The Guardian's Grimoire (8 page)

Her smile faltered. “Don’t tell me you can’t talk to
a woman.”

“Divina, you’re going to give him a heart attack and
I really don’t want to have to start it again.” She turned her beautiful smile
on Edward and I was able to breathe. “He’s recovering from a massive
electrocution.”

“He sounded like he was doing fine.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was just out hiking and I heard you, so I thought
I would come and visit.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “You’re never ‘just
out hiking’ in my territory.”

Ignoring his thinly veiled accusation, she awarded me
a dazzling smile. “He’s so cute. Not like your last apprentice.” She looked at
him again and I realized my heart was beating erratically. “Remember our deal?
I get to give every new apprentice a kiss for luck.”

My heart skipped a beat or six.

There was uncalled for apprehension in Edward’s
voice. “Not yet! You almost killed one of my apprentices already with a kiss
and he was completely healthy.”

What a way to die.

“You’ve gone boring in your old age,” she said.
Edward reached over, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to sit next to him instead
of me. He seemed completely immune to her mind-scrambling beauty.

I forced myself up and, after a moment, got myself
sitting straight on the log. “Hi,” I said, my voice was shaky and high. Her
teeth sparkled through her lips and I thought I was going to pass out. Even her
teeth were gorgeous.

“So you
can
talk to women.”

“I guess so,” I mumbled. I couldn’t look into her
eyes, but I no longer felt heavy; I was too light. While she was incredibly
beautiful, my own reaction surprised me. I wasn’t exactly smooth or practiced
at talking with women, but I wasn’t usually a goober, either.
Hopefully, I
can chalk it up to having been electrocuted.

“I’m Divina. Congratulations on being Kiro’s
apprentice. He doesn’t warm up to people lightly and he doesn’t take
apprentices very often. He’s a good tormentor- I mean mentor. How’s Duran
working for you?”

“How do you know I’m not from Duran?” I asked. “Oh,
right, because I speak English. How do you know English?”

“Divina is very good at magic and knows more than she
should. She is also very nosy with a penchant for sticky situations.”

“I’m not all that nosy; I only care about what is
interesting,” she said. “I had a dream about you coming, so I had to come meet
you. I’m not a seer, but I can see things as they happen. I saw that lightning
trick you pulled off. Very impressive.” She put her elbow on her knee and her
chin in her palm as if to convey her undivided attention. I think I turned the
color of her berry pink lips.

Edward looked annoyed. “Eat,” he told me.

I grabbed a small chunk of yorkie, but couldn’t eat
it. I couldn’t look away from Divina, who was studying me closely.

She glanced back at Edward. “He could be
threateningly powerful when he’s trained, and even more so if he signs more
books. Especially if he stays pure.”

“What do you mean by ‘pure’?” I asked, finding my
voice.

Her teeth gleamed again with her smile. “You know.
Unsullied. Virgin.”

I went a whole new shade of red. “You can tell?”

“Of course. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s rare
to find men your age who are still pure. It shows a sense of self control.”

“Or lack of social skills,” I told my food. Divina
laughed and my heart jumped into my throat. Whatever reason for my awkward
weakness to this woman, it was quite possibly hazards for my health.

“You better heal fast so I can give you your good
luck kiss.”

“Only one? I happen to be a very unlucky person,” I
said. I knew I shouldn’t have, but my brain-to-mouth filter was shot.

“Well, we’ll just have to see about that.”

“So, I suppose you’re coming with us to Anoshii?”
Edward asked, sounding like he wasn’t completely thrilled at the idea. I hadn’t
known that Edward was completely out of his mind.

“I need to go there anyway. I might as well make sure
you don’t scare the poor new guy off.”

“Child, be careful with him. He doesn’t control his
emotions well and he’s liable to get in trouble enough as it is without having
to spend all his energy resisting you,” he cautioned.

I knew I was being insulted; I just couldn’t manage
to care when Divina crossed her legs and sat back, causing her shirt to stretch
tightly across her chest.

“I haven’t heard who you are, cutie,” she said.

I looked at Edward for a few seconds before I could
remember my name. His annoyed expression had turned amused. “I’m Dylan. Dylan
Carter.”

