by Amber Garr
“Randy, what do you want?” I asked in exasperation. I’d thought he would have gotten the hint by now, especially after having no contact with him recently.
“Geez, Cressa. Do you have to be such a bitch?” The words seemed to slip out of his mouth before he could stop them, because he quickly slammed his lips together and reached across the table to touch my hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”
For a moment I looked around to see if there was someone else nearby who could have done something to Randy that would make him be so rude. But I didn’t sense another magic user, although I did have a gut feeling that Randy really didn’t mean to say that. I blamed it on my incredibly good mood after my night with Noah. Not even Randy’s crude comments could wear me down today.
I looked at Randy’s hand now resting on mine and raised my brows at him. He immediately pulled away. “Is there something I can help you with?” I asked, trying not to let the snark enter my voice. It was hard.
“I just thought that maybe you’d like some company.” Randy lifted his backpack off the floor and dropped it on the table. Several students snapped their heads in our direction but no one said a word when they saw who was sitting there. I’d like to think it was because of Randy’s popularity, but in my gut I knew it was really because of me being different than them. I wondered if I’d ever see an end to this prejudice in my lifetime.
“You’re taking Literature III, right?” Randy asked, still digging through his bag for something.
“Yes,” I said hesitantly.
“Well, I was wondering if maybe we could go over that last essay together? I really bombed it but I’m sure you did great.”
I knew what he was doing. Randy had a knack for it. Sucking up and manipulating words to get what he wanted. Really, he should have been a law major. He certainly had a way with twisting words and getting people to do what he wants.
“I’m working on something else right now,” I said. In the distance, I noticed Brit walking toward me, her eyes narrowing on the back of Randy’s head. I’m sure she’d told Carson about me spending time with Noah. But the question was whether or not he’d told Randy. By the eagerness of the guy sitting across from me, I was suspicious.
“Well, could you do me a favor?” Randy pleaded through large, brown eyes. He winked and did that thing with his mouth that probably drove other girls crazy. But I have the real deal now, and Randy’s attempt at flirtation stirred absolutely nothing inside of me.
Brit was almost at our table and I could tell that she was upset by the way her tiny features were crinkled up on her face. Perhaps she’d already warned Randy to stay away, and if she did, I’d have to give her a big hug later, even though it hadn’t stopped him. “Randy,” I said, looking across at him again, “I don’t think that I can help you—” But Randy wasn’t moving. Literally not moving. “Randy?” I asked quietly. He’d frozen mid-movement, flipping through his literature book and in the process of picking up a nearby pen.
I suddenly noticed how quiet the library had become. No sound of the heating system rumbling in the ceilings. No one pecking away at their laptop. The hushed whispers of study groups silent as death. When I raised my eyes to look for Brit, I saw that she’d stopped mid-stride, her mouth just starting to open with words probably meant for Randy. “Brit?” I asked her, only to get no response.
One by one I observed the students around me. Each of them frozen in time like a still photograph had captured their last movement. People laughing, reading, walking…all stopped. Everyone except for me.
A door slammed in the distance and I shot to my feet. Turning slowly in a circle, I tried to pinpoint the place the noise had come from. Looking past body after frozen body, I didn’t see anything until I heard the footsteps. Reverberating throughout the still library, each step sounded like it had a purpose. And as they got louder, I knew that purpose was me.
“Who’s there?” I spat. I didn’t like being scared and this little trick had frightened me to the core. When the only answer was another footstep, I yelled out again. “Show me who you are!”
A slight scraping sound on the floor made me spin around to look behind me. And there, weaving his way around students once hustling through the aisles was River. His eyes looked glazed and the dark circles underneath made him appear several years old than he really was. Pale skin sagged around his face and I even think his cheekbones were jutting out more than normal. Although wearing his trademarked Imperium outfit, the clothes hung on him like they were two sizes too big.
“River?” I whispered. Then I watched as he carefully avoided anything but open air, as if he would get hurt if he touched the frozen landscape. “River, did you do this?” The realization that River was a strong enough Sorcerer to freeze time sent a chill straight through my core.
“It’s something I’ve been working on for a while,” he answered once he got within ten feet of me. “But it takes a lot of energy,” he added quietly.
That must be the reason why he looked so bad. I remembered my Caster mother teaching River the tricks of the trade and seeing how tired she was at the end of a long session. Where my father and I could raise corpses all day long if we wanted, River and my mom had to ration their magic use because of the cost. Even though I would get sick, they would be physically drained of strength. Especially when working on a spell that required as much attention as the one River had cast tonight.
“Where did you learn this?” I asked, taking a step back. This new powerful River scared me.
“Where do you think?” he snapped. “Look, I don’t have time for menial conversations. I can’t hold this forever.”
“Why are you here?” I had no problem moving this creepy conversation forward. The sooner he would unfreeze everyone, the sooner I could be rid of him.
“To tell you to stop once again,” he shouted. A book fell on the floor in the distance and River swore under his breath. “What the fuck are you thinking, Cressa? I warned you not to use your necromancy anymore and what did you do? You go out and flaunt it—”
“I’m not flaunting it,” I yelled back.
