Читать книгу Atlantean - E.N. J.D. Watkins - Страница 10

A tapping on my room window roused me from my nightmare-plagued slumber. I sat up and heard the sound of several crystal tears hitting the floor.

At least there was no blood this time.

Sunlight was still flooding my room through the window which told me that I hadn’t been sleeping long. In fact, when I looked at my cell phone I realized with chagrin that I had only been asleep for twenty measly minutes. I looked over to the window to discover the source of the tapping that had woken me and spotted a crow standing on the windowsill. I blinked, and in the time it took me to close and reopen my eyes the crow had vanished—in its place was the haggard figure of Eli.

Was it my imagination or did he look more sickly?

I hesitated for a moment unsure of whether or not to let him inside. I was still wary of Eli, but then again, if he wanted to cause me harm, he would have done so already.

I had no defense against magic.

So, sighing, I walked over to the window and opened it. Coughing and gasping for breath, Eli tried to pull himself through the window but found that his frail body didn’t have the strength. Seeing that he was in obvious need of assistance, I helped into my room. I had to lay him on my bed because he didn’t even have the strength to stand on his own two feet.

“Thank you, Amadeus,” Eli said in a hoarse voice, “Sorry for coming so early, but my flamboyant use of magic today has cost me dearly. I have little time left.”

He spoke as though he were on his deathbed. And truth be told, he did look like a corpse.

“What happened to your voice?” I asked as I knelt beside my bed.

For some reason I felt pity for the guy. He seemed to be in a great deal of pain, and I found myself wondering why he didn’t just heal himself with magic.

“Because using magic is what’s killing me,” he said with a crooked smile, “The more magic I use, the worse my condition gets. And as far as my voice is concerned, I no longer have the power to speak within your mind.”

“So when you used your magic to converse with me—”

“My condition worsened severely.”

I shifted guiltily. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was my fault Eli was in this state.

“It was worth it to gain your trust, Amadeus. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”

These words only served to add to my guilt.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Actually there is, and that is why I’ve come.”

“What do you do need me to do?”

Eli coughed and struggled to sit up. I helped him into an upright position, and in doing so, I caught a closer glimpse of the marking on the right side of his face.

It looked like a tattoo.

Eli snorted.

“It’s not a tattoo.”

“What is it then?”

“A family heirloom,” he said with an enigmatic smile, “But that’s a story for another time. Now, do you still desire to help me?”

“Yes,” I said fervently.

“The only thing that will save me is a merge.”

“What’s a merge?” I asked slowly.

“I’ll show you. Hold up your hands with your palms facing me.”

I did as I was told, more than a little curious as to how this was going to help. Eli did the same with his palms facing me.

My eyes widened when I saw that the palm lines of his hands were knotted. But this knot was different than my own and Victoria’s; it seemed more intricate. Just as I was about to ask about these knots, Eli pressed his fingertips against mine causing a surge of electricity to shoot through my body. It wasn’t painful, however—actually it felt kind of good. Figuring that my job was over I tried to pulled my hands away from Eli’s but they wouldn’t budge.

“This is all part of the merge, Amadeus,” said Eli smilingly, “Relax.”

I did as I was told and that’s when things really got weird.

The knots on Eli’s palms began to glow, and tiny tendrils of light began snaking their way out of Eli’s hand.

My mouth fell open with a slight pop.

“What—?”

“It’s my soul.”

“Your . . . soul?”

“Yours has begun to leave your body as well,” he said. “Take a look.”

He was right. Craning my neck, I saw that the knots on my hands were glowing as well and tiny tendrils of light had begun snaking their way out of them.

“Is this really what a soul looks like?” I asked completely mystified as my tendrils of light began to reach out towards Eli’s.

“Part of it,” replied Eli quietly.

Mystified, I watched as our souls began to entwine in each other. And as they did so the most orgasmic sensation I’d ever experienced flooded every inch of my body. Though I was still a virgin I somehow knew that this sensation was far better than sex; it was as though my entire body was being pleasured at once. But even in this state of ecstasy I was more than a little weirded out that I was receiving this sensation from another boy. That is, until I saw that transformation that was coming over Eli.

Wide eyed and bewildered I watched as Eli’s body began to fill out before my very eyes. Now, it might have been my mind playing tricks on me, but Eli’s body began to take on some distinctively feminine characteristics—characteristics that even his uniform couldn’t hide. Golden-blonde hair was growing from his scalp and was extending well past his shoulders. Stranger still was the fact that the tops of his ears had suddenly grown into points. To top it all off, his once jade eyes had changed to silver and the pupils of those eyes had stretched into slits.

When the transformation was complete I found myself staring at an inhumanly beautiful, golden-blonde-haired girl who was wearing a boy’s uniform. But even though her figure had changed, the marking on the right side of her face had not. I couldn’t help but notice how much she resembled my false mother.

A moment later our palms snapped to together and the feeling of ecstasy increased tenfold, causing a moan of pleasure to escape from my lips. Our united souls glowed brightly for an instant and then parted company and reentered our separate bodies. The power that held our hands together was suddenly released and I fell backward gasping.

As I sat up, I found myself staring at Eli wondering what on earth had just happened to him.

“It’s ‘Eliana,’ actually,” said the girl who was now sitting on my bed.

“What?” I asked still trying to process what had just happened.

In the back of my mind it suddenly registered that this girl’s voice was the same heavenly voice that I had previously conversed with inside my mind.

“My name’s Eliana, not Eli.”

“And you’re a—”

“A girl, silly.”

