Insidious Winds (19 page)

Again, I felt my mouth move and heard my words as if
I was unable to control myself. As if they were coming from someone else. “I
take it back. I wish I hadn’t gotten the key. I was wrong.”

She smirked. “We were always coming to this.”

“I wanted to save you.”

“You did. I’m free.”

“You’ll die.”

“Better to die free than live as a shadow.”

I came out of the vision panting and nauseated. My
heart pounded, but I wasn’t feeling pain. Or, I wasn’t until I noticed it. Then
pain came on so strongly that black spots formed in my eyes. “There has to be a
way to stop this without someone dying,” I said.

“Like I said; all magic comes at a price.”

I was still holding the red ball and his words threw
me back into another vision. This wasn’t mine, though. I saw through Langril’s
eyes, but his actual thoughts were closed off from me. I heard him say the same
words to a little girl. Although this girl had easily recognizable big brown
eyes and gold hair, I couldn’t tell if she was Heather or her mother because
she was only about ten.

She was also crying. “I’ll pay it, whatever it is.
Please help me.”

“What are you offering?” he asked.

She held up a red foam ball. “You can have this.”

“That’s just a ball.”

Her face scrunched up like a child’s does when she’s
about to throw a major hissy fit. “This is the most important ball in the
world. It keeps me safe. Mom said that every time someone wanted to hurt me, I
just had to hold this and make a wish. She said an angel would hear my wish and
protect me. I’ve seen it work.”

“You have, have you? If it worked so well, why do you
need my help?”

Her face changed to despondent. “It brought you to
me. You’re the only one who can help me now.”

Something changed in Langril, but I couldn’t be sure
what since I couldn’t read his mind. He knelt to look her in the eyes and
cupped his hand over hers with the ball between them. “You’re right. That is a
pretty important and magical item. I’ll tell you what. Keep it. I will do this
for you and protect you from every monster. In a few years, when you’re all
grown up and you’ve forgotten this, you’ll look into a mirror, see me, and
remember everything. And you’ll remember that you owe me something. The next
day, I’ll return and ask you to do something for me. I’ll ask you, not demand
it, but you’ll do it anyway no matter what it is. Right?”

She nodded. “I’ll do anything.”

I woke up in my bed, my heart was calm, and I tasted
my healing potion.

*          *          *

“This calls for war!”

I sighed when I recognized Jackson’s voice before I
even got to the dining room door. I opened it and entered, followed by my
roommates, and was unsurprised to see Jackson standing on one of the tables and
riling the students.

“What’s the problem today, Jackson?” Darwin asked.
“Did they forget to add salt to the hash browns again?”

Jackson scowled at him, but then his expression
softened ever so slightly when he looked at me. It occurred to me that this was
one of the very rare times he wasn’t being completely unreasonable. “What’s
wrong?” I asked.

His eyes narrowed. “Are you on the council’s side or
ours?”

“I’m on my side. What’s wrong?” I asked again with
less patience.

He held up the cell phone he took from Marcus. “The
council paid my wife a visit yesterday.”

“You actually got some poor sap to marry you?” Darwin
asked. Henry stepped in front of him in case Jackson decided to try anything.
Of course, we all knew by now Jackson’s aim was so bad that the only one safe
was the one he was trying to hit.

I was thinking along the same lines as Darwin; it was
no mystery that he had a girlfriend he never talked about, but he also slept
with any woman at the school he could.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t
heard of him harassing anyone this semester
.

Jackson ignored him. “She’s human, but she knows what
I am. Our son was born six days ago and the council just came by our house and
took him.”

I didn’t need to know why. I didn’t really care.
“We’ll get him back.”

“They arrested my brother because he wouldn’t agree
to their mark!” one fae student said.

“They denied my marriage to a shifter!” a wizard
added.

More outraged accusations followed and blended
together. The arguing went on for about ten minutes until I held up my hands
and they all fell silent. I took a moment to be shocked that that actually
worked. Without using my mind control powers, I had their complete attention
and possibly compliance.

“Yes, it’s all true. The council has been trying to
bring down the school for months and when they couldn’t find plausible
evidence, they made it up. Last semester, they arrested Professor Nightshade
and Henry Lycosa and sentenced them both to death. They harassed Darwin and
tried to get him kicked out of school for being a throwback. They quarantined
us.” I had to pause for a moment as the students made grumbles of agreement.

“Did they create this storm to quarantine us again?”
Mack asked.

“No. This wasn’t caused by them, but I’m working on
it. They’re going to attack the school tonight.”

“On a school night?!” Brian asked.

“Hell yeah!” was Theo’s response.

I ignored them. “They can’t attack until the storm
comes down, but they’re going to have traps in place on their side. We’re going
to be ready for them with our own traps and our own magic. They’re going to be
nine overconfident wizards against everyone here who wants to fight.”

“What if we don’t want to fight?” Mack asked.

“Then you don’t have to. Stay in the dorms where
you’re safe.”

“What about the good rules they’re trying to enforce?
What about the rules they want to use to protect us?” another student asked.

“We can’t destroy the council altogether,” I said.

“We can’t?” Henry asked, surprised.

“No, bro,” Darwin said. “A new and worse set of
wizards would step into their vacancy in a millisecond. Effective government
keeps the good guys honest and bad guys from ruining everything for everyone
else. The wizard council is not an effective government, but wizards need an
effective system of rules and consequences because it’s not like one of you can
just be arrested and go to prison. Shifters have alphas, vampires have coven
masters, humans have police, and fae have tribe leaders. Wizards need the
wizard council, just not the one that’s in place now.”

“Not all shifters have alphas and not all vampires
live in covens,” Jackson pointed out.

