Love lines (7 page)

Something in her voice told me that my friend was trying
to allude to something.

“What do you mean?” I asked, getting up.

“Just what I said. I couldn’t fall asleep last night and
saw you smiling sweetly in your dream. That's it. Okay, I have to go now,”
Amanda said already over the threshold. “By the way, Christian promised to drop
in.”

“Christian,
what
?!” I asked in surprise.

Unfortunately, I had to address this question to the
closed door. Fine! He saw me yesterday in tears, but now my face didn’t look
any better. Damn, couldn’t she wake me up earlier?!

“What a friend she is!” I thought on the way to the
bathroom. But luck wasn’t on my side today, because, not having gone even a few
steps, I heard a knock at the door. Glancing at myself in the mirror and trying
to do something with my messy hair, I went to open it.

“Good morning, Eileen!”

“Oh, no!” I groaned mentally. There wasn’t Christian in
the doorway, there was Evan! So now everyone will know how good I look after an
almost sleepless night. Couldn’t be better!

“Good morning. Sorry, I just woke up and had no time to
do myself up,” I said frustrated, inviting him in.

“I think you look great. Did you sleep well?”

He must be kidding me! I stared at him in disbelief. Oh,
right, he doesn’t know anything...

“Almost,” I snapped. “Frankly speaking, it was quite
unusual to fall asleep at the new place.”

“I was actually sent here by Alexis,” started Evan. “She
couldn’t come herself, but I have good news.”

“Really?” I asked doubtfully. Was there anything I still
could call as
good news
?

“Yes. As it was expected, the beginning of your studies
has been
suspended for a month. But instead
you have to go
through special training.”

“Oh, and who will do this training with me? Alexis?” I
wondered.

“No. Me,” Evan smiled happily.

“You?!”

“And here I thought you would be glad,” said Evan hurt,
his smile faded.

“No, don’t think anything bad. I'm just a little
surprised.”

“Actually, there’s nothing surprising here. I have
already graduated from the main department, so training at the faculty of Wizardy
can be combined with other activities. And you, by the way, are my first
student.”

“I don’t even know whether this is good or bad,” I
muttered. Geez, I don’t usually act like a jerk! I shook my head in disgust.
Something must be really wrong with me. “So, what will our lessons be about?” I
asked, trying to sound friendly this time.

“Well, first, I'll tell you about the history of Dever,
about the founding families and other nonsense,” rolling his eyes, said Evan.
“And then we move on to the more interesting part. You will have to attend
practical classes of all the faculties.”

“All of them?” I couldn’t believe my own words.

“One from each faculty,” Evan replied, watching me
thoughtfully. His eyes were as unreadable as Christian’s. I never knew what was
going on behind their intent gazes. And I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know. I
turned away to the mirror.

“Thank you for this, because I thought that I would
have
to learn everything that is taught here before the start of my own classes,” I
chuckled nervously.

“Don’t worry, I'm not such a tyrant,” giving me a wink,
said Evan. He reminded me of a hunter looking for his new prey. I didn’t want
to be the one, but it was quite hard to resist his charm. “You have one hour to
get ready,” he added as he was leaving through the door.

Even yesterday, Evan seemed pretty nice. He had some
inner attractiveness drawing people to him and making them stay under his
secret spell.

“Maybe this month won’t be that boring,” I said to
myself.

After taking a shower and finally approving of my
reflection
in the mirror, I was ready to go to the first lesson, when suddenly I felt
Christian. Without thinking too long I opened the door, and found him there,
leaning against the opposite wall with his arms folded across his chest.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to feel me,”
he said, smiling radiantly.

“So you were sure that I would feel your presence?” I
asked incredulously.

“Actually, yes,” he said, coming closer.

“And if not, you would have
stayed in the hallway
all day?”

“Hmm... I think in our case, there can’t be any
“if”,
- he said, looking straight into my eyes. I had never noticed what a rich green
color his eyes were. Just like emeralds.

“What a thought!” I shouted mentally at myself. I
couldn’t lose my head on the first day! That’s all I needed!

“For example, now you feel...
confusion
? What
makes you feel so?” Christian asked suspiciously, walking into the room.

“Maybe
you
,” without thinking too long, I blurted
out. And once again shouted at myself for being so stupid.

Christian smiled leisurely and said:

“Then I don’t mind. So, what caused today's anger,
surprise and uncertainty?”

Oh, no!

“Did you feel
everything
that happened to me this
morning?”

“Aha.”

“And why
couldn’t I feel anything about
you
?”
I wondered, putting my hands on my hips.

“I don’t know. Maybe you just didn’t have time to think
of me this morning,” he shrugged.

“Are you saying
that as soon as you start to
think about me you can feel everything that I feel at that moment?”

“Eileen, I don’t know how it works. But I think, yes.
Let’s check it out.”

“How do you propose we try this?”

“Think about me. Try to feel what I feel at this very
moment. I’ll turn around, so you can’t read my emotions on my face.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “Let’s
give it a try.”

And then he turned away.

At first I just stared at his back, but felt nothing.
Then I closed my eyes and imagined... Him, kissing me yesterday. It confused me
even more. I felt my own pleasure, and tension.

“Christian, I can’t do this,” I said, giving up.

“Can you at least say what you feel? And I'll decide
whether it is right or not.”

“This is ridiculous! I feel only my own emotions.”

“What are they?” asked Christian without turning around.

“Well, the inexplicable joy, a sort of excitement and
inner peace.”

