Hereditary (7 page)

I snuck a look at him from below my lashes, for once glad about his too-close proximity, so that I could better examine his expression. It was calm now.

“It should be an interesting afternoon,” I said, at last.

His smile quirked at that. “I’m sure we will have plenty to talk about.”

I didn’t know whether to feel intrigued or alarmed, but as soon as my next class started, I was soon consumed by other, more mundane worries. Hazen, Cale, Rose and one of the other boys in their group were also in the Bender Physics class, though Cale decided to skip again, and I was forced to quickly acknowledge that this was by far the most difficult class I had yet attended. It was mostly practical, which didn’t really inspire me with much confidence, since most of my tutors had declined to participate in more than just theory lessons. Hectarte had said that my bender abilities were strong, but I seemed to be the most incompetent person there, something that Professor Raeburn seemed all too willing to remark upon. We were only moving chairs from one point to another, and while it did seem to be difficult for others as well, mine was the only one to take off like a rocket and explode into a million pieces against the far silver wall. I was only lucky that people thought it was funny. I would much prefer people to laugh at me than fear me.

By the end of the day, I was mentally and physically exhausted, and Cale was nowhere to be seen, which left me to walk to the castle by myself. I was disappointed, until someone unexpected fell into step beside me, and then walking by myself suddenly seemed like a very good idea.

“What the hell are you doing
in here?” I hissed, when I glanced sideways and caught sight of the incomparably perfect face.

“Checking up on you of course,” answered Nareon Soulstoy.

I found myself slowing, until eventually I stopped altogether, staring at him with my mouth hanging slightly open. His golden sheen had disappeared, and there was now a fae glimmer shifting along his darkly tanned skin. His eyes were light grey, smouldering and coldly calculative all at the same time, and his hair was coal-black, pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.

“How?” I choked.

“I’m a shape changer, of course.”

He caught a hold of my arm, and I braced for the rush of awareness, but it managed to take me by surprise all the same. Luckily, he caught my stumble before it even began, obviously anticipating it this time, and began to walk me in the direction that I had already been travelling.

“When you didn’t sneak through the wall, I came looking for you.”

“How kind.”

“Are you mocking me?”

Was I?
It was kind of hard to tell, with how scattered my wits were, simply from his touch.

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re a delight. I’ve never seen anyone resist compulsion as well as you do. You should be a weak mess at my feet right now.”

“I’m not far from it.”

“Far enough. Now where are we going?”

“The castle.”

“Interesting. And how did you lose control today?”

“It kind of just happened. How did you know?”

“I wasn’t far away. How did you stop it? One hour more and you could have flattened the whole kingdom.” He sounded almost delighted at the idea.

“I’m not too sure of that either.”

“Whatever it was, it saved your life. Figure it out, because I really do need you alive, and these powers are escalating quicker than I anticipated. It’s not so easy to get you alone.”

We had arrived at the castle gates now, and while they were wide open, there were two soldiers stationed at either side, with more of them meandering about the courtyard beyond. I could see Cale leaning against the wall alongside the huge oak doors at the other end.

“Who’s that?” Nareon asked, pulling us to a stop, his gaze sharpening in on Cale. “He has an impressive depository of power, though it seems to be testing the constraints of his mind.”

“A friend.” It felt weird to say the word, even if it weren’t entirely true. I’d never had a real friend before.

Nareon pulled me close then, and very quickly any thoughts of Cale disintegrated, and I lost myself in eyes so light it should have felt like floating in clouds, as opposed to falling into some dark, dangerous pit. He was increasing his compulsion, but I didn’t know why.

“If any other Tainted Creature approaches you, I want you to give them one of these.” His voice slid over me, once again the softest of silks, and he pushed a pouch into my hand.

I was so intoxicated under the power of his compulsion that I shouldn’t have been able to say no, but I found the stubborn words leaving my mouth before I could even consider how I really wanted to respond.

“I don’t work for you.”

“You don’t
work
for anybody, little spitfire, it’s all about who you align yourself with.”

