DESECRATION, Serial: Part 1 of 3 (Book One of The Wizard Queen at Sixteen Series), Page 2

  “Okay. Not wild magic. I think you’re right. We need to keep this quiet until we know what to do about it.”

  “Just Hugs,” Izzy reminded me, using the nickname we’d given our friend.

  “Yes, Hugo, but no one else.”

  Izzy’s expression transformed from sober to exuberant. “This is amazing. You have magic.” She shook her head and kept smiling.

  The bell rang, signaling five minutes until the end of the lunch period. I pressed the “close” button on my lunchbox, my meal morphed back into miniature size, and the box folded in on itself. I hadn’t eaten a single bite.

  We both stood, Izzy wearing a look of pure exhilaration, while I’m pretty sure I looked the polar opposite.

  “And, Addie, try not to make anything fly across the room anymore. No more wish magic.” She smirked at me. “Pretty sure if that happened during class, it would be a dead giveaway.”

  “I’ll try.” Great. I hadn’t even thought about it happening again. But what if I couldn’t control it? I didn’t want to be retrained or trapped in a laboratory, never to come out.

  Happy sixteenth birthday to me!

  CHAPTER 2

  Things Need to Change

  I sat in my Familiars’ Nutrition class, waiting for the last bell. At each desk, a 3D holographic lesson illustrated the various ways to address the dietary choices of wizards’ familiars.

  I was momentarily afraid I would fail my finals, because I hadn’t paid any attention in this class or my household budget class. And forget about Early Wizard Development; I couldn’t remember a word the teacher had said about handling toddler boys and their burgeoning magic.

  “Who can tell me whether a weasel is a carnivore, an omnivore, or an herbivore?” Madame Rossini asked.

  As usual, Lucia Amador raised her hand, wearing a serene smile while she waited for her name to be called.

  Madame Rossini sighed as she glanced around the room. “Would anyone else like to answer?”

  But no one else lifted their hand. Why did they need to? Lucia always answered.

  Poor Lucia. She sat behind me, and I turned around to look at her. Today, in particular, it felt somehow important. I searched hard for the old Lucia in her eyes, for the girl who used to be the class clown with the biting humor, who used to glamour hot pink and neon green streaks into her hair, and who never ever backed down from confronting a bully. I couldn’t find even the tiniest remnant of the Lucia I’d known.

  Earlier this year, Lucia had finally done the unthinkable: she’d fallen for a norm servant and hadn’t even tried to hide it. Her parents caught the two of them making out and shortly after that, Lucia disappeared from school for a week. When she returned, she wasn’t Lucia anymore. She was a model wizard girl, courtesy of the council’s retraining program.

  Thinking of the old Lucia always made me think about my own dark secret. I had a crush on a norm, a human boy I’d known for most of my life. I knew I could never act on my feelings; no one could ever know how I felt about Rory Devlin. But I couldn’t get him out of my thoughts; when I least expected it, his face would pop into my mind. I’d envision the wide dazzling smile that reached all the way to his amethyst eyes, making me long for something I couldn’t even put a name to.

  “Okay, Lucia?” Madame Rossini relented.

  Her voice brought my attention back to Lucia.

  “The weasel is a true carnivore,” Lucia said robotically. “It’s not an omnivore and there is some argument as to whether omnivore is even a valid classification.”

  Instead of engaging Lucia in a discussion on that point, Madame Rossini simply said, “Thank you, Lucia.” And with that she gave up on further class participation and went back to her lecture while the holograms continued to project on each desk.

  My mind returned to endlessly bombarding me with images of Izzy’s cloak flying into my hand, a knot of dread churning in my stomach.

  Finally, the last bell of the day chimed, making me jump in my desk chair. Izzy and I met back at our lockers. We were carried out of the school in the sea of other cloak-covered girls, bursting out of the girls’ wing at the same time the boys spilled out of the Wizards’ wing.

  We made a beeline for our ancient and sprawling live oak tree on the west side of the school campus. In a couple of minutes, Hugo approached with his usual good-natured smile, complemented by his white teeth, olive skin, and glossy black hair. He wore a blue polo shirt and black pants. That was the boys’ uniform—a white shirt with navy pants or a blue shirt with black pants. The girls always wore cloaks, which supposedly helped insure the boys wouldn’t be tempted to stray from their arranged marriage plans.

