I looked at Edward. “What is that for?” I asked.
His grin was evil. “A bath.” With that, he left.
I glared at the bucket. “How am I supposed to fit in
that?!”
* * *
The light was dim, but the immobility and strange
lack of any feeling was a dead giveaway as to what was happening. This time,
the lantern was lit and I was in front of it, but my opponent faced away, so I
could only see his back. He wore long, black robes and had shoulder length,
black hair. He was skinny, tall, didn’t stand straight, and he swayed very
slightly.
“This really is disappointing,” he said.
“Are you sure, my lord, that Shio is competent
enough? He only found that one Guardian. Krael found two the first time he went
out.”
It was the child’s voice and I was sure now that it
was that of a young girl, though she was across from Vretial so I couldn’t see
her.
“Your brother is a very loyal and successful servant.
I assure you that I value him much more than Shio, which is exactly why I will
not send him out. I’m not very patient; Shio must find a Guardian soon, and I
will not tolerate another slip up.” He sighed. “You shall assist him. You hunt
the books and when you find them, he will kill the Guardians. Start where he
left off and find the two Guardians. Find them before I become impatient with
you.”
“I will,” she said. I saw his hand twitch. “My lord?”
she asked.
He cleared his throat, and then started chuckling
slowly and quietly. “Ignore the cold worlds, and the one belonging to the new
Guardian.” His voice took on a lighter note, but the girl looked even more
nervous.
“It is called Earth, now.”
“Earth? I don’t like that name, we shall have to
change it. The child Guardian and his new master are not there. Very likely,
though, they are on a world very similar; such a weak being cannot adapt easily
to one of the cold or heavy worlds. Search the heavy worlds anyway. Remember if
you find one of the Guardians alone bring him and his book to me alive.”
“How, my lord?” His hand twitched again and there was
a long pause.
“What?” he asked, his voice like it had been the
first time.
“How do I bring the Guardian here?”
“What? Yes, bring him alive. Use this.” He reached
around his neck and he snapped a chain off.
Pain filled my body like fire and my eyes snapped
open.
* * *
I sat up straight into Divina’s arms, the pain
dulled, and the suffocation took over. I couldn’t breathe because my chest was
too tight. Divina pushed me back down but I squirmed, trying to reach my
throat. Edward was holding my arms down. Finally, the tightness released me and
I was able to breath. They both let me go and I sat up again.
Divina wrapped her arms around me. “Shhh. It’s okay.”
She rubbed my back with one hand and pressed my head against her neck with her
other hand.
I wasn’t shaking and was barely sweating; it had been
much easier than the first time. It occurred to me that Divina’s comfort could
have been the reason it was less harsh. She held me for a minute until I pulled
away and looked at Edward.
“He’s sending a child to hunt us down with Shio. Shio
hasn’t found anything yet but the child is a better hunter or something. He
knows we’re not on Earth or the worlds he called the cold worlds. He told her
to look at worlds similar to Earth. There was also something he said about a
guy named Krael, who found two Guardians the first time he tried.
“So that narrows down two worlds for them; Mulo and
Enep,” Edward said.
“Yes,” Divina said, “and of course he knows we’re not
on the outlands. It doesn’t make sense. How can they hunt you? How are they
teleporting? If he doesn’t need the books for his servants to travel, why does
he want them at all? Surely he can’t handle another world. None of this makes
any sense at all.”
“He said…” I started. They both looked at me
expectantly. “Okay. He told the little girl that if she were to find only one
of us, bring us to him alive. Then she asked how to do so and he went all
weird. He snapped something off his neck, like a pendant, to give to her, but I
didn’t see it. And then I came out of the dream thing. Why does he need the
book to teleport?”
“The soul can move through all worlds,” Edward said.
“A very powerful wizard can actually send his soul into another world. Your
book travels your body and your soul, and also keeps them together. The gods
all used their power to trap him in his outlands; he can only transport between
his two worlds. The gods don’t need the books to travel, but their servants do,
and his servants are not trapped as he is. They still should need the books to
travel.”
