The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) (30 page)

“The University does not accept witches,” Victor says without lifting his head.

I’d love to know how wizards are able to do that. Since I’ve given my bandoleer to Dray I no longer have even a speck of magic on me. Besides, he never looked at me, so how could he tell I’m a witch?

“I’m not interested in attending your school,” I say. The spell
doesn’t have complete control over me now I’ve reached the headmaster’s room, though the headaches are making me cranky. This is not looking like it will be a pleasant conversation. “Besides, from what I can tell, I’m not a boy and way too old for your taste.”

He still doesn’t lift his head, which pisses me off almost as much as
Rilla’s spell.

“What do you want?”
he asks.

I start to say the first thing that pops into my mind, as is my usual. In this case,
I nearly blurt out exactly what Rilla wants me to say. The problem is, I can’t think of any other reason for me to be here. There has to be some way out of this. I need more time to think. And a clearer head.

“Well?” He finally peers at me with his tiny, dark eyes. “My time is important,
witch. If you don’t have anything important to say, I suggest you leave before I lose my patience.”

“I want access to your books,” I blurt out.
I refrain from nervously fingering Gran’s journal and inadvertently bringing his attention to the scroll. “I need to search for how to deal with an unwelcome spell.”

He seems bored as he says,
“We do not share our information with outsiders. Unless you have something of a great deal of value to offer, which I doubt, then it’s time for you to leave.”

Oh, if only I could.

“My Lord.” The voice in the doorway behind me is familiar, and the moment I hear it I freeze. After all, he had told me to stay put. “We have an intruder.”

“More than one, it seems.” Victor responds with a pointed look to me. “What have you found?”

“No need to shove.” Another familiar voice. This time I can’t help but turn around. Rose is being manhandled by a couple of guards who force her into the room. “I’m quite capable of walking on my own.

When she sees me, she gives a gasp, but otherwise is smart enough not to show any signs of knowing me.
When my eyes drift past her to Dray, I notice his eyes remain firmly on Victor and he refuses to even glance in my direction.

“What is this?” Victor asks once Rose is in place in front of his desk. “Why do you bring a girl to me? Can’t you deal with this sort of thing
resorting to bothering me? At this rate, I’ll never finish my work.”

“My Lord.” The guard who speaks is too loud, even for such a large room. He doesn’t seem to notice everyone else is making faces
and leaning away to cover their ears. “She was talking to the students about the traitor. I believe she was trying to draw them to his side.”

This news is enough to gain Victor
’s full attention. He sets down his pen and straightens in his seat.

“Is that so?” he says.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rose says. She’s brave, I’ll give her that. She barely seems to be shaking at all, though it’s clear her life is on the line. “I came here to find a friend.”

Victor stands to make himself more intimidating. “Then you deny speaking to others about
the wizard Aldric?”

Rose freezes, and I can tell she’s resisting the urge to glance at me. I wish I could telepathically tell her I have no more idea than she does about
what he’s talking about. Al a traitor? I guess it shouldn’t come as such a surprise. After all, last time we saw him, he was helping my sorceress sister escape from other wizards.

“How much do you know about
him?” Victor speaks in a slow, calm voice which is so much worse than if he was shouting. “Do you know where he is? Or where he’s headed?”

“I-” She swallows a couple of times, and I can see she’s starting to
tremble. Obviously, she never planned for things to go like this. “I honestly don’t know. I haven’t seen him for months.”

“I don’t believe you.” Victor nods to the loud guard and he grabs Rose’s arm to force her forward. “You are going to tell me everything you know, and then you are going to die.”

She might be terrified, but she doesn’t lose her nerve to talk back. “And if I don’t?”

Victor’s slow smile is beyond creepy. I want to shake myself off after witnessing it. Maybe have a long
, hot shower.

“Then I will make you feel pain you cannot imagine. And I will do the same to everyone you love. Your friends, family,
the man you buy bread from, even people you’ve only met in passing. Everyone will suffer until you give me what I want.”

I can’t help watching Dray. Is this how Victor was able to trap him? Somehow I doubt it was so simple.
I still pity him for having to deal with this sort of thing on a daily basis.

