Spark (Legends of the Shifters) (3 page)

“
No,”
he said, and continued being silent.

I
sighed heavily, and rested my head back against the cold stone wall.

An
hour after that, they came for me. “Ivy Oliver?” one of
the guards, a woman, asked.

The
man finally turned around and reached for the keys at his belt. They
rattled against the metal again as the lock was disabled with a
barely distinguishable
click
. I stepped out into the hallway
and we advanced.

We
weaved through dozens of rooms just like my own, further and further
into the monstrous building. I looked over at the female guard. Her
eyes were fierce and her jaw was set. She noticed me watching her,
and she frowned further. She was only a little older than me. The
trial was probably fresh in her memory. The older guard, a man, just
looked bored.

I
focused once again on the path ahead of me when we turned a corner
and a blinding light shone at the end of the hallway. My eyes
adjusted to it slowly.

A
metal gate clattered as it opened upward, and the sound of my boots
went from the click-clack of tile to the silence of perfectly
trimmed, arena grass.

Just
like the woman had said, I was led to a circle of sand that marked
the center of the arena. My heart beat rapidly as the guards left me
there and the people continued to watch me. I searched the stands for
Ayon and Elna, but I didn’t see either of them.

I
glanced back at the entrance just as the guards disappeared. Did
everyone's heart beat this dangerously
fast
when they were abandoned in the middle of the arena? What did I have
to prepare myself for? Was a roaring monster going to come out of
nowhere?

Then,
as if trading places, a man came back out of where the guards had
gone. He was tall and dark skinned, dressed in black robes hemmed
with gold stitches. He was obviously not from here.

The
man met me in the center, and asked unemotionally, “What is
your name?”

I
looked down at my hands, barely able to talk through my nervousness,
and answered in a whisper, “Ivy Oliver.”

“
Have
a seat, Ivy.”

I
looked behind me and knitted my eyebrows, confused. There wasn’t
a seat. But my confusion was cut off when a chair suddenly appeared.
A sorcerer!

I sat
down uneasily. He rested his hand against the top of my head, and I
felt my mind shift uncomfortably, as if he were sorting through my
thoughts. I wanted to pull away, but I was frozen as if something
held me there. Finally, with a painful jolt, he pulled his hand away,
and my thoughts calmed.

“
I
now know your worst fear,” he said, a bead of sweat appearing
on his forehead. “That is what your trial will be against. It
will only disappear if you transform or defeat it. I’ll see you
when you finish…. Perhaps.”

With
that, he turned, leaving me sitting there as he made his way to
safety. I stood up just as the chair behind me vanished. My face felt
hot, and my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I
tried to think back in my mind what I was mostly afraid of. Spiders?

I
tried to walk after the wizard, but I couldn’t leave the circle
of sand until he disappeared and the double doors were closed.

I
glanced around the arena. Nothing was happening. I had the feeling
that if I stayed in my circle, it would stay like that forever. But I
didn’t want to be here forever, with the eyes of the crowd
constantly on me. I took a step outside the protective border.

There
was still nothing. Did that mean that I was afraid of nothing? I
already knew the answer to that. I was afraid of many things. I
looked behind me. Only the crowd. Then I heard a collective gasp. I
turned my head back around quickly, startled by a veiled figure
directly in front of me. Its entire cloak was covered in frost, and
its face was nothing but a dark abyss with iridescent black eyes.
It’s very
being
radiated darkness and cold.

Its
high-pitched scream pierced the air as it started toward me slowly.
Chills wracked my body. I looked down to see that frost had traveled
along the ground from the body of the creature to mine.

I
swallowed hard, and backed away slowly, tripping over my feet
slightly. It followed at the same pace. The only thing my mind could
think to do was to run. I turned on my heel and made a break for it.
The first thing I ran to was the doors, but knowing that they
wouldn't open for me, I kept on past them, not wanting to give the
creature the chance to get closer. After a while, I had the feeling
that the creature was only playing games with me, because however
fast I went, it seemed to go slightly faster. It was like I was
living in a nightmare.

The
crowd was hushed with the suspense, or maybe it was drowned out by
the beating of my heart. Every beat could be my last.

My
pace began to slow as my energy levels decreased, but I knew that I
couldn’t stop. No matter what, I had to keep going, or it would
get close enough to freeze the blood in my veins. At that point, I
tripped. I laid on the ground, certain of my inevitable death, my
face bleeding and sore where it had raked against the dirt. I looked
up at the darkness, and was suddenly aware of how close it was. It
reached out to me, and I was too cold and scared to move.

Its
eyes glassed over with ice as it outstretched shadowy tendrils to
touch my face.

My
muscles refused to move.

I was
powerless.

I
could do nothing but stare into the darkness underneath the black
hood. If it had a mouth, I'd bet it was smiling.