“You’re very trusting, Dylan Carter,” she said.
Edward made an annoyed noise, aimed at me.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“You gave me your name, your real name, so easily.” I
blinked and she smiled. “If I were secretly a Guardian, I could look in your
book, find your name, and erase it. You wouldn’t exist anymore. I’m just saying
you shouldn’t give out your name so easily. It is your identity and becomes
stronger as you learn magic. If you’re a powerful wizard and another wizard
knows your full name, they can use that to control you.”

“But I didn’t give you my full name,” I said. I
glanced questioningly at Edward. “I don’t know about Duran’s naming system, but
where I come from, we have three or four names. I didn’t tell you my middle
name. And if you were gonna erase my name, why wouldn’t you erase everyone’s
but your own?”

“Only a god can take the power of a world and not
lose their mind. Shouldn’t your mentor be teaching this to you?”

“But Vretial has two worlds.”

“He lost his mind trying to rule the first one.
Vretial is what you would call psychotic,” she explained.

“But if he erased the other god’s name, why didn’t
that god disappear?”

“It doesn’t work on them, but it probably does work
on a Guardian. Nobody really knows what happens to a Guardian if they die or
their name is erased. Ronez was the first one to die, as far as I know.”

“Erono likes to threaten me by promising to erase my
name. I don’t know what would happen, because I am immortal, but I don’t want
to risk it,” Edward said.

“You should know this,” Divina said, giving Edward an
accusing glance.

“He’s been unconscious most of the time he was here.
Every time I try to teach him something, he drags me off the subject by asking
a whole bunch of new and irrelevant questions,” Edward said.

Divina smiled at him. “I know what you mean. He’s
just curious. He’s cute, too. Make sure you teach him some Sudo that can help
him in a sticky spot.” She turned to me. “Repeat after me.” I could only stare
at her as she said something in Sudo. The language that came out of her mouth
was made for her voice.

 But even though my heart was frantic, my voice was
more sure of myself. “I know that game. What does that mean in English?”

Edward smirked and Divina rolled her eyes.

“Never mind. You’re more suspicious than Kiro’s last
apprentice.” Then she smiled again. “You’re going to be a lot of fun.” Well,
the bar was set. She stood up and I was really hoping for her to stretch. She
didn’t. “I must be going. I’ll be back in time to go with you to Anoshii. See
you soon.” She leaned down in front of me until her face was inches from mine. Her
sweet breath made me dizzy. “You get better quickly.”

I nodded.

Edward stood and Divina straightened. “Take care of
yourself,” she said to him.

“And you.”

She started walking away, towards the woods
surrounding us. I glanced at Edward as he sat down, then back to where Divina
had been. She was gone.

Edward sighed. “What do you think of her?” he asked.

“She has very pretty… everything.”

Edward laughed. “Yes, she’s a cute little thing, but
you should try your hardest to resist her. She’s all pretty and sweet but
you’ll never get her. Divina is gifted in magic and learned from a young age to
use her beauty to get what she wants. She is extremely manipulative and would
not hesitate to use a man to her advantage.”

“Have you ever tried for her?” I asked.

“Not in many years. She’s more like the daughter of a
friend to me. I think she’d be too wild even for an immortal man. Finish
eating,” he said. I did, but couldn’t get Divina’s voice out of my head.

After eating, it was back to my lessons. First I had
to get a grip on the elements before I could start on the fun stuff. Edward put
the rest of the animal in a shed behind the house, and then locked it with what
looked like a combination lock. We started an hour hike to the springs. I would
have walked half as fast if Edward wasn’t behind me, pushing me the entire way.

After about twenty minutes I stopped tripping over
the rattle weeds, and after forty minutes, they weren’t even slowing me down. I
was adapting to the terrain and even the gravity a little bit. Edward, of
course, had to be light and quiet as the air.

When the forest broke into a clearing around a wide
stream, I was bewildered. The water was crystal clear and I could see the
large, smooth rocks lining the bed. It was like a small river, about twelve
feet across, except the water moved very slowly and gently. It curled and
turned out of sight in both directions. The canal was surrounded by large
rocks, one of which Edward sat on. He started to unlace his boots and I joined
him, thankful for the chance to rest.