River squeezed his forehead and then closed the distance between us. The table digging into my hamstrings stopped me from backing away any more. “They are coming after you, Cressa.”
I swallowed and tried to put on a strong face. “No they’re not.” My voice trembled, hoping that the words were the truth. He was only threatening me again.
“No?” River pushed out through clenched teeth. “Who do you think that is?” He grabbed my chin in between his fingers and forced my head to the side. “You see that girl over there with the red hair and black leather jacket?”
I tried to nod, but his hand was holding my head too tight.
“She’s a tracker,” he spat. “And look up there.” Again he forced my attention to the second floor loft area where two young guys sat at a small table together near the railing. “Do you see any books? Does it look like they’re studying? No, they aren’t because they are trackers.”
River dropped his hand and I massaged feeling back into my jaw. The rest of my body shook with the truth in his statements.
“I can’t do anything for you anymore, Cressa. You’re going to end up in the Reformatory just like mom.”
“Don’t you understand that I’m doing this for her?” Anger quickly took over the fear racing through my blood. “You have done nothing to help her! Nothing! If I have to pay a price to get my mother back then I will!” Tears trickled down my cheeks as a few more books slammed against the floor and the spell began to wear off.
“You don’t even know the whole story!” River shouted right back at me.
“I don’t need to know any more than I do. She is trapped and I’m not okay with that.” I leaned in close enough to him to hear the air whistling out of his nose. “I will not make her stay in that place any longer than necessary.”
River grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me back and forth. “Wh
y are you such an idiot, Cressa? Our father would have been embarrassed to see you acting so impulsively.”
His words sliced through me like a sword to the heart. Now he was going to bring our father into this? The man who knew where our mother was but lied to us for years?
“Not to mention the fact the mom would have never wanted you to be a magic whore!”
I reached up and slapped River across the cheek. It wasn’t hard enough to knock him away, but it did seem to stun him. “You are just as bad as he is,” I spat. “How dare you?” Letting the anger broil around inside of me like an atomic bomb ready to explode, I stood a few inches taller. “She is our mother. And you have no respect—”
“She turned herself in, Cressa,” River suddenly shouted in my face. The shocked expression must have clued him in to where my mind had traveled. “She did something wrong and she turned herself in.” He dropped his hands and hung his head. “She doesn’t want to leave.”
For a moment, I had no thoughts. It was like too many jammed my brain at once and not a single one could push through to the front. I reeled back, stumbling into the table and sliding my book to the side. “What…what are you talking about?”
A loud crash sounded from somewhere upstairs and River swore. “You should go away for a while. Lay low. Get out of Durham.” His manic eyes flashed over me and then the next floor up. Another book fell to the ground somewhere nearby.
“You need to tell me about mom,” I pleaded. “Why don’t I know about this?”
River started to cough. A deep, throaty noise that sounded like he had pneumonia. After almost a minute of this, he finally stopped. “You weren’t supposed to know.” He coughed again and began to back away from me. “Neither of us were.”
The student standing directly behind River started to twitch. First it was just his eye, then the hand raised in the air. Finally, his head snapped back and forth a few times like he was shaking off water.
“I have to go,” River said. “You need to leave, Cressa. Now!”
At his words, the world began to move again. A deafening cacophony of noise rang through my ears, the silence gone as quick as my brother. Panic surged through my chest as I let my eyes drift over to the redheaded tracker and then up to men in the loft. All three of them met my gaze with an unwavering certainty that I was their target.
“Randy, what are you doing here?” Brit said to the guy I’d totally forgotten about.
My head whipped around and I watched as the two of them picked up their conversation like the last five minutes had never existed. I couldn’t move. A paralyzing fear molded my feet to the ground. The redhead stood, sauntered around the large reception desk in the center, and moved toward the main exit. I watched her and she watched me. And just before she ducked out of the library, she winked.
“Cressa?” Brit asked, interrupting my private stare down.
“Huh?” I said quietly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, you look like you’re going to be sick.” Brit slapped Randy across the back of the head. He yelled out and started rubbing it. “What? She does.” He emphasized his words by waving his hand at me.
I started gathering my things, not even sure what my next move was going to be. “I’m…I’m fine. I just need to go.”
When Brit’s hand touched my shoulder, I jumped back. Unable to control my fear, I tried to give her a smile and laugh it off. “Sorry, brain on other things.”
She gave me an inquisitive look, eyes squinted and head tilted. But then she let that pathetic excuse slide. “Okay,” she said curtly.
In the distance, I saw the two trackers from the top floor get up and leave their table. When they disappeared into the book shelves, I knew I needed to go. Shoving everything into my bag, I knocked the chair to the side, causing a loud crashing noise that everyone heard. But I didn’t care. I also didn’t listen to Brit and Randy calling out after me, as the only noise I could hear right now was my franticly beating heart.
When I rounded one of the pillars holding up the loft and made my escape toward the back entrance, I smacked right into someone. My bag fell, my head snapped back, and I had just enough thought to look up and see who’d captured me. That’s it, I was done.
