equals Daemon in raw ability. He wouldn’t have failed to notice that.”
Victoria hesitated. “The attack in front of Harrods—”
“What?”
“Yes, his Watchers tried to attack you. Marco intervened.”
“Marco was following me?”
“Yes, on my orders.”
“Isn’t that grand,” Keira cried. “A few days ago I was stressing about hiding what I am from my friends and whether or not to go to college. Now, the greatest known evil of the modern world views me as a threat. That is just fabulous!”
“Don’t sulk, dearest,” Victoria smiled. “We’ve got time to prepare you, yet.”
The plane landed with a soft bump on a small, private airstrip, taxied for a short distance and came to a stop in front of a large, corrugated-iron aeroplane hangar. A silver Audi Q7 awaited them with its doors open. Simone got in the front passenger seat, while Keira and Victoria sat in the back. The driver politely closed their doors and soon they were winding their way through miles of uninterrupted forest. Dark trees were the only witness to their passing.
Chapter 10
Keira stared unseeingly out of the window. As strange as her childhood had been, nothing could have prepared her for this. She felt equal measures of resentment and gratitude to Victoria. Resentment for her not telling her the truth much, much earlier, and gratitude for knowing that she was not alone anymore, that there were other people like her.
Then there was a small part of her, wishing she could creep back into h
er little bubble of ignorance and shut the world out. There is a terrible beauty to isolation. You don’t have to accept responsibility for others, or live up to their expectations. You could dip your toe into humanity’s maelstrom from time to time, or sit on the river bank and observe. Keira had convinced herself she wanted to be part of that maelstrom; that she wanted to be a part of something bigger. It must have been a lie, because here she was, thrown head first into the torrent and she felt like she was drowning.
“We are here,” her aunt announced.
For the first time, Keira took notice of her environment. The trees opened up to reveal a wide moat glistening like a silver snake, following the curvature of a medieval castle’s boundary wall which rose at least thirty feet into the air.
The driver slowed down as they drove over a lowered drawbridge held in place by chains, each of its links as thick as Keira’s waist. The chains lead up and disappeared into guard towers on top of the castle’s wall. The car continued on through massive wooden gates, reinforced with iron bars and bolts.
When she looked back through the rear window, the drawbridge was being pulled up with a rattle and groan from the chains, and the gates closed behind them with a solid thud. The surreal setting brought Victoria’s message home in a way her words couldn’t.
I am so far out of my league it’s not even funny, Keira thought.
The car stopped in a big cobblestone courtyard. The driver opened Victoria’s door and Keira slid over the seat to join her aunt and Simone outside. She stood next to the car for a moment and turned in a slow circle, taking in the building surrounding her on all sides.
She couldn’t begin to guess how old the castle was, but it had that unmistakable weathered look of a fortress that had withstood many centuries. Saw-toothed battlements and evenly spaced guard towers topped the wall, bearing testament to the fact that this castle was built to withstand a war.
Even in her current state, Keira could admire and appreciate the work of the artists who created this medieval masterpiece.
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