Spark (Legends of the Shifters)

by J. B. North

The harsh wind was merciless. The snow pelted my face in sheets. I shivered and draped my scarf over the bridge of my nose, but my eyes were defenseless against the frigid temperatures. They stung. Luckily for me, I knew the way to the arena by heart.

  The arena, where people go in and may never come back out. It had happened to two girls at the orphanage last year. I count myself lucky that I didn’t known them very well. I tended to keep to myself most of the time, and it rewarded me with the lack of tears.

  But today, the tables were turned. I could be one of those girls, and how many would cry over me?

  I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or anxious when I finally spotted the barely visible dome that surrounded the entire arena, protecting it from the weather. Nevertheless, I stepped across the magic threshold and instantly, the snow stopped blinding my vision. There was a large crowd already gathered around the entrances. As I walked toward them, I noticed that there were five participants. Me, two other girls, and two boys. I pushed through the crowd to get behind them. All the adults were gradually forming a different line—one that led into the stands.

  The girl in front of me looked back, and sneered in disgust. She looked like she was born into a wealthy family. I was the opposite of that, and I hadn’t had the luxury of a bath for days. The other girl in line and one of the boys both looked like middle-class. The last boy, who stood in the front, appeared to be as poor as I was. When I peered closer, he looked kind of familiar. Then, I knew. He was one of the boys from the orphanage. I had seen him playing outside my window one day. That was as close as Madam Grant allowed us to be with each other, and even that was stretching the rules.

  I kept glancing behind me to see if anyone else was coming, but apparently, I was the last one. It wasn’t unusual to have five participants. One week, there weren’t any participants. The most that was ever documented in Forlander was twelve, but only because it's the only arena on the island.

  After a little while, it was my turn to sign the form. I grabbed the feather with my right hand, dipped it into the inkwell, and signed my name. It was the color of blood.

  The woman who sat there, bundled up in a dull woolen sweater and scarf, explained to me where to go and what to do. She didn't even look at me as she spoke. She was too busy writing down something on a piece of parchment. “Your cell is number fourteen. It’s on the right. When it's your turn, two guards will escort you to the center of the arena. Then, you may attempt your trial.”

  I winced when she said ‘attempt’, but took a deep breath and continued to go where she had told me. The rooms were walled with stone, but the doors were made out of iron bars. A man stood outside of door number fourteen, and opened it when he saw me. The keys clanked against the metal.

  I shivered. It felt like I was being put in jail. I stepped in reluctantly, and waited. I couldn’t hear anything that was happening in the arena. There was only the heavy breathing of the guard.

  At about noontime, my stomach growled. I looked out at the guard who hadn’t even glanced at me for the duration of my stay.

  “Do we get meals here?” I questioned hopefully.

  “No,” he said, and continued being silent.

  I sighed heavily, and rested my head back against the cold stone wall.

  An hour after that, they came for me. “Ivy Oliver?” one of the guards, a woman, asked.

  The man finally turned around and reached for the keys at his belt. They rattled against the metal again as the lock was disabled with a barely distinguishable click. I stepped out into the hallway and we advanced.

  We weaved through dozens of rooms just like my own, further and further into the monstrous building. I looked over at the female guard. Her eyes were fierce and her jaw was set. She noticed me watching her, and she frowned further. She was only a little older than me. The trial was probably fresh in her memory. The older guard, a man, just looked bored.

  I focused once again on the path ahead of me when we turned a corner and a blinding light shone at the end of the hallway. My eyes adjusted to it slowly.

  A metal gate clattered as it opened upward, and the sound of my boots went from the click-clack of tile to the silence of perfectly trimmed, arena grass.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Just like the woman had said, I was led to a circle of sand that marked the center of the arena. My heart beat rapidly as the guards left me there and the people continued to watch me. I searched the stands for Ayon and Elna, but I didn’t see either of them.

  I glanced back at the entrance just as the guards disappeared. Did everyone's heart beat this dangerously fast when they were abandoned in the middle of the arena? What did I have to prepare myself for? Was a roaring monster going to come out of nowhere?

  Then, as if trading places, a man came back out of where the guards had gone. He was tall and dark skinned, dressed in black robes hemmed with gold stitches. He was obviously not from here.

  The man met me in the center, and asked unemotionally, “What is your name?”

  I looked down at my hands, barely able to talk through my nervousness, and answered in a whisper, “Ivy Oliver.”

  “Have a seat, Ivy.”

  I looked behind me and knitted my eyebrows, confused. There wasn’t a seat. But my confusion was cut off when a chair suddenly appeared. A sorcerer!

  I sat down uneasily. He rested his hand against the top of my head, and I felt my mind shift uncomfortably, as if he were sorting through my thoughts. I wanted to pull away, but I was frozen as if something held me there. Finally, with a painful jolt, he pulled his hand away, and my thoughts calmed.

  “I now know your worst fear,” he said, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead. “That is what your trial will be against. It will only disappear if you transform or defeat it. I’ll see you when you finish…. Perhaps.”

  With that, he turned, leaving me sitting there as he made his way to safety. I stood up just as the chair behind me vanished. My face felt hot, and my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I tried to think back in my mind what I was mostly afraid of. Spiders?

