A Necessary Evil (Book 1)

Chapter 17

Several attempts later and I was still soaking wet. Andreas’ expression was distant and he didn’t seem like he was even with me anymore. Perhaps that was why his patience hadn’t waned on me yet. He just kept repeating, “Try again.”

Finally, it was I who lost my patience. “I can’t do it. Something’s not working.”

Andreas sighed and extended his open palm toward me. Suddenly, I couldn’t feel the rain anymore. There was an energy vibrating around me, causing me warmth. I enjoyed the feeling. “That’s what it should feel like. If nothing else works, then try to recreate that.”

I nodded and the force-field he had created so effortlessly disappeared. I squashed down any other thoughts, especially one about how much I regretted my outburst toward him. I wanted to, at the very least, be his friend. And now not even that seemed possible. I would have to learn how to just be an acquaintance to him then.

I closed my eyes and imagined feeling the energy again and just like that, something snapped into place. Behind my lids I could see a tangible white light, one that could be manipulated at my will. It vibrated at the same frequency as the force-field Andreas had put around me. I reached out to the light and grabbed it; it felt almost like liquid, I started rubbing it over my skin and it stayed in place, hovering just above my skin.

When I opened my eyes, Andreas was gawking at me. Technically, I hadn’t actually moved a muscle while cloaking myself, but he was staring at me like I had just done some exotic dance.

I could no longer feel the rain on my skin and the water that had previously quenched it seemed to be evaporating. “What?” I asked when Andreas’ astonishment didn’t seem to subside.

“You’re glowing a brilliant white,” he stated and his eyes narrowed. “If there was any doubt before, there no longer is. You are white magic. My polar opposite.”

Opposites attract, that’s how magnets stick together, Lana. It works the same way with people. Whenever you meet someone who is your total opposite, you automatically feel drawn to them. My brother’s voice echoed through my mind. I immediately pushed the thought away. I was determined to keep Andreas at arm’s length. He didn’t want my affection, so he wouldn’t get it.

“You learn well, little witch. Consider this lesson completed.” He held out his palm and out of nowhere a book just appeared. “Study this and try to commit the first five spells to memory. I will teach you how to use them in a couple of days.”

He was about to leave, when my question stopped him in his tracks. “How is this going to work, a dark sorcerer teaching one of light?”

“A sorcerer teaching someone of a different allegiance has happened before, several times actually. Our kind is not as selective and prejudiced as humans. Magic unites us and we can get along with people of all orientations. Our war, generally, is not with each other. But as with anything, there is conflict sometimes. Deadly conflict. However, we don’t fight each other nearly as often as humans do.” Considering that enough information, he turned on his heels and disappeared without ever as much as a goodnight.

***

My force-field had faded before I was able to get inside; I really was going to have to practice that more. As a result, I was once again soaked when I entered the house. “Brilliant,” I muttered under my breath as I began the walk to my room.

I was grateful for the warm tub of water when I finally reached it and sank into the bath without further delay. My muscles ached and the hot water was a welcome relief.

It wasn’t long before I completely drifted off to sleep…

A bomb was exploding five feet away, a young boy with ash brown hair barely able to dodge the flying debris as he ran. His face was obscured from my view, but I could tell he couldn’t be more than ten or eleven. The boy ducked for shelter and just made it before another bomb went off.

Finally, his face turned to me, his green eyes big and frightened. They were the richest shade of green I had ever seen; the kind of color that seemed impossible.

“Kalen!” a frantic voice called and the boy’s head cocked in its direction. He realized too late what a big mistake that would be when the man the voice belonged to was torn limb from limb by an invisible force.

The boy, Kalen, cried out, “Uncle Tomas!” with a voice so filled with pain that it sounded inhuman.

That was when the boy’s eyes began to transform. They grew steadier, less afraid, and the color flashed to an iridescent purple. It seemed like the entire being of the boy changed. This must be what I looked like to my dad the first time my eyes had gone blue…. The bombs stopped exploding all at once, and everyone and everything went flying in different directions as the boy screamed.

I closed my eyes as dust started rising to the sky, even though I couldn’t feel anything. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that the boy was still there, but nothing else was. The area that had previously been crowded was now empty except for the boy that was curled up in the middle of it all, tears soaking his cheeks.

I wanted to go over to him, wrap him in my arms and tell him everything would be alright, but I couldn’t. Somehow I knew the events I had just witnessed was part of a dream. Or a vision, a voice whispered.

The dream suddenly changed and I was standing in the middle of a ballroom dressed in a simple sapphire gown. There was a man on the other side of the room hidden in the shadows as he leaned against something I couldn’t make out. As he walked into the light, I noticed a smirk on his mouth that could put even Andreas’ to shame.

“Lady Lana Eleanor, how I had hoped we would meet,” the man said as he reached me and took my hand in his, brought it to his mouth, and kissed it.

“Should I know you?” I asked, surprised to have a conversation in a dream that felt so real.

“Not yet, but you will. Liked my little trick?” My eyes suddenly got transfixed on his: they were the same unearthly green as the boy from the vision.

“You were the boy?” I asked, mouth agape.

His smirk didn’t falter. “Yes, that was me twelve years ago, the day I discovered the full extent of my powers. A terrible thing for a child to have to go through at the tender age of eleven, is it not?”

“That is terrible,” I managed to say.

“Yes,” he agreed. “You are probably wondering why I showed it to you, aren’t you?”

I nodded, my throat too choked to speak.

“All things serve their purpose, Lana. And I wanted you to see a glimpse of what my life was like before you meet me. A lot of people find it hard to connect with me because of my exterior, and I want you to like me.” He laughed at himself, “I guess I just wanted you to like me. Did it work?”

Despite his words sounding sincere, his demeanor made him come across as arrogant. But he had a point, I was more willing to give him a chance knowing he had to go through that terrible event.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Forgive me, where are my manners?” he said, his eyes glinting, his lips slanted. “I’m who they call Kalen Dragonov. I’m a sorcerer, such as yourself.” I had never heard that name before, but something in the back of my head was telling me that the name Dragonov should ring a bell.

“How do you know who I am?”

Amusement glinted in those lustrous eyes of his. “I have my ways. Let’s just say you have come across my path. We will meet soon, my lady. That I can promise you.”

It seemed like he was about to say something else when the whole scene vanished before my eyes.

I woke up coughing in the tub, my head having slipped under the now icy water. The memory of my dream was fresh in my mind, like it was something that had actually happened instead of an image concocted by my crazy imagination. I needed to find out who Kalen Dragonov was.