by Diana Nixon
“Have you seen Evan’s brother?” Amanda asked.
“Yeah. I was lucky enough to bump into him in our room this morning. A real smart ass.”
“It is not the word, dear,” Evan commented from behind my back. “I think the British haven’t invented a proper word to describe him.”
We all burst out laughing, but Lucas interrupted our fun, nodding toward the door, where his parents were standing. “Come on,” he said, “I will introduce you to each other.”
“Don’t be chicken, my friend. They will like you,” Evan whispered to Amanda, who wasn’t obviously sharing his enthusiasm.
“Mom, Dad, meet my friends," Lucas said. “This is Eileen. And Evan.”
“Hi, Evan. Good to see you again,” Mr. Stanton said. “Eileen, I’ve heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
“And this is Amanda,” Lucas added, putting his arm protectively around her waist.
My friend’s cheeks blushed. “Nice to meet you,” she said shyly.
“Oh, I’m so glad to meet you finally, dear,” Lucas’s mother replied, hugging Amanda and making her blush even more. “I’m Evangeline,” she said, smiling genuinely.
Now seeing that beautiful woman I could definitely say that Lucas took a lot from her, especially his sandy hair and golden tint of his light-green eyes.
Amanda was still a bit nervous as it was her first meeting with the Stantons and she really wanted to impress them. Personally I thought that everyone would like her. She was amazing in every sense of the word. And I was happy to see her with Lucas. Especially now, when Christian wasn’t there with us and she needed some support and warmth. Of course, she could always go to her parents, but their love was completely different from the one Lucas was giving her. Besides, Amanda wasn’t a child anymore, so her mom’s and dad’s love weren’t enough. Lucas became her perfect match.
“Eileen, what do you think about it?” Evan asked. Looked like I’d missed a part of their conversation.
“Sorry, what was that about?”
“Patrick says that we can leave tomorrow morning. Will your mom be able to meet us at the airport around two o’clock?”
“I’m sure it’s not a problem at all.”
“My parents live not far from Paris,” Evangeline said. “So you can see your mom whenever you want. I’ve already told them about your arrival and they are really excited about having guests. Unfortunately, we can’t visit them as often as we’d like to.”
“If everything is set, the only thing we need to do is to pack our things. Oh, and we need to find a car to take us to the airport," Amelia summed up, making notes on a piece of paper. “Evan, will you and Eileen stay and have some tea with us?”
“Thanks, Amelia, but I have to take care about some things before we go, so I’ll see you later,” I said, apologizing.
“If Eileen can’t stay, I have to go too,” Evan replied. Then he led me to the door and we left.
“You don’t have to babysit me all the time,” I said, walking down the road to our dormitory. “I’m sure no one will dare to kidnap me in the middle of the day, right in front of everyone’s eyes.”
“If I were you, Eileen, I wouldn’t count on daylight protection. Besides, I couldn’t stay there anyway. Patrick and Amelia will be too busy with their own stuff, so our dearest Amanda will get a perfect chance to spend more time with her future relatives. And I don’t want to cut in on their talks.”
I smiled in response thinking about Amanda and her fears about meeting Lucas’ family. But my smile vanished as soon as I saw Darcy, chatting and laughing with Kevin not far away from us. Evan fully shared my mixed emotions. He stopped abruptly and frowned.
“Do they know each other?” I asked.
“As far as I can see, they already do.”
Seeing us, Darcy waved her hand, inviting us to join their fun.
“Hey, Evan! I didn’t know that you have such a charming brother!” She winked playfully to her companion.
Evan and I exchanged telling glances.
“Charm is something you should be really careful of, dealing with the Murray brothers,” he said. “We are real specialists in breaking girls’ hearts with our charm.”
Evan wasn’t joking. And Kevin knew it.
“I will remember that,” Darcy said.
“If you are done with your advice, Evan, we’d better go,” Kevin said, indicating the end of our short conversation. “Darcy and I were talking about something interesting before you came,” he added, smiling sweetly. Even too sweetly, I thought.
“Um, sure, we need to go too,” I said, taking Evan’s hand. “Come on. Oh, Darcy could you drop in later? I need to talk to you!”
“Of course, Eileen. I wanted to talk to you too,” she said with a nod.
As soon as we entered our room I said, “Don’t you think that Kevin’s behavior was weird?”
“So you’ve noticed that too.”
“When on earth did he manage to meet Darcy?”
“It’s a good question.” Evan poured some water in a glass and drained it dry. “I doubt it was a simple coincidence. I know Kevin well enough not to believe in such bullshit.”
I nodded quietly, took my suitcase and started packing my things, leaving Evan alone with his thoughts.
I didn’t want to take too many clothes – just a few pairs of jeans, a couple of sweaters, jackets and comfortable shoes. As far as I knew, French autumn wasn’t much different from the British one. The days were still warm, but the nights became colder and windy. I thought that taking high heels and dresses wasn’t necessary, so that part of my wardrobe was left untouched. Yet, there was one thing I wanted to take with me. The box.
