The Enchanter (On Hold)

Chapter 2 "Home"

“CLEMENT!!” Eva shrieked as she woke up.

It was early in the morning, birds were chirping and she didn’t immediately know where she was. All she knew was that Clement was nearby. He had to be. He wouldn’t really leave her alone. Would he? No he was her friend, more than a friend, she had hoped. 

She saw her surroundings, bags, signs and broken windows. Pain mixed with a strong gut feeling made her remember what she hoped to forget, what she longed to be a horrible nightmare, something she could take humor in and tell Clement about. She sighed. She could console herself all she wanted but her smeared mascara, purple bruises and swollen eyes spoke the truth, last night really happened.

“The witch”  She sighed at her own words, her own memories, as she examined her bruises one by one; trying to estimate the healing time for each. She sat there for a moment and realized she had no more liquid left in her body to produce tears. She had wasted them all last night. She took the opportunity to breathe and rationally think about what had happened yesterday, make a logical guess as to where Clement could be, whether he  ditched her or whether he was lost and hurt.  Both were bad situations, both would be a stab to the heart, one would mean that he had left her, not giving a damn about her life or her safety and the other that he was in danger, she felt guilty in hoping it would be the latter. 

Eva cupped her small face in her hands and took a deep breathe. She leaned back using her arms as support and thought about everything that had happened.

Yesterday had started off normally. Well normally for her kind. Clement was called in earlier that week to the Officium, where most of the White-Hoods were given missions and was assigned to kill Martie, a Dark-Cape that had been a spy and had taken important information from them and well, what else could they do at a time of desperation? Kill. Kill the spy, kill the problem, save their kind, do what they were taught since we were little wizards in a class-room, what they were taught at perseverance meetings every Saturday since they were seven. What they had learned from their parents, some whom had lost their lives in the effort to preserve.

 Clement needed to get rid of the Dark-Cape but there was only one problem, Marti had gone by the name of Beltrum, had attended their school and while Eva was only acquainted with him, Clement and Beltrum had become friends.

Clement was torn when he found out who Beltrum really was and had asked Eva to come with him and help when the time came to complete his assignment. He didn’t think he could kill Marti himself and to be honest she didn’t think he could do it either.

Agreeing to go wasn’t a hard decision, adrenaline coursed through her veins as she heard herself say yes.

That day she had picked out the edgiest outfit in her closet; a black, slick suite which was beyond fitted, it grasped at all her slight curves and emphasized all the right places .

After traveling through many portals they had arrived and entered the Dark Cape’s gray castle located near a harbor in Maine far from the White-Hoods’ home which was a marble castle hidden in Arizona’s Grand Canyon, behind monstrous waterfalls.

The Dark Capes’ home was dark and mysterious, with a subtle hint of mystical beauty, it was the other side of the spectrum, Eva had thought.

Entering the castle was easier than they had thought. Merely entrancing a couple-dozen guards.

This was Eva’s first real mission, one where she actually entered their dominion. She had only heard stories of wars being fought and unspeakable crimes being committed behind those walls.

What did happen inside was quick and strangely blurry, her memories were fading like fog on glass. Somehow they had managed to find Marti and  bring him to this old airport. The whole time being followed by the witch who watched them.

What Eva found hard to figure out was his disappearance, it all happened in  a blink of an eye, Clement was gone but she couldn’t point her finger as to where and when. Was it before they got to the airport or after? It could have been the witch but she wasn’t sure. All Eva was certain of was that she had killed Marti herself.

 Her mind flashed back to the moment in the gray castle right after he had knocked out several servers in the hallway with the frail wand the institute had assigned him.

He had pulled her behind the red curtains in the corridor. She remembered the heat of being enclosed tightly between the sun and the thick drapes.

“Here, take this.” Clement said urgently. The knife’s handle was clear and she  could see purple liquid inside.

“Why?” Eva shook her head.

“For your protection”  He was watching her intently; observing her.
 
Clement must have caught her doubt and leaned in close. “Listen. Eva you’re safety is important to me and I want you to know..”

He stopped for a second and directed his eyes anywhere else but her as if searching for the right words and then brought his soft gaze back at  her.

Looking deep into his eyes, deeper than he was looking into hers, she could count the gold and silver speckles surrounding the iris, she was so completely lost in them that she had almost missed the flicker of light that had changed their color from amber to a light autumn green.

That’s what he was, Clement was autumn to her; everything about him, his smell, touch, look, feel, even the taste of the lips she tasted back in sixth grade when they had kissed, both their first time, behind aunt Liphanies cottage, were autumn.

Eva’s heart had begun to beat so hard and loud, she could literally hear it and wondered if Clement could hear it to.
 
“I’m always thinking of you and what lays ahead. You know? What’s next, what’s better. For everyone. Remember that I know what I’m doing.”  The edge of his lip curled into a reassuring smile. Eva could almost smell November as he said this.  His tone was dominant with passion,  she had nearly mistaken it for anger.

She stood close enough to feel Clements deep and short breathes, they smelled like the mint leaves his grandmother used to put in their tea after they would get back from their lessons.

She had wanted to stand there forever and take in as much of his smell as she possibly could but knew better. 

After her heart had skipped a dozen beats, Eva was the first to speak.

“You’re acting strange” She pushed him aside.

Eva could have sworn she saw brief relief behind his apparent disappointment. 

What she had said was true, Clements’s character was self absorbed and for him to act to selflessly was strange. But she mostly said it because so many feelings and such close contact made her nervous.

That was about the only clear memory she had of the dominion.

Later that day  she stabbed Marti on his upper thigh with that same knife Clement had given her, she had clicked a small button on it and released the purple liquid which now she knew was poison. The rest was known.

Eva rubbed her temples at the flashback and lifted herself as slowly and gently as possible. She didn’t realize how sore she was. Her hamstrings had a heartbeat so loud she swore she could hear it and she felt as if her head was about to burst. There was pressure all over her body.

“Shit” She swore loudly as she held on to her ribcage. She had definitely damaged something.

She took the pain step by step, stopping at the door to catch her breathe. Now she just had to catch a plane to Arizona, or even better. She smiled as she thought of her Mentalip, she always wondered if Tulip could hear from afar.

Eva took a deep breathe and shut off the world, she connected her right index and middle finger to her heart and her left index finger to her mind, humming for a stronger connection and patiently waited for a few minutes, making sure he received her message, “Agamont Park” she told him, that was the park she heard some of the guards talking about back in the castle, she just hoped he had heard.

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