Called by Darkness

by Sean Fletcher

  “And the Academy has hundreds of charms,” I agreed. So that didn’t help us. While the Society were still out there, the most we could do was speculate on what the next step might be.

  “She awakens at last.”

  I turned to find Asher, his grin brighter than I’d seen in a week. He brushed past me and gave Mia a gentle hug. “Sorry I’m late. Master Deltroy forgot to mention you were awake until the end of class. This is to make up for it.”

  He lay a single seed on the bedside table and muttered a quick spell. A bouquet of flowers, vase and all, exploded to life, filling the small space with sweet-smelling fumes.

  “No magic!” I heard Mrs. Rochester squawk.

  “Thank you, Asher, they’re beautiful!” Mia said, beaming again.

  I just stared at him as he brushed his hair out of his eyes. I couldn’t believe it. Here he was, back to his charms and flirting like nothing had happened since we’d returned. The guy was ridiculous. Not even an acknowledgement that anything at all had happened between us. It was exactly how I expected him to act. Things were back to the way they usually were, and he wanted nothing to do with me.

  So why was I upset about it?

  “Skylar and Colson were just telling me how you all came to save me,” Mia said.

  “It was indeed a tale for the ages,” Asher said dramatically. “There were at least fifty against us, even a couple trolls, but we fought bravely and prevailed in the end.”

  “You mean we ran away,” Colson clarified.

  “That doesn’t sound as grandiose, so I embellished a bit.”

  Mia giggled. “Well, embellished or not, I’m glad you did. And it sounds like you all worked really well together.” She gave me a sly smile. “Sounds like the Academy might have been right about our partners, hmm…?”

  If awkwardness could kill, I’d have keeled over right there. Asher coughed loudly into his hand, his smile wilting just a bit. Mia blinked, confused.

  “Anyway, I’m sure I’ll see you in class tomorrow,” Asher said, mercifully breaking the silence. “Until then…” He gave a brief bow before sweeping out, looking as elegant as his dad.

  Poor Mia looked even more confused.

  “That was, uh…weird.”

  Colson sighed. “You have no idea.”

  It was late by the time I left Mia and started back to my room. We’d talked for hours, catching up on everything she’d missed the past week. I could tell she’d wanted to bring up the topic of Asher, but I’d danced around it about as gracefully as a goose wearing ballet slippers.

  Thing was, I didn’t want to talk about it. Because I had no clue what to say. Between trying to get back to the way things were before with Asher and school and the Dark Prince stuff, and…not, I couldn’t think straight.

  My footsteps echoed off the walls of the silent hallways. I needed to be back to my room soon or the guard gargoyles would be on my butt. Advanced students were technically allowed out after typical curfew, but I’d been trying my best to “toe the line”. You’re welcome, Lucien.

  I’d just entered the student dormitories when something moved out of the corner of my eye. I squinted against the dim light of the next hallway over.

  “Hello?”

  Nothing moved. I squinted harder, taking a step forward. I swore I’d—

  A dark shape pulled itself from the shadow of the wall and took off at a fast walk around the corner. I stood there for a moment. Why was my pulse quickening? It was probably just another advanced student up for late night studying. Yeah, that had to be it.

  And yet…I didn’t buy it.

  I followed it, not running, keeping my steps light as I tried to catch up. I spied the figure hurrying across the dim entrance hall, heading toward the Masters’ wing. Something about the way they moved wasn’t right. They weren’t walking like someone who knew where they were going. They were lurking.

  The figure vanished into the Masters’ wing. I rushed to follow, catching a glimpse of them right as they disappeared up the staircase.

  “Hey!”

  Screw subtlety, I was going to catch this sucker. Probably wind up scaring some fourth year who was sneaking out to see his girlfriend, but whatever.

  I tore up the stairs two at a time, emerging in the upper hallway. I quickly paced up and down, searching for wherever the figure had gone but they’d vanished. So much for me catching them. They’d given me a bigger slip than a boat dock.

