“I strongly advise against that, Miss Merlin. It may hurt you in ways beyond repair,” Krieger warned. “Remember, Dempsey created it to suppress exceptional but criminal magicals. Imagine what would’ve happened if any of them had been able to just bypass it with sheer willpower. It wouldn’t end well for you.”
I felt like a deflated balloon. Krieger didn’t enjoy seeing me like that. I could feel his angst and frustration. He wanted to help me. In addition, he was insanely curious. Much like me, I was sure he wanted to see the exact limits of my Chaos powers.
“Hiram put it there for a reason,” Krieger added. “It was meant to protect you from discovery. I must say, your powers, or at least some of them, still managed to slip through. The Dempsey Suppressor is designed to be much more powerful. Frankly, it shouldn’t even have let all four of your Elemental abilities out! Even after your first Reading, you were puzzling to most, simply because you’re a full Elemental, an Empath, and a Telekinetic. I can’t help but wonder if there’s more lying beneath that limitation…”
“Shocked” didn’t begin to describe my current state. Stunned? More or less the same thing. Baffled? Absolutely. Resigned? Still—hell, no. A thousand times, no.
“So, what you’re saying is that… even with the Suppressor on, my powers still slipped through,” I concluded.
“Exactly. I will look into a detection and extraction procedure, Miss Merlin, as I myself am personally intrigued,” Krieger said, grinning.
I chuckled. “Yeah, I can feel that. Thank you, Doctor. At least I know now.”
“I’m pleased I could give you some good news. Even though we often refer to Mediocrity as being just a label, it does have an impact on our lives as magicals. Nobody really wants to be a Mediocre, after all. In your case, it’s even preposterous!” Krieger replied. “Give me some time to research the Dempsey Suppressor properly, and I’ll advise you on the next steps once I know what to do. In the meantime, I will report this to Alton. I’m sure he’ll be interested in hearing these results.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet. In fact, I think he’ll be pleased. He did say there was more to me than met the eye,” I said, then remembered Garrett’s advice from the previous night. “Doctor Krieger, I wanted to ask you something, and I think it’s related to this. Light and Darkness—I’ve read about a magical’s affiliation to one or the other, but I don’t understand exactly how that works, or what it means.”
Krieger paused, his pale blue eyes fixed on mine. His lips curled into a devious little smile. “I guessed you would ask, at some point. Adley never mentioned it in the report she wrote after your first Reading. It struck me as odd, but, thinking of you as a Mediocre, I wasn’t sure it mattered much. Now, however, it’s different. Allow me to explain.”
He rushed to his desk and fumbled through one of the drawers, then came back with an old book, flipping through its pages until he found what he was looking for.
“Light and Darkness are primordial Children of Chaos. It’s not a matter of good and evil here, because that isn’t how we quantify Light and Darkness,” he continued, and handed me the book. He showed me an illustration depicting two dragons flying around each other, one black, the other white. “It is true that many magicals connected to Darkness end up committing terrible crimes, but it’s always been my belief that it is more a question of character than of Chaos. Light and Darkness amplify a magical’s abilities differently. It would be difficult for me to explain right now, but I will leave this book with you for reference.”
“How does this connection work?” I asked, holding on to the book.
“You’re born with it. We all are. I, for example, belong to Darkness. My abilities are intense and can be extremely destructive,” Krieger said.
“But you’re such a sweetheart,” I replied, smiling.
“Don’t let the good versus bad prejudice cloud your judgment,” he shot back. “I told you, that’s not how we view Light and Darkness. Light-affiliated magicals experience a different kind of intensity in their powers. They’re more inclined toward Telekinesis and Herculean abilities, for example, as well as Air and Water Elementals. Darkness is better connected to Shapeshifting, Empathy, Earth and Fire, Necromancy, and other death-related powers. Perhaps that’s where the stigma comes from. Like I said, that book will give you more insight on both.”
“I thought Elementals were all drawn to Light.”
“It’s not a rule,” he replied. “Most are, but many aren’t,” he added, smiling. “Like I said, there’s no set value for Darkness and Light. You can still find a Necromancer who’s on the Light side. Extremely rare, but still, it proves it’s possible.”
