The Carver's Magic (30 page)

BETH

I check my phone. No messages. With a huff I lock it again. Cory’s at work and Shane is in the viewing room connected to her lab. He’s not willing to let her out of his sight. I guess they worked out a schedule where he went to work with her and she went to work with him. He somehow didn’t lose his job, instead he now owns Amber Line. I doubt the owner just gave it to him, so I am pretty sure his magic has something to do with it. But all in all, Cory sounds happy.

Dar, on the other hand, isn’t happy and neither am I. He hasn’t stopped working with his pack to rebuild the houses that were burned down. It’s been two months and they have practically redesigned everything about this mountain town.

It looks more like a campground now. Instead of houses sporadically being built here or there, they are now outlining the grounds. There is one big community center that the pack decided they would use as an all-encompassing place. I have yet to go inside. It’s easier to ignore all the looks from his pack mates. Some girls look at me in pity. Oddly enough, I never thought I would see that. Other girls look at me as if I took something that was theirs.
In a
few, I see seething hatred as if I was the one that hurt or killed someone in their family.

The men all look at me with disgust. That, I expected. I don’t care what they think, and I never will.

Currently I am in “time-out.” Dar said it is tedious to keep monitoring me while he is trying to focus on work. He didn’t blame me outright, but I felt like he had alluded to it a few times.

I refuse to think and feel while I am sitting in a black, fire-licked chair. I’m not going to think about how hot and cold Dar is. When I was stuck in that cage I was sure he wanted me, even before he admitted it. Now, he is acting like before. Like I am something he’s ashamed of.

Ugh. I am thinking of him again. I would leave, but he ordered me to stay. As if I were a dog. Gah! I hate this. I could be at work. Or I could be at my real home. Being here in the time-out chair, sucked.

“She can’t stay here,” a man with light buzzed hair is pointing at me. I stop cleaning my nails and lean over on my knees. This should be interesting. Dar was on his way over with a juice in one hand, and a plastic wrapped sandwich in the other. He did this twice a day but the times always varied so either he was busy or he forgot about me entirely.

Dar walked past the man, not giving him any eye contact, “You don’t make the rules MacGrave.”

The man’s sausage forefinger moved from me to Dar, “She doesn’t belong here and neither do you.”

Dar handed me the sandwich and put the drink on the floor next to me, not giving me a small grace period to grab it myself. He turned back and started walking, not giving me or MacGrave a second of his time.

But at least I accepted the fact that I was being ignored. This guy’s face reddened before he shouted, “Everyone loyal to your father is going to try and kill this bitch of yours. She’s a freak and you know it.”

Dar’s jaw clenched. My fire teased my skin, hoping to get out. I had learned over the past month that there was a fine line to his orders. For example, if he fights right now, it will release me from his order to sit here and be safe. The fight would change the rules because sitting would be come unsafe, giving me the freedom to get up and out.
      

“She’s my mate. She stays. Pack law.” His upper lip curled at the older man. “The council didn’t make an official ruling and you know it. My mate and the other Carver are not condemned; they haven’t broken any rules. The council’s corrupt; they tried to kill them because they’re scared. And so are you, because you experienced first hand what a low grade Carver can do to you, let alone someone like her,” he jutted his chin in my direction, “a fire Carver.”

The man looked back at me, defeated and disgusted. He gazed over my neck and said, “She’s not marked. Which makes me question if she really is your mate.”

Dar’s jaw clenched. In between his teeth he said, “She’s a Carver, they don’t have to be marked. Their magic solidifies the bond.”

The older man squinted, “It’s unnatural to have an unmarked mate and you know it. You can’t feel bonded to someone you haven’t claimed, and that thing is unclaimed. And that thing,” he pointed at me again, “is not pack and never will be.”

I watch closely, waiting to see him agree with that statement. If he so much as hinted that he agrees, I am fucking leaving. Forever!

Dar’s eyes glow as he looks at me. He knows what I am thinking but I’m not hiding anything from him. Let him hear me because I mean it. I return the look, letting my magic flow through me. I know my eyes are glowing when the old man curled back.

