Love lines (13 page)

I smiled. Amanda and I had, in reality, a lot more than
any bond - we were best friends.

“Fate must have decided it for us,” I said. “But it gave
you something else instead. We all noticed how Evan was looking at you.”

“I also noticed how he was looking at you and
Christian,” replied my friend sadly. “And at
you
in particular.”

“Come on, Amanda! Evan looks the same way at every more
or less pretty girl,” I said.

“Well, thank you, dear, now I can relax!” she said with
offense and went to the bathroom.

“Amanda! I didn’t mean that...”

Damn it! Couldn’t I just watch my tongue?

The next morning I woke up because I felt someone's gaze
on me. Opening my eyes, I saw my friend sitting on the edge of my bed.

“I was waiting for you to wake up,” she said.

“What's wrong?” I asked, quickly sitting up in bed.

“Everything’s fine. I just wanted to apologize for the
last night,” hiding guiltily her eyes, she said.

“Amanda, it’s
me
who must apologize...” I started,
touching her hand.

“Don’t interrupt me, Eileen,” she said, squeezing my
palm. “I shouldn’t be jealous about you and Evan. I heard enough about his
numerous girlfriends and I know that I don’t quite match the image of his ideal
flame. No, of course,
I am
beautiful,” smiling, she said. “But still I’m
not going to melt after a few signs of his attention!”

“I can see that you like him, dear,” I hugged her
shoulders. “Maybe even more,” I winked. “I saw you speechless yesterday when he
left that kiss on your cheek,” jokingly, I said. “But really, I think that Evan
is not such an asshole as everyone thinks he is. Yes, many girls like him, but,
he didn’t have a serious relationship with any of them. This means that none of
them attracted his attention long enough. Think about it, Amanda. Don’t make
wrong conclusions. Give the poor guy a chance!” I said, smiling encouragingly.

“By the way, I'm glad about you and Christian,” she said,
smiling back. “You both deserve to be happy.”

“Oh, and I am immensely pleased to get your blessing! -
I laughed. “And now it's time to take a shower, otherwise we’ll be late for our
classes.”

“Don’t forget to tell me about everything! I'm busy all
day, so I can’t go with you,” Amanda complained. 

“I promise to tell you all the details,” I assured her.
I was glad we had clarified that misunderstanding about Evan and me. I like
him, of course, but Amanda had been my best friend since childhood and I didn’t
want to risk our friendship. Besides, Evan wasn’t the one capturing my heart. 

He was waiting for me at the entrance to the training
building again. Christian was busy at his morning practice sessions, so we
decided to start without him.

“Today we’ll see a part of a water show. Water is a
basic element of Feta. They use it not just to create different visual images
and objects, but also as the basis of various spells. Two vessels with the same
clear water can contain two completely different substances. In one you'll find
the water of life, which is often used to treat different injuries, in the
other one - something quite opposite, like poison, for example. So you should
always be very careful when using something given by Feta. You must learn to
recognize their auras to identify the threat, if there is any.”

We came to one of the classrooms, very similar to the
one where Christian trained yesterday. This one was smaller, but also made of
glass.

“Why are most of the classes made of glass?” I asked
Evan.

“It is believed that the natural daylight and the
morning sun produce more energy to use your abilities. Therefore, all practical
classes are held in the early morning hours, and some even at the sunrise.
Afternoons are usually devoted to theoretical studies,” he explained.

There were about ten students in the audience. They all
stood in a circle, in the center of which there was a large crystal bowl full
of water. Evan and I came closer to see better what was happening there.

All of the students one by one approached the bowl and
dip their hands into the water. Then everybody pulled wet hands in front of
them, and began to create some figure with their eyes closed. Watching
Christian work yesterday, it seemed to me that the fire was like coming out of
his hands, but now the students were using a different method. The water in the
bowl rose into the air with a million drops that scattered in the opposite
directions. Each drop was transformed into an element of a future image. When
all the drops were like little stars, a few people raised their hands above, as
if they were pulling over a portion of them. As a result, the stars transformed
into the words, and the words, in their turn - into the whole sentence.

“
Per aspera ad astra
,” I read aloud.

“
Through the thorns to the stars,”
translated
from the Latin Evan.

 Once all the students out of the circle put their hands
down, all the water stars became drops again and filled the crystal vessel.
Everybody opened their eyes and clapped, enjoying their successful experiment.

“You haven’t joined the rest of them today,” Evan
smiled.

“No. But I felt everything what they were doing,” I said
calmly.

“Wait, you mean that you can repeat what they just have
showed?” he asked in disbelief.

“I think so,” I said, and walked closer to the bowl with
water. Dipping my hands, I tried to remember the feelings that were inside of
me while I was watching the work of the others. Closing my eyes, I lifted my
hands up and tried to imagine a pattern, which Christian drew yesterday. I felt
the warm flow of energy spilled over my body. The feeling was familiar. It was
like magic music playing inside and outside of me. It wrapped my mind and my
soul, making me forget about everything around me.

I was so focused on that feeling that a sudden silence in
the audience made me open my eyes. I saw everyone there looking at me in
confusion. Just as I thought, yesterday's picture was perfectly repeated today
in the water. Its thin pale blue curls were glinting in the sunlight.

“Incredible!” some of the students said admiringly.

“How did you do that?” asked someone else.

When I let my hands down and returned the water into the
bowl, I saw Christian standing on the threshold. And, just like yesterday, he
looked worried.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore,” said Evan,
“but just can’t keep quiet – that was fabulous! And if yesterday you were not
alone there, now you’ve done this without any help.”

