I wanted it to keep the water off me. That was its
job; to do what it was told. And then my feet were dry. I pulled them out
quickly and examined them. I wasn’t just imagining it; the energy had done as I
wanted it to. I looked at Edward, who didn’t seem surprised at all. I felt
sudden joy at my success a second before a large amount of water burst out of
the middle of the springs to form a ten foot wave in the air. Then it came down
and soaked Edward and me.
“Did I do that?”
“Yes,” Edward said with irritation.
“Sorry. How come I can huff and puff and barely move
water, but when I don’t try, I blow something up? I didn’t want to do that, or
imagine it.”
“You allow your mind to gather energy, but you don’t
know how to let it out. When you don’t think of it, you’re not controlling it,
so it responds to your emotions wildly. People can’t just take in any amount of
energy. Your mind and body has to be able to handle the energy you take in. You
can kill yourself by trying to use too much magic. However, gradually, you can
become very powerful. Your natural threshold for how much power you can take in
is very high, you just need to learn to control it. Of course, how powerful you
are also depends on how magic reacts to you and how well you are able to
control it.”
“Divina said that I would be more powerful if I
signed other books.”
“Every book you sign gives you a little bit of its
power. It makes you able to handle more energy, but it doesn’t make you
automatically able to control it. When you became a Guardian of your book, your
threshold grew greatly. You then signed my book and became slightly more powerful.
I can’t stress enough how much you need to gain control of your emotions before
we go to Anoshii. I told you that they don’t tolerate magic there; they won’t
let you slide on by with it. I worry you will not be able to control your magic
if Divina comes with us.”
“How does she know about Vretial and the books?”
“She has the tendency to be in the right place at the
right time to overhear everything. She also has a knack for tricking men into
telling her anything she wants to know. That, and she’s very smart. When
Guardians visit, she always senses it and comes over. Her territory is not far
from mine. Divina has signed four books that I know of. She’s very good at
staying out of danger and covering her tracks, and she always has an escape
plan.” I looked at his bag, wanting to look up her signature that I knew would
be as beautiful as her voice. “She has not signed the book for Earth or Duran.”
“If she doesn’t write her name in your book, how does
she get back here when she travels to the other worlds?”
“She doesn’t travel. Signing the other books is part
of her escape plan, and as far as I know, she only signed them for emergencies.
If she ever needs a quick escape, she has four worlds to choose from. Divina
isn’t her real name, either; it was a nickname she acquired. Most wizards who
are extremely powerful, or exceptionally arrogant, will take a nickname to
protect themselves from magic.”
“It sounds like she fits into both categories. You
don’t have a nickname?” I asked.
“I do. My name is Kirosado, but I give the name Kiro.
I have gone by Kiro for so long that it would have the same power as my
original name. However, I am a Guardian, so I am too powerful to be controlled
by my name.”
“Do I need a nickname?”
“That is a very low priority right now. You need to
learn Sudo and how to become a functioning Guardian. More importantly, you need
to worry about holding yourself together in front of Divina. You may not have
any information she wants, but she obviously wants
something
from you.”
I had a few suggestions for her. “Was she serious
about giving me a kiss?” I asked foolishly. Edward sighed. I stuck my feet back
into the water, no longer imagining it as fish pee.
“Yes, she
is
serious. Ever since she kissed an
apprentice of mine and he blew up a building full of rotten snervs, she
believes every one of my apprentices need of a kiss of luck. She’ll not give up
until she does. Try not to pass out when it happens.”
What the Hell is a snerv?
“It’s best to get it
over with.”
He laughed. “Get it out of your head? It won’t be
that simple. She can be very addictive.” That wasn’t hard to believe. “We
should go back now. Tibbit’s probably home and will want to get inside.”
“Whenever Dorian came home, he always wanted food,” I
said.
“Tibbit hunts for himself, which is good because he
eats only live food, and a lot of it. I assume you’ll need more food today.”
“Yeah, humans do normally eat more than one meal a
day.”
“Well, we have enough. Later, you can learn how to
preserve meat.”
“Sounds lovely,” I said dryly. I heard of those
people on homesteads who had to hunt and preserve food, and had outhouses. I
never thought I’d be one. Of course, I never thought I’d be a wizard, either.
