Knowledge: The Fifth Division Saga: Book 1 (19 page)

              Which was great considering Ash had more than a little resentment to punch out.

              In a sudden burst of frustration, having barely budged the bag with his jabs, he jumped up and kicked the stubborn thing with all his might. It didn’t move an inch.

            
 
“Stupid!” He glared at his emotionless foe and shoved it only to collapse against the leather bag and sigh with exhaustion.

            
 
“You know, they say it’s a sign of insanity when you start yelling at inanimate objects.”

              Ash looked up from his embrace with the punching bag and saw Erion stride over, fists jammed into his pockets and a solemn expression on his face. When he reached Ash he looped his arms under his armpits and pulled his friend to his feet. All Ash wanted to do was fall over and pass out, maybe not wake up for another couple of years, but clearly, Erion would have none of that.

              “What are you doing here exactly?” Erion asked sternly, in his no-monkey-business voice.

            
 
“Clearly, I am having an argument with this idiot.” Ash gestured to the punching bag, “He started it, I swear.”

            
 
“Yeah well I’m ending it. Seriously mate, what’s up?”

            
 
“Nothing.”

              Erion stared at Ash’s bloody knuckles, eyebrows raised, “Yeah, I can see that.”

            
 
“What are you doing here, Erion?”

            
 
“I saw you leave. You looked distraught. Thought I should see if something was up.”

              Ash ruffled his looming black Knowledge and shook out his stinging injured hand, “Well you thought wrong. Go home, I’m fine.”

            
 
“Is this about Mira?”

              Ash didn’t answer.

            
 
“Figures. I’ve known you for seventeen years and never have I seen you like this. What happened?”

              Ash ignored his friend and walked away from the punching bag over to the medical table in the corner of the room, looking for some tape to fix up his hand. He opened the drawer, found what he was looking for, and tore off a sizable piece. He wrapped his knuckle tightly and watched as the blood slowly began to seep through the white bandage.

              Erion appeared beside him, increasing Ash’s irritation level. But Erion spoke past Ash’s glare with genuine concern, “Look, I know you don’t want to talk about it but let me just say this: if you want something, go get it.”

              Ash met those sky blue eyes, sharp anger and fear pumping through his veins, “You know very well why I can’t do that. Do not mock me.”

            
 
“I’m not mocking you, idiot! I’m being serious.”

            
 
“It wouldn’t be fair to her.”

            
 
“Do you not think it should be her choice?”

            
 
“She doesn’t know.”

            
 
“She knows enough. Do not let something good slip through your fingers; because once she’s gone, she won’t be coming back.”

              And with that Erion spun on his heel and walked out the door.

*

            
 
“Thanks for asking me to do this.” I said as Roman and I stood in departing.

            
 
“Same.” He flashed his white teeth at me and I smiled back.

              I punched his shoulder, feeling more comfortable around Roman after only an hour of talking than I ever had with most people I had met in my entire life, “You’re a good listener, has anyone ever told you that?”

            
 
“Maybe once or twice.” He grinned and socked me back, “Not to mention, you kinda have to be a good listener when you can’t get a word in whether you wanted to or not.”

            
 
“Are you saying I talk too much?”

            
 
“I didn’t say anything of the sort!” He laughed and I easily joined him. I glanced at the sky overhead and noticed that the Elemental quadrant had developed to an almost pitch black shade, the time had slipped away from us.

            
 
“Well, see you tomorrow.”

              He nodded and said, “Who is he?”

            
 
“What?”

            
 
“Who is the guy you’re into?”

              I blinked, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

              Roman chuckled softly and made a
tutting
noise with his tongue, “Don’t pull that, Mirabelle Daily. This entire time you’re mind has been elsewhere. So I figure that you are either stressed or having romantic thoughts...or more than likely: both.”

            
 
“You have no shame, do you?” I could tell by the determined gleam in his eye that I was not getting away with this, “It’s complicated.”

            
 
“Does he know you like him?”

            
 
“I don’t even like him. He’s annoying and rude and cocky. I think I might actually hate him, to be honest.”

            
 
“Sure, you do.”

              I sighed, “We aren’t exactly on good terms right now. By the way, you’re weirdly intuitive for a dude.”

              He placed a hand on my shoulder and looked at me with his electric blue eyes, “Look, Mira, I have had my fair share of relationships. I’ve learned quite a bit. I see it as being only fair to help the less experienced by giving valid advice.”

            
 
“Oh, so you’re some sort of love guru?”

“Well, as the Prince, many girls are simply lining up out the door for my hand, you know. So yeah, sort of.”

            
 
“
Prince?
”

              He bowed, a smirk on his face, “The one and only. Well, for Wielders that is.”

            
 
“Uh, well that was unexpected.”

              He grinned, “Listen, if you have feelings for someone, whether it be hate or love, I find that it is best if those feelings are right out in the open. It prevents confusion.”

              I laughed, slightly in shock at this news, “Well, Your Highness, you think I should tell him?”

