A Glint of Shadoewynne: Book 1 of the Shadoewynne Series Read online

  I smiled at her, and opened up. As I showed more of myself, the talk around the table became less stilted and more animated, and by the end of the meal, we were all practically rolling with laughter as David told a funny story about some training incident that had happened to him as a child. I was the only one who hadn’t heard the story before, but the others laughed as hard as I did.

  Kait shared some stories, as well, and it quickly became apparent that he was just as sarcastic as I was. I would have to keep an eye on him; he had a penchant for practical jokes, and I didn’t want to become a victim of one of his pranks. He told us a story where he had filled one of his charges bed’s with the Shadoewynne equivalent of slugs because the student had complained about the bugs at the outdoor training ground. The problem was the slugs were slightly venomous, and turned the student a glowing green for three days. From how red David’s face got, plus the fact that he wasn’t laughing, I could guess who that student was.

  I looked at him, and he shrugged. ”What? I don’t like bugs. Still don’t. The training grounds were at the palace, they could have blocked the bugs from bothering us. But no, Kait said, ‘it builds character to face adversity’. Like bugs are adversity.” He was sulking, and even began to pout.

  I laughed. “That’s hilarious. Now I know what to do if you piss me off! Why were you training at the palace?”

  David turned red again and looked at the floor while mumbling something. I didn’t catch it, so I asked him to repeat himself. Louder, he said, “I had some trouble controlling my magic when I was younger.”

  Travis snorted. “Yeah, it kept getting away from him at school, where normal humans could see. He was forced to move to Shadoewynne for about a year while he got his magic under control and since we were pretty much inseparable, Kait trained him too.”

  Kait smiled. “He had a very hard time. They are both downplaying how bad it was. Once, when he was trying to hit on a girl in junior high, the rose he was going to give her grew roots in his hand. It also was as big as her head by the time someone got there to control it. Luckily, no one saw it. It would have been a catastrophe.”

  Everyone, including David, laughed. My phone dinged with an incoming text. As the conversation continued on without me, I checked the message. It was from my mom, and simply said, “Where are you?” As I stared at the message, another came in from her. This one was “When are you returning to David’s house?” Okay. The first message was bad enough, but the second one was close to stalking.

  “Guys…” The waver in my voice caught everyone’s attention, and they all stopped talking at once.

  Travis said, “Are you okay? You look kinda pale.”

  I mentally prepared myself while I sighed. “I really didn’t want to go into all my history with my parents. I barely know most of you, but in light of the texts I just got, I need to explain some.” I took a deep breath. “I’m an only child. I’ve told David, and maybe Travis, my Mom and I don’t have the best relationship. My whole life, I have always felt like an outsider, even with my family. My Mom swears that she wanted to have children, but my needs were always put way behind my parent’s needs. Things they wanted always came before things I needed. At the same time, they were very strict, with strange rules about who I could play with, and what I could do. That’s another reason I never had many friends. They would randomly accuse my friend’s parents of lying when they said they were busy. It caused many fights, and I lost quite a few friends until I figured out what was going on. Once I did, I just stopped hanging out at friends houses, or having them over. I was a very lonely kid.” I glanced around. Sarah looked like she was having a hard time believing me, but everyone else seemed to be with me.

  “Obviously, I can’t go into all the details, or we would be here all day, but it should be sufficient to say that their antics were beyond anything normal. Mom has also had mental health issues off and on, and once was hospitalized for about a month due to it. Once Dad died, Mom let up on me some, but we go through periods where she decides she has to know everything I’m doing. Apparently one of those times has started. She just sent me two texts - the first one didn’t alarm me too much. It said ‘where are you?’ She typically doesn’t care where I am unless she is being over-protective, but by itself, its isn’t horrible. The second one, however, is making my skin crawl. It says ‘when are you returning to David’s house?’ I didn’t tell her we were leaving. I don’t talk to her on a regular basis. How does she know I’m not there?” I wasn’t doing a good job explaining how much this was causing me to panic. I sighed again, and started spinning the braid. “I don’t talk about this much, because just an example or two doesn’t seem that bad. This is really bad, Guys. She may be waiting for me at David’s house. I turned off the tracking on my phone when I moved here just so she couldn’t do this. I don’t understand how she found David’s house. I don’t know what to tell her.” My phone dinged again. I held it up, and read it out to everyone. “This one says ‘Don’t you dare ignore me, Evalia. Answer me, now.’ I know from experience that this is going to escalate quickly, and won’t stop until I satisfy her. I don’t want to tell her where I am, or when I’m coming back. This is setting off my heebie-jeebie alarms, bad.”

  David wrapped his arm around me from one side, while Travis did the same from the other side. David kissed my forehead and said, “Sugar, we will figure this out. Tell her you’re in a movie and will call her later to get you some time.”

  OH. “That’s a good idea. It will buy me an hour or so.” I quickly texted her that, also pointing out that I wasn’t ignoring her. I turned my phone off too, since she could see if I read her texts.

  Travis squeezed my shoulder. “Are you sure you turned off all the tracking on your phone?”

