Birthright (Birthright Series)

by A. P. Jensen

  “This is crazy,” Levi said, coming up beside her and taking in the view.

  “Yeah,” Jordan said and her chest felt tight with excitement and fear.

  “You two ready?” Mr. Parker asked.

  Jordan nodded and paused, struck again by his face. Mr. Parker grinned and without warning, hauled her up against his chest.

  “What are you doing?” she said.

  Mr. Parker’s smile widened as he stepped off the side of the roof. Jordan let out a scream and her stomach dropped. They were so close to the side of The Aquarium that if Jordan reached out she could touch the aqua colored ice. Mr. Parker dropped through the flying traffic without incident and a foot from the ground, slowed. Their feet touched the ground with a light thump. Jordan was torn between punching him in the face and getting away from him. She pushed at him and he set her down but kept a hold on her arm, keeping her close as the crowd jostled around them.

  Jordan looked up and saw the rest of their group floating down. From the concentrated look on Kelly’s face, Jordan assumed she was manipulating the air around them. Jordan tossed another glare at Mr. Parker which he ignored. The Aquarium was so tall it seemed to connect to the sky. Carriages hopped from building to building like frogs and people zipped around in dizzying patterns. At ground level, everything was overwhelming and slightly nauseating.

  People walked around her, normal and yet… not. As Jordan began to examine the people she noticed most of them had blonde hair and violet eyes. These people were tall, elegant and pale skinned. Another prominent race had varying shades of red hair and blue eyes. These people had a flow to their walk, a fluidity that wasn’t normal. There was a distinct third race with brown or green eyes and brown hair. These people had darker toned skin and were hippy-ish with dreads and dressed in earth tones.

  Jordan blinked as a man with very dark skin and orange eyes passed. People cleared a path for him. Like Heath, he wasn’t bundled up against the cold. He had on a black shirt and jeans with a thick leather belt. This man seemed to take great pleasure in the outright fear on people’s faces as he passed. Several men of similar coloring followed in his wake, similarly built like weight lifters and expecting people to make way for them. Bullies.

  “Come on,” Mr. Parker said, towing Jordan in his wake.

  Kelly appeared on her other side and Jordan glanced up at them and shook her head. Mr. Parker and Kelly looked like two eccentric grandparents taking their grandkid shopping. As if he could read her mind, Mr. Parker glanced down at her with a scowl on his craggy face. Mr. Parker navigated his way through the crowd to the igloo tunnel made of hundreds of arched openings. The igloo dome continued to the left and right in an endless circle. People ran in and out of the tunnel and it took a lot of effort for the three of them to stay together. Jordan glanced back and saw Heath, Levi and Cibrian standing apart from their group so no one would know they were together.

  The smell of food cooked in oil filled the air, distracting her. People yelled out their wares while others called out for two of this or five of that. Kids darted through the legs of adults with harried parents following in their wake. Mr. Parker kept a tight hold on Jordan who was grateful when the crowd pressed in.

  As they walked through an archway Jordan saw thousands of booths carved of ice, side by side. Using their flying abilities to their advantage, several blonde haired, violet eyed merchants showed off their products ten feet in the air. A woman with brown hair and green eyes had a booth made of flowers. To her fascinated onlookers, she explained that the flowers had a lifetime guarantee of blooming forever. Jordan’s eyes almost bugged out of her head when she saw a booth that sold baby polar bears for the Wintra crowd. When Jordan saw a booth selling magic carpets, she forgot all about Mr. Parker’s hold on her and started walking in the opposite direction. He yanked her to a stop.

  “What are you doing?” he yelled over the cacophony.

  “I want to look at that booth-” Jordan gestured towards the carpets which came in all shapes and sizes.

  Mr. Parker shook his head but Kelly clapped her hands together.

  “Great eye, Jordan. Off we go.”

  She pulled Jordan’s hand out of Mr. Parker’s and started for the booth.

  “Don’t mind him,” Kelly said airily.

