Frost Arch (27 page)

“It seems you had no trouble with the Forsythe manor.” Lester noted.

“No, sir.”

“So what brings you three here?”

Charles piped up, “Well I was hoping you could have a look at Miss Redding for us, Lester. She was ill recently, and has lost much use of her Power.”

I felt my face turn pink; thankfully Lester could not see that.

“Well, not much use,” Jack corrected automatically, “All use.”

I glared and him furiously and he fell silent.

“All use?” Repeated Lester Elwood, standing from his chair and hobbling around the desk towards us.

“It appears so.” Charles confirmed.

Lester Elwood stood very close to me, and I wondered how he had know where I was, let alone which body had been me. I felt quite uncomfortable as he stood an inch away, and placed his fingers lightly upon my temple. He kept his hands there much longer than he had on my previous visit. It seemed he was concentrating quite hard for his brow was furrowed, and his mouth creased into a frown.

“Hmmm.” Lester nodded a few times to himself, but continued to touch my forehead, “Indeed.”

Jack, who was behind Lester Elwood and in my line of sight, was smiling arrogantly with his arms folded across his chest. It was a personality trait of Jack’s that any awkwardness involving his friends he found quite amusing. After another minute Lester removed his cool hands from me and shuffled back to his seat behind the desk.

“What’s the damage?” Jack smirked.

“Is there something wrong with me?” I worried.

“I always knew your brain was broken.”

I was about to retort when; “That’s quite enough.” Charles said softly, “Lester?”

Lester pressed his lips together thoughtfully before answering, “Sometimes … when a Mage goes through something stressful … or traumatic, or perhaps is unhappy … they sometimes unintentionally … repress their gift.”

“But she was just ill for a few days.” Charles objected.

Lester cleared his throat noisily, “Yes, well, of course I can’t be certain. But her Power was very hard to locate in her mind which suggests that an unpleasant event has repressed it, and drawn it within.”

I shifted uncomfortable, “So how do I fix it?”

Lester snorted, “My dear, you can’t fix it.”

I blanched, “What? There has to be a way!”

“Of course.” Lester agreed, “But it can’t be fixed, because there is nothing wrong with you. It’s all in your mind, really.”

“It’s all in my mind?” I repeated faintly.

“Yes. Sometimes it happens with injuries. Crippled Mage’s may believe that they will never be able to walk again, and in believing so – they don’t.”

I thought I understood. My lack of power was all in my head. Perhaps I just had to believe in myself a little more, and it would be alright.

After we said goodbye to Lester Elwood and Edmund and had departed from the Power Seer Headquarters we trundled back through the main road that would lead us through the vast marketplace. Charles had given Jack more errands to run then said that he had lots of paper work back in his office that needed to be taken care of.

“Coming with me?” Jack asked when Charles hurried off down the street, back to the manor.

“Of course.” I said as though it were the most obvious answer, “Are you going to tell me what’s in the bag now?”

“Nothing exciting.” Jack said lifting the flap and showing me about a hundred sealed envelopes made from very expensive, delicate, semi-transparent paper.

“Are those wedding invitations?” I said peering inside.

“Yes, Rain Forsythe is getting married to Theodore from the Arthfael family across the city.” Jack reminded me.

“Oh. I didn’t know it was so soon. I guess I should be paying more attention to things that happen around the manor.” I had never spoken to Rain Forsythe, and I had only ever run into her by accident at least three times. Each time she had ignored me and let me continue with the heating of the bath. She was a deathly thin girl, so skinny the bones of her wrists and hips stuck out rather harshly. I often wondered if she remembered to eat regularly. Although she was thin and willowy, her face would be quite pretty perhaps if she had more meat on her bones. Her jaw line and cheekbones were very prominent; she had heavily lidded eyes, and an all over snobbish disposition.

Jack shrugged, “None of the staff really care. It just means extra hard work on the days leading up to the wedding.”

“The wedding will be at the manor?” I said rather shocked.

“The Forsythe manor is the largest mansion in Frost Arch, apart from old Frosty’s lair.” Jack pointed to the ever prominent peak that rose above the clouds. The mountain was quite intimidating.

“Isn’t there a cathedral or somewhere for them do to it?” I said looking around.

Jack chuckled, “Of course, but the Forsythe family has many friends … they wouldn’t fit in the local church.”

I rolled my eyes, “Typical.” I muttered, “If they won’t fit in a church, how will they all fit into one room of the manor?”

“Oh, we have a function room that stays locked most of the time. It doesn’t really get used apart from special occasions.”

“I should have known.” I sighed, “They have everything.”

“Pretty much.” Jack agreed, “But you don’t even know the half of it.”

“I’m not sure I want to.” I frowned.

We had continued through the city, and I thought about all the extra work I would have to help with when it was the days leading up to the wedding. I’d probably be cleaning the manor from top to bottom vigorously with the maids.

I shivered and pulled my coat tighter around my body. Jack laughed and slung his arm over my shoulder casually, pinning me to his side. I shared his body heat up until the moment we were outside Gretchen’s Messenger Service shop.

As we entered I spotted the grey haired, plump woman right away. She was sitting behind the counter eating a rather delicious looking pastry. Spoils. My mouth watered. I hadn’t had anything that delicious looking in a long time. My stomach grumbled angrily.

“Jack.” Gretchen beamed, her mouth full of pastry.

“Morning Gretchen.” Jack grinned and leaned on the counter casually, “You are looking lovely today.”

Gretchen swallowed and coughed before waving her hand airily. Like before, she ignored my presence, “Aren’t I spoiled?” She smiled, her two chins wobbling as she spoke, “Two visits from you in one week!”

I glanced at Jack, wondering when he had been here at all this week. That package had been three weeks ago. He flushed pink but talked intently to Gretchen.