            
 
“Yeah.”

            
 
“That I hate him or that I like him?”

            
 
“Hm. Both.”

            
 
“And who the heck drops a bomb like that out of the blue? ‘I’m the Prince of Wielders’, you couldn’t have snuck that in during class at all? Or maybe sometime in the past hour?”

            
 
“I’m a huge fan of the element of surprise. But you have important business to attend to, so goodnight.”

              Roman hugged me abruptly with a quick goodbye and I trotted down the hill, my stomach twisting in knots and my mind as jumbled as it had ever been.

*

              Ash dashed out of the training facility and wove through the empty Elemental streets.

              His feet pounded against the uneven cobblestone path. No matter how hard he pumped his arms and urged his legs to move quicker, he felt that he moved in slow motion. His Knowledge ached to spread out and glide in the air, but he knew the rules. He would have to remain on foot despite the overwhelming urge to take off.

              Only half a mile away now; he could see the candlelight streaming from the palace windows and the magical ivy that grew along the stone walls…now only a quarter of a mile…only feet away. He sucked in a deep breath, his face salty and muscles sore from exertion. He bounded across the drawbridge and through the front entrance without a single pause or hesitation. His bloody hand complained achingly.

              A soft voice in the back of his mind argued, screaming at him that this was a terrible idea. He knew what he was and he knew he could not put Mirabelle in a position where he would be bound to hurt her. But that voice soon became drowned out by the icy determination that had overcome his brain. Erion’s voice echoed in his mind,
If you want something, go get it.
He ran up the spiral staircase, taking two steps at a time. He distantly realized he dripped with sweat, he was disgusting and probably smelled like a sewer.

              But he did not care.

              He stopped sprinting when he came to the landing and bathed in the warm light pouring from her propped open doorway. From this angle, he could barely see the sliver of her small frame as she sat at her vanity, trying in vain to tame her wild mane of red curls. Irritated she ripped the brush from her crimson tangles and sighed.

              Ash, once again, found himself hopelessly in awe of her easy beauty and the way she barely noticed she possessed it. He admired her subtle confidence that allowed her to be witty and striking while not being arrogant. All Elementals were beautiful by human standards, it was part of the description. But something about Mirabelle gave her something extra, a trait he could not put his finger on that marked her as uniquely lovely. Maybe her scarlet colored hair and the way her looping curls cascaded down her back. Perhaps her eyes, such a startling shade of gray, they could have been made up of morning fog. Her snow white skin, rose red lips, or petite stature? And her Knowledge, which floated wispy and delicate above her shoulders, more dazzling and special than anything he had ever seen. Ash really could not pinpoint it. And he could care less that she was some sort of Wielder and Elemental hybrid. All he knew was that she was special and he had been pretending for far too long that he did not see that.

              A floorboard creaked beneath his weight and she froze in her seat. Ash’s heart throbbed horribly, creating the urge to both burst in and run away simultaneously. She set the comb down, probably wondering who lurked just outside her door. Ash knew he had blown his cover. In his life, he had always stayed away from others, worried about what his proximity might do to them. The only people who ever dared to be within a few feet of him were the Wilmots, seeing as they were the most stubborn  Elementals in all of Nostos and swore he was more a danger to himself than anyone else on his own. Erion had always been there for him, had always given him the best advice even when Ash plugged his ears to try and tune him out. But Erion had never failed to be right.

              So why would he be wrong now?

              Mirabelle rose to her feet, gripping a couple tubes of lip gloss as if she was going to pelt the intruder with them. Ash stifled a chuckle as he thought of that first night, when she had chucked a shirt full of apples at him and Erion. He made a mental note to teach her better self defense in the near future.

            
 
“Who’s there?” She called out, voice shaky.

              Ash, knowing he could hide in the dark no longer, set his jaw and flung himself into her room, assuring himself that he had nothing to lose.

*

              Fear clenched the insides of my stomach.

              I had heard someone creeping up the staircase but the squeaky floorboard was a dead giveaway. I thought at first it might have been Iris, searching for consolation from a nightmare (she had been having a lot of those lately) or maybe Caspian just wanting to talk. But when the person hovered behind my door suspiciously, I grew worried that this was no friend to me.

              In desperation for any sort of weapon, I snatched some tubes of lip gloss, which I had never so much as opened, and prepared to launch them at the intruder, whoever they might be. “Who’s there?” I tried to sound forceful but I could hear the quaver in my voice. I cursed myself for being afraid.

              Out of nowhere, the door whipped open and without thinking I threw one of the metal sticks with all of my might, praying it would fly straight and nail the target right in the…

            
 
“HOLY CRAP!” Ash slapped his hand to his cheek and clenched his teeth in pain.

            
 
“Oh! I’m so sorry! I thought you were a murderer or something.”

            
 
“Yeah, because there are loads of that sort running around here aren’t there?”

              I thought of the girl on the university steps. “You never know.”

            
 
“Remind me to never underestimate your choice in ammo again, will you?”