Christian’s present was one of the few things still binding me with him. Besides from my memories there were other presents so precious to me – my father’s medallion with Dever’s emblem on it, Evan’s golden bracelet, Anna’s leather souvenir, a bottle of Darcy’s elixir of courage and a watch from Patrick. All of those things reminded me of my birthday, one of those days when Christian and I were truly happy.
I didn’t know why, but I was sure that Christian was still alive. At least I thought he would be until the moment I find him… I was scared to think about the following scenario.
Evan was still sitting on the sofa, wearing his usual thoughtful face.
“Don’t you have to pack your things, too?” I asked him, putting the box into my bag.
“I’m waiting for you to finish packing, so we could go to my room and I could do the same thing with my suitcase.”
“Evan, don’t you think it’s ridiculous? I’m not a two-year-old baby and I can take care of myself during the next twenty minutes.” I looked at him meaningfully.
Evan looked at me from top to toe, then he smiled and said, “You definitely look a little older than a two-year-old baby, but leaving you alone is something I can’t afford at the moment. Sorry. Besides, without Christian here you are my responsibility. It’s for your own safety, Eileen. You know that, right? Because if my best friend finds out that something happened to you while I wasn’t around, he will fry me alive for sure. And I’m still too young to die like that. So would you be so kind as to hurry up, ‘cause I’m still waiting.”
I rolled my eyes indignantly. “Remind me later to tell your best friend how much I suffered because of his disappearance.”
“Be sure that I will.” Evan grinned.
Fifteen minutes later we entered his room. It was dark and quiet. Since the moment Evan moved to our room, his own dorm had been empty. The bed was made, the windows were closed and nothing reminded us of the recent events that happened there. The couch where Christian fell asleep that very night looked the same as usual. I came closer and touched the back of it. It was soft but very cold.
“I’ve already checked this place hundreds of times,” Evan said, seeing my movements.
Despite his words there was something drawing my att
ention. I went round the couch and sat on it. It wasn’t as comfortable as it used to be. Something was definitely wrong. I could feel the presence of some strange aura around it. Maybe it wasn’t even an aura, but something else. I couldn’t explain my feelings. So I got up and took a few steps away from the couch, still watching it closely. However, I didn’t notice anything unusual from the distance.
Soon Evan said, “I’m ready.” He was holding his suitcase in one hand and some papers in the other one. Looks like he travels light.
“Okay, let’s go then.” I nodded, heading for the door.
I took a look at the couch again. A fleeting image flew in front of my eyes, but seeing Evan’s calm face I thought I must be imagining things.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, feeling my hesitation.
“No, everything’s fine,” I said, shouting mentally at myself for letting my imagination run wild. Surely I couldn’t see what I saw, could I?....
Chapter 3. Magic of Silver
Evan
Coming back to Eileen’s room we found Amanda, Lucas and Darcy there. They were sitting around the table, scrutinizing some documents.
“What’s this?” I asked curiously, coming closer.
“It’s a map of the surroundings where my grandparents live,” Lucas said. “I made it myself when I was there last time. There is one place I think you should see. It’s an old church. Or to be exact - what was left of it. For all I know it was built in the early fourteenth century. But the most interesting thing about it is the location where it was built – in the middle of a small village where the families of wizards used to live. A few centuries later the village was burned to ashes with all its population. The moment the fire started they all were in this church and no one survived. But later, when people from the neighboring villages came to the site of tragedy, they found a boy crying near the ruins of the former church. They tried to ask him about the fire, but he never spoke. Nodding quietly toward the forest, he walked away. Since then no one has ever seen him again. But the legends say that every year on the date of the fire his spirit comes back to that place. I’m not sure if you can believe this, but people who saw this spirit, say that he appears as a transparent vision, or a ghost. But every time he leaves it looks like a brief image flickering. And then he disappears in the darkness. Does any of this ring a bell?”
“Wow! You guys were not wasting your time here,” Eileen said, impressed. “Judging by the description, it looks like something I saw in my memory of Christian’s last night in Dever. How do you know those stories, Lucas?” she asked, taking the map in her hands.
“My grandpa knows a lot more of them. But when Amanda told me about your vision, I remembered this particular one.”
“So this map will lead us to the place where the church was built, right?” I asked, wondering how all of that could help us in our search.
“Yeah. It’s pretty easy,” Lucas said. “If you go straight to the west from my grandparents’ house, you will be there in about fifteen minutes. Though I’m not sure if this plan is good enough….”
“I think it can help us understand what happened to Christian. When did you say the fire took place?”
“October, 20.”
I looked at my cell’s calendar.
“But it’s October, 18 already!” Eileen exclaimed. “So we will make it to France just in time to see if the legends are true,” she muttered with that crazy look on her face, meaning that she was making up some plan in her head. Uh, I so didn’t like it!
“I have already seen fairy tales, coming true,” Darcy said.
Eileen and I looked at one another. We remembered the legends of Dever we were reading just a few weeks ago. They turned out to be very true-to-life. Or at least a part of them, telling about the old curses, spells and wizards casting them.
“It will be a very dangerous adventure,” Eileen said. “We shouldn’t go to the ruins alone. We need to ask Patrick and Lucas's grandpa to accompany us.”
