Authors: Diana Nixon
I sighed in disappointment and Evan laughed.
“You're like a spoiled child pouting because your parents
wouldn’t buy you a toy.”
“If my pouting is working then tell me your plan!” I
begged with my lips pursed.
“Oh, no! Your pouting won’t work. I'm very stubborn, you
know,” he said, his usual cat-like smile on his face.
“Yeah, I have already figured that much out.”
Evan and I went through the east gate of the campus and
headed for the place where the preparations for the festival were held. Even
from the distance it was clear that something big was built there. I didn’t
realize that the curved contours of the construction were actually future
full-blown flower petals, which would form the arena of this year. The highest
petals were occupied with seats for the spectators, so as to give the
impression that everyone was looking inside of the flower.
“Looks pretty good,” Evan admitted approvingly. “I
wonder what they have come up with for the final performance.”
“Who usually prepares a final show?”
“I’m not sure about this year, because every time it’s a
new faculty. Sometimes several departments and students cooperate, but only if some
special guests whom they want to impress are present at the Festival.”
“Evan! Eileen!” Darcy called us from the neighboring
area. “Come here!” she waved her hand.
We passed some sitting areas and stopped next to her.
“What do you think?” she asked, pointing to the still
unfinished arena.
“That will be great,” I said. “I can imagine how
beautiful Embry’s show of petals will look here.”
“Have you seen their show?” asked Darcy in surprise.
“Actually, nobody knows what the other faculty prepares
for the festival,” whispered Evan.
“Oh, I did not know that! Couldn’t you have at least
warned me?” I hissed, while Darcy was explaining something to other students.
“Sorry, I forgot,” he smiled innocently.
“So what were you saying about the show of Embry?” Darcy
asked again.
“Um… nothing. Maybe it wasn’t even a show. I just
attended one of their classes,” I replied digging still smiling Evan in the
ribs.
“Okay. So here's what you need to do,” Darcy started to
explain.
“See you later,” said Evan, leaving us alone.
When Amanda told me yesterday about Darcy’s favor I had
no idea just how much I would have liked taking part in all this. Basically, I
was helping her most of the time. Together we added some more petals to those,
which were already done and covered the very arena with a bright red velvet
carpet. Darcy explained that all the performances look better on a red
background, so this attribute of the festival remained the same from year to
year. Flower petals were green, yellow and orange. All of them were covered
with special gold dust, so that they would glitter with different shades under
sunlight or artificial light. If I didn’t know that no magic was used to create
that beauty, I would decide that it was just impossible to build with hands.
So the day passed pretty peacefully. I got back to my
room almost at eleven. To my surprise, Amanda wasn’t there alone, but in the
company of Evan and Christian. They were discussing something, but as soon as I
entered, the conversation immediately stopped.
“What's going on here?” I asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,” said Evan. “We were talking about today's
trip to the dungeon.”
“It’s an understatement! I think many dungeons look
better than the one we were in today,” I said, coming to my bed.
“How was your day?” asked Christian, getting seated
beside me on the bed.
“It was great! If the preparations are any indication of
what is to come, I can’t begin to imagine what will happen at the festival
itself,” I said enthusiastically.
“It's always very beautiful,” agreed Christian.
“Have you been practicing today? Is everything all
right?” I asked him.
“Yes, everything’s fine.”
They exchanged strange glances with Evan.
“Look, is it only me, or are you hiding something from
me?” I asked. “Is it about your power, Christian? It became weaker again,
right?”
From the rush of excited feelings, which passed to me, I
assumed that my assumption was correct.
“Do you need my help? Or is it that you just don’t want
to ask me for it?”
“Eileen, it’s not about that.”
“Then what it is about?” I asked a little louder than
usual.
“I don’t want you to take risks. The image you helped me
to create in the class was just a small part of what I will be showing at the
Festival. It will take a lot of energy. I’m worried about you. I can’t allow
you to risk losing so much power. Even if my presence will give it back, you
shouldn’t help me. I'll do it myself.”
“And if you fail?” I asked worried.
“I won’t,” said Christian.
“He practiced a lot, Eileen. He knows how to save
maximum energy for the show,” Evan assured. “You don’t have to worry about
that.”
“Do you really think so, or is it just that you want to
protect me from participating in this?”
“You still cannot participate at all in the show,
Eileen,” Amanda said. “Applications for the festival were sent a few months
before the event, and Christian was declared alone. Besides, nobody would allow
you to participate, since you are not eighteen yet.”
“So I wouldn’t be able to help you, even if it was
necessary?” I looked at Christian.
He silently embraced me nodding to me his response.
Great! I had no choice.
All the days became monotonous. In the morning I had
lessons with Evan, in the afternoon - preparing for the Festival, and in the
evening, if I managed not to pass out after barely crossing the threshold of my
room, our group would get together and talk a little bit. Nobody succeeded in
finding out anything new, everyone was too busy with their own schedules.
Fortunately, my nightmares stopped. Now I always dreamed
of something good: my childhood memories, birthdays, Grandma. Christian’s
medallion was always on my neck. It gave me strength and confidence. I didn’t
know how exactly it worked, but the warmth and sense of security that were in
me in Christian’s presence, were also in his gift.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see him often. Evan said that he
was still training hard before the show. So I missed him very much. Thanks to
him, now my room was like a greenhouse of Embry. Every morning, I found a new
bouquet of flowers on my bedside table. Each of them was a silent message, such
as heathers - a symbol of protection and fulfillment of dreams, hibiscus - a
symbol of delicate beauty and love, or crocus - a symbol of joy. Whatever
flowers the bouquets were composed of, there was always azalea - meaning
“take
care of yourself”.
