The Iron Butterfly (14 page)

“Well, what is she actually capable of?” Cirrus interjected for the first time. “Mayhap it was a fluke or residual effects that will fade in time.”

Five heads turned in my direction waiting for an answer.

My skin itched under their wary gazes. I myself wanted to know the same answer. I barely could get my voice to work. “I don’t know. I was told that I pulled Joss into my memories.” I tried to make myself look as unthreatening as possible and shrunk back into my chair.

“That’s not exactly what happened, Thalia.” Lorna spoke softly.

“I’ll tell you what happened!” Breah spoke up heatedly. “I was the one that interviewed the student. What the Raven has done was create something twisted, broken and unholy. He has created a monster!” The way Breah yelled the word monster made me flinch in horror, but only for a moment as she picked up her heated debate with much more fervor. “She ripped the power from a student and then imprisoned him in her memories. He said he could feel his power being siphoned off and that he was weakened, helpless to defend himself without fear of hurting her. We can’t trust her; she could steal all of the student’s power and then turn against us. Or worse, we know that our power is connected to our physical being. If she didn’t stop she could have drained all of his powers and killed him. She needs to be locked up, for our own protection!”

Breah was standing addressing the room. She was beautiful in her righteous anger, a vision of inspiration. I was almost swayed by her words until I realized she was speaking about me.

“BREAH!” Pax barked. “You are not allowed to use compulsion in the meeting rooms, we have said this before.” I shook my head and all of a sudden Breah didn’t look as beautiful and awe inspiring. Suddenly, I realized what her gift was. She had the ability to persuade others or even compel them.

I had to speak up. “I have no recollection of doing it or how it was done. I don’t even think I could do it again. Lorna, you believe me, right?”

“Thalia, I know that when I read your mind I didn’t sense any deceit. But remember, there is a whole section of your mind that is gone.” She turned back to the Adepts. “I can say this to you, the student Joss will vouch for her and swears that she is harmless and has shown no ill will toward anyone here.”

“He barely knows her; we can’t take that into account,” Pax Baton remarked. “But I think we are missing something important. She may not be the only one out there like her. What if he has done this with more humans?”

Cirrus stood up and looked at Pax. “What are you implying?”

Pax was a born and bred fighter and could see the hidden implications that the others could not. “What I’m saying, my dear friend Cirrus, is what if she is not the only one? What if he is trying to create more? A race of humans that was stronger, swifter, more powerful than any single Denai in Calandry? It was reported that she broke through his defenses pretty easily. What if he is creating an army of humans like her?”

“Then we are looking at war!” Cirrus dropped to his seat, face turning pale. His hands started to visibly shake. “We may have time to prevent it, if we can find him and stop these awful experiments,” he spoke slowly. “There may be hope to prevent a future war.”

“What about now? What I want to know is what is to become of her?” Breah kept readjusting her skirt around her feet. “We can’t continue to keep her here.”

“Of course, you ninny, she has to stay here!” Kambel said, flying from his seat. “Don’t you understand? She’s the only one of her kind as of this minute that we know of. She’s unique; she’s irreplaceable and should be studied. If more are created we can study her and thereby understand their weaknesses and how to stop them.”

“NO!” I yelled.

I had sat patiently long enough, listening to them go back and forth discussing me. Jumping up, I startled the Adepts. “I refuse to be scrutinized or studied like some sort of experiment. I would rather live on the street than stay here.”

“She mustn’t leave. She must be dealt with.” Breah paled. “She could endanger all the Denai. She’s an abomination, I tell you.” I had no idea what she was talking about but I headed for the door.

“And what do you propose we do?” Pax yelled back. “Kill her?”

He squared off against the small doll-like Breah, who pursed her lips in thought and looked directly at Pax and said, “Why yes. If it comes to that, she’s dangerous.”

“Stop it! Both of you!” Lorna spoke, her voice echoing with power throughout the room. “We must consider all options.”