  “Yes, I disabled the GPS function. She’s used it to track me before and accused me of lying once when a friend accidentally picked it up at school. The friend went home with my phone, so when my mom tracked my phone, she thought I had lied about having to work. My mom actually called my work to try to catch me in the lie. She was stunned when I was really there, and had to make something up so I didn’t know why she had called. It didn’t work. I had caught on to her a while before, but that confirmed what I thought.”

  “Okay. We also have a spell around the house that confuses GPS, as a layer of protection for Travis and me. Just in case she has some kind of other tracker on you.” This from Sarah, which surprised me. I didn’t think she had believed me.

  David clapped his hands, and rubbed them together. “Okay, we need to figure this out. She needs to come up with something to tell her mom. And, if she is in town, she may need to actually meet up with her.”

  Fuck. He was probably right. After our last conversation, I didn’t want to see her, or even talk to her, for that matter. As usual, it seemed my feelings aren’t important. “Damn. You’re right. If I have to see her, will you two go with me?” I looked imploringly at David and Travis. “I can’t face this alone.”

  They both chimed in with “Sure” at the same time.

  “So, I will tell her that we three went to a movie, and then we will go to David’s house, unless she’s not there. I would prefer to meet her somewhere else, if possible.” I thought for a minute. “For some reason, my gut is telling me not to tell her we were able to break through the door to my powers, or that I’ve been training. I want to continue with her like nothing has changed. What do y’all think?”

  “I think you should trust your instincts.” Travis was quick with his reply.

  David appeared to think about it for a moment, staring at the ceiling. He brought his eyes down to mine. “I agree, we will keep that from her as long as possible.”

  “Alright, we will tell her that Sibhre is still preparing. I also don’t want to tell her about Kait. Can you follow us, and watch without being seen?”

  Kait looked surprised. “I can, but why are you going through all these precautions?”

  “I don’t really know, but
the idea of meeting her without backup is scaring me more than it should. All the hair on my arms stands up when I think about it, and I feel like I am going to throw up. There is something about this that is not normal, even for her, and I just want to be as prepared as possible. Can we train for a little before I call her back?” The meal and nap had done wonders, and I felt as good as new.

  “Well, you should always listen to your instincts. They are tied to your magic. If they are telling you something is wrong, then it most likely is.” Well, shit. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Kait continued before I could say anything else, though. “I agree, you need to continue your training, and I think we need to work on offensive. You ready now?”

  “Yep, lets go.”

  Kait and I headed downstairs, while the rest cleaned up our meal. We went back into the little room. I could tell the humidifier was still running, and I could feel the moisture in the air. It almost felt like a static charge to me. “Why does it feel like this down here?”

  He looked at me, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s hard to describe, but it almost feels like my power is jumping between the water in the air. It’s like when you have a static charge and you almost touch a metal object. When all the hairs on your arm goes toward whatever is drawing the charge.” I rubbed my arms.

  He looked impressed, and a little confused. “That’s just you feeling your power. You will get used to it eventually. I’m surprised you are already able to feel that. You are a very quick learner. We only have an hour, so we need to get down to business. Since we know you can turn it to ice metal, we will work on forming weapons. You will need to form the water into the shape of the weapon, then slow the molecules. As usual, speed is very important. We will start with a dagger.”

  Ugh. This maneuver sounded complicated. “Do you have a dagger I can look at? I’m not exactly sure what a real dagger looks like.”

  He smiled, as he pulled a dagger from his boot. “Here.”

  I turned the dagger over in my hands as I examined it. “If I make it ice and I’m holding it, how do I protect my hand from the cold, and how do I protect the ice from the heat of my hand?”

  “Wear gloves, if it’s a problem. Many water-nymphs have a natural immunity to cold.” Kait’s voice was flat. I glanced at him to see if he was joking.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep, but we need to figure out if it’s even a problem, first.”

  Alrighty then. That was not the answer I was expecting. I got down to business, I pulled the water from the air and formed a ball. Then I shaped it into a watery dagger, and froze it. It was slightly less red than the wall. Hmm. “What happens if there’s no metal around and I can’t put it in the water? Also, how do I know if there’s metal around?”

  “Your great-grandmother used to carry iron powder around with her in a vial to use if there was none naturally. I don’t know how to tell if there is any around. My guess is that ability will develop naturally along with the rest of your powers.”

  AH HA! A use for that vial that was glowing. Actually, now that I think of it, that probably explains the glow.

  “Alright, what’s next?” My fingers were starting to feel slightly frozen.

  “You learn to fight with a dagger. Move up to the dummy, and stab it.”

  “Just stab it?”

  “Yes, I want to see your form, and how you move.”

  I awkwardly set my stance somewhat sideways the way I thought I had seen people on TV do it, gripped the knife until my knuckles were white, and lunged at the dummy. I stepped forward with the wrong foot and almost did the splits trying to reach the target. I shook my head, stepped back and set myself again. I stepped forward with the leg in the back and managed to stab the mannequin in the stomach. I smiled and stepped back, while looking at Kait.