“Would I pass up the opportunity to see you?” He said incredulously, “But of course, as usual I’m on a mission.”

It was then that he took the bag from his shoulder and placed it upon the counter.

While they were discussing the wedding invitations I turned to see the map sprawled out across the wall. It was so large it took up most of the space. Surrounding it were leaflets that had been pinned up saying numerous things like; Humans for a Pittance, every day at the marketplace! Or F.A Library, You’re Source For Knowledge. I ignored the unimportant flyers and scoured the map.

I looked hard at all the little names of towns and cities across the paper. There were so many I doubted I would be able to read them all before we would have to leave. Mortlock stood as though it was throbbing like a swollen thumb, but I ignored the painful pang in my heart and kept looking. Flamethroat Valley, Concord City (the place where the Realm of Mage’s lived. It was from here they governed our world), Hew Town, Athol Hills, Knox Lake and Scyre Village were some of the places I read. They had the largest names in print upon the map, so I assumed they must be big tourist or economy spots. In my quick scour of the map I didn’t see a Phoenix Arch there at all.

Jack was finishing up with Gretchen and handing over a rather large amount of gold for the mass of wedding invitations. I turned to face them now and spoke to Gretchen for the first time.

“Excuse me. Where is Phoenix Arch on this map?”

Jack’s eyes were round and shocked, though I didn’t understand why. Charles was no longer here so I saw no harm in asking anymore. Jack put his hand to his temple in frustration and pretended he hadn’t heard me.

“What did you say?” Gretchen asked, her eyebrows rising so high that they were in danger of becoming lost in her fly away hair.

I thought I had made myself perfectly clear, “Phoenix Arch. I can’t see it on the map anywhere.”

Gretchen’s face turned an odd shade of purple, and she pressed her lips tightly together. I thought perhaps she was choking, but after a moment she composed herself and said in a falsely sweet voice, “Oh dear, you must be mistaken.” She said kindly to me, “That place does not exist.”

I frowned, “Oh.”

Looking back at Jack I saw him shake his head slightly in bemusement at my stupidity. I really didn’t understand what was so bad about this subject. Hadn’t Charles himself mentioned it to me two over months ago?

“We’ll be off.” Jack said in a strained voice before carting me from the premises.

Once we were outside I wrenched my arm from Jack’s grip, and he looked at me furiously.

“What?” I demanded.

Jack clenched his fists into balls and looked at the cloudy sky as though praying for patience, “I wish you weren’t so bloody curious about everything all the time, Avalon. One day you are going to find yourself in so much trouble.”

I gritted my teeth together, “I wasn’t really brought up around people.” I hissed, “My social skills are a little off. So why don’t you tell me what I’ve done wrong this time, Jack. Ever since I came to this city it’s been nothing but secrets everywhere.”

“Next time you have any questions just ask me when no one else is around. I don’t mind sharing things with you, but you have to be very careful about what you say in front of other people.”

I shook my head, confused, “How am I supposed to know what I’m not allowed to ask about?”

Jack sighed, “I’m sorry that I’m being rude. You just brought up a touchy subject around here. We’re not supposed to talk about it, and a lot of people don’t like hearing about it.”

I rolled my eyes, “This place gets weirder the longer I stay here.”

“Then why do you stay here?” Jack fired.

“Beats me.” I huffed, stuffing my frozen hands into my pockets.

Jack sighed, “I don’t know the full story anyway. It all happened before I was born. It’s a banned subject.”

“Then how come Charles mentioned it to me in the first place?”

Jack bit his lip while he thought, “Nostalgia, perhaps. Maybe he thought you would forget about it, or not care.”

I shrugged, “Will you tell me what you know when we get back to the manor?”

“Persistent.” He huffed, “Okay, I’ll tell you in the stables.”

Once we were back in the stables, which was becoming something of a hideout or club house, Camryn emerged from one of the stalls, a shovel and bucket in her hands. She was cleaning up the manure, a job I had always refused to help her with. Luckily, Hawthorne was toilet trained despite the fact that no one here had ever trained him at all.

“Having fun?” I made a face as I looked into the contents of the bucket she was carrying.

Camryn rolled her eyes, “Buckets of fun. How did your day go at the Power Seer?”

I shrugged, “It wasn’t really much help. Basically told me it was all in my head.”

Jack appeared at my shoulder, “Because it is all in your head. Don’t you know? We’re not really here. Nothing is real.”

I elbowed Jack in the stomach playfully and he skipped out of my way before more harm could befall him. Hawthorne, stretching and yawning, trotted to my side and lay down sleepily.

“So weren’t you going to tell me a story, Jack?” I said sitting on the ground next to Hawthorne and petting him absentmindedly.

Camryn ignored our banter and left to dispose of the animal droppings.

Jack sat down upon a stool and thought for a moment. “Keep in mind I don’t know all the facts, or if this is even true.” He told me, “I just know what my dad told me when I was little.”

I nodded, and saw the strained look that appeared across Jack’s face when he mentioned his father. He seemed to ignore it though and pressed on.

“This land was settled upon hundreds of years ago. Its founder was a Warrior Mage called Ronald Phoenix. He was believed to have been a Fire Mage too. Now, Warrior Phoenix and his townspeople had fled their homes after a great flood, and searched for somewhere warmer and more prosperous to live. They came across this land, naturally, and it seemed perfect.”

“But it-”

”Yes, I know it snows all the time, now.” Jack agreed, “But this was hundreds of years ago, remember? Anyway, Warrior Phoenix chose this land because it was very green and orange. Lush grass and the tree’s were in constant autumn with their red and gold leaves. Ronald Phoenix was appointed the great ruler of the land, and he looked after his people well. They named this place Phoenix Arch.”

“This is Phoenix Arch? No wonder it wasn’t on the map. So why the name change?”