NEWBORN: Book One of the Newborn Trilogy Page 6

  Scared, I gaze in shock at my hand. Except it’s no longer just a hand, but a hand holding roses. Three stalks, each without thorns and all with glistening white buds. I stare in amazement at the flowers before looking back at Gabriel. “This is terribly unnatural,” I say to him, my heart thrumming in my chest.

  Gabriel takes a step closer, the turquoise of his eyes sweeping me. “Terrible – okay, that’s a fair assessment,” he says. “But unnatural? You’re cruel to say so, Nora. I didn’t have you pegged as cruel.”

  “You don’t have me pegged at all,” I tell him, gazing down at the delicate white buds. “I knew something was wrong with you. Something major. Life altering. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Geez, you’re a wizard, Gabriel. A real wizard. How did I not guess that right away? I should have figured it out.”

  “Should you have?”

  “I’m being sarcastic,” I say, gazing into his eyes and regretting my words. “I – I’m not usually sarcastic.”

  “Maybe you’re scared,” Gabriel says, his body so close to mine I can feel the electricity coming off his skin.

  I roll my eyes. “What – scared of you?”

  He nods once, his body tense and serious.

  Boy does he have intuition. I am scared, actually. But I’d never admit it.

  “Nah,” I say, trying to sound careless, “I’m just surprised. I was brought up in a world where wizards and magic don’t exist. Now you’re here turning everything upside, upside – upside down…” His proximity is alarming me wonderfully, warming my body and interrupting my words. Those soft red lips are so close.

  Closing his eyes, Gabriel leans in close, then opens them again. “You should be scared,” he tells me quietly. “You’re human, Nora, only human. I could kill you so easily,” he says, his turquoise eyes glistening with humor. Absentmindedly he begins to twirl the stick in his hand.

  Hiding my disappointment that he spoke instead of acted, I take a step backwards, gesturing to his stick. “That’s your wand, I suppose.”

  “College is serving you well.”

  “Shut up,” I say, a reluctant smile breaking across my face. “I think we’ve already agreed that I’m the sane one here so I’ll be making fun of you, not the other way around. You’re the one playing with sticks.”

  Edging around me on the beach, Gabriel pokes my bottom with his wand. “Off you go then,” he says. Without seeing his face I can hear his smirk. “I’ll be right behind you playing with sticks.” Boy does this boy have a stick up his ass. “Faster,” he demands as I walk in the direction we came, “we don’t have all day.”

  “We do, actually,” I contradict. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

  Gabriel matches his pace with mine again. “I’m not,” he says, “I want to make sure you get your studying done like a good student.”

  Oh fuck! My studying! I’m supposed to be reading The Great Gatsby.

  “I don’t want you to fail,” he adds. “Not on my account.”

  As we leave the sandy shore, I can’t help but chance a backward glance. The sun is beginning to set behind the clouds, turning everything pink. The effect above the water is stunning. What an oasis – this tiny beach nearly hidden from the world. I promise myself I’ll return with Gabriel.

  “What?” Gabriel asks as we walk among trees.

  Swiping brown hair over my ear, I return his gaze. “I’m still wondering what an Immag is,” I tell him.

  “You’re an Immag,” he says, his hands collected around his back under my backpack. “An Immag is a non-magic person, Nora. Most people are Immags. The magical population is only a fraction of the Immag population. Long ago, the opposite was true, but magic has slowly been dying out.”

  “When will it –”

  “Not for a long time,” Gabriel adds, answering my unfinished question. “By slowly, I mean over thousands of years. I doubt magic will ever truly die, but it’ll dwindle as time goes on. Especially in the United States.”

  “Why especially in the United States?”

  He swipes his blond hair to the side of his forehead. “It’s complicated. Well, maybe not that complicated. Wizards are allowed to marry and enter into relationships with other magical people. But there is a school of thought that says magic people should never enter into marital or sexual relations with Immags. This movement – called the Puridite Movement – has taken over in the United States. It’s actually illegal in America for a magical person to love an Immag.”

  “Illegal!” I exclaim. “Why? Who would stop you?”

