Spellbound (the Spellbound Series Book 1) (14 page)

“That’s nice.” I turn my body away from hers, and bury my head in my hands.

“Sorry about earlier,” Alyssa mutters. “I’m not usually so hostile.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm. It’s just… I’ve actually been there. Starving and homeless, I mean. I guess I’m still not really over it.”

“How did you wind up homeless? We’re the same age.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Alyssa wraps her arms around her knees. “There are toddlers that don’t have a roof over their heads, or anything to eat.”

“Seriously… what happened to you?”

“I guess I can tell you… but on two conditions. First, don’t interrupt me. And second, don’t pity me.” I nod slowly, and lean in closer to her. Alyssa starts doodling shapes in the sand, and says, “Better start from the beginning, I guess… It was just me, my mother, and my older brother Louis for the longest time. I never knew my father; he was murdered a few nights before I was born. We carried on just fine without him, though; my mom made just enough money to support our little family on her own. For the first few years, things were alright. Then, around the time I turned five, my powers started awakening. And bad things started happening to the people around me.

“The first incident happened about a month after my fifth birthday. We were at the playground, and for some reason,
my stupid prick of a brother kept kicking sand in my face. I remember getting really angry at him, and being unable to yell for my mother to come intervene because my mouth was full of sand. I must have blacked out, because I don't remember exactly what happened next, but next thing I knew, my brother was buried neck deep in sand. It took five people to dig him out.

"Things just got worse from there; my moods became unpredictable, and my powers wilder. My mother didn’t know what to do with me, so I was mostly kept indoors, away from outside stimuli that might have provoked me to cause any more damage. No matter how much she tried to keep me locked away, though, it just kept happening. Once, I heard her telling her friend on the phone that she had given birth to a monster. That she should have known better than to keep me.

“The last time I blacked out like that was when I was nine, on Christmas morning. Louis woke up to a brand new bike, and a stack of cheap video games that reached up to his knees. When I opened my single present, I found an ugly, misshapen doll in an unmarked boxed that smelled like piss. I remember throwing the doll at my brother’s face, my mom shouting, me getting kicked across the living room, and then... nothing. I lost it. I wound up bringing the entire building down around me. It’s a miracle that nobody was seriously hurt. At that point, my mother was completely fed up with me. She never tried to get me any help, I don't think she even really wondered what was wrong with me... She just dumped me at my godmother's doorstep, and moved to some little town on Long Island. I haven't seen her, or any other family, since.

"Now, my godmother was an eighty five year old chain smoker, so it wasn't really a shock when the old bitch had her last coughing fit a few months after taking me in. I didn't even bother showing up to the funeral; the night she died, I took all the money I could find in her apartment and left. I made a living on the street for a while after that, but eighty dollars doesn't keep you fed for very long. I didn't want to resort to stealing or begging, and I still had no idea how to use my powers, so I went to bed hungry most nights. I was on the brink of starvation when Selene found me; she said that she had been searching all over the city for me ever since she heard about the incident on Christmas day. She took me in, fed me, and let me sleep on her couch until I could find a permanent place to stay.

"When I was healthy enough for my ribs to stop showing, Selene said she had a theory as to why I keep blacking out, and that she might know how to prevent it from happening again. She asked me if I had any interest in staying with her long-term, and learning to tame my wild powers. I couldn’t believe it; not only was she offering to teach me how to control my outbursts, she was the first person to show me compassion in all the years after I became a ‘monster’. I wasn’t about to let her out of my sight. Naturally, I said yes.

“First thing she did was run a few tests on me, and she found out that I tend to black out and go on a rampage because I have more power than my body can contain. When I’m under stress, it comes out in a series of violent bursts, and I lose all sense of reason. Selene said she had seen those symptoms before, and her solution was to put an inhibiting spell on this pentagram necklace. As long as I wear it, my power regulates and expels itself in a healthy way. I haven’t had an incident since.

