Knight of the Black Rose (48 page)

"Probably a good thing, we couldn't hear for days," Selena told him, smirking at Lucy, because she knew it annoyed her.

"It was a warning shriek, not a scream...and...err...it worked," Lucy said as off handily as she could, but she knew that her face was still bright red because she could feel herself burning up.

"Oh, if you're interested they also found out who's been selling their story to the papers," Eddie told him. "It was Harry...err...was his last name Miller...anyway, it was him. He completely freaked out when they confronted him about it,"

"Nathan's still quite angry about it; he had actually thought they were friends...but the things that he said..." Lucy said annoyed shaking her head.

"He got kicked out, and him and his family had their memories altered," Methos told him.

"So, I've been wondering...would they do that to anyone else?" Libby asked nervously, making them all look at her.

"I guess that would depend upon what you did, but the safety of the people come first," Lucy told her.

"I'm not going to do anything, I was just wondering..." Libby told them quickly. "I like it here...and all of you. I don't like the attacks of course, but everything else is great."

"Okay then," Selena said; and then they all turned back around to Will.

"I wonder why it came after you like that?" Methos said thoughtfully.

"The book," Will told them as though this was obvious, but they all just looked at him as though they had no idea what he was talking about. "The Black Knight...I told you about the book, and what happened when I found it,"

"You didn't tell me," Lucy said annoyed that he would leave her out of something like this.

"He didn't tell us either," Troy assured her.

"Yes, I did," Will told them, as he was sure that he would have told them something that important. "Flickering lights, the book practically jumped out at me. Then it almost attacked me in the lift going back to my room...I broke the mirror. I told you,"

They all looked at each other, he could tell that this was the first time that they were hearing about this, but he didn't understand why because he was sure that he had told them, he was going to tell them.

"We heard that someone broke the mirror in the lift, but no one knew who it was," Eddie told him. "Dad was annoyed of course, he said thing's like that, just don't normally happen here,"

"It came out the mirror at me..." Will told them uneasily.

They were all silently for a while as though trying to figure out what to do about this, but before any of them could, the door to the ward opened and Glen came back through.

"I'm afraid that's it for now, you can come back tonight," Glen told them.

Will grabbed Troy's wrist and whispered to him where he had left the book, he nodded back at him before they all left him there; but Will knew they would check it out for him.

Classes were finally over and they had all eaten before they had finally decided to go back to the dorms, as they needed to check out this book that Will had told them about and hopefully still have time to see him. They all piled into Will's bedroom nervously, Jess and Libby hanging back at the door, while the others looked at each other in front of the wardrobe as if trying to decide who should open it.

Lucy nudged Troy and Alex forward. "I think one of you two should open it, considering that you've been sharing your room with it for two weeks,"

They both turned around horrified as they realised what she said, while Selena laughed behind Lucy.

"It isn't funny...it could have attacked us," Troy told her scowling as he turned back around, and Lucy nudged him again. "I know...give me a sec,"

"Can a book really hurt you?" Libby asked them, making them all look at her again. "Fine...I'm going to assume that's one of those stupid questions..."

"Anything can hurt you," Jess told her.

Troy took a deep breath as he stepped forward reaching for the handles and then wiped the doors open; everyone looked around frantically but nothing happened, so Troy stepped closer and bent down to reach inside for the book. He grabbed it and pulled it out, but as he stood up holding it, everyone seemed to take a step back as he walked over to the bed to have a proper look at it.

"I personally wouldn't stand at the door..." Troy said. "You're the closest to grab,"

Libby and Jess looked at each other paling somewhat before they rushed into the room to stand with the others, and closer to the book.

The book was black with a rose on the front, that none of them failed to miss before Troy opened it, and slowly read them the story of the Black Knight, that took a while until finally he finished.

"I'm confused," Libby admitted.

"So am I..." Lucy added making everyone look at her. "What? Can't I ever be confused?"

"Well...err...no..." Alex answered.

"It's just that this was a real person from over a thousand years ago," Lucy explained. "He was cursed by someone to do these things, kill and absorb power. Then he was trapped into this book. His presence should still be picked up by the security systems. The book itself shouldn't even be at the school, unless someone at the school summoned it."

"That's actually a good point," Eddie said. "He was supposed to protect the family that he served...he was a real person...meaning that whoever cursed him left him alive...or alive enough to feed off of others. He should be able to be picked up on the sensors,"

"You know, I was thinking...whoever is behind this, would need the book right?" Methos said making them all look at him this time and then quickly at the door as though they expect someone or something stood there ready to attack them and take the book back. "Shouldn't we give the book in...? We can trust dad and Domnus,"

"There hasn't been as many attacks," Selena said slowly. "They must need the book...or at least something that belongs to the Knight that controls it. As long as no one knows we have it, there shouldn't be anymore attacks. And if there is, then we'll hand it over straight away,"

This was debated for a while until they all finally agreed to keep the book hidden, but only if there were no more attacks, if there were then they would hand it in straight away.