  As Hugo neared, he looked quizzically down at Izzy, and then me, and back again. I glanced at Izzy, and sure enough, her eyes glittered with excitement and she couldn’t contain the mischievous grin splitting her lips. She was obviously dying to spill everything to Hugo. I, on the other hand, would very much have liked to pretend the cloak incident had never happened.

  My life had been thrown into a maelstrom, and I allowed that to sink in for the first time since lunch. Sweat beaded on my upper lip and a chill crept up my neck, prickling across my scalp. What would happen to me? Would the magic shrivel up and die if I ignored it?

  Lucia’s vacant eyes haunted me. Was that my future? I leaned against the oak tree, swallowing down the panic clawing its way up my chest to my throat.

  I admitted to myself that the life I knew, the future I thought would be mine, could be utterly annihilated by the magic awakening inside me.

  “What? What happened?” Hugo shot Izzy a huge grin. “Tell me everything and don’t leave out a single detail.”

  Hugo and Izzy hadn’t noticed my temporary meltdown. I’d managed to contain it. “Not now,” I cautioned in a whisper, gulping down the rest of my panic. I glanced around the school grounds swarming with students. “Not here.”

  “Oooohhh! It’s a big, friggin’ secret.” Hugo rubbed his hands together. “Can’t wait.”

  “You’ll never believe it, Hugo!” Izzy actually did a little happy dance.

  “Let’s get out of here, then.” He nodded his head toward the forest. “I’m dying to hear what’s going on.”

  Watching Hugo’s face, I saw his smile slip away, replaced by a carefully neutral expression. The muscles in his jaw clenched.

  “Oh, look, if it isn’t Hugo and his girls.”

  I knew that spiteful voice coming from behind me. I lived with its owner and unfortunately shared his DNA. I turned around to see my twin brother Zarius, flanked by his two minions. As today was my brother’s sixteenth birthday, he wore his formal black wizard robes, accentuating his pale complexion. His shoulder-length light brown hair was identical to mine, and I stared into eyes the same shade of hazel as my own. He stood only a couple of inches taller than my five-foot-six height.

  Bartholomew, to his right, was almost six feet tall, with short hair the color of a roach. He was unremarkable, with a slightly flat nose and a prominent jaw. Roderick, with his golden blond hair, was a few inches taller than Zarius. Girls found his perfectly symmetrical features attractive, but I couldn’t get past the calculating glint in his cold gray eyes.

  Roderick and Bartholomew weren’t as much wingmen to my brother as they were his own personal chorus: they simply chimed in and agreed with whatever came out of his mouth.

  “Really, Hugo, I think you’re in the wrong classes,” my brother taunted. “I’m pretty sure you should be attending Cotillion Planning and Fashion Basics 101.” He chuckled at his own cruel humor, glancing at his friends to confirm their parroted amusement before returning his gaze to Hugo. “I’m confident your real talents are being wasted.”

  “It’s just like you’re one of the girls, Hugo,” Roderick chimed in, right on cue.

  “Yeah, a pretty little girl,” quipped Bartholomew, demonstrating his biting wit.

  I stared at my brother. I wanted so badly to fight back, but he would make my home life
a living hell if I drew attention to myself.

  “Let’s get out of here, please,” I whispered to my friends. I probably could have shouted it and Zarius wouldn’t have acknowledged my presence. I was beneath his notice.

  “We all know the truth, Hugo,” Zarius spat.

  “I know the truth, too.” Izzy stepped forward, wearing a brave but brittle smile. “Hugo here is betrothed to Briana Primrose.” She smiled sweetly at Hugo. We secretly knew that marriage was the last thing he wanted, but Briana was the prettiest girl in the North American Wizards’ Guild and everyone knew it.

  “Hugo has an arranged marriage,” Izzy paused for effect, “just like you do, most esteemed Wizard Zarius Evangelista. Now, let me think, who was that to?” She tapped a single finger against her temple. “Ah, yes, you are betrothed to Winifred Melbourne.”

  Our marriages were arranged in the first few years of our lives. Everyone but me received regular updates and pictures of their future spouses on a secure wizard website. Poor Winifred lived in Australia, falling under the rule of the Oceania Wizards’ Guild. Having seen her pictures, we’d hoped she’d grow into her nose at some point, but so far the only thing growing was her circumference.

  Izzy had struck a sharp blow to my brother, and it wasn’t exactly nice to Winifred, either.

