Chapter 56

Anila’s POV

We were on our way back to the campus.

I was excited to finally be able to use this wand and see what kind of things I could do with it. But I was also terrified that I wouldn’t be able to make it work or control it.

I kept my concerns locked away though and I chewed the inside of my cheek the rest of the way back to school. Damien parked the car in the front lot, near Xaden’s car. I stepped out of the car, keeping my wand in hand and I followed Damien across the campus until we reached the academic center.

I wasn’t entirely sure where we were going and when Damien opened a door to a room I had never been in before, I grew extremely nervous. I realized quickly that it was a stairwell; a private stairwell and not the one that was in the main section of the academic center that brought us upstairs. These stairs led downstairs and into the school’s basement.

I completely froze on the dark step, confused as to why he was luring me down there. He froze once he reached the bottom, and he stared back up at me.

“Are you coming?” He asked, arching a brow.

“To the basement? Do you have any idea how creepy this looks?” I asked, staring at him wide-eyed.

He rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Look, you either trust me or you don’t. But I’d like us to make some progress today,” he said, sounding annoyed with my sudden hesitation.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded as I made my way down the steps. Oddly enough, I did trust him.

I followed him through another set of doors and into this large space. My mouth fell open when I saw that it literally looked like a science lab. Only with magic tools scattered across the tables. There was even a crystal ball and a cauldron. It looked like a typical witch’s layer, mixed with a science lab.

“What is this place?” I asked, turning to face Damien with a raised brow.

“It’s mainly where we practice magic,” he answered. “The walls are soundproof and there is a barrier that keeps the magic within these walls, so whatever we do down here, won’t affect anywhere else.”

“Where is everybody?” I asked, noticing that it was empty.

He shrugged.

“We don’t hang out here all the time,” he told me. “it’s Saturday so they are probably off doing other stuff. Or sleeping.”

I nodded thoughtfully.

“So, what’s my first lesson?” I asked.

He glanced at my wand and then smirked.

“The first lesson is holding your wand,” he said. “First of all, you should treat your wand like a weapon, because if you aren’t careful, it can be as dangerous as one. You shouldn’t hold your wand unless you are planning on doing a spell with it. Waving it around freely could result in someone getting hurt… or worse.”

I gasped as I stared down at the wand that was lazily hanging out in my grip.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked, feeling foolish for not putting it in my pouch when Damien suggested so earlier.

He shrugged, still studying the wand.

“Because it seemed content. I figured it was safe. But just to be sure, I wouldn’t hold it all the time like this,” he told me.

I nodded, and the pulsing in my palm grew intense.

“Is the wand supposed to pulse in my hand like this?” I asked, peeking up at Damien who was still watching me with a curious look in his eyes.

“Not always,” he admitted. “But I’ve heard of it happening. It usually only happens when you are extremely connected to your wand. More often it would take years to get to that point. But I’m not surprised you are different.”

My cheeks flushed from his words, and I wasn’t sure if he meant them as a compliment. He wasn’t flirting and he certainly wasn’t looking at me with lust-filled eyes like he was in my dream. He was more perplexed than anything. The previous awkwardness between us was gone it felt like and I was glad for that, but I was confused as to why it was there in the first place. N

Pulling his eyes from me, he grabbed a textbook that’s been left on one of the tables and he started to flip through it.

“I’d like to see what you already know,” he told me, peering over at me. “I know you’ve been practicing with Xaden. But I’d like to see your progress for myself. Do you think you can show me?”

I nodded with certainty and carefully placed my wand in my pouch. I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath before facing him.

I cleared my mind all my thoughts; it was weird doing this without the forest’s energy surrounding me. Xaden told me it was a lot easier to do magic while being submerged in nature. I missed the smell of the pine and the wind coursing through my hair. I missed the feeling of being one with that wind and I almost longed to go outside and bask in the moonlight.

I didn’t like being under the ground in walls that disconnected me from the rest of the world. I felt like a prisoner in these walls; a feeling I vowed to myself that I would never feel again.

