Chapter 10: The Power Within
I don't even remember standing up, but suddenly my feet were pounding across the ground to reach the girl on fire. Someone had thrown a jacket over her to squelch the flames, but it didn't do any good and the magic had the jack bursting into flames too.
Damn!
"Zoey, stop," Jasper huffed as he ran behind me.
The girl was going to be burned alive if I didn't do something. Her screams scraped the air.
"In flammas exstinguere," someone shouted. But the flames rose higher as did the girl's shrill pitched screaming.
Heat poured off her like an oven set at the highest temperature. When I reached out to touch her, my skin blistered and I hissed out a breath, jerking my hand back.
She collapsed on the ground, her dark eyes pleading with me as her skin blackened before me.
My gut seized and I pushed down the acid scalding the back of my throat. I could do this. Had to do this. It was my fault the magic ricocheted.
Her screams turned into hoarse cries. I sank to my knees beside her and grasped her arm with both of my hands. The searing pain shot up my arms. I ground my teeth, refusing to let go. Flames chewing along my flesh. Like I'd done with Jasper and the match, I imagined the opposite. The flame growing smaller... snuffing out. Gasps echoed around me, but I dared not open my eyes. The heat still was intense like sitting inside a bonfire. I let out a breath, imagining blowing out birthday candles.
A cool breeze whipped around me and took more of the heat.
Sobbing hit my senses and I opened my eyes. The girl trembled under my touch. Ash covered her and her skin was blistered red. The magical fire was gone though.
I pulled back. "I'm so sorry," I whispered.
"Megan," a teacher rushed up to us, "What happened?"
"I-I didn't mean to." I swallowed the lump swelling in my throat. This was going to get me kicked out of the academy for good.
"You did this?" She narrowed her eyes at me.
"It wasn't Zoey." Jasper stepped forward. "I'm responsible. A simple fire spell went askew. I don't know how... we were in a safe zone."
I couldn't let him take the blame for this. "No, it was me. My spell backfired somehow."
"Here, I'll give you a spell to numb the pain and put you to sleep temporarily so we can get you inside to the nurse." The teacher whispered words over Megan. The girl was hunched over, whimpering. "Then we'll figure out what happened."
Megan's eyes fluttered closed and her body floated over the ground as the teacher gently led her into the academy.
An aching pain hit my hands and arms. They were blistered all over and some spots were charred black. But I had fared better than Megan. She had the same as me but over half her face, her entire torso and both arms. I couldn't even imagine the agony she was going through.
Remorse slammed into my chest as I followed the teacher and Megan inside, Jasper trailing behind us.
Mom had said that I needed to come to the school because if I stayed, she'd be in danger. That the school would teach me how to protect myself. What if that's not exactly what she meant? What if she meant that I was the danger? That if I stayed, I'd end up doing this accidentally to her or worse?
Inside the school, the nurse chanted healing spells over Megan. Except they barely improved. She tsked, flipping through a book that much have had a thousand pages in it.
"Why isn't it working?" Megan croaked in a raspy voice. "This is all her fault."
"Just need to find the right spell." The nurse turned the pages faster.
My gut twisted with anxiety. What if Megan was permanently this way? Scared because of me? "Is there anything I can do?"
"I think you've done enough," the nurse snapped, and sorrow struck me so hard that I couldn't take in a deep enough breath.
I hadn't meant for this to happen. A simple spell that probably anyone could do here since they were a child. And I'd screwed it up and hurt someone in the process. I clenched my fists, not caring that my nails dug into my palms.
"What about borrowed magic?" Jasper asked from the corner of the room.
"How do you mean?" the nurse glared at him. "Dark magic? No, I won't condone that in this school for whatever reason."
"But if black magic can heal her?" I interjected. "Then how is it bad?"
"It's more gray magic than black." Jasper pushed off the wall with his foot. "Not as pure as white but not as evil as black. A mix."
"And still just as dangerous." The nurse slammed the book closed. "Nothing is working on her injuries."
I glanced from her to Jasper. "So what's involved?"
"Nothing too major." Jasper gave me a crooked smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. Those were pinched at the corners like this was a bigger deal than he was letting on. "A little bit of blood, from both of you and some of your power."
"What does that mean?" Megan hunched further on the nurse's exam table.
"It means you both will feel like you've run a triathlon and will probably sleep for several days." Jasper shrugged. "But when you wake up, you'll be healed minus a few scars that Nurse Jenkins will be able to reduce down until they're almost invisible."
"Yes." I stood. "Let's do it."
"No freaking way. She's a walking curse!" Megan gasped, closing her eyes as a wave of pain hit her and my stomach clenched. "Oh god, it hurts so much."
"But if it'll fix your injuries?" I offered. "I-I didn't mean for this happen. I'd do anything to heal - "
"I don't want anything from you." Megan glared at me. "I don't want to be tied to you or owe you a damn thing."
"Megan," Jasper said softly, "it was an accident and my fault. Zoey was just doing the spell like I asked her."
Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she lowered her eyes and gave a nod. I imagined if she didn't have the numbing spell earlier, she'd be in so much agony that she wouldn't even be able to speak much less even hear us over the pain. And all this was my fault, no matter what Jasper said, it was my magic that had lashed out and attacked her. Whatever I could do to make it up to her I would, even if that meant taking her injuries and pain into myself.
"There's one more thing." The nurse tapped her foot. "Doing this ritual will bind you and Megan together."
"Like twins or something?" I had always wanted a sister, but not this way.
"No. I don't want to have anything to do with her." Megan crossed her arms over her stomach, then scrunched up her face as a wave of pain struck her and my throat closed up.
"No, like doppelgängers." The nurse shook her head. "On an astral level, you'll be each other, so to speak. Closer than twins. An exact copy."
"Meaning..." I frowned.
"That if something happens to one of you, the other will feel it." Jasper cleared his throat.
"He means if one of us dies," Megan's mouth twisted in disgust. "Then the other will experience the death like her own."
"No way." I backed up, fear clawing up my throat. "There's got to be something else we can do."
"I've tried everything." The nurse wiped a hand over her face. "But we won't do this unless you both agree."
This wasn't my choice, it was Megan's. She'd been the one the most hurt. I could live with scared up arms. I straightened. "If she wants to do this, then I agree."
Megan smiled at the burnt part of her face pulled up tight. "Yes."
"Then let's get started. The sooner the better with these types of spells to reverse the damage." Nurse Jenkins opened a first aid kit and pulled out a silver-looking dagger. "Zoey, you first."
I held out my hand and winced when the blade sliced across my palm leaving a throbbing sting in its wake. Then she did the same thing with Megan's palm. Jenkins let our blood collect in a small vial. Then she shook it up, dividing it into two flasks.
"Drink. Each of you."
I downed the blood mixture in one gulp. The metallic taste clung to my tongue anyway.
"Now, repeat after me," Jenkins said. "Colligabit vulnera sanant duae. Sicut superius et inferius."
"What does that mean?" I asked. If I was going to start learning a magical language, I needed to figure out what the words were.
"Bind these two and heal their wounds," Jasper answered. "As above, so below."
I nodded then stumbled over the words while Megan said them perfectly exactly like Nurse Jenkins had.
My magic snapped through me, bowing my back. Pain lashed across my skin like something was attacking me. Clawing at my flesh and trying to rip my bones from my body. The room spun as my scream tore from my throat and darkness shrouded everything.