Forgotten Magic

Chapter 19

Someone was dead.

The next morning, before the sun had even begun to rise, I heard cries of distress from the village. I had jumped out of bed, grabbed my cloak, and headed out the door to see what the matter was.

A man with walnut brown hair and bluish green eyes had run out of his house only a few seconds later. I quickly recognized him as Parker. The man we met a few weeks ago. I got a better view of the situation and saw he was holding Sarah in his arms. I don't know how I didn't process it until now. She was pale. And blood stained her torso. She was...dead.

Parker explained to Quirin and the others outside how he'd woken up to find Sarah impaled by a black rock that had pierced their home. How she was already gone when he woke. He'd been too late.

I turned and ran. I ran to find Varian. To drag him out. He needed to know what was going on.

"Varian!" I burst into the alchemist's room. "C'mon, it-it's an emergency. Please, wake up."

The alchemist slowly moved to sit on the edge of his bed. "Hmm? What...what's wrong?"

"Someone's dead," I said, trying to process the whole thing too. "Sarah Chance...is dead."

"What?!" Varian jumped out of bed. "H-How, where, when-"

"The black rocks. Just now. Come on!"

When we left the house, we found an even larger crowd around the town square. Even moe people had heard. Kids were trying to squeeze to the front to get a better look as their parents pulled them back. Quirin was attempting to comfort Parker about the whole thing. It was just too much chaos.

The good thing about chaos is that people don't normally notice two teenagers squeezing by.

"Parker, I'm so sorry," Quirin was saying. "I wish there was something I could do." He stopped as his eyes found Varian and I. "What are you two doing? Get back home," he whispered.

"What...what happened?" Varian whispered, hands cupped to his mouth. His eyes were fixed on Sarah's limp form.

"I'll explain later," Quirin tells his son. "Not now. Okay?"

"It was the rocks," Parker interrupts. "Quirin, I think Varian deserves to know. Now."

"The...the rocks?" Varian asks through tears. "I-" A gasp. The village goes quiet as everyone realizes. Everything...every inch of Old Corona village...was buried. In rubble and black rocks.

"What...what happened..." I whispered. "H-how..."

"You see?"

"W-what?" Quirin asked, eyes on his friend.

"You see what your carelessness has done?" Parker asks, calm yet full of rage. "You see what it's done? You've killed my wife. And before anyone knows it, you'll kill someone else too. Can't you see what you've done?"

"Parker, no, it wasn't like that," the village leader said quietly, reaching out a hand. "I'll take us all away. The entire village. I'll find a place to-"

"No." He was broken. "No. You see what your leadership has done? I won't be following you anymore. I'm sorry...old friend." Parker Chance turned and walked off.

And now the village was bustling. They were all questioning everything. Where to go. What they had to leave behind. What this meant for the royals. For their families. For their lives. But above all, I think people began to question Quirin's leadership.

He answered as best he could. Explaining what his ideas were. Explaining that he knew no more than anyone else. And explaining why he'd done what he'd done. Still, I think a good few of the people were beginning to agree with Parker.

Quirin hurried us back home and away from what soon would become a mob if he didn't stop it.

"Everything's going to be fine," he tried to assure us. "We're going to go to the capital. Everyone will be safe. Everything will be fine. About Sarah, we'll make sure to um...well...I-I need to go. Just...everything will—everything will be fine. I promise. Now...just..I-I need to go." He turned and left.

"I need to go too." Varian left. I heard the creak of his lab door close.

I didn't understand. Just then, I didn't understand anything. Not like usual. Usually I had clues. This time I had nothing.

I slowly headed back up to my room, locking the door just after Shadows slipped in. I sat down and closed the curtains. After a moment in the dark, I lit a candle.

And then I started to cry.

Once again, I started to cry because I didn't understand. I didn't understand what was going on. I didn't understand what was going to happen. I didn't understand what was going to happen to me or my friends or my family. Varian was hiding something from me. Quirin was in a nervous panic. Sarah, the person I had decided to rely on, was dead. Her husband was filled with grief. Taylor didn't know yet and was two kingdoms away. And Nickolas...well...had evidently done something bad.

Everything seemed lost. Too lost. No one was left. No one I could trust. No one who wanted to help. This must be the worst it could get. Right?

. . .

Well, to put it simply, it did. I was wrong. Again. The village was mad. More than mad, it was furious. Everyone was buzzing about black rocks this and Quirin that. No one had seen Parker since he'd buried the body of his wife. And I hadn't seen Taylor yet.

I was worried. What would happen when they returned? What would happen when they found out what went down. What would they say?

That was the least of my concerns at the moment. The head of it all: Varian had started experimenting on the rocks. Not only that, but him and his father had started arguing. Again.

I couldn't stand it all. I couldn't stand it. I thought that for sure we had hit rock bottom. The worse of the worst. But once again...I was wrong.