  They approached the carpet booth that Thishe passed with disdainful sniffs. The owner, a man with brown hair and orange eyes, showed off a piece of material made of orange silk. He snapped the material out in midair and the silk rectangle went taut. As Jordan watched, a woman who looked like a robust Viking jumped on the thin piece of silk which took all of her weight without wavering in the least.

  “This one will take up to seven hundred pounds. I have several sizes. The biggest I have will carry about six or seven people and up to two thousand pounds. Of course, those are a bit more on the pricey side but you have a lifetime guarantee. They’re fire proof and will never fray.”

  The carpet maker showed off what looked like a shaggy pink rug for a little girl who sank her hands into the material with a look of delight.

  “Maybe until you get the hang of flying, we can get you a magic carpet?” Kelly said thoughtfully and started towards the many colors and prints of the carpets.

  “Now you’ve done it,” Heath said, appearing behind Jordan.

  “Did what?” Jordan said.

  Jordan watched as Kelly held up a zebra print carpet to examine it closely. The merchant bustled forward and paused when Kelly smiled at him. He recovered quickly and held up a carpet made of fur, one made of wool and another made of cotton.

  “She’s going to be there for an hour,” Heath grumbled.

  Cibrian sniffed the air and rubbed his stomach while Levi stared dumbstruck at the products. Levi watched a man wave a wooden spoon theatrically. The orange eyed merchant gave the ice counter a whack with the wooden spoon which transformed into a knife.

  “So you can keep this in the kitchen and an intruder would never know what it is!” the merchant said proudly to the wary crowd. “Or how about this?”

  The merchant pulled out a small black comb from his back pocket. He brushed a dark finger down the bristles of the comb and snatched his hand back as the comb transformed into a machete. Two fascinated young boys were forcefully dragged away by their horrified mother.

  “Get a fortune bracelet for the Declaration Ceremony! This bracelet could be the key to a great destiny!” a man shouted over his fellow merchants.

  There seemed to be a lot of adults around a booth with charms in the form of rings, pendants and bracelets. One booth had a wide crowd around it. As Levi went on his tiptoes he saw that it was a tattoo booth. An intimidating man covered in tattoos splayed his hand over a client hunched over in a chair. Black ink spread from the tattooed man’s hand like spilled water and began to form a design.

  Although Jordan tried to keep her place in front of the magic carpet booth, the surge of the crowd shifted her farther and farther until she lost sight of Kelly. Trying to find her bearings, Jordan looked up and saw a protruding piece of ice that had an advertisement of a beautiful woman drinking a green drink that made her hair grow four inches in two seconds. The advertisement passed and grainy footage from a store camera replaced the model.

  Everything around Jordan faded. There was no sound and vertical lines covered the screen but Jordan saw the girl scrambling down aisles, over bodies and fallen merchandise. A moment later, the video showed a male prowling in her wake. Black blood covered the floor and a moment later the picture winked out. Jordan’s stomach lurched and she broke out in a cold sweat. Jordan didn’t need to see the girl’s face- it was impossible with the bad quality of the video but she remembered every shallow breath, every second of terror.

  The video changed and a woman’s voice boomed out over the crowd. Some people looked up distractedly but most ignored the blonde reporter who wore a white shawl over her hair.

  “With the assassination of William Stan, Guide of Autumis, the governme
nt’s Council has become unbalanced. Those responsible for the assassination have yet to be captured and the Council is keeping what they know close to their chest. The video of William Stan chasing a teenage girl in an Ignorant Wal-Mart may be a manufactured video, my sources say. But others question what Guide Stan was doing there and everyone wants to know… who is the girl in the video and what happened to her?”

  The reporter disappeared and a video of a church filled with people weeping and bowing their heads appeared.

  “Although the truth of his death is unknown, thousands turned up to show their support of William Stan’s reign in Autumis and to honor him as a hero-”

  She remembered William’s face streaked with her blood, could hear echoes of herself pleading for death. She remembered the desperate hunger in his eyes and the way his power grated on her nerves as it raised hell in her body. She could feel his hands around her throat, squeezing. Panicked, she reached up to tear away a grip that wasn’t there.

