“Again.”
I flinched at Ovailia’s voice. I had never really liked her, but now, I felt something akin to pure hatred toward her. I grumbled and flexed my fingers, hoping desperately that the magic I knew was hiding inside me would finally come out. It was no use, my body was already exhausted.
Ovailia had awakened me early yesterday morning, pleased at her chance to train me since Ilyan had left the night before. She dragged me unceremoniously out to the courtyard and demanded I begin producing the energy orbs that I had seen Ilyan and Cail create. At first, I was ecstatic for the opportunity to learn something useful, but it quickly became apparent that she was going to be a relentless teacher. Ilyan had been kind and patient, even going so far as to make the lessons into games so that I could learn more quickly. Ovailia though, Ovailia demanded instant satisfaction and results without even bothering to explain what she wanted me to do first.
To make matters worse, she insisted I keep the necklace on and work through the barrier before even learning the new tasks. I had worked hard all day yesterday to break through the blanket the necklace put over my magic. I was exhausted. I had struggled for hours without meals, only eating a small amount of stew before crashing into bed and falling asleep.
I had planned to wake up early and practice without the necklace on, so that, if anything, I would be able to at least know what I was doing before I had to try to break through the barrier again. My plan was foiled by a loud knock on the door before the skies had even begun to turn gray.
I had answered the door reluctantly, my whole body hurting from yesterday. Ovailia had demanded I follow her right then, not even letting me get dressed. I had been trying to create an energy orb ever since, with no luck. I had watched the sun rise, the birds wake for the day; but nothing had happened yet.
I stifled a yawn before focusing again. I let visions and memories of Ryland be my focus, still, the barrier didn’t shift. The blanket that Edmund had placed over my magic was as strong as ever.
“You’re not trying hard enough,” Ovailia scolded from across the courtyard. She sat stoically in one of the many wrought-iron benches, a pile of small pancakes sitting next to her. I looked at them longingly before turning away from her. My hunger was not helping me focus.
I bit my tongue to keep from responding to her and flexed my fingers again. I closed my eyes and thought deeply about the first time I had met Ryland in his kitchen. The memory made me smile, and the barrier shifted just enough to let all the pent-up energy out of me in a rush. My focus had been solely on producing the energy, so when my body finally complied, it didn’t have any direction or purpose. The magic shot out in a rush, flying out of both my hands and knocking me to the ground.
“You finally shift the barrier and you can’t even control your power. Pathetic,” Ovailia’s voice sneered wickedly across the courtyard; my smile of accomplishment vanished.
“Hey, I’m trying, okay?” I snapped as I jumped to my feet, rubbing my hip.
“You are not trying hard enough.”
“I’m exhausted, Ovailia. You haven’t allowed me to get enough food or sleep for the past few days! I can’t even think straight!”
She stood with her eyes narrowed at me angrily.
I shrank back a bit before planting my feet defiantly. I didn’t want her to think she was getting the better of me.
“And how do you think it will be in two days when you enter the LaRue estate to save the ‘love of your life’?” she sneered. “Are you going to have your wits about you? Are you going to be able to think straight?”
Ice snaked down my spine at the reminder of how little time was left.
“Yes!” I yelled. “I know what I am doing! I have been in that house more times than you could ever manage.”
Ovailia stared at me, and for a wild moment, I was sure that I had won, that she understood that I knew what I was doing. Then, she began to laugh. The tinkling sound could very well have been beautiful, but it was so full of mocking malice that it only made me angry.
“I know what I am doing,” I repeated defiantly.
“No,” she continued. “You have no idea what you are doing. You are going to be terrified; you are going to be a hindrance to us all. I’m just trying to make it so that you don’t accidentally kill anyone.”
I squared my jaw and lifted my head. I was beginning to wonder if hate was a strong enough word for how I felt about her right now.
“I am not going to kill anyone.” I was confident.
“Oh yeah? What about your beloved Ryland. What if, when he holds you, the barrier shifts just enough that your magic surges? What if you can’t control it? What if you kill
him
?”
The mention of Ryland’s name, combined with my anger and frustration, was a tidal wave. The barrier shifted aggressively off me. My pent-up magic began to surge under my skin, rippling over my body like the prickling fur of a wild animal. That’s how it felt within me—wild. I clenched my hands in an effort to keep it inside. No matter how much I hated Ovailia right now, I knew she was right.
She sensed what I was going through, and her smile widened broadly.
“You can’t even control it right now, can you? I don’t know what Ilyan sees in you. There is no way you are the Silnỳ.”
“What?” I whispered. She had used my nickname like a title.
Ovailia smiled at my lack of knowledge. “Ilyan hasn’t even told you. He must not trust you with such valuable information, just like he doesn’t trust you to save Ryland.” Her voice was snide, condescending; it only increased my power more.
I aimed my hands at her just as the magical energy reached a breaking point. A stream of light and flame burst out of me, hitting Ovailia in the dead center of her chest. She flew through the air before landing and skidding against the long grasses of the courtyard, leaving a long trail behind her.
Part of me was worried for her, while another only cared if I was going to get in trouble or not. My magic continued to stretch out of me as I brought the wind up and lifted myself into the air, only to land next to her a moment later.
I was about to ask if she was all right when she slammed her hand across my face. The slap, combined with the angry magical pulse she had filled it with, sent me spinning through the air to land hard against a small bush.
“You stupid, little girl!” Ovailia spat as she flew at me. “You know absolutely nothing. You think you can just waltz in and steal your boyfriend and everything is going to be fine! You’ll be lucky if you even leave alive.” She raised her hand again, a large crack sounding through the clearing as the earth next to my head exploded.
