Zephyra: Aubrey Rising Book 2

By Devlin Richards

Aubrey has lost the use of her arm in the battle against Tempeste, and casualties from the battle are still crippling the School’s troops. In the search to find a cure, a journal belonging to a former Daughter of the Wilderness is located, giving them new hope for victory. However, this new plan is dangerous, and it puts Aubrey herself at more risk than ever. Aubrey and her friends must learn to rely on each other more than they ever would have thought possible, as the battle with Zephyra builds towards a final, deadly confrontation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Devlin Richards
• Release date: Nov 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311328120

Devlin Richards

Devlin began writing the Aubrey Rising series when she was 13 years old, and finished it just after she turned 15. She is currently 17 years old and is working on her seventh novel. Devlin enjoys writing, karate, and spending time with her friends. She lives in New Hampshire with her parents, brother and dog Cocoa Puff.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

It’s my first day back at normal high school since Tempeste almost killed me and I lost the use of my arm.

That was only about two weeks ago. Since then, my health has been kind of touch and go. Some days I feel okay, sort of. Most days I’m exhausted and just want to sleep. But it’s time for me to get back to my life, get back to school and homework and classes and everything. And that includes magic.

This is kind of annoying. Well I’m glad to be getting back to my normal schedule, and very glad to finally be able to go back to the School. But there are only two-and-a-half weeks left of my sophomore year in normal school, and I don’t see why it’s really important that I complete it. I’ve missed a couple months altogether, I’m failing most of my classes, and I can still barely even make it through the day without falling asleep.

The only good thing about my first day back at school is that it’s also the first day of school for a new student. Who happens to be one of my best friends, who’s here to watch out for me. Min.

It’s a little weird that he’s just being enrolled in school now when there’s only two weeks left. Of course we’re not going to tell the school that he’s just there to watch out for me and make sure I’m okay. We don’t want the school to ask questions, so when Liz signs Min up she brings his brother, who is actually Seth, another of my friends from the School. Seth can influence the mind of the principal. So by the time Min and I are both ready for the first day back, nobody’s wondering anything, and he’s automatically in my homeroom and all of my classes.

Liz is shaking me. Aubrey! Wake up! I open my eyes. I vaguely remember my alarm clock going off maybe twenty minutes ago. I turned it off and went back to sleep. I have to get ready in about ten minutes, because that’s when I have to leave and there’s no way I’m going to be late on my first day back.

I’m awake, I say sleepily to Liz. This is kind of a lie because I honestly feel like if she stops shaking me I’m going to fall asleep again. But I force myself to sit up and she leaves, probably to go make me breakfast or something.

Paige comes in. She’s been helping me get dressed and stuff since I can’t move my arm. When I killed Tempeste, a lot of her energy went through me and it fried some of my nerves. Since then I haven’t been able to move my left arm at all. Not only that, but the sensation is dulled too. I can feel if it’s hot or cold, sort of, and sometimes it feels kind of tingly. I can feel pain too, which is just perfect, because I almost died after killing Tempeste and totally need another part of my body to be in pain.

Paige, my adoptive sister, is one of those people who can get herself ready in ten minutes and still look amazing. She always sort of has that I-don’t-care look, with ripped jeans and too-big T-shirts. She’s still beautiful though, with sandy blue-streaked hair and violet eyes, so tiny she’s almost petite.

What are you wearing today? she says, pulling open my closet.

I don’t know. My head hurts and I want to go to school, but I don’t want to deal with this. Picking out an outfit seems like an impossible difficulty when I’m this tired. But I only have a few more minutes, so I have to stand up.

I stand up, sway, and almost fall. Sympathy flashes across Paige’s face. I’ll pick out something for you. Go do your hair and stuff.

I go into the bathroom, brush my teeth and do my makeup, put my hair in a bun because that’s all I have the energy for. By the time I’m done Paige is gone from my bedroom, but has laid out clothes for me on the bed. Jeans, sandals, a tank-top. The tank-top is maybe not the best because it doesn’t hide my bandaged arm at all, but I pull it on anyway. It’s too hot for bulky sweatshirts no matter how much I would prefer to wear them.

It’s lucky my arm is wrapped in thick bandages. It doesn’t really help, it’s not like it’s still healing or anything, but at least that explains why I can’t use it to everyone else, and minimizes questions. I told the administration that I got in a bad car accident, and presumably that’s what I’ll tell the other kids too.

