Spark (Legends of the Shifters) (16 page)

He
narrowed his eyes at me. “Who told you about that?” he
asked, his voice harsh.

“
You
did. I overheard you in the headmaster's office.”

His
face became shadowy, and he gave a sharp nod. “I would
appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else.”

I
nodded and thought back in my memory, trying to think if I already
had. Kurt led me in one last spin before ending our dance in the
middle of the song, and disappearing into the crowd.

I
tried following him, but I lost him in the endless throng. Instead, I
was in the middle of a crowd of people that I didn't know. I began to
feel claustrophobic, and I kept pushing through them, trying to get
to the end. Finally, after walking past many stands, I escaped the
mob and reached the dark woods. A few couples were taking advantage
of the cleared space, and were dancing together, even though the
music was quieter here. I didn't want to disturb them, so I kept
walking.

“
What
are you doing all the way out here, Ivy?”

I
flipped around to see Roland. “Oh, um...I was just needing some
quiet,” I said.

“
Oh,”
he answered. “Should I leave you, then?”

I
shrugged. “You don't have to.”

He
smiled. “Can I show you something?” he asked.

I
tilted my head. “What is it?”

He
took a hold of my hand and pulled me toward the crowd again. I braced
myself to go through them, but instead, Roland led me around the
multitude of people and behind the stage, where we'd hung the
lanterns. A few others had the same idea that we did, and were
walking in front of us.

The
glow of the lanterns cast a warm glow through the woods, and the
gypsies' songs echoed through the trees. My shoes were beginning to
pinch my feet, so I slipped them off, letting my bare feet walk on
the soft, mossy ground. Smells of food wafted from the stands. Roland
and I found a fallen log that hadn't already been taken, and sat
down.

I
sighed with relief. I hadn't noticed how much my legs were hurting.

“
Is
this better?” he asked.

I
nodded gratefully. “A lot better.” I studied our
surroundings. “So why exactly did we hang all these lanterns
up?” I asked.

“
There
are usually people who want to get away from the ruckus of the
festival for a few minutes. Many couples propose here, as well,”
he said nonchalantly.

I
could imagine this being an ideal place for a proposal.

Unexpectedly,
I felt a drop on my forehead. I looked up as a few more drops began
to sprinkle around us. I hadn't noticed earlier, but the smell of
rain mingled with all the other smells of the festival.

“
Uh-oh,”
Roland said.

Then,
the rain started to pour, and the echoing music stopped. Shouts were
heard from the direction of the town. Roland stood, and pulled me up
with him. “We'd better get inside somewhere,” he yelled
over the sound of pouring rain.

We
hurried out of the forest, and were met with the sight of chaos. From
our hill, we could see that everyone was pushing to either get under
the awning of the dance floor, to get in one of the tents, or to get
in one of the buildings beyond the clearing.

“
What
should we do?” I asked.

“
By
the time we get to one of the buildings, it will be full of people. I
say we make out way back to the school,” he said.

I
nodded. “Then let's hurry.”

We
avoided the crowd and ran around the entire town until we found the
road that led to the conservatory. The mud on the road was thick, so
Roland and I tried to stay on the grass that bordered the side. When
we were almost there, my foot slid out from under me, and I fell in
the mud.

Over
the rain, I heard Roland laughing, which made me blush with anger. I
dug my fingers in the mud, and threw the handful at him. It
splattered across his face and trailed down his white shirt. It was
worth it to hear his laughter come to a halt.

In
the moonlight, I could barely see his stunned expression. Just seeing
it made me laugh, and then we were both laughing.

I
stood up, and slogged through the mud, a wide grin spread across my
face. He caught up to me and took my hand. I was so surprised by the
action that I didn't notice until a little while later that it was
thick with mud. I jerked my hand out of his grasp with a squeal,
wiping the dirt on my already soiled dress.

He
laughed. Finally, we reached the closest building—the
stables—and dragged ourselves inside. The sound of the rain
quieted when we shut the door, and then, all we could hear was our
heavy breathing and the nickering of horses. It was pitch black.
Along with the sound of the rain, we had also shut out the moonlight.

“
That
was fun,” Roland's voice said nearby.

“
Yeah,”
I agreed. After a pause, I asked, “Do you think everyone is
okay at the festival?”

“
I
think so,” he said. “This happened the first time I went
to a festival, and nothing bad happened...well, except that everyone
was soggy and muddy afterward.”

I
sighed. I knew that I had gotten Natalia's dress dirty. I could only
hope that I would be able to get the mud out, or if I couldn't, that
she would understand it was an accident.

A
draft of cool air blew through the stable, causing me to shiver. The
rain had caused the temperatures to sink down significantly.

“
We
should both go change into some dry clothes,” Roland said.

“
Yes,
I suppose we should,” I answered. I had had such a wonderful
time that I didn't want to end the evening.

“
I'll
see you for training tomorrow?” he asked.