  She felt a surge of heat bloom in her chest and spread. Her heart stopped. It’s back, she thought. She closed her eyes as power slithered through her veins, reacquainting itself with her. It was familiar but… not. She waited for the pain that always accompanied her power but it didn’t come. Her heart raced.

  On the icy screen a woman with short red hair stood with her arm around William’s waist. She was very beautiful and stared up adoringly at William. Jordan’s stomach dipped.

  “William’s wife Grace died mysteriously the same week-” the reporter said.

  Jordan was riveted by Grace Stan. Did William murder his wife because of Jordan? Rage and fear burst in her and an avalanche of power assaulted her, savaging her insides. Jordan bent over, panting. She tried to keep her power contained but when a man brushed against her he jerked back because his coat began to smoke. He let out a stream of curses. When he looked up to chastise the girl she was gone.

  Jordan ran. Her mind was completely blank as she wove her way through the masses. She didn’t hear. She wasn’t aware of anything but her own need to get away from everyone. With each step, she felt the ice dip as it melted under her feet. She pushed her way through the crowd until she broke into a clearing lined with benches and trees made out of frosted ice. She stumbled to a stop and braced her legs apart as power ricocheted within her, merciless and demanding. It wanted to be used, to consume as it had in the past. Jordan closed her eyes and braced herself for pain as she denied her power.

  “You’re exquisite.”

  Jordan’s eyes flew open. A man stood three feet from her. He was middle aged and average looking with a long emerald green trench coat and a cap shading dark eyes. His admiring tone reminded her of the Master’s “she’s sublime.” Every hair on her body stood up.

  “Who are you?”

  She hated how weak and frightened she sounded. She was on an overload of emotion and power. Her body trembled in shock from the sudden return of her power. She felt like she was going to be sick.

  “Did you just Awaken?” he asked gently.

  Jordan took several steps back. “Stay away from me.”

  Something about the man drew her even as that same something repelled her. He cocked his head as if listening for a soft sound.

  “Your power sings to me.”

  She was too seasoned a survivor to stand there like a petrified deer before a hunter. Jordan bolted off the path and dodged between ice sculptures. When she couldn’t run anymore she fell to her knees and tried to push away the fear that didn’t let her function. She took deep breaths, clouds of cold air swirling in front of her. Her head pounded and she didn’t notice the circle pendant flashing with red light.

  “Jordan!”

  An old man stood on the path, scowling at her. At first, she was puzzled and then remembered it was Mr. Parker in disguise. For the first time, she became aware of the utter silence. She was on her hands and knees beneath a canopy of frozen trees. Beautiful ice figures lined the path and she focused on a nearby cherry tree made of ice. Each cherry and leaf was carved in intricate detail.

  “Jordan,” Mr. Parker said carefully.

  She turned dilated eyes on him. Her sapphire eyes flickered between blue and black and her face was utterly bloodless. He was reminded forcibly of the first time he’d seen her in Mr. Penn’s office. He walked forward, noting she was melting the icy sidewalk and knelt in an inch of water.

  “Are you okay?”

  She stared at him with blank eyes.

  “Your power’s back.”

  She shook her head as if waking up from a dream. “I don’t know where I am.”

  “You’re in the Gardens of Wintra. The Ice Tunnels surround this garden.”

  Jordan hands curled into the ice. “I think I’m losing my mind.”

  “Why’d you take off?”

  She thought of the video of herself running from William and gagged. Her mind touched on the man in the green trench coat. He hadn’t followed her but something about him triggered her impulse to run and she obeyed without thought. Looking at Mr. Parker, she knew she couldn’t explain why she reacted the way she had.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  “When we’re in the city, you make sure you stay with one of us. Got me?”