I met Damien’s eyes, and he watched me with a curious interest like he was waiting for me to perform miracles.

Taking a deep breath, I thought about the feeling of being weightless and being able to lift myself off the ground. I thought about floating to the sky and gravity leaving me entirely. I closed my eyes, and I felt my body growing lighter with each breath I took.

The ground was no longer pressing into my feet; I could no longer feel the ground. When I opened my eyes, Damien looked much shorter, and I was looking down at him. He stared at me with such admiration that my entire body warmed from the intensity.

But it wasn’t flirty, and it didn’t confuse my feelings. He just seemed genuinely pleased, and I couldn’t help but beam at his silent praise.

“And I was told you could fly?” Damien asked his voice, nothing more than a whisper.

I nodded my head once and as if it was a conscious thought that came so naturally to me, I stared to wade through the air. It was wobbly and not very coordinated, I even ran into a wall at one point, but I successfully flew through the air around the room.

“Amazing,” he breathed after a while.

The tremor of my wand in its pouch caused my concentration to waver entirely and I started to fall out of the air and crash back to the ground. My wand flew out of its pouch and I grabbed onto it like my life depended on it.

I was mainly trying to get it so it didn’t fly away like Damien’s wand had done in the past. But as soon as I grabbed it, it didn’t fly away and try to get free from me. It was as if it was trying to save me from crashing to the ground. Because now I was just dangling in the air, probably looking like a crazy person.

The wand began to lower itself, which lowered me in return.

Once my feet were securely on the ground, the pulsing of the wand tucked in the palm of my hand began again and I was left staring at it in utter shock.

“Your wand saved you,” he said, pinching his brows together. “It’s smart.”

“Was that not normal?” I asked, meeting his gaze.

He shrugged.

“It’s unusual for a wand to care that much about their masters so quickly,” he answered.

Damien stood from where he was seated, and he walked toward me.

“I’m going to show you how to move objects,” he said as he unlatched his wand and pulled from its pouch. He pointed the wand at a cup on the table and shouted, “Levare!”

To my amazement, the cup started to lift off the table and rose higher as Damien raised his wand, pointing directly at the cup. Damien moved his wand in a different direction, and the cup followed it.

He slowly brought the cup back to the table and looked at me.

“Your turn,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Okay,” I said, squaring my shoulders and facing the cup. “What do I say? Levare?”

He nodded.

“It means ‘to lift’ in Latin,” he explained. “A lot of the spells spoken out loud are in Latin.”

I pointed the wand at the cup, but Damien shook his head.

“Lift your arm a little and then lower your wrist,” he instructed, demonstrating with his own wand. “And make sure you stand firm. You have to be confident in order to control your magic.”

I did exactly as he said, making sure my feet were planted firmly on the ground as I squinted my eyes at the cup.

In a much firmer tone than I anticipated I said, “Levare!”

The cup soon lifted off the table at a quick speed. My eyes grew large as the cup flew around the room much too quickly. With one look at my worried face, Damien was grabbing at my arm, putting one hand on my waist to steady me.

“Keep it still!” He ordered, his tone fierce.

“I can’t. It’s moving me!” I told him, panic clear in my voice.

“Satis!!” Damien yelled, but nothing happened, the cup still went wild. “Shit. It has to be you. Say ‘Satis.’”

In a shaky tone, I yelled, “Satis!!” and the cup crashed to the ground, leaving nothing but shards.

I was panting by the time that was over and I leaned my entire weight into Damien as he too breathed heavily. He was leaning against one of the tables as he held me steady in his arms.

“Are you okay?” He asked once he regathered himself.

“Yeah, I think so,” I answered. “What just happened?”

“I would say you need to learn to control your very eager wand,” Damien murmured. “You need to learn to control the powers that come from your wand. You could hurt somebody.”

“Thank goodness for this room,” I said, not bothering to step away from him. I was still trying to gather my thoughts and calm my trembling body. It helped to be near Damien, especially when his hands were running up and down my arms, to calm me, not noticing the goosebumps forming on my flesh.

“What the fuck is going on in here?”