The first to speak is Madison, one of the many wolves. “For once, I have good news,” she says. “I finally told my boyfriend about my condition. He was surprisingly supportive. He even wanted to be here tonight, but he had to work. It’s a relief, not having to hide something this huge from someone I love so much. I almost feel… liberated.”
The group claps, and I join them. It’s inspiring to hear this woman’s story, but at the same time, it reminds me that I have yet to tell my mother anything about the strange direction my life has taken. She’s the only close family I’ve got, and she has absolutely no idea what I’ve become, or what I’m capable of. She doesn’t even know where I go after school; she thinks I spend all of my afternoons with Rachel or Jenna. Soon, I promise myself. Soon, I’ll tell her everything.
A few other people speak, mostly about their recent success stories, and after a while, to my surprise, Rachel volunteers. In all the years I’ve known her, I’ve only seen her cry once or twice. Tears spring to her eyes now, but she manages to keep them in, and speaks in a trembling voice. “Part of me wants to believe this is all a hoax, or that I’m going insane. I don’t want to believe that I can become that… thing, that monster. I don’t have it in me to kill anyone or anything on a normal day, I don’t even eat meat if I can avoid it. But during the full moon, I lose everything I am. I’m usually aware of what’s going on when I transform, and almost through the eyes of a stranger, I see myself ripping animals to shreds, dragging people into the trees, feasting on anything in sight… and I hate myself more and more with every drop of blood on my hands. I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive myself for the things I’ve done. I don’t know how anyone could ever be at peace with this life.”
The whole room is silent now, and several people seem to be in danger of bursting into tears themselves. They’re probably thinking of their own experiences, remembering thinking along the same lines at some point in their lives. It’s Doctor Lucian who finally breaks the silence. “We’ve all been there before. Learning to live as a were is one of the hardest things you can ever do with your life. In fact, about three out of five people bitten choose to take their own lives, rather than learn to forgive themselves. But that’s mostly because they try to go it alone.” He gestures at the people around him, and says, “Every wolf needs a pack. We’re here to help each other.”
Rachel asks, “How can you help me?”
Doctor Lucian smiles, and answers, “The first step is to remember that no matter what your instincts tell you, you can learn to ignore them. At the end of the day, you are the master of your own body, no matter what form it takes. We’ll help you learn how to tame the beast later on tonight.” He checks his watch, and adds, “The moon is going to be rising soon. For safety reasons, I’m going to have to ask our non-were friends to leave at this point.”
I look at Nick, who’s already standing. He’s been to meetings before, so I ask him, “What’s going on?”
“They’re going down to a bunker where they can transform without hurting anyone,” he says. “There have been a few accidents in the past.”
“Oh.” I stand up as well, and look over at Rachel, who wipes her eyes and stares at the ground. I whisper to her, “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Alright…” She looks fine now, but I catch how her voice wavers, and I can tell she’s worried about being left alone. But she isn’t, not really; she’s got Landon with her in case anything goes wrong. Nick and I wave goodbye to them both, then make our exit as quietly as possible while the meeting resumes.
The train ride back to Manhattan seems much shorter than the trip to Queens, especially with my head on Nick’s shoulder. I’ve never sat like this with a guy before, and it’s surprisingly comfortable. I’m a little worried about Rachel, truth be told, but at the same time, I’m nearly calm enough to fall asleep on Nick. I’m still not used to the way we slip into our own little world when we’re together, and how it makes all the pressures of the real world seem less important. No one has ever had such a calming effect on me before. We transfer to a train heading uptown, and that ride seems even shorter. It hardly feels like any time has passed when we’ve reached our stop.
We step off the train, and as soon as we do, I sense that something is wrong. The station itself looks normal, if more empty than usual, and Nick… that’s what’s wrong. He’s frozen in place, as is everyone else on the train and the platform. I snap my fingers in his face, and get no reaction whatsoever. A voice from behind me says, “It’s no use. I didn’t want anyone interfering, so they’re all frozen in time.”
