Nykara

by Katie Holland

  “Oomph,” was the only sound he made until he started laughing.

  “Why were you sneaking up on me?” she said giving him a dirty look and stepping away from him.

  “I wasn’t sneaking up on you. I just wanted to see. I thought you knew I was there.” He was still laughing at her.

  “Obviously I didn’t.”

  “Okay you two, quit fooling around.” Shay piped up. “I want to know what we’re doing.”

  Alix realized she kind of forgot everyone else was there for a minute. Her cheeks turned red. She hated blushing.

  “Um … so … yeah … sorry,” she stammered. After a few seconds, she finally got her words in order. “There’s a spiral stone staircase that goes down. There’s also some kind of awesome magical lighting on the ceiling so we don’t need flashlights or magic. The steps look easy enough to get down but please be careful anyway. We don’t need anyone falling, and yes I’m mostly talking about myself.”

  Her parents and Shay let out small laughs. Alix ignored them and started down the stairs. By the time she got to the bottom, she had descended fifty-two stairs. That had her guessing they were underground. The stairway opened up to a round room. It was about twenty feet across with ten doors, each one a different color. Everyone moved to stand on either side of her.

  “This is pretty cool,” Shay said, in her excited voice. “What door are we going to try first?”

  “The green one,” Alix said very calmly.

  “How do you know it’s that one?” Natalie asked her.

  “I just do, I don’t know how to explain it. I also know that if you open any of the other doors you will just see a rock wall.”

  “What do you mean? That doesn’t make any sense,” Shay said.

  Alix thought for a minute. “I’ll try to tell you in the best way possible. As soon as I stepped into this room I got a series of mini visions I guess. I was able to learn that there will only be something behind the door if you need it. Each door goes to a different room or place but if you don’t need to be there at that time it will look like a stone wall when you open the door. Right now, we need the green door. I’m not sure what’s behind the door only that we need to open it. Ben, go and open the yellow door so we can all see.”

  Ben walked over to the yellow door and opened it. It was just a solid stone wall.

  “Now let’s go open the green one,” Alix said to everyone.

  She walked over to the door and turned the handle. To be honest she was a little nervous about what she would find on the other side. She opened the door and walked through. She was amazed at what she saw. She walked in further so there was room for everyone to come in after her. It was a huge outdoor space. There were grass and trees and blue sky. She reached down and felt the grass, it was real. It was just like being in Ben’s big backyard, but without the chilly weather. Alix started laughing as she realized what was going on.

  “Care to share what you find so funny?” Shay asked.

  “I just figured out why we’re here. I’m not exactly sure how it happened but when we were in the den about to get ready to go practice outside, I was wishing we were in a gym or California, somewhere warmer. I didn’t want to spend hours out in the cold. Now I realize that as soon as I thought that I got that strange feeling, and well, here we are. Awesome huh!”

  Everyone was staring at her. “What? Doesn’t anyone else think this is super cool?”

  “I’m not sure I’ll ever figure you out Alix,” Ben said with a smile.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she was confused.

  “You don’t seem upset or freaked out by this. Everyone else here is thinking this is very strange and you seem happy about it. A ‘feeling’ led you to a secret door which took you to a room with a bunch of mysterious doors and you don’t seem the least bit concerned.”

  “That’s because I’m not. This is like living one of my books. I thought something and because of magic, it came true. This is totally exciting for me. And look at this space. It’s fantastic. Real grass and trees and the perfect temperature. Can’t you just feel the energy flowing through you? It would be easy to spend hours down here.”

  Kris spoke up for the first time in a while. “I think we should investigate the area before we proceed with training.”

  Alix giggled. “You sound like an army captain or something. But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look around.”

  Kris took charge and divided them up into four groups. Ben and Alix went one direction. Natalie, Mike, and Ted went the second direction. Karin, Rick, and Shay a third direction. And finally, Kris and Heather went the fourth direction. They were told to meet back where they started in fifteen minutes.

  Everyone was back within the fifteen minutes they were given. After talking for a few minutes, they discovered that it was just a room, a totally awesome room, but still, it was a room with walls and a floor. Alix could tell that some of them were relieved they weren’t transported somewhere else or something like that.

  “So, can we get started now?” Alix asked Kris.

  “I don’t see why not. Everyone spread out. Heather, Ted, and Shay, can you please come over here with me for now. You’ll get to help out in a bit.”

  The first thing Kris taught them was how to make a shield to deflect any unwanted magic. They were to use the natural energy to form an invisible barrier around themselves. It took Alix a couple of tries but she was the first one to get it. Kris sent branches rocks, trees and even magic at her shield but nothing got through. She was super excited. Kris told her to take a break while he helped out the others. She went over to stand with her parents and Shay.

  “Wow Alix, that was impressive,” her dad told her. “Did you learn everything else that quickly too?”

  “Yep. Rick said it’s because I’m the Chosen One. I can do things that no other Nykara can do. Can I try practicing on you guys?”

  “Me first!” Shay said practically jumping up and down.

