The Moonstone (Enchantment Book 1) (17 page)

"Probably if her human side doesn't trip her up."

There, that's the Lord Black that I've come to know, he can't hide his true nature for long.

"On the contrary, my human side will certainly be a benefit in any future conflict."

There, now I'm surprising myself! Two can play at this game, and since we have to continue this little charade, I may as well go all out.

Bethany smiles widely and Black frowns.

"I advise you not to lie to me, Lou, the rabbit can get away from the wolf's teeth from time to time, but it remains a mere rabbit and will eventually be caught."

That voice, I've had enough! Thankfully I’ll be done with him tonight.

"I'm sure that you’ll be an important element in our community, Miss Mills," he says, out loud this time, copying Bethany's smile, as she resembles a collector displaying her greatest treasure.

"Please don’t mind my interruption, Lord Black and Bethany. I’m going to steal her away now; I must start this young lady's education. Come on, Lou, I'm anxious to see what you're made of."

Finally! My savior! Zach is now at my side and grabs me by the waist, pulling me away from this intense conversation.

Still trying to regain my human sense of calm, I hear an angry groan in my head and turn one last time to see Black, hands in tight fists and looking anything but amused, staring intently at me. I break the link by leaving the room, wondering how I could have been attracted to someone so evil. Flooded with the realization of the ridiculousness of the situation, I laugh out loud and Zach gives me an uncertain look.

"I'm so happy that you came to my rescue!" I tell him by way of explanation.

He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly and continues his walking, taking my hand in his.

"To your rescue? So you’ve finally come to understand that you’re the prey and I’m the hunter, Lou?" enunciates the voice in my soul.

How could I have been so stupid to let myself fall for an adolescent crush on a mysterious professor? If I had only stopped at first impressions, I could’ve recognized that there was a Machiavellian person behind that lovely face. I remember his stare, his eyes that are so blue as to be almost white, like a summer's full moon. What a mess!

Zach looks at me, sending me a sly wink. Although my first encounter with him had impressed me, after my meeting with Lord Black, it's hard for me to imagine having feelings for Zach. It's a bit like having smelled the most marvelous of perfumes and once committed to memory, smelling a rose. Sure, a rose smells sweet, but who would want a rose when they know the other perfume exists? Damn you Mr. X for having made me feel like this!

It's only an illusion, I keep repeating to myself, like a mantra. The real Lord Black is a nightmare determined to hate you...hate me...why does he detest me so much? What did I ever do to him? I can't wait for tonight when I'll get rid of the parasite.

"We're almost there, we can take advantage of the daylight to practice outside. So, tell me, little Lou, have you ever held a gun?"

"A gun? Ha, ha! You don't know me yet; my father has been taking me to the shooting range since I was tiny. I don't think that you'll have much to teach me in that department."

His look is both skeptical and impressed at the same time. We arrive at a small door made up of pearled glass panels that opens onto a yard bordered with wild flowers, a little like a secret garden. There doesn't seem to be anyone nearby but the bees. No spectators, perfect. Well, no spectator but one, but I hope that he’s otherwise occupied with Bethany.

"Ok, I want to test your skills. You see those four targets there, if you manage to hit each of them, I'll be really impressed. There is a target at one hundred feet, and the next three are each one hundred feet further than the previous one. So, go ahead, impress me, little warrior."

I walk over to the table where there is an ar-15 machine gun already for me.

I place myself in position as I've done hundreds of times and I can hear my father's voice in my head, going over all the things he's told me in the past. The first target is a perfect hit. Zach smiles at me, and signals for me to continue. I then aim for the second and it’s a direct hit. This time Zach uncrosses his arms, betraying the fact that he is suddenly interested. It's probably the first time he's seen a girl with such good aim. I prepare for the third target and smile broadly, taking my time to build suspense. Of course, I hit the target in the center just as easily as the first two. Zach takes out his binoculars to confirm the results of my shot. He pales and says: "If you hit the fourth target, I'll be your slave for the day."

"Ok, my slave, I'm cool with that. Watch this."

And in an instant and without much effort I hit the last target.

"Ok, you've impressed me! I really underestimated you, Lou. Please tell me that you’ve never followed martial arts courses, if not, I'm going to feel useless."

"No, I'm much too awkward for that."

"Impressive little creature, you know how to shoot a human's gun, what an indispensable skill for our community!" whispers the sarcastic voice in my head. I feel like telling him to bugger off, but I don't want to seem disconnected around Zach. Telling him about my intruder would grant him too much importance.

"Ok, I see that you’ll manage fine with guns, we're now going to concentrate on your Achilles heel, your hand to hand combat. We must always have the advantage over our enemy, you see, not just when we’re armed."

He approaches me with two full steps, grabs me by the arm and in two movements I’m on the ground with him leaning over me, one knee on either side of me, pinning me to the grass, he grabs me by the wrists and holds them to either side of my head.

"That's why you always have to be on your guard, because you’re always only two moves away from a dangerous situation. Lucky for you that you have a great teacher like me to show you all his secrets."

"Nasty human!" whistles the voice of today’s narrator.

Zach stays where he is, giving me a brazen smile.

"Ok. I think that you've proven your point, you can let me go now."

"It's not a point to be made, or an argument, but a necessity, Lou. I can imagine that with your ability to control time, you'll be untouchable. You only need to develop your reflexes and that's exactly what the two of us have to work on," he says to me, getting up with a hop.

"Today we’ll work on different reflexes by the five senses. Close your eyes, Lou," he says, two inches from my face. I do as he says; he is, after all, the expert.