“Fine, I’m not aligned with you then.”

“Oh, sweetheart, once you see your other options, you’ll be begging to be anything I want you to be.”

His touch shifted then, became something else, and I felt his compulsion lift completely, leaving me trembling and sucking in a deep breath of fresh air. His hand was half cradling my face, and I realised my body was pressed right up against his, and that I was probably the one who had done it. I wanted to lash out, as I had the last time he had lifted such a heavy compulsion, but the truth was, he was simply too entrancing up-close. There was a spark of interest in those grey eyes too, which seemed to darken as he gazed down at me, and the pad of his thumb stroked upwards, across the slope of my cheekbone.

“Well,” he amended, “almost anything.” And then he jerked away from me, and stalked off.

Chapter Five

The Camaraderie of Abnormalities

When I finally turned back to the gates, I was almost sure that I was under control again, but as I handed the small folded card over to one of the soldiers standing by the gate, I noticed that my hand was shaking. He took the card, glanced at it, and then waved me in absently, handing the card back. I walked over to where Cale was waiting and lifted it up for his inspection.

“How do they know I didn’t just steal this?”

“If you had, the card would have burst into flame. Not exactly the safest invention, but it does the trick.”

He took my arm, and led me into the castle, which was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I had a few books that showed pictures of the inside of it, dating back to the first Read ruler, which was centuries ago now, but no picture could have prepared me for the reality. It wasn’t all glossy and lustrous, though there was a glass domed roof high above the entrance hall, and the sunlight filtering through each tile played dancing patters across the polished wooden floor. It was mostly just imposing, the furniture dated, and the huge, open spaces stretching into shadow, though there was also something pleasant in the distinctly antique quality it held. We walked to the side of the large entrance chamber, and through a side corridor that led to a garden, opening out into the afternoon sun. It was so big I would have hardly even called it a garden… it was more like a yard, with a maze of cobbled pathways leading to various hidden spots of seclusion amongst the perfectly preened hedges and apple trees. There was a towering fountain right in the middle, boasting a stone statue of a robed woman holding a jug over her shoulder in the typical pose of careless respite, as water tumbled from the mouth of the jug. Yet in her free hand, she dragged a sword along behind her.

Cale lead me around the fountain and to the corner of the garden, where a few stone seats were arranged in a semi-circle facing a bubbling birdbath and not much else. Hazen was already there, sitting with his back to us. Two of the castle guards were stationed not far away and were already staring at us. I expected Hazen to turn around when his guards stiffened, but he didn’t move an inch, and when we came around the side of his seat, I noticed that his eyes were closed. Cale acted as if this was a regular occurrence, and quietly sat on the spare seat, leaving me to sit beside him and clear my throat awkwardly.

Hazen opened his eyes then, and as that dark gaze swung up to lock onto me, I quickly ducked my head, fiddling with the books in my bag until I found the one I was looking for, and pulled it out.

When nobody else made a move, I felt the anxious feeling building, and with it, the strange moodiness that I had felt at Kaylee’s prodding, earlier that day. I flicked open my textbook, and then realised that I had no idea what chapter to turn to, as I had no idea what either of them were specialising in.

“So,” began Cale, much to my relief, though his question soon squelched that feeling, “who was the boy—or, man really—that walked you here, Little Synfee?”

My head snapped up, and I felt my voice sticking in my throat, along with another emotion, one that—strangely—I hadn’t yet attributed to Nareon after our first meeting. Fear.

“Nobody.” I answered quickly, maybe a little too quickly.

“A friend?” pressed Cale.

“No, not a friend.” I wasn’t sure what the quake in my own voice meant. Was I scared of Nareon, or was I scared that other people would find out about him? People were only mildly tolerant of me as it was, how would they feel if they found out that a
real
synfee had decided to attach himself to me for some barely-explained reason. I glanced up from my textbook to find Cale watching me, and Hazen watching Cale, with that now-familiar, frighteningly blank expression.

