Chapter Two

“Jade?” I heard Morgyn call me.

I opened my eyes and immediately jumped back. My dream lingered with me. But when I looked around, I was in a room, on a bed. I was at home in the magic realm, in the apartment above one of the shops in Caster’s Alley.

“Oh, thank God,” I smiled, hugging Morgyn. “It’s just you.”

He hugged me back. “Nightmare?”

We let go and I sat up. “Sort of,” I said. “It was a good dream about Caleb, until the end.” I looked at him. “But it felt so real.”

Morgyn sat beside me. “Well, Caleb went for a walk,” he said. “The leaders really enjoy him. He’s the only vampire that lives here and has vowed to protect us all.”

I smiled and nodded. “Yes, that’s Caleb.” I closed my eyes. “Our protector.” I pulled the covers off of myself. “I should go make breakfast for all of us.”

Morgyn smiled. “Need help?”

I smiled back. “Sure! I’ll never turn down help from you. You make the best French toast.”

He giggled. “I’ve been told.”

We made and ate breakfast. Caleb came back in, and we all went to HQ. Morgyn and I had our sage duties, and Caleb took his seat in the garden with the leaders, Jay and Marco.

L approached Morgyn and I. “Good morning!” She was chipper. “How did you sleep?”

I smiled. “Great! Until I had a weird dream.” I stopped. “Oh! That reminds me. I need to ask Caleb about that dream.” I bowed slightly to L. “I’ll catch up with you soon!” Waving quickly, I headed up the stairs.

Marco greeted me. “Ah, Jade,” he smiled.

I bowed to him. “Hello, Sir.”

“What brings you up here to us?” He asked.

“I need to talk to Caleb,” I said.

Marco nodded to Caleb, giving him permission to speak to me. I wasn’t sure why he needed permission when Caleb, Morgyn and I shared a residence, but I figured it was for the Greater Good.

Everything is for the Greater Good of our Leaders; Marco and Jay.

Caleb and I walked downstairs and outside.

“What happened?” He asked, placing his hands on my shoulders.

“I had a dream about you…or us, really,” I said. “I remember you telling me about Ruby, but I don’t remember how or when.” I stopped to think for a moment. “That’s a bit lost on me right now, but I was her in this dream.” I glanced up at him with excitement. “But the dream was so cool! It felt so real, like I was actually there!”

“Could it have been a vision?” Caleb asked.

“Maybe,” I nodded. “It ended with you being pinned to the floor and bit by a vampire.”

Caleb’s excited expression from hearing my story quickly turned to sadness. “That was the day you and I were turned.”

“We both were?” I asked.

“Yes. She turned me.” He paused and looked away. “Being a newborn vampire, I was blinded by my thirst and attacked you. Then I turned you into a vampire to save your life.”

“Save my life?” I stood back, shocked.

He nodded. “Yes. If I hadn’t, you would have died from blood loss,” he explained. “I was careless. And I didn’t want to lose you. So I made you undead, like me.”

I nodded slowly, processing what he had told me. “Well, I don’t hold it against you,” I reassured him, touching his cheek.

He smiled. “Thank you.”

He kissed me softly, and I also smiled, wrapping my arms around him.

“Alright, Caleb, that’s enough,” Marco said from the balcony.

Caleb broke the kiss. “Right,” he nodded. “I need to go.”

I also nodded and waved as he walked away.

Despite living together, Morgyn, Caleb and I were not permitted to show affection to one another aside from hugging. It seemed a little unfair, but it was for the Greater Good, so we didn’t question it. Even at the HQ though, if we kissed or anything, Marco still seemed to get agitated, so he put a stop to it. It was disappointing, but we didn’t question that either.

I went back into the HQ, helping fellow spellcasters with anything they needed to learn. It was a shame that the portal leading to Glimmerbrook, and thus the outside world had been destroyed. We would have had far more spellcaster hopefuls. Now, we only had the few who had been here when the portal was destroyed. About fifteen spellcasters in total, excluding the leaders and sages. I looked out the window at the shattered portal. It’s for the Greater Good.

Morgyn placed his hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”

I turned to face him, smiling sadly and nodding. “Yeah, I’ll be alright,” I said. It was only partially a lie.

Morgyn tilted his head. “Want to talk?”

I glanced at the stairs leading to the garden. “I shouldn’t.”

