Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 7 - Misdirection - IV

  Alden gasped. Her hair began to shift in color, a shining line travelling down from her head to the tips of each strand, becoming a pure light silver-grey. Cinza shot him a playful wink before returning her gaze to the stars once more.

  She snapped her arms upward, opening her palms to the sky, and began to sway in place. The eight orbs she'd summoned were joined by a web of them, forming the same eight pointed star that hung from the silver necklace now flashing on her chest as it caught and reflected the many lights dancing around it. Cinza lowered one hand, still wide open as if she intended to grasp at something.

  She spun a quick circle, and the star began to rotate in place. The lights grew in intensity, and Alden lost track of the girl swaying in the center, directing the stars as if she were conducting an orchestra. His vision finally freed from her intense hold, Alden looked back at the sky, and gasped even louder.

  The sky itself swayed in time to Cinza's motions. The stars twirled and spun through the heavens in time to her hands. Alden could only watch for a moment before he felt a small, warm hand grasp his firmly. His eyes shot back down to find Cinza suddenly directly in front of him, pulling him forward into the field of twinkling stars on the surface.

  He had no idea what he was doing. Alden had never danced in his life, and had no knowledge of magic beyond what he had seen that day. Yet here he was, with an impossibly beautiful girl pulling him through a field of lights that were moving through him as if he were nothing more than air. The entire sky seemed to be rotating around just him and his impromptu partner. Cinza gave him a small smile. For the first time Alden saw her as a vulnerable, delicate person instead of the ethereal, unhinged leader she'd first appeared to be. Now she was just a small barefoot girl in a grey robe, inviting him to share with her something rapturous. She took hold of him and lead him through the clearing, swaying and spinning and twirling about together.

  He felt something move inside him every time one of the spheres crossed their path. It was an impossible warmth that he was desperate to feel again, and yet he somehow knew that pursuing them directly wouldn't give him the same result. Only by following this girl and letting her lead him through the dance would he be permitted to experience such a sensation. The bracelets and charms adorning her wrists slid across his skin as she pulled him through the dance, her cloak fluttering in the light breeze flowing through the clearing. Alden felt as if the dance could have gone on forever and he could have been content.

  Cinza gave him another smile, then suddenly released him. Alden stumbled backward and found himself outside the circle, back in the same spot as he had started.

  Suddenly, she was on the opposite side of the circle, and one of her followers clung to her, their gray robes making them almost indistinguishable through the maze of lights that filled the forest. Another cloaked figure offered Alden a hand, helping him back to his feet.

  "You're lucky," the young man murmured.

  "Huh?"

  "She doesn't just pick anyone. You must be special."

  "Oh," Alden replied. He couldn't come up with anything more interesting to respond with. He stared at Cinza and her new partner—a girl with thick wavy crimson hair who had to be in high school—as they pivoted through the spinning web of lights.

  "Want to stick around? We'll have something to eat later."

  Alden was about to accept when Rika's face popped into his mind, waiting patiently only a few hundred feet away. Her warning rang clearly through his ears. As inexperienced as he was, Alden still knew how to recognize a cult when he saw one. With a last longing look at the girl dancing in the lights, Alden turned and sprinted out of the clearing before he couldn't resist any longer.

  Rika was waiting for him just outside the trees.

  "Good shit, huh?" she asked, grinning.

  "That was..." Alden panted, out of breath between the sprint and the dance.

  "As weird as Cinza and her groupies might be, they know how to put on a show. You get pulled in?" Alden nodded. "Don't worry about you being 'special' or whatever. They tell that to everyone. Newbies always get to jump in." Rika looked uncomfortable as Alden's face fell. "Sorry. Still, I thought you should see something we can do that doesn't involve shooting fire and lightning at each other."

  Alden nodded again. "It was breathtaking."

  "No kidding, you're winded as hell," Rika teased. "So, wanna learn magic?" she asked again, but this time, under the starlight and with the lights still dancing in the trees behind her, Alden didn't hesitate for a moment.

  "Does it hurt?" he asked casually. He didn't care what the answer was. His mind was already made up.

  Alden Bensen was going to learn magic.