Personally, I thought that engaging so many people wasn’t a very good idea. Especially taking into consideration the capricious nature of ghostly creatures. I thought that in the presence of so many people the boy’s spirit wouldn’t show up at all.
“By the way, Darcy, when did you manage to become friends with my brother?” I recalled their meeting in the park.
“Actually, he came to my room this morning. He said that someone told him about my talents, and he wanted me to read his palm.”
“So you’ve read his palm?”
“Not really. We were talking about so many things that when I finally remembered the reason for his visit, he said he was running out of time and asked me to do the reading next time.”
Darcy’s words put me on the alert. I knew that Kevin would never go away without getting what he wanted. Or maybe he got everything he needed after all?....
The next day started with a wonderful morning – warm and sunny. I woke up at dawn to do some training. The last time I needed my magical talents to be tested was a long time ago. Being a hereditary Wizardy, I didn’t have to worry about the loss of my energy and powers. They were an essential part of me.
I was worried about the upcoming trip to France, thinking backward and forward over every step. I didn’t even know what was influencing me most. Maybe it was a call of duty or just my own desire to protect Eileen. Anyway, there was only one thing I knew for sure – whatever happens, she must be kept safe. And I thought that being out of Dever’s territory would significantly complicate my job. That’s why I needed practice so much. I wanted to be sure about my powers.
I came to the academic building, where several dozens of other students had been already training. Finding a small, dark classroom, I closed the door behind me and lit a single dim lamp. All I needed to practice magic was simple concentration. So I closed my eyes and tried to relax.
I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular. I was imagining Dever’s surroundings when suddenly I caught myself thinking about one of Embry’s gardens, where Tara and I liked to spend time together. It was a jasmine garden and the jasmine was Tara’s favorite flower. Embry students say that it’s a symbol of sensuality and grace. Apart from healing people the students of Embry are experts in plant cultivation and their numerous gardens are Dever’s pride.
There were so many other memories of Tara and me. Once she helped me to reveal my ability to create silver. Not just an illusion but a real precious metal. We both were shocked by our discovery. Creating things from nothing seemed unreal. Even the hereditary Wizardy couldn’t do that. Tara promised not to tell anyone about it and I, in turn, kept the entire thing secret even from my family.
Some time later I found out that my grandmother possessed the very same gift.
Those who possess the same talents can feel each other even in the distance. And touching each other’s hands leaves silver powder on our palms that erases memories. That’s why the possessors of silver magic never remember about the meeting with someone like them. There are also legends about the grains of silver floating in our blood that helps us to feel each other.
As it turned out, my rare talent was very useful.
Silver has some specific properties which increase their effect with the help of magic. For example, it helps to heal different injuries. Silver protects people from the basilisk-glance and other magical influences. If you have an amulet made of silver it also brings good luck. But the main property of magical silver is the ability to kill….
I didn’t know anything about it until one day I saw a pack of wolves in the forest. There were a dozen of them. And I was alone. So I had to think really fast. I had only one silver lighter in my pocket. I always took it with me since the day I found out about my new gift. It was my personal amulet. It also contained a real fire that I couldn’t create myself. I thought that fire would frighten away the pack, so I took the lighter and pushed my life-saving button.
As soon as the first sparks of fire appeared from
the lighter it turned into a handful of ash, showering slowly to my feet. Damn, I was terrified. Maybe for the first time in my life.
“Shit! Looks like I’m a goner,” I said, suppressing a hysterical chuckle.
Thank God for rewarding the remains of my amulet with so much sagacity. Apparently it could feel my helplessness, because its reaction was really fast. First I saw the grains of ash turning into long thin needles. But their quantity was something that surprised me most. No matter how hard I tried I would have never been able to create so many pieces of one small thing. There were thousands of them, if not millions. They surrounded me from top to toe, so from the sidelines I looked like a huge hedgehog. But such an absurdity was the last thing I was worried about at the moment.
The next surprising thing was the wolves’ reaction to my transformation. They stepped back one by one, taking a few small steps before taking off in unison. Unfortunately, they barely managed to run a dozen meters before the needles reached their backs, ripping cruelly into their flesh. There was no struggle and no painful yowl. I heard only a soft barely audible rustle in the endless silence of the forest around me. However, those sounds could have been my imagination. In seconds I found myself standing alone in a clearing in the woods.
“Jeez!” I whispered nervously, sitting on the wet ground. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was so shocked that it took me a few minutes to notice my silver lighter, lying near my boot. I took it in my hands and gasped. There wasn’t a single scratch on it. I couldn’t imagine that that small piece of silver would ever become a killing monster again.
Later I told Tara about my forest adventure and in order to prove somehow my words I suggested to do a small experiment. Of course, I wasn’t going to kill anyone in front of her eyes, so I thought that using the life energy of roses was just enough to show the power of my amulet. I barely managed to think about Tara’s harmless flowers hurting me, as those beautiful buds sank into the flames, burning to ashes.
A few years have passed since that day and I’ve never used my secret silver magic again. But today I wanted to revive the old memories.