"I’m going to blow on you while I move around and, keeping your eyes shut, you're going to block by breath with your hand."

I wait a couple of seconds in the darkness and feel his warm breath caress my left ear. I’m surprised by the feeling and take too long to respond. Zach tells me that I must respond more quickly. I feel his breath at the tip of my nose, almost on my lips. I block him with my hand and open my eyes. A sinister groaning echoes in my head. So, Mr. X doesn't like Zach's training methods… I won't respond, but I will become a better student since that seems to provoke him.

"Ok, Lou, now we'll do it without stopping: you block, you open your eyes then you close them and we continue."

Our little tango of the hands and breath continues for a few minutes, always interrupted by Zach and I looking into each other's eyes, which always reminds me, despite myself, of Mr. Black's light blue eyes.

"Perfect! I think that you’re starting to master this exercise. It’ll be useful for you to be able to sense someone's presence near you...If you’re attacked when you’re sleeping, it allows your body to be alert to your surroundings."

I look skeptically at his grin. What’s the probability that something like that might happen?

"Don't look at me like that, you’ve no idea what you've gotten yourself into by abandoning your peaceful little life. Nothing will ever be the same, and you know it, so keep your smirks to yourself. Now, we're going to redo the same exercise, but this time with sound. I’m going to walk around you and when you hear me pronounce your name, you move your hand in that direction."

I close my eyes and feel him walking around me. It’s a strange sensation as if all my senses were tingling. I can feel him move around me like a wave of undulating energy, and when I finally hear him say my name, I strike.

"Wow! Ok, you learn quickly, but you skipped a step. I didn't ask you to hit me, but that was a good shot."

"Sublime," replies Lord Black, still whistling in my head.

"So sorry, Zach, I didn't mean to. My hand shot out instinctively. It's as if all my senses were sending me that way."

"Very impressive, little Miss Einstein, you do learn fast. Now, do you understand the ball of energy around you? You enchanters have that advantage. We also have that ball, but it vibrates at such a low frequency that very few of us can use it in combat. Normally I would stick to weapon training, but your father seems to have done most of that work already, so we're going to work with your energy field to transform you into a little ninja," he says, obviously pleased with himself.

"What do you mean by 'my energy field'?"

He gets dangerously close to me, and whispers:

"Your magnetism!"

He backs up and takes a few caramels out of his jacket, throws me a couple that I catch without difficulty.

"Your energy changed when you saw me take the candies out, all your attention was concentrated on catching the caramels. It’s just logical; small electrical currents connect all things. Believe me, Lou, when you finally understand that law, the whole world will be at your feet."

"The world? Isn't that an exaggeration?"

"Not really, but first you have to believe."

"I only believe what I can see, and many things have gone from myth to reality for me lately."

He looks thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin while looking up at the sky, and then he takes out two magnets that are attached to his key chain.

"So, little Miss Skeptical needs tangible proof? Ok, how well do you remember science class, Lou? The Earth is covered with a magnetic field. Take these two magnets, for example, if you put the two positive sides together, they push each other away, but if you put the positive and negative together, they attract one another. It's polarity, and our entire world is ruled by the notion of opposites, like the Yin and Yang, hot and cold, life and death, love and hatred. The only way these concepts exist is by the existence of their opposite."

Love and hate, sheesh...I can't help but think of Lord Black and if love is so close to hate, then I'd rather not feel it.

"I don't see how this relates to enchanters."

"I'm talking about life, and all you want to know about is enchanters!"

Oh, oh! I've made him mad!

He raises his eyebrows to show that he's not offended, but still he frowns. I’m surprised that Black doesn't have something to say at this point.

"You’re a powerful magnet, Lou. Each of your gifts attracts reactions thanks to that very same magnetism. Don't try to overanalyze it, once you understand that, you’ll be better able to control your powers."

He separates the two boat-shaped magnets and hands them to me, saying:

"Train yourself to feel the current from these two magnets and eventually, you’ll get it. I’d give anything to have the chance you have right now. It's incredible to think of all the opportunities that are opening up to you."

Rubbing the two magnets together, I can feel my fingers tingling as if they were extensions of the magnets themselves. The closer I bring the opposite poles, the more my fingers feel as if they will fuse.

"Ok, you can keep working on that later, little girl. We have more training to get to. You know, having Ether as your sign is great, but it can also be a disadvantage."

I frown, not sure that I like what I'm hearing.

"What do you mean by disadvantage!? Don't I have the most powerful sign?"

"Oh, Lou, don't get a swelled head. You’ve been given the rarest sign, for sure, but the rarest animals are not always the strongest ones."

I hear the voice in my head laugh and comment: "For once, I have to agree with the human."

As if Black were in front of me, and in response to the insult by my supposed friend, I use all the energy I can muster and concentrate on pushing with all my strength against Zach's ripped midsection. In a fraction of a second, he is sitting in the middle of a flower garden, hands on the ground and with a confused look on his face.

"How’d you do that? Wow! That was incredible!"

He stands up, not without some difficulty, and runs his hand through his hair without a word.

"Tell me, is that normal?" I ask, confused.

"Well, not really, but it's certainly impressive! You must really be a pro at energy manipulation. That must have something to do with your ability to manipulate time. I'll do some more research later. Anyway, now we know what we can work on!"

I blush, probably because I'm not used to being the center of attention, but a part of me is proud to have accomplished this and wonder how far I can take it. I look down at my hands, trying to understand where the awkward, clumsy girl that I was went. Zach approaches me and brings me out of my reverie, grabbing me by the hands. I freeze, looking at him as if he were the answer to all my questions.