“What if he can handle another book? Will it give him
the power to break free?”
“This is hypothetical, because he couldn’t possibly
handle it, but I think it would depend on the world he takes over. But in that
case, he would be attacking Vaigda.”
“Not if his servants can’t take them. Vaigda is
powerful and Shiloh is brilliant. Right now, with you protecting Dylan and him
being new to the game, you both are easy targets,” Divina said.
I know she wasn’t trying to offend me, but it still
made me feel like shit.
She caught my dejected expression before I could hide
it. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t accusing. This isn’t your fault. Vretial is taking
advantage of a situation that shouldn’t have come to be.”
“Is there anything else? Anything that could explain
any of his plans?” Edward asked.
“He was a little weird. It was like he was talking to
someone in his mind. This time, the girl had to tell him about Earth and that I
was from Earth. I thought that was really weird, because he spoke of Earth in
the first dream. It was like he had
less
information this time.”
“I told you he’s psychotic. He could have been
talking about many different things, or he may not even know what he’s saying
himself,” Edward said. There was a moment of silence. “Do you still feel like
your book is in danger?”
I nodded. “Yes, and I have a plan neither of you will
like.” I focused on my mentor. “I think Divina should take my book.” I could
feel Divina gawking at me, but I kept my eyes on Edward. I expected him to call
me a fool or even get mad.
“Explain,” he said simply.
“You said both books being together is dangerous. If
Divina takes one of them, she can protect it while you keep training me. Maybe
that will confuse the scent.”
“It’s just as close to mine if she has it when she’s
with us. Are you sure this isn’t just hormones?” Edward asked.
It was irrational to feel Divina could protect it
better than Edward, who was older and a Guardian. “Maybe it’s both, but I feel
she’s safe just as much as I feel the book is in danger,” I insisted.
He rubbed his eyes as if with a migraine and looked
at Divina, who was regarding me with a somewhat neutral expression. “Divina is
powerful, but she doesn’t have the instincts to protect it the way we do.”
Edward was clearly fighting between trusting
my
instincts and his own
suspicions that I was entranced by Divina’s charm.
“I don’t want the responsibility,” Divina argued. “I
appreciate your trust, Dylan, but I’m afraid it’s misplaced. I think maybe your
dream upset you and you need to get your confidence back.”
“We need to increase your training,” Edward added.
“Do you know the dragon’s blood and other stuff Divina put in the sun charm?”
He paused for me to nod. “That was a base; a physical connection or
representation of the spell. They usually involve either something for the
senses or the state of mind. Most things don’t need a certain base, only
something that you feel represents your purpose. If you were doing a love
spell, you would use a color you feel represents love, a scent that would,
along with what else you need. They’re all just desperation and passion spells
anyway. Do you get it?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I’ll teach you now to recuperate your body’s
energy from your magic energy better than a night’s rest. Divina, you prepare
to teach him how to make someone forget.”
“That’s a very complicated spell,” she said.
“So is everything else I plan to teach him before the
ship docks. No unlicensed magic on Anoshii, remember? I don’t care how long it
takes for them to find us, if they ever do. I care that he’s ready for it.”
So Edward taught me his regeneration spell, which was
something between hypnotization and meditation. It took more time than it
should have to reach the relaxed, almost dreamlike state. It was like being so
close to sleep that you are completely unaware of your surroundings, but you’re
not asleep. It was extremely difficult to get to.
Finally, after almost an hour, I was able to get
there and not fall asleep. All I had to do was allow energy to flow freely into
me and out of me as it willed. Then I fell asleep, but when Edward woke me a
few seconds later, I felt full of energy- the regular kind.
Then it was Divina’s turn.
“I want to start by showing you how it feels when
it’s done to you. I’ve never taught this before, and I’m not a good teacher.
