IceShine

XIX

The next few days have been a slight fog. No literally… I’ve done nothing but think of the IceShine. Learning the spell, continuously repeating it in my mind. There was even a time in school, where I just blacked out. I couldn’t hear the teacher, or anyone for that matter, speaking. Miranda had to shake me and bonk me in the head with a book, to come out of it.

Apparently, a Selinor can activate the IceShine only one time in their lifetime. Why? Because the power needed to activate it, comes from the life source within them. What does that mean? It means, that if done twice, then you’re dead…

When that little titbit of information became known, everyone put their mind to not let me use it even the one time that it’s necessary. Yeah, they’ve been training like mad. I think that they also don’t get as much sleep as I do… And that is saying something, if you think of my nightmares.

Speaking of nightmares, I must admit that things have been going a lot better since I started sleeping with someone in the same room as me. Because of my relationship with John, he’s usually the one that sleeps with me. And when he doesn’t, Miranda stands up and sleeps with me.

Now, even if I’m awakened from a ferocious nightmare, John’s arms around me or Miranda’s immediate response, with a cup of tea or a glass of water (that girl really sleeps with an eye open, I tell you), makes me go back to sleep almost instantly, and this sleep is much more peaceful.

But now, it has come to a point where I’m sleeping at least three hours more than them. They keep on training and training and training, like their life depends on it. Practically, it does, but I can save them…

With something they don’t want me to use… And that has put a bigger burden on my shoulders than I originally had.

Tonight, it’s John’s turn to sleep with me. We are in his room, me on the bed under the duvet, and him finishing up a report for tomorrow ’s class. We decided that we’d stop going up into the attic as many times, because sneaking into each others room was much easier and less dangerous for Jason or Fiona to see. When he finishes, he closes the laptop, stretches his arms, and comes to bed. My eyes stay glued to his form, as his back faces me, while he takes off his socks and t-shirt to sleep. Yeah… Another thing that I learned in this relationship, is that John sleeps without a shirt on. He just slept with it, on the first night, because he didn’t want to freak me out…

Yeah, as if doing it on the second time, wouldn’t freak me out.

By this time, John has already come under the duvet and turned to face me.

“What is it?”

As if coming out of a trance, I shake my head a little and give him a small smile.

“Nothing… Just thinking…”

“Mm… I see…”

He hugs me and brings my head on his shoulder.

“And what were you thinking of?”

“About everything… and what’s more to come.”

The truth is, I’m worried… We haven’t seen a Shadow Monster since the attack in my old house. Which is really weird. Normally they attack every two to three days… Now, it’s been two weeks.

“I know that you’re worried…”

I come back again to this moment, and snuggle my head in his shoulder, smiling.

“And how do you know that?”

“You’re doing this weird thing with your fingers, every time you’re worried…”

He puts his middle and forefinger together, closes them with all his other fingers and starts trailing circles with his thumb on top of all of them. I look at his fingers and then look at my hand on his chest, doing the exact same thing.

“Oh, boy… I didn’t even know I was doing that…”

I laugh and feel him put his hand back around me.

“That’s why I’m here. To notice the things you don’t.”

I pull my head away from his shoulder and look at his face. His eyes are closed and I notice the dark circles forming under his eyes. I notice he has also become paler.

“Promise me…”

He opens his eyes to look at me.

“Promise me, that at least today… at least today, you’re not going to wake up at 4 in the morning and go train with Miranda. And don’t even try to deny it. I know that for the past few days, you’ve been sneaking off and going down to train. Both of you.”

He turns to look away from me guiltily. I don’t let him get away and take his chin in my fingers to bring his eyes back to mine.

“It’s taking a toll on you both. You don’t sleep enough and it shows, both in your complexion, and in your moves. You may think that training day and night, will make you invincible in no time, but No. It will do you more bad, than good. So please… at least for tonight, stay in my arms and sleep all night long.”

