The Mystical Knights: The Sword of Dreams (16 page)

Chapter 12: Zephyrlis

             
Amethysts glittered precariously along the edge of the blade.  Nia took a deep breath and determinedly placed her right hand against the looking-glass for what seemed to be the billionth time.  It felt much different than window glass or the glass that inhabited mirrors; that sort of glass was hard and unbreakable.  This substance shimmered luminously like moonlit water, quaking serenely.  She cringed, squeezing her eyes closed as she awkwardly pushed her hand forward into the gelatinous mirror.  It made an awful slicking noise, nearly causing Nia to gag but she swallowed the temptation back without hesitation.

             
I have to get the Sword of Dreams
.

              Nia’s eyelids fluttered lightly as she grimaced with fortitude.  The familiar pressure was back, starting just behind her eyes and reaching out just beyond her temples.  The sensation made its way down her throat and settled deep within her chest, bubbling like boiling water. 

              Slowly, concentrating on the area behind the looking-glass, Nia began to open her eyes.  At first, they burned and stung but the feeling flickered away until it was a dull ache in the back of her mind, constant and secure.  The solid mass in front of her slowly began to soften.  Nia could
see
the Sword.  It wasn’t behind the looking-glass any longer.  It was there, spinning delicately before her.  Anticipation nearly extinguished Nia’s careful concentration, but she quickly recovered.  She had come so far—

              A sharp pain shot up her leg.  Nia grunted and quickly reached out to snatch the Sword from behind the realm, but it was too late.  It was already gone, drifting away from her like a dream scattering from sunlight...

              She was spiraling back down, floating through darkness.  She tried to scream in frustration, but her throat wouldn’t open up—she was suffocating...

             
“Nia.  Nia, wake up.”

              Thor kicked her leg sharply again from under the table.  Nia started in her chair, blinking away the weak rays of April afternoon sunshine.

              “I almost had it...” she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.  She cast Thor a near irritated look.  “I almost had the Sw—”

              “
Shh!
”  Thor nodded to the classroom door, which was slowly rocking forward creaking softly on the hinges.

              Since the start of the second semester, Nia’s fourth block study hall had been teacher-less.  And since the number of substitutes to go around had been slightly diminished due to budget cuts, Mr. Harper—the English teacher who taught the class next door—was forced to watch this class as well, continually walking between rooms every twenty minutes. Nia liked Mr. Harper; he had a laughable sense of humor and wore his heart on his sleeve.  However, this afternoon, while most of the class was dozing off after the lunch time rush, Mrs. Sylvester, a severe looking woman briskly walked in, her cheeks flushed with pink rouge.  She was a tiny lady but she held authority like a snake stalking a mouse in tall grass.

              Mrs. Sylvester rapped the first row of desks sharply with a ruler that she had found leaning against the white board.  The group of students that sat at that table gave with a start.  Some snapped right to attention, furtively blinking away any trace of sleep; others jolted away from their mindless doodling or hastily tried to stuff their papers underneath their folders.  One boy nearly flipped backwards in his seat, completely caught off guard by Mrs. Sylvester’s hearty wake-up call.  The rest of the class stirred, directing their eyes towards Mrs. Sylvester, whose tiny, knobby hands now clutched the sides of her plaid skirt expectantly, her hooded eyes darting around the class with arrogant suspicion as though she were waiting for one of them to admit to pouring maple syrup all over the library stairwell that morning.

              “It is my pleasure to inform you that we have finally found a replacement substitute for this classroom,” she announced.

              Most of the students perked up at this remark.  Some of them rolled their eyes and went back to whatever they were doing before.  Nia, insistently curious, deliberately inched forward in her seat so that she could peek over her classmates’ heads towards the door.  Thor leaned forward also, folding his hand into his chin.

              As Mrs. Sylvester stepped away from the doorway, Nia’s sight blurred.  She blinked, digging the heels of her palms into her eyes, but the edges of her vision kept slowly disintegrating into darkness...

              There was a flash of ice white light as Nia found her spectral-self being hurtled through frightening shadows.  They were twisted and distorted, like ugly shape-shifting demons, their razor filled mouths opening wide to swallow her whole....  Maniacal laughter filled Nia’s ears as she fell forward, her arms reaching out catch her fall. Something dark and hooded stood in the distance, beckoning with boney, spider-like fingers—

              “Nia!” Thor hissed through clenched teeth, gripping her shoulder roughly in an attempt to keep her seated.  Nia’s eyelids snapped open and she sucked in her breath with a harsh
swoosh
.  She was half-way out of her seat, her hands clenching the table with an iron grip so tight, the tips of her fingers were whitish and unsightly.  Some of the students sitting nearby had cocked their heads back, eagerly watching her.

              “Is there a problem?”  There was a slight Southern twang—not as pronounced as Thor's—to her accent. Her honey sweet voice reverberated through Nia's mind like a hundred thoughts. 

              A short woman with pallid skin that stretched across her boney face, stood beside Mrs. Sylvester, her long hands mechanically clasped in front of her.  She tilted her thick-rimmed glasses down the bridge of her small, but too-flat nose with interest as she looked over Nia with unnatural large black eyes.  Her thick black hair was pulled back into a tight knot and she wore a tacky black smock with lace fringe.

              Nia swallowed her heart back down into her chest and straightened up, watching the new substitute with wary eyes.  “I think I’m going to be sick.”

              Nia pushed her wobbly legs forward, grabbing her back pack from the floor as she rounded the table and paused expectantly at the teacher’s desk.  She looked pointedly at Mrs. Sylvester.  “I need a hall pass, please.”

              Mrs. Sylvester looked a bit startled by Nia’s peculiar behavior.  "Certainly, Nia."