Lucy had gone back to her room after they had finally agreed to keep it in Will's room, since no one knew it was there and it had been safe there since he had found it, but she had a feeling that Will himself probably wouldn't want to keep it in his room when he was allowed out of the hospital ward, but for now it could stay.

What Lucy really wanted to do, was contacted Doctor Wray and tell him that Will was awake, but she wanted to check out his results first which to her complete surprise Loring had agreed to give them to her as long as no one else found out; well she was going to assume he meant no one at the school. She took a good twenty minutes reading through everything that he had gotten her, and it was a lot; so she made copies so that she could send them on to let this doctor guy take a proper look at them.

To: - Doctor S.Wray

From: - Luna

Dear Dr S.Wray

Thank you for that other letter, I'm so glad that my work was able to help in anyway.

The student that was attacked woke up, he's fine, talking and everything but they're going to keep him in for a couple of days just to make sure that he's alright. But there seems to be a problem that they hadn't picked up to start with. I took a quick look at all of the test results which I've attached to this file so that you can check them for yourself. The thing is, it wasn't picked up until after he woke up, but I checked, it did manage to drain some of his powers. Magic tests on his powers haven't been done yet, I told them to re-check, they're hoping that with a bit of rest that it'll sort itself out. That's why I'm sending you the files so you can check them with the other files that you have, of the others that were attacked.

If you could get back to me, I mean if you have time.

Thanks for all of you help.

Luna

Lucy sent the message hoping that it sounded alright and not too childish, and also that she was doing the right thing by getting involved like this, but she just didn't like sitting around doing nothing. She did know that she would have to wait probably a few days until he got back to her, but it wasn't as though she was expecting him to send her an answer straight away, not that it wouldn't be nice, but she understood that these things took time.

Now she needed to get some sleep, and hoped that Will was going to be alright; along with everyone else.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Will was feeling more and more tired after every lesson, but he just didn't understand why considering that they had all told him that he supposedly hadn't been affected like the others had. He had actually believed them to start with, but it was two whole weeks since he had been released from the hospital ward and his dad went home, and his powers still weren't working like they had been before. He had somehow managed to keep it to himself, or at least he hoped that no one else had noticed, and none of the teachers have said anything to him yet.

Will walked in-between Troy and Alex down the corridor towards their defence room, he had loved this lesson before, but now it was such hard work; yes he could do the hand to hand stuff but it was the rest of it that was a problem now. He yawned again as they entered the classroom making their way to their desk, hoping that somehow he won't fall asleep, which was kind of what he wanted to do, but without the weird dreams of people dying being wrapped in vines and turning black.

Lucy sat down beside of him and smiled at him, she was always so cheerful and full of energy, which at the moment annoyed him because he hardly had the energy to keep his eyes open let alone anything else that was expected of him in this lesson.

"Are you alright?" Lucy whispered.

"Yeah...sure..." Will said as dismissively as possible, but he could tell that she wasn't overly convinced.

Domnus walked through from the other room once everyone was seated and silence fell over the class, he tapped the board behind him with his wand which revealed two words 'Deflection & Disarming'.

"Today, we'll be learning how to end a conflict with a peaceful solution," Domnus told them. "Disarming spells can work against magical objects and against weapons. With a magical weapon, it takes more force of course if your opponent is strong enough to deflect or even retrain their hold. It's important to know these thing's, so that you can disarm someone, but also so you can stop someone from disarming yourself so easily. We'll be learning the spells first before we go through to the training arena to practice."

The board changed again and this time a spell appeared upon it, along with the directions of how to basically move your wand.

"Exspellus!" Domnus said as he waved his wand, to the right and slightly up then over in a half semi circle, straight down and then a small flick. "It's important as you know to say the work clearly and with as much force behind it as you can. The hand movements are also important when learning new spells of any kind, as it directions the energy out of your body and at your opponent. As I've mentioned, next year we'll learn how to use defensive spells more quickly, but with the same amount of impact. Now, deflecting takes more practice; I'm not expecting any of you to get it on the first try. When one uses the deflecting spell, you have to be grounded and ready for the hit, but also fluid in case you need to move quickly. Some spells and charms are just too powerful to deflect completely, which is why you should be ready to move. Relectus!" Domnus drew a complete circle and then a cross within it, moving his wand quicker than the last spell. "The circle and cross motion that you create is symbolised as a shield, and must be drawn quickly placing it before you."

Lucy raised her hand, and he nodded for her speak. "I was wondering, can objects be charmed with the deflecting spells, to create a kind of barrier around yourself?"

"Yes, but not at this level; spells such as those will be taught in higher years once you've understood the basic's," Domnus told her. "There's no point in learning the more advanced forms of magic if you don't understand the basic structure of the art to hold it altogether. For now, I'd like you all to practice the movements and pronouncing of the spells before we move to the next room,"

They practiced for about ten minutes before Domnus finally decided that they could try the spell for real on each other, as he had wanted to make sure that everyone had a fair chance of defending themselves; even though the classroom was the only place where things like that would be fair.

They all went through to the adjoining arena, the lights coming on as the first students walked into the large open space with the benches lining the walls; and then they spaced themselves out in pairs, as they all knew by now that they worked with the person that they sat next to.