The sun had gone down during the meeting, leaving the world outside the castle windows dark. Felix slowed and peered through one, marveling at how many stars glittered in the sky. Were they real stars? Or an illusion over the pocket dimension?
“Since I’m leading you to a room and not a dungeon, I think the king is going to assign someone to train you,” Kendra said.
Felix jogged to catch up to her. “You think that’ll be hard to do?”
“Maybe. You do pose a challenge. But with everything that’s on the line, I’m sure at least a few teachers will be up to it.”
Felix wasn’t convinced Kendra believed what she was saying but nodded anyway.
“How are you feeling?” Kendra asked.
“Awful,” Felix admitted. “I’m exhausted. And—” He wasn’t sure what to think about his family. They were dead, but they weren’t really gone, right? Then again, he hadn’t heard a word from them since leaving his house. What if the Guardians were wrong about his ability?
“I can’t promise you’ll feel better in the morning. But I’ll do everything I can to help you, okay? And so will plenty of other Guardians here. Most of us…have dealt with loss, to some degree.” Kendra sighed. “I know a few of the council members didn’t seem to care about you, but I promise everyone’s just trying to do what’s best for the Brightlands. It’s been hard for us, recently. We’ve lost a lot of family and friends.”
“Is there some kind of war going on?” Felix asked, recalling what May had said to him. All I know is that there’s some kind of magical war, and I’m not sure we know which side is the right one.
“The past few years have been quiet, but we’re pretty sure the Guardian Uprising was just the beginning. The people responsible will be back. They failed eight years ago, but we didn’t defeat them, either.” Kendra hesitated. “Don’t go around talking about all this, okay? They generally don’t like to tell students much about it until they’ve graduated from the academy.”
“Academy?”
“Bright Academy. It’s our training program.”
“Do you guys just throw the word ‘Bright’ in front of everything?”
Kendra chuckled. “I guess so.”
A few more turns brought them into one of the towers. Felix tipped his head back to stare at the staircase spiraling upwards. “I know this is a castle, but is there by chance an elevator?”
Kendra strolled up to the wall next to the staircase and lifted a painting of a forest, revealing a panel of buttons. “The Brightland family is a big fan of aesthetics, so some of the more convenient features of the castle are hidden.” She hit a button marked with an up arrow, and a faint chime came through the wall. A hairline crack appeared in the wallpaper, and a moment later, an elevator door slid open.
Inside the elevator, Kendra hit the button for the ninth floor.
“Hey,” Felix said as he watched the door close. “How did you and Archer know my family was attacked? You were at my house right after it happened.”
“Your father called us when Gideon showed up,” Kendra said. Her expression darkened. “We came as fast as we could, but—not fast enough. I’m sorry.”
Felix drew out the chain around his neck and fiddled with Mom’s ring until they came to a stop. Outside the elevator, the stairs continued up for at least a few more floors. A hallway circled the outside of the staircase, lined with doors.
“Are these all bedrooms?” Felix asked.
“Dormitories, yes, technically,” Kendra said. “You’re the only person on this floor, though.”
“Oh.”
Kendra walked to the door opposite the elevator and turned the handle. It swung open. “Go ahead and get settled. I’ll be right back with the key.”
The room was impressive, in Felix’s eyes. He had his own bathroom, a walk-in closet, a desk, and a nightstand next to the queen-sized bed. Deep blue velvet curtains covered the window. He wasn’t yet convinced he wasn’t going to be held prisoner, but if they kept him in here, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
He set Helena’s sword on the desk, tossed his backpack on the floor, and collapsed onto the bed on his back. He stared blankly at the ceiling, not quite ready to let himself think about any of the day’s events.
A faint buzzing sound came from his backpack. Felix rolled over, leaned off the bed, and dug around until he found his phone. He had a text from Jace. Hey, your house was on the news but no one seems to know what happened. Are you okay?
“Felix?” Kendra knocked on the door.
“Come in!” Felix called. He dropped the phone back into the bag, making a mental note to respond later. Once he figured out how to respond.
Kendra stepped inside, a silver key in one hand and a small bag in the other. “Mind if I just set this on the desk?”
“Go ahead.” Felix sat up. “Any word from the council?”
“I don’t know what they decided, but I saw Archer coming up the stairs when I stepped off the elevator,” Kendra said. She left the door open a few inches and moved to stand next to the bed. “He should be here any second. Here, I brought a first aid kit so that you can clean up that gash on your forehead.”
Felix reached up to take the bag from her. “Archer takes the stairs?”
“When he’s not in a hurry.”
Felix set the bag on the sheets and turned so that his legs were hanging off the edge of the bed. “So, what’s going to happen to my house and stuff?”
“We’ll try to get that sorted out tonight. We also wanted to know if you have any family living nearby.”
Felix shook his head. “My mom’s an only child, her parents live in Texas, and my dad’s family lives out east.” He paused. “Are they Guardians, too?”
