Chapter 9: Kyler

Everyone was blaming the poisoning on Edius, but I knew differently. Too much had calmed down around the campus for it to be Edius, especially since rumor had it he was away tormenting Europe. Nobody knew how far his reach of terror stretched, but I guessed not that far. Sonny was at the festival with a couple of his friends. None of them got sick or even looked ill. At one point I noticed him and his friends hanging out by the food.

We were stopped by an instructor at the entrance to the infirmary. "It's bad in there," he said, his face grim. "I wouldn't go in if I were you." He nodded toward the woods. "I hear they're bringing more in now."

"You're not us." Cassandra's stern face seemed to scare the instructor. He obviously knew of her reputation. "We have friends in there. She pushed past the instructor who gave Oliver and I the evil eye. People were not necessarily afraid of Cassandra, but they did respect her more than others. She was a good person to have on your side.

We entered the academy's infirmary and found it overcrowded with both the sick and people trying to help. Vomit covered sheets, people. and the floor. I pulled my shirt up over my nose and took a deep breath. We had to be here. The other students at the academy, even the older ones, looked to us for leadership. I did understand why so many were waiting outside to hear about friends. The infirmary was not for the faint of heart.

"They're getting worse," Oliver said. He leaned over the girl on the stretcher next to us and listened for breathing. "She's not going to make it."

"Edius is trying to wipe out the academy." Cassandra looked at the sick and dead in the room. I knew what was on her mind. "Just like he did the guild."

I didn't want to disagree, at least not yet. I thought Edius was the least of our worries. His ego would have required he be seen at the scene of the crime. It had to be someone working for him.

A student stumbled through the doorway, and a nurse came to her rescue. The nurse guided her to an empty stretcher and helped her lie down. The student shook with chills, her gray skin sunken around her eyes. I'd seen this sickness before. I approached the girl, and she turned to look at me, red veins long and thick covered the whites of her eyes. "You're going to be okay," I told her, lying the best I could.

"We need to help these people," Cassandra said. She and Ruby stopped to check on several students but, really, there was nothing we could do until we knew what hex had been used. Only one person really knew what had happened.

I moved slowly through the infirmary, sure it was Sonny's fault. And then I spotted Sonny. He was bent over a girl lying on a stretcher. A young woman who I sat next to in one of my battle classes. I believed her name was Sabrina. She had long curly blonde hair and fair skin, reminding me of the reason I hated Sonny so much in the first place. He had to know the memory never left my mind, that I relived it every day of my life. Eventually I would have to tell Cassandra and the others the whole story.

Sonny and I were attending a magic festival two years ago in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York when we met Kate Star, the daughter of a high wizard from the west coast. Our elders had sent us there to represent our clan at one of the ceremonies. Despite being surrounded by bodyguards, I managed to spend a couple of hours talking to Kate, eventually us sitting shoulder to shoulder. We talked about art and nature. I told her about my love of nature and my ability to shapeshift, though, I never got the chance to show her. She told me all about the poetry she wrote in her diary and about wanting to travel the world without all the protection surrounding her. She wanted to have the freedom I experienced when running through the forest as a wolf. She told me about her magic, and I shared mine. We had so much in common that we talked about seeing each other again after she returned home. And then things turned even more in my favor. Kate's entourage of bodyguards and servants became ill and were all hospitalized. Kate initially wanted to stay at the hospital. But Kate's father demanded help getting his daughter returned home safely. A few months before someone had made an attempt on his life, so he wanted her home pronto. Sonny and I eagerly volunteered to escort Kate back to the west coast, and the elders agreed.

In the middle of the night, Sonny and I whisked Kate away and boarded a train heading to the west coast. The three of us shared a cozy cabin, me sending Sonny out of the room whenever possible. Two days into the trip, Kate and I became very close. Laughing and joking and chatting it up. I could tell Sonny didn't like it one bit. Kate was, after all, one of the most beautiful girls either of us had ever seen. He even caught us sharing a kiss when he entered the cabin unannounced. Late on the third evening the train stopped in Kansas City to refuel. We were told we had an hour before leaving, so I left Kate alone with Sonny while I ran into town. I never gave it a second thought, leaving her in what I thought were Sonny's safe hands. The next morning Kate fell ill. We did everything possible to make her better, but nothing worked. Sonny tried dozens of medicine spells, but nothing made her any better. By the time we reached the west coast she was dead, and I was devastated.

The train ride home had been solemn until we hit Kansas City which quickly reminded me Kate was perfectly fine when I left the train but sick when I returned. Of course, Sonny claimed to have had nothing to do with Kate's illness. On the train, in a private room, Sonny and I had words. Those words eventually turned into punches. We rode back to our hometown in separate cars with security standing guard between us.

Upon our arrival home, the elders met us at the train station, questioning Kate's death. I explained why I got off the train; Sonny explained having done nothing wrong. The Council of Elders believed nothing we said and immediately sent us into exile which was the last time I had seen Sonny, though I heard months ago he began searching for me to apologize. There was nothing he could say or do to bring Kate back, so I wanted to hear nothing from him. In fact, I wanted to see him dead for what he did to Kate. Now I had the chance to make things right.

"You okay?" Cassandra asked, pulling my mind from despair. She put her hand on my shoulder, and the anxiety began to falter. I was sure her connection with each of us was the same, but part of me wanted to feel, needed to feel, she was closer to me.

"I hate seeing all these sick people," I said. "And I can't get the dead people outta my head." I looked around the room. It didn't make any sense why some got sick and others didn't. A couple of nurses across the room moved, and I saw Sonny standing over Dash, working his dark magic. "Son-of-a-bitch."

"Kyler, wait!" Cassandra's hand swiped at my arm but missed, too slow to catch me charging at Sonny. I'd had enough of his pretending to be a do-gooder. "Oliver!" she yelled as I got away.

Oliver tried to intercept me, but he missed when I dodge to the right. I looked back at Oliver picking himself up off the ground, Cassandra still in hot pursuit, Ruby coming at me from another direction. We never used magic against one another, so there was nothing stopping me from getting to Sonny.

Sonny turned right as I was about to grab him by the back of the neck. "Kyler, wait!" The fear in his eyes gave me a satisfaction I'd waited a long time to have.

Sonny's cries for me to stop were too late. I shoved him against the wall next to the bed Dash laid on. "You fucking did this. I know you did! Just like Kate. Just like her!" I looked at Dash who appeared worse than before. "You're fucking killing him!" I drew back my fist to punch Sonny in the face, but he moved quicker, knocking us both to the floor, my head banging against Dash's bed. Dash moaned and said something I couldn't understand.

"Kyler," Oliver yelled and tried to pull me away. I knocked his arm back and then went at Sonny. I landed a punch to his jaw though in all fairness it was really just to scare him.

"Get off me!" Sonny yelled and tried to push me away. The fear on his face almost made me laugh out loud. He knew he deserved whatever punishment I wanted to dish out. He knew what Kate meant to me. I raised my hand again to slug him, but someone grabbed my arm.

"That's enough!" one of the nurses yelled and pulled us apart. I jerked away, and another arm grabbed me, her hand stopping me in my tracks.