Elvie lay in her room for two more days.
With healing, the wound on her arm had closed over into an old scar while her burns faded to light pink skin. Eldridge had said she’d drained herself a great deal, that she’d come close to the threshold. He hadn’t specifically said what that threshold was, but Elvie assumed he was talking about fraying, even if he was too polite to use those words.
She was mentally exhausted. All she wanted to do was go home – and yet everything she’d done was two steps forward and one step back. Sure, she could travel portal from one place to another now, but did that mean she simply focused on the future and willed herself there with the spell? Reckless… that’s what everyone else would call it, but surely she would reach a point where she had to try? The bottom line was, Elvie needed to develop her aptitude for travelling further, but once again had no idea how to actually do that.
Her physical injuries weren’t even the problem. No, what troubled her most, was guilt.
She had killed Darius Vermont.
She had killed James’ brother and Eldridge’s friend.
She had set fire to a man until he was nothing more than ashes.
Nightmares arrived the first night, forcing her to relive the terrible incidents over and over again. The sound of his flesh crackling in the intense heat. The pungent smell of melting flesh. The look in Darius Vermont’s eyes at that moment where he passed.
Eldridge told her it was a normal process, one which he’d been through both during and after the war. He was sincere and filled with sorrow at her suffering, trying his best to bring comfort by telling Elvie stories as he had at Calderbrook Estate. And while they took her away from the pain during the day, the nightmares only disappeared with the light of day.
The memories of her life before 1933 were slowly seeping from her mind, and Elvie worried that very soon, her parent's faces would start to fade from her memories. She missed her parents; she missed her mother’s hugs; and most of all, she missed the words ‘everything will be all right.’
It obviously wouldn’t.
She stood by the bed, gloomily staring at a cat who studiously ignored her while watching the open spaces of the garden with longing.
‘Why don’t you speak in my mind anymore?’
The cat's purple eyes looked at her curiously before he jumped into her arms. Unlike past attempts, this time, Elvie caught him – or tried to. The cat had no substance and flowed through outstretched hands into her chest.
‘It takes more strength to communicate when we are not one,’ the cat’s voice whispered in her mind.
‘You’re inside me?’ She didn’t feel any different, but she was talking to her own mind – that was definitely not normal!
‘Of course. We are one. We are bound together. Your pain is my pain.’
He knew why she was upset then. ‘Who are you?’
‘I do not need a name. I am your bond,’ the cat told her plainly. ‘I am here because you called to me, and I came to you. In a way, it was our destiny.’
‘You told me the spells to make a portal, to slow time. Can you tell me the spells to take me home?’
‘I cannot. My knowledge is… not always complete.’
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Elvie sighed, and her thoughts returned to their darker state. ‘Why is magic so vile – why does it kill?’
‘Kill?’ The cat tested the word in her mind.
‘Yes, kill. I set that man on fire and ended his life.’
‘You didn’t kill. His connection still exists. He has not crossed to the Beyond.’
‘What? How do you know that?’
She didn’t get a reply as the cat jumped out of her chest and onto the windowsill. He purred once and returned to his appraisal of the view.
‘That’s cruel,’ Elvie told him out loud.
The cat only purred in response.
‘That’s not helpful… and don’t think I’ll be letting this go.’
But the cat was helpful. A burden had slightly lifted from Elvie’s mind like a dark veil from her face. She hadn’t killed Darius! But how, she had killed him? The vivid images of his death returned, causing her hands to tremble.
The cat meowed in response and came to her for a pat.
‘I don’t know what to make of you,’ she told it, seeking to distract her darker thoughts. ‘You come out of nowhere, tell me strange spells, and live in my chest. Oh… and you can talk in my mind. I guess I shouldn’t expect any different… but why?’
The cat just stared at her, purring warmly.
Elvie sighed, gently stroking his soft fur.
According to Fleur, the nurse who oversaw her recovery, Elvie was in the prestigious Royal Apartments. And it did look beautiful, with wide-open hallways, ornate carvings or engravings on every piece of woodwork, and serene paintings of nature on the walls. However, the best feature was the fact the bedrooms surrounded a beautiful central garden with leafy green foliage, white flowers, and running water in the form of fountains.
That was the place she decided to relax and absorb some sunlight, and Elvie took the opportunity to pull herself into the natural nook of a tree, where the grass was soft beneath her, and she could lay back in peace.
‘This is nice.’ She patted the cat who curled into her Elder House cloak and embraced the warmth as she dozed back.
Just as sleep started to claim her, the cat stirred, ears pricked up.
Deep in conversation were two Masters she vaguely recognised from fleeting glimpses on the Island. They’d come into the garden and failed to notice her, deep as she was in the cover of the tree. They were easily audible over the trickle of the water fountain despite their hushed voices.
‘These attacks have been coordinated and deliberate. A scheme is in motion. Some grand plan we know nothing of… Masters murdered. The Sentinel drawn out and an attack on the Island.’
‘It certainly appears planned. But…’
‘No, we cannot be passive with this. We must be aggressive, make a stand, and prepare to take action. The foolish Huns were not satisfied with the last death toll. War is coming; I feel it in my old bones.’
‘That may be so…’
‘The German magicians risk much for their newfound cause – his cause.’
‘I think you are right. But what of this other mage, the one the girl killed?’
Elvie felt, rather than saw, the Master shrug. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. Was that also German magicians, or is there a powerful third player on this chessboard we know nothing about?’
‘And the girl herself?’
‘Never met her. But by all accounts, she’s a normal student who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She will need to be questioned though, if the reports we here are accurate.’
‘There were multiple witnesses in the arena and palace, and no real reason to doubt them.
‘She’ll need to be watched; watched by someone other than Alistar.’ A touch of disdain crept into the Masters’ voice.
‘Naturally, Maxim. In fact, perhaps we should…’
A shuffling in the garden announced Fleur’s entrance, as she bustled through the same doorway the Masters had used.
‘Hello, Sirs. Has either of you seen a young girl with curling brown hair? She’s required.’
‘Nobody is here,’ the Master replied, none too kindly.
Elvie didn’t like his tone. ‘I’m here,’ she called out to Fleur. As she made to rise from where she reclined against the tree, the cat dissolved into her.
The look on the Masters’ face as she edged into their view was priceless.
‘You’ve been there all along?’ asked the Master in a grey robe, with a thick beard and shaved head.
Elvie smiled knowingly, placing a name to his tone of voice. ‘Naturally,’ she repeated his words.
A flicker of surprise crossed Maxim’s face, but Elvie did not give them a turn to speak, instead opting to leave with Fleur.
Neither Master called her back.
‘Did I miss something?’ the nurse asked, wide eyes betraying her worry.
‘Nothing important.’ Elvie smiled reassuringly.
‘Hmmm. Okay. How are you feeling today? I was asked if you were well, and I replied that you were up and about, And then received a message saying you were summoned. I’m sorry for that. I did not realise how swiftly my response would be acted upon.’
‘I’m feeling well, don’t worry. But who am I summoned by?’ Elvie queried.
‘Their Majesties – of course!’
Elvie paled.
Oh.
She was going to meet the King and Queen.