I spin around, and notice the speaker standing with her back against the wall. I recognize her from somewhere, I think from school. Black coat, black shirt, black skirt, black combat boots, and thick rimmed rectangular glasses framing golden eyes. And then, I remember; she’s the purple haired girl from school. The one who sits at the table in the corner during lunch, scribbling in her notebook, and occasionally stopping to glance at me. I remember now how every time I catch her eyes on me, they dart away. “Who are you?,” I ask, “and what are you talking about?”
She fixes her golden eyes on me, and for the first time, I’m close enough to see that they’re not actually contacts, as I had suspected. “My name’s Alyssa, and I’ve been meaning to talk to you alone. Kind of hard to do that, since you’re always around either Fangs, Dim Sum, or the Ginger. So, I had to resort to freezing time for a while.”
“How-“
“We’ve only got half a minute left, I can’t hold this spell for very long.”
Did she just say…? “Wait, you’re a spellcaster?”
“Yes, but we don’t have time for questions, just listen. I’ve noticed that your magic has gotten much stronger over the past few weeks, which means you’re more than likely being taught how to use it. And since there is exactly one experienced spellcaster I can think of that wouldn’t belong to any New York City clan, it’s easy to guess who your mentor is. Now, this is going to be my only opportunity to give you a warning, so listen closely. The two of you need to be careful. If Selene locates either of you, you’re as good as dead.”
“Who’s Selene? And how-“
“No time. Just pass on the message. I’ll see you in school, Santos.” Alyssa pushes off the wall, and heads toward the station’s exit. As she reaches the top of the stairs, she snaps her fingers, and vanishes from view.
Something touches my hand from behind, and I nearly jump out of my skin. I turn around to find that it was Nick reaching for my hand. He looks about as startled as I feel, probably because of my reaction. He asks, “Are you alright?”
I don’t want to lie to Nick, but I also don’t want to explain what just happened, or admit that I let Alyssa scare me at all. But she did. Between the fact that she’s capable of stopping time, and the ominous warning, I’m feeling very insecure about how well I can defend myself against someone like her. I have so many questions, but the only one that might have answers is Krystal. So, instead of answering, I ask, “Can I come over tomorrow? I have to talk to Krys about something.”
Chapter 10
When I wake up the next morning, I’m even more spooked than I was last night by the encounter with Alyssa. For a while, I can’t pinpoint why; my dream was just that strange premonition I kept having before my awakening. Sure, it hasn’t happened in the past few weeks, but it’s not really a cause for alarm anymore. As I lie with my eyes trained on the ceiling, I remember a detail that previously escaped my attention, and the panic sets in anew; Alyssa’s golden eyes, dull and lifeless, looming out of the darkness, her hand awash in the purple glow of a spell aimed directly at me. It’s unnerving, to say the least.
Without warning, a bright light illuminates my room, and my ringtone starts blasting right in my ear. I’d rather not talk to anyone this early, but I answer my phone just to spare my ear the unnecessary pain. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand, and grumble out, “Hello?”
To my surprise, it’s Rachel’s voice on the other end of the phone; normally, she knows better than to call me before noon on a Sunday. “Hey, Heather. Did I wake you up?”
“Not really, I was up. You alright?”
“Can I come up? I’m sort of outside your building right now.”
“Umm… sure? What are you-“
“Cool, see you in a few.”
“Wait, hello? Hello…?” I wait for Rachel to respond, but the line goes dead, so I just hang up. A yawn escapes my mouth, and I mumble to myself, “It’s too early for this.” I throw on a bathrobe over my pajamas and tank top, and wait for Rachel by the door. Within a minute, I hear the elevator door open, and then footsteps coming down the hall. I open my door a crack when the footsteps get close enough, and let out a tiny gasp.
