Spearwood Academy Volume Five (3 page)

“I didn’t kill him.”

“Of course you didn’t. I don’t think you’re capable of committing such an act. Especially to someone you loved more than your own life.”

I look into his bi-colored eyes. “How do you know that? The guys barely knew that.”

“I know things. I see things.”

My stomach turns. Something about the tone of his voice sets an unease within me. “What are you?” I think back to what Ingrid showed us at the Orchard. Her sister bound her to a chair with rope, a rope that a man with one green and one blue eye had given her. It can’t be a coincidence that Kearn has the same colored eyes. How common can that combination be?

He smiles. “Someone with the future in my best interest.”

“What does that mean?”

“That is a conversation for another day, for after you survive tomorrow.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“You will. There will be something you will want to see at the end.”

I run a hand through my blonde curls. “Care to elaborate?”

“I can’t.”

“Of course.”

He motions to the tray of food, the dome-like lid still on it. “Please, eat and get your strength back, Miss Avalon. I’ll be rooting for you tomorrow.”

I nod, and he steps out of my room, closing the door behind him. Once again, I’m alone.

I
lie in bed, playing with both of the necklaces that rests against my chest. The crystal keeps me from changing, and the glass locket serves as the only connection I have to a life with Edgar, which now seems light years away, not mere weeks. None of this should’ve happened.

They keep telling me to go on and live through tomorrow, to fight for my life, but I just want to lie here and mourn. No, what I want is to feel is Maverick’s strong arms wrapped around me, making me feel secure, as we sleep together.

What will happen to me tomorrow? Edgar always talked about Utopia, where the Sun god shines. I don’t know if I believe in that. I say Dear Sun god, but it has just become another phrase, like
oh my gosh
. I mean, it could be real. There are supernatural creatures walking the Earth after all. I honestly don’t know what I believe anymore.

I still need to tell Bullock about the chip Maverick essentially died for. It could have information on it that could help with the coming war, and who knows what else. If I die tomorrow, he’ll never know about it, and his only other allies have been brainwashed not to know him personally anymore.

‘Bullock?’
I venture, reaching out to him with my thoughts. He did say all I had to do was think about needing to speak to him for it to work.

‘You should be sleeping. You need your strength for tomorrow.’

‘Could you sleep if you were in my situation?’

‘I was sleeping.’

‘Congratulations. I’ll run out and buy you a trophy right now.”

I swear that he mentally sighs.
‘Do you need to talk about Hansen, or something?’

My breath hitches.
‘No.’
I swallow hard. A small part of me does want to talk about Maverick, but not with him, with Paden, the only other person who knew him as well as I did, but at this moment he wants nothing to do with me at all.

‘
Oh. Then why are we talking?’

‘I remembered something I need to tell you. One of the reasons we were at the cabin was because I needed to talk to him about a chip Perlow gave me. Neither of us is good with the technology of this world, but I have no doubt there’s something important on that thing. If I don’t make it tomorrow . . .’

‘You will. I have no doubt about that.’

‘If I don’t . . . you should know the chip is hidden in one of the side pillows of the couch in front of the main floor’s fireplace. Just unzip it.’

‘You can show me after your survival challenge.’

‘Bullock.’

‘Clementine.’

‘Well, I told you. You can go back to sleep now.’

‘Thank you.’

My mind, once again, goes silent. Now, it’s just my thoughts and me, and that prospect scares me more than what will happen in the morning.

I
don’t know when sleep overtook me, but it must’ve at some point. I guess even my body has its limits to how many days it can stay awake with insomnia-driven thoughts.

‘Clementine, you need to wake up. And when you do, don’t make any sudden movements.’

Sweat trickles down the side of my brow and falls into my ear. I scrunch my face and rub the awful tickle away. The scent of rotten eggs surrounds me. I cover my nose, but my hand does nothing to mask the rancid smell. Nausea rolls in my stomach, but I keep the vomit at bay.

I open my eyes, but keep my body still. Where in hell am I?  I lie on top of hot stone. Fumes of some kind drift upward all around me.

I glance down at my clothes. Someone has changed them for me, and my golden cuffs have disappeared. Now I’m wearing the Spearwood uniform. I pat for the necklaces  resting safely under my white polo.

I sit up. The rock isn’t that wide. One roll in either direction and over the edge I would go. With hesitation, I peer over the side. Several hundred feet below me, lava rolls.

‘
Look up. Your scroll is coming.’

Sure enough, the gold scroll, which resembles the one from my previous survival trial, floats down, and I catch it.

‘How can you see what I'm doing?'

'They've turned this into an event and are allowing us to watch you through a screen in the ballroom.'

'How
Hunger Games
of them.'

'Concentrate and open the damn scroll. You need to know your objective, so you can get out of that volcano.'

