Hey Ya'll!
I'll keep this short: I hope you like my newest chapter! It's a little tiny bit shorter than my others but I didn't want to include the next part in this chapter and you'll see why when you read! So enjoy! And don't forget to comment, vote, follow, yada yada.... you know the drill.
Magically yours!
Rosewood7
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If my life were a book, I bet almost every chapter would end with me getting knocked out. Seriously. The author would have to be some awful person who couldn’t come up with a better way to end a chapter without knocking me unconscious. They need to take into account the serious damage this is having on my physical health.
My vision is shaky when I first open my eyes but even through the blur I can tell how amazing the building I am in is. It looks like some old church, designed by master architects. The ceilings are high overhead and the whole building is made of rock that has eccentric designs carved into it. I am lying on a metal cot with a white sheet over me and next to me I see a similar one laid out with Dominico on it, still out cold. It doesn’t take me long to remember how we got here but looking around the gorgeous room, I can’t see anyone else in sight. Not one staff or Council member. How odd. I hear a creak next to me and I see Dominico jerking around in his sleep.
“Faye,” he says. I open my mouth to respond but he cuts me off. “FAYE!” he says louder, in a terrified voice and begins thrashing around. I am on my feet in less than a second and shaking him awake.
“Dominico! Dominico! Wake up! Wake up before you hurt yourself!” I yell at him. Suddenly his eyes snap open and his sits up, panting. I sit on the edge of the cot and wait for his heart rate to go down. He closes his eyes for a second and takes a deep breath. He looks over at me and a look of relief washes over his features. “D-Dominico? Are you alright?” I ask him. He lets out a long breath and nods.
“Y-yeah. Sorry. Bad dream.”
“You kept saying my name so I figured.” Dominico smiles. Mission accomplished. I smile back at him. He looks at me for another second before looking around.
“Where are we?” he asks.
“The Council Hall, I’m guessing,” I say. A pair of large oaken doors on the far end of the room swiftly open and a figure steps in. I stand up from the edge of Dominico’s bed quickly and turn to take in the features of the man who enters. Actually, the guy looks to be our age. He’s one of those good-looking guys who you see on the streets and could have sworn he was in some movie or another. He appears to never go outside with his paper-white skin and has brown hair a few shades darker than mine, actually closer to black. His irises are black, identifying him as a vamp. He’s wearing black pants with a red button-down shirt, common court apparel.
“Alec?” Dominico asks in awe. Alec…Alec…do I know an Alec? I don’t think so… My best friends were probably Alec and Rosaline. I remember Dominico saying when I asked him about his old friends.
“Dominico?” Alec asks, looking equally surprised. Dominico is on his feet almost as fast as I was.
“What are you doing here?” Dominico asks in shock, still a couple yards away from Alec.
“What am I doing here? We told you we were signing on with the Council! Right after you moved!” Did anyone else hear we? Please tell me this guy isn’t like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. I know my friends are really weird so please let Dominico’s friends be even weirder.
“Yeah when I moved right outside of Indianapolis! I didn’t know you guys were working here!” Dominico exclaims.
“We’ve only been here for a few days! We just got moved to work with Lady Fairchild this week actually and she just came here from Vienna a couple days ago,” Alec explains. So Thalia Fairchild just came here. I wonder what for? Is this case really that important to her or is she here for another reason entirely? “Great to see you, man, I was expecting to drag some half-crazed lunatic to see the Lady again. Honestly I think some of these Crazies are coming out of the woodwork.” They give each other a bro hug and both of them crack grins.
“Oh this is my friend, Faye,” Dominico says, gesturing to me. “Faye this is Alec.” Alec cocks a suspicious eyebrow at me.
“Nice to meet you,” I say a little awkwardly and hold out my hand for a handshake. I’m so bad at meeting people. Alec sizes me up for a second before taking my hand and kissing it.
“Pleasure is mine, Beautiful,” he says with a charming smile. I pull my hand back, a little surprised. Not to type-cast or anything, but I’m guessing he’s a player. Dominico rolls his eyes at Alec’s display.
“Cut it out, man. I’m guessing you flirt with every girl who is taken here?” he says with a disapproving tone. Alec flashes a pearly toothed smile.
