Page 9 of Unshaken

It doesn’t take me long to reach the cabin. I stop in the middle of the path, trying and failing to hold back a laugh. This place is abandoned, it’s so rundown it’s barely standing. Vegetation grows up out of the cracks on the porch that looks as if it will collapse with any amount of weight placed upon it. The windows are all broken, and from where I am standing the place looks empty, a sad shell of someone's hunting log cabin. A tree has fallen through the roof, exposing the place to the elements, the wood is more weathered than the wooden planks back on the swamp path.

This has to be another test because the only thing that looks in perfect shape is the door. A bright red door awaits, not a scratch in sight on its surface. It looks brand new and out of place amongst the wreckage of the house it’s holding up. I can feel it beckoning me closer, the magic in the air is thick and rich, washing over my skin in a way I have never felt before. I can feel the invisible force as it moves around, as if it’s checking me over, poking and prodding, invasive even as a pressure builds inside my head. I stand perfectly still, not wanting to interrupt whatever is happening, but I also don’t like the feeling of vulnerability this intrusiveness is manifesting in me. Then suddenly, it’s over. Like I imagined the entire thing, I’m left standing there, focusing on the door once more, and despite my reluctance I put one foot in front of the other.

“Rook, what just happened?”I ask, keeping our conversation between the two of us from now on. I don’t know who’s listening out here, and after my invisible shake down I am feeling uneasy.

“It’s another ward, I’m afraid. The last line of defense before you step through the gate. It’s identifying you in a way. Do you know how many Witches steal identities? Glamour Magic can almost go undetected. HellNight Academy is very protective of its secrets.”I scoff as I test the first step. My weight causes some of the wooden step to groan and splinter, and in alarm I immediately step back.

“I don’t know, from the looks of this place, I don’t think there is much to steal,”I reply, checking the distance between me and the actual door in order to determine if I am going to go crashing through the broken porch.

“It’s all a part of the ward, Micah. Stop stalling and get up those stairs,”Rook commands. I guess he is tired of me surveying the area, but it’s my father’s Light Guardian training that gives me pause. “Always assess your surroundings, Micah. Never go in without as much knowledge as you can,”he would always tell me as he drilled me relentlessly. I take one last look around me. There is nothing here but oppressive heat and trees, so I do what I did before and take a leap. Literally. Grabbing my luggage, I drag it behind me, taking a running start I leap over the first three steps, lifting my luggage up at the last minute. I balance precariously on one foot as a huge hole in the porch stands between me and the door. The hole doesn’t look like it leads to the ground beneath the house, it’s more of a black void, a crater that might go on forever if one so happens to fall into it, like I almost did.Focus, Micah,I chastise myself for rushing, thank goodness I have great reflexes or this whole experiment would be over.

“Why is everything a damn obstacle course? I mean, I get it. You want to test your potential students, but this shit is getting old, real fast,” I say out loud in frustration. I don’t care who hears me now. Hell, I want them to know how I truly feel about traipsing through the wilderness for hours on end.

“From here on out, it only gets worse.”Rook's words echo in my head, but instead of letting them agitate me further, I look at the distance between the hole and the front door and I begin to move. He has to be fucking with me, right? This day hasn’t turned out as I expected it at all. No warm welcome. No magical grounds with mythical creatures roaming around to greet me. No grand estate or castle waits for me to drool over its architectural wonders. I’m officially unimpressed. Placing both feet on the edge of the hole in the porch, I skirt around the chasm slowly, until I reach the only sturdy piece of flooring available for me to stand on safely. My right hand holds my luggage beside me, my left reaches for the door handle. To my utter shock and disappointment, there’s no doorknob. I look down at the shiny gold door panel and there is a keyhole. I don’t give it a second thought before I pull my key over my head.

“I don’t know if this will work, but there is only one key here, and it’s mine,” I say as I blow out a breath. I refuse to look behind me as an unnatural breeze hits the nape of my neck from whatever is waiting down in the deep darkness of the hole. A sense of urgency spurs me on as I slowly place my key in the lock. A loud click rends the air. Then suddenly, the world around me lets out a groan and shifts around me. My anchor key lights up in my hands, the red rubies glowing bright as the keyhole mechanism moves to adjust to my key. The cabin begins to spin as the quiet forest that was there before begins to break apart. The trees fall, the ground cracks, all while a clicking sounds grows louder, and I know that the sound is coming from the keyhole. I cling to the front door, plastering myself against the door, holding on for dear life as the porch breaks apart further. The hole behind me collapses in on itself, the only thing keeping me from falling in is my hold on my anchor key. I scream as the cabin spins faster, the force of it causes my face to slam forward, hitting the door with a smack.

