by Rain Oxford
“How’s Scott?”
“He’s in his cub form, but he’s good.” The child preferred being a cat most of the time, anyway.
“Is Addison watching him?”
He shook his head. “We got into an argument on Thursday and then I found a note on my door that night from her that she had a family emergency and thought we could use some time apart to think about our relationship.”
“Damn. Are you okay?”
“Darwin asked me that as well. So far, I have enjoyed the peace and quiet. I am still waiting for the soul-crushing loneliness and regret that Addison swore I would feel if she ever left me.”
Neither of them was a bad person. They were just a bad match. Addison needed someone who adored her, and that wasn’t Henry. Henry needed someone who understood that he went through shit and couldn’t express himself in traditional means. He didn’t tell people who he was; he showed them.
I reached out gently for Henry’s mind and felt it as usual. He was worried.
“I would appreciate it if you don’t kill me,” Henry said in my mind calmly. His jaguar snarled.
I felt his surface thoughts regarding this case. He was brave and level headed, and willing to give everything he had to help me. However, if I dug deeper, I would see a completely different side to him. He had deep-seated insecurities. He believed he had failed his wife, the family that had tried to love him, and most of all, his son. Scott was an odd child even for a paranormal, and Henry felt like it was his fault.
I wouldn’t let myself invade his mind like that, though. Instead, I only took in what he allowed me to see. When nothing horrible happened and I didn’t feel myself lose control, I gave him a command.
My mind control was versatile; I could overload someone with a sensation, like exhaustion or fear, or I could make them follow orders. My orders could be given directly in a person’s mind or spoken aloud. Since I was testing my power, however, I took a different approach.
I focused on control as I pushed a thought into his head gently. I still didn’t feel any adverse or frenzied reactions, so I retracted my magic. “How’s that? Not too crazy?”
“What did you do?”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I mildly want an avocado. I don’t like avocadoes, but I want one. Just a little, though. If the school doesn’t have any, that’s okay.”
“Perfect,” I said.
“Really?”
“I was worried about it blowing chaotically out of control. Now that that worked, I’m going to try something else. I’m going to give you a few commands with and without magic. If you can help yourself, don’t obey.”
I kept the orders simple with commands such as stand up, sit, touch your nose, raise your left hand, etcetera. I didn’t even come close to losing control. Finally, I retracted my magic and sighed with relief. My magic was perfectly normal. At least, my mind control was.
I pulled a candle out of my pocket and propped it up in the dirt. “Back up,” I said. He didn’t. “No, we’re done with that. Really back up.”
This time, he did without question. I backed away, as well, but kept myself calm. I focused heat into the candle wick. Elemental magic was very different from my mind control and visions. Although I typically used a matchstick to light a lamp, there were times when magic was just more practical. And of all the elements, fire was the most natural.
The flame that erupted was gentle and calm… for a split second before the magic inside me spun out of control. The fire grew in seconds to the size of a campfire, despite not having enough fuel. The candle was completely engulfed. After putting it out, Henry and I walked back to the school in silence.
When I told Remy about my tests, she was grateful that my mind control was unaffected. Nevertheless, we were trapped, and I suspected this was just the beginning.
* * *
I was in the house again, and it was on fire, but the little boy was gone. There were four shadow people and one of them looked like he was banging on the wall. The heat was intense and sweat soaked my clothes. I reached deep for my power to contact the shadows, but nothing happened.
“Can anyone hear me?” I called.
No answer.
I slowly walked across the room towards the window, and the shadows moved away, as if they could see me. Once again, I tried putting out the fire with magic. Putting out fire with magic was much, much harder than creating it. Fire was passion and anger and ferocity. It was powerful and necessary for life, like the sun. It fed on fear. I focused my mind on the water element.
Water was trust and love, it was adaptable and tranquil. Just like fire, it was essential for life, yet it could also be deadly. I pulled all that water was through me. I couldn’t create water like I could fire, because it was a matter element instead of an energy one, but I could pull it out of the air.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much to work with.
“Stop her!” The voice was more like a gust of wind than a person calling for help, but it somehow reminded me of a bad cell phone connection. It also distracted me from trying to put the fire out.
“Stop who?” I asked.
Again, there was no answer.
I picked up a chair and bashed it against the window. Surprisingly, I was able to move objects in this vision. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing outside the window. I carefully stepped over the ledge to walk through it. There was nothing but darkness, and then I was in my bedroom, awake.
Chapter 6
Monday, November 21
“I think the kids need me, and I don’t know how to help them. If I had something of theirs, I could use it to force a vision and control it. I feel like the kids are trying to contact me, but they can’t.”
“Because your powers are stopping them?” Darwin asked. Darwin, Amelia, and I were in the dining room of the Center, which was mostly deserted. Darwin’s invisibility and shifting were mostly under control, so there wasn’t a terrible need for him to stay in his room. Amelia was doing better as well, but she promised to go back to her room if she felt like she was losing control again.