  He was shaking his head. I deflated. I knew I was supremely awkward, but I didn’t think it was that bad. “Was it that awful?”

  “I’ve seen worse.” He walked over to me. “First problem, your grip on the knife. Don’t hold it so tight. Loosen up your grip a bit, and put your thumb against the guard so when you stab, it doesn’t slide into your hand.” He adjusted the knife in my hand, moving my fingers until they were in the right place. I immediately felt the difference. “Second problem, your stance. You’re close, but you need your back foot to be a little closer, and make sure to evenly distribute your weight between your feet. You want to be able to move in any direction with no hesitation.” He lifted my left foot and brought it forward a couple of inches. “Try it again.”

  This time, I was able to at least look a little more graceful. However, the knife spun out of my hand when I hit the dummy. I guess I was holding it too loosely.

  “Again.”

  I picked up the knife, focused on it once more to make sure it was staying frozen, and impaled the target this time. I did a little dance. “Yay!”

  A snort from Kait. “Again.”

  After pulling the knife from the dummy, I stabbed it again. This time, I reset and stabbed again without being told. Over and over and over. My arms felt like they were about to fall off by the time Kait called a stop, saying, “Alright, let’s move on. You need to learn to shield your thoughts. It’s a simple process. You just need to picture a wall around your mind.”

  “That’s it? It seems too simple.”

  “Yep, that’s it. Try it now.”

  I sighed as I pictured building a wall in my mind.

  “Good, now I can’t read your thoughts. You need to learn to keep that up at all times.”

  Snorting, I said, “Okay, now it seems hard. At all times? Really?”

  “Yep, that way it becomes second nature. It’s been a little over an hour since you texted your mom. It’s time to call her back.”

  I wasn’t ready, but oh well, so I nodded. Let’s go face this. At least this time, I have friends at my back. I think.

  Chapter 17

  We went back upstairs, and I called for everyone. “I’m calling my mom, now. I’d like to have you all in the room, and have her on speaker. But no one can make any noises. She can’t know you are listening.” That got me some odd looks, but everyone nodded. I was trusting my gut on this one. Everything in me was screaming that something was up with my Mom. “Alright, let’s do this in the living room, where we can all be comfortable at least.”

  I tried to prepare myself mentally as we walked. At the very least, I would need to deflect her questions, and since it was not something I had a lot of experience with, the skills just weren’t there, and the same went for lying. It would be better to give vague non-answers, or to answer with questions, but that would give me away. Oh, what to do? In my youth, I would always answer honestly, believing that the truth would save me. Most of the time, that was not the case, and with my instincts still screaming at me, I was sure that would be the worst possible thing to do now.

  We were all in the living room now, everyone sitting around me, close enough to hear, but not crowding me. I sighed, pulled out my phone, and called her.

  It rang a few times, and she answered with an abrupt “Where are you?”

  “I told you, we were watching a movie.”

  “No, you weren’t. You are not at the theater.” Shit. Now what?

  “We watched the movie at a friend’s house. Why are you in town?”

  “I thought my baby needed me. You sounded distraught, and I wanted to make you feel better. I brought you your favorite - spaghetti and garlic bread, as well as a chocolate cake. I was going to surprise you.” She sounded upset, like she didn’t understand why I was questioning her.

  “When I left for college, I specifically asked you not to come here, unless I requested it.”

  “Things have changed, Sweetie. You need me.”

  “Where are you now, Mom?” My fingers were spinning my braid as fast as it could go. I thought I was doing a good job keeping my voice light, not betraying how I felt about this, but I just couldn’t stop
my fingers, because I was pretty sure I would explode if I stopped moving.

  “Sitting in front of David’s house again.” Her voice was so cool now, butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

  “How did you find out where he lives?”

  “You gave me his full name, Honey, it only took a web search. Are you mad I came down?” Now, she sounded like she was about to cry. Typical, trying to manipulate my emotions to get me to crack.

  “Yes, a little. I told you before I left for college that I didn’t want you to come down unless I asked, and you did anyway, and I feel like you violated my trust by finding my friend and showing up at his house uninvited. Before you called, we had decided to go on a trip, and I can’t change the plans now. I already booked the hotel room. Go home. I am not going to be back until later this week.”

  She was sniffling now. “But, Honey, I spent a lot of money to come down here…”

  I interrupted her. “That’s what happens when you don’t talk to me, first. If you had, you would’ve known I have plans.”

  “But what about school? Don’t you have class tomorrow? You told me you have already missed too much.”

  “Yes, that’s true, but I cleared it all with my professors, and I’m going to email the assignments back to them. This trip is something I have to do to figure out my Shadoewynne heritage.”

  “Oh.” That was odd. It was a very happy ‘oh’, not a disappointed one. Hmmm. She was changing moods so fast, it was giving me whiplash. Before I could ask why she was happy now, she continued, “In that case, have fun, Honey. Call me when you get back. Bye.” And, then, she hung up on me.

  With my internal alarms screaming at me even louder now, I turned my phone off, flipped it over, then took out the battery and the SIM card. “I need to borrow someone’s phone for a while. I don’t trust this one.”