Heartless (Blue Fire Saga) (3 page)

Suddenly, four dark forms materialized in the center of the clearing. Shimmering bands of black light surrounded each of them—an aura of danger, she knew instinctively. The black waziri flashed evil grins at her. For a moment, her heart pounded in her chest, but she quickly reined in her fear. There was no reason to be afraid—Stefan and his vampire comrades would be here any minute. They would make short work of the renegade wizards.

Her eyes probed the darkness behind the black waziri, seeking some sign of the vampires. She saw nothing. Where were they? Her heart rate began to quicken again as the feeling of danger heightened.

The outlines of the two waziri in front began to soften, to change. She watched as their clothes slowly transformed into dark suits. What was happening here, she wondered? Suits seemed totally wrong for this vision. Next, the wizards’ pointy beards disappeared, replaced by smooth-shaven chins. They looked like police detectives now, or federal agents of some kind. Strangely, the sense of danger emanating from them had not diminished in the least.

She looked at Dominic, but she could no longer see his face clearly enough to determine his expression. She would find no clue there about how she should be reacting to all this.

Looking back to the waziri, she was surprised to see only three of them now. No, that was wrong. The fourth was still there, barely, but he had faded into a dim black shadow only vaguely human in shape. Her eyes quickly scanned the clearing, looking for other changes. Dominic’s avatar had vanished, but his disappearance seemed unimportant. She had the feeling he just was no longer necessary here.

The third wizard began to change now. This one was an apprentice, Dominic had said. Makenzi, Leesa thought his name was. He seemed to shrink, becoming shorter and more slender. His beard also vanished. His features softened, but not by much.

Leesa realized she was now looking at a woman. The woman had shiny black hair, pulled tightly against her skull into a small bun behind her head. She was wearing a pants suit only slightly less severe looking than the suits of her male comrades. When her eyes met Leesa’s, a cold smile curved the woman’s thin lips. Leesa felt a chill shoot through her body. The woman’s smile felt a whole lot like recognition.

Before she could make anything out of the woman’s expression, Leesa’s eyes were drawn to the fourth figure—the shadowy one. It was slowly growing clearer, becoming more solid. As it took shape, Leesa could see it was another woman. One of the men grabbed her arm and held her close beside him. Something about her was familiar, and growing more so by the second. Leesa watched, her eyes widening in surprise….

Leesa opened her eyes to darkness. She felt groggy, confused. Her pillow was wet under her cheek—had she been sweating? Touching her head with her hand, she felt a damp, snarly mess. She remembered falling onto her bed without drying her hair. That explained the wet pillow. She had not even gotten beneath her blankets. No wonder her feet were cold.

A glance at her clock showed her it was just past midnight. Maybe that’s why she felt so out of it. This was why she seldom went to bed before eleven, because when she woke up in the middle of the night like this, she usually felt like crap.

She drew in a deep breath. She remembered that she had been dreaming, but whatever visions she had seen were rapidly fading from her memory. Whether it had been one of her magical dreams or just an ordinary one, she had no idea. She tried to call the images back, sensing that they might be important, but they refused her summons, remaining instead as vague memories at the edge of her consciousness. If the dream had indeed been magical, she guessed her diminished power was probably behind her inability to recall the vision. She sighed. Whatever she had seen, it was out of reach for now. Hoping she was not going to regret losing it, she closed her eyes. Her last thought before she fell asleep was that she should call her mother in the morning.

4. BERRIES AND BREAKFAST

L
eesa woke up again a little after six o’clock the next morning. Her room was still dark—the sun would not be rising for some time yet. While she still didn’t feel great, she was much more refreshed and alert than when she had awakened at midnight, for which she was profoundly grateful. She could not recall what had disturbed her so much then, but suspected it must have been a dream. She spent a moment trying to remember it, but it was gone. Oh well, she thought, if it was important, it will come back—she hoped.

Pushing her covers aside, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. For a few moments she just sat there in the darkness, gently rolling her neck and stretching her arms and shoulders before finally standing up. She flicked on the overhead light and donned her robe, then risked a glance into the mirror.

