Love lines (45 page)

Just a few minutes were enough for me to drop off. I had
a dream. I was standing at the root of a high mountain the peak of which
couldn’t be seen even high in the clouds. The place seemed familiar. There was
no one around, just me and the wind striving to knock me down. Watching
closely, I saw someone climbing up the mountain. The man was too high, so I
couldn’t understand who it was, and only hearing Eileen’s scream, I recognized
her silhouette. She was firmly pressed against the rock, trying to hold on and
not break down. I was terrified. Without hesitating, I also began to climb the
rock. That appeared to be much harder than I thought. Not only that annoying
wind wasn’t giving me a chance to see normally, but the rock fragments were
rolling straight at me. Eileen was still crying, so I stopped paying attention
to all the noise and started to think only how to help her. I seemed to have
climbed high enough to reach her, but the higher I was climbing, the more
distant her silhouette seemed.

And now I could see the top of the mountain. Eileen got
there first. I began to climb even faster. The moment I got there too, Eileen’s
silhouette turned into an image of... Eric! Only in my dream he didn’t seem
sick and exhausted, no, there he was completely healthy and full of energy. And
he was smiling radiantly.

“Oh, my! I didn’t expect that it would be so easy to get
into your mind, Christian,” he said.

What was he talking about? I didn’t understand.

“You probably don’t even realize that my play of
weakness and powerlessness was performed especially for you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked puzzled.

“Oh, Christian! You have to learn so much more from your
famous father. What a pity that he couldn’t expose me, however, as well as our
almighty Frederick. I deliberately masked my powers so all of you could think
that I had lost them! I specifically made you bring me back to Dever! I needed
you. I just couldn’t get Eileen, but you... As you can see, I’ve managed to
entrap you.”

“It's not true. This is only a dream!” I shouted back.

“Are you sure?” grinning, he asked.

I looked around trying to figure out how to get out of
that place, out of the dream, about the unreality of which I was still sure.

“Let me help you,” said Eric.

In the blink of an eye a big screen just as in a cinema
appeared in front of me. There was a picture of Evan's room, where I had just
fallen asleep. Eileen was still lying on Evan’s bed and he was curled up on the
floor near the fireplace, also asleep. The couch where I was supposed to be was
empty now.

“As you can see, everything remained the same. Except
for you,” pointed Eric.

“It’s not true,” I said. “If it's not a dream, then
where are we?”

“I’m sorry, Christian, but I can’t tell you this,
because
this
- is what Eileen will have to find out. She has to find
you, because otherwise I won’t be able to take away her power. She was supposed
to give it on the lake, when my dear Anna helped me to recover. I was hoping
that it would be Eileen there to help me, but didn’t think that our brave Evan
could do it all alone. So now I just have to wait until Eileen comes to save
the life of her beloved Christian.”

“You won’t do this!” I yelled trying to catch Eric. He
didn’t even move, but a transparent wall grew up between us and I couldn’t go
through it.

“Sorry, Christian. I have nothing against you
personally, but Eileen is the one who I need a lot more.”

Having uttered these words he waved his hand and a
strong blow of wind knocked me down. I was falling down swiftly. It seemed that
all my strength was exhausted, and I couldn’t even scream. The feeling was
familiar, I've experienced that before... The very same day on the lake, when
we first got there with Eileen. Just like now I couldn’t move or say anything,
I just slowly sank into darkness.

Daylight no longer seemed so bright and the image of the
mountain wasn’t so clear. I lost all my feelings, except for one... I still
knew how much I loved Eileen.

Chapter 30. Dream
thief (
Eileen)

I woke up in the night with a strange anxiety inside of
me. I looked around, but everything was as usual. Evan was sleeping near the
fireplace that was still burning and Christian... Where was Christian? I got
up, walked past Evan, knocked on the bathroom door, hoping to find him there,
but the light was off everywhere, and he himself wasn’t anywhere around.
Someone's phone rang, scaring me half to death. Evan also jumped in surprise,
not knowing where the loud sound was coming from.

“The cell phone,” I said. He got up shaking a little and
approached the table where his phone was.

“Patrick? What happened?” he asked sleepily. “What?!
How? When?”

I didn’t like his tone, so I came closer becoming more
nervous.

“Yes, I’m coming,” he said silently looking at me.

“For god’s sake, say something, Evan!”

 I shook his arm.

“Eric's gone,” he pulled in a barely audible voice.

“What? What do you mean
gone
?!” I cried in
disbelief.

“I don’t know. The Keepers have just informed Patrick.
No one saw how he did it, he just disappeared.”

“How is this even possible? He could barely move!”

“Apparently not.”

“Damn it, Evan, what shall we do now? And where the hell
is Christian?”

It seemed that Evan had just noticed his absence.

“Did he go out?”

“How do I know that! I went to bed before you did!”

“Let's go now to Patrick’s, he could already be there.”

I waited until Evan changed his clothes, and we both
left.

Frederick, Amelia and Patrick were in panic. None of
them could explain how Eric had managed to escape. The Keepers of the dungeon
were saying in one voice that the security cameras worked all the time.
Unfortunately the records from those very cameras were gone now.

