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Chapter 8

He’d felt the wind around him swirl, urging him to hurry up, sighing. Cedar ran for the teacher dorms despite having told his sister and the other kids that he was heading toward his next class.

She’s calling you, Hugo called to him flying above him in the sky.

Cedar nodded, pausing for a moment at the door, I know she is, Hugo.

Seems urgent. Wonder what’s up this time, the hawk said as he perched in a window on the fourth floor of the dormitories.

He walked inside, taking the stairs until he reached the door he was looking for. Before he could even knock, the door swung open and a woman his age with large, startling eyes stood in front of him with her hands on her hips and a frown. “What took you so long, Cedar,” she chided, the Russian she tried to hide regularly slipping in her irritation.

“I was showing Vi how to use her power. I’m sorry I’m late, Zarya,” he said as he walked into her room and sat at the desk, turning to face her.

Zarya’s thick blond hair was braided over her shoulder in a rope that hung well past her waist, the irritation in her breathtaking blue-gray eyes faltered as she sat on the desk next to him, “How did she do??” She rested a hand on his shoulder, gazing down at him in that way that always made him feel like she could read what he was thinking.

“She did better than I expected. Would have nearly killed me if we weren’t in the training field.” He sighed, “I need to figure out a better way of helping her though, lightning is more volatile than what I’m used to.”

She grinned at him and laughed, “You aren’t kidding about that. Maybe you can meditate on it and have a vision of how you can help her better!”

Cedar half frowned at her, half smirked, “It doesn’t work that way, Zar!!”

“You sure?? Could have fooled me. Isn’t that how you managed to always be there to help any of us when we got in trouble?” she asked, grinning at him.

He laughed, “No, I just knew you, that’s all.”

Pouting playfully, “I’m not as bad as all that.”

“No? What about that time you managed to make all of the class books in the school disappear and lead the teachers on a wild goose chase for three hours?”

“...That was a one-time thing, Cedar.”

He laughed as her pout deepened and she brushed back her hair defensively. “Right. Funny how an angel can cause so much trouble.”

She waved him off, sighing, mood turning somber, “Have you heard about what happened?”

Cedar sighed and nodded, “Yeah…. They got Thorn.…”

“They’re getting worse, Cedar…. The only thing saving us all is that they haven’t found the location of Fidonia yet… what do we do when they do find us?” Zarya sighed and leaned against his shoulder.

“If they find this place then we do what we have to to protect it. You know that.” He reached out to her, to wrap an arm around her waist when he heard Hugo outside the window.

Looks like there’s something up with your sister. You might want to check it out. The bird called out to them.

“What’s wrong with her?” Zarya asked suddenly.

She fainted. Karma and her vampire buddy are trying to wake her, but it’s not helping.

Cedar shot up, worried, “I better go see if she’s okay then.”

Zarya stood and stretched, “I’ll walk with you. You make a terrible medic.”

He opened the door for her, managing a small smile, “I can’t disagree with you there.”

The two of them followed Hugo back to the field, Cedar saw that Viola was lying prostrate on the ground. Karma was pacing around her charge, obviously nervous while Dani kneeled next to her friend.

Cedar walked up to the girls, “What happened?”

Dani looked up at him and quickly stood, “Professor Silva! She was talking but when we went to head back to class, she just fainted. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want to leave her here alone….”

Karma paused, staring at Zarya, standing defensively in front of Viola, the fur along her back raised, Who is she? She growled, her golden eyes turning to Cedar.

He sighed, “Karma, this is Zarya, she’s a friend of mine and a talented healer. Please let her take a look at my sister.”

She looked between the two of them and slowly let down her guard, stepping aside to let Zarya kneel down next to her new patient. Karma watched her closely as she began examining her witch.

Gently resting her hand on Viola’s forehead and cheeks, Zarya turned back to Cedar scowling up at him, “You are not allowed to train this girl in her magic anymore, Cedar. She over used her power. Her body hasn’t had the chance to adjust to channeling lightning. She shouldn’t be releasing that much at one time yet! It’s not healthy for her!”

He stared at her for a moment, “I just told her to hit the target in the middle, I didn’t tell her to use all her power at once--.”

Zarya sighed and brushed her braid back over her shoulder, “Maybe so, but you can only teach her spells until her real magic instructor arrives.”

If you two are done with your spat, we’d like to know if Viola is okay, Karma grumbled suddenly, tail twitching from side to side irritability.

During Zarya’s scolding, Cedar had forgotten that Dani and Karma were even there. “She’s fine. She just needs lots of rest. I’ll send word to her remaining teachers that she won’t be attending today,” Zarya stated, standing now, giving him a stern look, “Cedar, can you carry her back to her room?”

“I can take h--,” Dani started but Zarya held up a hand to stop her.

“No, you need to get to class. Karma, I need you to come with me so I can give you some medicine for Viola when she wakes up,” she turned to face Cedar.

He nodded, “You know, sometimes I forget how bossy you can be, Zar.”

She smiled just a tiny bit at him, a secret smile meant only for him, softening her glare, “I’m only bossy when your foolishness forces me to be.”

