Hopeless Magic (7 page)

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“And where do you think you’re going?” Seraphina’s piercing high-pitched voice demanded of us.

I turned around not entirely sure what to say. Although I would have liked to ignore her completely, I felt guilty for some unexplainable reason and couldn't just dismiss her. Ok, maybe not so unexplainable. I was cheating with her fiancé....

“Avalon forgot something in his truck,” I replied sweetly, at the same time riddled with remorse.

“That takes two of you?” She stared at me, long fingers on small hip. Her shiny blonde hair was brushed into perfection and her lips a shiny shade of pink gloss.

“Um, yes,” I said simply, and ran my fingers through my wild wavy black hair subconsciously, trying to untangle it.

“Listen Eden, I don’t know what you think you're doing, but you should know that I am not going to sit back while you try to steal my boyfriend.” My mouth dropped open from surprise, but she 99/711

continued, “And listen, you better watch out because I
will
destroy you. Do you understand me?

I will ruin your life and make you wish you never discovered those stupid powers of yours. To think Lucan wanted to know if there was anything special about you! Are you kidding me?

You’re nothing but an insignificant peasant; you don’t even know
how
to use your magic, let alone what to do with it. You are absolutely nothing to me and you need to learn your place. Stay away from Kiran or I
will
annihilate you. That is a promise,” Seraphina stood there perfectly poised and perfectly put together, her one hand gripping her waste firmly. She was much too pretty to be this mean.

I stood there, cowering. I knew I was in the wrong. And I knew she was fully capable of delivering on her promises.

“Whatever, Seraphina,” I mumbled weakly, my voice shaking from fear of her.

She stood there staring after me for a few moments longer, the blue of her eyes turning to ice. I 100/711

felt myself struggle to swallow, wishing she would just go away. And then finally, with one last look of contempt, she turned on her heel and walked away, her black stilettos making a hard clicking sound against the polished marble floor.

One hand never left her hip, while the other hand flipped her glistening hair over her shoulder. This was why she would be queen one day; she was capable of striking fear into all people.

Avalon burst into a fit of laughter as soon as Seraphina was gone. He was practically rolling on the floor, unable to contain himself.

“You might as well have said, ‘Yes, ma’am,’” he wheezed through explosive laughter.

“Shut up,” I spat back defensively. “What was I supposed to say?”

“Oh man, that was the funniest thing I have ever seen," his hilarity eventually subsided into a softer version while he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.

“I will never have a good day at Kingsley, will I?” I turned around and pushed the backdoor of 101/711

the History and Language Building open, walking out into the fall drizzle that had clouded the early afternoon sky.

7.

By the time Avalon and I reached the farmhouse the Nebraska sky was dumping water from above. Despite the torrential downpour, Avalon skidded off the gravel road and onto the drive of the Resistance farmhouse spraying mud and water everywhere.

I let out the breath that Avalon’s driving had caused me to hold and cringed at the thought of stepping out of the vehicle. Several young men stood in the doorway of the metal barn watching us. I recognized about half of them and realized there were several new additions.

I noticed Avalon’s hand on the door handle, and decided the best way to get through the rain was to face it head on. I flung the door open and did my best to sprint through the mud and gravel towards the barn. My clogs sunk deep into the puddles of grimy wetness and by the time I 103/711

reached the barn I was soaked to the bone and splattered in mud.

The boys milling around the entrance to the barn scattered out of my way as I tumbled through the barn doors dripping dirty water everywhere. I did a little shake, much like a dog, and double-fisted my hair to force it away from my face.

I flung my head upwards, spraying everything around me with water. I was positive my black eye liner and mascara were running down my face, but I was helpless to stop it. I squinted through the black haze, and stared back at the thirteen or so faces gawking at me. A shiver ran down my spine, and I was frozen to the bone by icy water.

Suddenly, a familiar laugh burst through the silence and I recognized it as Jericho's. I shifted my gaze to his, and watched him bend over, clutching at his stomach. It dawned on me, a little slowly, that he was laughing at me, and I hoped suddenly it was just because of my appearance.

