Chapter 1: Awakened

“You know it’s a miracle you both survived that accident,” the large black woman enthused as she changed out my mother’s IV bag, “I was completely amazed when I heard you’d been hit by a semi and came through with only scrapes and bruises.”

It certainly was amazing, I thought, but I wasn’t sure it was a miracle. I’d had a lot of time to think this past week in between the police statements, lawyer talks, and strange occurrences that had been happening around me, and although all of it was incredibly difficult or simply unbelievable for me, those things were far easier to consider than my mom’s condition. Glancing at her, lying pale and unresponsive in the hospital bed, she looked strange and alien to me, all her beautiful hair shaved off, replaced by bandages and electrodes. A real Frankenstein’s bride she would have joked to me if she could, but she couldn’t, “I only wish my mom had been as lucky as I.”

“At least she’s still alive honey. Where there’s life there’s still hope.” the nurse spoke with a strong Southern accent, strange to hear in the Pacific northwest.

I snorted despairingly, “Slim hope at best. The doctors have already warned me that her prospects for waking up from the coma aren’t good. All because of that damned concussion she got before her more serious injuries.” And all because of me, I added silently in my head.

“Honey, I know it seems like the end of the world right now, but it really could have been worse.”

A light bulb exploded on the other side of the room and I flinched. Not again! The nurse looked at me with what seemed to be an understanding pity, like she knew that I was the cause of its destruction, but I knew I was just being paranoid. There was no way she could possibly know that.

“I’ll have to get maintenance to check for something causing power surges in this area. That’s the third one this week.” she commented casually as she left the room.

The third one, and that wasn’t even including the cracked vases and strange winds that had started occurring around me in response to my volatile emotions. Some of the nurses had even started whispering about ghosts! I knew something had happened to me during that accident, but I still had no clue what it was despite coming up with a ton of crazy theories. Perhaps I had managed to tap into some sort of energy field in my desperation and was still somehow connected to it now. Maybe my brain had unlocked a hitherto unknown potential for telekinesis. Heck for all I knew, it could actually be some sort of God-given gift, although I doubted I was pious enough for that. I’d tried to consciously summon whatever it was to the surface, but it didn’t want to cooperate. It was just so frustrating! Here I had some kind of amazing power at my fingertips and I couldn’t even access it, didn’t even know what it was! I wished there was some kind of manual or someone who I could ask questions of. I doubted I was the first to have this happen to me, not with all the tales of magic and supernatural abilities that existed. There had to be more like me out there somewhere. I just didn’t know how to find them.

A knock at the door interrupted my musings, “Excuse me, is this the room of Cathy Langden? I’m looking for Jessica Langden.” The man at the door was tall, impeccably dressed in a charcoal grey suit, with laugh lines around the eyes and wavy brown hair that could only have come from a styling salon.

“So I guess they finally sent for child services. I suppose I should be glad they waited so long, but I’m afraid your services won’t be needed. My mom made sure I’d be emancipated upon her death or incapacitation.” I stared the man down, just waiting for him to dare try and take me away from here. If he tried, he’d quickly find himself in a world of hurt. I wasn’t afraid to hit below the belt.

“Well I suppose that will make this easier then,” the man answered as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, “I am actually not from child services though. My name is Brian Hastings. I work for a little known government agency and am here in regards to certain events that occurred during your accident. It’s quite remarkable to hear of your survival you know.”

“So I keep hearing,” I deadpanned, not budging an inch, “Do you have any ID?”

Obviously not put out by my attitude, he brought out a wallet and opened it to show a very official looking badge on one side and a government ID with his name and face on the other side.

My heart began racing, “The Office of Paranormal Affairs? You’ve got to be joking. If such a thing existed, I’m sure I would have heard about it before now. The news agencies would probably love to take a crack at you.”

“We like our privacy and the government provides excellent incentives to keep it that way. I assure you we’re quite real. In fact, if you called the police right now and requested validation of my identity, you’d find it to be so.”