“Wouldn’t want to make anyone feel left out,” he says with a winking at me. “Are you doing anything next Friday night?” he asks.
“Sorry, I think I’m going to be sick that day,” I say with a casual shrug. Alec laughs light heartedly.
“I’m warning you now,” Dominico stage whispers to him. “Do not mess with her.”
“Why? She’s not your girlfriend is she? If she is, this is going to be really embarrassing.” Now it’s my turn to laugh, mostly to mask my discomfort with this subject and to mask my blush.
“I am not his girlfriend,” I say, still laughing a little.
“Whoa man, I think you’re losing your touch,” Alec says playfully, batting Dominico’s shoulder.
“Shut up,” Dominico mutters, his face reddening a bit. “Did you just come here to hit on her or what?” he asks.
“Oh right! Um, I’m supposed to say ‘Her Ladyship Thalia Fairchild, first degree wizard, unifier of the Council, teacher of Her Ladyship Beatrice Whiteriver, titled as Defender of Peace, Giver of Goodness…yada yada…accomplishments accomplishments….basically most powerful being on Earth…FOUR PAGES LATER…Requests your company!” Alec announces. Didn’t he say he was just promoted here? How?
“Well then,” I say, “I guess you don’t really refuse anyone with a four page résumé of accomplishments.”
“Exactly why I read them!” Alec says, “This way!” he says but turns and runs into the wall and spins around shakily to find the door.
“Sorry about him,” Dominico whispers in my ear, “If you gave him a penny for his thoughts, you’d get change.” I cover my mouth to avoid laughing and when Alec finally locates the doors he came in through, we follow him into the hall. Outside of the infirmary room, the building is even more spectacular. Complete with stain glass windows, spiraling staircases and gargoyle statues on the banisters. It actually looked like a very prestigious and decked out version of Hogwarts. Dominico and I stop to gape at every passage we go down. Alec sighs and hurries us along.
“Come on, Dominico,” Alec whines when he does a double take on a very life-like stone statue of a famous warlock ‘Aaron Slandodonald’ down a corridor. “Faye and I could have eloped by now!”
“Dude, if you keep up this pace I’m going to have put you in an Intensive Care unit before we reach Lady Fairchild,” I threaten him.
“Aww you’re so cute!” Alec says, giving me a quick hug. I dig an upper cut into his gut. Ooof! He grunts. I glare at him hard. He takes a second to regain the breath I knocked out of him and steps away from me.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Dominico sings as he strolls by. “And if you keep this up, I pray you have Health Insurance.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Alec asks Dominico. He nods exaggeratedly. Alec looks worried for a second before his cool look takes back his features.
“So you’re playing hard to get? I’ll just have to do my very best on you,” he says in a flirtatious tone. I groan.
“I don’t like the sound of that.” I groan.
“One day you’ll fall for me, Faye,” Alec says confidently. I turn to Dominico,
“If that day ever comes, knock me out,” I beg him, “I won’t be feeling well.” Dominico grins and gives me a thumbs up.
“Consider it done,” he says. Alec happily ignores us and leads us the rest of the way to Lady Fairchild’s study. When we finally reach the large, granite doors (who makes doors out of freakin’ granite?)
Alec motions for us to step back and we carefully do. Alec knocks with a six note tune before stepping back with us. After a long awkward moment the doors slowly rumble across the stone floor, opening up wide. On the other side a girl my age stood there. She had a complexion identical to that of Alec’s and a matching pair of black eyes. However that is as far as the comparison goes. While Alec’s hair was dark, her’s was stunningly blond, let down in spiral curls to her sides. Her eyes don’t have any of the warmth Alec’s do. Instead I begin to believe that I will freeze to death if I stare into them for too long. She has the body of a supermodel and holds her head high like royalty. She was, hands down, beautiful by any standards.
Her mouth falls open slightly when she lays eyes on us.
“Dominico?” she asks, blinking a couple of times as if she’s seeing things.
“Rosaline!” Dominico exclaims, a look of happiness coming over his features.