  “You better watch that mouth of yours, Isadora Van Horn.” Zarius glared at Izzy with dark malice. I’d been on the other end of that look, too, more times than I wanted to think about.

  “That mouth of yours is going to get you in big trouble someday.” Zarius turned and stomped away, his chorus falling in step behind him.

  Each one of us knew what “someday” meant. It meant that Zarius would get even when he became the High Chancellor.

  “Most esteemed Wizard,” Izzy yelled at his retreating back, “I only stated the facts. A girl shouldn’t be punished for telling the truth.”

  “Izzy, you shouldn’t provoke him like that,” I said quietly. “He will get even.” I stepped closer to her and met her eyes. “Believe me.”

  “Ug! He just makes me so furious!” Izzy clenched her fists, shuddering with anger. “I don’t understand how he can be your twin. The two of you are like night and day. He’s viler than a troll’s toe-jam!”

  “Addie is right.” Hugo put a big hand on Izzy’s shoulder. “Izzy—don’t go and have a tizzy. You need to be careful with Zarius. A few words won’t hurt me.” Hugo tried for a smile, but it failed to reach his eyes.

  I looked up at his looming, melancholy face. The thing was, at six foot four, Hugo had several inches on Zarius and enough muscle to pound him into the ground if he wanted to. Honestly, he probably had enough magic to do it, too. But Hugo wasn’t into intimidating anyone. He’d only fight back if forced to defend himself and he had no other options.

  “But you can’t help who you are, Hugo,” Izzy said softly.

  “Let’s not talk about it, okay? The way I am doesn’t matter in the end. It’s pretty much an exilable offense, so I’d prefer for this topic to stay between us. I’ll be a good little wizard. What other choice do I have?”

  Hugo started walking away and we joined him.

  “Things need to change, Hugo.” Izzy’s gaze shifted to me. “And I know just the person to make those changes.”

  “Who?” I asked, curious who she thought could make those kinds of sweeping changes to our society.

  Izzy wiggled her eyebrows at me.

  I frowned back at her, perplexed. She just kept staring at me, her smile getting bigger and bigger.

  “What, me? You think I’ll change things?” I sputtered, stopping in my tracks.

  “Yeah, you just might.” Izzy shot me a knowing smile.

  What? Why was she thinking that? Did it have to do with the prophecy she’d mentioned earlier? If it did, Izzy had it all wrong. I wasn’t anyone who could revolutionize the wizard way of life.

  “Okay. That’s enough.” Hugo cut into the conversation, stopping and turning back to look at us. “You’re both talking in code. So do we talk about whatever this is at the waterfall?”

  “Yep,” Izzy agreed. “To the waterfall. Then we’ll tell you something so unbelievably monumental—I’m talking totally epic. As in history-making.”

  “You’re kidding me, Izzy. Right?” Hugo asked.

  Izzy just gave Hugo a wide smile.

  Hugo turned to look at me. “She’s kidding, right?”

  “I only wish she was.” I sighed in resignation.

  CHAPTER 3

  Please, Be a Fluke…

  “Hugo, are you sure we aren’t being followed?” Izzy asked in a hushed voice.

  Hugo stretched his arms out sideways and his head fell back as he closed his eyes and chanted under his breath. A gorgeous halo of aqua-blue light surrounded him in a cloud of sparking electricity. It was breathtaking. Stunned, I sucked in air.

  Hugo straightened up. “What is it, Addie? Are you okay?”

  I swallowed hard. “Sorry, just choked…on a gnat.” I couldn’t tell him anything yet, and I had no idea what had just happened. Was it possible I’d just seen his magic working? Come to think of it, hadn’t I seen a light green glow around my lunchbox earlier? The box was imbued with magic. Had I seen its magic, too?

  Hugo glanced around. “Well, there’s nobody anywhere near here. There’s a couple of deer, and a black bear with her two cubs, but don’t worry, they aren’t too close.”

  Hugo had a rare talent for sensing sentient beings, whether they were a person or an animal.

  In a few more steps along a barely visible winding forest trail, we came to what we called our waterfall. Hugo had warded the area to discourage any human, wizard, or sorcerer from entering the forest immediately surrounding the waterfall. And now, I could actually see the ward. It was a huge dome-shaped barrier of translucent shimmering energy. I squelched the urge to run my fingers along its exquisitely iridescent surface.