He followed my gaze. “You don’t need to be afraid of them,” he said. “As long as we don’t break the rules, we’re fine.”

I took his hands. “What if I want to break the rules?” I asked, whispering.

“Shh, shh, shh, shh,” he shushed me frantically. “They can hear you!” He kept his voice at a whisper. “You know what happens to people who break the rules here. You can’t think like that.”

I sighed and looked down. “I know,” I agreed. “But it’s like I get glimpses of us, together, in a room looking over a big city.” I looked into his eyes. “We were…intimate.” I blushed as I said it. “And uh, I remember this,” I held up my hand. “You held your hand like this and when I touched my hand to yours, there was a shock.”

Morgyn reached up and touched my hand. There was nothing. He sighed. “Jade, it’s just the connection we have,” he smiled. “I think you’re reading too far into it.” He waved his hand. “And we’ve never had a moment like that.” He also blushed. “But I’m flattered you are thinking of such a thing.”

“But, Morgyn, don’t you think it’s odd that I could remember something that didn’t happen so clearly?” I felt panicked. He had to believe me.

He smiled and held his finger up to my lips. “When we long for something, we tend to create fantasies about it.” He shook his head. “Everything we do here is for-“

“The Greater Good, I know,” I scowled. “I’m tired of the Greater Good.” I folded my arms in front of me like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

“WHAT?!” Marco flashed behind me.

My eyes widened. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!” I cried, holding completely still. I had no idea what Marco would do to me if I moved. I was terrified of him. I didn’t know what he was capable of.

He walked around me, looking me up and down. “Jade, Jade, Jade,” he said in a disappointed tone. “You are a part of my higher court, and you know only people I find worthy remain there.” He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my fearful eyes. “But how can I find you worthy if you don’t believe this is all for the Greater Good?”

Morgyn stood behind me and looked at Marco, furrowing his brow. “It was an honest mistake, Sir,” he said. “Please show her mercy this time. I promise it won’t happen again.” He looked at me. “Right, Jade?” His eyes were pleading.

“R-right.” I nodded frantically, to the point where I felt dizzy.

Marco let go of me. “So be it,” he said. “I would hate for you to lose your protection against punishments by being dropped from the high court,” he eyed me. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“Punishment” was a broad term encompassing any and all execution methods done for the Greater Good High Court. They were reserved for any criminals who spoke out against the high court, or broke any rules of the realm, whether intentional or not. The high court showed no mercy. I only got a reprieve because Morgyn saved me, and because I was exempt from these punishments for being a part of the high court. All of the sages; L, Simeon, Morgyn and I, and Caleb as their main guard were considered part of the high court. When it came to punishments, this meant we had two chances instead of just one. Looks like I had three now. But two left.

I shook my head. “No, Sir.”

He smiled warmly, like nothing had even happened. “Right. Good. Now back to work, both of you,” he glared at us, his smile fading into a scowl.

And with that, there was a flash and Marco was gone.

As Morgyn and I parted ways again, I whispered, “Thank you.”

He smiled and nodded, and we were on our way.

I continued through the motions of the day, teaching potions and mentoring, but I had this nagging fear thanks to my encounter with Marco.

At lunch, I sat down with Caleb and Morgyn. As they talked, I stayed quiet, opting to just eat in silence. I couldn’t risk saying something that I would regret.

Caleb put his arm around me, immediately calming my still racing heart. “I heard what happened,” he said.

“I made a mistake,” I said quietly. “It was a lapse in judgement, and it won’t happen again.”

Caleb sighed. “I’m taking you out tonight,” he smiled warmly.

My eyes shot open wide. “N-no, you’re not.”

“Why?” He asked. “There’s nothing wrong with us spending time together if we follow the rules and don’t get,” he tapped my cheek with his finger, gently and playfully, “handsy.”

I smiled a little and got chills as he said it. The truth was, Morgyn wasn’t the only one I had these faux memories of. I had very strong memories of Caleb as well, though I couldn’t tell now if they were my memories or Ruby’s.

Morgyn smiled as he swallowed a bite of his food. “I think that’ll be good for you two,” he said. “She and I spend a lot of time together because of our sage work. You guys are separated all day and could use some alone time.”

My blood ran cold and I suddenly felt a cold sweat collecting on my skin. Alone time. But the leaders somehow knew everything, saw everything, heard everything. I was starting to think they could hear our thoughts too.

