Clandestine

Chapter Twenty- Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Good morning." Cyrus smiles, his ice blue eyes lighting up as I exit the castle doors. He wore his normal training clothes, his black pants and grey zip up hoodie, open- exposing his plain black tee. I drop my gaze to the ground, unable to see him when his brother has the same eyes. If I didn't know them I would be convinced they were twins. "Were you able to get any more sleep?"

"A little." I sigh, gazing across the field. "So what should we start with?" The wind blows leaves around the ground, swirling in some patches. Autumn has always been my favorite season. I love watching  the leaves change color. It' s also perfect weather to lay down a blanket and read a book. When Sam and I were teenagers we picked up reading, and it was one of my favorite things to do. She would bring the biggest blanket she had, I would bring my books and we would go to a park and lay on the grass getting lost in books. Sam used to make us tea and bring it along so we have something warm to drink.

Life back then was simple. Easy. I never had to worry about death. About being killed. I never had that kind of stress. Even after my father died I never was worried of something happening to me. It was just Sam and me. Two best friends.

"First, lets see what we both can do, then we can go from there." He rubs his knuckles as he faces the stairs. "Lets go down there." He nods towards the end of the flight field, I almost tell him lets do it here but he says, "I don't want to burn the castle down."

"That's fair." I start down the stairs. There's no argument there. Burning down the castle would be worse than anything else catching on fire.

"Should I come supervise?" Constance asks and I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes. "I can be there in five minutes." I don't doubt it. I search the sky for a moment. Clear blue, with a couple white fluffy clouds floating along. But no Constance.

"No I'm okay. No need to scare him." I glance over at Cyrus. He was set on our destination. Gaze fixed on a spot across the field.

"He should be scared." She comments as she sends a memory through my head. Cyrus stood in front of her. She just pulled me under her body before she was blowing hot blazing flames in his direction. There was a slight sizzle as he ducked right in time. "I won't miss next time."

"I'm safe with him." I hold in my sigh but I guess he picks up on it anyway because he turns to me and says, "Is he bothering you already?"

"No." I laugh lightly. "Constance."

"Ah." He looks up at the sky as if searching for her, "She's never going to trust me, is she?"

"No, probably not." Constance growls in answer, a growl that would've shook the ground if she were here. I keep that part to myself.

~~~

Training with Cyrus turned out to be a lot harder than I was expecting. I thought I had the basic stuff down but apparently I can't aim. We've been out here all morning and this-this is what I can't do.

Cyrus did nothing but surprise me. He had told me he hasn't had the time to practice his magic, yet he was phenomenal. As if he had this magic his whole life. Hitting every target, controlling the amount of flame he creates and putting out the flames. And through all of that, he barely broke a sweat.

Meanwhile I'm here, huffing and puffing, body covered in sweat as magic pulls from every fiber of me. Heart pounding in my ears, spots cloud my vision with every ball of air I throw.

"Try again." Cyrus encourages me. He stood to the side, arms crossed. We stood around ten feet from our targets we set up. Three water bottles sat on a boulder laying at the tree line of Everlore Forest.