“Was he a fae? I’m usually pretty good at sensing these sorts of things, but he was gone before I could get a good grip on him.”

“A fae?” I asked, momentarily confused, until I remembered the fae shimmer that Nareon had shaped-changed onto himself. “Oh. Right. Yeah, he’s a fae.” I needed to steer the conversation away from Nareon. “Shouldn’t we start working or something?” I asked.

“Yes,” Hazen spoke for the first time. “Let’s start by explaining our specialisations, and then we can sort out what to cover over the three days a week that we have.”

Cale and I both agreed, and I found myself looking to Cale, expecting him to start us off. I could have laughed when I noticed Hazen do the same thing, and I almost did when Cale let out an exasperated sigh.

“I am specialising in bender abilities,” he said, “as well as fire and wind elemental.”

I blinked, surprised at that answer.

“And I am just specialising in bender abilities,” offered Hazen, “though I also have a few fae tricks up my sleeve.”

They both turned to look at me expectantly then, and it took me a moment longer than it should have to realise that they were waiting for me, as I was preoccupied with both Cale and Hazen’s answers. Professor Carren had said that he was splitting us up depending on our specialisations, which made sense for Cale, but Hazen had only specialised in bender abilities.

“Bea?” Prompted Hazen.

“Oh, right. I am specialising in Bender abilities, fire, water, and wind.”

It was uncomfortably quiet for a little while and then Hazen spoke up again.

“Now should we say what we left out the first time?”

Cale laughed, but I could only blink at them both stupidly.

“I also have a special kind of sight, or sense… I’m not sure how to describe it exactly,” Cale offered. “The general concensus is that it comes under the Brown Caste, because the rangers are all about their senses. I can tell a lot about a person just from the aura that surrounds them, and sometimes I can even change things about that aura. Like…” he looked embarrassed for a moment, “peeking through a glamor.”

I wanted to be angry, but I was mostly just glad that it hadn’t been me who had hurt him after all, not that Hazen was going to give me a chance to be mad, as he picked up quickly where Cale had left off, as if to avoid any conflict.

“And my bender power stretches to the mind.”

I jumped up then, feeling real anger. I certainly had a right to be, after what I had just pieced together… though perhaps not to the extent that I was now feeling it. As though I wanted to rip Hazen’s head from his shoulders and—wait…
what?

I realised that I had slipped right into myself, into a violent whirlwind of reactive thoughts, thoughts about
hurting
people, while my eyes slid closed and my power began to leak out. I heard myself cursing and flinched as I pulled the wall down over my power a little too hard, opening my eyes to a once again darkened world. Hazen and Cale had both jumped to their feet, and I could see Hazen’s arm outstretched in a ‘back off’ gesture, which drew my attention to the two guards who were staring at me in alarm.

He turned and snapped something at them and they melted away.

“You read my mind,” I accused.

“I didn’t read anything. I could sense the darkness vying to escape, and I slipped into your mind to help you tame it, that’s all Bea. Trust me.”

I could hear the sense of his words, but I was suddenly cold in my green summer dress, and I could feel the material whipping about my legs

“Why are you both being nice to me?” I whispered, feeling my anger melt into something else, something that resembled fear, though it only seemed to intensify the darkness around me. “What does everyone want with me all of a sudden?” I looked between them, feeling my wall slipping inch my inch.

Hazen was moving toward me again, and I knew that he was going to reach out and touch me, slip into my mind and wipe away my dark feeling.

But it was
my
mind, and
my
dark feeling.

I took a shaky step back, and for the first time, I saw real alarm flash in his eyes.

“We have no ulterior motives Bea, none at all.”

“I need to go,” I stammered, suddenly realising what it was that I had to do. “I need to go right now.”

“Dammit, you’re out of control, you might hurt someone,” Hazen flung at me as I turned.

I paused. I heard Cale hiss at him, and felt the anger rising swiftly to the surface again, though I managed to push it away just in time. Perhaps I would hurt someone if I had to run all the way back to the forest, and there was no real need, not when I was already standing in the middle of a garden.