Evan gave me this flower, when he first showed me what
it meant to possess the power of magic.
He and Amanda were still trying to figure out their
relationship. While she was carefully ignoring his presence, Evan tried to do
all his best to attract her attention, which infuriated her even more. I didn’t
know how long they were going to entertain us with their constant disputes, but
I personally felt that Amanda's patience would come to the end soon and then
that would be no fun for any of us. I didn’t dare to speak with Evan about this
subject. Christian also was on the sidelines and didn’t interfere.
One night, coming back early after the meeting with
Darcy, I decided to go to Christian. The door of his room was open, so after
knocking I didn’t wait for an answer and entered. To my surprise, Amanda and
Evan were there too. Along with Patrick and Amelia Fairey… She noticed me
first.
“Eileen!” she smiled genuinely.
They all turned in my direction and, judging by the
expression on their faces, I was the one who they weren’t expecting to see.
“You're early today,” Christian said, coming up to me.
“Yes, everything is almost ready, so Darcy let me go
earlier. What are you all doing here?”
“My wife and I came to say goodbye. We decided to go
home for a few days before the Festival,” said Patrick.
“Well, and I was just looking for Amanda, so I decided
to come here,” with a grin, said Evan. Amanda, in turn, gave him a very
unfriendly look.
“Right,” I said still watching them suspiciously.
“Is everything all right? You're upset about something,”
noted Christian.
“No, it’s okay. Just wasn’t expecting to find so many
people here.”
“We’d better go,” said Amelia. “We need to pack some
more things before leaving. See you later, guys.”
“Good-bye,” answered every one of us.
Once they were gone, I immediately asked:
“Can someone finally tell me what the hell is going on
here?”
All three looked at each other.
“Nothing, Eileen,” calmly replied Evan.
“Stop playing the fool! I'm going to study at the
faculty of Fairey, so don’t forget that I can feel when something is wrong.
Christian?” I shot him a warning glance.
He looked at me apologetically.
“Eileen, the fact is that our parents have come up
with...
A plan
of how to find Nora and that’s why they are going to
Norfield.”
I looked curiously at each of them present.
“And you were going to hide it from me?”
“It didn’t make sense to tell you since we were not sure
that it would be successful,” Amanda explained.
“Okay. So what are they up to?”
All three looked at each other again.
“Do not even think that any of you are leaving this
room until you tell me everything!” I said, sitting on the couch and crossing
my arms.
Evan sighed.
“Well, Amelia wants to meet with Rebecca and ask her to
make an appointment with Nora. She wants to ask her the meaning of some of the
lines on her palm. If the meeting is really successful, Patrick will contact
the Keepers so that they could find out who Nora really is.”
“So you’re saying that Amelia would go to this meeting
alone? What if Nora wants to cause her harm?” I wondered.
“She won’t actually go there alone,” said Evan. “Only
with supervision.”
“And who will look after her? Nora may be hereditary
Wizardy, so Amelia should be accompanied by at least one powerful magician!”
Evan didn’t answer.
“Oh, no… no, no, no! You're not going to be
that
person
, right?” I asked, staring at him.
“Eileen, Evan can stand up for himself,” said Christian.
“Besides, he is a hereditary Wizardy too, and my father would be on the alert in
case. Together they will manage.”
“Are you guys insane?! Haven’t you heard what Darcy
said? Nora uses a very powerful spell in her elixirs, what just a few people
are capable of! And you think you will stop her alone?”
“I'm certainly glad you're so worried about me, Eileen,”
smiling, said Evan, “but do not underestimate me.”
“Eileen, you really don’t know what he’s capable of,”
admitted Christian.
“I can’t believe that you have agreed to this,” I shook
my head disapprovingly. “Why do you think that Rebecca will give her address?
Maybe Nora left Norfield a long time ago.”
“We will know it for sure tonight,” said Evan. “That's
why I'm still here, so as not to cause any suspicions to my leaving. We don’t
know if someone watches us in Dever. But if Amelia really succeeds to arrange a
meeting, I'll go there tomorrow morning, acting as if I am going to Gloster and
if all goes well, come back in the evening.”
“
If
? You said
if
?” I asked in disbelief.
“Man, now I’m definitely sure that you are crazy,” I rolled my eyes.
“Listen, Eileen, you really don’t have to worry about
it,” said Evan, sitting next to me. “I'm sure everything will go well. The most
important thing now - is to wait for a call and hear Patrick's confirmation of
the appointed meeting.”
“The Festival is going to be held the day after
tomorrow. What will happen if you don’t have time to go back?” I asked.
“Not at any price will I miss it!” he replied with his
usual ease.
“Since we are going to have at least three hours waiting
for the call maybe we should go down to the dining room and have some snacks?”
Amanda suggested.
“Personally I think that sounds good,” Evan replied,
standing up. “Good idea, dear,” he said, smiling broadly at Amanda.
“If you don’t make him shut up, no one will go to
Norfield!” she hissed angrily in response. “I will kill him with my bare
hands!”
“Don’t be a scratch-cat, babe,” with a cute smile, Evan
said. “I know you are still crazy about me.”
Before I could blink Evan was already running away
quickly, jumping through a few steps of the staircase at the same time,
followed by angry Amanda, who was screaming on the way, that she wouldn’t leave
him alive. The spectacle was just great! Christian and I couldn’t stop
laughing.