314
Lucy
I shuddered again, huddled in my jacket as the rest of the class settled in. Sunlight painted lazy stripes across the desk. I could still feel the hum of the spell in my veins, winding through my thoughts. Lethal. The spells were lethal, and that was terrifying, yet a strange calm had settled within me, a tentative truce between fear and fascination.
A different professor walked in. "Greetings. I'll be your substitute today as today's lecture is a specialty one. We'll be talking about the Awakening."
I sat up as people started to murmur. He started with a basic overview of what the Awakening was. Apparently, it was a predictable event that didn't always coincide with the Crescent Moon Festival's date.
"Professor," a girl a few rows below piped up, her voice small yet insistent, "I've heard stories. Myths, almost, about the Awakening. Great tragedies and great miracles have all happened during the Awakening… Knowing that and all the hunters that have come, is it really safe for us to hold the Crescent Moon Festival at all?"
The professor sighed. "Myths are often exaggerated echoes of truth. I can’t advise you on how to be safe during the Festival. I believe that’s what all the announcements have been for. I can say that if you’re worried about hunters, don’t go.”
She tutted. “That’s not—”
“Hunters are everywhere,” he said. “And they are ravenous, desperate people. They don’t just decide to attack on Festival Days or specific dates. They are constantly searching for prey. If you fear them more at the Festival than you do on a daily basis, stay home.” He cleared his throat. “If you are more interested in what you could stand to gain through the Awakening, there is an intriguing chapter in your textbook dedicated to the historical use of Awakening energies. Might I suggest..." He trailed off, eyes twinkling behind his spectacles, "a little independent research?"
The class murmured around me, but I didn’t pay them much attention. I flipped through the textbook, finding the chapter in question tucked away near the back. It glossed over a lot of the rituals that were usually held on the day of the Awakening, but none of them seemed to be something that Selene would necessarily be interested in.
When class ended, I headed to the library, searching for a hint. Maybe knowing would help me change it, combat it, or at least get out of it without a problem. Each tome I flipped through gave me answers, but they didn’t feel like the right answers. I could hear Selene’s chilling words still echoing in my head. I had to beat her, or there would never be any peace.
Eve, my mother, and Delilah had put us all on the path to get free. I just wished they’d given me a map of some sort. I went deeper into the library. Then, I felt a tugging to the left. Then, to the right, and at the end of a long row of books, one book jutted out from the shelf.
I pulled it out. It didn’t have a name. It was a leather-bound volume, and its cover had a skeletal hand clutching a wilting rose. I opened the book, skimming through the pages. My stomach turned at some of the rituals inside. Selene was too arrogant, too vein, to resort to grave robbing, and there would be no need to stitch me together if her plan was to take over people’s bodies as she had before.
The Binding.
A cold sweat prickled my skin as I reached the page. The ritual, fueled by the Awakening's celestial energies, could tether a disembodied soul to a living host. It didn’t mention exactly what happened to the original soul, but I had a feeling that Selene didn’t care either way. This had to be the plan.
Blood of same
Anchored in light
My stomach turned. I pulled out my phone to snap pictures of the whole ritual. If I knew the signs, maybe I could figure out a way to disrupt it. Hadn’t Lucian told me that ritual work was delicate? One wrong thing could change everything.
I flipped one page too far and frowned. A bit of my fear faded. I skimmed it and took pictures of it as well. Maybe I had found an answer, or at least a way to stall Selene when the time came. I closed the book and slipped it back onto the shelf as my alarm went off, telling me to get to training with Lucian.
Leaving the library felt like surfacing from somewhere deep in the earth. I didn’t know if it was because of the aura of the section I had been in or just the weight of my thoughts. Twilight painted the campus sky in streaks of fiery orange. I got to the lockers, changed, and entered the room where the rest of my class was.
Duke smiled at me. “Where’d you go?”
“The library?”
He bobbed his head. “Nothing wrong with a little extra tuition.”
Class started, and Lucian paired up the rest of the class before waving Duke and me forward. Beside him were two men. They were both rather large and broad, but they would probably be nice enough if Lucian had brought them in to teach with him.
“These two will be teaching you today.”
My instructor, a hulking man with a face lightly scarred, nodded at me.
"Renfield," he said. "I’ll be teaching you concealed daggers.”
I glanced at Lucian who smiled and waved us on. Duke looked outright nervous as he looked at the other man whose name I didn’t catch.
The rest of the class worked on something. I could hear Lucian’s voice. Renfield pulled a holster from within the large box of gear. The other man pulled a different one for Duke. Then, he demonstrated how to put it on.
“To my understanding, you’ll be in a dress,” Renfield said, offering another. “This one is for your leg.”
Once I had it on, he put me in a poncho that was probably about as long as my dress would be. I looked over at Duke and found him putting on a jacket. His second dagger was strapped to his ankle it seemed. I bit my lip and faced Renfield.
"Your biggest advantage with concealed weapons is that your opponent doesn't know they're there. That's an element of surprise, but it's only useful if you can take advantage of it. To start, we're going to practice your draw before moving on to basic strikes.
He taught me how to draw the daggers through the cloak. I couldn’t imagine how this was going to work when I was in the dress. Would there be holes for that? Like lab coats? Then, we started practicing, drawing, and striking in one movement. It should have been easy, but my hand kept getting stuck in the holes of the cloak.
"Keep your fist tight and angle your hand in line with the blade. Don't shift the angle until the blade is out."
I nodded, practicing a few times. My hands shook. Sweat trickled between my shoulder blades, but soon enough, I had the motion down.
I got the basics, but when I had to apply them, I was overwhelmed almost every time.
"Not fast enough," he said, waving my hand around like a rag doll. "And your grip isn't tight enough. I could shake it right out of your hand. Again."
I reset, trying to focus, trying to get it right, but I didn't even get the dagger out this time.
"Again."
I got the dagger out, but just as I turned it, I stopped. It was like my whole body stuttered. Renfield didn't touch me. He didn't move until whatever it was released me. The dagger hit the ground, and I pulled in a deep breath.
He picked it up. "Breathe, and we'll go again."
I shuddered, but I nodded. I knew I needed to do this. I knew that I could. What was it? It had to be something. I looked over at him. Maybe it was his size. Maybe it was the reality of why he was teaching me to use a dagger. Maybe I was just shaken by the idea of having to stab someone, but I couldn’t manage to thrust the knife the way he told me. Just trying to aim for anywhere vital, anywhere at all, had me shaking and frustrated with myself. The daggers were fake. He wouldn’t be injured. I knew this, yet…
I closed my eyes. The pages of the book flashed through my mind. My skin started to crawl at the thought of Selene in my body. I could see myself staring out that window again, long straightened hair, and in place of Tony or Matt, it was Oren. I shuddered and curled into myself. My whole body shook.
“You’re afraid,” Renfield said, yanking me out of my thoughts. I met his gaze. “That’s good. You should be, but you can’t let your fear overtake you."
He offered me the dagger. "Again.”
I looked down at it, glanced over to Duke, then back to the dagger before clenching my jaw and taking it.
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