by Erin Forbes
Emery was Gifted with the ability to manipulate the element of water, while I was Gifted with the element of fire. Although we are twins, we are no exception to the rule of individual Gifts. We are placed under the same Elemental Category, which represents only four powers. Elementals are considered one of the rarest in the history of magic. The last Elemental existed more than three-hundred years before we were born.
◆◆◆
The forest colors flashed past me in a blur, and streaks of sunlight peaked through the trees. The morning breeze blew gently through my hair as my delicate hand dangled out the window. Everything seemed normal until I noticed the absence of freckles on my skin.
The carriage began to bounce as we pulled to a slow halt. I was alone with a light stack of suitcases, which sat on the floor beneath me. As I called out in a voice that was not my own, I was answered by the gruff response of the coachman at the head of the carriage. His inaudible sentence was quickly cut short.
Something was terribly wrong.
A certain silence hung in the air, which sent shivers up the sides of my arms. Without quite receiving permission, my hand reached for the carriage door. I stepped out into the forest on slightly taller legs. As I peeked around the big horses, the world faded into darkness around me.
I woke with a scream, finding my sister’s pale hand held gently against my forehead. Tears were streaming down my face as my body became arrested in a series of convulsing gasps. Nightmares were never something I frequently encountered, although they were always hauntingly realistic.
“Are you all right, Alice?”
I looked up to see the concern in Emery’s expression. After glancing at the clock, I realized we were nearly late for our first class of the day. I struggled to gain control of my racing heartbeat.
“I'm fine,” I responded before pulling myself out of bed. “It was just a nightmare.”
“You’ve always had some of the worst.” Emery nodded sympathetically.
After quickly throwing on a dress and one of my favorite wool sweaters, I grabbed my book bag and followed Emery out of the dormitories.
As we walked down the old castle passageway, gazes seemed to catch on me like thorns upon a Sunday dress. Some of them felt less comfortable than others.
The rest of the morning seemed to drag as though my body were recovering from a night of insomnia. My Gift was becoming hard to control, as my mind drifted through a layer of fog. The nightmare returned in haunting flashbacks, which felt almost as real as the dream itself.
“Are you okay, Alice?”
I looked up to see Ronan standing before me with a spark of concern in his gaze. My mind was racing in a million directions, like a field of comets across the night sky. I realized that my body had come to a halt in the middle of the crowded corridor. Ronan’s eyes were dusted with concern as I dared to meet his gaze. He gestured to the flames that danced upon my hands.
“I haven’t been able to stop,” I told him with a simple shrug. “It has been going on all morning.”
“Where is your sister?”
“I haven't seen her since we left the dormitory,” I responded as my friend watched me with a thoughtful expression.
My hands were shaking, and my fiery Gift was out of control. The chaos terrified me. Perhaps the nightmare had triggered a memory from the past.
“Follow me,” Ronan said before grabbing my hand and leading me through the crowd of students.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We hurried down the castle halls and throughseveralhiddendoorways. Unreadable faces rushed past me in a haze of dull colors. I did not have any clue where the headmistress’s office resided, but I knew my friend was taking me there.
Ronan held my hand tightly as we ran up an everlasting spiral stairwell. We eventually came to a dark and unlit hallway. Near the end of the passage stood a sparkling silver door, which illuminated a path through the darkness.
“It’s probably best for you to go in alone,” Ronan whispered.
I nodded and made my way down the hall. Stopping in front of the door, I held my hand up with hesitation. The entrance began to creak open before my knuckle had the chance to touch the surface of the wood.
The headmistress’s office was unlike anything I had ever seen. I did not feel that such a place should be called an office, for the word was bland and held no justice. The room contained dozens of towering bookshelves, which had been built entirely out of wood from the depths of the White Birch Forest. White marble beams soared toward the arched ceiling, and glass windows sparkled and shimmered in the afternoon light.
After a long moment, I felt something brush against my leg. I glanced down to see a white rabbit sniffing gently at my boots. He looked up at me with wide eyes and floppy ears. I stroked the tiny creature atop his head. Something about the rabbit seemed to remind me of home.
“I see you have met my friend.”
I jumped as a voice spoke from behind me. As I glanced over my shoulder, I noticed Zara was seated behind an enormous desk in the back of the room. I looked around awkwardly before taking a seat in front of her.
“He is quite an extraordinary creature,” she continued. “You won’t find very many rabbits like him in Aisling. When I was a little girl, I found him wandering the edge of the White Birch Forest. I assume he came here from your world.”
We watched in silence as the tiny rabbit wandered the room before plopping down to take a nap. I looked back at Zara to see her smile with admiration for the little creature.