“I can’t believe it’s you!” she cries, and jumps into his arms like a dramatic romance movie that Jaz always drags (literally) me and Ryan to go see. “What are you doing here?” she asks, keeping her arms locked around his neck. He looks as surprised as I am at her sudden display and looks extremely self-conscious. She doesn’t wait for a reply before hugging him again.
“Ugh. I’d rather choke and die right now than watch this. Faye, if you’re going to kill me, do it now. Please make it quick though, I can’t stomach the sight any longer!” Alec cries, making choking noises and pretending to sink to the ground in agony. Dominico is scared of me and my friends?
“Shut up, Alec!” Rosaline snaps at him, not paying me the slightest attention. She turns back to Dominico and waits for his answer to her previous question.
“Uh, Faye and I are here to see Lady Fairchild,” Dominico says, gesturing to me.
“Hi,” I say shyly with a small wave. Rosaline crinkles her nose in disgust at me and I can see her roll her eyes. Nice to meet you too.
“Ignore that. She does it to me too and I’m her best friend!” Alec whispers in my ear. Oh so she’s like this with everyone…except, obviously, Dominico. I wonder what that means. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, hint, hint)
“So you haven’t come to stay?” Rosaline pouts.
“No, I told you. Council life just isn’t for me,” Dominico says, looking like he wants nothing more than to drop the topic.
“But you’ll love it here,” Rosaline persuades, her arms still locked around Dominico.
“I feel like I’m invading their privacy,” I whisper quietly to Alec. He sighs exhaustedly.
“You get used to it.”
“Rosaline!” A voice trills from inside the granite guarded room. “Do I have guests?” Thalia Fairchild. Her voice stilled the air like before. All of us go unnaturally still except for Rosaline who takes a step away from Dominico.
“Yes, my Lady!” she grabs Dominico’s arm and leads him into the room.
“You’d better follow them. Good luck! I’ll wait for you afterwards in case you change your mind about Friday night!” Alec says with a wink. I scowl at him before following Dominico and Rosaline into the room.
The walls are lined with rows upon rows of bookshelves. My mouth drops open at the sight of all the millions of pages of information. The hallway Rosaline is currently leading us through is narrow but it opens up into an bigger room with a chair and desk roughly in the same place they are in Dumbledor’s office. In the large, black, throne-like chair in the center of the room sits Thalia Fairchild.
If I were to describe her in one word it would be scary. I mean, seriously scary. The woman’s gaze will be locked into my nightmares forever. She is the epitome for an old woman version of Yoda. Despite her age, which is unknown because no one is brave enough to ask but no one is old enough to remember either, her face is wrinkle free. Her long silver hair falls perfectly straight to her waist and silver leaf decorations hold it back from her eyes. Her lips are pale pink and her eyes are pure gold. Her dress is a light blue/ silver color and the hem fans out around her on the floor. How does she wear that? She’s beautiful in an…elder person way. She resembles what I believe an elven queen from Lord of the Rings would look like.
Next to her stands a man roughly three feet tall in size. His blue-black beard is cut at his waist. He looks to be even older than Lady Fairchild although I’m not so sure. He is wearing a black shirt and grey trousers with a red overcoat and outrageous elf shoes that I can just barely make out the tag of Party City for. He obviously got them during Halloween.
“Welcome!” Lady Fairchild says in a strong but cheerful tone when we come in. “You must be Fayeleia Lightcaster, am I correct?” she asks me.
“Y-Yes, ma’am,” I say, unsure of whether to curtsy or bow or just stand here like an idiot. I, being me, choose to just stand like an idiot. To my relief, she doesn’t seem to expect anything more than that.
“And I presume you are Dominico Redwind?” she asks. Dominico looks as equally star-struck (or is it petrified?) as I am and just nods numbly. There was something about the aura of this woman that was definitely off-setting. It was kind of a feeling cross of wanting to please her and wanting to run away, screaming your head off. She was good. Lady Fairchild looks down at the sprawl of papers on her desk. “Well it says here,” she states, holding her rounded spectacles to her eyes and pointing to one of the documents, “that you are here to report. In that case, go on now. Tell me your story.”
