Strange Magic

Fiona's Past

Things got better for Jenna, especially the things which concerned magic. She was finding it easier to maintain her focus. She came to learn that patience is all it takes and she was learning to control her spontaneity. She was mastering the fire element, making Stephanie Lore proud. As for the destructive magic, she was getting even better. She actually enjoyed destroying things. But she was still zero with the white magic. She couldn't understand why but she just can't even turn a leaf up. All she knew was how to burn things up. She'd been practicing a lot. On her own. Sometimes she doesn't even know if she was doing the priest or mage magic. She tried the healing magic in her room and ended up burning up her bed. Of course Old Nana was none too pleased when Jenna requested a new bed. No pain, no gain.

Jenna was perfecting herself with magic but she wasn't looking forward for the vampire class with Ivy. Just the sight of Ivy when she pass her sometimes made her edgy. She had no hell of an idea how their class would turn out to be like. They could even end up hurting each other and Jenna wasn't scared anymore. Sure Ivy knew a lot more than her because Jenna practically knew nothing, but now, Jenna had her magical abilities in her favour.

Much as she had been dreading it, Nana had assigned the following afternoon for classes with Ivy. Before the appointed time came, Jenna walked around trying to keep herself cool and not think about Ivy and her nasty provocations. She was surprised when she bumped into Fiona.

"Oh hey Fiona," Jenna said warmly.

She hadn't seen Fiona since she got back to the circle. She was glad to see a happy face. Fiona looked at her in surprise.

"Guess what? I'm back," Jenna grinned.

Fiona still stared without a word.

"And oh, about your brother-

Fiona gestured her to stop talking, putting a finger on her lips. She stopped abruptly. Why? Oh right! I'm not supposed to talk to her.

"Follow me," she whispered, her eyes darting everywhere. She obviously didn't want to be seen talking to Jenna. She turned and walked, expecting Jenna to follow.

Jenna followed after glancing at her watch. She walked up beside Fiona but Fiona took a step forward and stayed ahead of her. Okay I get it. Jenna slowed her pace and trailed behind.

Fiona led her up the flight of stairs. Jenna stopped to catch her breath. No elevators? She wanted to know where they were going but there were bodies and eyes everywhere. She felt they must be on the top floor of the castle now. They kept walking till the halls narrowed and became deserted.

"Where are we going?" Jenna asked impatiently. "I have a class in fifteen. Can't be late. Old woman will have a fit."

"Almost there," Fiona said without turning back. "It won't take long."

She led Jenna into an old and spacious attic. It was dark and musty. It looked like it hadn't been used in ages. Empty. Jenna blinked in confusion.

"My room," Fiona said and walked into the room.

Jenna stared in disbelief. How could anyone live in such a musty place like this which smelled of rotting wood and decay? She gathered herself.

"So what's the big deal?" Jenna asked. "Why are we here?"

"To talk about Werd of course," she said.

Did I just climb up those flights of stairs just to talk about a traitor? Couldn't she just talk somewhere else?

"Before anything else Jenna," Fiona said, turning around to face her. "I wanna thank you for finding my brother. I was able to communicate with him through the pendant."

Jenna nodded and waited for more.

"You've been asking me why I'm not supposed to talk to you. Well, the thing is..."

Jenna inched closer to hear.

"You see, long before the Trinity got split up, we all lived together. But before Dracula came to existence, our kind started taking control of the union and it enraged the whole Trinity. Things got offhand when we tried to use force to establish our superiority. We should have known we were no match against the Trinity but our sense of importance betrayed us."

"What do you mean your kind?" Jenna asked, getting interested.

"Why, the Keepers of course," Fiona answered in surprise. "Didn't Werd tell you about it?"

"Apparently not," said Jenna, remembering how Werd abandoned her.

"We're Keepers. And we were the guardians of the Trinity before all of these happened. We played an important role in protecting the Trinity. Their main motive was that with us protecting them, they needn't exert themselves too much with their abilities. And the Trinity grew weak during that time because many of them used lesser magic. Some even gave up altogether so that they can fit in perfectly with the human society. That was when the Keepers attacked."

"How come I've never heard of the Keepers?" Jenna asked.

"Because we aren't supposed to be believed that we existed. We've done terrible things, Jenna, too terrible to even comprehend. Its no surprise that the Trinity wanted to wipe the slate clean off of the Keepers. Most of the younger generations now don't even know that we existed some centuries back. You should know though, that not all of us were bad. We were all good, angelic even, but for few rebels who polluted our minds with the lust for power and authority. We were overpowered and there was a mass massacre. Almost all the Keepers were slaughtered that fateful night. Some few went into hiding like Werd, but most of them must be dead by now. I was separated from my brother that night. I was fleeing along with them but a black spell hit me and I blacked out. When I came around, I was with Old Nana who kept me in hiding. One side I'm grateful to her for saving my life but on the other side, she treats me like a disease that more than often I'd wished that I was dead that night. I am not more than a slave now, you see, this is why its beyond my standard to talk to anyone here. I'm not even supposed to be telling you all of these."

"Then why are you saying this to me?"

"Because you're gonna be taking the lead," she replied. "Its only fair that you know the proper history before you make a wrong judgment."

"How'd you know your brother was alive after all these years?"

"It was a few days before you came here," Fiona said. "I felt a weak connection to him. He probably must have thought of me a little bit. For the first few years since the massacre, my connection with him was so strong but it dwindled till there was nothing left. I thought he died. But that day, I felt it again. And I knew he was alive. Somewhere out there in the real world. Something must have triggered his memory of me."

Jenna guessed it was the day when Werd told her that she wasn't the only one who'd lost someone. All of these revelations made her feel more uneasy. It is better to know what you're fighting against instead of not knowing at all but again, she felt it would have been far easier to not know what she's fighting against because all of these scared her. She glanced at her watch. She was almost late.

"I really gotta go now," Jenna said as she started backing away. "I'm nearly late."

She was running to the door when she remembered something. She turned around and looked at Fiona who was still standing where she stood.

"Oh by the way," she said. "There are more. More of your kind."

Then she fished out Werd's letter and threw it at Fiona who caught it in surprise and then she dashed downstairs.

I just hope Ivy won't be fuming already.