IceShine

X

I’m so excited! I called him this morning, but I didn’t think he would be here so soon. He holds me by the shoulders, while watching the stunning faces of the Korlin family.

“Greghory here, is my childhood friend. We were trained together by my father. After my parents died he came and lived with me for a short while.”

I turn towards Greghory, give him a squeeze and then, I go to the Korlin family and take Miranda’s and John’s hands to bring them to the front.

“Greghory, these are Miranda and John Korlin… they’re the children of my father’s best friend, and the ancestors of the Commander.”

He gives them a smile and nods slightly.

“Nice to meet you… Greghory Black.”

He extends his hand towards them and shakes hands, first with Miranda and then with John, both still stunned to see him.

“Okay everyone… Sit down, I believe you have to talk!”

Fiona breaks the silence that came in the room after the handshake, and everyone got out of their trance. Then she turns to look at Greghory and says to him with a warm smile.

“Do you want somethig, dear? Tea, coffee?”

“Actually, I would like a cup of coffee, if that’s not an inconvenience…”

“Don’t worry about it!”

Then Fiona got out of the room and left us. Jason, quiet, as always, shows us the couches, and everyone sits down. Thank Gob, for many couches and big living room.

“Let me introduce myself too… My name is Jason, and the father of them both.”

Greghory’s face turns into a very big smile.

“Uncle Arthur has told me a lot about you, sir… He really loved you.”

Jason’s features relax into a small and emotional smile.

“I know… and I loved him too…”

Miranda, then breaks completely from her trance and gapes at me.

“What is happening here?”

Greghory turns to look at her with his green eyes. He smiles at her.

“She called me this morning, gave me this address and ORDERED me to come quickly.”

“I didn’t think you’d come this quickly, so I didn’t have the chance to explain to them.”

He looks at me with a look I know all too well. He’s ready to scold me!

“Princess… I believe that it is common sense, that first, you EXPLAIN and then make the necessary calls!”

I give him a mean look.

“I have already told you to stop calling me princess, a thousand times!”

“And you know that every time you tell me to stop calling you that, you just make me want to continue calling you that. Besides…”

His lips turn upwards in a smirk that makes me want to strangle him.

“You just decided and did whatever came in your mind without asking… I believe that is something Princesses do!”

I believe I have become beat red with anger! I really want to throttle him. But before I have a chance to do so, a laughter makes my anger disappear and surprise take over. I turn towards the sound of the laughter, only to see Miranda trying to stay upright while laughing hard. Beside her John, tries to stop himself from laughing, with a hand in front of his mouth, but I glimpse some tears in his eyes… no wonder, from laughing.

“What came into you?”

Greghory giggles beside me. Miranda tries in vain to stop laughing, and John has his hand in front of his mouth in an attempt to not let out a laugh. After about 5 minutes, Miranda, somehow, manages to calm a little her laugh and turns to Greghory.

“Okay, I don’t know you, but I already like you!”

And she continues laughing. Then Fiona comes in and looks at all of us in question. I just sigh and try to relax my knuckles with both of my hands.

She comes in front of the table, puts down the disc with the cups and the coffee pot on the table, then turns to her husband.

“Can you come and help me with something?”

He seems surprised to hear her voice and his eyes grow a bit, when he turns to look at her. He contemplats her for a few seconds before sighing, closing his eyes and getting up.

“Of course.”

Then he follows her outside of the room. By this time, Miranda has stopped almost completely her laughing fit and John was staring at me with a smug air.

I know he remembers the time when he called me a princess, and I shook him off. I glare at him, but quickly Greghory’s move beside me, to brew himself some coffee, brings me back to the reasons I called him. But before, I have a chance to begin telling them, John asks me.

“Is something wrong? I mean, to the point of you having to call him?”

I see the worry in his eyes. Suddenly the air changes… from playful it becomes serious.

“Actually there are two reasons on why I called him… The first one is to help you train… He has much more patience than me in handling you.”

“I didn’t know she found you… Only this morning she called me and I was happy that she wasn’t all on her own. She talked to me about how you both didn’t know anything about all these, and your first steps on this whole journey…”

Miranda smiles at him and John claps his hands in front of him, without a sound, looking at me…

“You said there were two reasons…”

Great! Greghory looks at me. Why the heck did I tell that there were two reasons, when I don’t even know if I want to tell them the truth about my nightmares. Now I feel the stress with three pairs of eyes on me. I hang my head down and take it in my hands. After a few seconds, I rub my hands on my face, take a deep breathe and turn to look at the ceiling.

That’s what you get, Lila, when you run your mouth out.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you much right now… But know that I will tell you the other reason as soon as I’m ready… Sorry…”

I, at least, hope for them to leave me alone after that… even if it is for two days. Greghory looks at me with a look I know very well… I’m gonna hear it from him so so much! Thankfully, he doesn’t raise it and turns the conversation to another subject.

“Anyway, while I was away, I came across the last descendant… the nanny’s one…”

I turn to look at him, shocked.

“What?”

He sips his coffee and nods without turning to look at me.

“I found her on a village, about 20 kilometers away from here. Thankfully she knew everything from her mother, before she sadly passed away three years ago. Her father abandoned them when she was 1 year old, and she lived alone since her mother died.”

“When did you find her, and why didn’t you call to tell me?

“About two weeks ago, and when I got to her, it took a lot of talking to get her to come with me. I couldn’t leave her there to live all alone. If a Shadow Monster attacked her, I’m not so sure she would be able to protect herself. She doesn’t know how to control her powers. And then I helped her finish all her unfinished jobs, before we came here.”

