An excited buzz filled the room after Tarya Selindria left. She had never cancelled class in such an unusual manner. Everyone asked the person next to them what they thought could have happened to cause such a reaction.
Michael sat at his desk reveling in the residue of the euphoria that had filled him moments before. He felt for a brief moment as if there was nothing that he could not do. He struggled to find the floodgate that had almost opened within him but found only emptiness.
"What's the matter?" a voice asked right in front of him. Startled out of his thoughts, he saw Thalian staring down at him in concern.
Not wanting to share the strange phenomenon that he had just experienced, Michael shook his head. "Nothing. I'm fine," he assured Thalian. The feelings that he felt were too personal and confusing for him to share with anyone else yet.
Thalian still seemed suspicious, but the prospect of an afternoon to do whatever they wanted seemed to outweigh his desire to probe further. "Let's go out to the practice yard and get some fresh air," Thalian suggested, stretching exaggeratedly.
Michael nodded and stood up. As they started toward the door, he saw Shalay and Leanne appear outside in the hall that was rapidly filling up with students.
"Was class canceled for everyone?" Thalian asked in surprise, peering up and down the hall.
Shalay nodded, her eyes glowing with excitement at the prospect of an adventure. "Do either of you know what's going on?" she asked, her bright, green eyes shining with anticipation.
"Not a clue," Thalian replied. "We were just on our way to the practice yard to play around for the rest of the day. It just happens to be next to the staff building, so we might be able to overhear some of the council."
Michael gave him a disgusted look. "I should have known you had something else in mind."
Thalian's eyes widened innocently. "I don't know what you are talking about." He rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Shall we go before they finish?"
Not waiting for an answer, Thalian began making his way to the practice yard. Sighing in resignation, Michael retrieved his book and followed Thalian, with Shalay and Leanne trailing behind him. Other students holding excited conversations filled the halls of the complex. As Michael and his companions continued their trek, he began thinking about the odd vision that he saw while standing over the washbasin. A few things began to fall into place. He had a sudden hunch of what the council members were discussing.
"Michael?" a light voice questioned.
Michael glanced over at Leanne, who was staring at him with the same concerned expression that Thalian gave him earlier. Michael realized that Leanne had asked him a question.
"What did you say?" Michael asked her, trying to focus.
"I asked you if you would help me and Shalay work on our technique with the bow staves," Leanne repeated, still watching him closely. Her eyes seemed unusually dark in the morning light. Michael thought he could spend the morning just staring into them.
"I would love to," Michael replied, feeling a warm flush climb up his cheeks.
As they reached the practice yard, Thalian grabbed two wooden swords from the weapons rack and tossed one to Michael. "Remember, we have a duel later," Thalian reminded him with a grin.
"Wonderful," Michael replied, rolling his eyes at Leanne as he snagged the practice sword out of the air. She laughed a warm, throaty laugh that made little pinpricks run up Michael's neck.
Leanne walked up so she was right next to Michael, while Shalay's tall, slim form went forward to join Thalian. Michael watched Shalay suspiciously as she passed him. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, as if Michael had not lived with her long enough to know when she was up to something.
"Will you do me a favor, Michael?" Leanne asked quietly, as she walked close enough to brush shoulders with him.
"Of course," Michael replied quickly, sneaking a glance over at her. She was coyly twisting a small blade of grass around with her slender fingers.
"Could you let Thalian win your duel?" Leanne still had not taken her gaze from the blade of grass she was toying with, but a slow blush crept into her cheeks. "I think he wants to show off to Shalay and he would feel a lot better if you let him win."
Michael was silent for a moment as they crossed the field toward the Staff Hall. "On one condition," Michael said at last, watching her sideways.
Leanne looked at him curiously, her dark brown, almost black eyes making his pulse quicken. "All right, what?"
"I will let Thalian win if you tell me what it is that Thalian said he would tell me if I won." Michael smiled as Leanne came to an abrupt halt, chagrin painting her features. "So, is it a deal?" Michael asked with one eyebrow raised slightly.
"Oh, that." Leanne regained her composure, frowning at him. "I'm not sure I know what he is referring to. You know how he can say one thing and mean something else."
