“Miss Crowe, please wait,” Mr. Layan says as I stand up at the end of class and put my phone in my pocket. Gods, what now? I pick my notes up off the table, folding the paper and sliding it into my coat pocket. The textbook is ridiculously boring and filled with useless information on the air mark. I can’t see how I can use any of what I wrote down today. Mr. Layan just sat at the front of class, messing on his iPad. I bet he was playing a game by the way he was concentrating.
“Sure,” I reply, walking towards him at the front of the classroom as everyone else leaves.
“I wish to show you something, come with me,” he says, walking towards the door. I look away, groaning as I look out the window at the sun setting. I just want to get back to my room, steal Mr. Daniels’ junk food, and collapse. Today has been a long day, and after this, it’s going to be dark when I walk back through the woods.
“Come, Miss Crowe,” Mr. Layan snaps as he holds the door open. I walk over and then follow him as he takes me down the busy corridors and towards the back of the academy. We walk into the empty hall, and he closes the doors behind us. The room is slowly getting dark, and I haven’t been in here since I first got my marks. The twelve marks on the wall seem to glow almost from the orange light of the sunset. I look back at Mr. Layan with a clear, unspoken question. Why are we here?
“I know what the twelfth mark is,” he says as he walks over, and I take a step back when I see the threatening look in his eyes. His words almost shock me in silence.
“What is it?” I ask hesitantly, and he laughs as he reaches into his cloak, pulling out a long, silver dagger. The memory of the vision comes flooding back to me, reminding me of Enzo’s words.
“I’m going to kill that teacher for this.”
“You don’t want to do this, not really,” I plead, putting my hands up, and he only laughs, dropping the dagger and using his air power to hold it in the air. I look at the dagger as he twirls it in circles, like it’s a game and not that he is going to try to kill me. I can’t die like this. I think back to what happened in my vision and know there’s a chance Enzo will come for me. The future is never certain and changes all the time, but I have to believe he’s coming.
“It’s nothing personal, Miss Crowe. But, you’re too powerful, and I won’t let you destroy the world. The council and everyone who knows the truth of your power has gone mad keeping you alive,” he says, and I instinctively put my hands up to stop the dagger as it flies through the air towards me. I call my protection mark, imagining the shield like I saw Locke do, but it’s no use. The dagger goes straight through the ward and into my stomach, making me scream out in pain. Everything slows as I look down, watching as the dagger slides out of my stomach and flies away again.
“I am sorry for this, Miss Crowe, but there is a reason there is no one alive with twelve powers,” I hear Mr. Layan say, and I force myself to look up as he raises his hand, shooting streams of fire around the room. I don’t need to look around to see he is setting the whole hall on fire.
“You won’t get away with this, they will know it’s you,” I gasp out, placing my hand on my stomach and pressing down as I struggle to keep standing from the pain.
“I don’t plan to stay around and see, Miss Crowe. It doesn’t matter in the end, as they will only think the rebels or someone else did this to you, not me,” he says, his voice confident and cocky once more. The flames around the room grow fiercer. I watch in horror as he walks out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him, trapping me in with the fire and slowly building smoke. I slowly walk towards the door, feeling the heat from the flames, every movement sending pain through my stomach.
“Enzo,” I breathe out when I see him open the door, his dark eyes meeting mine, and the fire in the room seems to reflect in his eyes. Black eyes and flame filled with anger. It’s the last thought I have before everything goes black.
Chapter 26
Kenzie
Burning, my marks are all burning. Vaguely aware of the sounds of screaming, I finally realise the tortured sounds are coming from my own throat. Twitching where I lie on the ground, I look up at the bright, shining plane of light above me. There are people gathered around in a circle, all dressed in marked, ceremonial robes. Their hoods are up and covering their faces. The pain radiating from my marks is unbearable . . . .
“Kenzie?” a voice says softly, but it’s not coming from here.
A person steps forward towards the plane of light, and everyone standing around seems to lean forward in anticipation.
“Kenz, wake up,” the voice speaks again, but it sounds closer this time.
My body thrashes around on the cold, hard ground. I need to stop them.
“Kenzie!” a different voice shouts, shaking me. My eyes flare open, and I look up at the people standing around me. I’m lying on my bed in Mr. Daniels’ cabin. How did I get here?
The person with their hands on me is Logan. His forehead is creased in worry, and there is blood on his shirt. I look up and notice a few of them have blood on them. Enzo is the worst; his shirt looks soaked in it.
“Are you guys okay?” I croak. I try to sit up, but a pain slams through my stomach. I cry out from the pain and retreat down, my hand clutching at my middle.
“Shit, don’t move, Kenz!” East says, resting a hand on my shoulder, as if to enforce my lack of moving. No worries there, buddy. I am not going anywhere.
“What happened?” I ask, my head feeling confusing. There were people in a circle, or was that a dream?
“You were stabbed, Mr. Layan is the main suspect. Enzo saw him fleeing the scene, and he hasn’t been found anywhere since,” Mr. Daniels explains. I try to get my head around that, a few images flicker through my head, but it’s all still too distorted.
“Any reason nobody has healed me?” I ask, gesturing down at my stomach wrapped in bandages. I look across at the medical equipment. Someone gave me stitches?
“We tried,” Enzo answers through gritted teeth.
“We think the dagger used to stab you was laced with marked powers,” Locke says, sitting at the foot of the bed.
“How?” I ask, having not heard of that being possible before.
“We believe the dagger is one of the original artifacts we have from Ariziadia,” Mr. Daniels answers. “We healed you the best we can, and we used human medicine combined with it where our powers wouldn’t do the job. You will heal, but it will take a few days,” he adds.
“Fuck it hurts,” I mumble, resting my head back against the pillow.
The door crashes open, and all the guys move as one turning to face the entrant. They all visibly relax upon seeing who has entered.
“Why the hell did nobody tell me you brought her here?” Kelly screeches.