Seven Wardens: Books 1-4

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Izban didn't speak while following Amber back into the main part of the school. His mind was far too busy mulling over what Bea had said. Immortality. He was having trouble getting his head around it. He knew his grandfather was having delusions of grandeur occasionally, but actually wanting to be immortal? No, that couldn't be right.

A tiny little voice in his head was telling him that it was a good idea, that if his grandfather wasn't to die, Izban wouldn't have to become Elder Mage. But that wasn't the point. There was a reason magic only appeared in every second generation. Izban's parents were as normal as humans went, although of course they'd grown up knowing that magic existed. His father was even on the Mage Council, representing the non-magical mages, as they called themselves. But the jump in generations was so that younger people would take over their grandparents' roles, bringing new ideas and knowledge into the mix.

So for his grandfather to break that tradition... it was wrong. As much as he liked and respected the Elder Mage, Izban was not going to be an accomplice to him endangering their society's structure. If one of them somehow managed to become immortal, others would want to follow. There'd be fights, jealousy, maybe even deaths. No, he wasn't going to have any part in that.

He crumpled the list in his fist. If his grandfather wanted to do this, he was going to have to do it without his oldest grandson.

"Wait," he suddenly said and Amber stopped, looking at him expectantly. He was grateful that she had left him to his thoughts. Not many girls he knew would have done that.

"This ruby must be pretty rare, right?"

She shrugged. "I've never heard of any like it, but I'm not an expert in incubus-infused gem stones."

She winked and he had to smile. It was good to have her here with him. Maybe they could stay in touch after he left the school. Maybe she could go along on one of his meteorology expeditions...

"So if this one was to mysteriously disappear..."

"Then he'd have a hard time finding another. I like the way you think." She grinned at him and something near his stomach contracted. Maybe a bit below his belly. Like, between his legs. Nobody had ever had that effect on him, at least not after so short a time. They'd met maybe twelve hours ago and already he was thinking how he would like to spend more time with her, a lot more time.

He cleared his throat, trying to distract himself from her alluring smile.

"Same goes for that book about those horses, it looked so old that I doubt there are many copies lying around."

He unfolded the crumpled piece of paper he was still holding in his fist. There were a few rips in it, but the list was still legible. He showed it to Amber and she pointed at the final item.

"A hair of an Arran giant - weren't they supposed to be bald?"

"I've never even heard of them," Izban admitted. "Arran like the island?"

"Yes, there are giants' graves there and they even found a few remains nearby. Of course the humans believed it was a hoax, but the bones were taken to a lab in Edinburgh where one of my distant relatives works."

"There are beithirs who work among humans?" Izban asked in surprise.

"It's a supernatural lab, but yes, not all of us are as reclusive as my family. It takes a lot of effort to blend in when you have a tail."

"So you're saying that there is no Arran Giant hair because they were bald? Then why is it on this list?"

Amber shrugged. "All I know is that they think they were bald, but they only found skeletons, so maybe they did have hair and we just don't know it? Anyway, I have no idea where that hair would be kept. Pretty sure it's not in this school."

"Well, that makes it easier for me not having to hide it. And this ruby... we could always destroy it. It's not like anyone would be able to find out what we did with it anyway."

She frowned. "How do you want to destroy it? It looks pretty solid to me."

He had an idea, but he wasn't sure if she'd be up for it. During their pretend lesson earlier that day, he'd felt her power, but it looked like she had no idea about it. He was going to have to be careful, he didn't want to make her feel inadequate or stupid. Because that was something she definitely wasn't. Untrained, yes. Stupid, not at all.

"I think lightning might destroy it," he said in as neutral a voice as possible. "With enough energy pressed into the ruby, it might shatter."

"And where are we going to get lightning from? Are you going to ask Thor to come down from Asgard?"

Thunder rolled over the school and they both jumped, bumping into each other. They stepped back, avoiding each other's eyes. Izban could still feel his skin tingle where she'd touched him. He was almost hoping for another bout of thunder to make her do the same thing.

They'd reached the main entrance hall. It was empty; everyone was in bed.

"I'm a meteorologist, did you forget? I knew it was going to storm tonight. Now we just need to find a way to conduct lightning into the stone."

"Is that something you can do?" she asked, still not aware of what he was getting at.

He took a deep breath. "No, but I believe you may be able to.”