“No, but they’re expected to follow common rules or
they’re killed. If a shifter starts killing people, it’s the responsibility of
every shifter to take him out, because humans can’t be expected to do it.”

“What’s so wrong with the council now?” a wolf
shifter asked.

I could feel half the room about to burst out in
outrage again. “They plan to separate the paranormal factions into different
continents,” I said.

Silence.

I literally heard a pen drop.

After a few moments, Becky stepped forward. “Are you
sure? Are you absolutely certain?”

“I heard them say it.”

She looked sick to her stomach. “You’re not going to
kill my father, right?”

“We’re not going to kill anyone. We’ll knock them out
or lock them up if we have to, but no one is going to die. Nobody here is a
killer. That would make us as bad as them. Instead, we’re going to forcefully
disband them.”

“Quick! Where can we get a single woman named Yoko to
marry one of them?!” one student in the crowd yelled.

“What about calling in other paranormals?” Brian
asked.

“No way,” Jackson argued. “That would endanger more
people. Is Headmaster Hunt going to stop us?”

“Is he going to help?” Darwin asked.

Becky still didn’t look too sure. “I need to use that
phone, Jackson.”

“What about Misty Jones?” Lacy asked.

They didn’t know about the missing children. “We
don’t know what happened to her,” I lied

Everyone organized themselves into four groups;
distance attack, close attack, defense, and hiding in the dorm. We all had to
go to class soon, but the upcoming battle was all anyone was talking about in
the halls. The students who had missed the impromptu meeting were quickly
caught up, as were the teachers. In fact, there were already several teachers
who agreed to train students in the field all day. Less than twenty-four hours
was not enough time to prepare, but it was all we had. Those who were required
to go to class as usual decided to train between classes.

Even the students who had supported the council
completely before reconsidered as soon as they heard about the council’s plan
to segregate us. While not all of them decided to fight with the rest of us,
they wouldn’t fight against us, either.

By the time I ate breakfast and made it to
Defensive
Magic
class, Professor Watson knew everything. I wondered how many people
at Quintessence had been preparing for months under Watson’s lead.

He just shook his head with a smirk when I entered.
Not to my surprise, he changed all his references to the oncoming events. “If a
council member tries this…” and “Kale’s favorite attack is…” became the focus
of the class. He explained in great detail every member of the wizard council
by their weaknesses, strengths, and favorite attacks. If anyone doubted the
professor’s loyalties before, they didn’t after this. Watson hated the council
with a passion.

After class, I waited back until everyone else had
left. “Why do you have it in for the council?” I asked.

“Pretty much every professor here does, and all for
different reasons. The council killed my sister to use her blood in potions. In
fear of wasting a drop of her regenerative powers, they kept her alive for as
long as they could to take all of her blood. It was the most painful way they
could possibly have killed a phoenix.”

“Who on the council did it?” I asked. I wanted to
leave that person for Watson.

“John Cross. He wanted our regenerative power.
Instead of going after him, I came to Logan. He knew I wanted to kill Cross
myself.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know his death was already
taken.”

“Don’t be. From what I heard, he killed your sister,
too.”

“I never knew Reagan. Well, I guess I’ll see you at
the party.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

*          *          *

Alpha Flagstone obviously got enough work done at the
other schools because he taught class. He kept the conversation on shifters
whether we liked it or not. He was explaining how the full moon’s effect on
shifters varies according to the person rather than the animal species.
Although it was very interesting, it wasn’t as important as the looming battle
in our opinions. When Darwin asked why we couldn’t discuss combat, Flagstone
said it was because the headmaster hadn’t stopped class. I assumed that there
would be a flood of students in the headmaster’s office as soon as class was
over.

“In the 1600s, a small society of wizards in Europe
began capturing and experimenting on shifters. Up until that point, shifters
were extremely secretive and there wasn’t much in the way of a paranormal
community to begin with. The fae were entirely secluded from the rest of the
world, which led to the entire species becoming endangered. The vampires were
just as private as the shifters with covens no larger than a couple dozen
members at the most. Wizards were the only ones actually working together for
means other than to survive the world, which undeniably belonged to humans.”

“Wizards were still regarded as humans at the time,”
Darwin added, suddenly interested now that Flagstone was talking about history.

“Yes, and they still are in many parts of the world.
Although wizards are as supernatural as you can get, they are still considered
human by many cultures. In fact, Europe and North America are the only places
where wizards are predominantly considered non-human.”

“So what’s the difference between a wizard and a
human?” I asked. “What’s different about us that we can do magic?”

“Your blood and your mind. It’s not something a human
can detect in blood work, but it can be detected through brain scans and mental
tests if someone knows what they’re looking for. That’s where we get back to
the full moon. This diminutive, insignificant organization that tortured
shifters is the reason wizards are considered paranormals instead of humans
with powers. They discovered that
every
paranormal is effected by the
moon phase. Its effects on wizards are so miniscule that it took many years and
tests for them and others following their work to figure it out.”

“So wizards act differently under the full moon?” I
asked.

“No. Your powers are affected by the entire phase of
the moon, as are every other paranormal. Your powers are going to be most
powerful either under the new moon or full moon, but there is a very subtle,
constant change throughout every day of every month. It’s actually the exact
opposite of the fae cycle. Shifters and vampires, however, are consistently
most powerful under the full moon and most human under the new moon.”

“Is it because wizards and fae are more of a magical
type of paranormal, whereas vampires and shifters are more physical?” Kana
asked.

The professor nodded. “That’s exactly it.”

After that, everyone was more interested in talking
about the moon than the wizard council. Then, just a moment before it was time
to go, the door opened and Remington entered. Alpha Flagstone’s face instantly
softened into a smile. His happiness at having her in his life was
simultaneously uncharacteristic and blatantly obvious.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, holding out his
hand for her as she went to him.