Rachel’s face is covered in open wounds, as are her hands, and there are teeth marks along the base of her neck, disappearing beneath the folds of her clothing. She notices that I’m staring, and says, “Don’t worry, they’ll heal quickly. They always do.”
“Rachel, what the hell happened to you?”
“I got into a minor scrape with one of the other wolves there, and got my ass handed to me.” I open the door wide enough to let her in, but Rachel just stands in the doorway. Somehow, even though she looks like… well, like she just got in a fight with a wolf, this is the happiest I’ve seen her after a full moon. “I think I’m gonna go back to the support group next month,” she says excitedly, “the people there are great! One of them, Amaury, is pretty cute, and I think he-“
“Rachel, slow down. I’m still not fully awake.”
“Sorry, I’m just excited! For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel like such a freak.”
“That’s great! I’m happy for you.” I try to smile at Rachel, but given that it’s 7 A.M. on a Sunday, and I’m still a little freaked out from last night, the best I can manage is a tired grimace. Apparently, I look so disturbed that Rachel asks, “Are you alright?”
“Not exactly.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“…Not exactly.”
“Heather, you did me a huge favor by coming to the meeting last night, even though I’ve been lying to you for four years. At least give me a chance to make up for being a shitty friend.”
“You’ve never been a shitty friend. Ever.” I sigh, and say, “I swear, I’ll tell you everything later, but first, I have to talk to Krystal. She’s the only one who can help me make sense of things right now.”
“Alright.” Rachel looks disappointed, but she’s not willing to push the issue. “Is it alright if I crash here?,” she asks. “I don’t think I can make it to the Bronx in my condition.”
“Sure. You’re welcome to use my bed, if you want.”
“Doesn’t matter, just leave me where I drop.”
I leave Rachel to her own devices so I can take a shower, and when I step out, she’s fast asleep on the couch. I guess she couldn’t make it to my bed, after all. I cover her in the blanket from my bed, and continue getting ready. It’s still too early to leave by the time I’m dressed, so I sit on Rachel’s legs and play video games for a while. She’s too far gone to know or care. Around eleven, I throw on my coat and start walking to Nick’s place.
When I arrive at the condo, it’s Krystal who lets me in. Landon apparently hasn’t made it home yet, and Nick is likewise nowhere to be found. I ask Krystal where Nick could have gone, and she answers, “He has a job, you know. I mean, a real one, not just that project he’s working on with his vampire friends.”
“Really? Where?”
“He works the morning shift at a Starbucks down on Madison. He didn’t want you to know because he assumed you’d think differently of him for having such a normal job.”
I frown, and take a seat on the couch. I don’t care at all where he works, or when. I’m honestly more bothered by the fact that he felt the need to hide it from me. If he thought I would look at him in a different light for working like normal people do, even though normalcy is something he strives for, then maybe we don’t know each other as well as I’d assumed. Or, possibly, he’s more worried about trying to impress me than being himself.
Whatever Nick’s deal is, I’ll talk to him about it later. I force the issue from my mind, and jokingly ask, “Think he’s ever made a blood frappuccino?”
“I could have lived without that mental image,” Krystal replies with a grimace. “Now, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?” I take a deep breath, and explain how Alyssa stopped time to have a private conversation with me, and her warning about someone named Selene. Krystal listens quietly for the most part, but when I mention Selene, she frowns, and says, “I was afraid of that.”
“Afraid of what?,” I ask. “Who is she?”
Krystal turns her back to me, and gazes out the window at Central Park. “She was once someone I considered a friend. We were both part of the Caelestia clan, which was once the largest in the northeastern United States. We were two of its most talented members back in the day. When the clan’s previous master died, he passed the title on to me, which Selene didn’t approve of in the slightest. She always considered herself the stronger spellcaster of the two of us, and as a result, thought she should have been next in line to lead. Apparently, about half of the clan agreed with her; some of them questioned whether the previous master’s decisions later in his life were made with a sound mind, while some openly doubted both my leadership skills, and my strength as a spellcaster.
