Page 20 of Torn Ivy
She moves to the window and stares out over the campus. “Vex has left for MistHallow. He will return shortly.”
“Okay. Do you think he will find anything?”
“Professor Blackthorn is a remarkable creature. If he doesn’t have the answers, he will find them.”
“That’s nice to know. I wish we had the same here at Thornfield. Instead, we get insidious Professor Swann and a Headmaster whose name I don’t even know, let alone see his face. Why is that?”
“Hmm, about Swann?—”
“Oh, fuck off,” I growl. “Are you telling me he is part of your organisation as well?”
“Hmm.”
I roll my eyes. “What are you even called, anyway?” I huff and sit on my bed, pulling my feet up to rest on the edge and wrapping my arms around them.
“The Resistance.”
“How original.”
She snorts. “Like The Syndicate is so unique.”
Well, okay, she has me there.
“Speaking of unique, besides a cosmic glitch, what am I? Because right now, I feel like a walking Tesla coil.”
She smiles, but it’s tinged with sadness and something deeper, something that makes me think she knows more than she’s telling. “You’re something entirely new, Ivy. A being with the potential to become Death who rejected that destiny while still forming. The chaos magick is a result of that rejection. It’s pure potential energy with no predetermined purpose. Think of it like a river that suddenly changes course. All that power has to go somewhere.”
“So I can use it however I want?”
“In theory, yes. But it’s dangerous. Without proper control, like I said yesterday, it could tear you apart from the inside out. Think of that river. If you try to contain it completely, it’ll just find another way out, usually destructively.”
I think about how easily I brought the guys to me last night, how natural it felt to tap into that power. It had been like breathing, like my body knew exactly what to do, even if my mind was still catching up. “It feels strange. I’m not sure how to explain it.”
“I can imagine, but you need to act quickly, Ivy. Time is not on our side with this ultimatum. Death won’t wait forever for you to make your choice. But first, let’s see what you can do instinctively.”
She moves to the centre of my room, gesturing for me to join her. “Close your eyes. Feel the power inside you. Don’t try to direct it yet, just let it flow naturally.”
I do as she says and focus inward. The chaos magick responds immediately, surging through me like a tidal wave. Pink light fills the room, casting strange shadows on the walls.
“Good,” Cathy murmurs. “Now, try to manifest something simple. A ball of light, perhaps.”
I concentrate, trying to shape the wild energy into something contained. Instead, the entire room fills with floating orbs of pink light, each one pulsing with its own rhythm.
“Interesting,” Cathy says. “Your power seems to want to expand rather than contract. Let’s try something else. Think about protection.”
The lights vanish instantly, replaced by a network of poisonous vines that crawl across the walls and ceiling, creating a natural fortress around us. The vines shimmer with that same pink energy, looking both beautiful and deadly.
“Oh!” I say, staring at them in awe. “Oh.”
“What?” Cathy asks.
“The vines. I’ve shifted with them recently. My arms became the vines. My Professor said it was rare.”
“Yes, I know. Josh told me.”
“Of course,” I mutter, but shake it off. “So, was that part of this magick?”
“Not necessarily. I think these,” she gestures to the vines, “are an extension of your natural shifting ability, which includes what you described.”
