Upon the Stars (Love Lines Book 5)

by Diana Nixon

Amanda gave me a knowing look and shook her head, smiling. She and I both knew how much Evan loved being ‘nice’.

  “What about Tai?” Amitola asked.

  Amanda responded, “He will stay with me.”

  Ami still hesitated.

  “Look,” I said. “I need to go the pueblo soon. But I want you to have enough time to learn a few things that you might need tonight. And trust me, Evan is a wonderful teacher. He studied with me when I came to Dever, so I know what I’m talking about.”

  She thought for a moment, and then she said, “Can I ask Christian to go with me? At least there will be someone who doesn’t hate me for my one-night stand with Dominick Murray.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Christian said.

  Amanda took Tai back to the dorms, and Ami, Christian and I went to the training room.

  As always, it was dark inside the room.

  Evan turned one of the lamps on and asked Amitola to come to the center of the room.

  Kevin, Christian and I stayed at the door, watching them.

  “Put the amulet on,” Evan commanded.

  Carefully, Amitola took Dominick’s amulet out of her pocket and put it on.

  “Now, close your eyes,” Evan said. “Tell me what you are feeling.”

  “Cold,” Ami said in a barely audible voice.

  “What else?”

  “Fear.”

  “Are you afraid of me?” Evan asked.

  “Yes.” A moment later, Ami changed her response. “No, I’m not afraid of you, but of myself.”

  “Give me your hands,” Evan said. He took Ami’s hands in his. “Repeat after me.” He started reading one of the spells.

  Amitola’s eyes flew open. “Not this one,” she said. Obviously the spell chosen by Evan made her remember something bad.

  “Okay.” Evan chose a different spell and together they started reading it, word by word. It was an easy spell that made the air in the room blow faster, turning into the wind that surrounded Ami and Evan.

  “Good, very good,” Evan said. He didn’t open his eyes, he didn’t need to see the result of their joint work, he could feel everything happening around them.

  “Now, let’s try something more complicated.” This time he let Ami’s hands go and turned to Christian, saying, “Create a fireball for me.”

  Christian put his hands together, making the flames of the fire dance in between his palms. He turned them into a ball and threw it across the room. Evan stopped the fireball, making it sway in the air.

  “Make it grow,” he said to Amitola.

  She took a deep breath and started reading another spell; Evan stayed quiet. But the fireball didn’t grow an inch.

  “Try harder,” Evan said. “Use the energy from the amulet.”

  Ami took another deep breath, touched the emerald amulet with one hand, with her other hand aimed at the fireball. She started to read the spell again, louder this time, and in seconds, the ball grew to an enormous size, making Evan jump back.

  “Much better,” he said, reducing the ball to its original size. “Now, let’s try a few protective spells.”

  Chapter 21

  Watching Amitola practice, I didn’t notice how fast time flew. Christian and I went out to breathe some fresh air, because after Evan’s numerous experiments with the fire, the training room was full of smoke. He was obviously enjoying stressing Ami, making her repeat the most exquisite spells. Kevin didn’t participate in their magical fun, but he didn’t leave either, most likely to make sure that none of Evan’s tricks would hurt Amitola.

  “The sun’s going down,” Christian said, looking at the sky. His expression immediately darkened.

  I looked around Dever; it was full of guests, arriving from different parts of the world. Most of them were hermits, but there also were people whose powers I could feel very clearly.

  “My father invited a few friends of his,” Christian said, noticing my curious glances I gave the strangers.

  “They are pure Wizardies, aren’t they?” I had never seen so many magicians in one place.

  “Mostly.”

  The hermits who came to help us protect Dever were not here to sit and watch whatever was about to happen. They have agreed to come and fight, using the gifts they abandoned for years.

  Another wave of fear rushed through me. But I ignored it. There were more things to think about now.

  “I need to hurry,” I said. “The tribe’s waiting for me.” I kissed Christian on the lips and hugged him tightly.

  “Be careful, Eileen.”

  “Always.”

  He frowned. “I hate when you say that, you know?”

  Smiling, I gave him another kiss and promised to be careful. He accompanied me to the gates and said he would be waiting for me there when I return.

  Songaa himself met me half-way to the pueblo.

  “How’s Ami doing?” He asked. He looked worried.

  “She’s better than you think. And she’s doing pretty well with training.”

  “Who’s training with her?”

  “The Murray brothers.”

  Songaa gave me a surprised look.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “She’s safe with them.”

  “What about Taima?”

  “He’s staying with Amanda. He liked her, so he didn’t mind us leaving him with her. Plus, she brought him sweets. I guess it was the main reason for his sudden love for her.”

  Songaa smiled. “He has a sweet tooth.”

  “That’s what I thought. How’s the tribe doing? Did you tell them about what is going on in Dever?”

  “They know that something bad is about to happen. The women went to the river to do a ritual that they believe will protect their families from evil. They can feel the dark energy thickening the air.”

  We came to the pueblo and I saw a huge fire burning in the middle of it. Unlike last time, today there were no children dancing around it. Obviously, their mothers told them to stay in the huts.

  Elu and a few other women were sitting on the benches around the fire.

