Reckless Magic (15 page)

“
What about you? I’m sure
this is some breach of contract,” I turned my head to the side and
laid my cheek on the tops of my knees, allowing me to have a full
view of Kiran. He was still in the white undershirt he was wearing
earlier, after I destroyed his polo. The soft, cotton t-shirt clung
to his body. His arms were strong, each muscle clearly defined from
bicep to forearm. His tanned skin looked faultless in the fading
sun; he could not have been more perfect.

“
I do what I want Eden,
Seraphina knows that and you should too,” he looked directly and
deeply into my eyes, causing me to blush.

“
So she is really going to
leave me alone, even if you won’t?” I asked, not sure if I really
wanted him to at that moment. I inhaled deeply through my nose,
willing my nervous body to relax.

“
Yes of course, I asked her
to,” still looking into my eyes, he smiled.

“
Oh, I see, your girlfriend
obeys your every command.” I asked sarcastically. Obviously he was
deluded.

“
She is not my girlfriend,
but I think you get the gist of it.”

“
Sure she’s not,” I rolled
my eyes before positioning my face back into my knees. I couldn’t
look at him anymore; I was finding it hard to think straight.
Energy was vibrating through my heart at an accelerating speed,
feeling more and more like a defibrillator.

“
She’s not,” he softened his
voice and sounded dejected, like he didn’t really believe what he
was saying either.

Dusk turned to dark and the air became
cool. I was still in my muddy tank top from earlier and shivered
under the night breeze. I looked up to notice the fire was getting
smaller because of the wind and silently wished I knew how to
“kindle” it.

My blood suddenly began to boil and
the energy became pin pricks underneath my skin. I felt a little
faint and then the fire burst out into a larger version of itself.
I stared after it stunned, thankful for the warmth and even more
thankful I didn’t injure anyone.

“
Did you do that?” Kiran
half laughed at me.

“
What? No. That’s weird,” I
mumbled, still unable to accept the fact that it was me. I mean,
was it me? I was certainly thinking about the fire, my body had the
strangest reaction right before it happened; but it couldn’t have
been me. A person cannot do things like that. I mean, I may have
been a freak, but I was certainly no magician.

Kiran laughed longer. He scooted over
closer to me and I realized for the first time, that he was not
freaked out by me at all. In fact, in some weird way all of my
strangeness was making him more attracted to me. I decided the poor
thing loved crazy people.

“
What are you laughing at?”
I demanded, determined to prove it wasn’t me. The heat felt good on
my bare skin and the energy that was strong inside of me just
moments before had dwindled down to a soft buzzing.

“
I want to know who you
are,” Kiran replied cryptically.

“
Me too,” I muttered under
my breath. He looked over at me and smiled. I was coming to terms
with the fact that I was comfortable around him and it actually
felt good. He seemed to understand me in a way that I didn’t even
understand myself.

“
Hey, let’s go for a walk,”
he jumped to his feet excitedly; realizing that I had let my guard
down, I instantly put it back up.

“
Why?” I asked, eyes
narrowed, feet planted firmly on the ground.

“
Because a walk will be fun,
we can explore the great Nebraska Wilderness,” it was hard to say
no to his accent, or his eyes, or the child like excitement he was
suddenly full of.

“
I’m not so sure. Are we
even allowed to leave?” I looked over at Mr. Lawly who was exiting
his tent, guitar in hand. I panicked a little. There was no way in
hell I would be singing “Kumbaya” with this group of
people.

“
We won’t get into any
trouble, I promise. I am pretty sure Mr. Lawly is scared of you,”
he smiled wider and I saw he had already made up his mind. Lilly,
whom I had nearly forgotten about was looking at me like I was
crazy if I didn’t go.

“
Fine. Let me get my
sweatshirt.,” I ducked into my tent and grabbed a gray hooded
sweatshirt from one of my old schools out of my backpack. I threw
it on over my dirty tank top and knotted my hair high up on my
head. I contemplated lip gloss, but quickly disregarded
it.

I had no idea what I was thinking
saying yes, but I supposed there was no turning back
now.

15.

I exited my tent, energy buzzing and a
little nervous, but ready for my walk with Kiran through the woods.
I noticed that Talbott and Lilly were standing close together at
the edge of the forest, whispering to each other and giggling.
Apparently it was a double date.

I exhaled and realized I had been
holding my breath. Kiran waited for me by the fire and I joined
him, following the ‘love birds’ into the dark woods. Hello “scene
from very scary movie.”

I stumbled my way around, unable to
see anything through the crowded trees. The night was cloudy, but
the high canopy of branches would block out any light from the
stars or moon anyways. I stayed close to Lilly, grabbing on to her
for support every once in a while. She didn’t seem to have any
problem making her way in the dark; in fact, none of them did. I
was the only one staggering around blindly.

I had always scared easily and so this
scenario without a doubt had me terrified. Every little noise,
every little break of a twig and I was nearly jumping out of my
skin. I couldn’t remember why I had thought this was such a good
idea. An owl hooted nearby and I let out a tiny scream.

“
Calm down Eden, I was only
kidding when I told you there were bears out here,” Kiran sounded
slightly exasperated and I couldn’t blame him. I was
pathetic.

“
I know.... I’m fine,” I
tried to sound confident, but my voice wavered.

“
There’s nothing to worry
about,” Kiran walked from the other side of Talbott and Lilly to be
next to me, and put his hand on my arm, steadying me. “I won’t let
anything happen to you,” he leaned in to whisper, but I could hear
the sarcasm in his voice.

“
Thank you, but I am just
fine,” I ripped my arm out of his hand a little too
dramatically.

“
All right, suit yourself,”
he didn’t attempt to touch me again, but he didn’t leave my side
either.