My story. Where do I start? Do I start with when Dominico came or when Ryan got kidnapped or when P stabbed me or when P kidnapped me or when I got P’s first note or when I beat up Dominico and threw him in a dumpster? I open my mouth and the sudden flow of words pours out so fast, I don’t have time to think, only to remember. I start when Ryan went missing and Izabella and I camped out and saw Dominico…only not. I pause only once, halfway through but that was only to breath. I feel Lady Fairchild’s eyes on me the whole time with an unwavering gaze. I also feel Dominico watching and listening to me, giving his undivided attention. Rosaline listens too but without the same thoroughness as the other two. She, more often than not, only tears her eyes away from examining her perfectly polished nails when I mention Dominico’s name. Something about that leaves an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach but I just pretend not to notice her.
When I finish I feel a little bit dizzy from the extensive amount of oxygen that I haven’t yet replenished. I take deep breaths and wait for Lady Fairchild’s response. She ponders what I’ve said for a long time before the man at her side throws his arms in the air and rushes to me.
“You poor thing!” he sobs in a strangely high-pitched voice. He wraps me in a hug although his arms can only reach just above my waist. He keeps sobbing and I pat his back reassuringly and look to Dominico for help. Dominico’s hand covers his mouth and I can tell he’s trying desperately hard not to laugh. Rosaline looks insulted, as if she were the one being sobbed on instead of me. Lady Fairchild’s face is mostly composed but I see the edges of a smile tugging her lips even as she scolds him.
“Mindleton! You have less spine than a sack of beans! Get back over here!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mindleton croaks throwing me one last tearful look before returning to her side. I don’t know quite how to respond. Does that happen normally?
“No, not at all dear. On quite rare occasions does Mindleton behave in such an inappropriate manner,” Lady Fairchild says. Did she just read my mind or did I just say that out loud?
“Oh, I read your mind, dear, of course. It’s one of the perks to being a wizard…actually more like the perks of being me. The other two can’t. For instance I know that your first thought when you came in here is that my study looks like Dumbledore’s office, your friend Dominico was thinking that you look like a child on Christmas whenever you go somewhere with a decent number of books and Rosaline was thinking how the heck are a teenage witch and warlock friends. I agree with the first one, I actually modeled my office after Beatrice made me read the Harry Potter series. Fantastic books. The second I also agree with and believe that you and I will be getting on very well. As for the third I’ve been wondering that myself. I don’t believe I have seen teenagers such as yourselves get along so well in a long time.” My mind floats to all of me and Dominico’s arguments. What a sad truth if we get along best out of everyone.
“Those were just playful bickering. Except maybe the dumpster thing. You go, girlie. But still! I wish you could read his mind too. He really likes you. Actually, he considers you his best friend along with Rosaline and dear old Alec…and you consider him yours! Well, him his sister and two other…rather odd…characters. My dear your life is rather fascinating indeed.” I have no reply. None. Nope. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Zero. Nothing. Gosh I wish I could read minds. I wonder if she knows what animals are thinking…ULTIMATE DOG WHISPERER! Or lion tamer! I wonder if Dora was a wizard and that’s how she can talk to Boots! A soul-reaping wizard! Who speaks Spanish! And is a preschool teacher!
“Faye, dear, your mind is quite an interesting place to be.” Lady Fairchild says. Dominico laughs.
“Interesting maybe one way to describe it,” he says. I shoot him a glare. If you keep talking, Dominico Redwind I will spray paint your whole wardrobe florescent pink…EARLY because I’m going to do that for April Fool’s Day anyways. Lady Fairchild chuckles.
“I am beginning to like you very much, Faye dear. Oh! And when you do that, send me a video of his reaction. His face will be priceless.” Dominico looks between us, looking worried. Lady Fairchild shakes her head at him.
“Oh, my boy, it’s much worse than that. Your girlfriend has your fears down to a science.”
“She’s not my girlfriend!”
“I’m not his girlfriend!” Dominico and I both exclaim at the same time. Lady Fairchild looks confused.
“Really? Oh, my mistake. Funny, how much you two act like a couple.” Rosaline doesn’t appear to think it’s funny at all. Dominico and I take a small step away from each other. Do we really act like a couple? We mostly just fight….well there you have it. Not like that’s going to stop us from biting each other’s heads off the next time that doofus drives though. Honestly, why does he not watch the road? It’s annoying. Lady Fairchild chuckles.
