Staring down at Silas, Edgar, Benji and Reina, Ava propped her elbow on the window sill and sighed as she listened to the mage tutor the rune bearers.
"I hope you lot have eaten because today's training ain't going to be sweet." Reina rubbed her stomach then took a quick glance up at her window and Ava resisted the urge to smile. She quickly gave her a small nod and Reina scowled before looking back at the boys in front of her.
The three of them had magically healed after dinner with Izzy last night. Reina had admitted that it was a healing potion the witch had put in their food and it made Ava instantly wary of food that she hadn't seen being prepared. However, the Curry rice had been amazing.
"So, what are we doing today?" Edgar said, taking off his sleeveless white shirt which read, 'New Thang'. "And why isn't Xavier here? He seems to know a lot about runes."
Reina huffed, folding her arms over her chest and leaning her weight on one foot. "Yeah, well, I taught him about runes before he decided he wanted to know more about Magic squares and circles."
Benji cocked his head at that, his blond hair ruffling in the cool breeze. "What are those?"
"They are similar to runes, just less... personal. Magic squares let you capture whatever beast you want and then keep them in your magic circle. In this case, you don't need to harm the beast except maybe a little to show dominance." She answered. "Magic circles have a far larger space than a rune but involve a blood ritual which means you have to spill your own blood to open them."
"That's sick. So is that where Xavier keeps his dragons or are they just flying about?" The blonde asked.
"He keeps them in his magic circle, yes. Once the dragons or beasts are owned, they cannot be stolen unless the thief knows where Xavier's magic circle leads to. And that is the differences between runes and magic circles."
Silas scratched his head, looking absolutely lost. "Eh? Difference? I thought that was a similarity?"
Benji snickered. "Dumb Silas! The difference is Runes are located on your body and when you take the beast or person's power, it becomes part of us. However, Magic circles are..." Silas cocked his head curiously, waiting for him to finish but Edgar continued.
"-Like portals that let a person teleport his captured beast from where he has kept them to where he draws his blood. Am I right?" He moved back to stand between Benji and Silas as he finished his explanation.
"Pretty much. But enough about magic-"
"Do you need magic to do it?" Reina frowned at Benji's question and he gave her a weak smile.
"Yes, you do."
"Wow! So that means he has magic. Does Wyatt have magic?"
"Yes," She drawled.
Benji gasped. "Then do you have magic?"
"Christ, Benji! Let it go." Edgar slapped him upside the head and the boy glared at him.
"Ouch."
Reina only sighed and Ava could almost feel the frustration from where she watched them several rooms from the ground. The lady dropped her hands to her side and said, "Yes, I do have magic. I am a Mage but I don't normally tell people about that so I would prefer if you didn't mention it again. I have my reasons. Now back to Runes," Throwing Benji a glare when he opened his mouth, she continued, "In a couple of hours, the witch's link with your runes will loosen and you'll have to learn to control your new power before you leave this tower."
"Oh wow, you rhymed."
Edgar hit Benji again and when the boy turned to glare at him, his friend responded with a frown. "Yeah, I'm going to keep hitting you if you don't focus. And you need it more since your beast almost killed Silas."
"Don't get me involved, please. Remember, beast-less." He managed a smile then turned back to Reina, "Please continue."
The dark-skinned woman took a deep breath then did as Silas requested. She sat on the ground, keeping her breathing steady as she folded one leg over the other. Looking up at the boys, she said, "Please, get into the position you are most comfortable in, a position you can easily meditate in.
"As a telepath, I can read minds, but with another aspect of my psychic powers, I can also enter your subconscious. What I'm about to do needs your complete attention and the slightest distraction could make me lose you. The mind is a maze, so I want you all to stick with me. We shall enter one person at a time. I will show you to where the runes have buried themselves so on your own, you can go in and easily retrieve what power or beast you would like to use."
As the boys copied her position, Reina sent a telepathic message to Ava, telling her to join. The blonde gave her a nod and she turned to the only bed in the room and climbed on it. Sitting cross-legged, Ava calmed herself, breathing gradually through her nose. She closed her eyes and eased into her subconscious, a place Reina had taken her to before. A place that made her shiver.
When Ava opened her eyes, she had almost expected to see the wet humid bathroom that haunted her dreams, that made up a part of her subconscious, but instead, she was in a hallway.
The hallway was slightly dark and empty with a flickering light just overhead. Ava glanced around the white walls, fear making her stomach flutter. She had never been there before. She realized this when she passed by an open door with a hospital bed in it. Ava's subconscious was made up of places she had been to, places where she had had some sort of experience. Like the wet humid bathroom of her high school.
Turning a corner, she frowned when she realised that the hallway was much darker here, but for some reason, she still entered it, walking past the creepy empty rooms.
This wasn't her mind she was walking in and that meant she was in one of the boys' mind. It couldn't be Reina's. Her subconscious would have less colors since she probably didn't know what any other colors were except black, white and grey. She had seen blue curtains in the empty rooms.
"Ava, where are you?"
Ava stopped abruptly, midway through a step, before exhaling. That was Reina. That had to be Reina.
"Ava, speak up. I lost you since you were so far from me. Follow my voice."
