Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1) (16 page)

nce Leo put the shield spell on me, which took less than a second and felt like slipping underneath a large, feather-light coat, Claudia tried to get me to conjure fire again.

“I never asked you before, have you ever accidentally used magic before? I mean, done something you never intended to do?”

“I don’t think so,” I said automatically, but one incident stole to the front of my mind, unbidden. “But… well, I don’t know if I did it or not, it could have been a coincidence, but in the middle of an exam, I… well, the clocks stopped, with five minutes left of the exam. I don’t know whether it was me, but I was thinking about how I needed to finish my essay in time, and…” I trailed off.

They both stared at me incredulously.

“It’s probably nothing, just coincidence,” I said.

“What, you think you can stop time?” said Berenice, whose eyebrows had practically disappeared into her curled fringe.

“No, of course not. Just the clock. Anyway, it was probably broken.”

“Or you could have used subliminal magic accidentally,” said Claudia. “That’s seriously tricky to work, that is, but it could have been.”

“Subliminal?”

“Influence,” said Claudia. “Generally, it works only on people, not objects, but that’s what it sounds like. You really want something to happen, so you make it so, sometimes without even realising it. I sometimes use it accidentally if I want to be left alone. It can make you… not invisible, just unnoticeable. People avoid you, but they don’t know they’re actually being manipulated subconsciously.”

I remembered with clarity the way people had avoided me in the corridors at school, even people I didn’t know. Had I caused that myself, without even realising it? All the times I’d been depressed, in a bad mood, and it was like people looked straight through me… and even the teachers didn’t seem to notice me in their lessons half the time.

“Well, if it was, we know one thing,” said Leo.

“What’s that?” asked Claudia.

“Ash’ll be in trouble if it ever gets out she cheated in her exam.”

“It wasn’t
cheating
,” I protested, flushing. “It doesn’t count as cheating if you don’t do it on purpose.”

“Tell it to the examiners!” Leo seemed highly amused by this. “
I didn’t mean to subconsciously give myself an extra five minutes!
”

“Stop laughing at me!” I said. “It hardly matters now, anyway. I’m here.”

I turned to Claudia, pointedly ignoring him.

“So, anyway, do you have any tips for conjuring fire?”

“Just keep your concentration. And it helps if you really
want
it to happen―like stopping that clock.”

So I tried. I concentrated so hard on fire that the room should have burst into flames. But nothing happened. Reluctantly, I let Leo take over the lesson. I got the distinct impression he’d only gotten involved so he’d have the chance to show off to the newbie. His arrogance annoyed me; I wasn’t sure if I liked him or not.

“The first thing you should know is that magic isn’t a trick,” said Leo. “And it isn’t doing the impossible as much as manipulating the laws of nature to do as you tell them. You can’t conjure or create anything, but you can meddle with what’s already there. There’s always the potential for fire; all it takes is a little persuasion. Look.”

Sparks danced down his arms to his fingertips and flames sprang into being. He held the small fire in one hand, then tipped it gently and it fell. He caught it on one foot and kicked it into the air like a football. As I watched, mesmerised, he rolled the ball of flames from one shoulder to another. Then it split in two, then four, spreading in a faint line until shimmering flames outlined his entire body.

“I’m the man on fire,” he grinned.

I was too stunned to roll my eyes at his theatrical performance.

“Wow,” I breathed. “Doesn’t it hurt you at all? Or at least burn your clothes?”

“Not if I don’t want it to. You try.”

I didn’t even know where to start. And, although I was new to this, it still unsettled me that everything I did went against some unwritten rules. What if the Venantium caught me?

Leo seemed to read my mind.

“Look,” he said, “if the worst happens and you do get caught by the Venantium, you can claim innocence and blame it on us. We’ve all been in trouble before.”

His would-be casual tone suggested, however, that the consequences for breaking into the Venantium’s library would be more severe than he was letting on.

“I don’t want to drag you guys into this.”

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter,” said Claudia. “Half the crap Howard gets up to, it’s a miracle we aren’t locked in the cells. Try the fire, anyway.”