  Turquoise eyes regard my interest. “We magical people have leaders, Nora. We have government. Like in the Immag world, each country has its own slightly different way of going about things. In the United States, the Bureau of Magic is the powerhouse. They employ thousands of wizards and witches in every category of work – teachers, law enforcement, criminal justice, health, and beast control. I’m in the last category. I’m a Releaser.”

  “A –” I begin.

  “Vampire killer,” Gabriel says, answering me. “My expertise is in finding and killing vampires. I know how to recognize them, where they live, how they think, how they hunt, and how to hunt and kill them. It’s my profession.” The pride with which he says this startles me for a second.

  I have to keep my cool. “You’re a new hire?”

  Gabriel bats at a passing tree as we walk along the darkening path. “I was hired in August. Top grades at MSM – that’s Magasant School of Magic. Did two internships with the Bureau of Beast Control – that’s a subdivision of the Bureau of Magic – and finished my advanced coursework over the summer. Now I’m here in Washington.”

  “To hunt vampires,” I state.

  “To kill them,” he corrects. “Speaking of which…” Stopping on the path, Gabriel reaches into the pocket of his plum robes and pulls forth the compass look-alike device I’d seen yesterday. Flipping it open, he studies it.

  “The Vampass,” I realize, “shows you where the vampires are.”

  He nods absentmindedly as he stares at the single, sharp tooth occupying the place where the needle would usually be. It’s spinning. “Exactly,” he says finally. “But I think this one might be broken. It’s been acting up on me. They told me it was used but didn’t say anything about it being broken. Funny – they go through all the time and money of the interview process, find the perfect candidate for the job, pay me a huge salary, and then fail to provide me with working equipment.”

  “Can’t you fix it? With your wand?”

  A short laugh. “Not exactly, Nora. It takes a trained engineer wizard to make and fix devices this complex. Vampasses are terribly expensive to fix let alone when buying new, which explains why the Bureau gave me a broken one.” Sighing, he stows the Vampass back in the pocket of his robes. “So much for that. I’m on my own.”

  “I’ll help,” I tell him, trying my best to sound serious. “I’ll help you find the vampires. We can hunt them together.”

  I expect Gabriel to burst out laughing at this before telling me how useless I am. Expect him to call me an Immag. Instead, he fixes me with a completely serious expression and asks, “Do you really want to?”

  I mouth wordlessly for a second before finding my voice. “I – uh – yes!”

  His turquoise eyes are searching mine for self doubt. I’m probably showing some. “Fine,” he says softly, “you can come. Tell me what your schedule’s like and we shall go hunting. I have to warn you, though,” he adds, his tone gaining weight, “this is a very dangerous undertaking. You may die, Nora, especially in your weakened condition – being an Immag, I mean.” There it is.

  “I want to do it,” I say, my voice finding confidence. “I really do.”

  He guides me forward along the path. “We’ll see how long your enthusiasm lasts,” he says, that impossibly mischievous smile returning to his face. “Personally I don’t think humans are meant to fight vampires. They mean to eat you. And I mean to kill them.”

 
The trees beginning to thin, Gabriel and I catch a glimpse of the edge of campus. When we finally leave the tree fringe and settle on the walkway again, I can’t help but look down at Gabriel’s dirty, sandy, disheveled robes now twisting around his feet. What a mess. How does he not mind?

  “Wish you’d changed now?”

  He looks confused for a second. Then looks down. “Oh,” he says, as though realizing how dirty his beautiful plum robes have become for the first time. “No problem.” Whisking out his wand, he taps the side of his sleeve once. “Amendi,” he says. At once his robes drape anew around him with a gush of warm, scented air – stunningly clean. Cleaner than before we left for the beach.

  Reaching out my hand, I touch the arm of his robes. It’s warm and wonderful, as though freshly washed and dried. “It’s not fair,” I say, looking up into his grinning face. “It’s not, Gabriel. Why can’t I do this? Your life must be so easy all the time. Magic brings everything, doesn’t it?”

