Reckless Magic (34 page)

“
Ok, fine. But why couldn’t
we go after school?” I asked, as the remorse set in for skipping
class.

“
Don’t worry about that. We
have permission,” Avalon replied confidently.

“
Sure. Sure,” I decided not
to argue the point as another wave of car sickness washed over
me.

Just when I had decided I couldn’t
take anymore and the car ride seemed endless; Avalon shut off the
engine and let out a huge sigh of contentment. “We’re here,” he
said as if referring to his home.

I opened my eyes and breathed a sigh
of relief. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I was content
with what I saw. We were surrounded on every side by corn and bean
fields. The rows of farmland stretched on and on as far as I could
see, rolling over hills and down into shallow valleys. The gravel
road that got us here seemed endless as well, and I mentally
calculated how fast Avalon had to be driving on it to get us here
as quickly as he did.

Avalon was parked in front of a large
two-storied farmhouse that looked as if it was just given a fresh
coat of white paint; the black shudders also looked new. A long
porch wound around the front of the house to the side and back
where I couldn't see. A boy and a girl that seemed about the same
age as Avalon and I, swung back and forth on a porch swing hanging
from the ceiling.

A beautiful flower garden sat next to
the house and I could see a woman working strenuously in it to pull
weeds. Down from the garden was a large modern barn made out of
steel siding. I noticed the green of John Deer tractors just inside
the door. Behind the barn was a large fenced in area where I could
see horses milling about inside its boundaries.

When Avalon jumped down from his
truck, several teenage boys exited the barn entrance and made their
way over to us. Avalon waved at me to come with him, and I obeyed,
hesitantly. I tugged at my school uniform, embarrassed for some
reason to be wearing it here.

“
Well, Eden, welcome to the
Resistance,” Avalon gave me a roguish smile and gestured widely
with his arms as I took my place at his side.

“
No way,” I said softly, but
disbelievingly. I didn’t know what I had expected the Resistance to
look like, but a quiet farm, surrounded by all the beauty Nebraska
had to offer was not it.

The woman in the garden looked up from
her work and smiled at Avalon. She took off her work gloves and sat
them down before joining the others. Avalon leaned against his
truck smugly and I took in the extraordinary view again. I was
suddenly nervous and not sure what to do with my hands.

“
Welcome, welcome,” the
woman reached us first. She walked straight over and embraced me.
“We are all so happy to have you here, finally,” she sounded as if
they had been waiting for me to come forever. Magic buzzed all
around and I could inwardly feel all of their Immortal
power.

I hugged her awkwardly, musing at her
energy. In fact, all of their magic seemed different than the magic
at Kingsley. Their electricity felt lighter somehow, weightless. I
hadn’t even noticed the heavy feeling at Kingsley before, but now
that I was surrounded by these people I felt a huge difference. It
was almost as if their magic was somehow made of light. I was
overwhelmed by the sensation, but I felt at home at the same
time.

“
We meet again,” a very
familiar voice greeted me next and I pulled out of the embrace of
the woman realizing that I hadn’t caught her name yet.

“
Jericho,” I mumbled with
mixed feelings as I turned to greet the boy who was not that long
ago trying to kill me.

“
Eden,” he mimicked with
faux menace and I was able to pick him out of the gathering
crowd.

He was definitely nothing I expected.
Jericho seemed to be close to my age, maybe a year or two older. He
had chocolate brown hair that hung roughly around his chin, a
little bit shorter than Avalon’s. His large hazel eyes gazed into
mine with an expression I couldn’t read. His nose was a little
crooked as if it were broken in a fight and his sinister mouth,
curved into an amused smile.

Jericho reached out a long muscled arm
to shake my hand. He was almost as tall as Avalon, and each of his
muscles were clearly defined underneath a white t-shirt. He was a
little bit sweaty, evidence that he had been working in the barn. I
took his hand tentatively, unsure what to expect.

He took my hand, firmly shaking it in
his warm grasp. He smiled wider at me before giving me a playful
wink and letting my hand go from his. My hand fell limply to my
side as I stared at him with mouth half opened. He tucked his hair
back behind his ear and I couldn’t help but find him completely
adorable.

“
Oh, brother,” Avalon
sighed.

“
You tried to kill me,” I
accused defensively, covering up my initial reaction and replacing
it with mock defensiveness.

“
No I didn’t,” Jericho was
just as defensive, but I saw the playfulness behind his eyes. I was
suddenly embarrassed at my outburst as the crowd around us stayed
silent, listening to our diatribe. “I only tried to keep you out of
the way so we could get the job done. It’s not my fault if you
needed a little extra discipline,” other boys around him snickered
and I felt the heat rush to my cheeks.

“
Oh really? I’m the one who
needed discipline? If I remember right you were getting your ass
kicked,” I shot back out of pride and watched with
self-righteousness as his tan cheeks colored quickly to match the
shade of mine.

“
Enough. You’re both
awesome,” Avalon interrupted, if not sarcastically and pushed me
towards the barn. I walked silently, brooding next to
him.

Once inside the coolness of the barn,
we took seats made of hay bales in the back, near the horses. A
large white board was positioned on the wall with names and
locations I didn’t recognize. I stayed close to Avalon, using him
as a security blanket. Jericho sat across the semi-circle from me
and I noticed a glance from him about every five seconds. I
couldn’t tell if he was angry, or curious or what.

As everyone filed in to take their
seats, Avalon stood up from the hay bale we were sharing and took
his place in the front of the room. The woman from the garden
filled his seat and placed her arm around my shoulders. At first I
was uncomfortable with her closeness and the unfiltered flow of
magic between us. Not a very touchy person myself, her lack of a
personal bubble was hard for me take.

