Page 46 of Dead Wrong

I looked once again at the dark trail leading away from the man with fathomless eyes, and for more reasons than one, I finally conceded and stepped into the sanctuary.

“Power. Influence. Tradition. These are the hallmarks of Adored culture. Our people have been guiding the Magi toward a common goal for centuries. Can either of you tell me what goal it is that we strive for?”

The classroom was empty, except for Lynette and I, seated across from one another at a desk of rich mahogany. I glanced across to my sister, wondering why she didn’t already have her hand raised. She seemed distracted, caught up in a swirling pattern she was drawing on her paper. So, I raised my hand instead, and the wrinkled woman standing in front of the chalkboard pointed her stick at me.

“Mother says that we’re going to lead the Magi into the next Awakening.”

The tutor smiled, the lines of her face sinking further inward. “That’s absolutely right, Tobias. More than a thousand years ago, the Awakening brought us out of the shadows of mortality, sparking the gift of magic in our very souls. With these gifts, the Magi have been able to accomplish countless wonders. Grand cities rose from the ashes of mortal wars. Diseases that ravaged the population have been culled. Society flourishes under the guiding hands of generations of Adored women. This is the legacy that you will inherit, Lynette.”

My sister didn’t look up from her paper, still focused on the drawing, her hand moving in the same slow, intentional circles.

“And I’ll help, too,” I added to the tutor, straightening my posture.

“Of course you will, dear,” our teacher replied, an amused smile curling the edges of her wrinkled mouth. “But it’s Lynette who could bring about the next Awakening and, with it, another evolution of the Magi.”

“Will the mortals be able to use magic, then?” Lynette asked, her hand never slowing its progress along the parchment.

“The mortals?”

Confusion hung from the tutor’s face, much like her jowls.

“They don’t have magic,” Lynette continued, her face nearly obscured behind a wall of crimson curls as she worked. “So, when the next Awakening happens, we’ll give it to them, right?”

“The mortals would not know what to do with magic, dear, so I don’t think it’s?—”

“But we came from mortals,” Lynette interrupted. “All of us. It’s only fair, right? We should share the magic with them.”

The tutor’s expression pulled tight as she waved her hand in the air. “It’s really not my place to determine that.”

“It is fair,” Lynette said, finally looking up from her spiraling design. “Or it will be. I know. I’ve seen it.”

“Seen what, dear?” the tutor questioned, stepping over to Lynette’s side. She picked up the parchment, holding it close so she could peer down through her half-moon glasses.

“The Awakening will come.”

Lynette’s voice deepened, her words slowing. She looked up from the desk, her eyes clouded white, and the tutor gasped, taking a step back as the parchment fluttered from her grip, landing between us on the desk.

“Lenny?”

I leaned forward, catching a glimpse of the fiery circles my sister had drawn. Lines of harsh red and bright orange converging into a spiraling inferno. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, my skin prickling as if the air itself was electrified.

“The Awakening will come,” Lynette repeated, her head swiveling till her glassy eyes trained on me. “But only when it’s called. Only when the Magi are one. Bind them together. Wake me, Son of the Second. I wait for you. I wait for you. I wait for you.”

Lynette’s voice trailed off into mumbled gibberish, and it was all I could do not to scream. The tutor seized Lynette by the shoulder, giving her a quick shake followed by a blow across the cheek with the back of her hand. Lynette slumped back in her chair, her pale face once again obstructed by a sheet of red curls.

I held my breath, afraid that if I moved, those haunting, milky eyes would find me again. That terrible voice echoed in my head, burning a hole through my subconscious till it leaked into my very soul, leaching all of the heat from my veins.

Our tutor stepped away from the desk, moving to the black box that hung on the wall beside her chalkboard. She removed the small wired receiver, spinning the dial on the front a few times before pressing the receiver to her ear.

“It’s happened again. Please inform Madame Greene.”

Lynette didn’t move from her seat till the door to our classroom sprang open a few minutes later, Mother stalking into the space like a predator on the prowl. I hadn’t taken my eyes off my sister, my own dread locking me in place.

“What did she say?” Mother questioned the tutor, keeping a distance between herself and Lynette.

“Same as before. She was drawing again. Tobias, show her.”

I unfurled the roll of parchment I’d been concealing, showing Mother the strange fiery rings. The longer I stared down at them, the more I could swear I saw them moving across the page.

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