“What the hell is going on!?” I scream. My stomach roils, my vision blurs with tears as the weight of my day begins to crush me. I didn’t sign up for this. Just as I’m beginning to second guess my decisions, the door opens wide, and I’m sucked into the room beyond it so fast that I’m sent flying across the floor. My mouth opens in a silent scream of shock as my body collides with a wall. My luggage follows unceremoniously behind me, coming to a stop just inches from my face. I lay there for a minute, after the red door slams shut with a loud boom from across the room, and then, the world goes quiet around me once again.

I take stock of my body. I’m not in pain, mostly it’s the shock of being yanked off my feet that causes me to rethink my life choices right now. My Anchor key is clutched in my hand, I immediately place it back around my neck. If this key is my lifeline, then I want to make its security a habit as easy as breathing if I am to keep it safe. The key warms my skin as soon as it touches me, and as annoying as Rook has been today, it is comforting knowing that technically I am not alone.

“Rook?”I call his name, my voice sounds shaken inside my head. I’ve had the key less than twenty-four hours and I am already dependent. Ugh, I’m mad at myself for allowing that bit of vulnerability in my voice.

“I’m here, Micah,”he replies, his warm soothing voice washes over me like a balm calming my pounding heart. I sigh, and finally look around at the room I am now in. I pick myself up off the cream marble floor. The walls are the same marble cream color with black veins that seem to pulsate with the same magical energy I felt when I first approached the cabin. I reach down and grab my luggage handle and slowly walk to the black floating desk in the middle of the room. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone came up to stand behind it. The entire room feels like some uber modern hotel reception area. There are no windows, a flat white ceiling, no indication of where I am. It almost feels claustrophobic except, for the four large doors behind the floating desk. I am not really sure what it’s used for but if one of those doors is my way out then that is where I am going.

“You can’t leave this room, Micah, not yet”Rook warns me, causing me to stop as I approach the platform.

“Am I supposed to meet someone here? If so, where the hell are they?”I ask him, feeling so hangry at the moment that I feel like a starved toddler. It won’t take much for me to go full tantrum. I fold my arms over my chest and wait. If there was a ticking clock on the wall, I would already be counting the ticks as I stand there.

“Hell—”

“Micah Jones. Place your hand and anchor key on the platform,” a light bubbly voice calls out. I turn in a circle searching for the origin, only to find that I am alone in this room.

“Micah, the sooner you do this, the sooner we can be on our way,”Rook says encouragingly.

“No, tricks? No, test?”I ask quickly as I take the last few steps to the floating platform.

“No, tricks,”he assures me. It’s not lost on me that he didn’t deny that this is another test, I huff in exasperation.

I place my hand palm down against the platform, and for the second time today I take Rook from around my neck. I place him down on the platform so close to my hand that I am touching the key with my thumb.No, not, him, Micah, it. It is a key,I remind myself, but it’s all starting to feel like it is more than that.

“Micah, prepare for you final test.” The voice sounds so happy, comforting even, and I blow out a breath waiting for the power in the room to seek me out again when I am struck with a blinding pain, my body slumps forward over the platform.

Darkness greets me.

Six

MICAH

I’m falling, spiraling through darkness. I know that somewhere in the back of my mind I am not literally falling, my body is still in the reception room slumped over the platform. Yet my stomach drops and the sensation of falling feels real. I scream as fear takes over. Then, it stops. I’m suspended in darkness, floating in a black abyss. My eyes can’t adjust; there is no light to be had. My fear turns to panic. The only sound is the pounding of my heart and my deep inhalation of breath as I try to remember that this is not really happening. Or is it? Am I really slumped over the platform in the room or is that an illusion? Is this a part of the admission process? A test to see if you lose your damn mind within the first twelve hours? It's like one hell of a sensory overload.

A voice in the darkness clears its throat, preparing to speak. It initially starts off as whispers. I strain my ears, trying to hear what they’re saying, then suddenly, it’s as if someone turns the volume up as the voices raise substantially. It’s almost painful as they all speak at the same time. They sound as if they are arguing with each other, and I am the hot topic of choice.

“She’s strong.”I catch a woman’s voice, she’s so close, if I could see her, I’m sure she would be standing beside me. In fact, she sounds familiar.

“Too strong,”a man huffs. The image of him holding a pen and tapping it on something in anger, his agitation apparent. Well, he’s not a fan, and he doesn’t even know me.

“Are you sure she’s not meant to be a Light Guardian?” someone asks the question tentatively.

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