Reckless Magic (32 page)

“
And Jericho?” I asked,
mentally ticking off my list of questions.

“
I shouldn’t have used his
name. But anyways, he is part of the Resistance,” Avalon grabbed a
handful of crackers and shoved them into his mouth like he was
suddenly hungry.

“
The Resistance?” I asked; a
looming feeling of foreboding washed over me. If a resistance was
involved, there was no such thing as an easy solution.

“
Yes, the Resistance. The
only people left brave enough to stand up to this tyranny,” Avalon
exclaimed patriotically, cracker crumbs flying out of his mouth. He
smiled apologetically, and swallowed quickly. After washing it down
with a long drink of tea, he continued, “A lot of Immortals are
unhappy with the king and have been since they instituted the
monarchy. Lucan has done nothing but divide us up and kill us off.
And your boyfriend is the next executioner in line for the thrown.
We plan to change that.”

“
Ok, slow down again. So who
is in this Resistance? Are you only trying to kill Kiran? Or the
whole royal family? What exactly is the purpose of this…
Resistance?” my list of questions just grew longer and longer the
more Avalon tried to explain.

“
I can’t tell you who is in
the Resistance until you join it,” he paused to wink at me and a
suggestive raise of the eyebrows. “It has to be kept completely
secret otherwise they would hunt us down and execute every last one
of us. I’m serious Eden, me telling you this is a gigantic risk;
even saying the word ‘resistance’ is enough to get us thrown into a
Romanian prison. You can’t just run off and let your boyfriend in
on all of our secrets. I mean it: mental lock-down,” he looked at
me with such distrust that I felt ashamed.

“
I’m not an idiot Avalon; I
understand that,” I rebuffed, defensively.

“
I know you’re not an idiot;
I am just not sure whose side you’re on,” when I gave him a dirty
look he answered more of my questions. “And yes we are going after
Kiran, but it is mainly to send a message to his father. Who would
of course be our next target. The kid can’t do much damage yet,
especially when he is so distracted with you; but one day he’ll
hold the keys to this kingdom and I refuse to leave the fate of all
Immortals in the hands of a Kendrick,” I blushed at his reference
to me; completely in denial that I could be that much of a
distraction to anybody.

“
Avalon you haven’t answered
her last question. What exactly is the purpose of our Resistance?”
Principal Saint entered the kitchen arms full of brown paper bags.
The smell of Chinese food filled the room and as soon as he set the
bags down on the counter I snatched one and pulled out a paper
parchment filled with Crab Rangoon. I tore the legs off of the crab
shaped pastry and devoured the fried goodness.

“
Why don’t you do the honors
Amory?” Avalon addressed Principal Saint with a strong familiarity,
and slid a box of fried rice over to himself, digging in with a set
of wooden chopsticks.

31.

“
So you know about the
Resistance?” I asked Principal Saint tentatively, not sure where he
stood on the issue. He entered the kitchen uninvited, and made
himself at home to no one's objections, his arms laden with paper
bags of hot Chinese food.

“
I believe I was the
founder,” Principal Saint smiled at me widely when my mouth dropped
open from disbelief. As the principal of my high school, I found it
hard to imagine him plotting the death of one of its most prominent
students. “That was a long, long time ago however. I’ve been able
to take somewhat of a backseat position for quite some time,”
Avalon rolled his eyes and I could tell that Principal Saint was
not being entirely truthful with me.

“
Sure, sure,” Avalon
mumbled, shoving more rice mixed with Mongolian Beef into his
mouth.

“
Well, at least for the last
sixteen years. You kids have been quite time consuming,” he grinned
again. I was a little taken aback by his casual appearance. His
black hair seemed a little looser; and instead of the double
breasted suits I was used to seeing him in, he donned a pair of
jeans and navy blue polo.

“
What?” I asked, my
disbelief growing.

