Here's the next chapter! I hope you like it. :) Once more, I'd like to thank you guys for staying with me for the story so far and also for helping me getting the first book in the series into the second round for the Watty Awards! :) Thank you, all my loyal readers. Oh, and I'm sorry if I haven't yet dedicated a chapter to one of my loyal readers. I'll do my best to dedicate one of the chapters to you. :D Oh, and there is a picture of Rachel on the side. :)
Chapter 36
It was Dahlia’s turn to be stunned. She had never considered, not in a million years, that her mother would be here at the Elementary. She flung her arms around Rachel and hugged her tightly. Her mother returned the embrace; both of them were happy to see the other.
Troy couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of jealousy. Sure, he had been reunited with his half-sister, but he would never get to know his parents. Both his mother and father were dead.
All the same, he was happy that Dahlia had gotten her mother. A small smile quirked at his lips; when he had first met Kayla, his and Dahlia’s first couple of questions had been about his loss of memory and of Dahlia’s missing mother.
And now, in the same day, they had gotten the answers that they had wanted.
When Troy had first met Dahlia and they had become friends, neither of them had questioned the other about the unanswered questions in their lives. Now, all those answers were coming in their own time. Perhaps it had been better to wait.
But all the same, Troy knew that it would be better if Helen was there to enjoy the day with him. He needed his sister, his real one, not Kayla. Kayla was his half-sister, but she could never replace what Helen was with him.
As he thought about Helen, he remembered the potion that she had given to him at their last meeting, back in Ohio.
“Arulan, were you the one who summoned Helen to give her the vial to give to me?” he asked.
Arulan nodded. “Yes. That is my power. I can talk to spirits that have already been released from the Ghost Kingdom.”
Troy blinked. “Are you a necromancer?” he asked, thinking again of Kayla.
Arulan considered briefly. “No, not really, Troy. I can talk to ghosts, but I cannot summon them.”
“Then how do you talk to them?” Troy asked.
“Necromancers like Kayla summon the ghosts out of the Ghost Kingdom and into the Mortal World,” Arulan explained. “Once they are in the Mortal World, they can come and go as they please, which, naturally, is a bit dangerous. But once they have come into the Mortal World, I can talk to them. If they are in the Ghost Kingdom or the Shadow Realm, I cannot.”
Troy thought about the new piece of information. It matched up with what Helen had told him about the three realms.
“What if I became a bridge out of shadows?” Troy asked.
“Yes, you are a shadow morpher,” Arulan said. “If I recall, you did that once, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Troy began. “But how did you know?”
“You opened a bridge between the three realms,” Arulan continued, as if Troy had never interrupted him. “When you did that, you released the shadows from the Shadow Realm and the ghosts from the Ghost Kingdom.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Troy asked.
“Oh, yes,” Arulan said. “When you fought half-an-half monsters, they dissolved into shadows, right, Troy?”
“Yes,” Troy and Dahlia said in unison; Dahlia and her mother had started to pay attention to him.
“The half-an-half monsters come from the Shadow Realm,” Arulan explained. “So every time you become a bridge, you release more half-an-half monsters into the world.”
“Seriously?” Troy demanded.
Rachel nodded. “Every gift has its own drawbacks, Troy. Surely, even though you have just entered the world of magic, you know that, don’t you?”
Troy nodded too. Rachel was right. Each of their powers had their own limits. Dahlia could only charm living things and, from the looks of things, the elements as well. Kayla could only summon ghosts back and they wouldn’t be completely alive anymore.
Dahlia changed the subject. “What about Jared? He made the potion that Helen gave Troy, right?”
Arulan raised an eyebrow. “How do you know about Jared?”
“We met him in the grounds with Yasmine and um… Donovan,” Troy explained.
“Yes, Jared is a potion maker,” Arulan agreed. “It’s a very powerful gift. He has a natural instinct for telling which ingredients are required for his potions.”
“How did you find him?” Dahlia asked.
“Most of the trainees here are children of the first magicians Arulan recruited,” Rachel explained. “Either that or they’re recruited from schools or they’re nomads.”
“How many are there?” Troy asked curiously.
“Do you mean trainees or others who are living here and have graduated?” Arulan asked.
“Both, actually,” Troy said. “Where do the graduates live?”
“Behind the Elemental Academy,” Arulan continued. “They still train in order to fight in the war against Varmer but they have graduated from learning at the academy.”
“How many are there altogether?” Dahlia asked.
“Up to five thousand magicians,” Rachel said.
“So many!” Dahlia exclaimed.
Neither Troy nor Dahlia had known how many magicians actually existed. Now to be told that there were so many magicians fighting in the war against Varmer, it felt amazing.
“How many are there in Varmer’s army?” Troy asked tentatively.
Arulan sighed; it was a sigh of sadness, not relief or happiness. Immediately, Troy felt guilty to have asked him that when obviously there were a lot of magicians on Varmer’s side.
“I wager a guess at up to a million magicians,” he said. “A large number of half-an-half monsters too and maybe some mortals would agree to fight for him.”
“Mortals would fight for him?” Troy asked in surprise.
Arulan curled his lips. “It is distasteful but some mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid. They only care for money.”
Troy raised one eyebrow. He knew that some mortals were like that but surely not all would give in just for the yearning for money.
Arulan addressed Rachel. “You and Dahlia must have a lot of catching up to do so Troy and I will leave you to it. I must show him around the academy.”
Troy felt reluctant to leave. Still, he felt that he could not disobey a direct order from Arulan. So, reluctantly, he waved goodbye to Dahlia and her mother.
Arulan led him away from the library and down all the stairs that they had climbed up earlier. The castle was bigger than Dahlia’s old mansion had been.
The entire place was larger than Troy had anticipated. There were more rooms and corridors than any other place that Troy had been in.
“Where are we going?” Troy asked.
“The training arena,” Arulan told him. “The trainees have their practical tests there and they learn how to use and manipulate magic. Not all of their lessons are learnt in the classrooms. You and Dahlia will join them too, Troy.”
Troy nodded. “What were Yasmine and Donovan doing in the grounds?”
“They are on patrol duty,” Arulan explained. “They keep watch and sound the alarm if we are attacked.”
“Where are we exactly?” Troy asked, curiously.
Arulan smiled slyly. “We are on the Isle of Avalon.”