Now, it will feel different when it’s being done to you according to the
intentions. I want you to think of a memory you wish you can forget forever; a
memory you hate and which causes you unpleasant feelings when you think of it.”
I thought for a few minutes. I had lots of terrible
memories, but they all taught me things. I finally settled on the Christmas
that Mother ran off with a boyfriend and left me home alone with no food. I was
always suspicious on Christmas because of that.
“Okay,” I said.
“Lay back and replay the memory in your head,” she
instructed.
I started from when I got off for winter break of
second grade. I had braced myself for torture, but she wasn’t home when I got
there. One of her boyfriends was, though, so I had to sneak to my room to avoid
him. Mother came home and they ate downstairs while I hid in my room. Almost
every man at Christmas time was a drinker, which meant he was also abusive. I
snuck in the middle of the night to get food while they… slept. Then they were
gone the next morning, and so was almost all of the food. I had to go to the
neighbors to ask for food, but I couldn’t tell them that Mother had left me;
that would have made her very angry.
I realized that my thoughts were getting hard to
follow as my body became more and more relaxed. Pleasant feelings washed over
me in waves and ripples and I found myself smiling and focusing on the
feelings. Then they slowly slipped away, finally leaving me with only a
slightly pleasant feeling.
“How do you feel?” Divina asked.
Her voice was so beautiful. “Good.”
“What was it you were remembering?” she asked. I
tried to think, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was. I could
feel that it had been there, and that I was so close, but I had no idea.
“It was about Christmas,” Edward said. “Your mother
and her boyfriend ran off. You don’t remember?”
I remembered stuff about Christmas and Mother, but
not about Mother running off and Christmas in the same subject. It sounded like
it would have been fun, but why would I give up a fun memory? “No. How do you
know what I was thinking?”
He looked tired. “I read your mind.”
“Can you show me that?”
“It takes years to be able to trust your skills, and
people can think false thoughts when they know you’re listening. There’s other
stuff you need to learn now.”
Divina stood up. “Still, no one would expect
him
to be reading their thoughts. Maybe it would come in handy.” She looked at me.
“You can’t do this on me while I’m trying to teach you. You will have to do it
on Kiro.” She went up to him and he gave her an angry but submissive look.
Divina punched him in his jaw. He growled as the hit connected, but didn’t move
to defend himself. Divina sat next to me and her grin was entirely too
cheerful. “Now he has a memory that is not only painful, but humiliating. You
need to get rid of it.”
“He had to have a bad memory he wanted to lose. Did
you need to punch him?”
“He needs a good, strong thought in his head because
you are so… shaky. Hopefully he won’t think of anything important accidentally.
Don’t worry; you can only erase a memory or thought he’s thinking of with this
spell. Relax and clear your mind, but don’t gather your energy.”
I did slowly. “Okay.”
“Now, I want you to feel the energy around you. When
you can feel it very well, focus on the temperature around you. You should
notice that it is not even,” she said. After focusing on the energy, it became
easier to feel. I could feel it all around me, always moving. It passed through
me slowly.
When I could feel it well, I focused on the
temperature around me. It was warm. After a few minutes, my mind drifted back
to the energy. Then I realized that the temperature around me was warmer near
Divina. The more I focused on that variation the more I found how uneven the
temperature in the room was.
“You’re warm,” I said with my eyes still closed. I
sensed her back away, but the warmth was just as strong. “I still feel it.”
“Good. What do you feel from Kiro?” she asked.
I could feel him just as strongly as Divina. “Warmth,
too, but different. It feels like a harsher heat.”
“Angry? Irritated?” she asked. I nodded. “That’s very
good. Now it’s going to get tricky. Focus very hard on him until you can’t feel
me or any other temperature.”
I liked her temperature, though; it was soothing… and
a bit exciting. It was harder to focus because it was a boring when everyone
was calm and quiet, but I did anyway. A few minutes later, I could only feel
the irritating heat from Edward, which was strong enough that it was irritating
me.