I tried. But I could no sooner summon a flame than leap out the window and fly.

“This really isn’t working. Look,” I said, hesitantly, “there’s something else you should know about me.”

“What’s that?” said Leo.

“Ever since I first saw the demons, I haven’t been able to get warm. And I don’t really feel the cold any more. I used to, I used to be cold all the time, but now I just don’t feel it. The doctor thought I was lying, but it’s true. I don’t know if that’s what might be stopping me from conjuring fire.”

Claudia looked at Leo. “Have you ever heard of that happening?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’ve heard of a lot of strange things, but this is a new one.”

“Great,” I said. “And I thought I was a regular person, just a magic-user who can see demons.”

Leo laughed. “Well, you’re certainly full of surprises. All right, forget about the fire for now. It’s the Venantium’s library we’re breaking into. There’s no place you’re less likely to encounter a demon. But there’s something else you might find useful.”

“Like what?”

“This.”

The lights in the room suddenly went out.

“What―?”

I jumped back as he blazed all over with dazzling white light. The brightness faded slightly, but his skin continued to glow eerily white. Then the light seemed to condense into a point in the centre of his right palm, a glowing white ball, pulsing like something alive.

“Better than a torch?” he said.

I blinked; the initial glare was still imprinted on my eyes, and I saw blurred shapes everywhere.

“Leo, stop showing off,” said Claudia.

“What, it’s not every day I get to dazzle someone.”

The world came back into focus. “How’d you do that?”

“You can feel your connection to the Darkworld, right? Use that, and imagine you’re holding a bright light. Focus on the palm of one hand, and tap into the magic at the same time. It’s as easy as that.”

It didn’t sound easy to me, but I held out my right hand and focused all my attention on it, at the same time thinking of the Darkworld.

Light.

And, this time, something in me responded. A chill shivered down my arms, and the tiniest globe of light sprang into existence in the centre of my hand.

I stared at it, shocked speechless.

“Nice!” said Leo.

“Good job,” said Claudia.

At that moment, the spark went out. “Oh.”

“It takes practice and concentration,” said Leo. “Not everyone gets it the first time. Keep at it, you’ll get there.”

“Where on earth have you been?” asked Alex, as I came into the kitchen that evening to find all my flatmates, apart from Terrence, sitting around the table.

David looked up and smiled at me.

“At the Gaming Society induction meeting,” I said. That was a reasonable excuse, given I was the only one of us remotely interested in video games.

“Oh, right. We thought you were dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” I said with a smile. “What’s with the little meeting?”

“Terrence,” said Alex. “We want to get him kicked out of our flat.”

“Why?” I pulled out a chair between David and Sarah.

“Because he left raw meat all over the kitchen. If we all get salmonella, it’s his fault.”

“Raw meat?”

“Yeah, dripping blood everywhere. For all I know he’s harvesting human organs or something.”

“Highly unlikely,” I said, “but that’s kinda out of order. We all live here, and we’ll get charged if he leaves the flat in a mess, right?”

“Exactly,” said Alex, nodding at Sarah. I could tell they’d been arguing about this for a while.

“Who gives a crap?” said Pete, who looked more interested in whatever game he was playing on his phone. “He’s not doing any harm.”

“What, you want to get poisoned?” said Alex. “Or eaten?”

“I don’t think he’s going to eat us, Alex,” said Sarah.

“You never know. What’ve you been up to today, anyway?” I said.

“Not much. Sarah and I went for a walk.”

“I had a job interview,” said Pete, rather self-importantly.

“Where?”

“The student union bar.”

“They’ve told him there’s no drinking on the job,” said Alex, with a snigger.

“Well, good luck with that,” I said, turning to David. “Been up to much?”

“I’ve just been reading,” said David. “Didn’t get much sleep last night.” He did look rather tired; his eyes were red-rimmed.

“Have you read
Hamlet
yet?” I asked.

“Already read it years ago, but I’m looking over it,” said David.

“Yeah, we’ve got that psycho-lecturer as a seminar tutor,” said Alex. “Whatsisface―Dr Payne.”