Authors: Diana Nixon
“I think we're on the right track, but let's leave it
all till tomorrow. I'm terribly tired and want to get some sleep too. But not
on your couch, of course,” Evan said, walking toward the door.
So I was finally left alone. I didn’t know how long I
had gone without sleep, trying to add at least some parts of the puzzle, but
the next thing I knew it was morning and the phone ringing, waking me up.
“Morning, son. Sorry, I'm calling so early, but your
mother happens to have a day off, and she is coming to visit us. Maybe we can
go to the town and have lunch somewhere?”
“Hi, Dad. I wanted to talk to you. I thought you would
be back in a few days,” rubbing my sleepy eyes I said.
“The Congress ended earlier than we planned. So I’m in
Dever already.”
“Excellent! I will take a shower, and see you soon.”
“Well, then, see you later.”
I hung up the phone and ran to the bathroom. I was glad
that my father had returned earlier, because I didn’t know how much more I
could stand not knowing his side of the story.
His apartment was located in a building adjacent to our
dormitory. All the teachers in Dever lived in their own flats. My father
offered me to settle with him, but, of course, I refused. I didn’t want to look
special in the eyes of other students. Just like Amanda, I hardly survived a
semester of his lectures, when with every practical lesson, I became the first
student he asked questions. Besides our training classes, we didn’t see each
other often. He was constantly busy with his work, and I - with my own studies.
Today, however, I was eager to ask him some questions.
I walked to the door of his apartment and pressed the
bell button.
“Christian! Come in, I will join you in a moment, just
finishing my conversation,” my father said, holding one hand on the phone.
I walked into the living room, where I found his still
untouched breakfast on the coffee table. There were two more rooms in the
apartment and a spacious kitchen where my mom used to spend most of her time
being here with us.
“So what do you want to talk to me about?” he asked,
entering the room a few minutes later.
“I have encountered some incomprehensible facts about
you recently. For example, why didn’t you tell me about your bond with Frederic
Fairey?” I asked him directly.
My father froze.
“How did you know that?” he asked in a barely audible
voice.
“So this is true,” I said, seeing his paleness.
“Only a few people know about that, I shouldn’t have
admitted you about this.”
“Why not? You can’t make your own son aware of such a
bond?” It was really hard to restrain my anger, but I tried to sound calm.
“Christian, it’s not that simple...”
“
That
is what I already know, Dad. Maybe you will
explain to me one more thing. What relationship did you have with Camilla
Steward, and how on earth are all those secrets connected to Eileen and me?!”
My last words surprised him even more.
“You know about that too?” he asked, his eyes shocked.
“So let's start from the very beginning,” I said. “I
want you to explain everything, because if you try to hide something again, I
will try to find it all out by myself, until I reach the truth.”
Dad rose from his chair and walked to the window. He
stood with his back to me, so I couldn’t see the look on his face.
“Amelia and I didn’t think you would know everything so
soon,” he began.
“Mom is also involved in this mess?”
“She isn’t the only one. It's a long story, Christian.”
“I have plenty of time,” I noted. “Today is Sunday, and
you are free of duties as well. So try to humor me.”
“I think we’d better sit down. It will be a long conversation,”
he said, inviting me to his office. He sat at his desk, and I - on the chair
opposite him. He wearily rubbed his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept for several
nights in a row.
“It all started many centuries ago,” he said. “Do you
know the legend of the Black Lake?”
“Yes, I just recently read it,” I nodded patiently.
“So, you know how the daughter of Medellin Wizardy died.
She partially blamed Gabriel Fairey for that.”
“Are you saying that Gabriel was…”
“Exactly. He was the son of Jason and Gabriela Fairey.
It is in honor of his mother that he got his name. She died in childbirth, and
Jason decided to give this name to their son. Gabriel’s daughter - Paola was
cursed by a woman, whose name has become common knowledge much later. Her name
was Gillian Wizardy.”
“Wizardy? So there were more Wizardy besides Medellin?”
I wondered.
“Yes. Medellin was her elder sister. She was much
stronger and more powerful than Gillian. She didn’t want anyone to know about
her existence. That's why she never mentioned her.”
“How did everyone find out about her?”
“Via her curse of course. When the founding families
began to think about how to save women from the Fairey family from years of
misery, which she predicted, they found her sons. They told them the whole
truth about who actually their mother was. They even accepted the offer to move
to Dever and to continue their education here. Everybody forgot about those
dark times, until Amanda was born. She was the first girl born in our family
for the past seven centuries. Everyone thought, including your mom and me, that
Amanda was the one destined to take the curse off. But it appeared to be much
more complicated. Amanda was only the first link in this chain. After her
birth, we learned that there was another girl born in the Fairey family.
Eileen.”
I looked blankly at my father.
“What does Eileen have to do with all that, Dad?”
“Eighteen years ago, her mother met with one of the
Fairey. They fell in love with each other, and Eileen was the product of their
love. Their union wasn’t fixed on paper, but was born in heavens.”
These last words brought to my mind another memory of
the legend.
“Are you saying that Eileen’s parents were destined to
take the curse off?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, her father couldn’t devote himself
to the new family, as he was already married. His wife wanted to get rid of the
child when she learnt about the infidelity. Camilla Steward was a very talented
Feta. She read all these experiences on Eileen father’s palm and warned him.
Together they began looking for a way to protect the mother and the baby. That
is how our friendship with Frederic started.”