"Oh, I think you know what he was referring to," Michael declared confidently as they continued following Michael and Shalay. "I think what it comes down to is this: do you want to tell me or do you want Shalay to tell me?"
"That's cruel, Michael," Leanne admonished with a playful punch to his shoulder. "How about a truce? If you let Thalian win first, then I'll tell you what happened."
Michael pretended to think it over, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "What assurance do I have that you will keep your part of the bargain?" he asked pointedly.
Leanne drew herself up. "You would question my word?" she demanded indignantly, her dark eyes appearing hurt, yet amused at the same time.
"I would be a fool not to," Michael countered dryly. "I know you too well."
Leanne studied him silently, her almond-shaped eyes calculating. After several moments of silent inspection, she seemed to make a decision. "I asked Shalay if you had ever kissed a girl."
Michael frowned doubtfully, searching her eyes for a trace of falsehood. "That's all? You just wanted to know if I had ever kissed a girl?"
"No," Leanne smiled a small smile. "I told you the first part of the conversation as an assurance. Now you have to lose the duel with Thalian before I tell you the rest."
"Fair enough," Michael gave in.
"Are you two waiting for the Elders to get done with their meeting?" Thalian demanded impatiently from where he waited next to the Staff Hall.
Michael sighed and joined Thalian near the building. Thalian casually strolled up to the window outside the Staff Hall where the teachers would gather and began to lean toward the wall as if for support. Michael saw the vines covering the walls begin to undulate and rapidly extend toward Thalian. Jumping forward, Michael grabbed Thalian and jerked him back away from the expanding vines.
Thalian swore as he turned toward Michael. "What's the matter?"
Michael pointed at the vines. "You just about joined the foundation of the building."
Thalian glanced down at the writhing vines and blinked. "Thanks Michael. I owe you one."
"I'll make sure to write it down somewhere," Michael replied dryly. "Now what?"
Leanne and Shalay were staring intently at one of the bricks on the wall. A moment later Michael could feel their aeris working together as Leanne changed the moisture content in one of the bricks in the wall, while Shalay remolded it so a small hole appeared, allowing sound to escape. Learning to eavesdrop through building walls by changing their malleability was one of the first things Shalay had discovered on her own after going to the school. Shalay and Leanne had perfected the art of spying on others to a science.
Suddenly Leanne gasped and tried to jump back. The vines on the wall had changed color until they were the same color and texture as the grass and had slowly crept along the ground until they wrapped themselves around each of the students' ankles. Feeling a rising panic, Michael tried to jerk back but tripped and fell as the vines gave a sharp pull that dragged him over to the wall. More and more vines began to wrap themselves around him as he tried to fight the ones that fastened themselves to his legs. He could hear the sounds of struggle from either side of him, as well as Thalian blistering the air with curses. He lost interest in what Thalian was saying as another vine fastened around his neck and pulled his back tight against the wall. Barely able to breathe, he felt another vine wrap around his wrists as another formed a gag around his mouth. Then he felt a pinprick in the small of his back and he began to lose consciousness. Starting to panic in earnest, he began to flail about with his waning strength. With a last desperate thought, Michael pushed with all his might against the back of the wall. Immediately, he felt wide awake, and with a loud detonation, the vines around him burst apart.
Jerking away from the wall, he began searching frantically for Leanne. She lay unconscious next to his sister and Thalian. Michael realized that almost all the vines along the entire wall had been destroyed. The vines that remained were withered and dead.
As Michael reached down to shake Leanne and the others awake, the doors to the council opened and through them flowed a stream of Elders. They stopped a few feet from where Michael and his unconscious companions lay at the foot of the wall, eyeing the destruction grimly.
"Explain the meaning of this!" demanded a very old and disheveled Elder. There were wisps of white hair sticking out in different directions, making him appear slightly mad.
Michael straightened carefully, sure that all chances of him becoming a Guardian were floating away with the morning wind.
"We came over here to practice the sword and I knocked Thalian back into the wall, sir," Michael lied, trying to sound earnest. "The vines tried to kill us!"
"They didn't try to kill you—they did what they were supposed to do," a second white-haired Elder said in disgust. To his disappointment, Michael saw that it was Elder Grashon. Elder Grashon sat on the council that chose Guardians.