I
forced my eyes shut, and immediately felt the warmth inside me. I
focused on that because it felt like the only thing that would help.
I concentrated on it until the darkness touched my cheek. I cried out
at the icy burning. Frost was traveling quickly over my face,
raveling through my hair, and crawling down my neck. I knew that my
life was about to end.

And
that’s when what everyone had been waiting for happened. I
transformed.

A
bright light blinded even myself and my skin bubbled and shifted. It
didn't exactly feel bad, but it wasn't very comfortable, either. The
light faded, allowing the scourge to come back into view. It crumpled
into a small, defeated heap before disintegrating completely.

With
the threat gone, I took the time to take in my surroundings. The
ground looked closer, but only by a little bit.

When
I looked down at my new form, what I saw wasn't what I'd expected. I
had red, orange, and yellow feathers. I lifted my arm, but then, it
wasn’t an arm. It was a wing. And my feet had turned into black
bird talons.

I
heard gasps, then whispering, and then confused murmuring, all more
distinctly than I could have before.

The
wizard's voice sounded slightly in awe as he announced, “Ivy
Oliver’s second form is…a phoenix.”

A
phoenix? I had never heard of a phoenix. The same voice whispered
inside my head, “To change back into your first form, you must
focus on the cold.”

So I
did. I focused on the cold of the day, and it seeped through my bones
until I turned back.

I
shivered. My feathers had been transformed into a toga-like dress
that was a dark, crimson color and black sandals that wove around my
calves. I had never seen anything like it, but as awareness started
to return to my mind, I realized that my coat had disappeared when
I'd transformed. I rubbed my arms.
My
only
coat was gone, and I had no money to buy another one.

And
yet, things
could
be so much
worse.

As
the doors that led into the mazes opened back up, I wondered what
occupation a phoenix was given. The ground had been pretty far away
for a bird, and my talons looked as sharp as fishhooks. I would
probably be categorized in the ‘fierce bird’ factor. I
would have to ask the wizard to be certain.

The
same two guards came back into the arena, but now they seemed to
handle me more carefully. As they led me away, the crowd began to
disperse. That’s when I finally saw Ayon and Elna. They had
been seated next to one another in the third row and now, they just
stared at me in shock. I reached my hand up in a wave. Elna waved
back, but Ayon only continued to stare.

The
guards took me to an extravagant room completely different from the
rest of the arena. The wizard sat in an intricately carved wooden
chair with leather padding. Now that I saw him again, I took him in
more carefully. He looked only to be about thirty or so. Everything
about him was dark except his eyes. They were a lighter green. They
reminded me of moss. Even so, he was not handsome. His face was too
long and thin for that.

“
Ivy!”
he said as if we’d known each other for years. It made the hair
stand up on the back of my neck. He was probably trying to get
something from me. “Please sit.”

I sat
down.

“
I
have some news for you…. You are a very wanted person right
now. Very wanted.” He paused to add emphasis. “In fact,
it is very fortunate that you fell into my hands, because I am the
one who needs your help more than anyone else.” He steepled his
fingers together.

I
knew it. He
had
wanted something from me. “I will do nothing more than the
occupation that I’m given,” I said stiffly.

“
Well,
this ties into it,” the wizard said. “In a few minutes or
less, another wizard with a higher rank than mine will come crashing
through that door to take you to some kind of school. They will teach
you how to kill, and more specifically, how to kill a certain
thing.
I just
need you to know this; you can still complete your destiny without
killing. All you need to learn how to do is persuade—“

He
was interrupted by a deafening bang right behind me. As he had
predicted, the door had come crashing down and a man was standing on
top of it, his sharp eyes taking in the scene. He looked only a few
years older than me. His hair was light blond, combed back perfectly,
and his eyes were an icy blue.

“
That
came sooner than I expected,” the wizard muttered under his
breath.

The
other man shot him a deadly gaze. “Rowan,” he growled.
“You knew that she was supposed to come with me.”

“
Oh,
come on, Niko. We were just having a little chat. She won't even
remember me after a week of training,” said Rowan, studying his
fingernails. He glanced up at the other man.

I
was getting confused. “What am I training for?” I
interrupted.

Niko
glanced at me. “Come. I’ll talk to you on the way.”

He
clamped his hand down on my arm and dragged me forward. I felt an
instinctive dislike for Niko, and felt guilty for leaving Rowan
behind even though I didn't like him much either. I looked back at
the other wizard before leaving the room. His mouth was formed
into
a firm line and his eyes held an intense hatred.

We got out of the room, and
I was once again weaving through the halls. Niko kept up a fast pace,
still dragging me behind him. “Are you going to tell me what my
occupation is?” I asked, trying to jerk out of his vice-like
grip.

Niko's
hold tightened before he answered, “As a phoenix, your
occupation has yet to be categorized. It's been a long time since
anyone with your second form has shown up. Two hundred years, I
think...” He paused. “Obviously, we've never had one like
you at The Crescent Isle Conservatory.”