  “Give me a few seconds to reinforce my ward,” Hugo said, again stretching out his hands.

  He’d explained the ward to us when he’d triggered it a few months ago. It wouldn’t exactly keep intruders out if they wanted in, particularly if they were powerful wizards or sorcerers. Instead, the ward acted almost on a subconscious level, kind of like subliminal advertising in reverse, sending out the message you don’t want to come this way. And so far, it had worked. Izzy and I recognized our friend was very talented. Although as girls we had very limited knowledge of magic, from what we’d heard peripherally, Hugo seemed fairly powerful for a wizard his age.

  We wound our way down the path to the waterfall. Ours was not a huge waterfall, more a gentle flow of water down a meandering slant of stones and moss disappearing into a subterranean river.

  Our waterfall always infused me with tranquility, and today at least that hadn’t changed. I imagined tiny fairies flitting in the spray of the water and nearby in the flowers, or sunning in the dappled rays that dotted the soft moss. Now, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I caught glimpses of tiny firefly bursts of light. Was it possible I’d seen fairies or pixies? Of course I hadn’t. The stress of the day was just getting to me.

  “Earth to Addie,” Izzy called out, waving me forward as she disappeared behind the waterfall. While I’d been daydreaming, Hugo and Izzy had walked all the way to the hidden path behind the waterfall. I quickened my pace to catch up with my friends.

  I edged along the rock ledge to the small crevice behind the falls and sidestepped through the narrow opening. Outside the cave, our meandering waterfall was louder, but inside, behind the rock wall, it was muffled to a softer, even soothing sound.

  By the time I caught up, Hugo had already lit the two wizard lanterns in our little cave. Over the years, we’d smuggled in all kinds of things, like the lanterns, a small stash of food, folding chairs, a folding table, a folding cooler, even a couple of folding cots. I guess we had a whole folding theme due to the small cave entrance. In fact, if Hugo grew much more, he wouldn’t
be able to squeeze in unless we did a little excavation on the entrance, or if we learned to fold him.

  “Honestly, Addie! Knock, knock. Are you home in there? I just asked you to give Hugo a little demonstration.”

  I stared blankly at Izzy. Did she really want me to do magic again when I wished I’d never done it at all? Couldn’t Izzy just let me be in denial? That was sure where I wanted to be. After all, I was the daughter of the High Chancellor. I was supposed to be the model daughter and ultimately the model wife and the model mother, not some kind of desecration to our whole way of life. “Demonstration?” I squeaked.

  “Addie!” Izzy pulled her hood off and cocked her head. “You know, something like you did earlier…” She did a you-know tilt of her head.

  “Ha!” My laughter echoed off the rock walls of the cave. “I can’t do that again.”

  “How do you know if you don’t even try? Just concentrate and believe.”

  “What the heck are you two talking about?” Hugo threw his hands in the air. “Enough already, spill!”

  “You’ll see in just a second,” Izzy told him, and then turned my way. “Just do it.”

  “This is ridiculous. It was just a fluke,” I said dismissively as I sat down in one of the folding chairs.

  “Do it, Addie!” Izzy ordered.

  Maybe I needed to give it a try to stop her from pestering me. When it didn’t work, maybe she’d stop. I looked around the cave. What should I try? I’d left a bottled water on the folding table and I was thirsty. I concentrated, silently telling the bottle to come to me, but nothing happened. I stared at Izzy and shrugged.

  “Try harder,” she said stubbornly.

  Okay, I’d have to give it more of a try to get her to give up. In my head I imagined the bottle floating over to me. I commanded it in my head. Nothing happened. I gave Izzy another shrug. “Nothing, Izz. I tried.”

  “You didn’t try hard enough, Addie. Try to feel whatever emotions you were feeling earlier.”

  One more shot and I was so done. I thought of the panic I’d felt in the abandoned broom closet. I’d desperately wanted that cloak in my hand. I tried to feel the same emotions as I imagined the water in my hand. I even let that same urgency surge inside me, but still nothing happened. I tried once more, and this time I allowed the panic to build inside me, but channeled it into determination. In the next instant, the water flew at me, and it came so fast and hard that I ducked my head. The bottle flew past me and slammed against the cave wall, sending up a spectacular splash as the lid popped off from the impact. And this time, I saw my magic in a dazzling arc of deep, royal blue light.