Reckless Magic (38 page)

“
Avalon! Get a life!” I
yelled, fully awake and fully angry.

“
Come on,” he pleaded, not
the least dismayed by my irate tone.

“
What could you possibly
need help with?” I asked, rubbing my eyes to make my alarm clock
clear: 3:00AM.

“
Will you please help me
pack?” he sounded like a little boy and I couldn’t help but feel
pity for him.

“
Do you really need help?
Can’t this wait until tomorrow?” I sat up and pulled my knees to my
chest. My teeth were chattering and my entire body had
goosebumps.

“
Yes, I really need help.
And no, it can’t wait, I leave tomorrow,” he said the magic words.
My eyes popped open and I was suddenly very awake.

He left tomorrow? That was impossible.
But then again, tomorrow was the last day of mid-terms. Everyone
else had already been long gone. The teachers hadn’t been there all
week and several students had been missing as well. One student in
particular hadn’t been at school since our fight in the
stadium.

If Avalon left tomorrow that meant I
had run out of time. Lilly’s trial was only thirty six hours away
and I had in no way been successful in my quest to rescue her. So
far I was a failure. I crawled out of bed and grabbed a sweatshirt
before following Avalon to his room.

“
You can’t be so careless
when you’re asleep. Geez, Eden,” Avalon whined as we entered his
room. At one time you could see the floor of the guest room, but
that was before it officially became Avalon’s. Clothes and shoes
and who knows what else littered every inch from wall to
wall.

“
What do you mean?” I asked
groggily, rubbing my eyes again. I did my best to bring the room
into focus, but I was still fighting sleep.

“
I can’t save you every time
you fall asleep. I need to sleep too!” Avalon was his
characteristic dramatic self, but I had no idea what he was talking
about.

“
Save me? I don’t need you
to save me. Especially when I am sleeping," I touched my fingers to
my lips remembering the sweet and intimate moment I shared with
Kiran just before I was awoken. Our souls mingled as one, and our
magic melding to form one powerful stream of unbreakable force; in
my dreams we were meant solely for each other. “Um, until you can
keep him out, you for sure do need me to save you.” Avalon rolled
his eyes and then walked over to his closet to dig out a black
duffle bag.

“
What do you mean keep him
out?” my throat closed and my blood turned hot with nervous energy.
It was not possible…. but then so many things I had assumed were
impossible had proven me wrong.

“
Out of your head. I mean
you do a good enough job during the day, but come on. Really? No
one wants to monitor that garbage,” he threw the duffle bag on the
bed and started gathering random items off of the
ground.

“
Avalon I don’t know what
you’re talking about!” I raised my voice impatiently and stomped my
foot like a child. I was wide awake now.

“
What? Are you telling me
that Amory didn’t warn you?” Avalon’s face turned white as he spun
around and gave me his full attention.

“
No. Now explain,” I
demanded, arms crossed, glowering at Avalon like it was his
fault.

“
Kiran can Dream Walk. That
wasn’t just a dream you were having, that was real,” Avalon spoke
softly and slowly.

“
What do you mean real?” I
shrieked and then slunk down on the bed next to Avalon. We wore the
same facial expression and our faces were the same color of
white.

“
He’s a medium. They have
the power to call you out while you’re sleeping. You're body stays
where it is, but you’re mind goes to a place of their choosing. You
are fully conscious, fully awake, and you should be fully aware.
That is if you know what’s happening to you,” he finished
quietly.

“
So that place Kiran takes
me to, is a real place? He is really there, he is really….” I
couldn’t finish my sentence, embarrassed to say out loud the
memories I had thought were only vivid dreams.

“
Well, kind of. It’s a place
he has created for you at least. But yes, he is there, not
physically but mentally.”

“
Oh dear,” I slouched lower,
realizing I might have been sending mixed signals. Or was I
receiving mixed signals? Now that I had to take into play not only
our physical interaction but now our metaphysical interactions I
felt more confused than ever. The last time I was with Kiran he
yelled at me and then stormed off; however if you count the dream I
just had it was our most intimate moment so far. I missed human
boys.

“
So you didn’t know this
entire time that it was real?” when I shook my head negatively, he
began to flip through my memories. I let him, since I was as
nervous as he was to find something I might have said that not only
implicated him, but the entire Resistance. “From now on you have
got to be more careful. You should be strong enough to protect your
mind from him,” Avalon said exasperatedly, but then breathed a sigh
of relief when he didn’t find anything incriminating.

“
He was definitely trying to
get information out of me,” I remembered the questions he asked
about my identity and cringed; thankful I was as clueless as he
was.

“
That’s not all he was
trying to get out of you,” Avalon mumbled under his breath. My face
turned bright red, and I covered it quickly with my
hands.

“
I didn’t know it was real,”
I defended myself. “I thought it was a dream!”

“
Hmmm…. I wonder why Amory
never told you. That stuff can be dangerous,” Avalon’s face had
returned to his normal color and he bit his thumb nail in deep
thought.

“
What do you mean
dangerous?” I asked as Avalon stood up and began to rummage through
clothes and shoes, looking for items to toss into his
bag.

“
Well you experienced how
real everything felt. I mean that is your consciousness. Can you
imagine if he called you out and meant you harm? Think about it, he
could create any scenario; he could create the inner most circle of
hell if he wanted. And you willingly went, without the slightest
hesitation.”

I pouted my lip, ready to defend
Kiran, but decided against it. The reality was he could have
created anything, but instead of my own personal hell, he created
the most beautiful place I had ever seen or been. And maybe I did
go willingly, but I was never disappointed. Kiran was not the bad
guy Avalon saw him as.

“
It wouldn’t be the first
time,” Avalon finished his thought and then sniffed several shirts
before deciding if they made the bag, or returned to the
floor.