I made it to the heavy, wooden doors and pulled on them but they wouldn’t budge. I was locked in. Feeling a moment of alarm, I started to pound and kick the doors, but they were held fast. Turning, I looked for the key hole; there was no lock on the door. The Adepts were keeping the doors closed by their power.

“I’m sorry, child,” Cirrus said, rising from his seat and walking toward me placing himself squarely in front of me. “You are an enigma, a puzzle, an unknown, and to the human population that is a terrifying factor. To calm the stories that are going to be spread about you, and believe me there will be stories, it would be best if we understood you better and that might require careful documentation.” He gently rested his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face the others. “Can you imagine if others found out that you somehow acquired or stole powers that you weren’t born with and that you could possibly steal more? It wouldn’t be safe for you in Calandry. People may try to hurt you.”

“But I didn’t steal anything,” I shrugged defensively. “Don’t forget that I was the victim here.”

“No, but they won’t understand that. For your safety, it would be best if you stayed here, under our protection. Maybe we can find a cure or a way to reverse what was done.” Adept Cirrus spoke to me like a father calming a frightened child.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand?” Kambel said nervously, taking off his spectacles and cleaning them before donning them again. “How come the mercury stone didn’t recognize her? It is able to distinguish the Denai blood the same way Cassiel does. So does that mean she doesn’t carry any of the normal Denai gifts? If that’s so, we don’t know the range of her abilities or if she is a threat to us.”

I felt my heart quicken in dread at the implication. Here it comes, I panicked, the guards, torture, death. My palms were sweaty with perspiration, so I gripped the door handle harder turning it desperately, while shrugging off Cirrus’ hand from my shoulder.

“There’s an easy way to find out!” Breah stated. She stood up, pulled energy toward her into a ball of blue fire and walked determinedly over to my chair, her lips pressed into a thin, straight line. The slight tick of her jaw betrayed the amount of control she was using to keep her emotions in check, but I could read the animosity that was in her eyes.

I turned to face her, my hands never releasing their hold on the cold door handle. I wanted to cry out in frustration as escape was within my grasp, literally, if I could only open the stupid door. It wasn’t even locked and I still couldn’t open it. I looked over my shoulder at her ice cold stare and felt that this truly was the end.

Closing my eyes, I prayed for a quick and merciful death, but opened them at the last second. Movement caught my eye.

“STOP!” a clear voice commanded.

I watched the blue fireball stop a hand span away from my face. I sat mesmerized as it danced and fluttered in her open palm. Breah’s eyes blazed angrily, she swallowed and slowly closed her fingers and the ball shrank until it was the size of a fly and then disappeared.

The ugly tapestry of the hunter and the horse on the wall began to move. A small, feminine hand pushed it aside, and a beautiful woman with red hair and blue eyes stepped from behind it. Her dress was of the finest blue silk and a cloak covered her shoulders. It wasn’t until I saw the circlet upon her brow that I realized I was being addressed by the Queen.

Queen Lilyana left the alcove that was obviously her listening room and Commander Meryl followed close behind her. It struck me that I had seen her before when I first came to the school. And that I had seen her leave Lorna’s office. She must frequently sit in on the Adept Council’s discussion protected from sight by the tapestry. In fact, she probably was there on every occasion. No wonder Breah would shoot nasty looks at the tapestry when no one was looking. But it didn’t explain why the Queen was here now.

She stood before me and I began to fidget, uncomfortable in her presence. Her voice was neither soft, nor uncertain. “You won’t hurt me, will you?”

“No, ma’am, I mean, your Highness,” I stumbled on the words, still reeling from being in the presence of royalty.

She smiled sweetly at my ignorance. “Do you plan on harming anyone here in Calandry?”

I shook my head so hard I could hear my teeth rattle in nervousness.

