As his chants grew
louder, Tobias pulled his palms apart, then began moving them in a
circular pattern. The light expanded into a large circle, growing
until it was big enough for a person to walk through.
The witch gasped as she
looked deep into the light. Inside the circle, the forest beyond had
disappeared. Instead, she could see a green field lit up by a warm
sun. A foreign world.
A portal.
She couldn’t
breathe. She pressed her body against the tree, unsure of the
strength of her legs. Her eyes widened as she stared through to the
other world.
The elders had been
right all along. The legend of the Fatalis stone was true. Portal
magic was real.
All this could only
mean one thing.
The Dark One is
real. She’s still alive.
The young witch felt
faint. It was too much to take in. It was all true and the portal was
here, almost within her reach. She wished now with all her heart she
had taken the time to go back to the Council and report Tobias’
strange behavior. This was too much. Too important for a young witch
like her to handle. She’d been stupid to come out here alone,
but there was no turning back now.
When the portal was
fully formed, Tobias took one last look around the area, then stepped
through.
The bright light
shimmered and weakened, the image on the other side growing faint.
Fear rushed through the witch like a mighty wind. What should she do?
If she let him go, would anyone believe her? Would they ever get
another chance to answer the questions witches and wizards had been
asking for centuries?
But if she followed
him, how would she get back home?
Her heart pounded
against her ribcage.
She had no time. She
had to make her choice.
The young witch ran
forward and thrust herself through just as the light disappeared. She
fell on her side, rolling onto the grass. Heat warmed her face as she
lay there, disoriented.
“What are you
doing here?” Tobias Prague stared down at her, his voice
drenched in anger.
The witch shielded her
eyes against the bright sunshine. “I could ask you the same
thing, old man.”
She heard the clank of
metal as he unsheathed his sword and pushed its pointed tip into her
chest. It wasn’t enough to break the skin, but she knew he
would kill her if it came to that.
Tobias lifted the tip
of his sword to her forehead and with a swift motion, pushed the hood
of her cloak back so he could get a better look at her face.
She swallowed, then
raised her wide eyes up to his.
“I recognize you,
child," he said. “You’re the orphan girl. The one
the Council of Fire found all those years ago wandering in the
forest.”
She nodded.
“You have no idea
what you’ve stumbled upon,” he said. “I should kill
you for following me here to this place, but you’re just a
child.”
The young witch
clenched her jaw tight, her nostrils flaring. She was not a child.
And she was sure she
did know some things about what she’d discovered here.
She didn’t
recognize the world, but she knew exactly where she was. The Dark One
was here. She could feel the necromancer’s dark power flowing
like an slow current through the ground. The Council had been looking
for this place for centuries.
And she had found it.
No, she was not a
child.
She tried to gather her
fire in her hands, but the power wouldn’t come to her. It had
been there in the forest beyond the seal, but now, here in this
strange world, her power was once again quieted. Sealed. She shook
her head, not understanding.
Tobias ran a shaking
hand across his bearded chin. “You cannot cast here,” he
said. “Magic is forbidden in this world. Only those with the
key can cast. Come, now, I will take you home. You don’t belong
here.”
He stretched a wrinkled
hand toward her, but she refused to take it. He was just like the
elders. Always underestimating her and treating her as if she had no
value, posed no threat. He meant to just take her home and continue
on about his business. He wasn’t even angry or surprised at her
presence. She was just a child to him. A nothing.
Anger burned within
her, deeper and stronger than any anger she’d ever felt. It
surged up from the humming ground and into her veins where it burned
hotter than the purest flame. It consumed her with a sudden and raw
power.
She would teach him to
treat her with respect.
With a smile, the young
witch reached for the dagger hidden in her boot.
She grabbed his hand
and used his own strength against him as she pulled herself up and
buried the tip of the blade deep in his belly.
Tobias’ eyes
became round and large, surprise and desperation flashing deep
inside. His hands rose to the dagger, closing around her warm hands
as his blood poured from the wound. “No,” he said, pain
and regret saturating the word. “You have no idea what you’ve
done.”
He stumbled backward.
The witch pulled away, her hands slipping free of the dagger as
Tobias fell to the ground. His blood ran blue as a cobalt ocean
across his hands and down his side. He choked and coughed, blood
pouring from his mouth as he tried to speak.
The young witch fell
back in horror. What had she done?
She’d never meant
to hurt him, but something had come over her. Something dark and
undeniable.
And now he was dying.
Her dagger was small but laced with poison. She’d carried it
for years, but never actually dreamed of using it until today.
“You’ve
broken the seal.” Tobias reached toward her, his hand trembling
and his fingers splayed out like a fan.
The first drop of his
blood fell onto the earth and the witch stared in awe as the blue
pooled into a small puddle and then was sucked into the ground.
As his blood mingled
with the dirt, the witch felt a stirring of warmth deep in her belly.
Her powers had returned, but only in part.
Tobias closed his eyes,
tears streaming across his cheeks.
“Do not let her
rule you,” he sputtered. He cringed with every word, but did
not stop. His hands reached for her. “Find the five guardians.
Warn them. Please.”
His face tensed and his
body curled up, then released and fell back against the ground with a
terrible thud. The witch watched as his blood flowed in a steady
stream from his body and into the earth. Slowly, as his veins
emptied, his skin withered and shrank until finally, he turned to
dust and was no more.
The young witch fell to
her knees, her breath hitching in her chest. She touched the ground
where Tobias had fallen. The dirt nearly burned her hand, but when
she tried to pull away, she was powerless to move, stuck to the spot
by some invisible force deep inside the earth.
Panic filled her. She
imagined her own body crumbling to dust and pulled even harder. But
it was no use. Something here had its hold on her and wasn’t
letting go.