“I don’t understand...” I frowned.
“Haven’t you guessed yet?” my dad chuckled.
“Wait a minute…
Frederic Fairey
is Eileen’s
father?” not believing my own words, I asked.
“Yes. He's her father. Camilla knew that there was a boy
several years older than Eileen. She was talking about you, Christian. It was
then that she invited us to talk about Eileen, so you could keep each other in
safety and thereby save us from the centuries-old curse.”
“I can’t believe you're saying all this to me,” I said.
“How could you hide it from me for so long? Do you have any idea what
she
feels now? Eileen is in panic! She doesn’t understand anything! We all are
trying to help her, but only more questions appear every day!”
“Christian, I beg you, calm down,” quietly said my
father.
“Calm down?! How can I be calm when her life is in
danger and I don’t know how to protect her from all those curse’s
consequences?”
“Listen to me, please.”
I took several deep breaths.
“Okay, go ahead.”
“When we bound you, we didn’t think about how many
consequences this relationship would bring. Now you can’t live without each
other, because it’s very dangerous. That is why we are trying to find a way
with your mom and Frederic to fix it.”
“We already know everything about the bond, Dad. We are
not the first to have it. But the problem is that Eileen has too much power,
which she’s not able to handle herself. She possesses the forces of all the
elements.”
My father frowned.
“That’s impossible,” he whispered.
“Well, it
is
possible. Additionally, she somehow
got all the abilities of Lillian Wizardy.”
“Well, there is nothing strange here. Paola, Lillian’s
daughter, also had all the powers of her mother, but she was the last Fairey
girl until recently. Therefore, all her abilities had to go to the next girl in
our family. In some ways, Eileen is half Wizardy. She has Medellin’s blood in
her veins.”
“Then how do you explain the fact that Eileen sees a
ghost of Medellin, who is trying to separate us?”
“What are you talking about, Christian?”
“I was with Eileen on the lake, and she saw her there.
And then Medellin’s ghost subjected me to herself so I couldn’t move, couldn’t
see, speak or feel anything.”
“That’s weird. I don’t know how to explain this.”
“I still don’t understand why you had to bind yourself
to Frederic?”
“It was necessary in order to bind you and Eileen. In
addition, she has been bound to Amanda, who for some unknown reason wasn’t the
one who could take the curse off.”
“I don’t understand how they are bound?”
“Just as Frederic and me – by the bond of friendship.”
“That can’t be true. Evan said that all bonds are seen
to Wizardy, and he has never seen anything like this between them,” I admitted
confused.
“No? That is also very strange.”
“And Camilla's granddaughter saw the challenges that
Eileen will have to endure without me. She said that some lines on her palm are
lighter than mine, so there is something that we cannot predict. I don’t know
what to do and I don’t know how to help Eileen cope with the difficulties!” I
groaned in despair.
“Christian, as far as I know, the lines of fate can only
be changed under compulsion. A person changes the future, yes, but he cannot
change what was destined to him initially.”
“Whatever it was, it’s another question which none of us
knows an answer to,” I said. “And what does Alexis has to do with all this?”
“Alexis? Nothing, in fact. Why?”
I told my father about everything that we had been able
to find out from the diaries of Camilla, including the fact that Alexis has
also put a foot there. But unfortunately, he knew nothing about the mysterious
Erik. He asked me not to say anything Eileen, until he talked to Frederic.
“Now that you know the truth, I think he would like to tell
her everything himself,” he explained. “I know that Frederic has been guarding
Eileen for all her life, and he never stopped loving her. I know this better
than anyone else, trust me.”
“Okay, I won’t tell her anything. I’ll say that we
haven’t managed to talk.”
“Thank you, Christian. I really appreciate the way you
accepted all of this, considering how much I have hidden from you.”
“I have to ask you for one more favor. If you learn of
anything else that is important for me to know, you must tell me.”
“I promise,” my father said in response.
We agreed to have dinner downtown together with my
mother and I left.
Returning to my room, I found there Evan, resting on my
couch.
“Sorry, I had to use my special key,” he said
apologetically, pointing toward the door. By his
special key
, he meant
his magical abilities, due to which locks have never been a barrier for him.
“As you can see I stopped paying any attention to you
doing that a long time ago. So why did you come here?” I asked, leaning on the
edge of my desk.
“I have some news.”
“News - it's good,” I said sadly.
“Frederic Fairey is her father,” blurred out Evan.
I didn’t need to ask who he was talking about. It was
quite clear that he meant Eileen.
“Judging by your reaction, that’s not news to you. What
bad luck! I wanted so badly to be the first one to guess everything,” he said
disappointed.
“You're right. It’s not news to me anymore. I have just
spoken with my father, and he told me everything. How did you know about this?”
“Digging a little in the university’s history, I learned
that Gabriel from the legend of the Black Lake was one of the Fairey. Since
then, everything has begun to take shape piece by piece. The fact that Frederic
was so concerned about the birth of her illegitimate child, and then, what
Patricia Clark had to do with all that. True, I still don’t understand how she
met Camilla.”
“I forgot to ask dad about that. But Eileen’s mother had
no connection to Dever. And one more thing - he asked not to tell Eileen about
her father. I hope I'm the first one you shared your discovery with?” I asked.
“Yes, but don’t you understand, Christian? Eileen has
the blood of Wizardy in her veins, and when she becomes eighteen, she will be
able to possess magic. I have no doubt about it.”