              Nia swallowed hard once more, trying not to dart her eyes around as much while the sub scratched her ballpoint pen across the small slips of paper.  “I’m feeling a little weak,” Nia said earnestly; her legs felt like water and her arms were tingling with static.  “I’m going to need somebody to go with me.”

              Thor—already fumbling to shove his books away—nearly stumbled backwards over Nia’s hazardous chair that was still about a foot away from the desk.  He joined Nia at the teacher’s desk with amending silence. 

              “Two hall passes.”  The sub held up the two slips of paper, eyeing each of them with doubtfully.  Thor reached for his but ended up grabbing both of them as Nia darted for the door.  She had seen all she needed to see—the small signature scrawled out on the bottom of the slip.

             
Zephyrlis.

              It sent a chill down her spine, a cold tingling chill that numbed her to the bone and made it very hard to breathe... 

              “Nia!”  Thor called once the door had snapped shut behind him.  He took off after her and grabbed the front of her backpack, yanking her backwards.  “What the hell is going on?”

              Nia looked Thor hard in the eye, a deathly calm settling between them.  “Her aura was about as black as night.”  She set off again, feet pounding down the tiled hall while her mind yearned for escape.

              “Black?  I don’t get it,” Thor panted, stifling to keep up with her as she rounded the corner towards the library.  “I thought you were feeling sick—
oh
.”  He paled,  finally grasping what Nia was subtly trying to hint at.  “Do you think she is in cahoots with—”

              “Without a doubt,” Nia affirmed, almost taking the words right from his mouth.  “It's just like what we talked about at Fiona's last week—
remember
?  After we struck down those winged things in the boiler room?  Axel
is
trying to infiltrate the school." 

              There was a moment of awkward silence.  “But she was human.  An
adult
human.”

              “She might
look
human, but I really don’t think she is.  And she may be the first
adult
we've encountered working for Axel, but I don't think she'll be the last.”  Nia rounded the corner with a swift roll step, marching towards the set of blue double doors that were next to the gym. 

              “Uh, Nia—” Thor stumbled as he lost his footing. “Our hall passes are for the nurse’s office.”  He squinted feebly at his.  “Or at least mine is.  Does yours—?”

              “We're not going to see the nurse.  She wouldn't be able to help.  I need fresh air.”  She reached out her arms and pushed the double doors open wide without the slightest of hesitation.

              Although sunlight streamed across the parking lot, it was still quite chilly for an April afternoon.  A cold breeze caressed Nia’s face, tousling her hair.              There were still hints of snow scattered throughout the campus, but there were also signs of spring ahead.  Tiny blossoms were just starting to bud along the trees and pastel colored crocuses were beginning to sprout from the earth. 

              Nia led Thor through the student-parking lot and up into a hilly banking that sat behind the climbing wall.  There were few teachers outside (monitoring the gym class students that were using the wall or passing baseballs) and they hardly paid attention to the two out of place teenagers that were practically hurtling up into the trees.

              Nia easily slipped her backpack off of her shoulders and placed it onto the moist ground with a sigh and sat down on it.  Thor leaned against a tree, watching Nia with intense bemusement, his brilliant hazel eyes narrowing.

              “So you think that Zephyrlis woman is a minion or something?” Thor asked, still sounding unconvinced.  "She didn't really
say
anything."

              “She's not a minion,” Nia stated, as she looked at Thor firmly.  “And I don’t
think
.  I
know. 
She is something else that works for Axel.  Remember what Fiona...never mind, you had fallen asleep on the couch..." Nia’s brow furrowed reflectively as she wrung her fingers anxiously.  "She has said time and time again that Axel is allies with many faces-"

              A baseball soared through the trees and landed with a soft thud between Thor and Nia.  The two shared a perturbed glance.

              “I’ll get it!”  A girl crashed through the trees like a runaway bandit.  Nia looked up from the baseball just as CA stumbled into the small clearing, glove in hand, spiky red hair aflame on her head.  She looked between Thor and Nia, a delighted glint sparking within her ice blue eyes. 

              “Skipping class?” CA stepped forward and scooped the ball up into her hands.  She smelled of lemongrass and mint.  CA gave Nia a haughty smirk. 

              Nia’s vacant expression instantly became a sour one.  There was something so infuriating about CA’s presence that made Nia’s blood instantly boil.  They hadn’t really spoken at all for at least six months—despite CA’s constant jeers and spiteful annoyance.  “I have permission not to be in class.”  Nia held up her crumpled hall pass.  “See?”

              CA gave Nia a passive stare.  “So,” she began, raising a thin eyebrow at Thor as she spoke, “this is the nurse’s office, eh?  Funny...I always thought it was out here too.”

              Nia nearly growled; her fingers were clenched.  “Get out of here!”

              If CA had looked delighted before, then she was positively smitten now.  She folded her hands together, dappled with amusement.  “Oh, I'm so scared.  Nia's so angry!"

              “Go to Hell, CA”

              Nia was just as surprised by Thor’s blunt words as he was.  His now nervous eyes darted back and forth as he looked between Nia and CA

              CA snorted and practically keeled over with laughter.  Her smile spread mercilessly all over her pixie face as she grinned at Thor from across the clearing.  “You think you’re big and bad,
Tex
?”

              “He told you to go,” Nia said softly, a taste of warning dancing in her voice.  “I advise you to listen.”

              CA clicked her tongue against her cheek and tapped her foot against the root of a tree.  Her battle forfeited, she sent Thor one last dark glance and glowered purposefully at Nia, and turned on her heel, disappearing from sight.

              “I
really
don’t like her,” Thor stated matter-of-factly once she was out of earshot.  “Now
she
gives me the creeps.”