“How can I help you, Alice?” Zara asked, noticing my obvious agitation. Her sapphire eyes glanced down at the glimmering flames in both of my hands.
“I’ve had quite a peculiar nightmare,” I told her. “It felt incredibly real and has been haunting my mind.”
Words poured out of my mouth, like Earl Grey from a porcelain teapot. I hoped the headmistress would be able to understand. When I finally finished explaining, I was hesitant to meet the woman’s gaze. As she uttered a laugh, I looked up to see a smile spread wide across her pale face.
“I had the same trouble when I was your age,” the headmistress told me.
“You did?” I responded with surprise written across my freckled cheeks.
“I certainly did,” Zara said with an expression of nostalgia. “I used to have terrible nightmares. They did not come often, but they were always quite intimidating.”
Zara looked me in the eyes for a long moment. Her sapphire gaze held an expression that I was unable to read. It seemed as if she wanted me to say something more; however, there was little room for sanity in further words.
“My Gift has become unmanageable,” I explained as my ginger hair began to spark. “I don’t know what to do, and I feel like there is something wrong with me.”
“Nightmares have the dreadful effect of captivating our minds during the waking hours,” Zara told me. “Nevertheless, they are merely fiction."
I settled into a state of silence. The headmistress had spoken the truth I needed to hear from another person. The flashbacks gradually began to fade as my Gift fell back into place, although the haunting memories still held their place within me.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
When I finally left the office, Ronan was nowhere to be found. After wandering through the maze of castle corridors, I managed to find my way back to the entrance hall. The air hung silent, and the stairwell stood abandoned. As I made my way down the hardwood steps, the glittering sunlight danced through the windows. The evening sun was setting, and the castle would soon be illuminated by the light of a thousand lanterns.
As I hurried over to the dining hall, the door attendants greeted me and swung the heavy doors wide. I scanned the tables for my group of friends, but it was nearly impossible to find them in the crowded hall. My gaze eventually caught on the lavender hair of Violet Holloway, who was huddled at the end of a table.
After taking a seat between Ronan and Violet, I began to notice their abnormal behavior. The O�
�Reilly twins were quite reserved, and Violet poked at her food in silence. Our table seemed to be the center of attention, as the other students continued to throw glances in our direction.
“Is everything all right?” I inquired.
For a brief moment, I was not sure anyone was going to respond. Apprehension appeared in the back of my mind, while Kade raised her eyes to look at me. “Something horrible has happened,” she whispered. The whites of her eyes were a faint shade of pink, and her cheeks were damp with tears.
Every person seemed to be focused on Violet, who poked at her dinner with an unreadable expression. Her eyes reminded me of an iridescent fabric that changed color from different angles. It seemed as though the material had been flung from an unbearable height, as her eyes changed color with every gust of wind.
“Juniper is gone. She’s gone!” Violet exclaimed before quickly dropping her fork and storming out of the dining hall.
“Who is Juniper?” I asked the rest of my friends, as every student turned to stare at us.
“She is Violet’s cousin,” Ronan explained. “Juniper was supposed to be entering the Academy late this semester, due to a visit to one of the isles off the coast. Late this afternoon, Violet was informed that Juniper’s carriage was attacked while she was passing through the Night Oak Forest.”
Ariadne had told me about this new girl. The tiny kitten in our room belonged to the missing student. Violet was missing her cousin, and Ariadne was missing her best friend. My mind began to run over the number of ways this accident might have occurred.
“When the scene was discovered, the girl was nowhere to be found,” Kade added.
Violet’s footsteps echoed up the stairwell in the entrance hall, breaking through the silence of the dining room. The door was still swinging in and out of the archway, while her fork lay thrown across the plate. My mind was beginning to pile high with questions.
“Does anyone know what attacked her?” I asked.
“We were told it was a creature of the night,” Emery suddenly spoke up. A haunted expression was hidden behind her sparkling blue eyes. It reminded me of the look across my face on the day when we had been told to come here.
“If Juniper was attacked during the day, how could it have been a creature of the night?” I inquired, tapping my freckled fingers on the smooth table.
“That is precisely what everyone else has been wondering,” said Kade. “It seems impossible, but the evidence has been found.”
“We have been told to keep out of the Night Oak Forest until we are notified it is safe to pass through,” Ronan added as he took the last bite from his plate.
◆◆◆
I do not think any of us managed to sleep through the night. Our thoughts were too worried about the unknown fate of Juniper Stone. I may not have known Violet’s cousin, but that did not reduce my concern for a missing Gifted. The girl had disappeared without a trace. I knew the darkness of the Night Oak Forest, although I could not imagine what it would be like to be lost in its depths.