  A noise caught my attention. I snuck toward the room where I’d heard it. I didn’t have Valkyrie on me, but I raised one hand, ready to cast a spell.

  With a deep breath, I swept into the room.

  No one was there.

  I stepped farther in, circling, still not seeing anyone. I realized I’d somehow wound up in the Hall of Records. I let out a breath and dropped my hand. I hadn’t been back here since the day of the entrance ceremony. At night, the paintings of the glorious deeds of my mom and the other masters seemed almost eerie. The oil canvases were dark, their usually bright colors appearing muted, almost like some of them were painted with blood.

  I shivered.

  I stepped up to the closest one. It was a picture of someone named Master Rikus, bringing back the secrets of alchemic reactions to the rest of the magical world while an angry band of Fae chased behind him. Beside this was another picture of my mom, this time deftly fighting a rogue giant that’d terrorized the Florida Panhandle. For some reason she didn’t look as confident in this one. She looked frightened.

  Isn’t it what you wanted?

  I turned. The Hall of Records was empty, but I could almost have sworn I’d heard someone speak. I put a hand to my chest, but the Dark Prince was silent.

  “Is someone there?”

  It’s not quite the same, is it?

  This voice came from somewhere else. From another painting. No way. Were the paintings…talking? Or had the week’s exhaustion caught up to me? I’d finally snapped and would wake up frothing at the mouth in the medical wing. I knew the Academy had ancient magic, but this had never happened to me.

  Against my better judgement, I said, “What’s not the same?”

  You’ve spent so long seeking your goal, a siren beside me said, painted against a crashing sea. Now you’ve got it.

  Sure did, an orc behind me growled. Got everything she ever wanted.

  So what’s the matter? A dragon hissed.

  I took a step back. “Nothing’s the matter. I…what did I want?”

  To be a hero! They chorused

  Recognized.

  Envied.

  Famous.

  Now you’ve had a taste, you’ve faced evil and come out victorious. What did you think?

  I took another step back. Their voices were coalescing in my head, winding tighter and tighter like a spider’s web I couldn’t escape. “It wasn’t…I didn’t like it.”

  Didn’t like it? The dragon said. She didn’t like it! How can that be?

  My mouth opened and closed silently before I found the words. “It just wasn’t what I thought it’d be, okay? I was…”

  I stopped myself.

  You were…? they echoed.

  “I was scared!” I burst out. The words gushed out of me like a dam breaking, tearing a little of my heart with it, like something being ripped from deep inside me, a secret I’d kept locked away from everyone else. What would happen if they found out that I was frightened? Me, the one from whom everything was expected, who had so much to live up to? “I nearly lost my friends. I nearly died. It wasn’t…what I thought it’d be, that’s all.”

  Then what do you want? The siren crooned. Skylar Rivest, the loud one.

  The boastful one.

  The rash one.

  What does she want?

  “I don’t know!” I said. “I still want it, but not the same thing. Not like this…”

  We see…You have nothing else, do you? There’s nothing to replace that desire now that it’s turned to ash in your hands.

&n
bsp; “Shut up,” I growled. “That’s not it. That can’t be it.”

  You didn’t really think becoming like your mother would be that easy? That becoming a legend would come without a price? Honor. Respect. Glory. Did you think you’d receive them without sacrifice?

  “Stop talking!” I clutched my head, trying to shake the voices out. Whatever exhaustion had driven me to hearing voices or whatever magic was in this room was screwing with me.

  Poor Skylar Rivest, the voices mocked. Little girl lost. She’s gotten what she wanted, but it wasn’t what she thought! Now what will she do—

  “That’s enough!” I roared.

  The voices went silent. I kept my eyes squeezed shut before slowly opening them. The paintings were just paintings. Nobody was speaking to me. It had all been in my head. It had to be. How else had they known exactly what I’d been fearing since we’d gotten back?

  “Skylar?”

  I whirled to find Asher in the doorway, a confused look on his face. He looked over my shoulder, between a few of the paintings, then back to me. “I heard you talking. Shouting, actually.”