  Alix stood beside Shay and created her shield. She told her dad to try and grab Shay. He tried but came up against the barrier she’d made.

  “This is sooo cool!” Shay exclaimed. “From this side, you can see the shield, it’s like the shimmer of a bubble. Can I go past it?”

  “Try and see what happens.”

  Shay cautiously reached out her arm to touch the shield. The shield moved with her. Ted tried to grab her hand, but he wasn’t able to touch Shay at all. Alix wanted to see if she could extend the shield. With only a little bit of extra effort, she was able to move it to encompass both her mom and dad as well.

  “I want to see how long I can hold this. Just act normal, as if we’re just standing here like we were before. No one has been paying attention to us. Let’s see what happens.”

  Practice continued for about twenty more minutes until everyone was able to create a shield to protect themselves. Alix had no trouble holding the shield for the entire time. Everyone came over and gathered by them. Natalie tripped and tried to reach out to grab Heather to steady herself, but she bounced off the shield instead. Ben figured out what Alix was doing. He walked around her shield to see how big it was.

  “This is remarkable,” Kris whispered. “How long have you been holding it in place?”

  “Roughly twenty minutes.”

  “Yet you’re not weak or drained at all are you?” he asked.

  “Nope, in fact, I feel great.”

  “Do you mind if I test a few things on your shield?”

  “Test away. I’d like to know what I’m capable of as well.”

  “Okay, keep the shield around all four of you as long as you can. Alix, I want you to maintain your shield but keep your eyes closed. I don’t want you to be able to see what’s happening. If you feel it start to weaken tell me immediately,” Kris told her. He then proceeded to talk to Ben, Karin and Rick. It looked like he was giving them instructions.

  Alix closed her eyes and waited. She felt a few things hit her shield, but it felt li
ke pebbles. Several times she heard gasps and little squeals coming from Shay and her parents. A few minutes later Kris told her to open her eyes.

  “So, Alix, how is your shield?” he asked.

  “It’s perfect. What were you doing?” but as she asked the question she looked around her. There was a pile of debris, rocks, branches and even small trees. “You guys through all this stuff at me and I didn’t even hardly notice.”

  “Well we sure did,” Shay said. “Do you have any idea how nerve-racking that was? But also, awesome!”

  “I also used magic against your shield, what did you feel?” Kris asked.

  “I didn’t really feel much of anything. It was like pebbles were hitting the shield.”

  “This is amazing,” he said. “I know no one here has much experience with this kind of thing but I do, and I’ve never seen anything like this. First of all, I’ve never known anyone to be able to shield more than themselves, never mind three extra people. Secondly, I can’t believe how much your shield could withstand. Normally every hit to the shield takes away some of its energy and eventually, it can’t be sustained by the Nykara making it. And yet here you stand, not tired or weakened after protecting four people during a bombardment of that magnitude. I’m extremely impressed, Alix.”

  Alix didn’t know what to say. On one hand she was happy she could do that, but on the other hand, it made her stand out by showing yet again how different she was. She supposed she had better get used to that part.

  “Are you okay?” Shay whispered in her ear.

  “We’ll talk later,” she whispered back.

  “Alright everyone, let’s take a break. I need everyone to recharge their energy,” Kris said in his instructor's voice.

  Alix finally released her shield and walked away from the group. She found a soft patch of grass to sit down on. She didn’t need a break. She had so much energy coursing through her body. It was like instead of using the natural energy she was creating it. Yet another thing to make her different. So instead of resting, she was going to keep practicing with the shielding. She wanted to try and see how fast she could make one. That might be the difference between life and death for her.

  Kris called everyone back to continue training. “Great job so far everyone. If you’re facing the enemy the shield we learned is going to be the first thing you need to do. After that, it’s pretty much either trying to get away or go on the attack. A good way to do that is to use your magic to throw things at the enemy like we did while testing Alix’s shield. Use anything that you’re able to move with your magic. Let’s all practice that.”

  They spent a few minutes magically throwing any item they could move. Alix had done a little bit of that during her training but not to the extent she was now. She thought she’d have a little fun with this improved skill. Shay was eagerly watching everyone and wasn’t paying specific attention to Alix. The next thing Shay knew her feet weren’t on the ground anymore. Shay let out a scream and started to panic a little. It took all of Alix’s concentration to keep Shay from falling. Alix slowly lowered her the few inches back to the ground.

  “Oh my God! What was that?” Shay yelled.

  “Um, that was me,” Alix said quietly. “I’m sorry I scared you, Shay. I just wanted to see if I could do it.”

  “Next time ask first before you start experimenting on me,” Shay said, with a touch of anger in her voice.

  As far back as she could remember she didn’t think Shay had ever been angry with her. She was shocked, a little sad and angry at herself. Of course, Shay would have gotten scared if she didn’t know what was happening. It was stupid of her to do that without talking to Shay first. She let her magic lead the way instead of her brain. She was embarrassed with her behavior.

  Ben was studying Alix’s face and didn’t like what he was seeing. “I think we’re done for the day. I know tomorrow is Monday but if you’re all able to meet back here in the morning I think it’s important for us to get this training done as quickly as we can.”