“I can’t use my mind control magic in the vision, but I can use regular magic. That’s the strange part.”
“Really?”
“Okay, no. It’s all strange.”
“Are you sure it’s not a dream?”
“I’m sure. Do you think the visions have anything to do with what’s going on here?”
“Your personal history would suggest not.”
“What do you mean?”
He rolled his eyes. “You had a lot of cases outside of the school, and most of them had to do with your uncle-dad.”
“Don’t call him that.”
“Right now, we have a better chance of figuring out what’s going on with the school, so that’s what I’m going to focus on.”
“I agree. You find out what’s going on with the school. I’ll figure out who is responsible and stop them.”
“I need a few students to experiment on.”
“Darwin,” I chastised.
He rolled his eyes again. “I’m not gonna hurt the kiddies. I just need to see how this is affecting them specifically and if there’s a way to stop it. I also need to run some tests on the sigils. I wish we had access to Quintessence’s library. I miss those books.”
“Do you have any preliminary ideas about the symbols?” Amy asked.
“Many. They’re not here to protect us, though. That part I’m sure of.”
“We need to find out why Henry can’t use the shadow pass. Why can’t I call Rocky? There are few things we’ve faced that could stop the shadow pass. Even Gale’s amulet couldn’t stop Hunt from using it.”
He frowned. “Yeah, but Hunt uses his own key. Henry uses Langril’s.”
“So?”
“Sooo… maybe the barrier can’t stop the shadow pass, but it can cut off a familiar from his master if they’re on separate sides of the spell.”
“If that’s the case, mayb
e Vincent and Hunt can get here.”
“If they know we’re in trouble. We can’t call out.”
“I’m sure they’ll figure it out soon,” Amelia said, patting Darwin’s hand. He yelped suddenly and jerked his arm away with pain. Amelia’s eyes widened with horror. “Did that hurt?”
“No, no,” he lied, trying to force himself to relax. “You just startled me is all.”
“Oh,” she said, not convinced. She tried to touch his covered arm, but he stood and slid out of her reach too quickly.
“I’m going to get started on the books we do have.” He turned invisible as he bolted from the room.
I felt for both of them. “It’ll straighten itself out once we have control over our magic,” I said to comfort Amelia.
She shook her head, barely holding back tears. “It was a miracle of genetics and magic that I could touch him at all. A one-in-a-billion chance that our magic perfectly aligned. If this curse somehow disrupted that, we’ll never make it as a couple.”
“You two decided to marry before you knew you could touch.”
“We were settling for each other to please our parents and avoid dying alone. Love came afterwards… for him. I already loved him, but I can’t live life knowing that if I accidentally touched him, I could kill him.”
“It won’t come to that,” I swore. “I may not know Darwin as intimately as you, but I’ve been in his head. He says you two can touch because your powers negate each other’s.”
She frowned. “Yes.”
“I think that’s just his logical excuse for the fact that he loves you. His curse was created out of pure fear, and his fear of the curse fueled it. When he fell in love with you and trusted you completely, the curse let you in.”
“Are you saying that he doesn’t love me anymore?”
“Of course not. I’m saying that he’s afraid and it’s making his curse stronger. Hell, I’m pretty sure you just startled him. Give him a while to get his head on straight and touch him again when he’s in a calm state of mind. In the meantime, don’t let him push you away.”
I went to the West to talk to Remington. The students were supposed to stay in their rooms as much as possible, while the teachers and staff took turns standing guard on the main floor. In addition to Remington, there were three teachers and two cooks there. Most of the rest of the staff were wandering the property for anything strange or trying to solve the problem.
It wasn’t an organized operation, but I couldn’t give them other orders when I didn’t have a better plan.
When I approached Remington, she wrapped her arm around mine nonchalantly. Lesya Zedrick (the math teacher of the South) frowned at our closeness, but my intuition didn’t warn me of trouble. Using my magic, I detected that she was confused because it was new, not that it made her uncomfortable.
“Any new information?” Melody Bounds asked. The home economics and health teacher for students ten and older was a thin, middle-aged woman with white-blond hair, bright blue eyes, and laugh lines on her face, even though she could be strict with the students.
“Not yet. Darwin is on it. He’d also like to run some tests, so we need a few people to volunteer. I’ll oversee them just in case.”
“You think Darwin would lose control?” Mrs. Zedrick asked.
“The worst that would happen if he did would be the walls turning pink.”
A student approached us hesitantly and asked, “Ms. Hunt, can I go to the North to check on my sister?”
“Not at the moment, but I promise that she’s as safe as the rest of us.”
Without arguing, he hung his head and walked away. He was about eleven and hadn’t lost his baby fat yet with sandy-blond hair and light hazel eyes. His resigned posture and the fact that he didn’t insist told me he was used to being turned down.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“Benny Rower.”
“I don’t recognize him. Is he new?”
She frowned at me. “No, he’s been here for a couple of years.”