◆◆◆
As the next few days passed, not a trace of Juniper Stone was discovered. The search patrols had scoured every corner of the Night Oak Forest, but the girl was never found. Many people began to lose hope after a while. However, despite the pain in her misty eyes, Ariadne still managed to smile.
It was a Tuesday morning when Emery and I were wandering through the castle halls. Students of all ages pushed through the doorways, on the way to their next class. Violet’s face swooped past us in the crowded corridor. Although we exchanged eye contact, her face remained as blank as a fresh sheet of paper.
Emery turned to watch our friend with sympathy. Despite her lilac hair and kaleidoscopic gaze, Violet could not help but look miserable. I turned around and followed her down the hall. The passageway was crowded, and we were the only people heading the opposite direction. Thus, I grew used to the constant shoving that occurred. I heard someone call my name and glanced over my shoulder to see Emery hurrying after me.
“Alice! Where are you going? We will be late for class,” my sister spoke in her usual gentle voice, but this time it had a slight edge.
“We cannot leave her like this, Emery. It isn’t fair to anyone.” I gestured to Violet, who was about to round the corner beside the large stairwell.
Emery looked at me for a moment before we began to run after our friend. We had to do something. We had to find Juniper. This had gone on for far too long. As we came to the top of the stairwell, we noticed Violet had already reached the floor of the entrance hall. We hurried down the stairs, taking the last four steps in a leap.
Sage Pine was sitting at the bottom of the staircase, accompanied by a dark-haired boy our age. They watched us behind suspicious golden eyes.
“Please stop, Violet!” Emery shouted as we followed her through the giant castle doors.
I was not sure if she heard our voices, but Violet kept walking until she reached the end of the steps. She looked even more sorrowful up close. Her eyes had settled into an expressionless and dull shade of gray. It seemed as though her soul were locked in a windowless room, illuminated only by the ray of light that shone through a crack beneath the door.
“What are you doing here?” Violet inquired wistfully. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”
“I suppose we could ask you the same question,” Emery replied.
“I know Juniper is out there.” Violet sighed as her eyes flashed like the colors of the setting sun. “The Guardians told me that if they don’t find her within the next few days, they will be calling off the forest search. I don’t know how people can give up with such ease.”
I gazed upon the vast expanse of fields and forests, which stood before the mossy castle. If the missing girl was out there, she could be anywhere between the quilted meadows and White Birch Forest. The search patrol was only scanning the place where she had disappeared.
“Why didn’t I think of this before?” I exclaimed as my ginger hair blew gently across my face.
“What are you talking about?”
Violet and Emery watched me with flickering blue eyes. I knew their hearts still held a piece of hope. We could not allow ourselves to give up on faith.
“Meet us in the courtyard at midnight,” I told Violet with a smile.
“Tomorrow is your birthday, Alice!” she called after me, as if the occasion should change my mind. I waved a hand in dismissal before hurrying back through the castle doors. We were going to find Juniper Stone. It did not matter if the search patrol had stopped looking, for I had developed a remarkable plan.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Soon after we arrived in Lancaster Hall, Augusta stormed into our room. Her usual cheerful expression was masked by a look of anger and frustration. The surface of her freckled cheeks was dusted with a bright shade of pink.
“You must report to Professor Hawthorne’s office,” Augusta demanded.
I looked up from my textbook and glanced over to Emery, who was shuffling through the trunk at the end of her bed. I assumed this was punishment for skipping class to comfort Violet, who was likely on her way to the office as well. We hurried past Augusta and through the open doorway. Emery looked quite nervous as she picked at her nails, avoiding eye contact with any of the other girls.
“Don’t assume you are so easily out of the picture, Ariadne Moss.” Augusta raised her voice.
Ariadne lifted one eyebrow and dropped a large stack of books on the floor. Our roommate had not skipped class with us. As we made our way through Lancaster Hall, I began to wonder why we had been summoned.
We hurried through the corridors and past the towering, wood stairwell. Everyone seemed to be drowning in a haze of thoughts. It felt as though my vision were clouded by the questions that raced through my mind. My sister’s eyes held a grave look of concern, although Ariadne’s expression was indecipherable.
We eventually arrived in the hidden corridor that led to the headmistress’s office. Darkness engulfed th
e air, and the only light was the glimmer beneath the door at the end of the hallway. I flicked my wrist to create a flame before leading my friends down the hall. The sparkling door that had once illuminated the hidden entrance was now as black as night. Something in my gut told me this meeting was not just about skipping our class.
After taking a deep breath, I grabbed hold of the gemstone handle and pushed the door open. Despite my nervous mind, the act of entering Zara’s office seemed just as extraordinary as the very first time. I glanced over at the large desk. The headmistress was not seated in her chair, although the old table was stacked high with piles of dusty books.