  Natalie put her hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Ben, I understand where you’re coming from, but we can’t ask everyone to drop what they’re doing. We all have work or school tomorrow and we can’t just not show up. Can everyone be here by 6:00 tomorrow evening? I’ll make us dinner and then we can continue training.”

  Everyone agreed to that idea. They found their way back to the door and headed up the stairs. Alix could see that they were all tired, except her. It was smart of Natalie to postpone the training until tomorrow evening, so they would have a chance to recover.

  Kris spoke as they reached the main floor of the house. “Are all of you available every night this week to meet here?”

  There was a chorus of yes’s. A few things would have to be moved around for a couple of them but they all agreed that this was far too important to not get the training done. By the time everyone was leaving Alix still hadn’t said a word.

  “Are you okay?” Ben asked her as she was about to leave.

  “I’m fine, just mad at myself. I could have seriously hurt Shay.”

  “But you didn’t. I think she’ll be alright.”

  “She’s never been mad at me before. I think that’s what’s bothering me the most.”

  “You two will be fine. Just talk to her.”

  “Alix, Shay, are you ready to go?” Ted asked the girls.

  Alix nodded, and they went to the car. When they got in and buckled up Alix couldn’t take it anymore.

  “I’m really, really sorry Shay. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just got caught up in using the magic.”

  Shay didn’t say anything and just stared out the window.

  “Are you ever going to talk to me again?” Alix asked in a quiet voice. They were almost to Shay’s house and Alix was afraid that Shay was really and truly mad at her.

  Her dad stopped in front of Shay’s house. She got out of the car without saying a word to Alix. Alix thought she might cry. Shay came around to Alix’s side of the car and knocked on the window. Alix opened it. Shay just looked at Alix with a very serious face. Shay opened her mouth like she was going to say something, instead, she stuck her tongue out and started giggling.

  “Shay, I’m going to kill you. I thought you were really mad at me.”

  That just made Shay laugh harder. “I was never mad at you at all. At first, I was a little scared but then after a minute I thought it was awesome that you lifted me up like that.”

  “So, you thought you’d get me back for scaring you?”

  “Yep, looks like it worked.”

  “You are so not funny. If you had walked into the house without talking to me I think I would have cried. If your career in fashion doesn’t work out, you should think about becoming an actress.”

  Shay just laughed. “You never know. I’m going to go in now, it’s getting cold out here. I’m sure glad you found that room today, it would have sucked to be out here for ten minutes never mind hours. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Bye you troublemaker,” Alix said fondly. She heard her mom laugh a little as they pulled away from Shay’s house. “Did you know she was faking being mad at me?” she asked her mom.

  “No, but she did a really good job of fooling all of us. You’re so lucky to have her as a friend. It makes me think of how Sharon and I used to be.”

  “You still miss her, don’t you?”

  “Every day Alix. I still hope that one day they’ll just knock on the door and surprise us.”

  “I think I’d like that too.”

  When they got home her mom and dad told her to go relax while they started making dinner. She didn’t need to relax as much as getting something off her mind. She got her journal and continued the entry from the morning.

  Oct 16 – cont’d

  Today was exciting. My magic led me to a secret room full of doors. I’ve always wanted to find a secret door! I was able to get the shielding part right away and I was able to shield myself, Shay, mom, and dad with no
trouble at all, which apparently is unheard of. Everyone but me was tired from using so much energy. All I felt was invigorated. I’m not really sure what to think about that. I guess it’s part of being the Chosen One and I should be grateful that I can sustain energy like crazy, but it’s just something else that sets me apart from the other Nykara. I suppose that’s something I’ll just have to get used to. Learning to move large objects was really fun. But as with the shielding, I thought I’d try and push the boundaries. I thought it would be cool to try and lift Shay into the air. I did it, but I didn’t ask her first. I scared her, and I felt really bad. I thought she was really mad, but she was just playing with me. But she should have actually gotten mad at me. What I did was wrong. I let the magic think for me and didn’t use my head. I could have hurt my best friend all because I thought something was going to be funny. That kind of thinking is going to get me or someone I love hurt or worse. I understand better now when they talk about the power going to people’s heads. I don’t want to ever let that happen to me. I need to always be who I truly am. I can’t let having magic or being the Chosen One change me. Ever.

  Alix decided to text Shay:

  Alix: Hey. Again, sorry about earlier.

  Shay: I said it was ok and I meant it

  Alix: But it’s more than just scaring you. It wasn’t a very Alix thing to do. I let the magic get the better of me. You know me better than anyone. How often do I do impulsive things?

  Shay: Pretty much never

  Alix: Exactly!

  Shay: But everyone has to let loose sometimes, even you

  Alix: Ya, but when I did today I just about gave you a heart attack

  Shay: I’m fine! ☺

  Alix: But seriously I need you to do something for me

  Shay: Anything, you know that

  Alix: Please keep me grounded. I don’t want to end up not knowing the person looking at me in the mirror. I don’t want to turn into someone else because I’m the Chosen One.