“
Alright everyone. Let’s
give our attention to Avalon,” the woman said authoritatively. She
must have been in her seventies or eighties, but her hair was still
long and flowed down in white curls from the low pony tail she
wore. Her skin was hardly wrinkled, except near her eyes and smile.
Her frame was anything but frail, and I could tell that she was
strong despite her skinny bones.

“
Thank you Angelica,” Avalon
smiled at her with an emotion on his face that I couldn't read. I
remembered that Amory had told me after Avalon moved in with me
that he was raised by someone named Angelica after we were split up
as infants. I realized this was her and I suddenly felt more
comfortable around her. "First order of business today is Eden,”
Avalon turned to me and waggled his eyebrows. I was nervous, what
did he mean me? “Well, this is it, this is the Resistance. Are you
ready to join?” my mouth dropped open and I stood up
instinctively.

I felt like I had just walked into a
trap. What did that mean to join the Resistance? Did it mean I had
to help them murder Kiran? Did it mean I had to plot against a king
I knew nothing about? I turned from my standing position and walked
as quickly as I could back the way I came. I could never hurt
Kiran. Joining the Resistance was impossible.

33.

“
What is wrong with you?”
Avalon asked half concerned, half pissed off.

He followed me immediately outside and
didn’t let me get nearly as far away from the barn as I would have
liked. The sun was warm despite the cool autumn breeze of October.
The trees surrounding the farmhouse had turned to brilliant shades
of orange and red. The fields had been fully harvested and made
ready for the winter coming soon.

“
I can’t be a part of this
Avalon. I wish you would have given me some warning; maybe a head’s
up, like hey we’re on our way to dig your grave,” I rolled my eyes
and folded my arms defiantly.

“
Ok, first of all. You would
have known what we were doing if you would use your magic just an
eency bit. Second of all, it was nice of me to give you the option,
but you don’t really have a choice. And lastly, if you don’t join
this, then we are all going to die!” Avalon was animated in his
very characteristic dramatic way, I fought back a smile and forced
myself to focus on the fact that his surprise attack, really just
pissed me off.

“
Stop being the
self-righteous martyr,” I quipped harshly.

“
And stop pining over the
one guy that you can’t have, the one guy who is only using you, the
one guy whose sole purpose is to kill everyone you love,” I closed
my mouth sharply, not realizing it had been open. Tears welled up
in my eyes and I watched Avalon flinch from remorse.

“
I’m pretty sure he’s not
the only guy using me; and I can promise you he’s not the only guy
trying to kill everyone I love,” I could barely get the words out
before tears began to fall down my cheeks.

“
Except if I am the one who
gets me killed, at least it will be on my terms. I’m not going to
live in oppression under a violent dictator only to die of a
horrible disease that could strike at any moment,” Avalon folded
his arms the same way I fold mine, and I noticed the same defiant
expression cross his face. I was kept in the dark so often that
sometimes my biggest moments of revelation came through Avalon’s
side of the argument.

“
What about the using me
part?” I asked timidly.

“
Maybe I’m using you, well
not you, but, fine, your magic,” he admitted. “But if I’m using
you, it’s with your best interest in mind.” he gave me a playful
grin.

“
Sure it is,” I stuck out my
bottom lip in a mock pout.

“
It’s true. I’m not the only
one who’s stronger when we’re together,” he turned to walk back
into the barn; he thought he had won the argument. Please Eden, we
need you. His voice was in my head, and I could feel, more than
hear the desperation in his emotion.

“
I’m not saying that I’m
joining. But I will listen to the rest of your meeting,” he turned
and bowed a little with his hands pressed together. I kicked a rock
at him, sending it with extra force via magic and watched him duck
out of the way just in time.

Instead of sitting down in my previous
place I chose to stand in the back, hoping to remain anonymous. I
knew that it was impossible since every person in the room was
tuned into my magical current, just like I was tuned into theirs.
Their lighter, brighter magic was unique and interesting. I felt
their currents flow, each distinctive, almost illuminating their
person. It was as if their blood was glowing from underneath their
skin, only in an invisible way; like I could have seen it glow if I
had held a black light up to them.

Avalon began the meeting by updating
the group of twenty or so Immortals about the skirmish on the
rooftop at Kingsley a few weeks ago. My cheeks burned hot as he
recounted a little too in detail what went wrong and how lucky they
were to get out of there discretely.

The five guys who were involved were
all given pats on the back or some variation of a high five or fist
pound. They were apparently all part of the reconnaissance team.
Besides Avalon and Jericho, there were three other boys, all
probably two or three years older than me. Avalon seemed to be the
youngest and I found it odd that even though he was the youngest in
the entire room he seemed to also be the leader.

Avalon then began to recount the
positions of others all over the world. He named names and places I
had never heard before. As small as this room of twenty appeared,
it seemed there were hundreds of others all over the
globe.

I had had as much trouble taking the
Resistance seriously as I did the whole kingdom and monarchy thing,
but it might be more major than I could actually imagine. The way
Avalon talked it appeared as if these five boys made up the most
skilled reconnaissance team, but there were several others around
the world. Avalon and his boys were in Brazil like he said; only he
wasn’t with his parents, but rather on a decoy and extraction
mission.

Avalon continued to relay information
and answer questions until the light began to soften outside the
barn doors. I turned, a little bored, and a little lost to look at
the beautiful sunlight outside. The sky had turned brilliant shades
of orange, red and pink and the sun was a blazing ball of yellow as
it set behind the rolling hills of the Nebraska plains.

A black sedan drove slowly across the
gravel driveway and parked next to Avalon’s truck. A tall man,
dressed nicely and donning a bowler hat stepped out of the vehicle
and walked with purpose towards the barn. As he got closer I picked
up on his magical current and recognized Principal Saint, or Amory.
The image was vaguely familiar and I had the strangest feeling of
de ja vu.