The Magic Pawn Series: The Discovery (Volume 1)

Chapter 25: When you think it cannot get any worse

 I got off from the bed. I was feeling dizzy. I went out on the balcony to get some fresh air and I saw Eric. He was leaning on the railing and had his head in his palms; he was only two rooms away from mine. This man, who was so foreign and yet so present in my soul, and who did not give a damn about me, was now suffering. No matter what was the reason for that, it still hurt.

Then I felt that same terrible smell, of morhs. I could never forget it. Moreover, the pain in my back pulsated worse than ever. It burned. I felt my body moving as if I was floating. Something, a force beyond the tangible was pushing me, trying to get me thrown over the railing. I hung onto the bar as tight as I could, trying to resist the push.

'What do you think you are doing? Is this your new way of getting my attention?' Eric shouted.

I ignored him. I was trying to fight off that force. My hand slipped and in a split second, I felt how I was falling into thin air. I heard Eric swearing and I waited for the fall; but it did not happen. When I got close to the ground, I floated above it until I made it down safely.

'I do not know what is happening.'

After that, I fought my own body; I felt my legs moving by themselves and taking me God knows where.

'You are joking, aren't you?' I heard Eric shout.

'Does this look like I am joking?' I yelled at him while still fighting my own body.

Then I heard it; the other part of me.

Stop fighting.

I let myself go; the further I went, the stronger the smell of the morhs was. The lights of the campus faded much to fast in the dark of the night. I realized that I had stopped walking. My body was simply floating above ground. All of a sudden, several balls of fire lit up; they were following me and were shading some light on the surroundings.

I was in the forest. I was floating so fast that I could barely see the trees fading behind me. A person walked by me; that is when I stopped. I turned. I was scared and did not know in what part of the forest I had gotten to and how long had I been floating. An old woman came close to me.

'Hello, Kate. I am sorry that I frightened you and that I had to bring you here like this.'

How come she knew my name? Who was this woman? But her voice...her voice sounded familiar; and then I knew.

'You...you are Eric's grandmother. Did you bring me here? But how? Why?'

'Yes, it is me. But this is not what's important now. I am sorry you had to go through so much; and there is a long road ahead of you with so many obstacles. You don't deserve this. You are a kind-hearted girl. I have to show you something. It is important. Everyone's life is at stake.'

'What is this about?'

She signaled me to follow her.

'Where are we going?'

'Kate, you have been poisoned by a morh. A connection has been unavoidably created between you and them.'

She got closer to me and put her hand on my forehead.

'Poor girl, you are burning up; and I am sure that your back hurts. I realise it must be very hard for you. You're lucky that your magic is fighting off the poison every day; otherwise you would feel so much worse. There is a power in you that you do not acknowledge and perhaps it scares you, but it takes care of you every time. It just has to be fed, or else...'

'What do you mean that it has to be fed?'

'This is something we will talk about another time. As I was saying, the reason why you are feeling worse than before is because there are morhs prowling around the academy; every night, they try to break the spell that is keeping them away.'