  “Eileen, it’s good to see you again,” she said. “How’s Tai? And Ami?”

  “They are both fine,” I said, taking a seat next to her. “How soon are you going to start singing?”

  “We shall wait for Rozene; she will be our leading singer today. The other women preferred to stay with their families. Everyone is scared about what is going to happen tonight in Dever.”

  “Dever’s dwellers are scared too. No matter how brave they try to look.”

  “Has your father returned to the university?”

  “Yes, a couple of hours ago.”

  Elu nodded. “That’s good. Dever needs him.”

  I saw Rozene coming to us. She was holding a bowl of water in her hands. She put it on a small table next to the fire and then sat down on Elu’s other hand.

  She turned to Songaa and asked him something in the language I didn’t know.

  He was standing next to the fire, lost in his thoughts. He nodded absently in response to Rozene’s question, dipped both hands into the water brought by her, closed his eyes and turned both palms to the fire, as if he wanted the warmth from it to dry his skin.

  Rozene started to sing.

  I closed my eyes and let the song take me away. Before leaving Dever I asked Amitola if I could borrow her amulet so I could use it to build a mental connection with Tai and get into his thoughts. Evan said she didn’t need the amulet anymore; she had taken all the energy she needed from it.

  To my surprise, I didn’t get into one of those visions that Tai had been seeing, or hear the voices that bothered him. I got to Dever, only everything there looked a little different than in reality. People were dressed as if transported from twenty, maybe even thirty years ago. I saw a few familiar faces, only they looked much younger than I remembered them.

  I didn’t know why the song brought me to Dever or what I needed to see there, so I started to walk to the Administration building,
hoping I would get the answers I needed.

  But I didn’t take even two steps forward, when I heard someone saying behind me, “Dominick and I are going to London today.”

  I turned around and saw Christian’s father standing just a few feet away from the imaginary me. No one could see me, of course. Patrick looked very young; I would say he was in his early twenties. And he was talking to Amelia – his future wife who also looked very young.

  “When are you going to be back?” She asked.

  “In two, maybe three days. Dominick said he wants to surprise Liz, and for that, he needs my help.”

  Amelia smiled. “It must be about his wedding present for her.”

  I saw white shimmering fog surrounding us; I knew the vision would change soon.

  The next place the song brought me to, was an old house, that looked very familiar. I didn’t know why. I was sure I had never been there before. Only when a woman in her late forties opened the door and smiled at young Dominick and Patrick, did I realize that she looked a lot like Evan’s father. She must have been Dominick’s mom.

  “Come on in, boys,” she said. “I have something for you.”

  They entered the house and I recognized it as the place where Marion had been hiding Tara. I saw it in Evan’s vision.

  “How was the flight?” The woman asked.

  “Good, actually,” Patrick responded. “No one knows we went to France. So you’d better not tell anyone you saw us here.”

  “Oh, you shouldn’t be worried about that.”

  “Have you found everything that we need?” Dominick asked.

  “Yes, and even more. You forgot about the rose root,” she said, giving her son a box with different herbs and bottles, filled with blue, yellow and red liquids.

  “What about the ring?”

  She smiled mysteriously, left the room and returned a few minutes later, holding a small, red, velvet box in her hands. She gave it to her son and said, “I hope Elizabeth will like it.”

  Dominick opened the box and nodded approvingly, looking at the ring that I recognized as Elizabeth’s wedding ring. I saw her wearing it on her ring finger.

  “Will you guys stay for dinner?”

  “No, thanks,” Patrick said. “We have a flight back to Britain in a few hours. And we still have a lot to do with this ring.”

  What the hell was he talking about? Were they going to charm the wedding ring?

  I got the answers to my questions when the vision changed and I found myself standing in a church, decorated with multicolored flowers. There were many people around me; but their images were blurred. There was only one couple that I could see very clearly. And they were exchanging the wedding rings. It was Dominick and Elizabeth, who looked like a real princess, wearing a show-white dress decorated with lace and small shining crystals; a very elegant pearl diadem was in her hair.

  I came closer and looked at the ring that Evan’s father gave to the bride. It was the very ring from the previous vision, only its energy was different now. The ring was filled with magic. Only I couldn’t specify the spells that had been used to charm it. Those were spells I had never used or heard about. I got curious about the magic the ring had been filled with.

  I should ask Patrick about it, I thought to myself.

  As soon as the wedding vision vanished, I saw Dominick and his mother talking in the same church where the ceremony took place. Only this time, Evan’s father looked a lot older; he was in his late thirties I would say.

  “The spells are not working, are they?” His mother said.

  He shook his head as a ‘no’.

  “We did everything we could do.”

  “No. We should have tried harder.”

  They stayed quiet for a few minutes, and then Dominick’s mother spoke again, “Have you told Liz about the triangle?”

  “No. She will never find out about it.”

  “But she should know the truth. After all, it’s her children that will suffer because of it.”

  “I have a plan, Mom. Our children will be fine.”

  “Do you really believe that the Brotherhood that you are so obsessed with will help you protect your sons?”

  “The Brotherhood gives me powers that I need so much – the powers that will protect my sons.”