“I can do this!” I detangled myself from the bush, desperate to move in case she aimed for my head next time.
“No, I don’t think you can!” Her hand rose toward me again.
I dodged out of the way, the smell of burning wood filling my nostrils. The smell was so similar to Ryland; it filled my head and mind with him. The smell that I always dismissed as campfire was really the smell of magic; the smell of a million spells, a million burning targets, the smell of each nightly practice he had with his father. It was him.
I turned around to face Ovailia again. The images of Ryland causing my magic to crackle on my fingertips, the electric energy determined to escape any way it could.
“You are going to kill us all!” she growled, her hands rising toward me.
I swung my hands forward; the powerful electricity that shot out of my fingers combined with the wind I had already conjured and collided aggressively with Ovailia. The energy pushed her across the courtyard, slamming her body into the wall of the building.
I looked after her, watching her crumbled body slide down to the ground. I heard her yelling angrily at me in Czech, the furious anger dripping from her voice. I didn’t wait for her to regroup. I took advantage of the temporarily-shifted barrier and launched myself off the ground.
I took off into the sky, my body flying away as fast as I could manage, terrified she would follow me. I made a beeline to the forest where Ilyan had taught me to fly and glided into the leafy canopy.
I shot through branches and flung myself around trunks and over small meadows before coming to a stop on a large branch of an old willow tree. I clung to the tree as I caught my breath, air pumping out of me in energized spurts. My breath was coming way too fast; my face stung with my over-emotional heat.
It wasn’t fair. I was stuck training with Ovailia who had rung me ragged, belittled me, and was determined that I was too dangerous to help. Then, in the end, I only proved her right.
I slunk down on the bough of the tree, my legs dangling over the sides as I waited for my heart rate to slow down; but it wasn’t my heartbeat I was feeling.
I pulled the necklace out from underneath my sweater, letting the ruby sit on the palm of my hand. It had the normal warmth from its constant contact with my skin, but I could have sworn the ruby was beating. I wrapped my hand around the gem, surprised to feel the throb of a heartbeat, the quick tempo not matching my own. I felt the beat; the tempo almost panicked and desperate.
Ilyan had asked me not to push anymore of my magic into the necklace, but I didn’t care. I didn’t even hesitate; I let my magic surge out and fill the ruby. I felt the beat of the necklace fill my mind, the rhythm echoing around my skull like a drum. I let it consume me as Ryland’s warmth followed steadily behind it.
I let my magic surge again, this time pushing the magnetic energy out of me. It collided with the necklace, and I felt my body grow heavy, like my bones had turned to lead. I closed my eyes, calling out when I saw the white room that Ryland and I shared.
I spun around, scanning the white space for Ryland. Finally I saw him, a boy sitting on the floor only a few feet away from me. I could tell he was younger, and my heart sank to my toes. He wore clothes that were ripped and stained, each article sagging off his body, many sizes too big. He sat quite still, humming a song that I was sure I had heard him sing before. His hands moved as if he were playing with something, but as I walked around to see what it was, nothing was there.
He jumped back, clutching the invisible toy to his chest as my feet came into view.
“Who are you?” The bright blue eyes of a thirteen-year-old looked up at me; the blue, deep and heavy, like he had already seen too much of the world. “Are you my new nanny?”
“Yes,” I answered hesitantly before moving to sit next to him. “My name is Joclyn.”
“Joclyn?”
I nodded my head.
“I like that name. My very favorite friend’s name is Joclyn. I call her my diamond girl.” He froze. “But you must never tell her I call her that! Can you promise?”
“I promise,” I said sadly.
“Good.”
“Why do you call her that?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
“Her eyes... they are beautiful.” He smiled widely for a second before the grin faded to nothing. “They are gray like yours, but much more beautiful. They are almost silver, like diamonds.” He looked at me intently before returning to play with what I could only assume to be a car. The toy and his actions were out of place for how old he appeared, but something else was off. I couldn’t quite place it. He moved his hand around the invisible object, back and forth, back and forth, as he continued to hum.
“Do you know why I need a new nanny?” he asked, his focus not leaving the car.
“No, why?”
“I scared the other one too much.”
I didn’t miss the strong mocking in his voice.
“Oh, really?” I smiled. “And how did you scare her?”
“I told her what my father did.”
“What did he do?”
He looked up from his toy to look at me
“Not going to tell you. You remind me too much of Jos. Besides, I like you.”
“I like you, too,” I conceded, “but you won’t scare me.”
“Yes, I would.”
“Try me.”
He sat back and looked at me closely, his nose scrunching up a bit. The look made me smile; he had stopped making that face when he was about fifteen.
“He made me kill my mother.” His voice was calm and plain, but I didn’t miss the pain behind it.
I controlled my reaction carefully, knowing he was watching me, even though I wanted to panic. “I am sure he didn’t...” I stated what was in my heart, willing what Ryland had said to be false.
“Yes, he did,” Ryland snapped, his voice hitting a higher octave. “He kept her locked up until I could control myself and then he made me kill her.” He started to cry, and I instantly regretted making him tell me.
“Why... why... would he...” I couldn’t finish. I wanted to run away; I didn’t really want to hear the answer.
“I let out some of the Vilỳs when I was seven, so he locked her up. He doesn’t want anyone else to be like us.” He dried his tears and went back to playing with his car, his humming loud and broken as he cried.
“You’re not going to leave me, are you?” He didn’t look up, but I could hear the longing in his voice.
“No.” I reached forward and ran my finger through his curls, the soft hair moving through my fingers. “I’ll never leave you.”