'Being a fire shifter has really helped me out here. I don't think I could stand the heat otherwise.'

I break the wax SA seal and unravel the gold paper. What a waste of money and resource.

Gather the gems and find the crown that will decide your true fate. May the Sun god shine for your soul.’

Decide my true fate? I thought that’s what surviving this damn trial was for? If I survive, they’ll let me go free, and if I don’t, I’ll be killed. There’s more to this than they’re letting on.

‘
I think one of the gems they’re talking about is just outside of the volcano. You have to get out of there. Fly, I guess.’

‘I won’t be able to catch air in this heat. They want me to suffer through this, not whistle and skip my way to the end. Best I can do is use my wings as gliders.’

‘They’ll know something’s up if your scales are gold and not the grey they assigned to this warped version of you.’

Before I have a chance to figure out what they have up their sleeves, and if it’s a good idea to shift my wings, the rock under me crack around the edges.

I guess, they made the decision for me. I crouch on my feet and focus on just my wings coming out of my back. The old memories of Edgar teaching me the basics echo in my mind.

“Focus on just the part yau need, nothing else. Clear your thoughts of everything, and the shift will happen.”

I focus on the color as well. If the Sea Witch could manipulate my mind when it was warped to give her a golden scale, and they could do it to change me into an air dragon, I should be able to morph the color myself by sheer force of will power. I just hope it doesn’t wipe my energy reserves as well. 

The material of my polo shirt allows my wings push themselves through and melds back around where they connect with my back. I glance over my shoulder dark grey wings meet me. I smirk. I didn’t even know that was possible. Can all shifters do that?

‘You made them grey. How the hell did you do that?’

‘Sheer willpower. I figured it was all in the mind.’

‘At least they won’t suspect anything for now. I bet that was a trap to see if the warp worked this time.’

I jump from the rock just as it crumbles underneath me. The heat makes it almost impossible to catch any type of air. If it weren’t for the fact I have dragon wings, I would be in the lava already. I shift my hands and arms as I reach out for the side of the volcano, allowing my wings to guide my jump there. Like a pickaxe, I sink my onyx talons into the stone.

I groan as my body slams into the scalding rock. With a bit of effort, I pull one set of talons out of the rock and swing my body up higher, grasp further up. Chunks of rock fall away and into the molten earth below. I do the same thing again with the other hand as if I’m climbing a strange ladder. Sweat rolls down my face and into my eyes, making them sting. I just have to make it to the top.

I’m nearly halfway there when a
rumble
shakes the volcano, and my grip almost fails me. Below, lava rolls and hits harder against the sides of the volcano.

‘It’s going to erupt. You have to get out of their now! The gem you need will be a hundred yards to the west when you get out.’

I flap my wings, but they don’t even billow. Magma rises higher, spitting at my feet, melting the soles of my shoes. “Fuck!” I scream. I shape shift the rest of my body—protecting my skin, I’m not immune to scalding lava—into a full, grey dragon. Ever since the battle we had at the Orchard, it’s gotten easier to transform on the spot. Still hanging onto the wall, my wings won’t work, and the added weight certainly doesn’t help. Even in my massive dragon form, the volcano dwarfs me. Where the hell is this thing? I use all my feet, scaling the wall as fast as I can. The magma chases my heels. The
rumbling
grows worse, shaking every fiber of my being. I breathe frost fire into the air. The ice
sizzles
and
pops.

‘C’mon, Clementine, you’re nearly at the top. Leap for your life.’

I run up the wall, my talons barely making a ghost grip on the rock. I’m not even sure how I’m managing to stay upright, not giving into gravity.

Rocks fall all around, skirting over me and puncturing my wings with basketball-sized holes. They threaten to pull me down into the fiery death, but I hang on. Somewhere, deep inside me, I still have the will power to live.

I pull myself up over the lip of the volcano. The lava follows in a wave above me. I tumble down the side. If I was human right now, I’d be dead.

‘Look up!’

I manage to open my eyes long enough to comprehend the red glint of a ruby coming at me, or more like me coming at it. It balances on a pedestal. I shift one of my hands fast enough to grab it and shift back before the magma can melt off my skin. The lava hovers above me, ready to crash and hit my body. I shut my eyes. I doubt I can live submerged in it. Seconds pass, but nothing happens. Something cold seeps through the protective barrier of my scales, and I force my eyes open. Great, just great.

M
y body floats in a pool of crystal blue water. Light shimmers in rays through the surface, a hundred feet above me. Darkness threatens to swallow up my dragon form below; it grows ever closer.

Where am I now? Did the ruby take me here? It glows in my fisted claw.

I shut my eyes and transform back into my human self. It still fascinates me that shifting back doesn’t hurt in the least. The adrenaline coursing through my veins in the volcano allowed me not to truly feel the pain of transformation. I can’t say that will happen every time during this stupid survival challenge. I just hope I can speed it up as much as possible. I don’t need a school full of boys seeing the gruesomeness of the shift repeatedly.