  She nodded and swallowed to coat her dry throat. Mr. Parker reached out and caught the circle pendant that swung back and forth in front of her. She jerked upright, senses still too raw to take his proximity. He dropped the pendant so the necklace wouldn’t cut into her skin and squinted against the blast of heat she threw at him. He could feel her anxiety rising into total panic.

  “It’s okay, Jordan,” he said calmly, “It was only a matter of time before it came back.”

  Jordan leapt to her feet, breathing hard.

  “How can you say that?” she bellowed.

  Mr. Parker didn’t react which made her angrier.

  “They’re calling him a hero! Do you know what he did to me?” her voice was raw with anguish. Her eyes glistened with tears and the cherry tree began to drip as it melted. “What little good I had he took! I can feel his power in me. I can’t get the images out of my head- everyone was screaming. There was so much blood.”

  Her hands clenched and unclenched. Little streaks of lightning sparked on her fingertips but she didn’t notice. She stared at Mr. Parker, wanting him to see her for what she was- damaged. She would never be normal no matter how hard she tried. She would never forget. The haunted look in her eyes, the fear slapped at him.

  “You need to learn how to control your power.”

  He gestured at the dripping statues. The detail artists spent hours chiseling was being melted off. Jordan looked down at her crackling hands and shook them as if trying to shake off ants.

  “Use your pendant,” he instructed.

  She cupped the cold circle between sizzling palms. The circle warmed instantly and absorbed a portion of the anger and fear in her chest. Fireworks burst within the circle and Jordan relaxed ever so slightly. For long minutes she focused on the pendant, letting it absorb the awful emotions that threatened to push her over the edge. Emotion still churned within her but it was dampened as if she’d had a long cry. When she looked up Mr. Parker was sitting on a nearby bench. He tugged on his jowls like a beard.

  “Your power reacts to your emotions and mind. If your emotions are out of control and you aren’t paying attention to what you’re thinking, your power will run riot. You need to be aware of your power at every moment to make sure you contain it.”

  “I don’t know how. I didn’t think it would come back.” Had seeing William in the video triggered it back to life?

  “You need to use your power.”

  She looked at him with weary eyes. “You saw what I can do.”

  He sneered at her, showing a mouthful of gold teeth.

  “I saw what you can do when you’re not focused- when you’re panicked. I haven’t seen you try to do something on purpose.” When she said nothing he continued,
“If you want to fly you have to picture in your mind how to accomplish that. Some people picture themselves on a platform they can stand on that will carry them, others see themselves as if they’re walking on a moving escalator. It depends on how you think.”

  She nodded.

  “The next step is to bring your power into it. Pull that heat from your belly up to your chest, imagine it flowing into your fingertips-” he stopped. “You think I like talking for my health? Do it.”

  “Whenever I try to use my power I destroy something.”

  She looked at a now faceless ice sculpture. Mr. Parker plucked a misshapen ice cherry from the tree and tossed it to Jordan.

  “You can handle fire and water. Examine the cherry closely.”

  She raised her brows but did as he instructed. Jordan examined the cherry which was the size of a large marble and lay heavily in her palm.

  “Melt that cherry into a liquid, gather your magic and pull it up to your chest. Picture it flowing to your fingertips. Feel the burn in your palms.”

  Jordan stared dubiously at the cherry and then closed her eyes. She pulled that banked heat up from her belly and it immediately rushed to her chest. Her breath seized and she fought the immediate panic.

  “In your mind, imagine the ice melting slowly. If you don’t control your power you could set your clothes on fire.” He didn’t sound too concerned by that possibility.

  Jordan forced the painful heat into trembling hands. She opened her eyes and looked down at her hand which shook uncontrollably. The cherry rolled from side to side on her palm as it melted and trickled to the ground, hissing.

  “It’s a good thing Heath made you that pendant thing,” Mr. Parker mumbled.

  Jordan’s wet hand trembled. “This isn’t easy.”

  “Honey, nothing in your life is going to be easy. You remember what the cherry looked like?”