  I was momentarily lost for words. Part of me wanted to tell him everything that’d just happened to me, not just tonight, but about Kasia and the Dark Prince and…all of it. It’d feel so good to share the burden of it with someone else.

  But I couldn’t. I knew I couldn’t. The Prince was dangerous, and dark, and my burden. And I definitely couldn’t let Asher know I was weak or scared. Plus, he’d been treating me like an enemy this last week. Now he wanted to pretend like he cared?

  “What are you doing here? How’d you know where I was?”

  “I saw you on my way back to our room.”

  “And you decided to follow me?”

  Asher frowned at my sharp tone. “I wanted to make sure you were—you know what? Never mind. Forget it.”

  “Gladly.”

  Asher shook his head again. “You’re something else, you know that?”

  I wanted to smart back but Asher walked out before I could, leaving me alone and surrounded by the remnants of whispers clawing at my mind.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Having Mia back in class with me offset any crappiness I was having ten times over. I could joke again, laugh again, not worry again.

  I could ignore probably the biggest jerk in the entire universe again.

  Not that I was worried about that. Not at all. Even still…I did a double take around Remembrance Hall just to be sure he wasn’t here. To save Mia from any awkwardness, of course. Not because I couldn’t handle his pouting.

  I caught Mia’s orange as it slipped out of her hands. We were having lunch with dozens of other students, all of us lounging on the grass beneath the oak tree’s canopy.

  I handed the orange back to Mia and she took it with a grateful smile. “Sorry. I’m feeling a little off today.”

  “You look it,” I said sympathetically. Dark bags hung under her eyes. Her skin still hadn’t returned to its normal color. She’d been doing just as well in all her classes as before. She didn’t try to flee to the next state over when Colson was around. She was still sweet, somewhat timid Mia, but I’d known her long enough to tell she wasn’t back to a hundred percent.

  “Just what any girl wants to hear,” Mia joked. “I haven’t been sleeping too well, that’s all.”

  “Nightmares?”

  Mia shrugged. “A few.” She gave me a wide smile. “Everybody’s been amazing, though. They haven’t bothered me or treated me any different. James Rockins let me borrow all of his notes in Shifter Anthropology. Colson’s been a real help, too.”

  “Speaking of which…” I looked around the Hall but couldn’t pick out Colson’s massive frame from amongst the other students. “I haven’t seen him around today.”

  “He’s resting,” Mia said lightly. “He told me he wasn’t feeling too good.”

  I waited for her to elaborate, maybe give me some dirt on how the two them were getting along now that she could actually talk to the guy.

  “You’ve…been talking with him a lot,” I ventured. “That’s a pretty big change.”

  Mia smiled as she set aside her orange peel and dug into her pudding. “Something about getting kidnapped kind of made me see that I can’t waste time not trying for what I want. And Colson’s just a guy, right? No biggie.”

  But she blushed and looked down. I smirked. She might talk to him more, but she was still Mia.

  I kind of wanted to tell her what Colson had told me, about him being half giant, but I figured she already knew. Or he’d tell her when he was ready. Like I said, the news wasn’t the most shocking thing in the world. She’d probably figured it out already.

  “But yeah, my friends have been great,” Mia said softly. “Almost like a family.”

  I paused, fork halfway to my mouth. Mia barely ever talked about her family or where she’d come from. The only thing I knew was that they were extremely demanding toward Mia and she hadn’t spoken to them since she’d entered the Academy, choosing instead to stay here over summer break. It wasn’t usually my place to pry, but I said, “Have you talked to them? You know, about this?”

  Mia shook her head. “I…sent them a letter. Mrs. Rochester insisted. She told me any parent deserved to know how their child was doing, but they…”

  She swallowed, apparently reluctant to say more.

  “They what?”

  “They…said it just proved their point, that I was too weak to come to the Academy in the first place.”

  I shrank back, shocked. “They said that?”

  “They’re not all bad, promise!” Mia said quickly, noting my reaction. “They’re just…intense.”