With the last scale sliding back into my skin, my body lightens, and I ascend to the surface, kicking the rest of the way to hurry up the process. I wouldn’t put it past them to throw Old Nessie in here with me. Sounds like something they would be sadistically creative with, throwing an old monster in with a fifteen-year-old girl.

‘I’m not really sure what they have planned for you now.’

‘Is something swimming in here with me, or what?’

‘No. There’s nothing in the water with you, from what I can see at least.’

I break through the surface and gasp for air. Wiping water out of my eyes, I try to gain my bearings. A cave?

‘My night vision isn’t working. I can’t see a damn thing. Where did the light go?’

‘They must be blocking the ability with magic. To your left is land, and there looks to be a tri-folded mirror.’

‘A mirror?’

I swim to the left. Hopefully I’ll hit land soon.

‘Shit.’

‘What? Is
Jaws
swimming below me now?’

‘No. Mathis is losing his shit all of a sudden.’

‘Dante? Over what?’

‘You, and that mirror. He’s ranting about them being sadists and that no one should be put through what you’re going to go through.’

‘What the hell does that mean?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t recognize the mirror, but being the son of an Outcast I didn’t have the means of using all possible training devices.’

‘So this mirror is something they use in training? It can’t be that bad.’

My feet skim the floor of the lake, finally. I kick harder, the water gets lower every few feet before I can get a firm grip on the sand with my toes. I can walk now.

‘You’re really close to the shore.’

‘Good. How’s Dante?’

‘Radcliffe and King managed to calm him before he was removed. He looks pretty tense.’

Out of the water, flat, cold, stone greets me. A sudden ray of light shines down on the mirror Bullock said was there. I have to shield my eyes for a moment. The light bounces of the glass and blinds me. My stomach rolls at the sight, a tri-fold mirror with an ornate, silver frame. It oddly reminds me of the one Paden sat me in front of when he tried to recreate my favorite Kdrama scene.

“Mirrors have been used in magic for hundreds of thousands of years. Used for inner-reflection, and portals to other plains. They can either bring peace or torture the soul. Treat any strange mirror at Spearwood with caution, Avalon.”
Edgar’s voice rings in my ears, a memory of him from right before I had him wipe my memory.

What kind of challenge could this be? How am I supposed to get the gem needed to move on? I step up to the mirror and look at the frame. At the top, in the center, sits the blue gem. It can’t be that easy, or this wouldn’t be a challenge.

I stand on my tiptoes and balance myself against the glass. I advert my eyes from looking into it as I try to grab for the jewel. It doesn’t budge.

“Avalon.”

Maverick’s voice. Against my own will, my eyes travel down to the mirror, only to come in contact with his ocean blues. I stumble away from the mirror and fall to the ground. My hand covers my mouth.

‘What do you see?’

“Avalon.” Another version of Maverick as a child appears in the left mirror.

I shut my eyes. It’s just a trick.

“Avalon, it’s okay. I’m here for you.” I shake my head, but open my eyes. A version of Maverick around thirteen appears in the mirror. Right around the age I figured out I liked him more than a best friend.

“Avalon, remember how we first met? Let me show you,” says the child. He fades away and the memory comes into view. I can remember what he’s about to show me as clear as crystal.

I sit in a swig, trying my best to touch the sand with my toes. I can’t get it to move. I frown and stick out my tongue . . . I just can’t reach. I give huff and look at Edgar. He’d push me, but he’s talking to people I don’t know. I want him to push me.

“Can I push you?”

I jump and look over my shoulder. Two boys stand next to the swing set. One with blond hair and the other has black with a piece of white hair that hangs in his face. I slide off the swing. My pink dress rides up. I push it down. Edgar gets mad when I don’t. I go up to the boy with white hair. Getting real close to his face. I pick at the strand of hair. “You have white hair.”

He nods. “Yeah.” He pushes it behind his ear.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh.”

The other boy gets closer. “Do you want me to push you?”

I look at the swing, then back at him. He has pretty blue eyes. I nod. “Yeah.”

“Avalon, C’mere.”

I spin in the direction of Edgar. Some of my hair hits my face. Getting in my mouth. I pull it away. “Yuck.”

I run over to him. He pats me on the head. “Avalon, I want you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Hansen.”

The lady with black hair kneels on her knee, holding a hand out to me. Edgar says people shake hands when they meet. I place my hand in hers and she shakes it. “My name is Melody. It’s nice to meet you, Avalon.” She smiles at me with pretty, red lips. I smile back.

The man kneels down next to her. “And I’m Lirick.” He doesn’t shake hands. He looks to the boys by the swing set. “Sons, come here.”