“Take off… those things.”

“They’re sneakers. And they
were
nice ones,
too.” Now they were destroyed ones. In one day on the new world, my shoes went
from very nice, barely worn, to tattered remnants. There was a hole right
through the side of my left one. I took them off.

Edward stuck his feet in the water, but when he
lifted them out a minute later, they were dry. “Try it.”

“Try what?” I stuck my feet in the water, expecting
it to be freezing. It was hot. It was really a natural hot springs. “Is there
anything in there that’ll try to eat my feet?”

“No. Everything in the water has better taste than
that,” he said. I gave him my most intimidating glare, but he didn’t seem to
notice. “The waters are too warm for water dwellers, and land animals avoid
this place.”

“Do I want to know why?” The water was soothing to my
aching muscles, so I was willing to risk it.

He smirked. “The spirits of the woods are choosy
about who they allow around here.”

“Oh… I don’t remember getting an invitation.”

He rolled his pants up and stuck his feet in further.
“The spirits are fond of wizards. If you were not allowed, we would already
know. Do you feel the water on your skin? Can you imagine it?”

“Yeah. It feels wet. It’s supposed to feel wet,
right?” It was alien water after all.

“Yes. I want you to imagine your feet are not wet. I
want you to imagine that the water can’t touch your skin. Don’t let it. If you
can make lightning do your will, you can make water do it. Water is simple,
while your mind is very complex, so the water is nothing. Do not try to move
the water away, just don’t let it touch you. What makes up water?”

“Hydrogen and Oxygen.”

“No. Energy.
How
water is made is not
important with magic. Water is simple. It’s made of two kinds of energy. You
can feel the magic energy because you’re a wizard. Control it. Don’t think of
anything but controlling it.”

I lay back on the hard rock and tried to imagine the
water not being able to touch me. It was a silly fantasy, so I drifted off to
the thought of magic. The mind controls the energy. Edward had pulled his feet
out of the water dry. I had controlled lightning with my mind. My poor,
half-baked brain.

“Maybe I can’t do it because my brain is fried.”

“You can do it. If you believe you can’t, you’re an
idiot. You just don’t want it. Make up a reason and believe it.”

“Like religion, okay.” I imagined the silliest
possibility there could be and played on that. The water was made of fish pee.
I wasn’t going to get many baths on Shomodii. I imagined first that the water
was yellow and warm, as it was already warm. I really wanted to pull my feet
out of the water, but I had the feeling Edward would just make me put them back
in.

So I imagined it couldn’t touch me, and I really,
really didn’t want it to. Nothing happened.

“You’re not using the energy. You’re a wizard, so you
can feel it; you just have to know what it is you’re feeling. We’re going to do
a very relaxing exercise of meditation,” he said. I didn’t like the sounds of
that. “Pull your feet out of the water and sit cross-legged.”

“Why?” I asked, but did as he said.

“It’s just the way it is done.”

“So, if I were to… lay down… it wouldn’t work?”

“You must learn to walk before you can run. It’s not
easy to do,” he insisted.

That’s funny; I thought sitting and doing nothing was
relatively easy. It was an American inborn talent.

“Clear your mind completely. Focus on your own
breathing.”

So we sat there in silence. I desperately wanted to
tell him my leg was cramping, but he looked deep within his own mind and I was
easily within throttling distance. Still, as the time went on endlessly, I was
finding it harder and harder to concentrate.

“Edward? You really enjoy this?” I asked, trying to
keep my voice low-pitched.

“Yes.” His voice was too calm to argue with. After a
few more minutes, I fell to the side with my legs still crossed. Edward didn’t
respond so I tried again to focus.

I realized that I could feel something around me,
like air, but not. It felt new, and also familiar. I couldn’t compare it to
anything I knew because it was like nothing else. This was a sense in itself, a
sixth sense; it wouldn’t fit into any of my others.

I sat up, stuck my feet back into the water, and
imagined again that it was fish pee. As I did, I made sure to focus my mind
both on that energy and keeping the water off my skin.