Guardian Of The Grove Page 3

  I managed to get my shield up just before the first spell hit me. The fire licked around the edges of my hastily erected shield, but it held strong.

  “You have to be on your toes, Jackson,” Marcus screamed with glee from the stands.

  This time, I had to block a blast of water from behind me. I felt the ground under me start to shake, and moved to the side just as he called out green. I sent a blast of hardened air at the target and watched it split in half before I deflected Marcus’s next attack. I dodged a few more attacks, and then he shouted blue. I sent a ball of flame at that target, and it was engulfed in flames instantly.

  “Now, you’re getting it,” Marcus shouted.

  Life got harder after that. Marcus started launching two or three attacks at me simultaneously. I spent more time dodging and rolling than I did on the offensive side, but I hadn’t been hit yet. My shield held against the continued assault. Three more targets went down, leaving three left. The ground shook again, forcing me to move at an awkward angle to the targets. I managed to clip the white one with a spear of rock, but the hit was off center.

  “Now you’re in for it, Jackson,” Marcus howled, his laughter filling the air.

  Three golems made of sand rose from the arena floor. Each of them was holding a huge club made out of stone. They shimmered, letting me know that Marcus had shielded them from magic. I needed to come up with a counter to them. No way would I be able to dodge all three of them and Marcus’s attacks. Not to mention there were still targets left that I needed to take care of when he called them out. I blasted the rest of the white target into dust as the golems charged at me.

  Two targets left. Could I survive long enough to get them down? I wasn’t sure unless I came up with an answer for the golems quickly before I ended up getting clobbered by one of their clubs. I erected a wall of ice in front of the golems. As soon as they reached it, I heard their clubs begin to pound against the wall. It wouldn’t hold for much longer. What was I going to do? I managed to block two attacks from Marcus while I tried to figure it out. The first chunk of ice fell away from my wall. I only had moments to decide on a strategy before they were on me.

  I decided to do what Marcus had told me and stick with different elements. He had sand people; I could make ice golems. I reinforced the wall I had made and started to work on creating my ice warriors. They rose from the ground, tall and lean, carrying blades made out of hardened ice. My creations looked more like people sculpted from ice then the blocky creatures Marcus had conjured. That was so cool. I didn’t even know that I could do that, but that was magic for you. If you thought of an idea and had the power, you could make it happen. I dodged another attack sent at me by Marcus as my wall finally shattered.

  “Red,” Marcus shouted.

  I sent my ice warriors into the mix and rolled away from a wave of earth Marcus had sent in my direction. I stood up and motioned toward the red target, covering it in ice. My shield took a massive hit from one of the sand golem’s clubs, flinging me sideways. One of my ice warriors moved into his path, blocking his next attack. I motioned toward the red target, and the ice shattered, taking the target down with it.

  My warriors were falling to the massive sand golems, and there wasn’t much I could do about it. As their swords of ice broke against the massive rock clubs, I replaced their broken weapons with new ones. Marcus picked up his assault on me, forcing me to keep moving. I was blocking two attacks at a time and dodging through the legs of the giant golems. My arm hurt from the hit I had taken even though my shield had absorbed most of the blow. He had to call the final target soon. I wasn’t going to last much longer.

  “Green,” he shouted.

  Finally, I had the last target, but I couldn’t see it through the legs of the sand golems and ice warriors battling around me. Fire rained down on me from above, forcing me to stop and deflect it. At the same time, the ground started to shake again, and I was forced to roll away. A huge spike of rock burst from the earth where I had been standing. Every step I took, the ground moved, forcing me to run while dodging balls of ice and deflecting the fire Marcus continued to summon. I was near the end of my reserves, so I decided to get reckless.

  Sprinting toward the nearest sand golem, I ran straight for his legs. I slipped through the gap and managed to throw myself to the side before the club would have hit me. I rolled, keeping my motion moving more or less forward. The ground erupted behind me again, and my shield took a blast from a ball of ice, sending me spinning sideways. I kept running. I split the legs of two more golems, probably with more luck than skill. I finally saw the last green target. There was no way I was going to miss this one.

  I created five balls of brilliant blue fire in my hands and sent them out into the arena. The target moved and zigzagged, trying to avoid them. I spread the fireballs out in the air and then pulled them together, focusing on the target. Three of them hit the target, and it was destroyed. I jumped in the air to cheer, and a giant club sent me flying. I felt my ribs crack on the impact. It looked like I was going to be taking another trip to the healers after all.

  Marcus ran forward and held out his hand to help me up. “Sorry about that, Jackson. I couldn’t stop the magic before he hit you with the club.”

  “No worries.” That reminded me that I needed to get rid of a few of my own conjurings. With a wave of my hand, the ice warriors began to melt. After a minute, only four puddles of water were left, and those were quickly sinking into the dry arena sand. I limped to the side of the arena, Marcus following at my heels. When I reached the stands, I took a heavy seat, my ribs screaming in protest.

  “Let me heal you, bro.”

  “No.” There was no way that was going to happen. I had seen Marcus heal someone in class once. It hadn’t gone well.