Caleb put his hand on my shoulder. “Calm down,” he smiled. “It was a mistake. I’m sure everything will be fine. You learned, no?”

Damn right I learned. I nodded. “Y-yes. I learned.”

He smiled. “See? Then there’s no problem.”

I smiled, but I had to fake it. All I could think about was a way to get out of this little date Caleb had planned for us. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to risk anyone’s lives.

Our lunch break was coming to an end. Morgyn got up to straighten some bookshelves, and Caleb decided to retreat to his position early. I was alone. Thankfully. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Yeah, I’d be fine. It’ll all be fine.

Simeon came over and sat across from me. He was the weird sage. He was a conspiracy theorist, always trying to tell us that the Greater Good wasn’t real, and that Marco and Jay were actually evil. I mean, sure, they were threatening, but evil? That’s a stretch.

But then it dawned on me. Marco and Jay heard everything. I had just been thinking about that earlier. How was Simeon able to say things against them and not be punished or removed from the high court?

“Simeon,” I smiled, greeting him. “How are you doing?”

He gave me a half smile in return. I knew it wasn’t genuine. He was never happy. I suppose if we all thought like he did, we wouldn’t be either. “Just going through the motions,” he said, glancing around anxiously.

I nodded. “I assume you heard about earlier.” I kept my voice in a whisper. Not that it mattered.

He reached under the table and tapped my leg. I reached under and he handed me a small, circular device with a clip on it. It looked like a mini speaker. He gestured for me to put it in on. I did as instructed and clipped it to the waistline of my jeans, facing inside so it wouldn’t be seen. Simeon nodded and made a gesture with his hand as if he was flipping a switch. I felt around the disc for a switch and turned it on.

“No one else has questioned them,” he whispered. “You’re the first. When I heard, I copied this device, tested it and had to give it to you. If anyone else starts to question them, you can do the same.”

I looked at him, skeptical. “You just stumbled across some magical device that gives the leaders selective hearing?”

He shook his head. “I remember what happened before they brainwashed us, Jade. I snooped through their stuff and found one of these. It was inside of a metal box with a small paper explaining what it was. Jay and Marco had been planning this for a long time.”

I was still very leery. I believed that he couldn’t be heard, but how would Marco and Jay not find out?

“Wouldn’t they know?” I asked.

“No,” he shook his head. “As long as you only turn it on when you are going to speak out against them. When you’re done, turn it off again.” He shrugged. “They won’t know you were speaking at all.”

I didn’t know how to handle this news. I mean, obviously he was right. I looked up at the clock. We had five minutes until we needed to get back to work. I looked at Simeon again. “You said we were brainwashed?”

He nodded. “Yes. Marco and Jay were upset at Morgyn for their banishment, and when they heard there was a new sage, which was you, they decided to come and give all of us a hard time. They started with L. Then, with L’s help, they cast a spell on all of us. We awoke to this, where they were the leaders of the realm and the sages worked under them. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”

I shook my head and waved my hand dismissively. “I’m sorry, Simeon, but that’s nonsense. I don’t understand how I could have been brainwashed.”

Simeon sighed. “You’ll see,” he said. “Give it time, and when your mind wanders, let it. You’ll notice things that don’t add up.” He looked at the clock. “We should go,” he said. “Make sure to turn that device off.”

I nodded and flipped the switch again. I stood up, cleaned up my garbage and went back to my job.

As evening approached, the sages went home, as did Caleb. Morgyn, Caleb and I walked into the apartment, and Caleb immediately stood in front of me, smiling.

“Don’t get comfortable,” he said. “We have a date.”

I grinned flirtatiously. “I know.” My anxiety had gone now that I had that disc. “When are we going?”

“How about now?” He asked.

I nodded and took his hand. “Lead the way.”

We stepped out and followed the path out of Caster’s Alley and into a less-lit area that overlooked the vast vortex we existed in. It was grassy, like the gardens, and quiet. No visitors, no one to bother us.

He sat down in the grass, and I cuddled against him, looking out at the vortex as it changed colors and made the eerie, ghost like sounds I loved so much.

I reached down and touched the device Simeon gave me, placing my finger on the switch. But I stopped myself. No. This was wrong. I couldn’t just go against our leaders like this. I took my hand off of the device and wrapped my arms around Caleb, smiling happily.

Chapter Three (click here)