There’s another reason behind the bandages too. When Tempeste transferred her energy to me, she gave me a thick black band around my arm full of iridescent patterns, like a bracelet around my upper arm, or a tattoo. I don’t want anyone asking why I got in a car accident and then promptly got a tattoo, so it’s easier to just keep it covered up.

The one thing I can’t hide is my eye color. My eyes used to be green, like my mother’s, like a forest. But now they’re as blue as Tempeste’s were, another side-effect of all that energy she gave me. There’s not really a good way to disguise that. Hopefully, no one will notice.

I pull on the clothes with some difficulty. Having only one arm makes every little thing harder, but I refuse to ask for help. I’ve spent enough time in the past few weeks relying on others to dress myself. So I just struggle with my tank top until I get my dead arm in, and then I hurry downstairs.

Liz has made me breakfast, but I don’t have time to eat it. I’m not hungry anyway. Paige, Liz, Lily and I all pile in the car. Liz will drop me off at my normal high school, and then the other three will go to the magic school.

There are a lot of things that are hard with a damaged arm, things most people wouldn’t even think about. For example, I sit down in the car and then can’t buckle my seat belt. I can’t grab it with my right hand without twisting all the way around, and since I don’t have a second hand to hold up the little thing it goes into, I still can’t buckle it. Lily, my eight-year-old sister, has to help me.

When I finally get to school, I’m so nervous I’m sweating. But I made it this far. Paige helps me sling my backpack over my good shoulder, and then Lily opens the door for me. I take a deep breath, and then step out of the car.

Good luck, Liz says to me through the window. And remember to call me if you need me. Remember, if your arm hurts even a little bit, I want to know. I don’t want you to be going through the day if you’re in pain. You’ll do that, right?

Yeah, Liz. I can tell how worried she is, and I try my best to put her at ease. I’ll be fine. I’ll have Min and Mackenna with me, remember? And I’ll call if I need help.

I can tell that she absolutely hates to drive away. I am her little, broken baby, and if it were up to her she would never let me out of her sight. She is so afraid of me getting hurt again. But I have to jump back into my life at some point, and now’s as good a time as any.

I take five steps into the hallway, and already the stares are attacking me, a thousand unasked questions. I knew that would probably be the worst part. I have been gone for three weeks, and I come back fifteen pounds lighter, with a cast on my arm and different colored eyes. Everyone who even sort of knows me wants to know the story, and I haven’t even really thought out my cover yet. So I just duck my head and look at the ground, trying to ward off any questions until I can talk to Min and Mackenna.

Homeroom is a relief. I slide into my usual seat next to Mackenna almost five minutes before the bell even rings. She only missed about a week of school, a couple days before the battle and a couple days after. She looks good, beautiful and familiar, and I am fiercely glad to have her here with me.

Hey, she says softly. How are you doing?

Not bad, I answer, which isn’t exactly a lie.

Mackenna and I have barely seen each other since after the battle. We normally see each other at both schools, and we share a room when we stay over at the magic school. But she has spent most of her time these past few weeks at one school or another, and I have been mostly at Liz’s house. It feels like ages since we’ve even both been in my bedroom. She’s my best friend, and these have been long weeks without her.

Min comes in just before the second bell rings. Everyone turns around to stare at him. I tell myself it’s just because he’s new, and that’s unusual so close to the end of the school year. But part of me knows it’s not just that. The light tawny eyes, the half-smile, the sort of fitness that can only come from being extremely, well, fit. The things that made me fall for him in the first place.

A few of the pretty, popular girls give him smiles, tossing them to him across the room and hoping he’ll catch them and notice. He gives them a little sideways smile back, and for a second I’m sure he’s going to go over to them and my heart twists. But he doesn’t, of course. He comes to sit by Mackenna and me.

He’s mine, I think in the direction of the popular girls before I can stop myself. But then reality crashes back over me, and I remember that he’s not mine, not really. I know him, he’s one of my best friends, but we are not together in any sense of the word. He’s no more mine than he is theirs.

Min is one of my best friends, except I have kind of liked him as more than a friend for a couple months now. It’s kind of confusing and awkward, since he has no idea. He’s not mine. I wish he was, but he’s not. At least we’re still friends.

I haven’t seen Min very much since the battle either, so it’s sort of comforting to have him here now, even if it’s not in exactly the way I want. The three of us quickly fall into our old patterns of friendship, and by the time homeroom ends we’re all laughing, even me.