Looking up, I saw quite clearly, his smiling face.

“Eileen, you’ve just described everything that I feel at
the moment.”

“But, I don’t understand. I was sure there were
my
feelings.”

Christian raised my chin a little, our eyes were exactly
opposite each others’.

“Maybe our feelings are the same, and you can’t
determine where yours end and my own begin,” he said.

His touch caused a soft pulsing on my shoulder, I saw
the golden lines, shining with millions of colors coming from his hands to my
face. It felt so good. I stopped breathing and felt Christian’s fingers
caressing the line of my chin. He was standing so close, I could barely think
straight. Our proximity was playing funny tricks with my mind, making my body
tremble, imagining all the spicy pictures of us in each other’s arms in my
head. I swallowed I took a step back quickly. All the shining disappeared.

“See?” said softly Christian. “Our feelings are the
same.”

“I think we shouldn’t rush things,” I began hesitantly,
berating myself for the words that I didn’t want to say, but still willing to
make some kind of clarity in everything.

“And now you feel remorse and determination to do
something,” he admitted.

“Ah, please, don’t put me in an awkward situation! I
really don’t know what else to say. We both need time to sort all this out.”

I walked closer to him, took his hand and said without
paying attention to the beautiful golden light, instantly illuminating our
hands:

“I’m really glad that you're near, Christian. I felt
safe with you and yesterday you helped me a lot. But my life has turned upside
down just in two days! Give me a little time to recover,” looking hopefully
into his incredible emerald eyes, I said.

“As long as you need,” he replied softly, kissing me like
yesterday on the cheek before leaving.

Chapter 8. The
history of the founding families (
Eileen)

Going to my first lesson with Evan, I just couldn’t stop
thinking about Christian. This time I really felt everything. A mix of
frustration and resentment from my last words took most of him. Trying to focus
on his feelings as best as possible, I could discern a thin ray of hope from
which the entire range of his emotions instantly lit up with warm golden light.
This warmth passed to me, greatly improving my gloomy mood.

“Weird,” I thought, but the warmth seemed to be not just
a feeling...

“Eileen!” called Evan, adjusting to my steps. “Ready for
the first lecture?

“Does it really matter?” I asked, still thinking about
Christian.

“Of course!” he said excitedly. I rolled my eyes in
response.

“Well,
Professor
, I'm ready, so you may start,” I
replied seriously.

“Good. Let's start from the very beginning. What do you
know about the history of this place?”

“Only that Dever was founded by seven families, many
centuries ago.”

“To be exact -
seven
centuries ago,” Evan
pointed.

“I also know that the idea of a foundation was proposed
by the Fairey family,” I remembered.

“That’s right. Let’s talk about them more detailed.”

We came to a small park, where the air was filled with
all possible and impossible aromas of different flowers. I could smell jasmine,
roses and lilies, a mixture of hydrangeas, apples and lemon tree.

“This is Embry’s pride. Here you can find thousands of
the rarest plants from around the world. Let's sit down over there,” said Evan,
pointing in the direction of the bench at the foot of a weeping willow. “So the
Fairey. Jason and Gabriela Fairey were precisely those who first came up with
the idea of protection human world from everything supernatural. They met
through their talent to read people’s minds. Unfortunately, over the years, the
Fairey have lost this ability, so that now, they rely primarily on their
intuition and reading auras.”

“Jason and Gabriela went to travel around the world to
find other talented people. Reading thoughts, it wasn’t difficult. So, coming
back to England, they already knew about the existence of four more families,
all of whose members had different unusual gifts. In France, they met the
Meridin family, whose members were all able to interpret dreams. In Spain - the
Embry clan, one of the most numerous at those times, where everyone knew about
the properties of any plant, and particularly flowers. In Italy, the Fairey
were introduced to the Ventura - experts in the future, and the Vero who could
separate truth from falsehood.”

“And how did they find the Feta and the Wizardy
families?” I asked.

“They were not looking for them. Rosemary Feta saw them
on the lines of her own destiny. She was curious and went with her husband and
two daughters to find the Fairey. As for the Wizardy...” Evan paused only a
moment, making a deep breath. “Medellin Wizardy also found them herself. She
was the most powerful magician of those times. She didn’t need to see the lines
of fate or read minds. She knew everything. By joining six other families later
on, she wanted to make her department a special one. No one was against, as
each family knew that the possession of magic was the greatest gift. That’s why
nowadays the faculty of Wizardy is the highest level of education in Dever.”

“I see. But you didn’t say to which of the families
you
belong.”

“I am,” sadly smiled Evan, “a descendant of the smallest
family – the Wizardy.”

“Wait, I thought you said that Medellin Wizardy came to
the Fairey alone,” I said blankly.

“In fact, even then she wasn’t alone. Medellin was
pregnant, and only after some time, other families found out about it. Marietta
Ventura saw the birth of a child and told the others. Perhaps no one would ever
know about the birth of Lily, Lillian Wizardy, but for her. Lily’s father was a
poor guy who was bewitched by Medellin and tied to her by the love spell. Only
she didn’t know that there were other things in this world, much stronger than
witchcraft. Another woman was in love with that man too and her love was so
strong that the strength of the spell fell and eventually Medellin was left
alone. Later she realized that she was pregnant and wanted to get rid of the
baby, but thanks to Rosemary Feta the girl was saved by combined forces of all
six families. In addition, Medellin had a son, who was about ten years old. She
didn’t tell about his existence to the rest of the families.”