I inhaled deeply, then exhaled. I repeated it for the second time. I repeated for the third and the fourth time. Yet, I couldn’t concentrate.
My mind was in chaos. My mind was here and there, on my family, on the Lycan boys who had taken residence in the Queen’s palace for the weekend, on the woman in front of me, on the Queen who hadn’t said a word to me since I came, only that I took a breath.
I’ve been taking breaths, trying to center myself but to no avail. My mind just refused to cooperate with my commands. My significant other was also absent.
We had been talking freely, on our way to the Queen’s place this morning for the training-or was it punishment?-and then suddenly she had stopped speaking as I stepped into the compound. All efforts to invite her out were to no avail. I knew, however, that she was there, on the surface.
I could feel her waiting to strike if the Queen made any wrong move. If I would take the guess now, I would say that my significant other wasn’t on good terms with the Queen, never mind that they hadn’t met before.
“Your mind is in all directions, Dora. Until you are able to conquer the distractions of your mind, you will not be able to harness the full measure of your magic, you will not be able to conjure anything at all. If you know you are not ready, you can return home. I have a lot of tasks to accomplish this morning.”
Her hands were full? Then why had she gone through underhanded means to get me here? What was her plan? Why was she acting like I had begged her to take me on a lesson, like I had a choice to be here?
I mentally hissed, and pleaded with my significant other to come up and help me. Her guidance might be the only way for me to concentrate at this point.
“You can run exercises. A few push ups, here and there. It would help you to concentrate.” I heard the Queen point out, and shook my head. No way in hell.
I had listened when Laura had refused to give me food this morning, with the excuse that food, to an extent, dampens the flow of magic, especially if the person was a novice, and a foodie.
Well, she had been talking about me obviously. Still, I had listened to her and her theory, however I wouldn’t deplete my body’s remaining glucose by exercising. I wasn’t going to faint in front of the Queen. I wasn’t going to be the butt of a joke in the palace.
Even though the palace officials pretended they couldn’t see us, I knew they were watching, waiting to see my outburst of power again. They were waiting to see if I was worth any of the fusses.
‘I need your help. I don’t know your deal with the Queen, but if you leave me hanging here, I will not forgive you.’
There was silence at first, but then I felt the stirring and knew that she was going to speak.
Finally.
‘It’s dangerous. I don’t want her to know about me.’
I furrowed my eyebrows, flattening it the next moment when the Queen piqued an eyebrow at me. She mustn’t know that I was communicating with anyone. I subtly shifted to the side, and continued with my other.
‘What do you mean by that? Do you sense some kind of dark energy around her?’
‘Dark energy? She is the darkness. She has abused her position, and has delved into things that a Queen shouldn’t. That’s why the goddess has prepared another Queen for the community. Her time will soon be up.”
Already? Who was the next queen then?
I echoed my thoughts to my significant other. However, silence greeted me.
‘Just take in a deep breath, I will take over the rest. If she discovers me, oh well, there will be no choice but to take it as it comes.’
I didn’t know what my significant other was really talking about, but I knew that she had just diverted the question I had asked her. Was the Queen, Diana? If she was, then the goddess should wait a little until the girl was grown, to make certain decisions on her own. Surely she can do so, surely she could wait for at least ten years-there was only so little that the Queen could do in such an amount of time to her beloved community.
My significant other chuckled, whilst taking a sit on her throne in my mind. ‘A lot can happen in a second, Maya. Know that.’
I felt the sensation running around me then, and I subtly returned to my former position, not caring to know if the queen had seen anything. I flexed my fingers after that, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, merely for show. I was already centered. The Queen can begin her training.
However, a few minutes later, I opened my eyes to look into the familiar ones of the Queen, to ask her what was going on, since she hadn’t said anything. A frown formed on my face when I didn’t see her before me, when I didn’t see her in the courtyard.
“You have good magic.”
I suddenly heard, from behind me, so close to my ears.
Immediately, I wanted to swerve, to see what she was doing behind me, but I was held in place. I was stuck in the same place by magic. What the hell! I tried again, but it was to no avail. I was about to utilize the magic in me, but Queen tapped me gently on the shoulder.
“Stop fighting my magic, Dora. I needed you to stay at a place, for you seemed to be a restless person, always switching positions. I need you to stay at a point and do all that we do today. Just see it as a form of help.”
Oh, she had noticed then. Well, I hoped that was all she noticed-me shifting from the position she had kept me.
‘Is her magic doing anything out of what she said?’ I didn’t trust the woman.
‘No, it’s just holding you in place.’
Over the next two hours, I trained with the Queen intensely about what I had believed were surface materials until now. I kept going back and forth with breathing patterns, and different techniques on centering my magic, and even though I wasn’t a fan of the queen, I would admit that the little training was doing good, both to my mind, and to the flow of magic around my body; and it was just for today.
‘Yeah. She is good. I never negated that, as that’s why she must have been chosen by the goddess. But she has misused her powers. Just be fast enough to grab whatever she throws at you. I feel like these weekend classes won’t last long before she throws her trump card. We have to be watchful and vigilant.’
I acknowledged the truth in that, and continued with the assignment that the Queen had given me-holding up a ball of fire which I had commanded to existence with magic. For every five minutes, I was supposed to add another bout of flames to the fire. At the moment, the ball of fire was the size of a soccer ball.
“Add to it!”
I inhaled deeply, and with my eyes and mind fully concentrated on the ball, I added another bout of flame, watching the target increase to the size of a bigger soccer ball.
“Good, you are doing fine. When you had arrived here first and was finding it hard to even find your center, I had thought that we had overhyped it, that maybe the tape had been doctored…” The Queen laughed as she said this, picking a cup from the stool beside the large chair which she was sitting on. She sipped from the white ceramic.
I was not sure what was in there, but it smelt like the green tea Laura prepared on weekends for us.
For health and vitality, she would say, before handing us the cup of bitter green juice that tasted of death, instead of the life it promised.
“But so far, you have reinstated the former belief that I had-that you might be the best mage I have ever seen. The only thing that confuses me is how you are able to shield your mind from me-well I would relegate that to the fact that you aren’t from my community, but still I’m able to tap in at will to the minds of others who are not of this community. I’ve developed my gift to that extent. What’s your secret?”
The woman has no shame, really. Talking about evading my mind as if she was talking about a cake recipe. I shrugged my shoulders, my hands falling to my sides. “I have no secret.”
The ball of fire floated in the air without my hands pointing to it any longer. That act rather surprised the Queen, especially when I crossed my hands on my chest.
I felt proud.