With everyone’s attention on Rose, Dray risks meeting my gaze. He nods toward the door, telling me to leave while I have the chance. Unfortunately, even without the spell holding me in the room until I complete the deal for
Rilla, there’s no way I could leave Rose behind. 

I give him an apologetic look and then take a step forward so the others will notice me again.

“She doesn’t know anything,” I say.

Victor focuses shifts to me and he seems about ready to tear me apart. “Are you still here,
witch?”

“You need to listen to me.” Arguing with wizards. I love when my life is in
danger and I persist on making things worse. It makes life so much more exciting. “She doesn’t know where he is, so no matter what you do, she won’t be able to give you answers you want.”

“Dragon,” Victor says. “
Take the witch out of my sight.”

“Yes
, my lord.”

Dray puts a firm hand on my shoulder and attempts to guide me
away, but he’s not forceful enough to move me. I shake my head at him and mouth “Sorry” before breaking from his grasp.

Before I’m able to say any more to Victor, a scream fills the room. I spin around to see Rose writhing in pain as the guards stand back and watch. Dray’s
grip becomes tighter and there’s a lot more urgency as he once again tries to guide me out of the room. I don’t budge. I can’t. All I can do is watch.

Whatever kind of magic Victor is using on her becomes even more terrible. Her legs give out on her and she collapses to the floor. A
s she does, he appears to let up on the spell.

“Now tell me,” Victor says. “Where is the traitor?”

Somehow I manage to find my voice and say, “She doesn’t know. Leave her alone.”

The agony he throws at me is worse than anything
Rilla’s spell ever managed to do. It hurts more than I knew was possible. Every nerve in my body feels like they’re being squeezed and twisted at the same time. I can’t stand, but it’s equally impossible to fall. It’s too much. The pain should kill me. Why doesn’t he kill me?

Even once he releases the spell, every inch of me continues to ache. I feel twisted and old, and all I want to do is curl into a ball and die. But I can’t. If he’s stopped hurting me, he’s probably gone back to Rose.

Only when a pair of hands lifts me to my feet do I realize I’d fallen.

“Please,” Dray whispers to me. “Leave. There’s nothing you can do for her.”

If he wanted to force me out, I know there would be no way I could stop him. In fact, without his continued support, I’m sure I’d be back on the ground in an instant. I have no strength to hold myself up.

Part of me wishes he would carry me away. We could go back to his tower where the pain of
Rilla’s spell was at least bearable. But Rose’s screams and pleas for the pain to stop make the choice impossible.

“Stop,”
I say. Though my voice is gruff and quieter than usual Victor still hears me. He looks as though he’s about to throw twice as much at me than before, so I raise my hand as much as I can to stop him. “Wait. For her life.” I feel like I’m as out of breath as if I’d been running. “I have...”

“Don’t,” Dray says only to me. “Whatever you have, please don’t give it to him. You can’t give him any more power.”

“What is it?” Victor asks. “Tell me what you have, though I doubt it will be enough to save either of you.”

Gran, I’m so sorry. I know you’d never want me to do this, but I can’t let Rose die. I have no choice.

I pull the scroll case from my shoulder and force myself not to cry out in pain as I do so. I’m too sore to walk over to him, so he sends one of his guards to fetch the scroll from me.

As soon as it leaves my hand,
Rilla’s headache stops, though I can barely tell the difference with everything else I’m dealing with.

When he opens the case, my
stomach begins to flip out. What have I done?

The bored expression Victor’s has had since I came into the room shifts to confusion, then surprise, until finally he has the most frightening expression of delight I’ve ever seen on a person.

Without looking away from the scroll, Victor tells the guards “Release her.”

Rose stumbles as she tries to stand. Without anyone to help her, it’s next to impossible for her to move, though somehow she manages. Unlike me, she has no problem with leaving the headmaster’s office as soon as possible. Before she goes, she takes the time to
nod at me and give me silent thanks. And then she’s out of sight. I hope she’s able to make it back to Paul. He’ll do anything he can to make her better.

