Love lines (39 page)

“Do you know where the first test is to be held?”

“The spot where the arena for the festival was. Everyone
was told to be there at two o’clock.”

“No one but the participants are allowed to come,
right?”

“Right. But everyone will be able to watch the trials
through the screen in the administration building. A crowd of Keepers is here
today, it’s impossible to hide from them anywhere!” he said irritably.

 “That's true. Well, good luck, Dad. I hope this time
luck will really be on your side.”

“Thank you, Christian. I'll try really hard to pass the
tests.”

“By the way, I wanted to ask what time tomorrow we are
planning to leave for the search,” I asked already at the door.

“In the morning I think. I still need to talk to
Frederick. I think he wanted to join us too.”

Saying goodbye to my father, I decided to visit Eileen.
Her classes with Frederick were already finished, and I went to her room,
hoping to find her there. Amanda opened the door.

“I knew it was you,” she said letting me into the room.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?” I asked noticing some
dark-purple spots in her aura.

“I’m not. Put out as usual,” she muttered.

“Quarreled with Lucas?” I assumed.

“Christian, how do you always know everything?” she
snapped, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“Just guessing. So what was the quarrel about?”

“Because of nothing!” she exclaimed upset. “That's the
whole point. Lucas said that it was dangerous for me to go out with you
tomorrow, and I told him that I would decide myself what to do. That's all!”

“He's right,” quietly I noted.

“What? I can’t believe that - you think so too!” she
rolled her eyes angrily.

“Don’t get mad, Amanda, but Lucas can already feel the
auras, so it’s easier for him to sense the danger. And you still need training.
Tomorrow Eileen needs someone to stay on campus with, since Frederick is likely
to come with us.”

“You want to leave us alone here?”

“It’s not dangerous here, and you know perfectly well
that Eileen can’t leave the campus territory. Stay in Evan’s room. It's safe
enough.”

“Perfect!” Amanda muttered leaning back against the
pillows.

“Hasn’t Eileen come back yet?” I wondered.

“As you can see, no. She spends a lot of time with
Frederick, she likes him. How do you think she will react when she finds out
the truth?”

“I don’t know and, frankly, I still don’t want to think
about it. Most likely, she won’t tell him anything, but...”

“She will rant and rave and storm around because we knew
everything,” my sister said.

“I know that. That's why I’m trying not to think about
it yet. The first test will soon begin, do you want to go to see it?” I asked
her, looking at my watch.

“Already? Oh, right, I came back later from my training
today... Of course, let's go.”

I left Eileen a note indicating where she could find us,
just in case, and went to the administration building. Even from the distance
it was clear that a lot of people gathered there. Getting closer, we realized
that the administration had made a mistake in determining the number of present
there.

“Do you think we can get inside?” asked Amanda.

Beatrice answered instead of me.

“Come with me, guys. Go through the back door to my
waiting room, there is a screen there where you can see everything.”

“You are our salvation!” I told her.

“Today I’m everyone’s salvation, Christian. First your
father needed some pills, and then Frederick urgently needed to see Anna.”

“Anna?” Amanda repeated.

“Yes. He wanted to talk to her, and Mrs. Weber was so
busy that she couldn’t take him to her. So I had to do it myself.”

“Do you know what he wanted to talk to her about?” I
asked exchanging glances with my sister.

“No. But he and Eileen were in a hurry.”

“Eileen?” Amanda and I asked with one voice.

Beatrice looked at us with suspicion.

“Are you all right, kids? You are acting funny.”

I pulled out my cell phone and wrote a text message to
Eileen: “
What's going on? Why did you need to meet with Anna?”

 In response there was written:
“Will explain later.
Have no time. I’m with Frederick.”

“What does that mean?” Amanda asked, reading her
message.

“I wish I knew,” I said thoughtfully.

“Well, at least it’s not so noisy here, and the air
conditioning works well,” said Beatrice when we entered the reception room. She
turned on a small TV on the wall in front of her desk. Amanda and I sat on the
couch against the opposite wall. “It’s soon to begin,” added Beatrice making us
two cups of tea.

“Christian, don’t worry,” Amanda squeezed my hand.
“She’s with Frederick, so she couldn’t have better protection.”

“I know, I just keep wondering why they needed Anna.”

“Here’s your chamomile tea, this should help us to calm
down a bit. Honestly, I shouldn’t say this, but I really want Patrick to become
the winner. It’s a pleasure to work with him, not like with Alexis,” Beatrice
grimaced at the memory. 

Amanda and I stared at her moon-eyed. Usually, she
always maintained neutrality when it came to discussing her superiors, but now,
apparently, really supported my father.

“So, dear participants of the qualifying stage,” said
from the screen one of the Keepers who was appointed to conduct the tests this
year. “Today our challenge will test your ability to recognize talents. As the
future head of Dever, you should be ready to do this. We have specially
prepared for each of you three envelopes. There is a letter in each of them,
written by the owner of some talent. Your task is to determine what talents the
authors of those letters have. You have half an hour to complete the task. You
may start.”

The Keeper put envelopes on the desks of each member and
started the timer. I looked closely at how my father begun to scrutinize
envelops. I didn’t know what methods he was using, but almost immediately the
first envelope was put aside, and my father made some notes in his notebook.
The second envelope took longer and putting that aside too, he crossed out some
of his previous notes.