The last thing I expected when Edward and I emerged from the forest and
saw the cabin was to be ambushed. A huge black bird swooped down as if to
attack, but when Edward raised his arm, he landed on it. Tibbit was a raven; in
every way, a normal Earth raven. And he stared at me like Edward wasn’t even
there.
“What?” Edward asked me when he saw my horror.
“That’s your housemate? You sleep around that thing?
You’re not terrified it will eat your eyes while you sleep? Or that it will
turn into an evil man who will spread a disease that causes a war? Or eat your
eyes while you sleep? Or taunt you about your long lost loves. Or eat your eyes
while you sleep? Pick, pick, pick…”
Edward’s eyes were wide. “What kind of birds do they
have on your world?”
“We have Tibbits. Tibbits that eat eyes out of your
sockets while you sleep. We’re going to need to have a movie night.”
“I don’t think I would enjoy that type of movie. You
know, you’re a little paranoid.” He turned and took the black bird of death
inside.
I followed cautiously as Edward poured himself a drink.
When he put the clay-like bottle in a cabinet, I saw several other carafes. I
couldn’t imagine how that cabinet supported the weight. The crow perched on the
back of the reading chair, which gave the entire cabin a more mystical
atmosphere. The more closely I scrutinized the jars and books, the more I
realized it screamed “old wizard in the woods.”
“If you want anything to drink, there is water, tea,
and juice. Help yourself whenever, just let me know if you empty one and don’t
touch this one,” he said, pointing to a particular carafe, identical to the
others. “This is a juice from milwyd berries. They are a good source of
antioxidants and very gentle on weak stomachs, but you threw them up and your
fever increased when I gave them to you. Other than soup, there was really
nothing I could get you to keep down.”
It occurred to me for the first time that Edward had
worked really hard to take care of me. He was probably worried and doing
everything he could to keep me alive for two days. Hell, my mother never even
took care of me when I was hurt.
I wanted to thank him, but it felt awkward to do so.
Instead, I focused on Tibbit, who was staring at me intently… with death in his
beady black eyes.
“He’s just trying to freak you out. He’s curious
about you,” Edward said, moving to sit in the red chair beneath his pet, who
paid him no mind. I went to sit on the stool across the room. “Tibbit isn’t
usually friendly to visitors, except for Divina. Everyone loves her; including
the animals. Tibbit’s an interesting and intelligent companion. He listens when
you talk and sometimes there’s no doubt that he understands.”
“Do you ever get bored here, alone?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I get the occasional friendly visit
from a neighboring wizard who wants to trade ideas. Divina comes whenever she
feels like it, which might be every few months to every few days. Once every
few decades or so, I might go visit another Guardian to see what they have been
up to. I’ve lived for a long time and spent most of it alone. It has gotten to
the point that I hate being around many people. I don’t usually wish for
company, but I also don’t usually turn down the occasional visit.”
“Do you think you’ll get sick of my company?”
“I never get tired of the company of an apprentice or
child. And you? Do you think you’ll get ‘sick’ of my company?”
I looked down at his drink. “I have the habit of
getting frustrated with authority figures. I don’t like them. Mother treated me
with very little respect, gave me a lot of responsibility, and gave me very little
opportunity.”
“The line between responsibility and opportunity is
very thin.”
“Mother had a knack for not crossing it. Also, I’ve
had three horrible stepfathers. Two were drunks, two were druggies, and all
were abusive. The on-again, off-again stepbrother liked to torture smaller
things, such as little brothers. Oh, and the dreaded boarding-school teachers.
Talk about false hope. Trade Mother in for fifteen better-than-everyone-else
governesses on power-trips and a school full of stuck-up bullies. No matter
where I went, or how old I got, or how far I got, it seemed almost everyone
thought they were better than me and could push me around.”
“I can see how that would be very irritating.”
“Have you ever had that problem?”
Edward smirked. “I’m older by far than the oldest
person on your world and the oldest person on my world put together, and I
still meet people who think they’re bigger and badder than me. I never had
parents, though; Ronez and I lost our parents at birth. We grew up on Duran and
were separated when we were old enough to become Guardians. It took thirty
years before we learned to travel and were able to reunite.” He shrugged again,
clearly trying to shake the emotion that made his voice grow quiet.
