Zephyr Read online

  Ashley far taller than average females, about 6 foot 1 inch, pin-thin brown hair, that always got knotted up, small knots, just little-tied knots that looked deliberate sometimes. Like a nervous person playing with their hair. Mom would always refer to her as the “elf of us,” her height and size made her look frail thin. In the Immortal world, it was like her body resembled a tree, long, slender, elegant and balanced in any position she took. She was always amazing in gym class during flexibility, gymnastics, and strength testing. She put every other girl in the school to shame. Even our gold medalist who performed at nationals, and international gymnastics competition, Janel. Her face was as always, pale as a sheet until the sun came out. Then it would turn a golden color in which everyone referred to her as an instant tanner. It never failed, the second the temperature would rise outside her skin tone would change and her eye color. She hovered between a deep sea blue color that would turn to a hazel forest green as it warmed. Everyone always assumed she had other ethnicities in her that made the changes with heat.

  Just like Karen, we had known each other before elementary, and we had only grown up together. It made sense I would tell them both during our weekly midnight walks through the town. I couldn’t keep something this huge from them, and I would never forget that night.

  We had a midnight walk like we always did just to talk and hang out and just relax before school the next morning. Stopping at Karen parent’s soda shop on the main street.

  Sitting in the back office talking, and I said, “I have been keeping a secret from you, please don’t freak out,”

  “What? What is it, Kade? We don’t keep secrets?” They said together, Karen’s voice shaking.

  The last time I heard her voice shake was when her boyfriend dumped her. He did it in public, and her voice shook with worry it would have brought tears to my eyes.

  “I don’t know how to say it, it’s a huge secret. And I need you to understand you can hate me after, but I need you to keep this a secret forever. Like you can’t tell anyone ever,” I said now my voice shaking. My face pricked with tears, but I could not cry. I never have.

  “Kade, you’re scaring me,” Karen’s voice got a high pitched still shaking with fear, I could see her face change to a pouting look. But just like myself, she had never shed a tear, another strange thing we had in common.

  Ashley looked dumbfounded like she couldn’t process what was happening, but as if she suspected she knew what was happening. Her lips pursed as if to talk but I beat her to the punch.

  I took a step closer to them, as I did so Karen’s body moved her back, sliding the chair into the desk, jolting her forward. “Just tell me, Kade,” she said demanding now, still holding the fear of what would happen.

  “I… this is hard, you both have been my best friends before I can remember…” I choked a few times, trying to swallow my saliva.

  “Kade I know what you will say,” Ashley started, but Karen snapped at her.

  “This is not the time for your spiritual, earthy crap. Kade has a secret, now he has to tell us!” Karen said, her voice now deeper, darker, angrier. I had taken far too much time to tell them.

  The desk shook, I could hear the metal locks on the coolers clatter, almost getting louder and faster the angrier Karen looked at me.

  “I can’t tell you, it’s too hard, but I can show you,” I said blurting it out as if I lost all my breath.

  “Watch retaw ot stirips, stirips ot eniw, eniw ot retaw,” I recited pointing to the water bottle on the table. As I did so Karen and Ashley looked towards it, Karen lifted it. As I finished my last word, the water bottle turned into a glass of wine. “Smell it,” I said.

  Karen passed the glass to Ashley to smell. Once they had brought it to their noses. “It’s wine,” Ashley interjected in surprise.

  “Now it will become rum, golden amber aged rum,”

  The glass cup wiggled and bend in Ashley’s hand, turning into a shorter round glass with a ball bottom. Turning cloudy, almost opaque, then it swished in the glass until it became a golden color.

  Karen, skeptical took the glass back, lifting it to her lips and tasting it. With an awkward face and a tongue out, she added, “That’s rum,”

  “What else would it be?” I laughed. Just as I finished, the rum taking its time became transparent, and the glass turned back into the bottle.

  “I am what mortals call a wizard, but to immortals, I am something different. It’s so rare that no one has gifts like mine,” I finished raising my hand to show them my actual gift.

  I moved my hand in a circular motion, rotating it and making bigger circles while turning my hand faster and faster. Their eyes grew more substantial, as the swirling vortex of a twister developed in the office, but not moving anything in the room - only their hair.

  I took a deep breath and waited for their reactions, but nothing happened. They sat there staring at me and the area in which the twister was spinning. Their mouths looked like they would fall open.

  “Please say something?” feeling scared I had made a mistake, what had I done.

  “I can’t, this is far too weird. I’m sorry Kade,” Karen told her voice shaking even worse than before and asked us to leave.

  The walk home was lonely, and a little annoying. Ashley had walked a different route even though her house was near mine, but she didn’t say a word.

  The next couple of weeks were quiet, neither would talk it was as if I was non-existent to them. Until Karen cornered me in the Chem lab during our lunch break.

  She grabbed my hand, yanked me into the lab, closing the door behind her and pulled the blinds. Ashley was already in the room, sitting and waiting for me.

  “We need to talk,” Ashley commanded in almost an angry tone.