  Gabriel’s grin falters and dies, replaced with look of deep sadness. “It doesn’t,” he says quietly, his hand stowing his wand. “It doesn’t bring everything, Nora. Magic can’t – can’t bring some things… back.” I’m startled to see turquoise eyes glisten.

  Oh geez, is he crying?

  The next moment I’m convinced it’s a mirage. “Let’s go,” Gabriel says, and guides me forward, this time in the direction of Red Square. “You need to be studying and I need to be…doing other things.” Curiously, I gaze over at him. But there’s no sign of his momentary lapse.

  “How’s Merrifeather?” I ask.

  “She’s fine. Not thrilled with the new surroundings, I suppose. There are plenty of mice and squirrels around campus, but Merri is an unusual owl. She likes to hunt during the day, but since we’ve been around so many people I can only let her out a night. She’s not happy with me at all.” He sighs, gazing up at the clock tower of the Daniel J. Evans library. “It’s getting late.”

  “I know,” I reply, guilt stabbing me. I have so much reading due tomorrow!

  “I assume you haven’t eaten dinner,” Gabriel says knowingly.

  I shake my head. “No – my appetite for food hasn’t changed since I got here. Anyway, I should be studying. I have so much reading due for tomorrow and both professors hinted at in-class discussions.”

  “Uh oh,” Gabriel says. “You’re fucked, aren’t you?”

  “Not yet,” I reply, reaching for my backpack. “I can take that. Thanks for carrying my books so long.”

  “Sure thing,” he says, slipping the backpack off the plum shoulder of his robes and handing it to me.

  I’m stunned to find it weightless. Not light – not lighter than before – weightless. I gasp my astonishment and stare at Gabriel, who’s grinning madly. He knew this was coming. My ignorant surprise.

  Boy is he charming, my alter ego says.

  Yes, I reply to her, but charming boys are dangerous.

  Strapping on my feather light backpack, I say to Gabriel, “I suppose you should take the charm off this bag.”

  He dazzles me with the white of an unrestrained smile. “Why?”

  I can’t think of an answer so I smile it. “Good point – this is better. I have so many books this term. I was planning on taking the ones I need each day, but now I can carry them all with me everywhere.”

  “Indeed,” Gabriel responds. “Put them all in there and don’t open the damn thing till the end of term. It’ll be great fun.”

  “I didn’t mean I won’t study!”

  “Of course you didn’t,” Gabriel says. “Now go study! I expect your backpack won’t slow you down. But one last thing,” he adds as we reach the center of Red Square. “Magic may bring some things,” he says, gesturing to my backpack, “but not everything, Nora. Not even close. Never forget it.”

  * * *

  Kiri is sitting at her desk when I walk into our room. She turns around in her chair to face me, her glasses lopsided. “There you are! I was wondering where you were all day. I was going to ask you to dinner but when I got back from class you weren’t here.”

  “My bad, Kiri,” I tell her, shrugging off the backpack and laying it on my bed. Despite its weightlessness it does not float, thank heavens. “I was out with a friend. We went for a walk on the beach through the forest.”

  “Guy friend?” Kiri asks with interest.

  I nod once, unable to stop the enormous grin from spreading across my face. “I’m afraid so,” I tell her. “He’s really nice – err, most of the time. His name is Gabriel and he’s a – well – he’s… different.” I have to remember the promise I made Gabriel swearing I wouldn’t tell anybody. I’m assuming that includes the first person I meet.

  “Is he cute?” Kiri asks with a squeak.

  I nod again. “Very – blond, very blond – with gorgeous turquoise eyes and a strong figure. I don’t know what the hell he’s doing with me,” I add, feeling very insecure all of a sudden.

  Kiri scoffs, cocking her head. “What kind of talk is that? If he likes you it’s for a reason. The first mistake girls make with guys is they doubt themselves. We shouldn’t do that. Guys don’t doubt themselves. Somewhere there’s a three-headed leper that’ll accept no one less than Angelina Jolie.”

  I giggle despite myself. Relaxing, I sit down beside my backpack. “I suppose you’re right. To be honest though, I’m not even sure he’s interested in me that way. He – he seems to want to be my friend. That much I’m reasonably sure of. But I can’t guess as to what else he’s feeling.”