Dar didn’t agree or disagree to what the old man said. He simply turned back and continued walking. I looked up to the sky to focus on anything other than the rage I felt. I have felt low before, but he was taking me into the depths of a place I never wanted to be. A place where I was worse than an unwanted pet, but the owner was too much of a piece of shit to find it a better home.

I needed to get out of here. In my mind I told Dar,
I need some air.

Dar didn’t answer. Typical.

The older man followed Dar back to the pack, but he spit in my direction first. The fire inside me was getting hotter by the second and if I didn’t –

Get your air, Beth. But come back when I call you.

I stood up and narrowed my eyes at Dar’s back. I would have screamed it but my voice might have cracked so I yelled in my mind.
I’m not a dog!

Dar hadn’t turned around and it bothered me. I know he ignored me and I anticipated it but right now it bothered me so much I wanted to burn everything.

Dar finally turned around and lifted his eyebrows.
Don’t be dramatic Beth. I’m doing what I can with what I have. But you seem to forget that you are not the center of the universe. I know you’re the number one target for the Carvers and Magical Council, but so is Shane and I don’t see him in my face making my life a nightmare. Instead he’s working with me and the pack getting this town back to normal. But you haven’t noticed because it’s all about you. Has it escaped you that if you die, I die? This is why I treat you the way I do. You react without thinking about the consequences. That’s not safe, Beth. And instead of caring about the person you’re bonded to, you start fights with my pack members when you should try to be the bigger person and understand that they’re scared of you. You’re bonded to me remember, so you have to accept I am a part of this pack. And since you are my mate, this is your pack too, but do you care? No. You want to get some air.

I walk away without responding. I don’t teleport because, damn it, his words sunk in so deep my mind feels shredded. My fire that was strong and blazing a second ago has fizzled. I can feel it, but it feels like a million bricks in my stomach. It’s so heavy I can barley walk.

I stumble for a while and end up in front of the house that trapped me. His house. I look around and notice that his house is secluded, backed into the forest a way. The whole pack land is at the base of three mountains. There are only a few on the outskirts. Then there are several dirt roads that lead into the forest.

I kick a few burnt chunks of metal. I try not to remember what happened in here, but the memories are too fresh and I see them and practically feel them vividly. My fire swirls up my stomach, alleviating my despair but not my anxiety. I let the magic flow to my eyes. My stomach boils as I behold the pink strip surrounding the crumbled basement. It didn’t occur to me until now that if I was ever caught again I would need help to get out, and I would be damned if I had to ask Dar again. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Cory.

Me: Need you to make me something just incase I get stuck in another trap.

Cory text back a few second later. Cory: Will do. Shane checks for the pink line(?) before we go anywhere.

Me: I bet. How long will it take?

Cory: Three days maybe. Shane and I are going out of town for two days.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Shane is always taking her to new places on his weekends. I don’t let it get to me to see the vast difference in mine versus Cory’s relationships.

I looked down at the ashes and charred wood. I don’t know what Dar has planned when he rebuilds his house. He hasn’t even started on it, which is why we have been sleeping outside in sleeping bags. I miss being on a bed. At this rate I doubt we will have a house when winter comes in a few months.

I squat down and get a good look at the mess. Not that he would ever ask for my opinion, but, there is a better place for a house a little way over. Plus, it would have a creek in the back yard.

“I would like to see you rebuilt over there,” I point to the space. My stomach wiggles a bit and I watch curiously as the ash starts swirling and then it falls abruptly. Interestingly, the small chunks are now bigger chunks. I fold my arms and stare. Could my magic really put the house back together? I could fix things sure, but ash is millions of little pieces.

Hoping that Dar isn’t listening, I say the words out loud, instead of my head where I know he listens closely, “Reconstruire la-bas.” My stomach drops and I feel my words become reality.