“Once I became easier to handle, Selene introduced me to the rest of Penumbra, and had some of the elders begin teaching me various spells. I had trouble at first, like everyone, but after a few months I mastered the basic spells, and moved on to more difficult ones. My fellow students envied me because I was much more advanced than someone my age should have been, and because the adults gave me special treatment. But none of that’s my fault, the elders only treat me with any sort of respect because they think I’m a Conduit.”

Alyssa pauses for a moment, as if she’s debating whether or not to tell me more, and I take the opportunity to ask, “What’s a Conduit?”

“A spellcaster with god-like power, from what I can tell.”

“But regular spellcasters are already ridiculously strong.”

“Let me put it this way… the best of us can move boulders, but apparently a Conduit can lift entire mountains.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. There’s some sort of prophecy about them, but I don’t believe in that shit.” Alyssa takes a few moments to think, then apparently decides to continue her story. “Things have been pretty alright since then. I live with Selene, we meet with the rest of the clan, we learn from and protect each other. We try to keep a low profile. The only part I don’t like is the dress code…”

“Dress code?”

“You don’t think I wear black for fun, do you?”

“Oh.” We sit in silence for a while, and though I try my best not to feel sorry for Alyssa, I do. Her life had been pretty rough until she met Selene… which is surprising, since Krystal had given me the impression that Selene was a horrible person. I’m glad that some of the mysteries surrounding Alyssa have been unraveled, but there are still so many things I want to know. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Nope. Ask away.”

“What made you open up to me? For that matter, why did you defend me after I accidentally burned down the forest? Why bother saving my dumb ass? And why did you warn me about Selene and the rest of your clan?”

Alyssa hesitates before answering, “Do you know what I dreamed about earlier, when Morpheus knocked us out? I dreamed that you died, and that I could have stopped it from happening. That’s why I was so freaked out afterwards. It’s a fear that I live with every day, and I thought if I could keep you out of Selene’s vendetta against Krystal, it would mean I could keep you safe. That’s why I warned you, why I dragged you out of the fire.”

“But why? Why does my life matter to you that much?”

Alyssa turns to face me, her eyes lock onto mine, and for the first time, I recognize the look she’s giving me. I’ve only seen flashes of it, in those moments when I catch her staring at me in school, just before her eyes dart back to her notebook. It’s a look I’ve come to associate with Nick, as I see it on his face nearly every day. I can only describe the feeling behind it as longing. Alyssa whispers, “Because I don’t want to imagine a world without you.”

We’re sitting a few inches apart, but suddenly, the space between us feels far too small, far too intimate. I feel my face flush, and look down at the sand in front of me. I’m too flustered to begin sifting through the implications of what Alyssa just said, and thankfully, I’m spared from having to do so. A figure rises out of the sand right before our eyes, slowly at first, but it pulls itself out in one quick motion once its arms are exposed. Alyssa and I gaze at the strange being standing before us, with a head that looks like a cross between a jackal and an aardvark, but the reddish-skinned body of a man, wearing nothing but sandals and a white and gold skirt held in place by a corded belt.

For a moment, he merely watches us, and then he raises a hand into the air, and folds it into a fist. Instantly, I feel the ground beneath us start to shift, and I have just enough time to grab onto Alyssa before we both begin sliding down a massive hole hidden in the sand.

Chapter 16

We fall through the hole, and for a few seconds, there’s nothing but darkness and the sound of wind rushing past my ears. Then, our butts hit a slippery, slanted surface, and we begin to slide downward at an incredible pace. Judging by the surprised screams from behind us, Ryan and Jasira have been sucked into the hole as well. We’re sliding further underground than I’ve ever been in my life; the slide seems to go on for miles, guiding us ever downwards and occasionally turning ever so slightly. Just as suddenly as our descent began, it comes to a screeching halt, and all four of us drop a few feet onto the flat, cold stone below.

I’m the first one on my feet. I hold out my hand in front of me, and I produce a ball of light from my palm so I can get a look at our surroundings. We seem to be in a narrow man-made passage hewn into the stone. There are messages scratched onto the walls featuring characters that I can’t recognize, a fountain built right into the stone, steps leading further downward… a fountain! I can’t believe my eyes, not until I’ve rushed over to the fountain and I’m cupping the cold water in my hands. It’s all I can do not to just shove my face into it. I call over the others, and we take turns drinking our fill. Once my thirst is quenched, I notice that I no longer have a headache, and my tongue feels like a tongue again.