  “Come on bro, I’ve been working on it. Let me give it a try.”

  Marcus had always been there to help me, but his healing was probably the worst I had ever seen. The rest of his magic was nearly flawless, but if he tried to heal you, there was a more than fifty percent chance that you were going to end up worse than you started. I nodded in consent, preparing myself for the worst. He placed his hands on my sides, and I felt the warm magic begin to flow into me. I felt my cracked ribs straighten and the swelling go down.

  “Damn man, you really have been practicing.” I was impressed.

  “Well, working with you has taught me one thing.”

  “Oh yeah, what’s that?”

  “That with you around, we can never have enough healers.”

  “Screw you,” I said with a smile breaking across my face.

  “What? It’s true.”

  This time, I hit him in the shoulder. “Man, that was some workout you just gave me.”

  “Pretty cool, huh? I’ve been working on ways to get you to use different kinds of magic at once. I bet not many people could have worked it out on the fly half as well as you did.”

  “Thanks, man.” I stood, testing my newly healed ribs. Everything felt fine. He had really done a good job. “Nice work today man. What do you say we get together next week? That should give you enough time to come up with something truly diabolical.”

  “Sure thing, bro. Hey Jackson, I know you and April are in a weird place right now, but you should stop by and see her. She misses you.”

  “Marcus, she is the one who decided to stay away.”

  “That doesn’t mean you can’t be the one to put an end to it. Go and see her.”

  I nodded. Marcus had a way of knowing what needed to be done to fix things. I decided to take his advice, and I headed in the direction of April’s room.

  “Jackson.”

  “Yeah, buddy,” I called over my shoulder.

  “Maybe take a shower first.”

  I just shook my head and turned back toward my room. He was right—I smelled pretty bad, and I was covered in dirt and God knows what else.

  My heart started beating faster; I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous. It was
just a door to my best friend’s apartment. Why should that make me nervous? Reaching deep down, I managed to pluck up some courage. The urge I had to turn and run away faded, and I knocked on the door. My fear almost got the better of me after my hand landed, but it was too late to run now. April called out from inside. I didn’t have time to run, but maybe I could move back and go invisible. I stood there, paralyzed with indecision. The door opened before I could turn around and hide.

  “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Hi, April,” I said with a lopsided grin, trying to play off the anxiety that I felt.

  “What do you want, Jackson?” April looked at me, one hand on her hip. It wasn’t the warm invitation I had secretly hoped for.

  “Can we talk?”

  “I guess.” She moved to the side, making room for me to come inside. “So what’s this all about?”

  “I never get to see you outside of our training sessions anymore. I just miss getting to hang out,” I said, making my way to the couch and taking a seat.

  She sat down on a large plush chair, facing me, her legs crossed in front of her. She pulled a pillow into her lap and held it there. “I just can’t be around both of you together. It’s too hard for me. You know how I feel and what I think about Britta.”

  “I just don’t understand it; everything was fine and then it just wasn’t.”

  “You know this goes further than jealousy, Jackson.” She gave me a look as if daring me to challenge her on it. “This is about your safety, and if it affects you, it affects all of us.”

  “Just because some fanger said something doesn’t mean she is a bad person, that she can’t be trusted. Britta has been there for me in ways I can’t even try and describe.”

  “Jackson we are all here for you. The fact is Sarafina isn’t just some fanger. In these parts, she is the vampire, the highest ranking member of the fallen on the West Coast. What she said didn’t just call Britta into question, it implied something else. When I looked at it without emotion, it was like the wool had been pulled from my eyes. Once she told me that Britta couldn’t be trusted, I decided to watch and make my own decision. Something is wrong with her, Jackson. If you stay with her, it will only end in misery.”

  “Tell me what you found out.”

  “It’s not something you would understand as a man. It’s so many little things that she does; I can just tell something is off.”

  I snorted. “Come on April, that isn’t enough for me to kick her to the curb. That just sounds like nothing.”

  “Has she told you where she went after our battle against Gaston yet? How much do you even know about her? Has she told you anything about her family, anything at all?”

  “You’re right. There are things I still need to sort out, but until I do, I wish you would come and hang out with us sometime.”

  “I can’t watch the two of you together. I want you, Jackson, as more than a friend.” She let out a huge breath of air. It must have taken a lot for her to say that out loud. We had always just tiptoed around it in the past. “Until you can make that choice, I think we should just spar and keep each other at arm’s length. You’re too important for me to stop training you, but I can’t watch you hurt yourself.”

  She stood up and started walking to the door. I stood up, slowly following her. “Damn it, April! You know that I like you. I just can’t abandon Britta because my heart is changing sides. I need it to make sense all the way around. I miss you.”

  “I think you should go.” She opened the door and moved to the side, her eyes cast to the floor.

  I stopped in front of her, unsure of what I was going to do until I did it. I reached out and pulled her into a hug. She felt right in my arms, as if she had always been meant to be there. I felt her sobs start, and then I felt my own tears start to fall. This meeting hadn’t gone anything like I thought it would have. I needed this woman in my life. What in the hell was I going to do?