“I can double check the records for you. It’s possible they left the Brightlands to do their own work. And if only one of your dad’s parents was a magician, not all of his siblings may have inherited an ability.”
“Have you ever heard of a kid with two magical parents not inheriting an ability?” Felix asked. “My family seemed pretty ready to believe I didn’t have one.”
“It’s rare, but it has happened.”
The door swung open. “Bad news,” Archer said.
Kendra turned around. “What’s wrong? What are they going to do to Felix?”
“Nothing, for now. He’s going to be fine.” Archer took a few steps into the room and sighed. “The problem is the person who’s been assigned to train him.”
“Oh, boy,” Kendra muttered. “Should I take a guess?”
“Sebastian was the only one who volunteered.”
“And the council really agreed to that?” Kendra sounded genuinely surprised.
“They sure did.” Sebastian stepped out from behind Archer and entered the room. Glancing around, he added, “Ooh, this is a nice one.”
“So, what, I’m a student now?” Felix asked.
“Not officially.” Sebastian held up a finger. “You’ll live here and train, but you’re on probation until we have a better grasp on how your ability works. No missions, no classes, no combat with other students.”
“What about my high school?” Felix asked.
“We’ll sort that out soon,” Sebastian said. “Don’t worry about it right now.”
“And the council really picked you to train him?” Kendra asked, still skeptical.
“I’m definitely the last person they wanted for the job.” Sebastian shrugged. “Unfortunately, no one else was interested. Everyone’s got their hands full with their current classes.” With a smile, he added. “And besides, even they have to admit I’m a pretty good teacher. Lucky for Felix I took the semester off to focus on our other…special case.”
Archer glared at him. “Maybe I should train Felix.”
“But you’re sooo busy with your job as the King’s Hand.”
“Which includes supervising training,” Archer said. “You can expect me to check in regularly.”
“Fine by me.”
Felix cleared his throat. “What about the council members who, uh, wanted me locked up?”
“They have to accept the King’s final decision,” Sebastian replied. “At the end of the day, it’s not a democracy.”
“The king does take their thoughts into account,” Archer added.
“Sure, sure, whatever.”
Archer scowled.
“Still, be careful around the council members,” Sebastian continued. “I doubt you’ll run into them much, but they’ll probably want to check in on your training, too.”
“And there are eight of them?” Felix asked.
Sebastian nodded. “The two council members who supported you were Michael Beck and Sadia Malik. The two assholes—”
“Watch it,” Archer muttered.
“—were Eliza Abernathy and Abraham Caldwell.”
“All right, all right, we don’t need to explain our entire political system to him right now,” Kendra said, waving a hand in Sebastian’s direction. “Felix, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but is there anything else we can answer for you right now?”
Felix had no idea where to begin. His gaze shifted from Kendra to Sebastian to Archer and back to Kendra. “I guess I’ll save most of it for tomorrow. But…can I ask about your guys’ abilities?” He hesitated a moment. “I was mainly curious about Archer’s mask.”
Kendra glanced at Archer, who nodded. “Sure,” Kendra said. “Archer’s got poison magic. He can make poison from his blood, and there’s usually a little poison in the air he breathes out. He can control it just fine, but the mask has been enchanted to absorb the poison so that he doesn’t have to think about it.”
Archer held up a hand. “And I wear the gloves because poison can leach into my skin.”
“Yeah, and don’t drink from his drinks, either,” Sebastian added.
“I warned you to stop stealing my coffee.”
Felix looked at Kendra. “And you can…control insects?”
“And see what they’re seeing. They don’t think the way we do, but I can communicate with them to a degree by essentially forming a hivemind,” she explained. “My magic also lets me mark them with sigils.”
“And Sebastian?” Felix asked.
“You’ll see at training tomorrow,” Sebastian said. “If you’re up for it, that is. I know you’ve been through a lot, but the sooner you can prove yourself to the king and his council, the better.”
Jumping into training so soon sounded like torture, but the implied warning about the council made Felix nod anyway. “I’ll be ready tomorrow.”
“Excellent.” Sebastian clapped his hands together. “You’ll get to meet my other student.”
With that, he stepped out of the room and disappeared.
“I don’t like it,” Archer said. “It’s almost as if he’s…collecting the weird cases.”
“I’d hardly call two a collection,” Kendra replied.
“Who’s his other student?” Felix asked.
Archer and Kendra exchanged a look. “Like he said, you’ll meet her tomorrow,” Kendra said after a moment.
“She’s also not allowed on missions right now,” Archer added. “Though her probation’s probably going to last longer than yours.”
“We don’t know that,” Kendra muttered.
“I did say ‘probably,’ didn’t I?” Archer headed for the door.
“Oh, one last thing,” Felix said, making Kendra pause, though Archer continued through the doorway. “Do you know what the rest of my family’s abilities are? All I know is that Helena has some kind of lightning magic.”
