The Lost Priestess of Circle Dusk Treader (book 1)

interrogations (7)

We went to breakfast and the hall was fairly empty." So Alex ... who is Elizabeth?" i asked while pouring my hot tea.

His body stiffened at the mention of her name and he looked as if he had a sudden migraine. As he put his fingers to his temples to massage the word from his mind he sighed. "My father groomed her to be a possible priestess and when he passed she became obsessed with trying to comfort me... She drove off any other female that would try to come see me and when i turned 18 she tried to lay claim on me as a partner and declared herself the future high priestess of Circle Dawntreader .... i have been trying to quench that fire since she set it .... annoying and obsessive." he concluded with a bite of waffle with blueberries and blackberries.

"why didn't you banish her?" i asked shoving a bite in my mouth with strawberries and raspberries.

He swallowed and sighed "Mother wouldn't sign off on it ... she said that Eiza knew too much about our inner rituals ... my hands were tied on that ... ok ... my turn ... what's up with Storm? and why isn't Rayne reverting to full human?"

It was my turn to sigh. "Storm was dropped off on the nursery steps as two packs of shifters ran through our territory ... we never found her parents but she seemed to cling to me so my parents adopted her right away ... we were 6... our healer that just passed on ... she thought Rayne shifted prematurely because she is powerful ... she cant un shift because of the trauma of how her dad was lost ... apparently seeing him ripped away from them in a raid was traumatic enough for an infant ... he didn't die ... we found him ... but then she was afraid of his disfigured face when she healed ... in rage he took our shifter hunters to take revenge ... and he hasn't been back ... every once in a while Storm can feel their bond ... but normally its just a dull ache." Alex looked heart broken for Storm and Rayne.

We finished our meal in silence ... today was going to suck ... I already heard the murmurs of my rule bringing this once great people down and its only been eighteen hours since we were sworn in ... in those eighteen hours i have managed to yell at the former high priestess, piss off our only healer, and gotten a cold trail from a murder case... i was starting off AWESOME... UGH.

A loud boom came from the medical lab and i bolted, Alex quickly on my heel. I shove myself through the door and concentrate ... "there are three people in the upper lab, four in the back lab, annnddd six in the lower lab .. where the explosion originated ... i need help ... make sure to put protective gear on ... im using a repulsion spell" i say loud enough for the loud spell i used to pick it up ... I am fairly good at wordless casting. I sigh as i push farther in ... small explosions happening all around me. Someone pulls the fire alarm and the safe technicians start filing out around me as i make my way to the door at the back of the building to the stairs and touch to feel if there is a fire, ... its cold so i rip it off its hinges and proceed down the stairs. .. something was weird ... there were only four people now... i cant focus on that. The walls seem to be oozing a green steaming substance the closer i got to the bottom floor. I could hear screams from behind the door so i quickened my pace just as the door at the end slams open. "EVERYBODY THIS WAY, COVER YOUR MOUTH AND DON'T TOUCH THE WALLS."

One technician approached me cautiously."are you real? is this another trap?"

"are you going to wait to find out or are you going to listen .. we will talk when everyone is safe ... is there anyone i need to help out?"

his lips pursed into a line then he looked back in. " Nichole, Amelia ... its safe ... bring Joel... high priestess Frost-Fyre is here."

2 ladies appeared carrying another man, the blo n de one looked concerned "but what about Ferris?"

"THAT THING TOOK HIM DIDN'T YOU SEE ... HE IS GONE ... FOCUS" tears started falling down her face as they raced past me and up into the main building. Suddenly as i was about to check out the lab the other woman started screaming in panic and i heard a body slap against the stairs. I turned and ran to see Joel's body sliding down the stairs slowly and the brunette grabbing at her arm. "DID SHE TOUCH THE WALLS?" the first woman nodded and my face paled. Immediately i picked Joel and the woman up with levitation and set them floating in the center of the stairwell. "Nichole ...you are going to be ok ... Everly has you now" the woman who i now know is Nichole just continued to scream.