"I want to know why you were practicing the sword over here, when you know it is forbidden to use this part of the practice field," Elder Grashon demanded, his eyes narrowing.
"We didn't realize we were getting this close, sir," Michael answered, trying to sound convincing.
Tarya Selindria walked around the upset Elders, intently examining the after-effects of Michael's final burst of energy that had left the vines withered and dead.
"What happened to the Snake Vines?" she asked, gazing at him with the same intensity with which she scrutinized the vines.
"I am not sure," Michael replied with an uncomfortable shrug. "I must have killed them when I finally broke free."
"Impossible," Tarya Detante declared flatly. He was the instructor in Rajan plant properties. "A team of draft horses couldn't even break one of these vines."
Michael looked at him helplessly, at a loss for how to explain what happened. The stares the teachers and Elders directed at him ranged from speculative to alarmed. Glancing behind him, he saw his sister and friends still lying unconscious on the ground.
"What about them?" Michael asked, gesturing at the comatose trio. "What is the matter with them?"
Tarya Detante dismissed them with a glance. "They are just unconscious. Snake Vine uses a small thorn to inject venom that incapacitates the victim for a few hours. The question I am interested in is why you are still conscious. You should be lying among your friends dreaming of prison cells. Why are you not?"
Michael felt sweat begin to run down his back as the assembly of mostly white-haired Elders stared at him unblinkingly. Feeling like his back was against the wall, he felt something inside of him snap.
"You are the expert, not me. I should be asking you! I just spent the last ten minutes trying to stay alive, not knowing if my friends and sister are dead or not, and all you can do is stare at me like I am some kind of criminal!" Michael realized that he was shouting and closed his mouth. He felt like molten fire was running through his veins. He had not been this angry as far back as he could remember. Again, he felt as if there were some kind of small sun glowing inside of him and the air around him was alive.
The Elders and instructors were staring at him in shock, some in genuine fear. No one ever talked to the Elders that way. Tarya Selindria did not share their shock. She looked amused, with one of her eyebrows slightly upraised.
Stepping in front of the other Elders, Selindria laid a calming hand on Michael's shoulder. "It's all right," she said reassuringly. Glancing over her shoulder at the Elders, she said in tones that brooked no argument, "I will talk with Michael about what happened later. In the meantime, let's give him some space. If any of you have questions for him, leave them with me and I will ask him. He is one of my pupils and I will not have any of you badgering him with unnecessary questions."
Several of the white-haired men appeared on the verge of arguing with her. However, she met their demanding stares with her own intense gaze. As a group, they finally glanced away, muttering to themselves about respect and shaking their heads. A few of the Elders seemed relieved at the dismissal.
Michael gave Tarya Selindria a grateful nod and knelt next to his three companions. They looked like they were indeed dreaming of prisons, twisting around on the ground as their hands groped blindly around them.
As the group of Elders and instructors began dispersing, Michael puzzled over their odd behavior. The fear that was evident on some of their faces when he lost his temper made no sense at all. The relief that bloomed on some of their faces when Tarya Selindria interceded was the most puzzling. Michael wondered what they had discussed to put them so out of sorts. He jumped as he heard a throat clear behind him and realized that he had voiced the last thought aloud.
Tarya Selindria stood behind him, watching with her inquisitive, catlike eyes. "You will all find out soon enough, so there is no harm in my telling you. A stranger has breached the barrier and managed to get past the Guardians. We received the message early this morning."
Michael felt stunned. "Did he kill the Guardian?"
Tarya Selindria raised an eyebrow inquiringly. "He?"
"The stranger," Michael replied trying to cover his slip. "It was a he, right?"
Tarya Selindria nodded, watching him suspiciously. "No, he didn't kill Trevor. He just rendered him unconscious long enough to get past. We have no idea how he knew he was there. Trevor is one of our best."
"When will he get here?" Michael asked with a frown, wondering if the intruder would turn out to be the man that he saw in the vision that morning.
"At the rate that he is going, by tomorrow afternoon," she replied, her eyes troubled.
"There is something that I need to talk to you about. I feel it is something that you should know before there is an accident and you unknowingly do something worse than kill Snake Vine. I think that you are Aetherborn."