“Were you two identical twins?” I asked cautiously.
Even though I didn’t want to upset him, I wanted to hear about Ronez, my
predecessor. I inherited his book, his responsibility. I felt like I should at
least try to live up to his name, especially when his brother had to teach me
from scratch.
“Yes. We were very close. At times, at least.” He
tried to keep his face neutral, but failed. “About three years ago, we got in a
bad fight. He left and I never saw him again. When he was killed, I didn’t
understand at first. I felt his death, but didn’t know what I was feeling. Of
course, the gods already knew of it and I was furious they didn’t tell me when
it happened. I shouldn’t have been so shocked.” There was resentment in his
tone. “I kind of always felt that the gods were running the game and I was
their disposable pawn. Anything I do is for them and they don’t even have to
tell me when my brother has been murdered. I asked to hunt down his book
myself, and at least they granted me that.”
“Are you alright?” I asked. He was fighting anger and
pain. He closed his eyes, breathed, and drank down the rest of his drink.
I wasn’t good with emotional people, especially
emotional men, but I did know when someone needed to talk, and I knew there was
nothing wrong with that. It was the feedback I had trouble with. Since I was
getting a degree in psychology, a lot of my friends expected me to offer them
sound advice. In reality, I loved psychology, but I didn’t want a job in it.
Me, trying to help others get their lives straight after my screwed up
childhood? Talk about the blind leading the blind.
He opened his eyes and gave me a neutral expression,
almost a sad grin. “Yes. I’m fine,” he answered. I was surprised by his sudden
change in tone. He stood up and set his cup on the table. It was clear that the
conversation was over.
“What are we going to do now?”
“I’ll go put the firewood away. You should practice
what you learned today.”
“You want me to go down to the haunted lake by
myself?”
“It’s important that you practice the lessons you
learn without me there to affect your concentration. And I thought you might
want to take a bath,” he said.
I blinked and looked down at myself. “I’m not that
bad.”
“I came very close to throwing you into the springs
at least twenty times. I’m very sensitive to odors,” he insisted. “Besides,
you’re not going to impress Divina much if you stink.” Seeing his point, I
huffed and went over to the trap door. I tried to lift it, but ended up on my
knees. Edward came up beside me, pushed my hand away, and lifted it with no
trouble at all. I tried to ignore his smug grin. “Again; you’ll get used to the
gravity.”
I went down the stairs, stopped in front of the
dresser beside my bed, and opened it to find my last outfit folded neatly in
the first drawer. After gathering the green t-shirt and blue jeans, I climbed
clumsily back up to the empty cabin. Edward had moved very quietly out the door
and was already gathering wood. Tibbit was perched inside his cage with his
door wide open and, not to my surprise, he gave me his death stare.
I hurried out, not eager to have my eyes melted.
Edward didn’t pay any attention as I started off into the forest. However, when
I almost instantly tripped over a rattle weed, I saw him smirk. I stood up,
annoyed, and stomped off, only to fall again four steps later.
It got easier to walk soon and my trail of blood
thinned. After passing the same tree with dark orange bark for the third time,
I changed directions and soon came across the springs. The waters were very
calm and, without insects, very quiet. I set my clean clothes on a rock by the
water and peeled the bandage off of my arm. There were definite teeth marks,
but they looked months old, with ugly scabs instead of welling blood. I could
see where each cat sunk their teeth, as well as other scratches where they
didn’t have a deep grip, but at least it wasn’t bleeding out and it didn’t look
infected. For the fact that they were only a few days old, that was pretty
amazing.
Next, I stripped my sweaty, bloody clothes off and realized
they did stink quite badly, to the point I considered burning them before
getting into the water. I had nothing to burn them with, though. On the other
hand…
I sat down a few feet in front of my clothes and
concentrated on the energy. I imagined it like a cloud around me that I could
push into the clothes with my mind. Trying to envision the energy in the
clothes becoming hot only made me dizzy. I started to recall memories of fire
and pushed more energy into the clothes, only to become very nauseous and when
I felt a sickening heat growing in my chest, I immediately stopped. The heat
faded within a few minutes but the dizziness took longer to subside.