He laughed, “Right, I’ll keep that in mind.” He bent to carefully lift his sister into his arms, “I’ll take her to her dorm.”

Dani nodded, “Alright, I’ll head to class then,” she said reluctantly as she turned to walk away from the rest of them. Pausing, she glanced back at Viola, brow wrinkled in concern, before she made her way across the campus.

Nodding to Zarya and Karma as he turned to walk toward Viola’s dorm room, he glanced down at Viola as he walked and sighed. “Why isn’t this the first time I’ve had to do this?” he mumbled.

He thought back to all the times he’d had to carry her back home after finding her tuckered out in the treehouse as a child, or when he found her snoozing in the backyard after a track meet. She’d always had an all-or-nothing mentality, he doubted that warning her not to overuse her power would have made much difference in the long run.

He shook his head as he walked up to her room. Zarya was right, he should have tried to explain it to her, shouldn’t have let her experiment with her power so soon, at least not when she didn’t know much about how to use it yet.

“I’m sorry, Vi,” he murmured as he pushed her door open carefully. Walking across the room he gently laid her down on the less extravagant bed he knew was his sister’s.

She shifted slightly and looked up at him, drowsily, “What happened?”

“Too much power at once. Get some rest and you’ll feel better later. Take it easy for now on, okay?”

She grinned up at him, tiredly, “I’ll try, but it was totally worth it.” She turned on her side, eyes sliding shut and she was asleep again in seconds.

Cedar laughed to himself and shook his head, “So going to make my life here more difficult, I just know it.” He ruffled her hair and put her quilt over her before heading out again.

~~~

Victor watched as the blue light flashed across the field, only close enough to see the bright red hair of the witch and the fox that hung by her side, the silhouettes of the others standing outside the barrier casting shadows across the ground.

The light flashed across the field again, this time with a little more organization to it. He scowled, turning away from the field. Her power was impressive, irritatingly so.

Making his way toward the main campus, he realized he was being watched by the prickling sensation on the back of his neck. Sighing, he turned to look at the professor.

Professor Monroe leaned against the brick wall of the east tower, his arms crossed over his chest, “Shouldn’t you be in class, Victor?” His long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, his nose narrow and lips full, making him look the picture perfect tool he was. He stood just under Victor’s height and was mostly lean but sturdy, but that was to be expected as the combat training professor. Of course he dealt mostly training witches in combat, but it wasn’t unoften for him to assist the other races as well.

Victor shrugged, “Maybe, but it’s nothing I can’t afford to miss. I wanted to check on some things.” Advanced Creature Studies. He already knew what he needed to know about all the important races, after all he’d been born and raised in Fidonia. Unlike that new witch.

He glanced over Victor’s shoulder toward the witch training field, “That was a pretty impressive display. Do you know who it was?”

“The new girl. Professor Silva’s kid sister according to the rumors.” He glanced back over his shoulder toward the field to see Viola Silva and the Santi vampire outside the barrier before looking back to the teacher, “I didn’t really think it was all that impressive. She’s still a novice witch.”

Professor Monroe, a witch himself, grinned slowly, “Ah, that’s what makes it so impressive. She’s still unpolished and has that much power at her fingertips. Are you considering asking her to join your Intrepide team?”

He had to fight the urge to growl his disdain for that idea, “No, she’s only been here for a couple days, besides, she’s sharing a dorm with Daniella Santi.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, just that she shares a dorm with a highborn vampire girl,” Monroe said with a shrug.

Victor shook his head and turned away. He really didn’t want to talk about this with a teacher, much less with a teacher like Monroe. The man always seemed to have something he wasn’t telling anyone. There was a cunning edge to his hazel eyes that just rubbed him the wrong way.

He suddenly pushed himself off the wall, smiling, “If you ever need anything, Victor, never hesitate to ask. Maybe I can give you some tips you’ve never considered before.” With that he sauntered off toward the main campus, not giving Victor time to express his disgust for the offer.

Victor watched his back for a moment before glancing back toward the training field to see that the Silva girl had fainted and was currently being attended to by Professors Silva and Zarya. He shook his head, shoving his hands into his pockets and grumbled under his breath, “Figures.” Novice witch.

Maybe he needed to actually speak to her, get a feel for her abilities himself but he doubted she’d live up to expectations. As a Silva witch, she should have been trained in her powers from a young age, instead, she was just learning of her powers and of how the world really worked. Why should he, the future head of the Dragomir vampires, be expected to train alongside a lost witch?

Bion had suggested that he bring her to their Intrepide team but the Intrepide was a tournament testing the abilities of the students competing. It was meant to prove their skill and mastery of their craft and abilities. A new witch with hardly any control over her power would be absolutely useless to him. He’d managed to startle her in Kaphis the other day, if something as simple as flashing his fangs could surprise her, she wasn’t ready for a competition named for fearlessness. She’d be much better off staying out of his way.

He turned a corner and shoved a door open, forcing himself inside the building and bounded up the stairs toward the library. He’d have to meet Gideon and Nymira soon.