It was eerily silent on the little path I’ve been walking on. The air was standing still; no sounds of birds, insects or even wind. The nature seemed to hold its breath. A feeling of dread took root deep in my bones. There was something…something familiar about this. Instinct lead me where I needed to go, but my mind registered no vivid memory of my surroundings.
The trees in front of me suddenly parted to reveal an old gateway made of plain steel. Only one thing made it feel special somehow – celtic looking circle with miniature golden spear going through it.
Beyond the gate, there was a little cabin. I felt it was important to me, place that brought me joy every time. Not this time, though. With every step I took my mind screamed at me to turn around. My heart beat hard, my chest ached from fear. Something was very wrong, very unnatural and filthy.
My hand touched the knob, fingers trembling slightly. Taking one deep breath, I tightened my hold and with new determination opened it. The moment I did, a white blast of light blew in my face and I heard distant scream, almost like an echo. Two strong hands pulled me away before I could drown in screams, and I started falling into dark abyss.
My body jerked and my eyes flew open. It took me a second to figure out what happened. A dream, it was just a dream. I was still lying in my bed at the academy, soft fire crackling from across the room while rays of setting sun broke through the windows lighting it up.
I looked at the clock to see it was already eight in the evening. I couldn’t believe I slept the whole day. Or well, yeah, I could. When my mind got used to its surroundings, I thought back to the weird dream I had. It almost felt like it wasn’t a dream at all. Like I knew that place even though I know I don’t.
In the middle of my thoughts, my stomach growled which reminded me dinner time was almost over. Besides, I needed to talk to Nerine and see how the ceremony went for her. First things first, though, the bathroom is what I needed more than anything. I almost jumped at my reflection, as I was still not used to it.
I hurried to get dressed and opened my door to rush out, when I collided with just the girl I wanted to see. “Hey!” she squeaked surprised. “What are you doing up?”
“I actually wanted to find you,” I pulled her by the wrist in my room and shut the door behind us. I didn’t give her time to sit before I demanded “I want to know everything. Sit. Talk.”
Nerine’s brows rose in surprise as if she was questioning my sanity. “Um, sweetie, I think you should be the one to talk. You do know what your wings mean, right?”
I waved my hand away, making it sound unimportant. “There’s nothing new I can tell you. You all saw what happened. But you, I don’t know about. So, speak.”
With an eye-roll, Nerine sat next to me on my bed and started talking. Turns out, my best friend was a freaking siren. Well, descendant of one, but she had the gift. The gift. I could already see her singing to the men to make them crazy for fun. And now that I paid attention, I could see her complexion is glowing that subtle glow. Her amber eyes had a little red to them and her hair became darkest black I’ve ever seen.
“Do I need to warn my brother about you now that you actually have the ultimate seducing gift?” I ask trying to divert the attention from me. I know the expression on Nerine’s face, and it tells me she already gave me space as much as she could. Now was the interrogation time.
“Don’t even try that tactic. I want to know everything. From the first time you stepped foot into that circle, until you ended up in your bed. Go.” Ugh, I wasn’t sure I wanted to relive that kind of pain again, even though it’s only talking. I opened my mouth to make an excuse when her gaze became stern. Fine.
I told her every feeling, every sensation that I felt. From the pain of growing wings, power that coursed through me, memories I gained and everything else. I still wasn’t sure what my other gifts were beside one. “Also, I can talk in your head as well as read your mind. I don’t know what all gifts I have yet. I guess I’ll need to find that out and soon.” When I heard nothing coming from her mouth, I looked her questioningly. “What?”
There was a smirk on her face and I knew instantly what she wanted me to do. And Valerian? Did grandpa give you some valuable lessons yet?
My mouth stretched into a knowing grin. Yes. He gave me lessons on proper screaming, if you know what I mean.
Really????
No. “Now shut up about him. I’m going to have to train with him anyway. Apparently twins think I need his help and won’t budge on that.”
“Lucky bitch. We’ll need to inform Megs about new turn of events. She, along with all the women from the town will literally die if they don’t get some information soon. “ she sighed then stood up and motioned for me to follow. “And by the way? The eyes and hair? The most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen.”
I shrugged innocently. “I do need to keep up with you. Not everyone can sing to men and make them mad. You’ll be even more trouble now and I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop you.”
Nerine’s snort was telling me I was right. “No one can do that, Theia.”
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So, to say entering the dining hall was unpleasant experience would be an understatement. Everyone turned to stare at me, and as much as I tried to seem unbothered by it, it annoyed me to hell. I was still the same as before; same girl, same looks…or maybe not looks. Fine, okay, I looked peculiar. Even more than the others because of my mismatched eyes. Thank God the wings weren’t out, at least.
Plopping in my seat, Ina and Liam greeted me with wide smiles. “Oh, look who finally decided to join us. Do we need to curtsy now? Are you our new princess?” Ina joked.
The girl had visible markings coming over her shoulders. Her looks though remained almost the same except for the long, perfect curls and that genuine feeling of power that surrounded her. Liam’s features however, turned sharper, more masculine. The top of his ears were pointy and his green eyes somehow seemed wiser.