We wandered silently through the dense
wilderness. The night was very still, even the animals and insects
had seemed to quiet down. The sky was overcast, but every once in a
while the moon would break through the clouds and shine down an
eerie glow around us.

I began to relax after my eyes had
adjusted and I could see where I was going a little better. Lilly
and Talbott had managed to walk ahead of us; I could hear them
talking quietly. I smiled at how relaxed Lilly was around Talbott,
they seemed to be really good for each other. I thought Lilly might
even have made Talbott relax a little as well.

“
I think he would leave me
for her,” Kiran said softly.

“
I didn’t realize you two
were a couple,” I smirked, satisfied with my insult.

“
Oh, you think that’s funny
do you?” Kiran laughed out loud and then reached over to tickle me.
I stumbled in the dark, trying to get away from him but tripped.
Electricity began to steadily hum underneath my skin as I took
Kiran down with me, falling to the ground.

He sat up and shoved my shoulder
gently with the palm of his hand. I could tell he was getting ready
to say something but suddenly I felt a surge of electricity that I
could barely control. I slammed my hand over his mouth, every one
of my muscles on edge.

We had been walking for a while, maybe
thirty minutes and we were pretty far from camp. We had come to a
dead end of sorts as our path was blocked by a tall cliff and wall
of boulders. We would have had to change directions to continue on
our walk.

The energy abruptly surging through my
blood warned me that we were not alone. I hesitated, wondering if
maybe Seraphina or one of her minions followed us, but I usually
could recognize the level of electricity brought on by another
Kingsley student. The pulsing energy I felt now alarmed me of a
greater danger.

“
Lilly, Talbott get down!” I
half whispered, half shouted. They obeyed instantaneously, and I
was surprised they didn’t ask any immediate questions.

“
What is going on?” Kiran
wiggled out from underneath my firm grasp, talking at full
volume.

“
Shh,” I whispered with
force. “I heard something, or felt something.... something is
definitely not right,” I was as confused as I sounded. The hairs
stood straight up on my arms and the back of my neck. I didn't know
how, but I knew something was terribly wrong.

“
You’re right,” Kiran’s
voice had softened to a whisper now and he crawled into a crouching
position. “Talbott do you feel that?”

“
Yes I do. I think we should
get you back to camp,” Talbott was suddenly next to us, along with
Lilly. His arm rested protectively on Kiran and he had positioned
his body in front of him. I was surprised to see that Lilly had
also taken a defensive crouch blocking Kiran’s rear.

Electricity began rushing through my
veins, sending my senses reeling. At first the sensation made me
nauseous, but I adjusted quickly. The very first awareness I
noticed was how vivid my eyesight became. Everything around me
sharpened into the the clearest image, as though I was in the
middle of daylight, only more intense. I could see everything now,
every animal hidden up high in the trees, every insect crawling,
and every spec of dust on the ground.

The electricity pounding through my
veins was intense, but it was also focused. Every one of my senses
was heightened in an unnatural way: my sense of smell, my sense of
sight, hearing, touch and even taste. I felt another sense as well;
although it was unfamiliar and unidentifiable to me, I knew it
existed and I was suddenly aware of how to use it.

My sixth sense, as it were, was
hypersensitive to the physical nature of the world outside of
myself. I could feel everything move around me. I could feel the
leaves move in the trees from the light breeze, and the rocks
crunch under oncoming feet. I felt the moon in the sky and the
stars that were millions of light years away. I felt the center of
the earth pulsating with the rhythm of the universe.

And then I realized that we were not
alone. The change in my nature was a result of other people
surrounding us. I could “feel” distinct entities making their way
towards us, trying to be discreet. Each individual carried their
own dissimilar electrical field, warning me of their
approach.

“
Someone’s coming!” I
whispered fiercely, but by the tense and crouched postures of my
friends, I knew they already realized this. I could feel the
negative aura of the oncoming force. Whoever they were, they meant
us harm.

Before we could react, we were
surrounded. Five hooded figures stood surrounding us, faces all
masked. If it were not for my heightened sense I would have assumed
this was another practical joke, but the focused energy surging
through my veins told me that this was a very dangerous threat. The
heat in my blood readied me for battle, and I barely recognized
myself.

I looked at Kiran, he had stood to his
feet, arms wide, and ready to fight. Adrenaline pumped through my
bloodstream, allowing me to feel no fear, but did nothing for my
confusion. I glanced at Talbott and Lilly and to my surprise they
had both taken the same stance as Kiran. I had no idea who these
people were, but realized a fight was imminent.

Lilly stood with her back facing Kiran
as if to protect him from a rear attack. She looked miniscule
alongside Talbott and Kiran. Even our attackers were large and tall
figures. Although I couldn’t be for sure that they were all men by
the way they were dressed, but if I had to have guessed I would
have assumed they were.

I positioned myself in the protective
circle with the rest of my friends, unsure of what I was capable
of. I would do anything to protect these people, but if push came
to shove, I realized I was going to be the one that needed
protecting. I mimicked their stances, hoping someone would shout
out instructions.

The fight would happen at any moment,
of that I was sure. The only thing we were waiting on was for
someone to make the first move. I considered rushing one of the men
in black, but decided it was probably too risky and definitely too
stupid.

We stared at each other for what
seemed like an hour. I had never witnessed a fight except on TV,
and although I expected for them to pull out guns or some other
type of weapon, nothing appeared. They clearly pursued us, but I
was unclear of how they would begin their attack. Instead of a
weapons fight however, something so unexplainable happened that I
could only stand there staring at all of those around me, mouth
opened wide.

The cloaked figures had surrounded us
on every side. We had our backs towards each other, in a protective
circle around Kiran. The tension was thick and my muscles twitched
in anticipation.