“Let’s say I believe you, why are you visiting me?”

“Like I mentioned before, the strange events of your accident caught our attention. Logically, there really was no reason that you could have, should have, survived it,” he gazed at me intensely like a cowboy before a showdown, “and you and I both know that you’re the reason you both did.”

He knew. I’m not sure how, but he did. “The blue light…” it slipped out of my mouth without thinking.

He looked pleased, “Exactly. You are someone we call an awakened. You have a powerful gift that stayed dormant within you for years, until the stress and fear you felt during the accident brought it out.”

“We? So there are others like me? You’re like me?”

“Yes there are and yes I am. Like you, I too awakened my gift many years ago.”

“Show me,” I demanded.

He pushed up his suit sleeve to reveal an armlet covered in runes. Placing his opposite hand on it he spoke a harsh word that sounded Greek to me, and a translucent orange shield popped into place around him.

“I knew I couldn’t be the only one!” I exclaimed giddily, “All those tales and myths all over the world! It couldn’t all be fiction! So are there a lot of us? Are we all part of some sort of secret society? Is there a secret hand sign or password to recognize each other or something?”

A chuckle escaped him at my excitement as he removed his hand from the armlet, letting the shield fall, “There aren’t actually that many of us. Only one in a thousand have the potential gift and only about one in ten of those actually do awaken. That’s less than a million world wide. So while you can consider us unofficially a sort of secret society, we remain under our individual country’s jurisdictions. They monitor and protect us, keep us secret, and often hire us. Like myself, my job is to keep a watch out for the newly awakened and help you get introduced to all of this and of course get you set up with training.”

“So what is it anyways, this gift of mine? How did I get it?”

“Well for the lack of another word, and the sake of tradition, we call it magic. Like with all genetics, the potential is there in your blood. One or both of your parents have the potential themselves, they just didn’t go through a traumatic enough event to awaken.”

“But my mom…”

Sympathy flashed over his face, “From my knowledge, she either doesn’t have the potential or perhaps her concussion interfered with her awakening.”

I decided to leave that alone for now, “So what all can I do with this power anyways? What kind of training are we talking about?”

“Because there are so very few of us, we usually do a sort of apprenticeship program with you picking a mentor who specializes in the area or areas that interest you. These would include personal protection, like your shield,” he nodded to me, “runes, illusions, potions, divination, elemental magic, if you have the ability, healing…”

“Healing?” I interrupt, glancing at my mothering as a sudden surge of hope gripped me, “Is there someone who could heal my mom? The doctors here have already done all they can for her.”

My heart fell as I saw the look on his face, knowing it would be another dead end before he even spoke, “A coma usually means the problem is brain related, in her case extreme brain trauma, and someone would need to be not only very good at healing magic, but also a master of mind magic too. I don’t believe there is or has ever been a human mage capable of healing her. I’m sorry.”

Sorrow crashed renewed upon me, but wait, human? His word choice had been strangely specific. Like a drowning person grabbing at the last life line, I grasped desperately, “You said human. Does that mean there are other races out there? Like, as in Lord of the Rings? Races with someone who could help my mom?”

Hastings looked like he obviously regretted his slip of the tongue, “There are actually other magical races - Lycanthropes, Vampires, various Fey and nature spirits, even dragons, but don’t get your hopes up. Although they live among us, they refuse to answer to any human authority. Most tend to disdain humans in general, when they don’t outright hate us. Not only is the large majority of our population magical nulls, but even those of us who are awakened are less magically skilled and physically weaker then most of the other races. Some of them even actively consider us prey! I can’t imagine any one of them being willing to help even if they were capable.”

I had finally found the slightest glimmer of light and I didn’t want to let it go, “There has to be a way. They can’t all hate us. There have to be some who are at least neutral if paid enough cash!”

“Yes, you might be able to find someone willing, even if friendlies and neutrals are rarer than you might think, but I don’t believe you understand just how rare someone skilled enough to heal this kind of damage is. And every single one of that handful of specialists would certainly have plenty of reasons not to get involved with healing a human!” His tone spoke of years worth of frustration on the subject, “Hell, you could probably learn to heal her yourself before you could get any one of them to help!”