“
That has been my task since
you were born: to make sure you both survived. So far, so good, but
I think Eden here is bent on destruction,” I gave him an acerbic
squint of the eyes, but half wondered if he was right. “In truth
however, it has been the greatest task I’ve ever been given,” his
expression turned serious, and something in his eyes gave me a
foreboding anxiety that I couldn’t explain.

“
Why is that?” I choked
out.

“
Well, let’s just say that
you two are very important to the survival of our species,” I
opened my mouth to ask him to explain further, but he continued
quickly. “Back to your question concerning the king, or Lucan. He’s
the same as his father and his father’s father, and the king before
that. They are all tyrants. They care only for the survival of
their bloodline and have been chasing immortality since the day
they lost it.”

“
So we really can’t live
forever anymore? Kiran could have died last night?” I asked
quietly, afraid of the answer.

“
Anything is possible. Some
of us have definitely lived longer than others,” he smiled almost
humbly as if he were embarrassed of something.

“
And we all live longer than
them,” Avalon said “them” with such disgust that I had no doubt he
was referring to the Kendricks.

“
You haven’t lived longer
than anyone yet, Avalon,” Principal Saint addressed him with
authority and I saw Avalon look down at his food with a half-smile
on his face; as if he didn’t quite take Principal Saint seriously.
“But it would have taken a lot more than a long fall to kill Kiran
Kendrick. He’s just fine Eden, you’ll see him at school tomorrow,
I’m sure.”

“
So what can kill us?” I
asked, once again afraid of the answer.

“
Only another Immortal can
kill us and in very dire circumstances,” Principal Saint shook his
head as if refusing to say more. “And then there is something we
call the King’s Curse; but so far it seems to only affect a person
after a long life. It is much like dying of old age, only a little
more gruesome than that I suppose.”

“
Why is it called the King’s
Curse?” I asked reaching for an egg roll.

“
Because that is exactly
what it is,” Principal Saint’s voice hardened. “It is a curse
brought on our people by the first king, Derrick Kendrick, and
grows stronger after every consecutive Kendrick that rules,” when I
gave him a curious expression, he continued. “You see before we had
a king our people had never experienced death. For a couple
thousands of years we had walked the earth without death. Nothing
could be done to us that we could not heal from, and no sickness or
plague affected us. We simply lived, our powers growing stronger
every year longer we survived. Finally, however, there were too
many of us, we outnumbered the humans, and we were spread across
the globe. Instead of thanking God for our blessings, the people
grew complacent and cried out for a king. The Immortals wanted to
live like the humans; even though we lived with abilities the
humans couldn’t even comprehend; even though the humans lived in
war and hunger and under oppression, still our people called for a
king. So they elected one. One of the strongest Immortals to ever
walk the earth; and how did he thank them? By destroying them.
First order of business, he hunted the Oracles down and executed
them.”

“
Not all of them,” Avalon
interrupted.

“
All of them died that day,”
Principal Saint growled back.

“
Avalon has mentioned the
Oracles before, but I guess I still don’t get it. And how did he
execute them if no one had died?” I asked naively and
confused.

“
The Oracles were elders who
guided the people before the king. They acted as a reference for
disputes, and other issues that arose. They were one of the first
and strongest of our species. But at that time, every kind married
each other; there was no distinction between races. Because of
that, the magic was much stronger than it is today. You see a witch
could marry a titan and together they could have a medium for a
child. The magic was mixed; but each individual would display
certain attributes defining what they were capable of. Derrick
killed them by first draining their magic and then they were easily
murdered just like any normal human being would have been," I
Thought for a moment Amory was going to be sick. A look of pure
nausea passed across his face, but then it was gone and he
continued, "The second thing Derrick did was to cut off the magic
from mingling. Each race, by king’s edict, was henceforth forbidden
to intermarry. This singled the magic out, not only weakening its
power, but cursing us for generations to come. The King’s Curse
spread wildly, destroying most of the older generations first, and
then working its way down, cutting our numbers by millions. It hit
the king’s household the hardest however. And to this day every
king we have dies young comparatively, and worst of all they are
only gifted with one male heir. It has been like this for king
after king after king. Yet, they continue to oppress us, enforcing
the rules even more harshly these days.”