“If you really must, but I would rather you kiss my hand.” Nerine threw her cinnamon roll at me. “Hey! Don’t waste that, idiot.”
“You were irritating me. Now, sit down, I have something to tell the three of you.” Her eyes turned conspiring and I didn’t even want to imagine what this would be about.
“If this is about what Mr. Ryder talked about today…” Liam began.
My head whipped around to look at each of their faces. “What did Mr. Ryder talked about today?”
“There were news from the Warrior Units in Whitemore. Liam and I heard Mr. Ryder talk to the leader of Unit 7; it appeared there were some problems on the borders of the wastelands. My guess is, someone had had enough of The Vault.”
The Vault was prison for our kind. It was made long time ago by the creatures of light with their combined magic. It is said it’s located somewhere in the Forgotten Wastelands, appearing in the form of huge vortex in the ground. People don’t dare cross the borders of the desert, because you never know when or where it shall appear.
“But it’s useless right? No one can break out of there.” I said. It was the truth; there was no one who managed to do it due to ancient magic it was used to create it. Ina, though, seemed doubtful. “What do you know?”
Ina shook her head lightly from side to side before she spoke “I don’t know. There’s always at least one weakness to every prison. It may have been made by the old and powerful magic, but I’m not sure someone, someday won’t find a way out.”
I certainly hoped that wouldn’t happen. It would be complete disaster because there were stored not only descendants, but powerful, full-blooded demons and other breeds that did something bad enough to deserve that kind of future. I don’t know the exact way it functioned, but I know I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.
“Yeah, yeah. Anywaay,” Nerine continued. “I thought maybe we could try and find some more information.”
“Ner has this wonderful idea to use her voice on the Unit Warriors to ask questions, which, by the way, I find a horrible idea.” Liam stated, piercing her with his stern gaze.
Usually, I would be with Nerine but… “I agree.”
“See!” she shouted. “Theia thinks it’s good idea.”
“With Liam, Ner. I know you’re excited to try out your powers but that’s not the way. Besides,” I looked to see if Ina and Liam agreed with me, which they did, “You could get in serious trouble. To use your powers on Unit Warriors could be perceived as felony. Think about that.”
“I’m glad to hear at least some of you think reasonably.” That voice. Great. I turned to see Valerian’s serious expression locked on Nerine. Yeah, he wasn’t kidding this time. When I looked at him now, I couldn’t believe I said what I did earlier. Shit, why did I do that? “I don’t suggest you do whatever you planned. Your gift is not as simple as just singing.”
He then turned towards me. “We need to talk about your lessons from now on. Since you don’t fit in any of the academy houses, you’re going to train and learn with me. Come to the west clearing when you’re done here.”
He didn’t give me the chance to answer before he turned and marched, oh so graciously, out of the room. My eyes followed his every step, trying to decide if I should actually listen to Nerine’s advice.
“You know you should fuck him. If you don’t, I might try.” Her voice popped into the air.
And looks like I’m not the only one with mind-reading abilities.
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Fifteen minutes later, I was walking down one of the more used paths in the forest. It leads to a clearing filled with blue lilies. I loved it, but sadly, it was always filled with noisy people so I didn’t have many chances to enjoy it.
As I was nearing the clearing, if I thought this time would be different, it wasn’t. There were groups of girls all around, not so subtly watching Valerian sit on one of the tree branches. It was the same tree I was at a few nights ago when he arrived. I had a feeling it was completely intentional.
As I was approaching him, I felt variety of gazes locked on me. I would be wrong if I said every single one of them was friendly and happy for me. I never liked being center of attention, but it seemed my days of staying in the shadows were over.
“Took you long enough.” He said, not moving his eyes from something in the sky.
“I wasn’t informed I was given a time limit. But I’m here now, so, what did you want to talk about?”
He ignored me for a few moments, then his head so very slowly, turned to lock me in an electric trance. “Not here.” Jumping off the branch, he nodded in the direction further beyond the trees. “Follow me.”
We went further into the woods, making our own path between the trees. I didn’t know where we were going but I, nevertheless, used the time to enjoy the silence far away from the probing eyes. I closed my eyes and inhaled all the beauty and magic around me.
Feeling of being watched made me open my eyes to see Valerian few feet in front of me, looking over his shoulder at me. The look he gave me revealed nothing and I had the most powerful urge to peak into his mind. I didn’t. But I had to do something, his attention made me a little self-conscious.
Have something to say?
Yes. You’re the only person who can breach my mind shields and I’m not sure yet if I like it.
My lips pulled into intentionally daring smirk. You’ll like it. Take my word on it.
His whole body turned still. He was fighting some of his reactions to me. I didn’t know why that was, but I was going to find out. I guess I liked making him squirm, although, I’m not sure if it was completely working.
“Where are we going?” I finally asked.
This time it was his time to smirk. “You would want to know that, wouldn’t you. Patience, hellcat. You’ll see.”
The problem was, patience was never one of my stronger traits.
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