Reckless Magic

“Oh,” is all I said, my brain wason overload.

“We of course keep ourselves a secretfrom humans now that so few remain; they would have a hard time accepting us,”he smiled at Aunt Syl, who didn’t seem offended.

“But obviously Aunt Syl knew. Sowhy didn’t I?”

“Well, your parents were gone and Ithought this would be the best way for you to…. live,” Principal Saint foldedhis hands together and looked at me seriously. I realized that he didn’tactually give me an answer, and I had a suspicion that he was hiding somethingfrom me, but there was so much information to take in that for the moment hisanswer was sufficient.

“So I am a Witch? Is everyone atKingsley a Witch as well?”

“Yes and no, you are a Witch,” hechuckled slightly, “But not everyone is a Witch. There are four distinct typesof our kind. All four display very unique qualities and have been givendifferent names; it is much like the different ethnic races in human kind. Weare different, but of the same species. At first we did not have names for eachother, but over time we have adapted names from the slang that has beenassociated with us; the names also help us distinguish between ourselves.Recently they have meant the difference between life and death,” he smiledsadly again, “There are the Lamia, or Witches in today’s terminology, theMediums or Psychics, there are the Transmogrifiers or Shape-Shifters and thenthere are the Proeliators, they have been called anything from gods, to angelsto super-heroes; usually we refer to them in English as Titans.”

“But everyone can refer tothemselves as an Immortal?”

“Yes of course, just like any ofthe different races of humanity are still referred to as humans; what makes usstand apart, but also stand together is the magic that we have in our blood.The tingling sensation or what I think you refer to as ‘electricity,’ that is yourmagic. You would be unable to function without it; it is your life blood. Itdefines who you are, I squirmed thinking about the men I supposedly drained oftheir magic. I may not have killed them, but it sounded like I had given them afate worse than death.

“How did you know I call itelectricity?” I asked, realizing I had always been very careful to never sharethat with anyone before.

“One of the special skills of our Psychicsis mind reading,” he smiled, and my face flared up from embarrassment. Slowly Iremembered every time I felt my question was answered without asking it, fromteachers and other students to Kiran. I buried my head in my hands; this had tobe a teenager’s worst nightmare come true.

“Don’t worry; we can fix that foryou. I can teach you the skills you need to protect your mind against others.”

“So everyone at school has beenable to read my mind…. know what I’m thinking?” I whispered the question,completely mortified.

“Well only the Psychics and Isuppose, only those who were interested,” he acted so nonchalant I had a hardtime believing he grasped the trauma associated with a sixteen year old girl’sprivate thoughts.

“Kiran?” I asked in an even softerwhisper. I could feel my aunt smiling beside me.

“Yes, I’m sure Kiran has been ableto listen to your thoughts. Prince Kiran is very gifted; it was probably nochallenge at all,” he spoke so matter-of-factly, while my stomach took theroller coaster ride of its life. I felt overwhelmingly nauseous.

“What? Prince? What?” I barely gotthe words out. Did he say Prince Kiran?

“Yes of course. Kiran Kendrick isour Crown Prince. I told you earlier we have our own Monarchy. His father Lucanrules over us; he is our King and Kiran is the Crown Prince. Please remember,we are not bound by human law,” he reminded me. Excuse me, but up until twentyminutes ago that was the only law I knew existed.

 “So the King is like my King too? I mean Ilike should respect him and bow and all that?” I laughed; it all seemed toomedieval for me.

“Well yes, you’re supposed to, butI don’t think you’ve respected royalty as of this far, so I wouldn’t be tooconcerned just yet,” Now it was Principal Saint’s turn to laugh.

“They won’t like execute me or putme in prison or anything for that will they? You’ll explain to them that Ididn’t know, won’t you?” my hands flew to my throat and I held onto it as if itwere about to be chopped off. All of the times I was sarcastic and rude toKiran flooded my memory…. oops.

“No, don’t be so dramatic,” hechided. “The royal family hasn’t put anyone to death in a long time, or atleast a couple years,” his eyes looked out of my window and slightly glazedover. I knew he was thinking about something else, but I was too afraid to askwhat it was and apparently lacked the skill to read minds, like the rest ofImmortals. “No, you’re not in trouble, but please try to be more respectful inthe future. In fact, I think it would be best if you have no more contact withthe Prince at all.”

“Why not?” I wondered if that waspossible for me. Hadn’t I tried to stay away from him since the begi

“Well, he’s really here for onlyone purpose, and I’m afraid you have been a bit of a distraction. There areother reasons why you should avoid him of course. For one, your friend Lilly isa Transmogrifier attending Kingsley against the law. You see, Shape-Shifterswere banished a long time ago. They are the…. lepers of Immortal society, so tospeak. Lilly was attending school illegally and hiding her true identity. Afterlast night they have taken her away to await trial. If you were implicated ashaving known of her true identity, you too would be sent away,” his voice wasmelancholy and he continued to stare out of the window.

“Lilly is what? What do you meanbanished? How can they just take her away? Who took her away? She was trying toprotect us! Where is the trial, I’ll go and tell them the truth!” I half stoodup, ready to leave at that moment; I couldn’t believe that my one and onlyfriend was gone, for reasons I couldn’t even comprehend. How could someonereally be banished? Where did they go? What happened to them if they werecaught? My throat tightened with anticipation and I mentally willed my nervesto steady.

“Please, Eden, calm down. Lilly isa Shape-Shifter; the Monarchy banished her kind a long time ago. They are theoutcasts of our society. They are to have no contact with the Immortal world,”I watched the pain flicker in his eyes and instantly realized that he did notagree with the edict. “And no, you will do no such thing; the trial will beheld in Romania as well, in front of the royal family. If you were to testifyon her behalf and she was found guilty you would receive the same punishment asher. We ca

“So those men that attacked us, whowere they really after?” I changed the subject, knowing it was a battle that Iwould not win, at least not then. I decided to think about it later, when I wasalone. But the thought that Lilly would be tried the same as those disgustingmen who tried to kill her made me physically sick.

“It appears they were after the CrownPrince. They were apparently making an attempt on his life and had assumed hewould be alone, with only his body guard. I’m afraid you girls took them quiteby surprise.”

“His body guard?”

“Yes, of course. Talbott Angelo isKiran’s personal body guard. He is a Titan; they are the royal family’spersonal guard and personal advisors.”

“Of course he is,” A light bulbwent on in my head, and I finally understood Kiran and Talbott’s weirdfriendship…. or relationship…. or whatever.

“Talbott and a handful of othersare the only Titans that have been allowed to leave the King in a very longtime. They had hoped it would be enough to protect the Prince; I think theywere quite surprised when it was you who saved them all,” Principal Saintchuckled softly. “Talbott is the only one young enough to go to school withyou.  The rest of Kiran’s guard try toremain undetected, and unfortunately were completely absent during yesterday’sattack. Luckily for them it was by the Prince’s orders.”