  I tried to walk after the wizard, but I couldn’t leave the circle of sand until he disappeared and the double doors were closed.

  I glanced around the arena. Nothing was happening. I had the feeling that if I stayed in my circle, it would stay like that forever. But I didn’t want to be here forever, with the eyes of the crowd constantly on me. I took a step outside the protective border.

  There was still nothing. Did that mean that I was afraid of nothing? I already knew the answer to that. I was afraid of many things. I looked behind me. Only the crowd. Then I heard a collective gasp. I turned my head back around quickly, startled by a veiled figure directly in front of me. Its entire cloak was covered in frost, and its face was nothing but a dark abyss with iridescent black eyes. It’s very being radiated darkness and cold.

  Its high-pitched scream pierced the air as it started toward me slowly. Chills wracked my body. I looked down to see that frost had traveled along the ground from the body of the creature to mine.

  I swallowed hard, and backed away slowly, tripping over my feet slightly. It followed at the same pace. The only thing my mind could think to do was to run. I turned on my heel and made a break for it. The first thing I ran to was the doors, but knowing that they wouldn't open for me, I kept on past them, not wanting to give the creature the chance to get closer. After a while, I had the feeling that the creature was only playing games with me, because however fast I went, it seemed to go slightly faster. It was like I was living in a nightmare.

  The crowd was hushed with the suspense, or maybe it was drowned out by the beating of my heart. Every beat could be my last.

  My pace began to slow as my energy levels decreased, but I knew that I couldn’t stop. No matter what, I had to keep going, or it would get close enough to freeze the blood in my veins. At that point, I tripped. I laid on the ground, certain of my inevitable death, my face bleeding and sore where it had rake
d against the dirt. I looked up at the darkness, and was suddenly aware of how close it was. It reached out to me, and I was too cold and scared to move.

  Its eyes glassed over with ice as it outstretched shadowy tendrils to touch my face.

  My muscles refused to move.

  I was powerless.

  I could do nothing but stare into the darkness underneath the black hood. If it had a mouth, I'd bet it was smiling.

  I forced my eyes shut, and immediately felt the warmth inside me. I focused on that because it felt like the only thing that would help. I concentrated on it until the darkness touched my cheek. I cried out at the icy burning. Frost was traveling quickly over my face, raveling through my hair, and crawling down my neck. I knew that my life was about to end.

  And that’s when what everyone had been waiting for happened. I transformed.

  A bright light blinded even myself and my skin bubbled and shifted. It didn't exactly feel bad, but it wasn't very comfortable, either. The light faded, allowing the scourge to come back into view. It crumpled into a small, defeated heap before disintegrating completely.

  With the threat gone, I took the time to take in my surroundings. The ground looked closer, but only by a little bit.

  When I looked down at my new form, what I saw wasn't what I'd expected. I had red, orange, and yellow feathers. I lifted my arm, but then, it wasn’t an arm. It was a wing. And my feet had turned into black bird talons.

  I heard gasps, then whispering, and then confused murmuring, all more distinctly than I could have before.

  The wizard's voice sounded slightly in awe as he announced, “Ivy Oliver’s second form is…a phoenix.”

  A phoenix? I had never heard of a phoenix. The same voice whispered inside my head, “To change back into your first form, you must focus on the cold.”

  So I did. I focused on the cold of the day, and it seeped through my bones until I turned back.

  I shivered. My feathers had been transformed into a toga-like dress that was a dark, crimson color and black sandals that wove around my calves. I had never seen anything like it, but as awareness started to return to my mind, I realized that my coat had disappeared when I'd transformed. I rubbed my arms. My only coat was gone, and I had no money to buy another one.

  And yet, things could be so much worse.

  As the doors that led into the mazes opened back up, I wondered what occupation a phoenix was given. The ground had been pretty far away for a bird, and my talons looked as sharp as fishhooks. I would probably be categorized in the ‘fierce bird’ factor. I would have to ask the wizard to be certain.

  The same two guards came back into the arena, but now they seemed to handle me more carefully. As they led me away, the crowd began to disperse. That’s when I finally saw Ayon and Elna. They had been seated next to one another in the third row and now, they just stared at me in shock. I reached my hand up in a wave. Elna waved back, but Ayon only continued to stare.

  The guards took me to an extravagant room completely different from the rest of the arena. The wizard sat in an intricately carved wooden chair with leather padding. Now that I saw him again, I took him in more carefully. He looked only to be about thirty or so. Everything about him was dark except his eyes. They were a lighter green. They reminded me of moss. Even so, he was not handsome. His face was too long and thin for that.

  “Ivy!” he said as if we’d known each other for years. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. He was probably trying to get something from me. “Please sit.”

  I sat down.

  “I have some news for you…. You are a very wanted person right now. Very wanted.” He paused to add emphasis. “In fact, it is very fortunate that you fell into my hands, because I am the one who needs your help more than anyone else.” He steepled his fingers together.

  I knew it. He had wanted something from me. “I will do nothing more than the occupation that I’m given,” I said stiffly.