  “There’s intense, and then there’s being downright cruel. Mia—” I wrapped an arm around her and gave her a quick hug. “You have nothing—nothing—to prove to them. You’re amazing.”

  She gave me a grateful smile. “Thanks, Skylar.”

  “I mean it.”

  “I know you do.”

  But her smile fell again, her expression retreating into one of melancholy remembrance.

  “Don’t think about what they said,” I said fiercely. “Don’t let it get to you.”

  “What if they’re right?” Mia said softly. “I’ve always…” She swallowed hard. “I’ve always been the baby of the family. The runt. And I’m…I’m tired of being weak. What if I had been stronger? Would the Society have been able to take me? Would I have put you all in danger—”

  I snapped my fingers in front of her face, causing her to drop her spoon. People stared as Mia gaped at her pudding-splattered jeans.

  “Sorry, your stupid talk set off my involuntary reflexes,” I said. “I could have sworn I heard the girl who’s one of the best students in our entire freaking class, talking about not being good enough.”

  “Did you just make me spill my—”

  “You can’t be serious, Mia. Do you really still think you’re not good enough? You’ve made it through all four years. You’ve made it into the advanced classes. You’ve come back from an experience that would make some of the toughest Supes in the world curl up into tiny, sobbing balls of uselessness.”

  “I was just saying—”

  “Hold on, my stupid talk sensors are starting up again…”

  Mia looked at me, mouth slightly hanging open. Then she smiled. Then she started laughing, and I felt myself smiling too. There was the Mia I knew.

  With a wave of my hand I vanished the pudding and gave her my cup. “Sorry,” I said. “I thought the shock value would work.”

  “Well it did, thanks,” Mia said, taking the pudding and digging into it with relish. As she ate, I couldn’t help but feel I’d told her the same things I needed to hear. Why was it always so easy to fix someone else, but hard to fix yourself?

  We ate the rest of our lunch in companionable silence. When I was done, I looked over to find Mia staring up at the oak tree, an odd look on her face.

  “
What?” I said.

  She didn’t answer.

  “Mia?”

  Mia’s head snapped to me. “Sorry, what?”

  I glanced up at the tree, then back to her. “What were you looking at?”

  “Nothing. Just spaced out for a second. Ready to go?”

  We grabbed our stuff and funneled out with the rest of the students to our afternoon classes. Before I left the Hall, I glanced back at the tree. There was nothing odd or strange about it, but I couldn’t help wondering what Mia had been looking for.

  “You really got me today, Skylar,” Demarcus groaned. He lounged in one of the plush chairs across from me, massaging his arm. “You lulled me into thinking I could beat you during the last two sparring sessions, and then bam! Kicked my butt. You’re cruel, you know that?”

  “Please. The only thing you could ever outfight is a practice dummy,” Sylvia said, sitting beside him on the floor, tugging on her pink hair.

  Demarcus snorted. “My bruises have bruises,” he muttered.

  “And that is why I don’t try very hard,” Jen said. She’d sat as far away from the fireplace as possible. I didn’t know if it was true that water sprites could shrivel near a flame, but I hadn’t exactly seen her jumping for joy when they lit extra fires in the Academy during winter.

  “You don’t try because you don’t need to,” Sylvia said. “Mrs. Rochester’s practically already claimed you for advanced healing.”

  Jen gave a watery smile.

  “And Mia thrashed almost everyone,” Demarcus said, sighing again. “Seriously, you’re three days out of the medical wing, can you at least act like you were hurt?”

  Mia smiled, and I couldn’t help grinning. She’d done amazing today. Heck, all the days.

  “I still feel behind,” Mia said. “And I’m sad I missed studying sand cretins.”

  “You didn’t miss much,” Sylvia said. “Nasty little beasts.”

  “Yeah, I’m still finding sand in places it doesn’t belong,” Demarcus said and Sylvia hit him.

  “TMI, dude.”

  “Like which places?” Penny said. I almost forgot she was there. Her dark Victorian dress blended in with the wall. She always liked to raptly listen to our conversations like they were an overly exciting tennis match.