  “Sure, I’m just glad you two are saying something, anything,” I said almost ecstatic to have my friends back. But boy was I wrong, or at least it wasn’t how it was happening.

  “What did you do to us? I can do things, things not possible. And, and…” Karen started, she couldn’t continue at a loss for words, but metal in the classroom told the story for her. The faucets rotated, taps turned on/off. Then the metal scoops and measuring tools in the drawers clattered together. Even my lunch money in my pocket rose out.

  “And now something is wrong with us. You showed us what you were, and now strange things have been happening to us. The other day in Biology class I sneezed, and I turned invisible. The teacher was calling my name, so I ran out of the class and hid in the washroom. It felt like forever, but I must have re-appeared. When someone came looking for me, I said I was sick, and they seemed to believe it. I didn’t understand what I had done. The strange part was I went back, and moss was growing on the table. A steel table with moss growing off it,” Ashley said not panting.

  It didn’t seem possible, but it was as if she said the sentence without a breath.

  “and that night I walked the scrap-metal yard by my house. So mad and scared that everything around me shook. I could hear the metal rattling, I thought an animal was stocking me in there or a skunk, but when I yelled out, the metal attacked me. Cowering in horror as metal sheets flew at me. When I opened my eyes, this is what I saw,” She said her body vibrating. Unlike anything else I had ever seen her body turned silver, her skin turned hard as sheet metal.

  “What did you do!” They said shocked and frightened as I was.

  “Kade, they are just like you. Magical and Mythical just as you are, one day…” Mom explained, my head swimming with thoughts and ideas. Karen and Ashley looked intently at mom, interested in her story. I zoned out thinking about them.

  Like me as in magical? There was no way I could live my entire life magically and making friends with two kids that were like me. What type of magic do they have? Witch? Wizard? My mind racing with thoughts and futures. Completely ignoring mom and her explanation, I only managed to catch the last of it.

  “… to magic so did their abilit
ies. You are born magical, your brains kept that part of your life turned off. Your parents need to tell you about this. I would speak with them,” mom finished looking at me, Ashley and Karen looking shocked beyond compare. I knew I was in trouble once my friends left to talk to their parents. Unaware she could make that face.

  My friends leaving made me feel terrible for what I did to them, though I now had magical friends. So much better than any Christmas or birthday gift. This is way cooler.

  The bell rang in my ears. My flashbacks were getting overwhelming, so many emotions.

  Chapter 2

  Near Death

  I dazed out too much, forgetting I was still in school. It was like I was reliving my memory. The students began moving faster and faster in the halls, trying to get from their lockers, lock them and head to class. It was surprising that even in our grade nobody could tell time. I was no exception to that, but I could move faster than anyone else in the school.

  An arm wrapped around mine and pulled me forward, running through the hall. It was Karen, she was using her powers. She vibrated through the crowd of students getting us to the door faster. She was getting used to using her skills and still be hidden. Really taking my lessons to heart. I often wondered if the councils knew we were using our powers in front of humans. Mom and dad always told me they watched for underage magic, but we used our powers all the time, and no one ever said anything.

  “Did you remember the unit exam?” Karen asked, making small talk before class. Her face lighting up with such a grin, reaching from ear to ear.

  I may have loved math class, but lately, something had been getting to me, with the end of the course and the Academy next year I was beyond pre-occupied.

  The Academy was a magical school for 4 classes of immortals. A place to train and learn spells, the council, and defense classes.

  The class my mother belongs to is magical, witches, wizards, mages and clerics to name only a few. The magical class is all creatures that can use magic and spells, with and without limitations. Mom is a mage so she can use magic with constraints of how much aura she can put out. Witches and wizards use magic without constraints but must use a wand or a talisman as a symbol of their magic. Wizard is what my family call me to others, as I can cast spells, but I don’t need a symbol or aura.

  Then Mythical which encompassed creature types like hippocampus, Griffin, Phoenix, and any Fae. Mythical are creature based and can use basic magic, healing spells, defense spells, and whatever their specific magical traits they hold. The most prominent example is a Phoenix when threatened can burst into flames and start its life anew.

  The living or beast as mortals call it, has Were’s, shapeshifters, centaurs, satyrs. Were’s are the Werewolves of mortal fiction. Main difference between them, they can be any animal and creature. Their Were is determined by their personality and traits. The living represents all beings that are human-based or part human.

  And finally, the Dead, or vampires as mortals call them. Most mortals don’t know the difference between vampires, or the other species that live in the dead, spirits, ghosts, ghouls, phantoms, jumpers. Even the different types of vampires, energy vampires, blood drinking, dark circles under the red eyes vampires, and even some animal-based vampires.

  Each class has lists of creatures, but the Academy is a safe place for all classes to learn and grow. Choose their path of good or evil, and discovering their unique powers.

  The classes aren’t as cut and dry as mortals think though.

  The Academy is going to be the best part of my next two years, continually learning magic and my abilities. Maybe Ashley and Karen could join me, the thought of having my best friends with me made the school even more exciting.

  “Kade, you still listening to me?” Karen asked, sounding angry with me. She looked as mad as she seemed. The crease in her brow made the vein in her head pop.