Basically, having all three of us together again is the highlight of my day. It just goes downhill from there. People keep asking me questions I don’t know how to answer, and I’ve missed so much class time I don’t even know what’s going on anymore. Min is in all of my classes, but most of the time I have an assigned seat and I don’t really get a chance to talk to him. Mackenna’s not in my lunch, so the three of us aren’t together again until Liz picks us up to take us to the magic school. By that time I’m so tired I feel like I could pass out at any moment.

My first class is Athletics, which I can’t participate in at all. Then comes Weapons. They do let me do a little bit in this class, but I have to basically start from the beginning, learning a whole new style of fighting for only one arm. I’m not strong enough to lift a sword yet, so it’s just me and a knife, watching everyone else, and burning with something resembling jealousy. First-aid is the best because it’s just writing today. I was afraid we would be doing something with our hands, and I almost cried with relief when we weren’t.

I guess it’s nice to see all my friends again. I missed them, they are my family. And it’s not like in normal school, where no one knows what happened and everyone keeps asking me unanswerable questions. At the School everyone knows exactly what I did, and what I’ve been going through since then. As an added bonus, most of the awe has worn off, and people have gotten the sympathy out of their system, so I’m treated more or less like just one of the club again. That alone is almost worth the rest of it.

As soon as I get home from the School, Liz sends me up to bed. I’m not really used to getting this much sleep, so it takes me a while to even start to close my eyes. I stare at the wall, thinking about almost nothing, not even realizing that tears are pouring down my cheeks.

I wish my arm was better. It’s not fair. It’s not fair that I receive a crippling injury this early in life, and now everything is so much harder. I was just trying to protect my friends, just trying to help people. I didn’t ask for this.

And if I ask myself if, knowing what would happen to me, I would still kill Tempeste, I’m not sure the answer is yes. I don’t want this. I’m not completely sure it’s worth it. I know it’s selfish, and I hate myself for it. But it’s the truth.

I never signed up to be some sort of martyr. I didn’t ask to be the Daughter of the Wilderness. I didn’t want it to be my job to protect everyone. I don’t want their safety resting on my shoulders. I don’t want to be asked to make sacrifices like this over and over, until I have nothing left.

I’m not strong enough.

I don’t deserve to be the Princess of the Wilderness.

I want, I want, I want....

I don’t know what I want.

CHAPTER 2

The next day is essentially the same. I can barely make it through the school day, and I have to miss a bunch of stuff in my classes. At least my magic is still strong, almost as strong as before. It will take a little while, but I think my magic will recover completely. At least I still have that.

For my free period I meet with Amity and Liz while they try to fix my arm. This will happen every free period indefinitely, which I guess means until either I get better or they give up. The first thing they try is some liquid medicine stuff that burns going down and tints my vision green. Then Amity runs balls of heat and cold up and down my arm. I can feel the pressure, but not the temperature. Amity says that means it’s improving. But it doesn’t feel very exciting. Now my throat hurts, my vision is green, and I still can’t move my arm at all.

I try not to get discouraged. I remember the promise I made right after waking up from my six-day coma. I will protect everyone at the School from harm, even if I have to give my life. I try to recapture the feeling I had when I made that promise. It doesn’t work. I can’t remember the feeling, and I get discouraged anyway.

The next day in Athletics I pass out. Or at least I wish I just passed out. Instead I start hallucinating, and Paige and Storm have to carry me screaming out of the classroom. I don’t come to myself for almost twenty minutes.

When I can finally recognize my surroundings, I see a very concerned looking Min and Mackenna leaning over me. I turn sideways and see that I’m in the nurse’s office. I try to push myself into a sitting position, but with one arm tucked against my chest, I can’t. My own weakness angers me. My eyes start to swim with tears.

Are you okay? Does your arm hurt? Mackenna’s voice is tense with worry. I look at her and see dark circles under her eyes, the kind that can only come from many sleepless nights.

I feel bad for adding to her already substantial stress load. Wait, I’m not adding to her stress load, I’m causing the entire thing. If I had never been born, she and her father would probably be living peacefully in New Hampshire, with Mackenna going to a normal high school and knowing nothing about magic. And her mother would still be alive.

A wave of guilt washes over me, guilt for a life I’ve ruined. A life that never even had the chance to begin. I wonder how many other lives I’ve ruined or ended or altered. Probably a lot. Indirectly this entire war is about me, and through that thousands of lives have been destroyed. Even if I can somehow save the entire planet, I can’t really make up for that. At least some of the burden for this entire war falls on me.

The face of Marco’s sister flashes before my eyes. Isabella, who was killed by Tempeste’s army last year. I killed you. And you. And you. More faces rush by me. All people I killed, just by existing.