“Myself?” My head jumped up from where it had sunk, “I could learn to heal her myself?”

He ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath, “Look Jessica, I was serious about there being no human mage with the knowledge or skills needed. While there are plenty of healers, few of them have the advanced skills necessary, and absolutely no human knows more than the most basic of mind magic! That means we can’t teach you! And I can guarantee no one from the other races would want to. In fact, off the top of my head, I can only think of one place to learn how that might accept you, but you’d die before you could learn what you needed to know!”

“So I’m just supposed to give up without even trying?!” Righteous fury mixed with sorrow bubbled within me, “Without that knowledge, my mom will probably never wake up again! If there’s even the slightest chance to get her back, I want to take it! She’s all I have left and I refuse to lose her!”

“Even if trying could cost you your life? Do you really think your mom would want that?”

I looked over to her, pale and still as death, only the motions and beeps of the monitors showing that she hadn’t already passed on. She was like this because of me, because I had been too selfish and stupid and hadn’t paid enough attention to my driving. My fists clenched and tears blurred my vision as my head fell, “If I had just kept my eyes on the road, none of this would have happened. She would’ve been fine and life would’ve gone on as normal.”

“You also wouldn’t have discovered your magic,” Hastings tried to gently point out.

“Like I would even care about that if I could have her back!” I exploded, whipping my head angrily to face him, “I would give up this power in an instant to have her standing fine and well next to me again! She would’ve done anything for me. She never would’ve given up, and never has for all of my life! Not when she was raped and found herself pregnant with me. Not when she struggled to raise me all alone. Not when she was out of work or even when she was working sixteen hour days! Not ever. And if it were me lying there instead of her, she wouldn’t have hesitated to willingly give her life to try and save mine. So I’ll be damned before I do any bit less!”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A sudden knocking startled me as the nurse from before poked her head through the doorway, “Is everything alright in here, Jessie-hun? We heard shouting.”

“It’s fine Miss Beth,” I answered, still riled up, “Our conversation just got a little intense.”

She didn’t look as if she quite believed me. “Okay then, but if you need anything just holler. And you sir,” she gave an admonishing glare to Mr. Hastings, “please don’t go upsettin’ her anymore. The poor girl’s already had a rough week.”

As soon as she shut the door, I took a deep calming breath before apologizing, “I’m sorry, I let myself get a bit too loud at the end there. At least they don’t seem to have overheard what we were talking about.”

He had a bit of an amused look on his face as he turned away from the door that I didn’t care to try and analyze, “It’s quite alright. This is a very emotional topic and one that I’m afraid I won’t be able to budge you on. But if you’re going to go and throw yourself into the lion’s mouth, then I’m for sure going to do my best to help you survive it.” He turned away and started pacing and muttering to himself, “I’ll need to set up instructors, a training area… Leon would probably help, and of course I’ll have to contact the headmistress.”

“Headmistress?” I interrupt, “This place is a school then?”

“Ha! As if you could call that nest of snakes a school! The Akademiya is supposedly a neutral territory where any of the magical races can send their children to get advanced training. It's supposed to be a way for them to interact and learn about each other in a safe environment. In reality, it’s a proving arena; one where each of them try to show their personal and racial superiority over all the others. The staff will turn a blind eye to just about anything, even murder, so long as it’s not blatant. And for you, a human, to go to their school as if you’re equal to them, they’ll eat you alive, maybe literally! You can’t even choose to drop out if it gets to be too much, the Akademiya has a reputation it likes to keep, and they’ll hunt down anyone who tries to flee before finishing. The only way out of attending after you start, is graduation or death. Now, are you starting to understand just what it is you’re asking me to send you into?”

I gazed steadily at him, ignoring my fluttering heart, “You already warned me that doing this could mean my death.”