“After a failed attempt on my life, Selene parted with Caelestia, and took the majority of her sympathizers as she went. Together, they formed the Penumbra clan, which quickly became Caelestia’s most dangerous rivals. Tensions grew between the two clans, until open warfare was nearly unavoidable. We chose an abandoned hospital on Roosevelt Island as our battleground, set up wards around it to avoid drawing attention to ourselves, and then tore into each other. Selene had the stronger warriors on her side, and Caelestia ultimately fell. I was left for dead, and the rest of the clan was either actually dead, or had surrendered to Selene. After the battle, Penumbra began to flourish, and to this day, they are one of the largest active clans in the world.”
It’s a lot to take in at once. Last night, it was just Krystal and I against the world, and now, there’s an entire clan that could want one or both of us dead. But why keep me in the dark for so long? For my protection? To keep me from deserting her and joining them, to keep me from letting slip that she was still alive? At the moment, a more important question is gnawing at me. I ask, “Why would Selene want to kill you so badly?”
Krystal is silent for a while, and I get the feeling that she’s debating whether or not to answer. Finally, she turns to face me, and says, “There were still people she cared about in Caelestia… friends, cousins, two sisters, her mother. All of them died that night, and it was my fault. I even remember her saying before she took her clan and left that she regretted not being able to kill me herself.”
“Why did Alyssa warn me, then?,” I ask. “She’s probably part of Penumbra, right? She could have easily killed me, or kidnapped me, or something.”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out myself, but I honestly don’t know. You should be careful around her, Heather.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“I’m serious. That spell that stops time… it’s ridiculously complicated. Someone her age should only be able to hold that spell for a few seconds, but you say that you talked to her for about a minute. If she’s that strong…”
“Yeah, I got it.” Some of the panic from earlier this morning returns; there’s no way I could ever come out on top in a fight with Alyssa. I’m not scared of her or Selene, not exactly; I just feel more unprepared than anything else. Even in light of my recent progress, I’ve never felt more vulnerable in my life. “I wish I were stronger,” I mutter.
“Don’t worry, Heather, you’ll get there. Nobody else that I
’ve ever seen has learned so many difficult spells in only a month. In a year or two, you could probably either match or surpass her.”
“Any way we can speed up the process?”
Krystal smiles at me then, and asks, “I was hoping you’d say that. When’s your birthday?”
“May 19th. Why?”
Krystal’s smile broadens, and I’m not sure that I want to know why. “That doesn’t give us a lot of time. I hope you’re serious about wanting to get stronger, because for the next three months, I’m going to put you through hell.”
***
Krystal wasn’t kidding; it’s only been a week since we started our new, even more intense training sessions, and I already feel like I’m going to die. Not only has she been teaching me more complex spells, but we do muscle-building exercises as well, on top of hand-to-hand combat training. I couldn’t believe Krystal herself was in good enough shape to handle the exercises she’s been putting me through, but she does them along with me, and never shows even a shred of fatigue.
I understand that she wants me to be as prepared as possible, but it irks me that she still refuses to tell me exactly what I’m preparing for. For now, I don’t mind too much; I just want to get stronger. However, I get the feeling that her habit of keeping secrets from me will become a problem in the future.
One night, instead of walking me directly to my place after training, Nick and I sit on one of the benches just within the walls of Central Park for a while. I can’t imagine anyone being attracted to me in my condition, not even Nick; I’m still in pain, covered in sweat, and I’m so warm that I could swear steam is rising off of my body. And yet, Nick still finds it in him to sit with me, hold my hand, and even tell me that I’m beautiful. I know it must be a lie, but I thank him anyway. I‘d rather not have the “Heather-I-love-the-way-you-look-and-you-should-too” conversation tonight. As if mere words could ever change how I feel about myself.
Spellbound (the Spellbound Series Book 1) Page 7