“Anyways!” she says, “Back to our original discussion. You’re sure he was a wizard?” I nod and open my mouth to respond when Dominico cuts me off.
“Yes. He was definitely a wizard.” He says strongly and with a confidence that I know I couldn’t have articulated. Lady Fairchild’s face is contorted with deep thoughts as though the more she scrunched her eyebrows, the more knowledge would be extracted from her ancient brain. NO! I’M SORRY! I DIDN’T MEAN TO THINK THAT! Ugh! I can barely filter my mouth little own my thoughts! Lady Fairchild waves away my mental apology.
“In that case,” she starts, addressing Dominico “certain measures will have to be taken.” Dominico and I share a look of relief. Well that was easy! “Upon payment of course.” Say what now?
“What?” Dominico asks.
“Payment?” I clarify. Lady Fairchild nods,
“Yes of course! How else would a woman like me have any fun around here?” What on earth is she talking about? “Rosaline, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Which payment, my Lady?” Rosaline asks, looking very uneasy. Uh oh. I’m in trouble. Lady Fairchild smiles at me.
“Great minds really do think alike, Faye.” She says then turns to Rosaline. “The latter one.” Rosaline nods.
“Scary Yoda Mode: On.” Pause…count to three…one….two…Nope! That’s it. I double over cracking up. Scary Yoda Mode? I laugh so hard that I start crying. Dominico hisses at me to shut up but he is chuckling too and one look between us sends him into hysterics. We finally stand up, wiping our eyes on our sleeves. Lady Fairchild looks disapprovingly at us.
“Are you two done?” she asks. I shake my head and start laughing again. Dominico had managed to compose himself until he had seen me break down and folds to the humor. Scary Yoda Mode? The greatest wizard was a fan of Star Wars? And she had a Scary Yoda Mode? I’m dreaming. This is one of those super weird dreams that makes your friends question your sanity when you wake up. I’m dreaming.
Finally my stomach hurts so bad that I have to stop laughing…after acquiring a six pack from that intense core workout.
“I forget how to breathe,” Dominico gasps.
“Remember? It’s the thing you do when you’re underwater and you die,” I remind him. Dominico stops laughing to give me a weird look. I get so many weird looks.
“Really?”
“You stopped laughing. Mission: Complete.” We both turn back to the now frowning Lady Fairchild and Rosaline.
“We’re good now,” I inform them. Lady Fairchild nods and Rosaline rolls her eyes.
“Good.” Lady Fairchild says. Rosaline pulls a book out of a random shelf and the wall spins open as a door. AWESOME! The government is spending their money right. “Here is how this works,” she says. In the room that just opened up I see two starts to a large course of stone with two entry points. “At the center of this course are two glass orbs. One will drain a warlock of magic and one will drain a witch of magic…temporarily of course. You have to pick the opposite one, preferably but bring one orb back to me. The first one who does this wins.” I look at the course, unsurely. This is some sort of test. And it seems oddly personalized. How often do a pair of witch and warlock come in here together?
“What happens to the loser?” Dominico asks. Lady Fairchild smiles.
“The loser gets the punishment chosen by the winner,” she says. I look at Dominico. Even if I win I don’t want to choose a punishment for him. I wonder what punishment he’d choose for me? “Oh! The only rule is you can’t let the other person win. You have to try your very hardest. If you break that rule then the person who you were trying to let win will be punished very severely.” Note to self: DO NOT BREAK RULE. Rosaline pulls out a coin and approaches us.
“Who wants to call it?” she asks.
“You can,” Dominico says to me, watching Rosaline carefully. Rosaline grimaces when she looks at me but flips the coin.
“Heads.” I say. It lands. Heads. It’s always heads. I know it’s technically 50-50 but it’s always heads. That made no sense. Oh well.
“Pick your entrance.” Lady Fairchild says. I look at the two identical sides. I guess it doesn’t really matter. I choose the left entrance.
“How is this your payment?” I ask her as Dominico and I step in front of the start.
“It’s quality entertainment. I love watching how kids try to outwit each other nowadays it’s so much more intense than back in my day. Best of luck to the both of you.” She says with a maniac grin. “Ready. Set. Go.”