Shadow Cursed

Chapter 25: His Dark Secret

That night, Alric refused to speak. He was so shaken by what had happened that he hid himself away in his room the rest of the night. He seemed distant from me, kind of like avoiding me. I didn't question him since I didn't want him to hate me, but I had never seen him act like this since I reunited with him.

I sat outside in the living room after clearing the mess and settled to watch some TV. After flipping through several channels with nothing interesting I turned it off. I went to check on him but his door was locked.

The clock said it was 12:01 am. After yawning several times , I decided to go to sleep since I was tired out from the journey and still weak. I would check up on Alric tomorrow when I woke up. My bedroom wasn't a mess, and it only had a bed and a shelf or two. I settled under the covers and dozed off into a restless night.

Four hours later I awoke from a nightmare. I dreamt of Anna hunting for me, day and night with no rest. She would torture people, sometimes burning them to death. I woke up sobbing, people shouldn't have needed to suffer because of me. But I didn't want to give in and hand over the amulet. I pushed the nightmare away when I remembered about Alric.

I got out from under the covers and walked down the hallway to see Alric's door opened. I looked inside to see him sleeping and trying not to wake him up pulled his blanket over him. He was tossing and turning in his sleep, probably nightmares. I left his room and went out into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

I sat at the kitchen counter with a plate consisting of eggs, a few pieces of bacon, and toast, with a cup of hot chocolate. I wondered what had happened that made him so frightened. I barely touched the food on my plate when heard the door bell.

Opening the door I saw a young women behind it, "Good morning."

"Hi, I'm his neighbor, and I don't think we've met yet." She was looking at me with a funny expression.

I explained, "I'm his daughter, I just haven't had time to come to the apartment with school and everything."

She nodded, "I see, nice to meet you. I was just wondering, is he okay? I heard some weird sounds coming from the apartment last night."

Weird sounds? I was worried now, "I think he's gonna be okay. I'll let you know if anything happens."

"Okay, I hope to see you around more." She left and went back into her own apartment across the hall.

I closed the door and went back to my breakfast. So someone went through the house and apartment, while tormenting Alric? And possibly dragging him away in attempt for info? I couldn't eat anymore with the thoughts on my mind.

I stood up and walked to his bedroom door, "Alric, we need to talk." I heard tossing and turning along with mumbling on the other side of the door in response. Uninvited, I opened the door to see him with no shirt on. Under his shirt were all sorts of cuts and bruises, some with blood.

"Isabella, I can explain," he stuttered in shock.

I didn't wait for his response, "You had me worried sick and and then your neighbor came over asking about last night."

"Wait, she came to check on me?" He scratched the back of his head.

He seemed nervous, pacing the room a little. "Isabella take a seat, there is something you need to know." I took a seat on his bed and waited for him to tell me. "I don't know how to put this."

"Start at the beginning? The beginning is always a good place."

"Your mother was not all human, but not all magik." He didn't know what to say next, "She was a natural, a gift some would say."

"Is a case like hers rare?" I touched my necklace below my shirt.

"A human that could just learn magik, that was a rare. She was raised by humans, she was forced to practice in secret."

"What is the extent of my powers?" I looked at the palms of my hands. In movies, they could set things on fire with a snap of a finger, move stuff with a thought of their mind, and other crazy stuff.

"That's unknown territory, since you're kind of a hybrid. Daughter of a magus and human gifted with powers."

I looked at him, his eyes were looking at the floor. He slowly looked up and our eyes met for a brief second in time. I was thrown into a flashback, this time my mother was dead in his arms. He had a shirt stained red and a bloody dagger on the ground. I held back a scream, I wasn't meant to see that.

His eyes hardened from sorrowful to serious, "Do you know your element yet?"

"No," I shook my head. I feared for my life, I was in the room with no escape.

"You're coming to age, and with Anna on your trail the sooner you know magik the better." He grabbed a few books and started out the door. "Training starts now."

"Alric," he paused at the doorway. I asked as calmly as possible, "What happened last night? It's like your trying to evade the question."

"Celeste," I could see the pain in his eyes, "I promise when it's time I'll tell you. You aren't ready for it."

"Promise?" I hardly believed in promises anymore, they were always broken.

He came over and kissed me on my forehead, "I promise this time."

He left the room, by now my world had been shattered. Did he kill my mother, the women he loved? I took deep breaths. Calm down Isabella, there had to be a reason why she was dead in his arms. There had to be a reason. I decided against the feeling in my gut to trust him, he couldn't hurt his own daughter. Could he?