Obediently, she did. Reina constantly apologized for not pulling Ava to meet the others, hoping she would forgive her, but Ava couldn't find it in herself to be pissed. She couldn't even imagine how Reina managed to do all the mind pulling and tricks.
In no time, Ava finally met up with Reina and the other rune bearers. The mage exhaled with relief before turning to the other boys as Ava came to stand behind her.
"So, we are complete. Now, it's time to locate where you've stored your beast, Edgar. I might be a mind reader but you know more about your mind than I do."
Edgar only hummed as he stared at another empty room. He looked dazed, as if lost in thought before he turned to Reina. "Why here?" His voice came out in almost a whisper and Silas and Benji stared at him worriedly.
"Why did you take all of them here?"
Reina's eyes widened and she went to hold his shoulders. Giving them a little squeeze, she smiled, "I didn't take you here. This is what your mind showed us. The runes are buried deep within you, feeding off your emotions. This place, is where most of your emotions are stored. It doesn't have to be positive, even."
The more she spoke, the more Edgar's eyes glazed over with tears and Ava glanced at her brother who stood awkwardly, staring at him with a longing that she understood.
"Edgar," Reina continued, "Just take a deep breath. If you want to find the place where your beast is locked, it's the same place that changed or affected you."
Edgar visibly paled and he shrugged Reina's hands off, stepping away from her. "There's no other way?"
She shook her head.
Edgar looked at her, defeated. It was obvious he didn't want to do it but if there was something about Edgar that Ava liked, it was his determination. The boy took a deep breath then nodded.
Turning in the cold hallway, Edgar marched forward and Reina gave Ava a look before walking right behind him. Ava didn't understand the look but she didn't bother asking as she fell beside her brother.
"This place is creepy," He admitted, glancing inside every room they passed.
"You don't say."
Looking at her brother, she noticed that he appeared skittish as they moved quickly through darker hallways. It was a habit he had even back in their world. For as long as Ava had known Silas, hospitals had made him uneasy. It probably had something to do with his past. When her foster parents had brought Silas and told her he was going to be part of the family, she hadn't really cared until Silas had looked at her. The kid had looked dead, the light in his eyes gone.
Something bad happened to him and when Ava had asked, her parents had refused to say a word. Even the way they changed the topic brought up suspicion. Silas never told her. When she mentioned anything about his biological parents, he would go quiet, like a ghost. The kid had definitely seen something evil before he joined her family, is what she had thought then, and never asked about it again.
They entered a room and Edgar came to a stop, making everyone halt in their spots. The room was big and led to five metal doors. It was eerily quiet until there was a loud grunt, something Ava had heard before.
Edgar was surprised. He gasped as he looked around the pale white room before walking to the metal door where the grunt had been coming from and he gasped again. "W-What the fuck? Where's my dad?" He turned to Reina, "Why is that bloodboar there?"
"This room, Edgar, your runes have decided to make this place their home."
Edgar looked at her like she was speaking absolute nonsense. "No. No runes. I want my dad here! Why isn't my dad here?"
"Your dad was never here, love." Her forehead puckered. "There aren't people here, just afterimages. And since we haven't been here before, we can't see anybody. Your dad is still here in the real world, love. This is just a place of great importance in your memory."
It seemed to click to Edgar and he held a hand to his mouth. "Oh." His voice shook and Silas ran to hold him, pulling him in for a tight hug.
Reina sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, this is not working out."
Ava only had to blink and then she wasn't in Edgar's mind anymore. She sat beside Reina on the ground and a shooting pain started in her head. She groaned just as the other boys opened their eyes, clutching their heads the way Ava was.
"So sorry. Headaches happen if I take someone with me when I do Astral projections." Reina said as she touched Ava lightly on her forehead before going to work on the boys. "We'll take a break for now. When I come back, we'll go into Benji's."
The three boys gave a short nod before standing and awkwardly separating. Ava could see her brother staring after Edgar as he went to stand by the tower. She wanted to reassure him that his friend was okay, that he would get over it, but she couldn't. She didn't know what happened to Edgar at that hospital, it could be worse than Silas' past or it could be a fly compared to it. All she knew was that Edgar would get over it. His determination to move forward was what kept him moving.
Letting her eyes stray, she found Reina slipping into the slightly dense forest surrounding the tower and rushed after her. Ava caught her shoulder and turned the little lady around.
"Where are you running off to alone? Bodyguard, remember?" Ava reminded the other girl, pointing to herself.
Reina gave her a tight lipped smile and took a step away from her. "Yes. Well, I need a little space. I almost forgot what it was like, getting into a person's mind like that. It takes its toll on me."
"More reason for me to be with you. You think about things and I'll protect you. Besides, I want to get this hound out a little; I've been feeling this sort of heat around my body. It comes and goes. It's weird."
Reina nodded blankly, something Ava had noted she did whenever she had spaced out. The woman smiled weakly then cupped her face. "Ava, love, you shouldn't say heat and hound in the same sentence. It's a bad thing around here, especially for females. Anyways," Reina let go, turning sharply so her long hair whipped in Ava's face then fell perfectly on her shoulder. "I will be fine. It's just a short walk to clear my head."
Ava watched her leave, her mind reeling with what the woman had told her. A hound and heat? A female hound and heat? Ava gasped, her hands covering her mouth. A female hound in heat!