  “Sorry, Karen, I was daydreaming,” I whispered back to her. “The Academy is getting exciting, only a couple more weeks,” my stare lengthened, my vision glossing over.

  “When aren’t you daydreaming it’s a wonder you even pass this class, Kade,” Stephanie said as she knocked on my desk, interrupting Karen’s answer. My vision snapped back to reality. The more significant, shy girl with dirty blonde hair that curled to her back sat at the desk just behind me. Stephanie was always weird, but today she just seemed annoying.

  “Be quiet Stephanie, you’re just lucky you’re passing!” I retorted sharply, annoyed with Stephanie, she wasn’t good at math, but she was always the class brown nose.

  “Now, Kade and Stephanie, settle down!” Mr. Jensen said as he closed his door. He was a tall man, balding, but it never seemed to bother him. He the deepest blue eyes and always wore blue dress shirts with khakis. Today would be no different, same clothes, the usual attitude.

  I wanted to pay attention to the class and the test, but I just couldn’t. The idea of what happened earlier in the train tracks and my dream bothered me.

  The day dragged on, it just continued to tick and tick, longer and longer. Finally, four o’clock, time to walk home and enjoy the rest of the night. Maybe walking would clear my mind again. Take my mind off everything.

  It was nice to just lose myself, forgetting almost everything about my day.

  The sound of a whisper echoed through the train cars again.

  Not again, I thought to myself. Why does this keep happening to me? Was there really something I was missing?

  The whisper sounded again, rippling off in the direction of one of the engines.

  I stepped up the wire stairs to the door; the sound still echoing pulling me closer. The glass on the engine was foggy and covered in dust and soot. I reached out to the door handle, frosted over, cold my hand sticking to it. Breathing deeper, pushing warm air towards the handle, releasing my hand. It was painful, the more heated air I used, the worse the door got. The entire entry continued to freeze over, the ice thickening. The whole engine crystalized, my breath fogging in mid-air as I exhaled.

  Taking a step back, I could still hear the whispering. I reached out again, pushing harder and harder to grab the handle.

  I began to breathe deeper, blowing warm air on the handle so it wouldn’t hurt again. Reaching my hand out, I grabbed the handle and pulled.

  “Kade” A loud, whaling voice echoed in my head. A creature called a “banshee” came barreling at me.

  Standing a foot taller than myself, his white clothes tattered and worn through almost see through. His body is just as white and pale as his hair. It to was tattered and long tangled up, his lips blue as if from frost, and lack of oxygen. His disfigured hands pushing outwards as the shock-waves of his voice rippled towards me. Each slamming into me, driving me farther and father way, losing my balance.

  Falling from the cabin to the ground, I braced my self. My left wrist hit the metal railing with a loud snap. I whined in pain, my eyes blurred with what I hoped were tears but I was wrong, it was blood. The voice was causing me to bleed from my eyes.

  Lifting my right wrist to my stinging ear, it was wet and cold. Knowing there was blood from eyes, there had to be blood from my ears, but nothing. No color or smell. What was the liquid if not blood? My legs were in pain from slamming into the ground, but I was still able to move. The creature leaped off the back of the train. He landed on the ground with a loud thud, the sound-wave slammed into me raising dust and dirt in slow motion as if time was stopping. Trying to scramble across the ground was useless for the wave slamming into tossed me back rolling across the ground with such speed my head slammed into a train wheel. My hands instinctively digging into the ground crawling towards the road, hoping that I would be out in the open so it would stop.

  As it stalked towards me, I made eye contact with it. His eye blacker than anything you could imagine, they were what nightmares were made of. The pure darkness made me fall like I was sinking deeper and deeper into a hole of nothing. As I continued to fa
ll, he screamed again, this time I saw every ripple of his voice. Each sound waving slamming into me, first one hitting me banging my head on the train wheel again, and again. My head pounded and pounded, feeling the liquid continue to roll down my face and ears.

  My feet trying to find purchase on the ground, but they just could not. Turning my head towards the road, seeing how much farther I had, a sharp, hard pain hit my stomach. His foot slammed into me, his nails digging into my gut. My rib snapping with the power of his foot and the stabbing pain of his toenails in my body.

  Just as they stabbed in me, they released me, flinging my body, slamming into the tracks again, in the opposite direction I wanted to crawl. I tumbled until I hit the car of another train track. This time it was my back, the loud snap was more than I could bare. I screamed in pain, the loud sound rippled through the air, the trees around shook violently.

  The sound of thunder crashed overhead, rain began falling without warning or restraint. The force of the storm was almost painful, almost like BB gun pellets hitting you continually. The pale creature stepped in front of me, his chest rose as if taking a deep breath. As his mouth opened the second time the ripples of sound grew, but I couldn’t hear anything. I rose off the ground, floating in the air, unable to control myself. Aware of myself healing and working together but I was not in control.

  Our eyes met, his pupils grew to the entire iris and shrunk so much they were almost gone. Replaced with rage and power. His shoulders arched back, his chest raised, and his mouth opened slightly.