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I had hoped, for a moment that Avalon would share my humiliation and we could take on the

“wet dog” look together. I was wrong. Avalon strolled casually towards the barn, unconcerned and completely dry. He was surrounded by a cloud of magic that not only kept the rain from touching his clothing, but dried the ground before he even took another step. By the time he entered the barn, he was as hysterical as Jericho and laughing loudly at me

“Piece of crap,” I yelled, irritated and freezing.

“Ok, seriously Eden. What is wrong with you?” Avalon asked sarcastically in all his dry clothes glory.

“Avalon, don’t be so hard on her,” Jericho recovered from his fits of laughter to come to my aid, albeit a little mockingly. “Eden can’t help it if she forgets about her magic.” He smiled mischievously at me and I heard a new guy question, “How is that possible?” The rest of the newcomers eyed me suspiciously as if I was dangerously more than I seemed.

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“Hey, hey, hey,” Jericho arrived at my side, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder, simultaneously comforting me and drying my icicle of a body with his magic. “Like I said, she can’t help it, guys,” He smirked playfully, before placing his other hand in front of his mouth to whisper to the group loudly, “She was raised human.” I pushed Jericho away with mock injury and pretended to pout. I heard the group of boys snicker to each other as I pulled myself together. I finished the dry-out job Jericho had begun, by using my own magic, half warming myself, half proving to the bystanders that I did, in fact, know how to use magic.

When I turned around, Avalon had already taken charge of whatever leadership role was available to him and was introducing himself as much more of a legend than I would ever haven give him credit for. I contemplated for a second, joining the group again, but remembered Lilly and decided I couldn’t do anything else until I had 106/711

checked on her. I began to walk further into the barn but not before Jericho caught up with me.

“Did I fix my makeup?” I asked him, already forgiving him for any fun he had at my expense.

“I don’t know what you mean by that?” He smiled, confused, a typical guy response.

“My mascara, is it like running down my face?” I brushed my finger tips underneath my eyes as if demonstrating my question.

“No, your face looks…. fine,” Jericho blushed when he finished his sentence and so I was not entirely sure if I could trust him.

I remembered the compact in my brand new back pack and tried to grab it as inconspicuously as possible. Feeling a little bit vain, and even more self-conscious in front of Jericho, I rushed the mirror in front of my face, checked my make up as scrupulously but as quickly as I could. Then I shoved the little compact mirror back into the abyss of the bag that had replaced the backpack Romania destroyed, satisfied with what I had seen.

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“What? Don’t you trust me?” Jericho nudged my side gently with his elbow.

“Absolutely not,” I said playfully, and then gave him my most charming smile. “Hey, do you know where they are keeping Lilly?” I asked, anxiety slipping into my tone but unable to stay silent on the issue.

“Yes,” Jericho responded simply.

“Well, can you take me to her?” I countered, feeling as though my request shouldn’t be necessary.

“I don’t think so,” When I turned a scowl on him, he continued quickly, “I don’t think they want non-Resistance members up there. I mean, it’s like a sacred place. Since you’re not an official member, they have kind of forbidden you from going.”

“What?” Forbidden?” I half demanded, half shrieked. “Why hasn't anybody told me?” I crossed my arms and stomped my foot defiantly.

“Do you remember the last time you were forbidden to do anything? Yeah, it didn’t work out so 108/711

well for the rest of us,” although Jericho was teasing me, he stopped walking and turned to face me. When I followed suit, he put both of his hands on my shoulders, sending his magical imprint racing through my blood. I could tell that he was nervous touching me, but what I didn’t expect was to be nervous too. “Eden, trust me,” he said smoothly, gazing deep into my eyes. “Lilly is going to be fine; this whole thing is a process.

But seriously, look at the rest of us. We all made it through. She has the best care anyone could hope for,” he smiled softly and I cleared my throat, bringing my mind into focus.

“You’re right. I mean I should trust you guys.

How much longer do you think this will take though? People at school have been asking questions,” I casually shrugged Jericho’s hands off my shoulders and began walking again, reminding myself of Kiran and the overwhelmingly strong feelings I had for him.

“What people?” Jericho asked suspiciously.