It was like watching someone doing a million small, grey Rubik’s Cubes. Dust was floating off the ground and surrounded each Rubiks Cube that was growing larger and larger. Everything is happening at once. Then I see the dirt begin to move where I want the house to rebuild. I see pipes and concrete, and stone all rolling to their rightful spots.

I look around to make sure no one is watching this. And thankfully everyone is on the other side of the village. I looked back and smile at how amazed I am that this is actually working.

The foundation seems to bubble from the ground up. The wood slides in like a crazy game of Tetris and the frame work solidifies into place. I even see the vines from his plants slither to their new spots. Tomatoes and herbs line the side of his house.

The tree that had fallen from the fire is forming and slowly moving next to the other trees to claim it’s spot. It was amazing because that tree was thick. I kept looking around because I worried that someone was going to see, or that Dar would stop me at any moment.

When it was finished I checked to see if there was a pink line outlining the basement. It wasn’t there. I step up to the new porch and run my hand over the doorway. It is wood and it smells fresh. Inside, I see the kitchen, table, and bar to the right. In the middle is a big, open living room with several big, lazy boy seats. I walk to the almost empty bookshelf. There is one brown leather notebook, and then a picture of a boy with long black hair and copper skin. He had some looks like Dar, but more like his father. It dawned on me that this was his brother. The one who had died when we were in high school.

I put down the picture and wonder what happened. I don’t get a chance to wonder long because the front door creeks open. I look up to see Dar’s awed face as he looks around. His eyes find me and I want to mentally stab myself for being such a daisy. His look of appreciation and awe has my belly twirling like ballerinas.

He laughs softly in his chest, “Ballerinas?” I try not to show how his mood affects me. I am sure this happiness is a fluke. Dar’s eyes sparkle in laughter, "Come on. We are all eating together in the hall and I know you didn’t eat the sandwich." He holds out his hand to me and I hesitate, wondering what has come over him. Then I see something pass behind his eyes and I can feel the change in his mood.

His eyes narrow at me. “But if you’d rather stay, no one would care.”

I let my magic up to my eyes.

Knock it off.
He orders.

I let my magic go, pissed he can stop me from even thinking to myself. I stomp to the door. Before I open it I remember something and wrap myself in my white room before Dar can stop me.

I knew he was going to be pissed but at this point, who cares. Not me. He was probably going to order me never to go here again so I needed to make sure this time I formulated a perfect plan.

I am leaving. That is going to happen and he is not going to stop me. I just have to figure out a way to get out without him stopping me. And I was also going to have to stop being tricked by his niceness. I swear it was like bi-polar or possessed or . . . then I remember what the witch said.
He still has the poison in him.

Poison? It looked more like something was inside him, not just a liquid poison. Or maybe that’s it, the thing inside him was poisoning him from the inside. What if the poison made him that way? Actually, the better question is, how do I get it out of him?

I sit on the white lazy boy for a while, turning several options over in my head. All options will take too long and I will only have seconds when I leave this white heaven. I can’t ask the healer to help get it out, that thing inside him would stop me. I have to think!

Then I remember Cory’s birthday and how my fire attacked the caffeine potion she made. Maybe I could do the same with the poison. What if I use my fire to kill it? I can do that, and I’m sure it will hurt like hell, but if I was ever going to get away from Dar, I was going to have to talk to the real Dar. The one who smiled at me from time to time. The one I hope I can reason with.

With one last long breath, I leave the white heaven and am grabbed immediately by Dar’s powerful hands.

“You may never go there again,” his words solidified and I feel my magic accept his order. I fight to free my arms but he has pushed me against the door and leans into my face, his eyes searching me. He begins to say something but I quickly say, "Posion, entrent en moi maintenant." I almost fear my words didn’t work because I didn’t feel my stomach drop for another two heart beats.

Dar’s tight hold stays as he opens his mouth but nothing comes out. He opens again and still nothing. He narrows his eyes and I can see the wolf in him warning me he’s coming.

Then his eyes fade back and all I see is black moving back and forth like dull slimy tar. Dar’s grip has loosened finally. I wiggle out of his arms and watch as he remains fixed forward but his body is tilting back and forth.