  “Those are the powers that will destroy you, Dominick! Don’t you understand that?”

  “I don’t care about my life. All I need is to protect my boys.” He looked at his mother and I saw tears glistening in his bright-blue eyes. I couldn’t believe he was crying.

  “They don’t deserve the life that you have prepared for them,” the woman said. “First it was dark magic, then the Brotherhood, now the Lords… Your sons will hate you for what you have done.”

  “I didn’t have a choice, Mom. I did it all to protect them. And the gift of magic.”

  She sighed, taking Dominick’s hand in hers. “After your brothers’ death, your father and I thought we would never have kids again. But the day you were born, my mother told me to get rid of you. Because she knew that you would lock the magical triangle. And as a Keeper, she couldn’t let that happen. And then, you grew up and she loved you so much, we all did. She said your smile was worth all the risks we had to take by giving you life. And now you have two sons, who will inherit your powers. As well as your weaknesses.”

  “Evan is so much stronger than Kevin is,” Dominick said.

  “I know. Because the first child is always the weakest one. Even if he has magic running through his veins. But Evan… He is different. You know what that means, don’t you?”

  “I will give him all the powers I have. No matter how much it costs.”

  “But turning him into the Master of Lords… Do you really believe it’s a good idea?”

  “This is the only way to protect him, and the gift that I am supposed to guard. I was born too weak to inherit the gift of magic that was supposed to die with you, because my birth locked the magical triangle. But I found a way to get the powers I needed to let magic exist. And my sons will become great magicians, I promise you that, mother.”

  I was so shocked by Dominick’s words. The puzzle that we had been trying to put together for months, suddenly started to make sense. Piece by piece, I put everything that I saw in my visions together and then the realization hit me…

  To my surprise, there was one more vision that the song created in my mind. But this vision was not about Dominick, it was about Tai, finally.

  I saw people sitting at a round wooden table. All of them were men.

  “So what’s the plan, Alistair?” One of them asked.

  “I need to find the boy, Taima. He’s the key that we need to destroy Dever and which is even more important – to destroy magic, forever.”

  “What’s so special about him?” Another man asked.

  “He is the son of the Keeper of magic. The third son… His birth has locked the magical triangle that according to the legends, will destroy the roots of magic, forever. If he dies, the magic will die with him.”

  “What about the other son? The Master of Lords.”

  “If we kill him, no one will ever be able to mastermind again, neither he, nor the Mistresses. And I will finally pay Carine Verbeke for making me obey her every wish. The bitch still has too much power over me, even though I haven’t seen her for months.” Allister looked at his companions, and added, “After tonight, we will be free, my dear brothers. Finally…”

  I opened my eyes, gasping for air. “They are coming for Tai. And Evan.”

  “We need to take Tai away from Dever,” Songaa said. “The sooner, the better.”

  “No! Only in Dever, he has a chance to survive.”

  “Eileen’s right,” Elu said. “We won’t be able to protect him, but his brothers will.”

  “What else did you see in your visions, Eileen?”

  I stared at Songaa in surprise. “Didn’t you see anything of what I saw?”

  “Tai rarely let us see his
visions, and since you’ve been using his mind to see them, we were not welcome there.”

  “I…” Suddenly I felt a surge of fear, running through me. It was so strong; I could barely breathe. Only the fear I felt was not mine, but Christian’s…

  “Clarions… They have come.” I didn’t need to say anything else. Songaa, Elu and I rushed to the forest, hoping it wouldn’t be too late to save those we wanted to protect.

  Clarions lied to my father. They were not going to wait until midnight to attack Dever; they wanted to catch us off guard. I hoped the protective measures that had been taken by Patrick would be enough to not let anything terrible happen. I opened my mind for Christian, Evan and Amanda. All of them were scared.

  But as soon as Songaa, Elu and I saw Dever, I realized that no protective measures were able to restrain the hermits, who had been abandoning their powers for ages, from getting what they wanted. They were here to fight; negotiations were not in their to-do list.

  “What are they doing?” Elu asked, watching a group of Clarions throwing various spells at Dever’s gates.

  “They are trying to break through the charms,” Songaa said. “And it looks like they are doing pretty well.”

  Terrified, I watched the transparent diamond protecting Dever turning black. I had never seen anything like that before. The darkness of Clarions’ magic could be felt even from where we had been watching them.

  “What do we do now?” Elu asked in a trembling voice.

  “We need to get inside,” I said. “Do you know how to swim?”

  Elu and Songaa gave me a puzzled look. Considering the main entrance to the university had been attacked, we couldn’t use it to get in. But there was another way to do it. And for that, we needed to swim around Dever and use the invisible doors that Elizabeth used before the fight with the Lords.

  Carefully, to not be seen, we went to the lake and jumped into the water that felt so cold; I thought it would paralyze me, but I kept swimming.

  When back in Britain, I knew exactly where to go to get to Dever’s secret entrance. But now, that the diamond had turned black, I had no idea how to find it.

  Just then, Songaa spoke, breathing heavily, “Isn’t it what we are looking for?” He pointed to a small, enlightened spot that could hardly be seen in the darkness.