  We broke apart, and I kissed the top of her head. “I’ll see you at our next session.” She turned and started to walk back into her suite. “And April, you mean more to me than I can express in words. Just don’t give up on me yet. Ok?”

  She didn’t turn around; I didn’t really expect her to. I closed the door and started walking. Maybe this trip away from the academy would be exactly what I needed to clear my head. A little time alone was what I needed to sort through my feelings and decide what I was going to do. It was time for me to take a break. My feet felt a little bit lighter as I headed toward Adam’s office. I needed to go home, if only for a few days.

  Chapter 4

  Jackson

  I walked into the chamber outside of Adam’s office, and Henry rose to his feet to greet me. I smiled warmly at the man and accepted his hug. I made a gesture for him to sit back down. “Don’t trouble yourself for me, Henry. Is Adam in?”

  “He is in a meeting right now. The funny thing is he just asked for you.”

  “Interesting. Who is the meeting with?”

  “Sarah is there with him now; they said to send you in when you got here.”

  “Well, I guess that it was lucky I was heading here to talk with him anyway. Talk to you soon, Henry.”

  Henry was a great guy, probably the nicest and most sincere person I had met since coming here. He had been injured in the fighting eighteen years ago, and the magical wound hadn’t healed correctly. Nothing the healers tried was able to fix it, so now he walked with a limp. It seemed to only bolster his reputation among the rest of the Gifted. No one would tell me exactly what he had done, but everyone held him in high regard.

  I opened the door to Adam’s office, and the two people inside stopped talking immediately. I smiled when they turned to look at me. “Don’t stop speaking on my account.”

  “How did you get here so fast?” Adam asked.

  “I was actually coming to see you about something. It was really just blind luck that you wanted to see me too.”

  “Please, sit.”

  My mother stood up and gave me a hug. It was good to see her again. Since she had joined with us in the battle against Gaston, she had been moving around the Southwest, recruiting. She now had eight Lycans in her pack. I had to assume that she was heading out on another recruiting trip. I didn’t know why they would need me for that, though. We broke apart, and she smiled. I sat down next to her and waited for Adam to speak.

  “Jackson, Sarah is heading back to Tucson on one of her recruiting trips. We both thought it would be a good idea for you to join her.”

  I spared a glance toward my mom. She didn’t say anything or even look at me, but I could feel her tense. It had to be hard for her to ask; the fear of rejection had to be very real, for both of us. I thought back on meeting her a few months ago for the first time. We had been taking our reunion slow, and so far, it had worked out perfectly. There wasn’t anyone else who I would rather go on a road trip with. It would let me accomplish a couple of things at the same time. I would get to learn more about her and handle what I needed to.

  “Of course I want to go. I was actually coming to tell you that I needed some time away from here.”

  They shared a look, and my mom spoke. “I was telling Adam that it would be a good idea to let you visit so you could pay your respects to the people who raised you. I know it’s something you have wanted to do for some time.”

  “Last night I realized it is more than that. It’s not just something I want to do; it’s something I need to do. I owe them and myself that much.”

  “Well, then it’s settled,” Adam said with a smile. “You can leave in the morning.”

  Sarah got up and nodded to Adam. He stood and stretched out his arm; I placed mine against his, and we clasped wrists. He gave me a warm smile and then sat back down. My mom and I walked out of the office together. She stopped to give Henry a hug, and I just gave him a smile before we continued down the hall. “What time do you want to leave?”

  “We should probably get started early. How does sev
en sound?”

  “Perfect, I’ll see you then.”

  She gave me another quick hug before leaving, and I smiled all the way back to my room. It felt good to know that I had family left alive. There had been a time when I thought all four of my parents were dead. At least now I had my biological mom. After things had settled down, she had promised to sit down with me and tell me all about my father. I couldn’t wait for that to happen. There were just so many questions I had to ask.

  When I got back to my room, Britta was gone. She had probably gone back to her own place to make sure it was still clean and to give it a quick once-over. That or she had hit the gym with some of her friends. I grabbed my duffel out of the closet and filled it with some clothes. I mostly just wore relaxed workout clothes now, so I had to dig around to find a few T-shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans. I planned on spending the afternoon zoned out in front of the PlayStation. After a few hours, I would take a break, maybe grab something to eat, and go right back to it. Then it was time for me to cook dinner.

  Cooking was something I had never done at home, but the more I got into it, the more I realized that I had a passion for it. There was just something about preparing your own meals that made them better. Fresh ingredients really just let you know how much you were missing when you ate the prepackaged stuff. I messed up about as much as I had succeeded early on, but I had found my stride now. Tonight we were having a blue cheese stuffed chicken breast with homemade baked French fries.

  I was putting the finishing touches on the plates when Britta walked in the door. She had a smile on until she saw my bag on the couch. “Going somewhere?”

  “I’m taking a short trip back home with my mom.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “I don’t see how it could be a bad one.”

  “It’s just that there were people after you before. What if they are still looking for you? You should stay here.”