Hastings threw up his hands in disgust, “So be it then. I’ll get some sort of training program put together in the next few days, and if you give me your number I’ll contact you when we’re ready to start. It’ll be intense,” he warned, “We only have two months before the start of the new school year and I’ll be doing my best to make sure that you either know enough to survive or else decide to give up out of pain and exhaustion. And right now I’m definitely leaning towards trying to make you do the latter.”

The thread of worry and fear in the back of my mind strengthened, but I couldn’t let my resolve falter now. So I just silently wrote out my cell phone number and handed it over to him. He looked unhappy to accept it, “I’ll see you in a few days then.”

As he shut the door quietly behind himself, my strong façade immediately crumbled. My barely contained tears from before burst out and great echoing sobs escaped from my mouth. I fumbled my way over to my mother’s bedside and gripped her hand tightly, “Oh momma, what the hell have I just gotten myself into? Am I doing the right thing? I don’t want to die and I know you wouldn’t want me too, but mom I miss you so much! How will I ever do this without you? This school is probably going to be really far away and I won’t even be able to see you for a long time. And it’s not as if you could talk to me over the phone or even send letters since you‘re like this. And I’m so, so sorry mom, this is all my fault! I need you mom, please just come back to me!” The tears seemed to flow even more quickly as I crawled into her hospital bed, curling up carefully against her side. “Mom, I don’t want to have to do this. Please wake up. Don’t leave me alone,” I pleaded the words over and over in my mind until I cried myself to sleep.

* * *

“So that’s the situation, sir.” Brian Hastings reported back to his superior over his cell phone, “She’s determined to try the Akademiya.”

“This could actually be the chance we’ve been looking for to show those arrogant bastards on the Interspecies Council that we have the strength, if not the knowledge, to equal any one of them. Maybe then we’ll finally get those concessions we’ve been trying years for. Brian, we need this girl to survive that school first though. Tell me honestly, do you think she can make it?”

“She’s got a will of iron, sir, and I believe she’d rather die before giving up.”

“Well don’t let her do that either. If she dies, I doubt another would be willing to try for at least fifty years. It’s already been over a hundred since the last tried and died. We don’t need to add another to our long list of failures. Humanity deserves to sit at the top and I want the U.S. to be the one to lead us there. This girl would be the most powerful human mage alive if she manages to graduate from the Akademiya and I want her firmly on our side when that time comes. Loyalty, that’s the key, and of course a mutually beneficent relationship. If she wants our aid, she’ll have to agree to sign a recruitment contract and work for us, but you know we take care of our own. We’ll not only train her, but also pay for the accident costs and her mother’s care. Can’t have her distracting herself with trivial worries, now can we. I know this is a gamble, but the potential rewards are just incalculable. God, I want this so bad. I’m going to be allocating a lot of money and resources to you Hastings, so this girl better succeed. As of now, your job depends on it!”

A sudden silence on the other end signaled to Brian that his boss had hung up. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir,” he muttered to himself. He didn’t like being a part of any of this. Jessica was only sixteen and shouldn’t have to worry about risking her life or having government officials seeking to own her, but what else could he do except his best to try and keep her alive, the rest would be up to her.

* * *

Jessica’s thoughts had run rampant over the last few days since her visit from the government mage. Worries, fears, and unanswered questions all fought for precedence in her head. Who was going to care for her mom while she was away? How was she going to pay for that care, the accident damages, and now this school? Was she absolutely insane to want to try and do this?

“Jess, are you even listening to me?” Shelly asked me, interrupting the spiral my thoughts had again taken.

I looked at her as she tossed her edgy black bangs and posed her hands upon her hips, the outline of my mom’s hospital room behind her, “Sorry Shel, I just can’t seem to concentrate right now.”

Her stance softened at my words, “I know Jess. All of this has got to be really tough. I was just hoping I could cheer you up some. You know if you need someone to talk to, I’m right here for you.”