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. Last time I checked, it took an extensive amount of surgery to alter ones gender.

Eliana gave me a crooked smile and began to unbutton her shirt.

“Do you want me to prove that I’m a girl?” she asked playfully.

I felt myself go red with embarrassment.

“No,” I said quickly, “I believe you.”

And the funny thing was that I did believe her. I could feel that she was telling me the truth in the same way I could tell whether or not Victoria was telling me the truth. It seemed that this merging, or whatever it was we did, had created a bond between Eliana and me.

“How—?”

“When beings like us merge a bond between the souls is created.”

“ ‘Beings like us’?”

“Yes. Your suspicions were correct, Amadeus. You are indeed much more than human. But I cannot tell you more than that.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Thanks,” I grumbled. “That clears things up.”

“Amadeus, now that you and I have merged you know that there are many things I want to tell you but are obliged not to.

She was right. Through the bond she and I now shared I knew it was imperative that I find the answers on my own. I also knew that Eliana would be there to help me every step of the way. That being said there were things that she could tell me. Like what exactly she was.

“I’m a nahash.”

“A na—what?”

“A nahash,” she repeated emphatically, “A descendent of the Serpent Seed.”

“The what?”

“The Serpent Seed isn’t a ‘what,’ but a ‘who.’ ”

“Okay then,” I said with a crooked smile, “who is the Serpent Seed.”

“No one special,” she said with an enigmatic smile. “Just my ancestor.”

“And my false mother?” I pressed.

“She, too, is a nahash.”

Though I was relieved to finally have that particular mystery solved, the resentment I felt for my false mother hadn’t lessened in the slightest.

“Nor should it,” Eliana agreed.

I stared into her eyes and recalled with vivid clarity the change that had come over them while we were merging. But before I could even string together a question about this, Eliana already had an answer.

“That’s just one of the side effects of merging with someone like you,” she said with another enigmatic smile.

I knew that there was more to it than that. But I also knew that now was not the time to inquire further. Of course I still wanted to know why she felt the need to masquerade as a boy. For I knew from the bond that we now shared that Eliana hadn’t transformed into a girl but had always been one.

Eliana gave me another enigmatic smile.

“It’s important for the world to see me as a boy for the time being.”

“And I’m the only one who can see you as you now are,” I said slowly reading her thoughts as though they were my own.

“Correct.”

“What about Victoria and the others?”

“I will use my magic to ensure that they still see me as a sickly boy.”

“Your magic . . . ?” I breathed, “Then does that mean—”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Thanks to you I can now wield my magic again.”

“But,” I said slowly, “doesn’t using magic hurt you?”

“Only if I use it extensively,” she said unconcernedly, “But now that you’re here I can simply merge with you when the pain becomes too much.”

“And like everything else,” I said, going a little red with embarrassment, “I’m going to have to find out what you mean by that on my own.”

Eliana smiled sympathetically.

Figures.

I yawned. I hadn’t realized until now how tired I was.

“Get some rest,” said Eliana’s voice within my mind.

I blinked and looked at her but she was gone. Perched in the very same spot she had just been in was a crow. Peering at it I saw that it was the very same bird that was tapping on my window not too long ago.

A sudden thought occurred to me.

“Eliana?” I thought slowly.

“Yeah, it’s me,” she thought back cheerfully.

“You can shape shift?”

“I can do many things.”

My closet door suddenly swung open and I watched wide eyed as my bloody sheets, clothes, and tears floated out only to hover just above my head. In almost the same instant the tears that were on the floor also lifted into the air.

Whoa.

Before I had time to blink, the items caught fire and were reduced to ashes.

I made a motion to duck, fearing that the ashes would fall on my head. But I needn’t have bothered because seconds later a gust of wind sucked the ashes right out of my window.

My eyes widened in surprise.

“Was that all you?” I asked.

“Yep.”

I thought about that for a moment.

“The cat,” I said slowly remembering the black cat that had frightened Victoria, “That was you too, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Spreading her wings, she suddenly took flight and soared out of my open window.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my room.”

“But what if I want to talk with you?”

“Don’t worry,” she thought assuredly, “I will never be more than a thought away.”

Lying down on my bed I closed my and eyes and tried to process all that had just happened.

I looked at the palms of my hands, wondering once again what these markings meant. It was a little irksome that I was only able to gleam a small amount of information from Eliana when I had been expecting to have all my questions answered. I let my hands fall and wondered how I was going to pass the time.

Apparently I wasn’t as tired as I thought because try as I might I couldn’t fall asleep.

“Why don’t you text Nyssa and Camilla with the cell phone I left you?” suggested Eliana in my head.

So this is what she meant by just being a thought away.

“You’re the one who left me that cell phone for me to find?” I asked in amazement.

“Yep,” she thought brightly, “Consider it a welcome to Eden Prep gift.”

“Thanks,” I thought back.

“You’re welcome.”

I hurried to find the phone but I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t kept the piece of paper on which Nyssa had written her number. And looking at my hands I noted that Camilla’s number had faded considerably.

“Don’t worry,” thought Eliana reassuringly, “I see their numbers in your mind.”

With her help I was able to recall both of their numbers; however I was unprepared for just how much texting would ensue after I sent them each a message. These girls texted with me for hours on end, and even gave my number to Lindsey and Stephanie who joined in the conversation immediately. Even when darkness fell these girls were still going strong.

Did they ever go to sleep?

It was a well after midnight when the texting finally came to an end. Exhausted I fell asleep without delay

Eliana was right. The texting had helped.