The power of it sucked
her under and in moments, the young witch lay motionless in the
grass, dust blowing all around her as she lost consciousness.
Blood-red petals
pierced the frozen earth, rose up like a snake, then opened to soak
in the warm sunlight. A young girl watched with unrestrained
curiosity. She had never seen such a strange flower. In fact, flowers
hardly ever grew here in the cold mountain snow.
The girl leaned down
and gripped the sturdy green stem. With a tug, she snapped it off at
its root. She giggled, then lifted the strange red flower to her nose
and inhaled. She’d expected it to smell sweet like the roses
her father sometimes brought home from the market, but this flower
smelled nothing like a rose. It smelled of smoke. Ash.
For a moment, she
felt the urge to drop the flower back to the ground where she’d
found it. To leave it there in the snow where it would wilt and die.
But it would be a
shame to waste such a pretty thing. She considered it for a moment,
then skipped home, the red flower clutched in her gloved hand. By
nightfall, fever had taken hold of her small body and deep inside the
earth, the Dark One smiled.
They were at it again.
Parrish Sorrows slammed
her locker shut and leaned her forehead against the cool metal. She
shouldn’t get involved. It was none of her business.
Still, she couldn’t
help that her locker was right next to the door leading out to the
dumpsters. The custodians kept it propped open on nice summer days
like today so they could sneak out there and smoke in secret.
But it wasn’t the
custodians out there now.
It was those stupid
bullies. Those guys thought just because their fathers were all big
shot CEO’s and they lived in the ritziest neighborhood around
with the biggest houses and fastest cars that it made them gods here
at Lawson Prep. They thought being rich gave them the right to pick
on kids who were smaller, younger, and poorer than they were. Which
was pretty much everyone, if she was being honest.
This was the third
afternoon in a week that Parrish had heard them out there with the
wiry freshman transfer. His name was Peter or something. He’d
transferred in about a month ago from some school up north on a
science scholarship. The bullies wouldn’t let up. She could
hear them out there pushing him around, taunting him and calling him
names like they were in Kindergarten instead of their Senior year in
in high school.
Anyway, it was none of
her business.
She was already on her
second strike for fighting, plus three warnings for dress code
violations. Starting something up with the son of the dean was a bad
idea, but that ass had it coming.
She tightened her hand
into a fist, then relaxed. She lifted her backpack and threw it
across her shoulder. She would walk away, just as she had every other
day this week. Her parents were already supremely pissed at her. With
Zoe taking off on her world tour in just a few days, now was not the
time to make waves.
But then the kid
starting crying.
A sob echoed through
the empty hallway and Parrish closed her eyes and shook her head. How
could she walk away from that? They made him cry. Dammit.
She threw her bag to
the ground at the feet of her locker and sighed. They’d given
her no choice.
Parrish stepped around
the corner and leaned against the door frame.
There were four of the
bigger guys. All seniors. All sons of important men. All about to get
their asses kicked.
They stood in a circle
around the kid. One guy, Jason, was going through the kid’s
bag, pulling his papers and books, ripping up his homework before
crumbling it into a little ball and throwing it on the nasty floor
next to the trash can.
Peter, the kid, was
hunched over in the middle of the group, his shoulders up near his
ears and his hands wrapped around his elbows. He was sniffling, snot
running from his nose.
Parrish cleared her
throat and the four bullies turned toward her.
Jason threw the
backpack on the ground at the kid’s feet. “What do you
want, Sorrows? This doesn’t concern you.”
She raised an eyebrow
and pulled a lollipop from the pocket of her plaid school uniform
skirt. She unwrapped it slowly and threw the trash on the ground.
“That’s not exactly true,” she said. “See, my
locker is right here on the end by the door.”
She put the sucker in
her mouth and hooked her thumb toward the hallway.
Jason narrowed his eyes
at her. “What does that have to do with anything?”
She slowly pulled the
sucker from her mouth, all four of the older guys staring at her
mouth now. “I can hear everything that happens out here,”
she said. “Which means you made it my concern when you chose
this particular spot for your bullying.”
One of the other boys
put his arm around the kid. “Bullying?” He laughed and
squeezed the kid’s shoulder so tight it made him flinch. “We’re
not bullying him. We’re welcoming him to Lawson Prep with a
time-honored hazing ritual.”
“Yeah, he should
be thanking us for spending our time hanging out with him,”
Jason said. He walked up to where Parrish was standing and got up in
her face. “So if you’ll excuse us, freak, we’ll get
back to our business. I strongly suggest you get back to yours.”
Parrish didn’t
blink an eye. She merely lifted her knee up hard and fast.
Jason doubled over,
grunting. He grabbed his crotch, then leaned against the brick wall.
Two of the other guys
walked toward her, their lips in a snarl and their hands fisted and
tense. Parrish put the cherry-flavored sucker in her mouth. She kept
her eyes on their hands. When one reached out to grab her shoulder,
she grabbed his wrist before he could get to her. She twisted around,
using his own momentum to throw him in to the metal door frame. His
head smacked hard against it and he reached up to cradle his bleeding
nose.
The second guy reached
for her hair, but she ducked just in time, then came up hard with
both fists to his gut. She spun around as she stood, planting the
heel of her heavy boot in his back. He groaned and fell to the
ground.
The fourth and final
guy backed up against the large metal dumpster, his hands up in
surrender. Parrish stared him down, then stared toward the door. He
took off at a jog, taking his three bully friends with him.
Parrish grabbed the
kid’s backpack off the ground and handed it to him.
He picked his glasses
up and placed them back on his face, then took the bag. “Thanks,”
he said. “I owe you.”
Parrish shook her head.
“How ’bout you learn to stand up for yourself and stop
walking the halls alone so they can bring you out here, okay? I
swear, I’m not going to help you again. Now, get out of here.”