“
What do you mean?” my ears
perked up, and a slow creeping sensation of jealousy made its way
up my spine. If Kiran pulled this trick with every girl, I was
going to be pissed.

“
I mean with mediums in
general.” Avalon shook his head as he simultaneously felt my
jealousy. I relaxed and then felt foolish. There was no reason to
feel jealous, he wasn’t mine or anything, and in fact he was
betrothed to another girl. “Remember that. But before, when the
monarchy took over, I guess they used their power of Dream Walk to
torture all kinds of people. That’s how the first Immortals died,”
his voice was sad but reverent and it was his turn to emote his
pain on to me.

“
Kiran’s not like that,” I
said defending Kiran with my heart, but realizing with my head that
I didn’t really know.

“
Sure, sure. You don’t
really know him though, do you Eden?” Avalon threw a dirty pair of
socks at my face, but I batted them away quickly, afraid of all of
the possible diseases they carried.

“
So you really leave
tomorrow?” I asked, sad that I would soon be alone, even if only
for a little while. Even Kingsley would be empty. I hadn’t even
seen Kiran, well in person, since he left me on the football field
and Avalon would be gone tomorrow. I knew it would only be for a
few days, but the thought of being here alone and helpless to save
Lilly made my heart hurt.

“
Yea, right after the
Chemistry final,” Avalon walked into his bathroom and I could hear
him open and close cabinets until returning with a packed shaving
kit.

“
Why can’t I go?” I whined
in desperation. Avalon held up two shirts in my direction and I
nodded to the one I thought fit him best.

“
I don’t know, but nobody
wants you there,” he said, not the least bit concerned. He walked
over to his closet and pulled out the dark cloak and mask that were
the final touches to his full duffle bag.

“
There has to be a reason,”
I whined further.

“
Of course there is. Amory
doesn’t do anything without a purpose and a reason; so if he says
‘no’ it’s for a good cause,” Avalon struggled with the zipper to
his duffle bag for only a second before waving a hand over it and
closing it with simple magic.

“
Sure it is,” I folded my
arms across my chest and pouted my lower lip. “Promise me you’ll
save Lilly,” I looked pleadingly at him and he rolled his
eyes.

“
My first objective is the
team, and then yes, I’ll do my best to save your friend.” I knew
that’s the best I would get from him, and although I was glad he
would try, I felt more discouraged than ever.

“
I’m sorry Avalon, I’m the
reason your friends are there to begin with,” I looked at the
ground and played with the corner of his comforter.

“
That’s alright. I’m the
reason you’re friend is there,” Avalon patted my head like a child,
but I felt strangely comforted despite.

37.

The substitutes presiding over
mid-terms were clearly human. Having been raised human my entire
life, as I was reminded almost daily, I never noticed a difference
between the two species. But after half a semester of Immortal
teachers who not only knew everything, but saw everything, the
humans they found to replace them were clearly blind and deaf to
all of the activity around them.

Thankfully for them they were not
actually teaching anything, otherwise I would have been afraid for
them. The Immortal students left at Kingsley, took advantage of the
poor souls at every opportunity. They lied, they cheated and they
just got up and left all together. It was a cruel joke to human
teachers assuming they still had complete authority. The teacher
monitoring our Chemistry final was particularly sad. A woman in her
late fifties, and nearly blind to begin with, didn’t seem to notice
any of the chatter and foul play happening around her. I did my
best to focus on my test, remembering that not too long ago that
poor human was me.

It wasn’t easy however, since Mr.
Hayman had left a particularly nasty mid-term for us to take. To
top it off Adelaide Meyer and Evangeline Harris sat behind me in
constant conversation. Their high, excited voices scraped my nerves
like nails on a chalkboard and it took everything inside of me not
to turn around and give them a piece of my mind.

I did my best to focus on the test in
front of me and refrain from magic. It would be easy to magically
remember the answers, but that somehow seemed like cheating. I knew
that the other students used magic for all of their classes, but I
was determined to learn on my own.

“
No way,” Evangeline’s
shriek pulled me away from concentration once again.

“
What?” Adelaide amazed me
with her dramatic concern.

“
We’re not going now!”
Evangeline was near tears and her voice found a painfully high
pitch.

“
What!” Adelaide repeated in
an equally high voice.

“
Dad and Mom have to fly to
India instead. Apparently it’s on business for the King, but that
means I can’t go to the Festival!” I could hear her voice crack. I
peeked over my shoulder to confirm the tears running down her
cheeks. I saw her frantically typing on the small keyboard of her
cell phone.

“
But that’s not fair!”
Adelaide confirmed Evangeline’s spoiled attitude. Maybe Evangeline
and I should hang out while everybody else partied it up in
Romania.

“
I know! They said I can’t
go unsupervised. It’s not like I’m flying coach, its first class
for god’s sake.” Evangeline cried.

“
You could go with us on
daddy’s private jet. We have plenty of room! Daddy’s jet is super
posh; we don’t even bother with customs!” Adelaide was bubbling
over with excitement at the solution to Evangeline’s
problems.

“
That would be so much
better than flying on those dirty planes and standing in line!”
Evangeline perked up and I heard her return to frantically texting.
“They said that would be fine! Mom is going to call your mom,” she
shrieked again, only that time in an excited even more irritating
way. “I even brought my things! We were supposed to leave right
after this test. Where are you staying?”

Adelaide began rambling on and on
about their swanky accommodations inside the Citadel, while I
rolled my eyes. But then suddenly, a plan formed in my mind that
was so ingenious I would have been a fool not to follow through. I
glanced at the clock, only twenty more minutes left. I knew I said
I wouldn’t use magic on a human but this was different. It was life
or death.