Victor waves the guards away once Rose is gone, but he doesn’t do the same to me or Dray.

“Bring the witch to me,” Victor tells Dray.

This I didn’t expect. I’d assume he’d have questions about where I got the scroll, and I planned to be honest. Telling him the truth might mean saving
Ebroe after all, and I need to help as many people as possible to relieve some of my guilt.

Dray is as gentl
e as he can be as he forces me toward the desk.

“Give me your arm,” Victor says.

I want to refuse, but don’t have a legitimate reason to. And I’m afraid that if I don’t do as he says, Dray will be forced to make me. I don’t want him to be ordered around anymore than necessary, not if I can prevent it.

He grabs my offered arm and roughly holds it against the desk. From his hip, he draws a ceremonial dagger covered in
an intricate design and slices a long gash from my elbow to my wrist. My first thought is, he’s trying to kill me. He’s slitting my wrists and I’m going to bleed out here on his desk.

And then he makes a similar cut to his own arm, and I become confused.

He slaps his arm against mine, pressing our wounds together as he grips my elbow. Not sure what else to do, I hold onto his arm in return as he begins saying words in a language similar to Latin, though I can’t be sure since I know nothing about it other than what I heard on TV.

When he stops speaking, he nods to Dray. On cue, the dragon leans over and breathes over our arms. Heat sears my skin, and I’m sure the blood from my wound must be boiling.
However, after the pain from earlier, this is tolerable and I grit my teeth and tighten my hold on Victor’s arm.

“It is complete,” Victor says once the burning subsides.
 

He lets go of my arm and I quickly check to see how much damage
he caused. Although my skin is smeared with blood, there’s barely a scar left where he’d cut me. 

“What was that?” I ask.

“Your reward,” he says as though it should be obvious. “You have been given the abilities of a wizard. You are now a sister of The Sword.”

At first I don’t understand what he’s saying. Or maybe I refuse to believe. He can’t possibly mean what I think he does. There’s no way I’m a wizard. How could it be? Al said it took years to become one
. What Victor did took seconds.

“A wizard?” I ask.

“Congratulations.” Victor takes a seat and leans back to examine the scroll. “Not many witches have achieved such an honor.”

I think I’m going to be sick. I
don’t want to believe him, but there’s no denying I feel different. Not a lot, just subtle things such as I can sense Victor’s magic in a way I couldn’t before. It’s like a tangible thing now, though always just out of reach.

I also feel a bond to the headmaster
, as disgusting as the idea might be. Even though I’ve only met him today, it’s like I’ve known him all of my life. Like an uncle I’ve never seen before. The thought of his blood being bound to mine makes me feel dirty in a way not even a hundred showers can clean me of.

Getting out of here and trying to wipe away all memory of what’s occurred is at the top of my list of things to do. Unfortunately, it’s not only my own life I need to be concerned about now.

“The scroll is a gift,” I say.

“And I thank you for it.” He nods his head as though to tell me I’
m dismissed.

I force myself to ignore the residual pain and to stand up as straight and confident as I can. “It comes with a condition. You’re to leave the town of
Ebroe alone.”

He seems bored. “Why would I care about the town of
Ebroe?”

“The sorceress
Rilla has taken claim to it,” I tell him. This news catches his attention and he finally takes his eyes off the scroll to stare at me.

“When did this happen? How have I not been informed before now?”

“She took the town yesterday evening and sent me straight here to bargain for the city,” I say. “I couldn’t care less about what happens to her, but the villagers shouldn’t be punished.”

Part of me hopes he sends someone to steal
Rilla’s magic. It would serve her right for what she’s put me through.

He thinks for a moment before saying, “I will consider your request.”

It’s not exactly the positive response I was hoping for, but it will have to do. Now there’s only one thing left for me to do.

“
There is a portal about two days’ journey from here,” I say. “Leave it to me.|

He eyes me suspiciously. “What interest do you have in the portal?”

Time to start acting like the wizard I’ve apparently become. “The villagers who live nearby trust me. They won’t suspect anything if I continue to watch over the area. Why stir up trouble by bringing in someone new?”