“So, you mean… you were already here when I called you, this morning?”

He takes another sip of his coffee, AGAIN without looking at me.

“Precisely…”

I sigh loudly, trying to control my anger.

“So… that argument we had earlier… it was all for NOTHING?”

He turns to look at me, and I see a mischievous glint in his green eyes.

“Exactly.”

I’m ready to get up and strangle him, but John’s voice sates my anger.

“So, she is here with you?”

Greghory turns to look at him, and puts his coffee cup down on the table.

“I left her at the hotel, to rest. Yesterday, she couldn’t sleep all that well, so I preferred to let her sleep. Also, I thought that it would be best to come and prepare the ground a little.”

Miranda smirks.

“Unlike missy here, right?”

Greghory smirks back at her and nods, quite happy, I can say, that he found another ally to make fun of me.

“So, I will help you train both, but she has to be here too. She’s quite fragile, and needs to learn.”

Miranda gets more comfortable in her seat, falling behind on the sofa, and puts her hands under her chest.

“You don’t have to worry about it. Our father, had prepared a very big space, in our basement for our training… I even think it is a bit too much for only two people.”

Greghory thinks for a moment, before he starts speaking again.

“What are your elements?”

“Mine is fire. John’s is wood.”

“Wood?”

He turns to look at him, surprised. John only nods in answer. As if to show him, he makes one of his fingers turn into wood. But I can tell that he has difficulty in maintaining it, and quickly lets go, so his finger turns again into flesh and blood.

“Impressive.”

Greghory seems quite stupefied by John’s element. John also notices this look on his eyes, and looks at him questioningly.

“Is something wrong?”

Greghory looks up from his fingers to his eyes and blinks away the stupefied expression he had.

“No, absolutely nothing. It’s just that, wood is a very rare gift. So rare, than even in the Lost Kingdom, it was an honor to be gifted with this element… Anyway…”

He gets up and looks at all of us in turn.

“I want to return to the hotel and check on her. Can you, please, show me the said basement?”

All of us get us and start walking towards the basement. When we put our feet on the big room, Greghory, who, on the whole journey to there, was behind us, comes in front of us and looks around him on the big room, with the same expression as I had, when I first got into it.

After a long inspection, he stays still and then I feel the air around him change. Surprisingly, Miranda and John are also affected by it, and I have to take hold of Miranda’s hand to stop her from going towards him.

“It’s dangerous to get close to him now. Wait and watch.”

She looks and me and nods, an expression of bewilderment on her face. Then I turn to John, who is rooted on his spot, and doesn’t move an inch, just standing and watching Greghory in front of us.

His back is tense and black fog starts appearing around him. Then, all this fog goes to his arm and makes a big blade.

Without wasting any more time, he leaps up and tries to knock and cut and break the side walls, but with no success. After doing it for at least 5 minutes, he jumps up and stands again to the spot he started. The air stops being tense, and I feel Miranda relax beside me. John was no different. He was the same throughout the whole experience.

Which, finds me a little surprised. Greghory’s powers are not to be taken lightly. He’s strong… maybe much stronger than me. And I know it can make everyone feel a little intimidated.

“Well, that’s a very good job, your father has done!”

“What exactly is your element?”

Miranda asks, probably still a bit intimidated by the whole show of his powers. He just smiles at her, and turns to look at his hand.

“My gift is that of darkness… not very easy to control, not very easy to master… But I got the hang of it quickly with Lila, and uncle Arthur’s help.”

He makes a ball with his hand, and looks up at us again.

“So, now that, that’s settled, I will take my leave and we will come tomorrow afternoon with her.”

I smile at him, and we walk upstairs again, John closing the door to the basement behind us.

“Oh, are you leaving already, I was thinking that you would stay for at least lunch.”

Fiona emerges from the kitchen with Jason behind her.

“I’m sorry, but I have a friend waiting for me back to the hotel. I promise we will come together tomorrow and we will stay for dinner, if that’s okay with you.”

Fiona gushes at him.

“Of course, it is all right. We will see you tomorrow, then.”

Fiona goes back to the kitchen, but Jason stays and looks at me, silently asking if everything is all right.

I give him a reassuring smile and nod. He smiles back at me and turns to Greghory.

“So, I assume you will help them train?”

“Of course, that was the reason she called me.”

Jason nods at him and turns around to follow his wife.

“See you tomorrow, then.”

John and Miranda, both say goodbye to him and go to the kitchen with their parents.

I accompany Greghory to the garden door, and before I could talk, he takes my hand and holds it tightly.

“Why haven’t you told them anything?”

I knew it was coming. I sigh.

“Tell them what exactly? That they’re in danger? That we’re all in danger? That the descendant of the human-magician appears in my dreams and gives me nightmares, either with my parent’s deaths or scenes from absolute darkness and Shadow Monsters? That he wants to kill me, and everyone around me? That he’s the one sending the Shadow Monsters to weaken us?”

“Yes, I meant that! Lila, this guy is crazy! You know that, that’s the reason I went looking for the last descendant. We must kill him before he kills us!”

I look down and shake my head.

“No, no, no! I don’t want them to know… They just learned that they have powers… if they learn now that their lives are in danger, they’re going to completely freak out!”

“Lila, we don’t have time for that! You must tell them… We need them, as much as they need us! And the sooner you tell them, the less they’ll be freaked out.”

I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid that I’ll put them in danger by telling them. Greghory puts his fingers under my chin and lifts my head so my eyes meet his.

“Greghory… I’m afraid…”

“I know that… but it must be done. Think about it, okay?”

He smiles at me before kissing my forehead and heading towards the direction of his hotel.