Each of us expresses some reproach about moving forward, since we don’t know when we’ll be seeing water again. But the only other options are to somehow clamber back up the slide that brought us here, or sit by the fountain until some new horror forces us onward. I silently make my way down the stone steps, and the others follow in single file. I don’t mind leaving our new source of water behind, as long as we can get as far from the desert as possible.

The stairs end at a slightly broader passage, which seems to go on for about a mile. Unlike the arid air of the desert, the air is moist enough to make my clothes cling to my skin, much like they did when I passed through Cueva Clara. Somewhere along the way, I start to think that I’m hearing waves from up ahead, but I assume that it’s merely the sound of me losing my mind. We’re miles beneath the desert, and certainly far away from any lake or ocean, so how could that be possible? But sure enough, the passage widens considerably into an empty dock, accompanied only by the moon, the cool night air, and the vast ocean beyond. We take a moment to enjoy the view, before Ryan asks, “They don’t expect us to swim, do they?”

Unexpectedly, a man’s voice answers, “No, but if you are so inclined, then be my guest.” I instinctively look behind me, ready to fire off a spell at whoever is there. A blinding light appears before us, and fades to reveal a tall, muscular man with silky blond hair, and a beard to match. He’s not wearing any armor, nor does he have any visible weapons, but something about him still calls to mind the presence and strength of a Viking warrior. He surveys us for a moment, then says, “Sorry if I’ve startled you, I often forget to make my presence known before speaking.”

“That’s fine,” I reply, even though my heart is still racing. “But who are you?”

“Freyr, son of
Njörðr. I have been instructed to guide you to your final trials.” He pulls a small, red pouch off of his belt, walks out onto the dock, and says, “The end of your journey is near. Now, you need only cross the sea.”

“And how do you propose we do that?,” I ask.

“Patience, young warrior. You’ll travel by ship.” Freyr pulls open the pouch, and dumps the contents into the water. Almost instantly, a large wooden pole juts out of the water, followed by two others, then a flat deck, and after a few minutes, an entire ship rests in the water, where previously there had been nothing. I walk past Freyr onto the dock to get a better look at the ship. It’s made of some dark wood, held together with glistening iron, and large enough to carry at least a hundred people across the sea. A word is emblazoned on the side of it, but I can’t for the life of me imagine how it’s pronounced. I turn back to ask Freyr what it says, but he’s already gone.

A thin gangplank extends from the ship to the dock, and I gingerly walk my way up onto the deck. The others follow, and once all of us are on the ship, the gangplank vanishes, along with the rope keeping us from floating out to sea. Each of the sails rises on its own, and even though there is no wind, they quickly fill, and suddenly, we are sailing. Ryan says he’s decent at steering a ship, so we let him take the wheel, while the rest of us explore, or find a reasonable place to rest for a while.

I’ve never been on a ship before, so I halfway expect myself to get nauseous, or at least become crippled with anxiety, like Alyssa has. Surprisingly, I feel perfectly comfortable standing at the bow, watching the water rush by with the salty air tossing my hair violently. I suspect that under different circumstances, I would have liked traveling by ship. As it stands, I’m too on edge to enjoy the experience, keeping in mind that at any moment, something might attack us. After twenty minutes, I decide to sit down with my back against the mast, and fatigue gets the best of me at last.

When I open my eyes next, the sun is shining directly into them, and I have to block its rays with my arm. It feels like I only slept a few minutes, and yet, judging by the morning light, it’s been at least a few hours. The ship is still powering through the water of its own accord, regardless of whether or not the wind is actually blowing. I look around the deck to see where everyone is: Ryan is still manning the wheel, even though he looks ready to drop from exhaustion; Jasira is still sleeping on her stomach, with her head in her arms; and Alyssa has taken my old spot on the bow. She seems much more comfortable at sea than she was at first.