But most of all I was worried about Christian’s absence.
No one had seen him, except us and no one knew where he could be. I tried to
call several times, but every time I heard his voice mail. Patrick ordered the
Keepers to search the entire territory of Dever and the surrounding areas.
Frederick was talking with someone on the phone, looking at the map of
neighborhoods, along with Evan. He also called to London and warned that Alexis
and Nora could try to escape from their prison. So it was decided to reinforce
their protection with some more Wizardy.

My phone rang, getting a new text message from
Christian:

“Meet me at the west gate,”
was written there.

Weird, I thought. Why would he ask me to go there?

“What is it, Eileen?” Evan asked.

“Christian asked to meet him at the west gate.”

Evan frowned wondering.

“Okay, I'll go with you,” he said. “I can’t let you go
there alone.”

He warned the others, and we left.

The weather had changed a lot since the previous
evening, and now it was windy and cold like in a real autumn. Reaching the
mentioned place, we didn’t find anyone there.

“So where is he?” asked Evan, turning around. “Try to
call him.”

My attempt failed again. Just as previously, I didn’t
hear anything but the voice mail.

“There's some note here,” Evan said, picking up a sheet
of paper folded in half from the bench. I took it and began to read aloud:

“He is your light, you are his darkness;

just losing him, you will come to me.

Remember - where he is,

you can find what you are looking for;

Remember - where the sunset fades,

 his dreams were lost.”

“What the...”

“Oh, no!” I whispered, settling on the ground. My own
legs refused to hold me any longer.

“Eileen!” Evan shouted, somewhere far away. His voice
sounded like echoes in my mind. I couldn’t understand a word. I was sinking
into the darkness...

Some time passed before I heard Evan's voice again

“Eileen!” he called. This time it sounded very close. I
tried to open my eyes, blinded by an unusually bright light. All the
surroundings were floating and even Evan’s face seemed just a blurry
silhouette.

“Can you hear me?” he asked.

I couldn’t answer. I just didn’t know how to do this. My
voice still refused to talk. I tried to remember why I was unconscious, why...

“Christian!” suddenly I cried. “He kidnapped him! He
took Christian away!”

“Sh-sh-sh, I know, I got it. We are already trying to
find him.”

“I have to do it myself.”

I sat up in bed and realized that I wasn’t in my room,
but in the office of Mrs. Weber.

“You can’t go anywhere now, Eileen,” Evan said, trying
to hold me back. “You are too weak.”

 “I can’t just stay here, Evan!”

“Okay, I'll take you to Patrick, but you must promise
that you won’t do anything stupid. This won’t help Christian.”

“I promise.”

Evan helped me to get up, and we slowly went out. I was
really weak, barely moving my feet. My head was still spinning, and there was a
terrible pain in my eyes.

“He has cheated all of us,” I said quietly.

“Yeah,” Evan nodded. “No one could have imagined that
his weakness would be just pretense. He can still manage his powers too well.”

“He still wants me to give him
my
power as well.
He wants me to find him.”|

 Evan didn’t answer.

“The note was saying about the place “
where the
sunset fades away.”
What could this mean?” I asked thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. We're just trying to figure it out.
Venturo couldn’t see his actions too, so apparently Eric possesses really
strong magic if he's managed to escape just like that.”

“Then why does he need my power?” I wondered.

“He can’t be eternally strong spending so much energy.
Sooner or later he will need new powers, and only you can give him something
that could be compared to his own abilities.”

“This is ridiculous! I don’t have even a small part of
what he has. For example Frederick could become his real goal, but certainly
not me.”

Evan kept silence. We came to Patrick's apartment, where
already were a lot of people. Among them I saw Amanda, who was sitting on a
small sofa near the window, weeping quietly. Next to her was Lucas. Apparently,
they had finally managed to restore their relationship. Evan and I approached
them. Without saying a word, I sat down beside Amanda and put my arms around
her. I didn’t know what to say because there was nothing to say, actually. I
didn’t know where and how to find her brother, but, just as she, I couldn’t
hide my own emotions. Tears were burning my eyes. Amelia came to us and asked
to go with her to the library. Patrick and Frederick were there too.

“Eileen, dear, sit down,” Amelia said. “We need to tell
you something.”

I sat in the nearest chair, watching all of them
nervously. Only Frederick was looking straight into my eyes.

“What's going on?” I asked.

“I should have confessed a long time ago,” began Frederick.
“Maybe then we would have avoided many of those problems that we are facing at
the moment. But I thought it would be better not to say anything.

He also sat in a chair opposite me.

“Many years ago I met a woman and fell in love with her.
She was the first real happiness in my life. Unfortunately we couldn’t be
together, because back then I was married to another woman.”

“I heard this story,” I said, seeing how hard it was for
him to continue every word. “You had a son.”

Frederick smiled sadly.

“No.
A daughter
was born then. A beautiful little
girl,” he said. “Despite the fact that her mother was an ordinary human, the
child was gifted. Not just gifted, she also possessed other very extraordinary
talents.”

“I’ve heard these words before,” I thought to myself.

“Being my daughter, the girl was supposed to get all my
powers, as soon as she became an adult. As it happened she really did.”

Thoughts rapids flew around in my head making me
confused and I couldn't understand a word of what Frederick had said before. He
was watching me carefully. Slowly distant memories began to come together like
a puzzle in my mind - the baby-girl, the powers, eighteen year old...