I’m not sure I’ve convinced him, but he also doesn’t seem interested in arguing. He raises a hand and waves me off. “
Fine. Go watch the portal if it’s your desire. But do not expect any more favors from me. You are receiving more than you deserve. I’ll be in contact.”

He’s probably expecting a thanks and some bowing, but I give him neither. I turn around and hobble away, glad when Dray chooses to help me rather than stay with the headmaster.

Neither of us says anything as he takes me through the halls and to the front entrance. He only dares to speak once we’re outside.

“That was amazingly idiotic,” he says.

“Thanks.”

“No, I mean it.” He stops me on the short road between the
front doors and the gates to the city and forces me to face him. “Do you have any idea what he will do with such important information? You have no idea how many lives you’ve put in danger.”

I’m too tired for a lecture, especially one from him. “
I have a better idea than you think.”

He sighs. “I should have killed you before you could hand it over.”

“Why didn’t you?” He seems surprised I have to ask. “Everyone runs scared from you, yet since the moment I’ve met you, you’ve gone out of your way not to frighten me, let alone hurt me.”

He laughs and then makes a face when he realizes I’m being serious. “Hurting you was never an option. And I did attempt to frighten you. However, your claim not to scare easily seems to be true. It probably has to do with your shaman abilities.”

He seems to think he doesn’t need to say any more for me to understand. So after giving him my best blank stare, I say, “Huh?”

“
Your shaman abilities.” No matter how many times he says the words, I’m not going to understand them. My expression must say as much because he finally chooses to explain. “You’re connected to the natural magic of the world.”

“
Yes,” I say. “Because I am a witch.”

“It’s not the same.” He runs his hand thr
ough his hair as he tries to think of how to explain. “Shaman’s bond to the world is stronger, and on a more primal level than witches. It seems to be particularly strong between you and creatures of magic, including your chimera.”

When he nods toward the gates, I glance over and feel a rush of relief when I
see Farah standing behind the guards. Her hackles are up and she appears to be growling at Dray, but otherwise she seems to be fine.

“You’re saying Farah follows me because I’m a shaman?”

He recognizes my doubt and puts a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll explain it to you this way. If you were simply a witch, I would have killed you the moment you tried to step through the door to follow your chimera. In fact, you would have had no chimera to follow, because she would have tried to kill you long ago.”

A shiver runs down my spine as for the first time I feel how dangerous Dray can be. “Pleasant.”

“I didn’t hurt you because I could feel a connection between us,” he says. “You must have felt it too. It’s the only explanation for why you weren’t frightened. No matter how brave a human is, fear of dragons is something you’re all born with.”

The more I think about what he’s saying, the more it makes sense. “I’m a shaman,” I say. “With a connection to magical creatures.” Part of me knew there must
have been a reason why I’d felt connected to Farah and Nyx and now Dray. Being told I’m a shaman only gives the feeling I’ve always had a name. “And I’m a witch. And apparently I’m now also a wizard.” I think about it for a minute, and then a smile creeps onto my face. “I always knew I was cooler than Lou. Pft. Sorceress. I’m a freaking hybrid.”

He doesn’t understand why I’m so happy, but it doesn’t matter, I still take the opportunity to hug him. Yup, I hugged a dragon. Beat that, Lou.

When I pull away, I gently punch his shoulder, though even if I put all my weight behind the jab, I doubt he would have felt more than a tap.

“
Thanks,” I say. “You are more awesome than I hoped. If there’s anything I can do for you, such as maybe help you find a way out of here, let me know.”

For a second, his relaxed grin is back, but it fades all too soon. “I’ll be fine,” he says. “I have a feeling I won’t be stuck here much longer. Will you be all right?”

I gave away the secret locations of most, if not all, of the portals in both worlds, became a wizard and found out I was already a shaman. But I’m also alive when I probably shouldn’t be, and I’ve finally met my first dragon.

I stretch up and kiss his cheek.

“See you around, Dray.”

I head off to find Paul and Rose. I think it’s time to go home.