She grimaced at what she saw, which made her reflection even more unpalatable. Her hair was a tangled, snarly mess, and a pair of dark circles under her eyes made her look like an old lady in her thirties or forties. She vowed to herself never again to go to sleep at such an early hour, nor without drying her hair first. She was glad she had awakened early, though, giving her time to wash and dry her hair before going down to breakfast. A little makeup should take care of her raccoon eyes. She thought about asking Cali to do that smoky thing to her eyes for her, but decided that might be just a bit much for going to class. Cali could pull off that kind of look in class without anyone else batting an eye, but Leesa knew if she showed up like that some of her fellow students would probably think she was up to something—like flirting with the professor for a better grade! She smiled at the thought and headed down the hallway to the showers.

Two of the stalls were already occupied—early birds who had bravely or foolishly signed up for eight o’clock classes, she guessed—but her favorite shower on the far end was open, so she grabbed it. She didn’t have time to luxuriate under the water this morning, so she plunged her head into the streams of water and then got right to work washing and conditioning her hair. The raspberry scent of the shampoo made her hungry. She promised herself a yummy fruit bowl and yogurt for breakfast, but first things first.

Half an hour later, the girl who looked back at her from the mirror appeared almost human. Her shiny blond hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, and the circles under her crystal blue eyes had disappeared under a light layer of makeup. Dressed in a burnt orange long sleeve T-shirt and comfortable jeans, she looked casual and comfortable. She gave herself a wink of approval and headed downstairs to breakfast.

Only about a dozen or so girls occupied the dining room when Leesa arrived. Anyone with eight o’clock classes would already have eaten, she knew, or skipped breakfast entirely, and those who didn’t have classes until ten or later were probably still upstairs, catching some precious sleep. There would be little enough of that once midterms arrived, for sure.

Cali was already here, sitting by herself at a square table for four with a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her. The plate looked pretty full, so Leesa knew Cali had probably just arrived. Leesa gave her a smile and a wave before heading across the dining room to the small self-serve counter. She grabbed a large bowl from an upside down pile and emptied a container of plain yogurt into it, then piled a few spoonfuls of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries on top, along with some granola to add some crunch. The berries were frozen, of course—fresh berries in New England in early March were far too expensive for dorm fare—but they would be tasty nonetheless. When she was satisfied with her breakfast concoction, she limped over and sat down opposite Cali.

“Why, Miss Leesuh,” Cali said in an exaggerated southern accent when Leesa sat down, “don’t you look all pretty this mornin’. Are you fixin’ to go to class, or to go meet some gentleman caller?”

Leesa grinned. “If you’d seen me an hour ago, you’d have thought I was fixin’ to go out and turn some guys into stone. I looked like I had snakes growing out of my head.”

“Well, you look great now.” Cali took a bite off the end of a strip of crisp bacon and then stared down at Leesa’s bowl of fruit and yogurt. “If I thought eating that stuff would make me look as good as you, I’d probably have it every morning. But since it won’t”—she took a big, sensuous lick of her bacon—“I’ll stick with this slightly tastier fare.”

“Stop it,” Leesa said, laughing. “I don’t notice you ever having any trouble with guys.”

Cali winked. “That’s because I have
personality
—I know how to make guys think nasty thoughts. They love that—it makes them think they might get lucky.” She made a pretend gun out of her thumb and index finger and mimed shooting it once. “Even when I shoot ‘em down, they still go away happy—enjoying their nasty thoughts, probably.”

“Okay,” Leesa said, shaking her head and grinning. “Enough talk about guys. It’s making me miss Rave even more than usual.”

“Do you have any idea when he’ll be back?”

Leesa looked around, making sure no one was close enough to overhear. Three girls at the next table were near enough, but they seemed immersed in their own conversation. Still, she spoke quietly when she answered.

“Not until his fire comes back, probably. I’m just hoping he’ll send me another invitation to come visit him in the meantime.”