I didn’t think the best thing to do when I was very
dizzy was get in a large body of hot water, so I waited for a while. The air
had become slightly cool, which was more comfortable, and the sun was low
enough in the sky that I no longer had to worry about getting sunburned. It was
a very good chance to think about everything that had happened to me.
Pretty soon, I wasn’t nauseous anymore, so I got in
the springs, carefully testing my footing.
The water was very hot, and though it stung the
scrapes all over my legs, arms, and palms, it felt great on my sore muscles. In
most places, the water level reached my shoulders, but there were spots that
were deeper or shallower. The bed of the springs was made up of smooth pebbles.
I rubbed the dirt out of my scratches, but then realized they would get dirt in
them again. With a plan in mind, I grabbed my filthy clothes and scrubbed at
them until they smelled more like the water than myself, then rung them out and
set them on rocks to dry.
When I was laying out my shirt, I saw someone from
the corner of my eye. I turned to discover a girl watching me, sitting crisscross
on a very large, flat rock about six feet away. Luckily I was still in the
water. She was seven or eight and wore a white, lacy nightgown. Her hair was
long, white-blond, with very light blue highlights that went well with her very
dark blue eyes. Her skin was inhumanly white and seemed to sparkle slightly in
the sunlight. She frowned with curiosity, but didn’t seem to see me; it was
more like she was deep in thought. I was frozen for at least a minute; neither
of us moved at all.
Then she gazed up at something far behind me and out
of reflex, I followed her gaze. There was only forest. I looked back at her and
she was gone. There’d been no noise nor movement, but she was not there. She’d
disappeared. Or perhaps she was never there at all. “Maybe I’m going crazy from
lack of air pollution,” I said aloud. “I’ve got the ‘talking to myself’ thing
down.”
I stayed as long as I dared without knowing when or
how quickly the sun would set. I would never have been able to find my way back
in the dark, and I didn’t know if Edward would come to find me or make me learn
to fend for myself. I decided he would search for me; I would make a lousy
Guardian if I got lost and went delirious on my first day.
I have to hold
out at least until my second day at my new home before I start doing things
like talking to myself and hallucinating little girls. Hallucinating people who
sparkle… in a haunted springs.
I quickly got out and dressed in my clean clothes.
Then I wrapped my dirty clothes, now dry, around my legs and injured arm. It
was uncomfortable, but I really didn’t want to get cut up anymore and the
padding would help. Then I started off through the forest. Despite my
determination not to get lost, the sun was very low by the time I found myself
back at the house. Edward wasn’t in sight and I was glad of it; I was a mess
and didn’t want him to know I had such trouble. I took off the dirty clothes
and walked up onto the porch, then stopped. I didn’t know whether to knock, go
in, or both. I stood there for five minutes trying to decide what I should do
when Edward opened the door, looking somewhere between amused and annoyed.
“Just come in, you don’t have to knock.” I nodded and
stepped in. “You were out a long while. Were you lost most of the time?”
“No.” He frowned disbelievingly. “About half the
time. When I was down at the springs, I saw a girl. I think she was a ghost.”
“Did you? They must be curious about you. Did you
practice what I taught you?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t do it again.”
“Keep working at it. I’m sure you have a lot on your
mind right now,” he said.
I wasn’t sure whether or not I should tell him about
my attempt at fire, but I did anyway. He listened thoughtfully as I told him
how I became nauseous and warm.
“It’s a good thing you stopped,” he said when I was
finished explaining. “You were heating the energy efficiently; however, you
were heating it inside your body.”
“Oh…” I said. “That could have ended badly.”
“Well, you probably would have passed out before you
attained any serious damage.” He went over to the table and grabbed a small,
light brown, clay jar and handed it to me. “Your arm looks much better, but you
should put this on before you go to bed,” he said. I popped off the lid to see
the same paste he put on my arm the first night. “It’s best when fresh. The
bark of the Wigknot tree isn’t flammable at all, though the wood underneath
burns hot and long. I peel off the bark for its medical benefits and use the
rest for firewood.”