  Getting up, Kiri turns her desk chair around to face me and sits again before saying, “Some guys need to be told what they’re feeling.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “Oh?”

  “I’m serious,” she continues, “Some guys have so little intuition they need help figuring out their feelings, especially about girls. Some have no self knowledge whatsoever. I don’t know why I keep dating those types,” she adds, tugging at the stringy bracelets on her arm. “Perhaps I’m not the one to talk.”

  “No, it’s fine,” I tell her, “I can use some advice. I – uh – I don’t have a lot of experience with guys to tell the truth. I never really got around to having a boyfriend in high school. That and most of them were idiots. Not all, but most. Or maybe I was just too insecure to approach any of them.”

  Geez, we’re having like a real conversation now. That was fast.

  Kiri nods seriously, her torso leaning forward over her crossed legs. “I know all about insecurity,” she says grandly. “Been there done that. But insecurity only leads to more insecurity – insecurity in relationships. Had I been braver, more myself, more realized, more something in high school, I think I would have avoided some of the bad relationships I experienced.”

  “How bad?” I ask her.

  She shrugs. “Most of the guys were older – in college. Most seemed to think I was more enraptured by them than I actually was. That led to some problems. I had the nerve to demand reciprocation in the relationship. You know – some standards any girl should expect from a reasonable boyfriend. That ended many relationships,” she says, her tone etched with satisfaction.

  I watch her dumbly as she stands and goes to the mini fridge. Opening it, she pulls out a bottle of chilled champagne. Setting it on the desk, she retrieves two flute glasses from the desk drawers. “A little something to celebrate our first couple days of college, and our new friendship.”

  “I don’t drink,” I say hastily.

  “Yeah you do,” she replies.

  I gesture my surrender. “Oh, okay.”

  Geez, peer pressure is tough.

  Undoing the cage around the cork, Kiri pops the bottle and fills our glasses. Handing me mine, she raises her own. “To four years of fun, good grades, and good times,” she says loftily. “May the fun never stop, the job offers never end, the grades never falter, and the good times roll.”

  “Cheers,” I say, clinking my glass against hers.

  Oh geez, h
ere it is – my first taste of alcohol.

  Lifting the glass to my lips, I drink. Chilled and cool, the liquid washes over my tongue, at once both sweet and sour. It’s delicious and fruity, leaving a zingy, bubbly taste in the back of my mouth. “This is really good,” I say in surprise, holding my glass high and gazing at it. “Alcoholism makes sense now.”

  “Doesn’t it?” Kiri says with a giggle, sipping from her own glass.

  Drinking more, I gaze sideways at my backpack.

  Oh fuck!

  I’m supposed to be studying. Brushing up on the introduction to Victorian Era Literature and reading the first chapter of The Great Gatsby. I totally forgot, and now I’m imbibing alcohol. This is not going to end well.

  “Get your books?” Kiri asks.

  I set my glass on my bedside table. “Just today. Want to see them?”

  “Yes!” Kiri exclaims. “Lemme see!”

  Grinning at her outburst, I pull my backpack to me and unzip the top. Hoisting out the bag from the school store, I dump its contents on my bed. Standing, Kiri comes to the bed to get a closer look.

  “Victorian Era Literature,” she reads off the cover. “Sounds pretty cool. Let me see – The American Revolution, 1776 by David McCullough, Common Sense by Thomas Paine, The Federalist Papers, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Essay: An Art Form by Everett Smith. That’s a lot of reading to do,” she observes.

  I nod, feeling daunted. “I know. I should be studying right now.”

  “What – for tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” I answer, feeling ashamed.

  “Well that’s not happening,” Kiri says. “You’re drinking and talking to me right now. Get up early and do it. What time is your first class?”

  “10:00am,” I answer.

  “That’s plenty of time!” Kiri scoffs. “Get up at 7:00 and make it happen.”

  I’m not feeling confident in my ability to get up that early. “I suppose I could,” I say obligingly, “so long as we don’t stay up too late, Kiri. I want to get off to a good start with my classes.”