He looks at me shocked. I would be shocked too, if I were in his shoes. But, I can’t leave it like that anymore. He needs rest.

After a while, his face relaxes and looks at me with playful eyes.

“Okay… I won’t go anywhere… I’ll stay here, in your arms, as you want me to… I promise.”

I look at him dead in the eye.

“Give me your phone.”

He laughs and turns just so he can get it from the nightstand. When it’s in my hands, I turn off the waking call, and give it back to him.

“You’re unbelievable…”

He says that while laughing and putting his phone back on the nightstand.

“And tell me what are you going to do about Miranda… She’ll wake up, will not see me in the basement, and come up here to wake me up…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it… She won’t be waking up because I turned off her alarm when she was talking with Fiona at dinner. She’s so tired, that she won’t be able to wake up, just from dedication, on 4 am.”

He laughs harder at that, and then kisses me, with everything he’s got. I kiss him back and when he stops we stay smiling and looking into each other’s eyes, for a very long moment.

“Lila?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever said it before, but I want you know… I love your eyes. They’re beautiful…”

I stay looking at him, trying to decipher if he was kidding or not. But, by the truthful and warm expression on his face, he really told me he loved my eyes. My eyes… One of the things everyone in school bullied me for… Because they were scary to look at. Scary… No, he didn’t find them scary… He found them beautiful. And I can’t be more happy than I already feel right now.

“Thank you…”

He kisses my forehead and brings my head on his shoulder again. Feeling sleep overtake me, I say to him.

“Goodnight…”

“Goodnight, love…”

I feel myself smiling at the “love” part, and sleep soon consumes me…

…

The next morning, Fiona and Jason are out of the house. It’s one of their Saturday breakfast dates. Bina and Greghory haven’t arrived yet and Miranda is still sleeping. So, it’s only me and John in the kitchen eating cereal. We are sitting in silence while we eat, but it’s not uncomfortable. It’s serene.

He kept his promise and slept all night long. No waking up and going off to train. And I can’t be happier, about this.

Suddenly, our calm, absolutely silent breakfast, gets interrupted by a voice.

“f**k!”

It seems like Miranda just woke up. Me and John turn to look at each other, and when our eyes meet, we burst out laughing, just as Miranda gets into the kitchen.

“Sorry, John, I overslept! I can’t believe it… My alarm didn’t ring to wake me… Sorry.”

Me and John continue laughing.

“Don’t worry, we both didn’t wake up to train today, because of a certain someone.”

He says and puts his arm around my shoulder to bring me closer to him and give a kiss on the cheek.

Miranda turns to look at me, her eyes turning into slits.

“What does that mean?”

I swallow the food, and turn to answer her.

“It means that you were both ready to drop from exhaustion. I did what I had to do, so you could regain even a tiny part of your strength… Because, you were both at your limits. And don’t even say that was not the case. Yesterday he heard it from me. Now it’s your turn…”

Her expression goes from anger to guilt in a mere three seconds and she hangs her head in shame.

I sigh, get up and make her a bowl of her favorite cereal. I put it down on the kitchen island, in front of the seat beside mine.

“Now, you look much better than you did yesterday… Come sit down and eat.”

“I’m sorry…”

She says that, in a very faint voice. So much, that I almost didn’t hear her. I exhale, as she sits beside me and digs in.

“It's okay… But you must know when your body can’t hold you anymore. I can swear, that in yesterday’s training you were trembling from exhaustion, and John had to hold you while you were walking on the stairs. It’s not bad that you have taken training much more seriously than before, but it means nothing when you don’t rest properly.”

She just listens to me while eating her cereal. When I finish, she turns to look at me and smiles, one of the brightest smiles I’ve seen on her face.

“Thank you for taking care of us.”

And then she hugs me. Tight. Very tight. So tight that I have trouble breathing. Even so, I snake my arms around her and hug her back. That makes her hug me tighter, if that is possible.