They run all the way over to us. Lirick looks back at me. “Avalon, these are our sons: Paden,” he touches the shoulder of the boy with blond hair. “And Maverick.” I smile at the boy with the white strand of hair. I like his hair.

“You three will be spending a lot of time together, okay?” Melody says.

I shrug. “K.” I look back at the boys. “Want to go play?” They nod, and I look at Edgar, just to make sure it’s okay. He nods. We run off toward the jungle gym.

I can’t breathe. My chest hurts too bad. I gasp for air, but that only makes it more painful.

“Don’t cry, Avalon. It’s just a memory,” Maverick says at the center.

“Avalon, remember our first kiss?” asks thirteen-year-old Maverick.

I turn around, just in time to see a fourteen-year-old Maverick make a tornado with the dirt under our feet. It swirls slowly before picking up speed and crashing into the support beam at the center of the room.

“Show off.”

He grins and walks up to me. “You’ll get the hang of it soon. You’re still extremely gifted for someone your age. There are no thirteen-year-old girls out there like you.”

I look to the ground. “I know. I wish there were. There’d be no reason for me to be in hiding like this, to not know who my parents are. You and Paden wouldn’t have to waste your childhood here. You could be raised with others like us. Now, Paden has gone off to Spearwood. What if they treat him like an outsider?”

Maverick laughs. “That won’t happen. We’re Royals; you know that. I wouldn’t trade my life for another. I love that I got to grow up here with you and Edgar.”

I sigh. “You’re just saying that.”

He tilts my chin up. “Look into my eyes. Does it look like I’m lying? I want to always be by your side.”

My heart beat picks up, and I pull away from him. I’m not supposed to have feelings for him. He’s supposed to be like a brother to me, like a brother, an annoying older brother. When did things change? Why did things change?

“Lon, look at me. What’s wrong?”

I stare into his ocean blue eyes again. “I can’t tell you.”

“Yes, you can. You can tell me anything; you know that.”

My sight lingers on his pink lips. Before my brain filters the action, I’m kissing him. Fast and quick, I press my lips to his warm ones before pulling away. My whole body heats up. My hand goes to my mouth. I can’t believe I did that. Have I gone nuts? “I’m so sorry. Just forget that happened.”

I go to run. His hand stops me by grabbing my wrist. I turn to face him, but keep my eyes to the ground. I don’t think I can handle the rejection in his eyes.

“I don’t want to forget it.” Pulling me close, he kisses me this time. My legs give out from underneath me. His arm wraps around my back, holding me up. “I want to do that forever.”

“Maverick,” Edgar’s voice sounds throughout the barn. I turn to look at him over my shoulder. He frowns at us. “Can I speak to yau in private for a moment?” It wasn’t a question, and his Irish accent has come on a bit. Uh oh, he’s not happy. My cheeks flush. I can’t believe he caught us during my first real kiss.

Maverick clears his throat. “Yeah, of course, Ed.” He rubs the back of his neck.

I lie down on the ground and cover my head. I can’t take this.
‘Clementine, what’s going on down there? I can’t see what you see.’

“Avalon. I want to show you something, too. Please look at me. I love you.”

I can’t help but look up. His begging voice pulls me.

“This is the life we could have led if we hadn’t made the choice to attend Spearwood.”

“Okay, honey, just place your hand over the element, and the one that fits you most will react,” I say to a girl with ebony hair and a single white streak running through her bangs.

“Is it going to hurt me?” she asks.

I shake my head. “No, Nimue. It won’t hurt you at all. You’ll feel one with your element.” I give her back a rub, and she nods before sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and hovers her hand over the first element. A small, white feather sits in a wooden bowl; Edgar carved all the bowls from a single apple tree. It does nothing in response to her. Earth comes next, but it swirls only a tiny bit. I bite my lip.

“Is that my element, mommy?”

“No. You’ll know, trust me.”

Next comes fire. Before she can even place her hand over the bowl, the flame shoots into the air.

“That’s the one!” she says as she claps her hands.

“Just like yaur mother, I see,” says Ed. Who sits at the table, his walker waiting at his side.

“I could have told you that,” Maverick says. He wraps his arms around my swollen belly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the twins didn’t take after her greatness as well.” He gives my neck a quick kiss. I reach up and run my hand through his hair.

“You’re great too, Mav.”

I spin around in his arms, my hands coming to his neck as I stand up on my toes. I give him a feather-like kiss before teasingly pulling away. He pulls my back for a more passionate kiss, sending tingles down my spine.

“Stop it!” I scream. I throw the only thing in my hand at the mirror, the ruby stone. It strikes the glass, shattering it into a million pieces. The glass falls away to reveal a tunnel. The sapphire falls from the holder and lands next to the ruby.

‘Are you okay?’

‘No.’