It was at the tip of my tongue to just tell her about all of it. She’d been my best friend since elementary school and I’d never kept something this big from her, but where would I even start? Not only was all of this supposed to be some big secret that would probably get both her and me in big trouble if I told her, but if I did tell her I could do magic, she’d probably think I’d gone completely bonkers! I needed to tell her something though, she deserved at least that much, “I might be going away for awhile Shel, maybe for a long time.”

“What? Why? I thought your mom emancipated you,” she asked obviously bewildered.

Twisting the truth a bit, I answered, “I got an invite to a special school, one of those that offers an accelerated program. If I finish it, I could qualify for early admission to a pre-med program. You know I want to heal my mom, so I’m really thinking of doing this.”

“Wow, Jess! I knew your grades were good, but wow! Oh, I’ll miss you so much! You should totally go for it. This is so exciting! I totally need to tell Amy and Hank and; oh my gosh, Jeremy! What are you going to do about him?”

“Well you know I like him, but we weren’t really that serious, and with me being so far away I think it’d be best to just break it off.”

“Oh Jess, he’ll be heartbroken.”

Thinking of last week when I caught him eying the very same girl right in front of me, I replied, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Maybe he’ll even find his true love is closer than you might think.”

My cell phone started chirping like a cricket, telling me it didn’t recognize the number calling, “Hello?”

“Miss Langden? It’s Brian Hastings,” I recognized his tenor voice from before.

I held my hand over the phone and quietly spoke up, “Hey Shel, it’s the admittance guy. I need to take this.”

“Awesome! I’ll talk to you later then. Bye, and good luck!”

I watched as she flounced out of the room before removing my hand from the phone, “Hi Mr. Hastings, sorry about the wait, I had a guest, but I’m alone now.”

“Good. I have everything set up, so I’d like to bring you out here tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? That’s so soon!” I started panicking, “I haven’t even packed and I still have so much I need to take care of here. I don’t even know how I’m going to pay for all of this!”

“Jessica,” he addressed me calmly, “we don’t have much time to get you trained up, so we need to begin as soon as possible. As long as this is still what you want that is.”

“I do, really, but…” I bit my lip.

“My superiors are very excited at this chance to push a human, especially a U.S. citizen, into prominence within the supernatural community, so they’ve put a lot of resources at our disposal. There is a price for all of this though. They want you to sign a contract to work for my agency. In return, you’ll receive extensive training, we’ll cover the school’s fees, the damages from your accident, and make sure your mother is cared for while you’re away.”

He paused, letting me take it all in. Wow, a job offer at sixteen, I so didn’t expect that, “It sounds fair, but how long would I need to work for them?”

“As soon as you sign up, you’ll start receiving a basic salary, but your contract locks you in for twenty years after you graduate from The Academy.”

I winced thinking about it, twenty years was a really long time, sounded like a prison sentence actually, but it wasn’t like I really had already made any plans for my future and if this was what it took to heal my mom, was it really too large a price to pay? “You’ve warned me how dangerous this school is, so if I do this, I want one guarantee, in writing.” I paused, taking in a deep breath, “If I die, I want my mom to be cared for.”

His quick response reassured me, “I’ll make sure it’s added to the contract. So are you in? It’s not too late to back out.”

I took a slow breath, “Let’s do this.”

“Alright. Pack a light bag, most of what you’ll need will be provided. We’ll pick you up at the hospital at ten am. That should be enough time to say your goodbyes. Have you picked out a story to tell everyone?”

“Invite to an advanced school with an accelerated program that could lead to an early pre-med program admission.”

“Sounds good. We’ll flesh out the details and provide you with all you need for a cover.”

“It sounds like I’m going to be a spy when you put it like that,” I almost snorted at the thought. Langden, Jessica Langden.

His tone when he answered was dead serious, “You might as well be. But anyways we’ll go over all of those details after you sign your contract. Tonight, just get some rest. You’re going to need it. See you tomorrow.”

I echoed his good bye and then stood staring at the phone in silence for a minute. Was he really serious just then? Oh, just what was I getting myself into?