“Miranda, I know that you’re happy, but please let her go. I don’t want my girlfriend dead by lack of oxygen.”

Then Miranda laughed and let me go.

“Okay, now I’m fired up, let’s finish quick and go train… I feel like this sleep did me wonders. And don’t you even think about saying, I told you so!”

She looks at me with a slightly teasing expression, and I just roll my eyes, smiling.

Then, I hear the knocking on the door.

“It must be Greghory and Bina. I’m going to open the door.”

John says, and after he gives me a peck on the lips, he exits the kitchen to go and open the door. I continue staring at the door after he’s gone.

“Lila?”

Miranda’s voice brings me back to reality, and I turn to look at her, staring at me.

“So…”

“So?”

“How are things with you and my brother?”

I blush slightly and answer her.

“You know the answer… You see us together every day. You would know if things weren’t going well…”

She laughs and continues eating, while I finish my own bowl. Then, Greghory and John walk in.

“Whw iz Vina?”

“Swallow first. Talk after.”

John says to her, and after she swallows she gives him her tongue.

“Where is Bina?”

Greghory takes a sit right opposite me, takes my glass of water, and after taking a gulp, he turns to Miranda to answer her question.

“She had something to take care of with an old friend, who is in town on vacation. She said that she’ll come later.”

“Is it safe for her to be alone with that psycho wanting us dead? “

John asks, as he takes his seat beside me once more and continuing to eat his cereal, while also taking my chair and bringing me closer to hug me as he is eating.

Greghory just sighs, and turns to look out of the window.

“That’s what I told her. But she assured me that she would be fine, and that I shouldn’t worry about her. I hope nothing happens, because I have a bad feeling.”

He hasn’t finished his sentence fully, before his phone starts ringing. He takes it out of his leather jacket’s pocket and takes the call, after seeing who calls.

“Hey, Bina. I’m at the Korlin house. Have you already finished?”

Bina says something, and Greghory stands up quickly.

“What!? Where are you now?… Okay, I’m coming…”

He shuts down the call, frantic.

“What happened?”

I ask him worried. Greghory is never frantic, and the fact that I now see him like this, for the first time in all of my life, is making the whole situation a thousand times more serious.

“A Shadow Monster attacked Bina, on her way to meet that friend. It’s quite big and she’s afraid. She’s hiding right now. I’m going to get her.”

“Do you want our help?”

John asks, ready to get up, but Greghory just stops him with a move of his hand.

“No, don’t worry… I can handle this. You begin with training and we’ll be back.”

“Okay… Be careful!”

He smiles at me as he is at the kitchen door.

“I’m always careful!”

And then he’s gone. We hear the door of the house closing with a bang, signaling that he has left the house. Then, I sigh, see that both of them have finished their breakfast and I stand up.

“Okay, let’s go down. It’s time to see how well you can hold up against me.”

I say teasingly, and they both stand up.

“Go down, and I’m coming. I’m going to get some water bottles from the fridge.”

John says and me and Miranda start going downstairs, but something feels a bit off. I brush it off, thinking it’s the worry for Greghory and Bina and start descending the stairs, after Miranda.

We get down, and start preparing. But, John is late. That feeling that something is off, comes back to me.

“Where the hell is he? I’m going to find him.”

Miranda goes upstairs, but, after I hear her last step on the stairs, I stop hearing her steps, as it normally happens.

Something is definitely wrong!

I go quickly upstairs, to see Miranda on the ground, and John against a wall, passed out. I see a little bit of blood coming out from his nose. Oh, no!

I start to rush at him, but I feel a presence behind me. I quickly turn around, and what I see shocks me. Before I have a chance to say or do something, the figure in front of me grabs my arm and pricks it with a syringe full of some transparent liquid. Immediately, I feel the liquid coming into my body and start feeling numb all over.

The last thing I think, before I finally succumb to darkness, while seeing the blond locks and the expressionless cold face of a girl, who I thought was an ally, is a word, only.

Why!?