Careless Magic book 1

Chapter 33

"What is wrong with you?" Avalon asked half concerned, half pissed off.

He followed me immediately outside and didn't let me get nearly as far away from the barn as I would have liked. The sun was warm despite the cool autumn breeze of October. The trees surrounding the farmhouse had turned to brilliant shades of orange and red. The fields had been fully harvested and made ready for the winter coming soon.

"I can't be a part of this Avalon. I wish you would have given me some warning; maybe a head's up, like 'hey we're on our way to dig your grave,'" I rolled my eyes and folded my arms defiantly.

"Ok, first of all. You would have known what we were doing if you would use your magic just an eency bit. Second of all, it was nice of me to give you the option, but you don't really have a choice. And lastly, if you don't join this, then we are all going to die!" Avalon was animated in his very characteristic dramatic way, I fought back a smile and forced myself to focus on the fact that his surprise attack, really just pissed me off.

"Stop being the self-righteous martyr," I quipped harshly.

"And stop pining over the one guy that you can't have, the one guy who is only using you, the one guy whose sole purpose is to kill everyone you love," I closed my mouth sharply, not realizing it had been open. Tears welled up in my eyes and I watched Avalon flinch from remorse.

"I'm pretty sure he's not the only guy using me; and I can promise you he's not the only guy trying to kill everyone I love," I could barely get the words out before tears began to fall down my cheeks.

"Except if I am the one who gets me killed, at least it will be on my terms. I'm not going to live in oppression under a violent dictator only to die of a horrible disease that could strike at any moment," Avalon folded his arms the same way I fold mine, and I noticed the same defiant expression cross his face. I was kept in the dark so often that sometimes my biggest moments of revelation came through Avalon's side of the argument.

"What about the using me part?" I asked timidly.

"Maybe I'm using you, well not you, but, fine, your magic," he admitted. "But if I'm using you, it's with your best interest in mind." he gave me a playful grin.

"Sure it is," I stuck out my bottom lip in a mock pout.

"It's true. I'm not the only one who's stronger when we're together," he turned to walk back into the barn; he thought he had won the argument. Please Eden, we need you. His voice was in my head, and I could feel, more than hear the desperation in his emotion.

"I'm not saying that I'm joining. But I will listen to the rest of your meeting," he turned and bowed a little with his hands pressed together. I kicked a rock at him, sending it with extra force via magic and watched him duck out of the way just in time.

Instead of sitting down in my previous place I chose to stand in the back, hoping to remain anonymous. I knew that it was impossible since every person in the room was tuned into my magical current, just like I was tuned into theirs. Their lighter, brighter magic was unique and interesting. I felt their currents flow, each distinctive, almost illuminating their person. It was as if their blood was glowing from underneath their skin, only in an invisible way; like I could have seen it glow if I had held a black light up to them.

Avalon began the meeting by updating the group of twenty or so Immortals about the skirmish on the rooftop at Kingsley a few weeks ago. My cheeks burned hot as he recounted a little too in detail what went wrong and how lucky they were to get out of there discretely.

The five guys who were involved were all given pats on the back or some variation of a high five or fist pound. They were apparently all part of the reconnaissance team. Besides Avalon and Jericho, there were three other boys, all probably two or three years older than me. Avalon seemed to be the youngest and I found it odd that even though he was the youngest in the entire room he seemed to also be the leader.