  “Well, this ties into it,” the wizard said. “In a few minutes or less, another wizard with a higher rank than mine will come crashing through that door to take you to some kind of school. They will teach you how to kill, and more specifically, how to kill a certain thing. I just need you to know this; you can still complete your destiny without killing. All you need to learn how to do is persuade—“

  He was interrupted by a deafening bang right behind me. As he had predicted, the door had come crashing down and a man was standing on top of it, his sharp eyes taking in the scene. He looked only a few years older than me. His hair was light blond, combed back perfectly, and his eyes were an icy blue.

  “That came sooner than I expected,” the wizard muttered under his breath.

  The other man shot him a deadly gaze. “Rowan,” he growled. “You knew that she was supposed to come with me.”

  “Oh, come on, Niko. We were just having a little chat. She won't even remember me after a week of training,” said Rowan, studying his fingernails. He glanced up at the other man.

  I was getting confused. “What am I training for?” I interrupted.

  Niko glanced at me. “Come. I’ll talk to you on the way.”

  He clamped his hand down on my arm and dragged me forward. I felt an instinctive dislike for Niko, and felt guilty for leaving Rowan behind even though I didn't like him much either. I looked back at the other wizard before leaving the room. His mouth was formed into a firm line and his eyes held an intense hatred.

  We got out of the room, and I was once again weaving through the halls. Niko kept up a fast pace, still dragging me behind him. “Are you going to tell me what my occupation is?” I asked, trying to jerk out of his vice-like grip.

  Niko's hold tightened before he answered, “As a phoenix, your occupation has yet to be categorized. It's been a long time since anyone with your second form has shown up. Two hundred years, I think...” He paused. “Obviously, we've never had one like you at The Crescent Isle Conservatory.”

  “What training does this conservatory have to offer?”

  “Depends on what your second form is. Your training will probably be tougher than most,” Niko answered gruffly, an eerie smile pulling at his lips.

  “What kind of training will I have to go through?” I was beginning to lose the feeling in my hand.

  “I have ideas,” he replied.

  I stopped talking, not only because I could tell that I wasn’t going to get any more information, but also because I heard the chatter of voices up ahead. We were getting close to the entrance, and this was about the time when all the friends and family and entertainment seekers usually gather at the front to discuss certain trials and to see the survivors before they go wherever they are told to go.

  We exited the arena, and entered the throng of people. Niko finally let go of my arm, and I tried to rub the feeling back into it.

  I was never told the outcome of the other trials, but by the look on the other contestants' faces, I could kind of tell. The girl that had sneered at me was crying her eyes out. She probably turned into a rodent, I thought with malice. The poor boy was reserved, but I could tell he liked what he got. He might’ve been placed one step above where he was originally. The other boy had a bland look on his face. He was probably stuck in the same class. As I studied these three, I noticed that there was one missing. The middle-class girl. She must not have made it. I was kind of sad for her, although I had never met her before in my life. She didn’t seem like a bad person.

  I walked silently through the crowd, trailing behind Niko. He glanced behind him every now and then to make sure that I was still following. The people parted for me as if I would bite them if they got anywhere near me. I narrowed my eyes and kept my head down.

  My heart jumped when I heard Ayon's voice yell for me. I searched through the crowd until I spotted him and Elna. Everything seemed so different from my regular life that I’d almost forgotten about them. I started toward them, but before I could take my third step, Niko saw what I was doing a
nd grabbed hold of my arm once again. “Oh, no you don’t. We don’t have that sort of time. You can visit your friends after your training is over.”

  I frowned at him. “But that’s not the regulations,” I protested.

  He pulled me away. “It is, for people like you,” he growled.

  I hated that he was stronger than me. I wanted to push him away and go to my friends. I was surprised when he dropped my arm, but then I understood when my feet continued to follow him involuntarily. I tried my hardest to break out of the pattern, but I only succeeded in stumbling. The power that was holding me was too strong. Niko glared back at me, a warning to keep from struggling. I turned my head to look at them one last time. Ayon stood in the middle of the crowd, watching as I left them behind. Elna was trying to fight through the crowd to get to me, but the people acted as a solid barrier between us. I had a feeling that Niko had something to do with that.

  My feet stepped up into the awaiting carriage, and the door slammed in my face. I could only watch as the arena—and my past—faded out of sight.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The carriage went on for what seemed like hours. I refused to look at or talk to Niko for the entire ride.

  Eventually, I fell asleep only to be jarred awake a little while later. I looked out the window in a hurry. We were on a giant, snowy terrain, except we were surrounded by tents and buildings. The horses' hooves clicked against a cobblestone path. The snow on the ground was hard packed, as if hundreds of feet had trampled it, but there was no one here.

  Niko’s voice made my head swing toward him, breaking my efforts to keep from acknowledging his presence. “I was afraid that I would have to wake you up myself.”

  I didn’t answer, but looked back out at the terrain. The light was dimming fast, and it wouldn’t take long for our surroundings to become shadows.

  I knew that this had to be the school that Niko was talking about.

  I jumped when the carriage door opened. The man holding the door had several missing teeth and bloodshot eyes.