The Black Necromancer-Book 4

Chapter 6

Here's the next chapter! Sorry for the delay in the update but I am on holiday now so I should be able to update more frequently. :) Please identify yourselves to me by voting and commenting! :D I'm still dedicating the chapters to my loyal readers so please identify yourselves to me by voting and commenting! :D Picture of Sapphire on the side. ;) 

Chapter 6

                Kayla stirred, feeling a sharp pain in her skull. Unable to move or bear the thought of opening her eyes, she remained perfectly still. Her head was aching and pulsing with each breath that she took.

                She heard a chair squeak beside her; her instincts told her that it was probably Sapphire who was watching her. Only Sapphire would be there to make sure that she was fine since Jared was probably fussing about the other patients from the Battle for Avalon. Then she heard a male cough and her eyes, unbidden, opened a crack.

                Her heart sank inwardly as her eyes took in the boy who sat next to her. Overlong dark hair fell across his tanned forehead and his blue eyes were bright. Benjamin didn’t have blue eyes. The disappointment was enough to make her stomach churn. Swallowing hard, Kayla struggled to get saliva past the large lump in her throat that was enough to make her vision blur. When she was able to see again, she glanced quickly at the boy next to her.

                The boy sitting next to her was tall and muscular for his age although he was still too short to pass for an adult. Over the past six months, he had gained a lot of muscle and lost a lot of his baby fat; he was lean and muscles stood out in his arms. He was no longer a child, but he was much too young to be a man. Troy was, after all, only fourteen years old.

                Disappointment crowded out her painful emotions and she was suddenly glad that Troy didn’t know that she was awake. He would be saddened by her lack of enthusiasm at his visit; he was her half-brother after all.

                “I’m glad you came,” Troy said, turning away from Kayla and standing up.

                “Of course I did,” a familiar female voice said in a gentle tone. “I’m concerned about Kayla. She’s been unconscious all day.”

                Kayla recognized Dahlia’s soft, charming voice that second she spoke. No one could sound like Dahlia, even if they were a special ventriloquist. All the girls, Kayla included, were jealous about Dahlia’s so-called side effects of her charming gift. It wasn’t Dahlia’s fault, of course, so Kayla tried hard not to hold it against her. All the same, it was difficult sometimes.

                “Thanks for coming,” Troy stammered. “I was afraid that you wouldn’t want to because… well… because…”

                “Because you’ve been avoiding me,” Dahlia supplied, but there was no hardness or malice in her voice.

                Kayla cracked open her other eyelid and saw Troy looked down, carefully avoiding Dahlia’s gaze, struggling to keep his face emotionless the way that Kayla always managed. Kayla’s poker face was something that she had perfected years ago; it helped to be able to hide what she was thinking from other people. Troy, on the other hand, hadn’t managed to learn how to conceal his emotions yet and neither had Dahlia although she was better at it than he was.

                To Dahlia’s credit, she did not say anything that might start an argument with Troy; instead, she let the subject rest temporarily as she walked over to Kayla’s bedside. Quickly, Kayla let her eyes flutter shut very softly so that Dahlia wouldn’t realize that she was awake.