“I’ll have to check the records,” Kendra told him. “Like the king mentioned, your parents were only semi-active. Oh, we’ll also make sure you get a tour of the castle tomorrow morning. If you get hungry in the meantime, there’s a small kitchen stocked with food on the fifth floor of this tower, next to the staircase landing. I’m afraid we missed the big scheduled dinner.”
“Thanks.” Felix picked up the first aid kid and opened it. “What time should I be up tomorrow?”
“If you want hot breakfast, ten a.m. at the latest. They start serving food at seven. You don’t have any allergies, do you? Dietary restrictions?”
Felix shook his head.
“Great,” Kendra said. “In that case, the dining hall is near the throne room. If you can find your way back to that general area, all you have to do is follow everyone else. Otherwise, you’re on your own. Sebastian will probably want to get started before noon, though.”
“Sounds good.”
“Good night, Felix.” Kendra stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving Felix to fumble around in the bag until he located some disinfectant and a box of bandages.
Felix moved to the bathroom to assess the damage. In addition to the gash and patches of dried blood, bruises had begun to form along his jaw, shoulders, and arms. Judging by the soreness, he suspected his back would be similarly bruised. They really let him see the king like this?
The sting of the disinfectant made Felix wince, but he pushed through the pain until he had the wound clean enough to avoid infection. Hopefully. The bandages turned out to be of the glittery variety. Felix picked out a green one and pressed it to his forehead.
Movement overhead caught his attention. He glanced up and spotted a small black spider crawling across the ceiling toward the vent. He shuddered but decided to let the creature be. For all he knew, it could be a magical spider.
Exhausted as he was, Felix wanted to try one more thing before he went to bed. If he could talk to his family again, even one person, then maybe spending the night alone in an unfamiliar place wouldn’t be so bad. But if he had to fall asleep not knowing whether they were okay…
Felix sank to the floor next to the bed and closed his eyes. “Anyone in there? Mom? Dad?”
Nothing.
What was it Ezra had said? Something about Felix needing his blood to channel his power? Felix held up his hand and examined the finger he’d pricked earlier. A small scab had formed. He scratched at it until blood welled on his skin, and a single drop fell onto the white carpet. Oops.
Before Felix could worry much about the carpeting, the air above the blood shimmered and took the shape of a figure.
“Helena!” Felix exclaimed. “You’re here!”
Helena looked around. “Where are we?”
“Uh, Bright Castle.”
“Ah. Figures they’d pick you up,” Helena said as she sat down next to him.
“Did you ever come here?” Felix asked.
“Sometimes. Mom and Dad didn’t sign us up as official students, but we’d pop into training sessions or classes when they came to talk to other Guardians. They taught us everything else themselves.” Helena studied Felix’s face. “How are you holding up?”
“Better, now. Do you know where everyone else is?”
“They’re in there with me. But I don’t think they’re conscious the way I am.”
“What? Why not?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because you used my ability?” Helena shrugged. “I can sense their energy in there, though. I guess I could try to wake them.”
“‘In there?’ You mean in my blood?”
“Not exactly,” Helena said. “There are…a lot of conflicting theories about the nature of the soul. Despite all of the magic revolving around it, we don’t know much.” Her gaze moved to the other side of the room, and Felix realized she was staring at her sword on his desk. “But there is a physical space you can access. That’s where we are.”
“You can see them in…my soul?” Felix asked.
“I can sense them. Once they awaken, I’m sure I’ll be able to see them, too.”
“And you can see what I’m seeing?”
“No, not always. Sometimes I can feel you calling for us. I can move into your mind the way I did at our house.” Helena’s expression darkened. “Which is why you need to be careful. Gideon’s in there somewhere, too. And if we can get into your head, then he must be able to, too.”
“But I could keep him contained, right?”
“I hope so.” Helena sighed. “You shouldn’t have taken him in.”
“I didn’t mean to. I—I panicked.” Felix glanced down at the floor. “Helena, I had no idea what was happening. One minute I’m coming home from tennis, and the next—”
“I know, I’m sorry.” Helena leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. “We have a lot to explain to you.”
“Yeah, you do.” He hadn’t meant for that to sound as bitter as it did.
If Helena noticed, she didn’t address it. “We were planning to tell you about all of this…eventually. Mom and Dad waited for our abilities to manifest before telling us. It’s safer that way.”
Felix sighed. “I get it.” Part of him thought maybe that danger would have been worth it, to know what the rest of the family had been up to. But it didn’t really matter anymore, did it?
“You should get some sleep. Tomorrow, we can figure out how to reach the others. Okay?”
Felix nodded, suddenly finding himself holding back tears. “Okay.”
Helena was somewhat transparent, now, and fading further with each passing second. “I think your blood loses its power as it dries.”
“Oh.” Felix pushed himself to his feet. “See you tomorrow, then.”
And then Helena was gone.