First Magic, Raven Steele [sight word books txt] 📗
- Author: Raven Steele
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“Yes?”
He lowered his eyes and sighed. “Can we talk about something else?”
I was about to press the issue, when my eyes caught Christian’s reflection in the mirror. Specifically, I focused on his ear. “Do guardians have awesome hearing?”
His eyebrows lifted. “How did you know?”
“I think I inherited it from my dad.”
“But you’re a girl. No offense, but it’s always been a guy thing.”
“I guess I won the DNA lottery.”
He was about to say more but stopped. “What’s this?”
He picked up my mom’s old letter from my nightstand.
I forgot I’d left it out. I quickly snatched it away. “It’s nothing. Just a letter my mom left for me when she died.”
“Then why wasn’t it signed by her?”
In addition to fast reflexes, apparently Christian was also a speed-reader. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t from her, but I like to think it was. She was always doing strange things like this.”
“How did you get it?”
“It was left on my bed in the arms of my favorite teddy bear.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Let me see it again.” He held out his hand.
I reluctantly handed it to him. His eyes read over it several times.
“Llona,” he said. “What happened to you in the cornfield? Wait. Not just in the cornfield. Tell me everything strange that’s happened to you lately.”
I swallowed hard, trying to remember the first time I felt afraid. “Well, it started at the beginning of the school year. I thought I was being watched through my window. Was that you?”
He shook his head. “I never watched you close-up, only from a distance.”
“So you’re only a long-range Peeping Tom?” I smirked.
“Not funny. What else has happened?”
I sighed. I thought it’d be difficult to tell him everything, but once I started I couldn’t stop. I told him about the person in the woods calling my name the night I’d jumped into the river, the shadow in the tree, and my feelings about the shoe and the murder at my car. I explained my odd feeling in the cornfield before I found the rabbit. And finally I told him about last night, and the Vyken at the foot of my bed. “I was so scared, Christian. I couldn’t move. Why couldn’t I move?”
Christian’s reaction surprised me. He sat next to me and embraced me to his chest. I was pressed so tightly against him that I could hear his heartbeat racing.
“You have to leave. Tonight, Llona. Go to Lucent with your aunt. You’ll be safe there."
I pushed him away. “What? No! I’m not leaving. That’s ridiculous. You’re my guardian. Can’t you protect me?”
“Obviously, I can’t. The Vyken has gotten too close and seems to know you too well.” He shook his head. “My first ward and I can’t even protect you.”
“How do any of the other guardians do it? They can’t watch their wards 24/7 either.”
“They don’t need to. Those other women are older and have been trained properly. They know how to make themselves almost invisible or run away if need be. And they’ve also learned to communicate telepathically with their guardians in case of an emergency. Our situation is very different from the others, don’t you see that? I can’t keep you safe.” He stood and paced the room in a tizzy.
“Can’t you give me a crash course in how to do all that?”
He threw up his arms. “Come on, Llona! I can’t teach you that stuff. My training was completely different from Auras.”
I thought for a minute while Christian stopped and stared out the window. His skin was pale, and I thought he might throw up. Without warning, the solution came to me like Einstein’s E=MC2 formula. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew it was the right decision. I could feel Light burning my skin in agreement.
I jumped from the bed and approached Christian. “I know this might sound crazy, but I want you to teach me what you know. Teach me to fight.”
His mouth gaped open. “You can’t be serious.”
“Really. I’m tired of running, and I’m tired of feeling like a victim. You’ve taught others to fight. Teach me.”
I glared at him when he started laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“The whole idea of it. Auras can’t fight. It’s not in their nature.”
“I think I’d know what’s in my nature and what’s not, and I’m telling you my nature wants to fight.”
He walked away from me. “This is crazy. Not only is the whole idea absurd, but I’m sure there’s a rule somewhere that says it’s forbidden.”
“Why?” I followed him across the room.
“Because! It’s not like there are a bunch of Auras out there. You need to be protected. You have no idea how important they are.” In a much quieter voice he said, “You have no idea how important you are.”
“Christian—”
“Please, Llona. Go to Lucent where you’ll be safe.” A knock at my bedroom door made him step away.
“Llona?” Jake asked. The door opened. “Some of your friends are here to see you.”
Behind him, May, Matt, and Tracey came in. Tracey gave me a hug followed by May.
“You don’t look like you almost died,” Matt said as he, too, wrapped his arms around me. When he let go, his arm remained on my shoulders, and his eyes burned into mine. “You really scared us last night.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
He hugged me again. “I’m glad you’re okay. The world wouldn’t be the same without you, Llona Reese.”
Christian grimaced and turned away.
“You sure got here early,” May said to him. “Did you even leave her last night?”
“Of course. She needed rest.”
“Thanks for saving her,” Tracey told him.
“It was nothing.” He walked over to me, his brow furrowed. “I have to get going, but I’ll come back soon, okay?”
I nodded.
After Christian left, my friends insisted on ordering pizza and watching a movie. The movie, some low-budget comedy, turned out to be more entertaining than I thought it’d be. We laughed the entire way through, as we couldn’t help but make fun of the cheap filming and the inflated acting skills of the no-name actors. By the time they left, my spirits had been lifted, and I had this incredible feeling that everything was going to work out.
I wasn’t about to go to Lucent, not when I had only six months left of school, but I also didn’t want to make things more difficult on Christian. I meant what I said about learning to fight, and if he wasn’t going to teach me then I’d find someone who would. The training wouldn’t be near as good as it should be, but at least Christian would know I was serious.
When Jake returned home from lunch with Heidi, I told him my brilliant idea. He burst out laughing.
“I’m serious,” I cried.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Heidi agreed. “I took Taekwondo for three years when I was younger.”
“You did?” Jake asked, clearly impressed.
“Yup. My father wanted to make sure I could protect myself if I ever needed to. You should let her do it, Jake. That would be really cool of you.”
“I agree, Jake,” I said. “That would be really cool of you.”
He shook his head. “You know Sophie would never approve of it.”
“She doesn’t have to know,” I said.
Jake rolled his shoulders back as if the idea made him uncomfortable. “I don’t know, Llona.”
“Not to be all defiant, but I am going to be eighteen soon, and then I can pretty much do whatever I want.”
“Come on, Jake,” Heidi said as she nestled up to him. “Let her do it.”
“Fine. What harm could come from it?”
Heidi cheered. “You’re going to love it. It’s such a workout. I don’t know if I’d do karate though. Do more of mixed martial arts, that way you learn everything. There’s a place not far from here.”
The doorbell rang. Christian was back.
“Hi, Jake, Heidi,” he said when Jake opened the door.
Heidi turned to Christian. “Christian, I think you’d agree.”
“With what?”
“That Llona should take a martial arts class.”
“A what?”
Jake spoke first, “Llona suddenly has a desire to learn how to fight. Ridiculous, huh?”
Christian chuckled. “Sure is, but I’d let her do it. I bet she quits after two
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