“Speaking of magic,” Cali said, her voice as soft as Leesa’s, “are you going to practice your magic sometime today?”

“Yeah, after dinner, I think. For an hour or so. Why?”

“I was wondering if maybe you’d let me watch. I won’t be a bother, I promise.”

Leesa swallowed a spoonful of yogurt and berries. It tasted delicious—cold, sweet and tangy.

“Sure, why not. It’ll be fun to have some company.”

“Cool.” Cali grinned. “I’ll pretend I’m at Hogwarts, watching wizard training.”

Any further discussion about Leesa’s magic was curtailed when Stacie and Caitlin joined them at the table. Leesa didn’t mind the interruption. She liked being around her friends and acting like a normal college kid for a change, just like Dominic had instructed. The four of them gossiped about their classes and the fast approaching midterms and about a new guy Caitlin had started dating. When they were all finished interrogating Caitlin, Stacie asked Leesa about Rave. Leesa said he was doing fine, but that he was out of town with his family for a few weeks, which wasn’t too far from the truth—it just wasn’t the complete truth. Her answer seemed to satisfy Stacie and Caitlin, and the talk turned to a new indie band Caitlin had just discovered on YouTube. She promised to send them the link as soon as she got back to her computer.

By the time the breakfast gathering broke up so everyone could get ready to go to class, Leesa really was feeling like a normal college student. She had to admit, she enjoyed the feeling. Now if she could just feel this way
and
have Rave around—and maybe still perform a little magic without worrying about black wizards, zombies and the Necromancer—then she would really have it made.

5. MEN IN BLUE

L
ater that afternoon, Cali was sitting at her desk studying when she heard a firm, staccato knock on the doorframe of her open door. She turned around to see two men in dark blue suits with black ties framed in the doorway. They were each tall and well-built, with short, but not quite military style haircuts. Both had light brown hair. Cali guessed they were somewhere in their late thirties or early forties—about the same age as her dad. They didn’t look quite enough like each other to be brothers, but they were close. More importantly, they looked like cops. No, she thought, not cops—more like FBI agents or something. Behind the two men stood a woman, but Cali could barely see her past the men’s bulk. All Cali could tell was that she was wearing a pants suit just a shade lighter than her companions, and that her shiny black hair was pulled back tight against her skull.

Cali wondered what the men wanted. She didn’t do drugs, so it was doubtful the men were narcs. She hoped they weren’t the clothes or hair police!

“Kelly Farnsworth?” the man on the right asked.

Cali got up from her chair and crossed to the doorway. She usually corrected people immediately with her nickname, but something about these people made her think the less information she provided, the better off she would be.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

The man held out a black leather billfold that had an official-looking embossed ID card inside it.

“I’m agent Smith.” He nodded to his partner. “This is agent Jones. We’re from the BSI.”

“Huh?” Cali said, frowning. “What’s that? I never heard of it.”

“Bureau of Supernatural Investigations,” Smith said.

“We’re like Men in Black,” Jones said, “except instead of dealing with aliens, we deal with the supernatural.”

“Yeah, we’re like MIB all right,” Smith said, “only without the really expensive suits and cool sunglasses.”

“Or the fancy hi-tech super weapons,” Jones added.

Cali did not like where this appeared to be headed, so she decided she had better go into her “not too bright” act.

“Like, wow,” she said, widening her eyes. “That’s way cool. Like Superman and Spiderman and The Avengers and stuff?”

Smith frowned, while Jones rolled his eyes.

“Those are comic book characters, Miss Farnsworth,” Jones said stiffly. “We deal with real ‘stuff’, like magic and vampires and witches.”

“Vampires and witches are real?” Cali squealed. “I knew it! This is so totally cool.” She looked at them with the stupidest expression she could muster. “But why are you talking to me?”

“We’re here about the incident that took place on your floor a few weeks back,” Smith said.

Cali was very relieved to hear that. She had been afraid that maybe they had somehow learned about Leesa’s magic.

“You mean that stupid fraternity prank where Amber got killed?” she asked. “That was so totally lame! Those guys were assholes.”