“I have heard what all you have had to say and I don’t take this decision lightly. I really do believe that because of these unfortunate changes in circumstances, we have no other choice but to keep her here. I’m sorry, Thalia.” She looked grim. “You leave us with no other alternative. You must stay here permanently until we release you.” The tic in her jaw lessoned as a grin escaped from between her lips. “Or until you graduate from our training program.”

Chapter 10

My jaw dropped toward the floor in disbelief. This was the last thing that I expected. My heart felt like it was trying to escape my chest and the fingernails of my hand maintained a death grip on the door handle so I wouldn’t slide onto the floor in a faint of relief.

Glancing at Lorna to be sure that I had heard right and that my life wasn’t forfeit, I saw a look of satisfaction in her eyes and a hint of mischief. The ever intimidating Adept Pax Baton was nodding his head in agreement, while Breah sniffed in disdain, tracing a stain in the wood of the table with her dainty nail. Her actions shouldn’t surprise me, but somehow they did. Maybe it was because she was the youngest member of the Adept Council and, being young, she tended to wear her emotions openly on her sleeve. Or maybe it was because she felt she had to prove herself to them and was wary of anything that would cause problems. And to her I think I posed the biggest one.

I was beginning to feel wary of Kambel. I wanted to stay as far from him as possible for I had a feeling that if I walked past him he would poke me with a stick just to see my reaction and response time and then record it. That thought alone made me shudder. Cirrus, I had mixed feelings about, his help in the marketplace showed he was a caring person but I couldn’t find any faults with him, which made him seem too perfect.

“That settles it, you will enroll in the training program and start to learn everything you can from the teachers about your powers and how to use them,” Adept Lorna smiled, secretly excited about the Queen’s decision.

“You can’t be serious, Lorna. That would be unwise; you are going to teach her the secrets of the Denai? What if she runs straight back to the Septori? This could lead to the end of the Denai!” Breah had finished pouting and was up for another round.

“But what if you are wrong?” Adept Lorna turned on Breah. “What if she is the answer? What if she is the future? Maybe she can help us understand why we are going extinct.”

“We are not going extinct! I happen to come from a long line-,” Breah started.

“Oh shut up, Breah!” Adept Kambel spoke up. The room became still as everyone stared in astonishment at the small Adept, who until now had never raised his voice.

A small twinkling laugh erupted from the Queen, followed by more laughter from Lorna.

Adept Kambel looked around at the shocked faces of Pax and Breah, and nervously cleared his throat in embarrassment. “I think Lorna is right. We are going extinct, and if we can’t stop the Septori, then they will create more like her. It’s best if she helps us as much as she can by understanding her abilities to the fullest. Maybe then we can know what we are up against; as long as she promises to not hurt or endanger any student against their will.”

All I could do was shake my head since I was still in shock that Kambel stood up to Breah. I guess taking a few classes wouldn’t hurt, as long as I could control myself and not hurt anyone either.

With the Queen’s decisions made, I was ordered once again to go and pack my belongings so that I could be moved into the student wing of the Citadel; with a warning to never intentionally harm another Denai student.

Lorna nodded to Pax, then grabbed my elbow and led me out the door into the hall. Unbelievably, the door opened for her without her even touching it. Proof, that she was probably the one holding it closed.

They weren’t done discussing me I was sure, and they never even mentioned the attack with the dogs. But in their mind that was considered a small problem that Commander Meryl could deal with. They were more worried about the fact that there was now a potential for others like me if they didn’t find the Raven and stop his experiments.

The training program at the Citadel was established by the Queen because the Denai were slowly disappearing from the world. The Queen who was loved by all had a special place in her heart for the Denai, particularly. This gave the people of Calandry a skewed view of the Denai. They called them the Queen’s pets, and I had heard the slur whispered often enough on the streets.

Lorna had led me toward my rooms but stopped when we were almost there and spoke quietly to me. “Thalia, it would be better if you didn’t tell anyone about what happened to you. Try to fit in and don’t draw attention to yourself.”