“I thought I knew everyone by now. I guess introversion in wizards is no joke.” Despite verbally dismissing him, I sent out my power to invade his mind. His mind wasn’t difficult to differentiate among the other students. He wanted validation for his efforts, to fit in, and to have fun, like everyone else. However, there was also an unusually strong desire to protect his sister and keep her safe, which made me think they had come from an unsafe home.
Then again, many of our students were not safe in the human community, especially the throwbacks.
“I think you should start dinner,” Remington said to the cooks.
They nodded. “We were planning on making sandwiches so the students could eat in their rooms.”
“That sounds good, but if you can think of some comfort food that would be easy for them to eat, now would be a good time.”
“What if this lasts a long time?” Ms. Holland asked. “What if we run out of food?”
“Since Quintessence was locked down because of a tornado, I made sure we wouldn’t have that problem,” Remington said. “We have six months’ worth of canned, dehydrated, and jarred food. If it takes longer than that to get out of here, we have bigger problems.”
“The council is doing this, right?” Ms. Bounds asked.
“I don’t think---” I was cut off as Remington elbowed me in the ribs.
“We don’t know,” Remington answered. She discreetly tugged on her ear, and I got the hint. I released my magic into her mind and heard her thoughts easily. “Don’t tell them about the council’s law yet. If we do, they will assume the council is behind this for sure and not accept any other answer.”
Remington and I both preferred to take care of problems on our own. However, it was our responsibility to lead the school. It was our choice to keep the information from them, but that didn’t mean it was fair. The teachers, staff, and even students had a right to know the facts. We needed to stand united, and keeping this from them wasn’t the best way to do that.
In the end, though, Remington was headmistress. I nodded, even though I didn’t agree. I would do my job as I saw fit, but the school was hers.
* * *
I was walking outside trying in vain to contact Rocky, when I heard a scream from the West. I took off towards the building. Once inside, stunned and frightened students pointed up the stairs and down the hallway towards the source of the sound.
I wasn’t the only one who heard the scream; Mr. Murphy and Mr. Grant were already standing outside one of the rooms, along with two teens. “The scream came from Asha,” Mr. Murphy said. “Kelly is in there with her now.”
“Where’s Ms. Bell?” Mr. Grant asked. “She could be helpful.”
“She’s better, but still secluded in the Center for everyone else’s safety. Did either of you see anything?” I asked Asha’s roommates.
They both shook their heads. “We heard her scream and ran,” Leila said.
“We assumed she was right behind us,” Rama added.
I patted her arm and went inside. The room was simple with two twin bunk beds, a wooden work desk, three small chairs, a reading chair by the window, a small shelf for books, and a closet door. Asha was on the bottom bunk of the right-hand bed, crying, while Kelly Davis (the history teacher for the South) tried to comfort her.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I was attacked,” Asha said.
“By who?”
“My uncle.”
“How did he get here?” Ms. Davis asked. “Does he work here? Where did he go? Why would he attack you?”
“My uncle is dead.”
“Then how could he have attacked you?”
“I don’t know.”
Ms. Davis sat on the bed beside Asha and patted her head. “It was just a bad dream, Asha.”
Asha pushed her hand away. “It wasn’t a dream!”
“Nonsense. You’re just frightened because of everything that has happened. It’s to be expected.”
“It wasn’t!”
I didn’t need my intuition to tell me that this was about to get way out of hand. Asha and the other students needed support. “Okay, calm down,” I said. “We don’t know what is or isn’t going on here, so we need to take every precaution. Everything could be a clue. Was there anything strange about your uncle?”
“I don’t know… he was standing over me and when I woke up… he told me not to speak and then…” She shook violently and I understood.
“You don’t have to say anything else. You’re safe.”
“I don’t want to sleep here tonight. I want to go home.”
“I know.” I sat in her chair and wheeled it towards the bed. My posture was intended to be friendly without being too familiar or invasive. Asha wasn’t the type of girl who would believe me if I told her we had everything under control. She had enough placating from adults.
“Trust might not be easy for you, so I’m not going to lie. This is frightening for all of us, but the teachers and staff here have survived frightening situations like this. We don’t have all the answers, but we will do everything possible to keep you safe.”
She nodded. “Okay. Thank you for telling me. I trust you.”
Whether she really did or not, she was calmer.
“What would make you feel safer?”
“If there were more than just my roommates.”
“How about a sleepover, then? Maybe everyone who wants to can sleep downstairs. Say, girls in one dining room and boys in the other? Can we do that?” I asked Ms. Davis.
She shrugged. “That shouldn’t be a problem. We have a supply of sleeping bags. We’ve done it before.”
“Right. Let’s spread the word, then.” It would make guarding them easier. “Of course, they don’t have to join if they don’t want to.”
It took a while, but we got the children situated. Most of them opted to sleep in the common rooms. Since many of the shifter children remained in their animal form, it was an interesting sleepover. The mammal shifters, like the wolf pups, cat cubs, and fox kits, cuddled with the wizard and fae children. The less-fluffy shifters, like the crocodile shifter and eagle shifter, weren’t as popular.