But a bit of my fear slipped away when I noticed the lavender eyes attached to a man who was not Noah. Opposite in every way, this guy had dark skin and black hair, and an expression on his face that looked both inquisitive and intelligent. He stared down at me, eyes taking in every inch.
When I bent over to grab my bag, he was already holding it out to me. “I think you dropped this,” he hissed in a way that screamed at me to run.
I didn’t smile. I didn’t thank him. I just turned and pushed past a few of the onlookers so that I could break free. But as I ran through the door which led to a back parking lot, no one followed me. I didn’t see the redhead. I didn’t see the two men. And I certainly didn’t see the other phoenix.
Another phoenix. In Durham. As a human.
Something wasn’t adding up in my head and despite River warning me otherwise, I needed answers. Now.
I fumbled with my keys, hands shaking so bad I dropped them three times before reaching my car. Despite the cold temperature, I didn’t even bother warming it up. Instead, I slammed the car into gear and sped off toward Noah’s.
I didn’t remember the drive. All I heard in my head were River’s warnings and that phoenix’s voice in the library. Should I even be going to Noah now? What if I was bringing trouble to his door step?
No, I said to myself for the millionth time. He needs to know about this. About everything that happened tonight. A selfish part of me wanted him to know so that he could comfort me. I didn’t have anyone. And I also wanted him to tell me that everything was going to be okay.
By the time I pulled into Rome’s house, I’d whipped myself up into such a panic that I thought I was having an anxiety attack. Every breath was forced, my heart pounding in my ears. And until I opened my door and fell out into the driveway, I thought my heart might stop all together.
Why had my mother turned herself in? Why didn’t we ever know? The threats of my safety aside, I was angry at her now. I was her only daughter. She should have had our father tell us the truth.
“Cressa are you okay?” Noah’s voice caressed me instantly. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t speak. At all. My throat tightened and tears fell from my eyes. I hated feeling so weak and out of control, but Noah was here now. I would be safe.
He lifted me off the ground and carried me inside. Flashes of images scattered through my vision, and I think I may have passed out a few times. The leather on the couch clued me in to where he’d put me, yet the room still seemed foreign.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rome’s giant face suddenly appeared above mine, his eyes searching for something that would explain my strange behavior.
“I don’t know,” Noah said, pushing Rome aside. “I don’t think it’s magical…” His voice trailed off when he dabbed a cold washcloth on my forehead. “Do you?” I heard him ask Rome.
Rome’s face was over mine again, this time sniffing me like a dog. I must have reacted because Noah gave him a look that made him back away. “I don’t think so,” Rome said. “But she is scared.”
Knowing Rome could smell that on me should have triggered a reaction. But when Noah grabbed my hand and slowly rubbed his thumb back and forth, I started to calm down. “It’s River,” I whispered. “And my mom.”
“Your brother?” Noah snapped. “Did he visit you again?”
When I nodded, the washcloth fell from my forehead. Rome grabbed it before Noah could and made no attempt to place it back on me. “They are coming for me,” I said.
“Who?” Noah asked.
I glanced up at Rome. “The Imperium.”
The two men shared a look and words passed silently between them. But Rome didn’t move and instead started to dab my head again. “Why do you think t
hat?” he asked me.
“They were there. I saw them.”
“Where?” Noah and Rome asked at the same time.
“The library. There were trackers at the library.” Rome shrugged when Noah glanced up at him and that reminded me of something else. “And another phoenix.”
With those words, both guys froze. Rome stopped dabbing my forehead and Noah stopped rubbing my hand. Silence filled the empty space between us and I felt myself start to close my eyes.
“Cressa. Cressa!” Noah shook me awake, his handsome features painted with concern. “What do you mean you saw another phoenix?”
“He was in the library. His eyes…they were just like yours. And I knew. I knew what he was…” I stared to drift off again, speaking through my hazy stupor and somewhere deep inside wondering what exactly was wrong with me.
“Could it be him?” Rome asked above me. His voice trickled over my skin like warm molasses. I wanted to bathe in it. Like right now.
“It can’t be,” Noah whispered, but I’d heard it.
“What can’t be?” I asked.
“Cressa, open your eyes.” Noah grabbed my face and forced me to look at him. “Are you sure he was in human form? You didn’t just see a shadow?”
I tried to shake my head but Noah held on too tight. In a good way. “No. No shadow. It was a man.”
“Damn it,” Noah muttered. “Rome, had you heard any chatter?”
Through my half opened eyes, I saw Rome jump off the back of the couch. “No, nothing. But let me see what I can find out.” He blinked out of the room, leaving nothing behind by the faint smell of his magic.
“Cressa?” Noah asked me softly. “I think you just had a panic attack. I’m going to get you some water and I’ll be right back, okay? And then you can tell me everything that happened.”
I smiled. His beautiful face was right there. He cared about me. I knew that I could count on him. I must have nodded, because Noah kissed me and then left my side. I vaguely remember watching the shadows from the trees outside dance on the ceiling. And then I remembered nothing else.