I
gave a half smile as I opened the stable door again. “Of
course,” I replied. I left him, and walked back into the rain,
toward the wavering lights of the girls' dorm. Thinking over the
memories of tonight, I smiled widely, but just as quickly as it had
come, it was gone, replaced with the memory of who I was.

My
life was not meant to be fun. I had important tasks ahead of me. I'm
an orphan. I'm a phoenix.

And
I'm still a student at The Crescent Isle Conservatory.

That
night, I soaked Natalia's dress in soapy water to get the mud out.
Before anyone else got back to the dorm, I scrubbed it several times
with a washboard before ringing it out and hanging it up on the
changing screen to dry. The dress appeared to be cleaner, and I could
only hope that no one would be able to tell that I had fallen in the
mud.

As
usual, I woke up early the next morning to train with Roland. There
was no mention of the night before, for which I was very grateful.
When I thought back on how I had acted, it made me blush.

We
did the same thing we usually did, sparring together with my weighted
sword. I was getting much better, and could almost keep up with him,
at least for a few minutes.

Little
did I know that today was the day that Rolan
d's training would
prove itself. Niko, who always settled for obstacle training and
endurance finally stopped at the sword station during the second half
of training.

He
held one out for me, and I wrapped my hand around the familiar grip.
It felt incredibly light compared to what I had been using in
practice. While Niko led the way, I swung the sword around. It was so
light!

“
Let’s
see how well you do in a fight with your current talent,” he
said with a predatory smile.

He
swung at me, and I blocked it. He proceeded with two more strikes,
but I met them easily. His grin vanished once he figured out that I
wasn't completely ignorant in the art of swordplay, and his eyes grew
hard. I glared right back.

I
moved into offense only seconds after the fight started. I slashed
and I struck as hard as I could, angry at him for all the grief he’d
caused on the days when I couldn’t even sleep on my back for
all the pain. It was his turn to suffer. With one final blow, his
sword was flung out of his hands, landing five feet away. I pressed
the cool metal against his neck with pleasure, panting with a
triumphant smile on my face.

Oddly
enough, he didn’t seem angry. “Someone’s obviously
been teaching you,” he said.

“
Yes,”
I replied haughtily. “They have.”

I
felt the sword pulling away from Niko’s neck, but Niko wasn’t
even touching it. In an instant, my sword was wrenched out of my
hands and held at my own neck.

“
Good,”
he said. It was his turn to smile. Again. “That’s
something I can check off my list.”

I was
nearly shaking with anger.

“
Right,”
he said, rubbing his neck where I had not-so-accidentally cut him.
“For today, training is over. This is a reward for finally
accomplishing
something
.”

I
wasn’t very grateful. It was only thirty minutes until everyone
else finished. He lowered the sword from my neck and threw it on the
ground at my feet before walking away. Before I could react, he
turned back to me. “Oh, one more thing,” he said with a
cold smile. “I enjoyed our
dance
last night.”

I
ground my teeth together with a furious blush as I returned the two
swords to their stand. Since I wanted to take my mind off things and
I still had adrenaline from beating Niko in the fight, I decided to
continue training. I made my way to the archery stand, something I
had only tried with Kurt once. I hadn’t hit a single target
that day, but today, I was brimming with confidence. I slid on an arm
guard and selected a bow from the table and a quiver full of arrows.

The
first arrow I shot missed, but I paid no attention to that. I shot
again and again, even though my arms and shoulders were starting to
feel sore. The seventh arrow hit just outside the bull's-eye. My
heart swelled with pride.

I
used up all my free-time to do this, and by the time the two hours
were up, I had my arrow sticking into the inner rings almost every
time.

I
felt pretty positive that supper would be good, too. I hadn’t
missed a meal in at least a week. I went into the dining hall, and
only then did I remember that it was Monday. The announcements were
being made. The victors were listed, and then Headmaster Drake pulled
out his piece of paper like usual. He listed off a few names, but I
barely paid attention. I was too busy thinking about what Roland
would say when I told him that I’d beaten Niko in sword
practice.

Then,
my name was called out. “Ivy Oliver, Level Eight.”

A
smile that I had had on my face earlier got washed away. Again,
everyone was looking at me, their eyes accusing me of doing something
wrong. Liana only smiled, and I saw Grix and Roland smiling at
different corners of the room. The headmaster had ended with my name
before folding up his note and sitting in his seat. Then, the fruit
platters were set down.

We
got number 31, the desert, and I went to bed hungry for the first
time in a long time. I didn’t care. I couldn’t eat
anything anyway.

A
Level
Eight!
Only two more levels stood between me and freedom.

I
barely slept and was up before January when it was time to practice
with Roland the next morning. I changed quickly and was out the door
by the time she was standing groggily at the end of her bed. It
turned out that I had beaten Grix and Roland there, too. I waited
patiently for them, perched silently on a balance beam. Finally, Grix
and Roland showed up together with January trailing behind.