“
So that is why Kiran has to
marry a psychic? Because he’s a psychic?” I asked, thinking very
selfishly of my own problems.

“
Well, in order to prolong
their lives and strengthen their powers the royal family is both
witch and psychic. They alternate what type of wife they take.
Lucan took a witch, and now Kiran must take a psychic in order to
ensure the equality of magic,” Principal Saint explained this as if
it made perfect sense, but I found this entire history lesson a bit
confusing.

“
So if the royal family is
responsible for all of this, how come the Resistance has to be a
secret? Why don’t we all just rise up against them and take over
peacefully?” I asked, hoping for a better solution than murdering
Kiran.

“
Because of the f-ing
Guard,” Avalon shouted out impatiently.

“
What Avalon means, is in
our weakened state, most Immortals wouldn’t stand a chance against
the Titan Guard. They are too skilled in battle; the community as a
whole understands that we would all die. Their combat skill is what
sets them apart, what defines them as Immortals.”

“
And the Titan Guard is ok
with how things are being run?” I asked thinking of Talbott and his
utter loyalty to Kiran.

“
Well, if they aren’t
there’s nothing they can do about it,” Avalon interrupted
again.

“
When Derrick was first
crowned king, the Guard gave a blood oath to protect the royal
family as long as there was any living heir. If the Guard breaks
their oath they will also all die. They have no choice,” Principal
Saint looked grim and tired. The lines in his face had become more
pronounced, making him look ancient.

“
But they definitely are the
bad guys? I mean the royal family?” I didn’t really need to ask the
question, I knew the answer; but I was having a hard time accepting
it.

“
Of course they are!” Avalon
nearly exploded. “They are the reason we are dying, they are the
reason we live in fear, and they are the reason your friend Lilly
is in jail!”

“
Lilly?” I asked in a small
voice.

“
Yes, Lilly.” Principal
Saint replied with more control than Avalon. “When Derrick took the
thrown, he exiled all shape shifters. He made their very existence
illegal. If they were found in hiding, they were lucky to only get
a prison sentence. After Lucan took the thrown, their circumstances
worsened extremely. They can barely call their existence living.
Lilly was not hiding; she was very much out in the open. And to add
circumstance to conviction she was not only attending the same
school as the Crowned Prince, but happened to be nearly alone with
him in the middle of the forest, isolated. Thankfully for Avalon,
the king currently blames her for the attack on Kiran’s life. They
have not even tried to look further for more details. In his mind,
she was the traitor and the orchestrator of the attack.”

“
Thankfully for Avalon, but
what about her?” it was my turn to get fired up and I stood up out
of my stool, knocking it over behind me. My face flushed red and I
turned humbly to retrieve it before sitting back down to listen to
the answer.

“
I don’t know, my dear. I
have been called to testify, but I’m sure my testimony will only
feed the jury more evidence of her crimes, since I genuinely had no
idea of her true identity either,” Principal Saint looked truly
distraught.

“
But why? She fought against
Avalon, she tried to help Kiran! It doesn’t make sense that they
would blame the attack on her. Kiran and Talbott were both there, I
was there, can’t we testify?” I struggled to understand what was so
difficult about this. Lilly hadn’t done anything wrong.

“
I know that and you know
that. But my standing in the community is very precarious; I have
to be careful of the battles I choose. And you Eden, are absolutely
forbidden to go anywhere near that trial. You’re very fortunate
Lucan hasn’t discovered you yet. I can’t say much for Kiran, but he
seems to want to keep you a secret just as much as we do. I am
afraid of his motives however,” Principal Saint looked down at the
counter he was leaning up against and said his last few sentences
quietly, as if he were talking to himself and not to us.