“It was amazing,” finally coming to us, said Christian.
“Just try next time not to spend so much energy on the intricate patterns. I
felt your weakness, Eileen, and I didn’t like it,” he added seriously.

“Christian’s right,” Evan agreed. “If we find out that
you possess all of the remaining elements as well, you should be more careful.
Using all of them is very dangerous.”

Despite the fact that I knew what they were talking
about, I was eager to try my abilities in the other elements. I was sure that
if Christian was there, I wouldn’t fail. His presence gave me energy and helped
to recover from the use of my powers.

My thoughts were interrupted by Evan.

“Here's Darcy Stewart,” he said. The girl with curly red
hair and huge blue eyes came to us. “Darcy is the final year student of Feta
and she can read the fortune very well. I need your help, dear,” using his
trademark smile, said Evan.

“We are not an easy case,” I admitted.

“Let’s see,” replied Darcy.

We sat at one of the tables in the empty audience. It
seemed that Evan had already told her about Christian and me, because she
immediately began to read our palms.

“It's something very unusual,” she said thoughtfully,
“on the one hand, your lines are really the same, but some of them on Eileen’s
palms, are lighter. I don’t understand how this can be possible. It turns out
that there is something in Christian’s fate that he will have to go through
alone. And since your fates are so much alike, I can’t even determine what kind
of event it could be.”

And then Darcy smiled.

“But the brightest lines on your palms are lines of
love. I haven’t seen anything like this before. But I think, there is no need
to explain what it means, isn’t there?” she asked, still smiling. “I'm sorry, I
can’t say more. That’s all I can see.”

“You’ve said enough, Darcy. Thank you,” I said. “Can we
ask for your help once again, if we need it?”

“Of course, any time. But the thing is that just after
the Festival, my training will be over, and I’ll have to go back to London. But
I'll leave you my contact information so that you could find me if necessary.”

“Thanks again,” said Christian.

“Darcy!” I called remembering something else I wanted to
ask her about. “As a possessor of the power of water, do you know anything
about the lakes in these mountains?”

“Depends on what you mean. There is nothing special in
the water itself, but if you are interested in legends...”

“I’ve heard about the legends,” said Christian.

“Do you know, for example, that the daughter of Medellin
Wizardy drowned in the Black Lake?”

“The Black Lake - is that at the western border?” asked
Christian.

“Yes, it’s the one. In addition, they say that since
then the spirit of Medellin has been protecting that lake,” Darcy said.

I was shocked by her last words. Christian and Evan,
both had noticed my reaction, but said nothing.

“Is there anything else about the Black Lake?” Evan
asked.

“If you are so interested, why not go to Alexis? She
keeps all the records, old books and other documents that have survived since
the time of the foundation of Dever. Perhaps there you will find some more
information. I have to be on my next lesson already, but if you need help,
please come to ask.”

Darcy was gone, and we stayed in the audience.

“What do you think about this?” Evan asked.

“I'm scared even to assume that everything that is
happening to us may be connected somehow to the Wizardy family,” I said. “Sorry,
Evan. No offense. But only the mentioning of the lake and Medellin herself
makes me tremble.”

“You said you had seen the face of the woman who was on
the lake. Do you remember how she looked like?” he asked.

“Of course I do. Why?”

“We have the portraits of all the founding families in
The Great Hall. We could go there and look at the portrait of Medellin, to know
exactly whether it was her.”

“How could I forget about it!” Christian exclaimed. “My
father showed them to me when I first arrived to Dever. Let’s go there.”

I’ve never been in the Great hall before.

 All the most important events in Dever, such as the
annual Autumn Ball and the elections of the new head of the university took
place there.

The beauty and majesty of that place were simply
breathtaking. The room was made in a globe shape, symbolizing the Earth. The
chairs covered with the dark blue velvet were around the perimeter. The ceiling
was decorated with golden ornaments and crystal chandeliers.

 In the center of the room, there was the emblem of
Dever on the floor - a blue oval with three golden letters written diagonally:
“N”,
“P”, “M”
, which meant
nature, power and magic
.

 Each department had its own coat of arms, images of
each of which were also drawn in the center of the room around the arms of
Dever. A fiery arrow was a symbol of Fairey, Feta’s symbol was the palm.
Embry’s coat of arms was a combination of three flowers: edelweiss - a symbol
of bravery and courage, holly - the symbol of protection and magnolia - a
symbol of love for nature. A star was the symbol of Meridin, a spherical
crystal belonged to Ventura, and a white chrysanthemum - as a symbol of truth
belonged to Vero. A gold letter
“M”,
meaning the presence of magic, was
a symbol of Wizardy.

Portraits of the members of all the founding families
occupied one of the walls. The first two belonged to the Italian families of
the Ventura and the Vero. Behind them there was a portrait of a French family
Meridin. Next to it - a portrait of the Spanish Embry.

The last three portraits belonged to the British
families of Fairey, Feta and Wizardy. Rosemary Feta seemed familiar to me - red
hair, blue eyes like a deep sea... Well, of course! She reminded me of Darcy.
Apparently, these features were the distinctive features of all the Fetas females,
just as the emerald eyes of the Faireys. Jason and Gabrielle, however, were a
very beautiful couple. I was staring at their portrait and didn’t notice
Christian’s presence.

“Is that her, Eileen?” he asked, apparently
misunderstanding my silence, thinking that I was looking at the portrait of
Medellin Wizardy.

And so I came to the last one.

 There was a real beauty looking at me from the
portrait. Her hair was long and black as a raven's wing, and she had the
sky-blue eyes. It seemed that in the real world it was just impossible to find
such a bright contrast. The woman evidently looked younger than the one I saw
on the lake, but that's for sure was she.