i isolated the injury and looked at Amelia. "we need to get out of here ... I'll carry these two .. you run ahead and let me know if anything is blocking. she noded and ran up i heard a feeble "clear" and rushed up the stairs and through the lab into the street. "HEALER ... I NEED THE HEALER RIGHT NOW ... THIS MAN IS UNCONSCIOUS AND THIS WOMAN SEEMS TO BE TOUCHED BY AN ACID"

"Already here my lady let me take them" Shinra was standing with alex ready to help. she looks over Joel first and declared it was head trauma he just needed rest and observation. Now she moved onto Nichole and immediately gave her a sedative shot and scraped the area "i need a wash made with vinegar" i conjured one from my house and handed it to her and she roughly scrubbed the spot with it and as the blood started to pour ot was not the normal color ... it was an inky brown. "that's the poison coming out don't worry" I nodded and watched as it started to flow the natural red color blood was supposed to be. she was becoming pale.

"Isn't that a lot of blood?

Shinra nodded "it is but it wont kill her she will just need to be in the hospital for a week ... and she will have significant nerve damage in this arm... ah" and she smacked the wound .. it closed instantly and she poured vinegar over it again to wash the blood off ... one of her assistants came over with a wheelchair and took her to the hospital. "if that is all ... i have a few patients now that need my attention" and she turned on her heal and left.

... that was strange though .... she washed that stuff off with her bare hands .... it ate into Nichole's arm.... i rushed into the building and found a discarded clean test tube and carefully filled it with the goo. as i was capping it Alex's voice cut through my thoughts.

"I thought you said there were six people down there..."

" there were till i was half way down the stairs "

he looked at me shocked ... no witch i knew could teleport and i am assuming it was the same for him. i could teleport items ... like this vile that i just sent to my house .... bit not myself ... or people. He looked at me seriously "that means there have been two mishaps since we came into power less than 24 hours ago." i nodded and we went to leave ... when we emerged from the building Applause erupted and calls of "Hail" were heard. i plastered a smile on my face and waved leaning to talk in alex's ear. "hon ... can you locate the first man that exited the bottom lab ... he said a 'thing' took Ferris ... i need to know what he meant." i managed all of that without moving my lips much. it was weird ... these were the people whispering about us not an hour ago. as we pressed through the small crowd people kept laying their hands on us, as soon as we could he went to search and i went back to the office and paged Storm... i hope she has her beeper on her right now.

While i wait i go around my office and wrinkle my nose ... my moms things are still in here ... its not that i don't LIKE my mom ... our relationship is very clinical... we rarely had any intimate interactions it was all 'princess ' school ... don't eat that, sit up straight, ladies don't bark orders we make strong suggestions .... blah blah blah blah... this isn't the 50s anymore mom its 1989 we can be more powerful and confident now. I decide to take her decorations down and box them, as i start standing on a chair both Alex and Storm walk in with the man from earlier and startle me. my clumsy self fell but didn't hit the floor, two pairs of arms were held out for me but i levitated inched above them and they all laughed as i let out a yelp. i slowly lowered to the ground and dusted myself off jutting my hand to the man for a hand shake to properly introduce myself.

"Hello ... i am Everly ... i am so sorry that i yelled at you all earlier ... there may have been a fire and i needed to get you all out of there."

He smiled and nodded "no its perfectly fine ... my name is Peter ... i am second head of that lab ... i am assuming you wanted to talk about Ferris?

I nodded and gestured to the seats "why don't we all take a seat" Storm posted near the door like always, Peter sat across from me, and Alex sat on my left hand taking a pen and paper from the desk.

Peter let out a breath "Ferris is the lab head ... he was working on the ooze from the morning murder when we heard glass shatter. I ran to see what had happened ... i figured Ferris fell asleep and knocked over some beakers ... but there was a.... thing holding him by his throat .... i want to say its a dragon ... but there aren't any more dragons so it had to be something else...... i just hid while it strangled him then all of the green goo exploded and i screamed that's when it opened its mouth and started spewing more goo all over the lab then it lifted him spred its wings and ... pop ... they were gone."

we all looked at him like his head were abnormal "they just" i waved my hand "vanished?"

he nodded and i sighed .... this day was only getting longer.