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“Well, Sebastian Cartier,” I stopped dead in my tracks, realizing I left Jericho somewhere a few feet behind me. I turned to face him, and saw the wheels in his head spinning.

“Sebastian Cartier is here? In Omaha? At Kingsley?” he whispered harshly.

I nodded my response, a little afraid of what I had let slip. He turned back around in the other direction, leaving me to run after him.

“Avalon!” he hollered at my very loquacious brother, who somehow had managed to maintain the newcomer’s attention this entire time.

“Avalon!” he hollered again.

“What?” an irritated Avalon swung around to face Jericho straight on.

“Sebastian Cartier is here? In Omaha? Why haven’t we been informed?” Jericho demanded.

Damn it Eden, you just had to go and open your
big mouth
. Avalon sent me a direct and irritated message. I blushed, but turned right around again towards the opposite side of the barn. I had 110/711

apparently done enough damage; I didn’t need to get into the middle of a fight between those two.

I noticed Angelica towards the back of the barn, talking to some girls who looked only a little bit older than me. I contemplated joining them, but couldn't find the courage. Avalon was usually my social crutch around here, and unfortunately he was currently in the middle of a battle between need-to-know basis and left-in-the-dark. I rolled my eyes, inwardly laughing at the precarious relationship Avalon and Jericho seemed to hold-sometimes best friends, sometimes leadership rivals.

“Eden, won’t you join us?” Angelica had noticed me wandering around aimlessly. I had hoped to avoid what would assuredly be a socially-awkward situation for me. But apparently I was just not that lucky today.

“Hello, Angelica,” I greeted her sweetly, remembering tenderly that she was close to my mother at one point. I had yet to garner any details from her, but I didn’t tend to give up easily.

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“Hello, dear.” She returned my smile and brought me into a warm hug. Her lighter, almost efferves-cent magic wrapped me in a warm bubble and I felt oddly comforted. “The other teams have arrived. Have you met them?”

“Um, no, I haven’t. I mean, Avalon was introducing himself to them, so I just thought I would connect with him later,” I blurted out, feeling like I needed to explain what I meant by our twin connection, but I decided not to get into detail. I mentally reminded myself that I was not actually part of the Resistance and therefore not actually obligated to meet anyone.

“Eden, don’t rob yourself of the opportunity of getting to know others like you. Remember you are who you surround yourself with,” She smiled knowingly, and I shrugged off the feeling of irritation from the clear dig at Kiran. “Anyways, these girls are too sweet to let Avalon do the meeting and greeting for you. Besides I think they already know Avalon,” When she looked at them, they nodded in confirmation. “Eden, this is 112/711

Fiona Thompson and Roxie Powers. They are part of the Czech team, Ryder’s team,” she patted Roxie, a short, hard-looking Latina, on the arm before leaving us alone. Roxie returned the gesture with a smile and I got the feeling it was almost painful for her to look so nice.

Roxie had long dark hair like mine, but it was in a low pony tail on the back of her neck, falling in smooth, loose curls down to her waist. Her small frame barely cleared five feet, but her stature ex-uded a strength that intimidated me. Her chocolate brown eyes searched my face as if looking for a reason to punch me in the nose. I flinched self-consciously before turning my attention to Fiona.

Fiona was much nicer looking, in personality I mean. They were both beautiful girls. Fiona had perfect porcelain skin that looked like milk next to her shoulder length auburn hair. Her overly large green eyes, maintained a look of both innocence and shrewdness. She stood tall as if in a position, of leadership and her slender fingers were folded together in a proper sort of way.

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“I’m Eden,” I said obviously after Angelica had walked away. After Angelica had left me. After Angelica had abandoned me.

“We know,” Roxie sneered and my suspicions about her were confirmed.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Fiona covered for her friend. She did not attempt to shake my hand, however, and for some reason that bothered me.

“Y-y-you’re Fiona?” I addressed the more polite of the two, asking another obvious question.

“Yes, that’s right and this is Roxie. We worked with Avalon’s team to extract the Brazil team after Avalon and Jericho were um, called away,” I noticed the look in their eyes as accusation, and blushed defensively.