“Okay. So, what am I connected to?” I asked.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Krieger said. “Your connection right now is inconclusive at best. I would need to remove the Dempsey Suppressor to know exactly where you fall on the spectrum. Given your combined abilities, it’s difficult to even guess right now. You might as well know that Raffe Levi, Alton Waterhouse, Tatyana Vasilisa, and Garrett Kyteler are connected to Darkness. Your other friends are part of Light.”
That did come as a surprise, but, based on Krieger’s explanations, it made sense. After all, Tatyana and Alton had death-related abilities, for example. Alton’s notes from my parents’ file became even more intriguing.
“I’m told that my mother was Darkness and that my father was Light,” I replied.
“Which will make your full power even more interesting, once we take that thing out of you and figure out which connection you inherited,” Krieger murmured.
Looking back, my father’s wish to have me grow up like a normal human felt like a double-edged blade. On the one hand, he’d probably wanted to protect me by keeping me hidden. On the other hand, however, it seriously impaired my development as a magical.
I let out a heavy sigh before giving Krieger a faint nod. “Thank you for everything, Doctor. And for the book.”
“Don’t let the Suppressor’s existence weigh down on you,” Krieger said.
“I won’t. But I am curious about a few things and have questions. I think Adley will have the answers to them. I’m wondering if she did notice the Suppressor during my first Reading and chose to hide it from me. I don’t know, maybe I’m reaching.”
“Not really. In the magical world, nothing is absolute. Given your Empath ability, you may sense deception in her if you ask the right questions,” Krieger replied. “If you’d like, I can join you. I have some inquiries of my own where her work is concerned, anyway.”
I smiled, touched by his kind nature and slightly amused by his inquisitiveness. Krieger was nothing like what the rumors said. He sure did inspire dread and chills, and that German accent didn’t help, but the guy was amazing.
“I’d like that, thank you,” I said.
“Besides, after everything that happened, I don’t think you should be left alone with Adley.”
He had a point there. And it was going to work in my favor if I had another pair of eyes in the room with me. If Wade was right in his suspicion that Adley may be able to deceive my Empathy, Krieger could, perhaps, spot that. He didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who could be easily fooled.
Krieger and I agreed to meet later to speak to Adley, after which I left the infirmary with a positive attitude. I wasn’t a Mediocre, and I was looking forward to rubbing that in Wade’s face. But I was being suppressed… and that needed fixing, as soon as possible.
Sixteen
Tatyana
I’d spent most of the previous evening by Dylan’s side in the infirmary. Krieger’s nurses were wonderful and kind, allowing me to stay there well past visiting hours. Dylan slept for most of the time, only waking up for a few minutes now and then. He’d mumble something, then doze off again. That beastly hex had drained the life out of him, and it was going to take a while for him to make a full recovery.
That morning, I felt as though it was the start of a fresh, new day. The optimism was more than I usually dealt with prior to coffee, but I welcomed it.
After all, I’d been feeling so guilty about what happened to Dylan.
And I hadn’t found out anything more about Will or how he’d died. Astrid’s search through Smartie didn’t return any useful results. Alton figured it was probably because Will’s family wasn’t registered with the coven. There had been no record of a William living at that address in the electronic database. So that was a dead-end for the time being, and since it had probably happened a long time ago, long enough for Will to lose track of time altogether, I assumed it wasn’t in any way related to our issue with the Ryder twins.
In the end, I had to focus on any information or facts that were recent and fresh. Once a trail went cold, it seemed nearly impossible to find anything.
I slipped out of a hot shower, feeling rejuvenated and energized. If someone were to make me run around a football field in that instant, I would’ve darted off willingly. I wrapped a towel around my body and removed the shower cap, letting my long blonde hair loose.
I wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror to look at myself, then froze. I was nowhere to be found in the mirror. Oberon Marx was my reflection.
He was watching me. He was me.
Dammit, he never left!
“What the hell?!” I croaked, feeling my blood boil.
Oberon stilled, surprised by my reaction. “Oh, crap, you can see me.”
“The mirrors never lie, Oberon! You should’ve known better than to stow away in my body!”
“Okay. Okay. Take it easy, Tatyana, I don’t mean any harm.” Oberon tried to calm me down, but fury was blazing through me like a firestorm. In my mind, I was already trying to remember an expulsion chant. For some reason, those memories were fuzzy.
Scratch that. It’s not just some reason. It’s him! He’s messing with my head!