The third envelope, as well as the first one, drew his
attention just for a few seconds. Making the last note he raised his hand to
sign that the test was finished. The Keeper nodded. We had to wait until the
other two candidates completed their tasks.

“All the participants are ready,” he said an hour later.
“Let’s proceed to the discussion.”

Lavender Wilson was able to identify only one talent of
each of the authors. Caroline O’Brian missed only one talent. And then my
father’s turn came.

“The author of the first letter, in my opinion, has no
talent at all,” he said. “He is just a human.”

“That's right,” agreed the Keeper.

“The author of the second letter probably is a
descendant of the Fairey family. A strong power of the spirit can be felt here,
but he may not be a direct descendant but a child of mixed families. So I still
see his tendency to control the water element.”

“Very good, and the last envelope, Mr. Fairey.”

“In the last envelope, I can feel the power of magic.
Very strong magic. I would say that this letter was written by a direct
descendant of the Wizardy. But also there is the energy of the earth here.” 

“You are absolutely right,” said the Keeper with a smile
to my father. “So we have determined the two finalists. They are Mr. Patrick Fairey and Miss Caroline O’Brian. Thank you for your participation, Miss Wilson. Now the
others I will meet tomorrow at the same time, at the same place.”

Beatrice happily clapped her hands. Amanda and I shared
joyful smiles.

“He is brilliant!” Beatrice exclaimed.

We could hear shouts and applause downstairs. People
were congratulating the finalists.

A few minutes later our father entered the room.

“We are so happy for you!” Amanda said.

“Thanks, dear!” replied my father embracing me and my
sister.

“I'm so proud of you, Mr. Fairey!”

“Thank you, Beatrice. Hopefully, we nevertheless still
have an opportunity to work together.”

“Does mom already know?” I asked, walking with Amanda
into father’s office.

“Yes. She just called me. She didn’t come here; there
are too many people downstairs. By the way, the last letter was written by
Evan,” my father said. “I didn’t even have to open it, to feel his power. He is
really a very gifted young man. Where is he? When I saw him last he was going
to join Frederick and Eileen.”

“They are up to something, but we don’t know what it
is,” said Amanda. We told my father about what Beatrice had said before and
about Eileen’s message, sent to my cell phone.

“Have you tried to call them?” he asked, dialling
someone's number.

“No one answers,” I said.

“You are right,” he agreed.

“Maybe we should also go to talk to Anna?” Amanda
suggested.

“There’s no need to,” said Evan, entering the room.

“What's going on?” asked our father.

“You won’t believe this. Eileen is just a genius! She,
Frederick and I were coming back after class, passing by the western gate.
Eileen stopped suddenly in front of the bench  Anna was lying on after I
brought her from Eric. We asked why she had stopped, and she said that she had
felt something. Something very similar to the bond between two people. We
didn’t immediately realize what she was talking about. But then Eileen said
that we needed to see Anna. We followed her to Mrs. Weber’s office. On the way,
she explained that she had felt some traces of dark magic, like the ones that I
taught her to recognize. She suggested that Eric had left these marks on Anna
when was taking her strength, and she, in turn, transferred them to the right
place at the gate.”

Evan stopped and tried to catch some air. While he was
telling us about that it seemed as if he simply forgot to breathe.

“Well,” he continued, “we went to Anna and a closer look
at her was enough for me and Frederick to notice the same traces. She suggested
that Eric had done this without even realizing that he was bonding himself to
Anna, trying to mix his vitality with hers.”

“Wait, Evan,” interrupted my father. “Are you saying
that Anna is now bonded with Eric? That means that she can feel him. Is that
right?”

“Absolutely. She was able to tell us about all his
recent movements.”

“But she had to notice this before, hadn’t she?” asked
Amanda.

“She said that she simply didn’t know how to explain the
images of different places and actions flowing in her head. She doesn’t see
Eric himself, just what he is doing and where he is.”

“And she knows where he is now, right?” asked my father.

“She described some place that Frederic and Elena are
trying to find at the moment. If Eric is really there, they will sense his
presence and call us.”

“Where is Eileen?” I asked Evan.

“We had left her in my room. She needs someone to be
there with her. Maybe you, Amanda, would stay there while we go to find Eric?”

“We don’t have much time,” my father pointed reaching
for his cell. “Amelia! You need to go to Evan’s room to stay there with the
girls. They will explain everything to you, and we have something very
important to do here.”

My father put the phone down and turned to us:

“Take care of Amanda and find Darcy.”

“Darcy is downstairs,” said Evan. “I'll call her.”

“We are going with you, Evan. We are running out of
time,” my father said worried.

Anna promised to get in touch with us if her visions
about Eric changed. Meanwhile we headed for the place where Frederick and Elena
were staying at the moment.

That place turned out to be a mountainside above the
cave, located not far from the area that we explored last time.

“There is definitely someone there,” Elena whispered. “I
can feel it.”

“His energy is too weak,” Frederick admitted.

“We need to separate. If Eric is really there, he will
sense our presence. But there is no other way out of this cave, so if he
decides to run, he will use this exit,” said Elena, pointing toward the dark
slit in the rock.

“Maybe we should tie him up with the forces of
elements?” Darcy suggested. “We have fire, water and earth. The air is not
necessary,” she added looking at me and Evan. She possessed the water herself.

“Good idea, Darcy. At least we will have a few moments
of benefit. Patrick, Elena and I will grab him,” said Frederick.

“If everyone is ready, then let’s go,” whispered Evan.