And now, instead of trying to fix what I’ve done, make lives better instead of worse, save people instead of kill them, I’m stuck in this bed. I can’t even sit up. Everything is broken with no way for me to put it back together.

I start full-out crying, because I have no choice. The pain inside of me has to escape somehow.

I ruined your life, I whisper to Mackenna. I ruined everything.

She hugs me to her. I lean into it because right now I need support more than anything.

No. You, and this, it’s...the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s who I am. If I never found out I had magic, I would be nothing. You make me something. And it’s not always fun to be something, it’s not always easy, but it’s what I want. It’s what you gave me.

I nod. I’m still almost crying, but Mackenna’s words really did make me feel a bit better. She is the best friend I could ever hope for. Who else could make me feel okay about myself when all I can do is destroy?

Min is standing slightly away, awkwardly pretending not to notice anything is wrong. Typical teenage boy. Afraid of emotions.

For some reason the sight of him standing there looking so uncomfortable strikes me as funny. I start laughing, my emotions doing an abrupt one-eighty. Min and Mackenna start laughing too, I think because they’re so relieved I’m okay. There’s really nothing all that funny about the situation.

In between classes, some of my other friends come visit me in the nurse’s office. Rowan, Paige, and Jessie come first, all full of concern, asking if I’m okay and telling me to get better soon. This is kind of funny too. They’re acting like I’m recovering from a cold, instead of almost dying. I thank them, and then they wait with me for a little while. They leave just as Storm bursts in.

Storm used to be one of Tempeste’s soldiers. She betrayed them after they killed her brother and his girlfriend. She’s managed to integrate herself here surprisingly well, considering that she was with the enemy for almost her entire life, but she’s still not exactly one of us. I saved her life during the battle, and for her the awe has not worn off even a little. I like her a lot, even though I’m not completely positive I trust her.

Aubrey, she says very quietly. She whispers a lot of the time, even when there’s not really a reason for it. What’s wrong?

I can’t tell her, I can’t explain it. I wish I could, because she might be the one person who would actually kind of understand. She must know what it’s like to wake up one day and realize you’ve done awful things, unforgivable things. But I don’t know how to say it, I don’t know how to let her in. I just shake my head. She hugs me though, so I think maybe she kind of gets it.

The other boys visit me next, Drew, Ryan, Seth, Marco. I sort of pretend not to notice the way that Mackenna lights up as soon as Ryan comes in the room, because I don’t think she would want to know how painfully obvious it is. She’s blushing and stammering the whole time he’s there.

I wish she could see the way his eyes fill with sadness when he has to leave, the way he looks at her when she’s looking away. Ever since the battle they’ve been acting differently around each other, like something about a life or death situation made them see each other for who they really are. I hope they actually end up together at some point. They both have fire magic. They would make a cute couple.

Liz is the last person to visit me. She tells me I have to stay here for the rest of classes, another two hours. This is a little annoying, since by this point I feel fine. Or at least I tell myself I feel fine. I guess I’ve felt better.

Okay, fine, I guess I’ve felt a lot better. By the time Liz, Paige and Lily come to collect me at the end of the night I’m exhausted, and kind of shaky. They have to help me to the car, and as soon as I get home I head up to my room and go straight to sleep.

I sleep for a very long time. When I wake up Paige is the only other person in the house. She stayed home to take care of me when Liz had to go to the School. I guess they didn’t have the heart to wake me.

When I come downstairs Paige is sprawled out on the sofa, eating fruit loops straight from the box. She’s simultaneously reading a book on philosophy and watching the kind of TV show that is probably killing her brain cells by the second.

Here, do you want fruit loops? she asks me.

No. I want to make a real breakfast.

I’ll make it for you, she says, muttering something about how fruit loops are a real breakfast under her breath.

I watch the TV show that she had on for a couple minutes as she makes me breakfast. The show is not very good, so I can only imagine that Paige is watching it to piss off Liz. I sigh. Typical Paige. She’s brilliant, but so rebellious.

How do you feel? she asks, setting my breakfast of yogurt and toast in front of me. In her eyes I see real concern for me.

I’m fine.

Are you sure?

Yes. I’m sure. If I say it with enough conviction, I can almost pretend it’s true.

She keeps looking at me though. What? I finally ask.

You’ve been asleep for almost two days.

Are you serious? I massage my temples, feeling suddenly disoriented. I don’t feel like I’ve been asleep for that long. I do some quick calculations in my head. But then that would mean...today’s Saturday. Where’s Liz? And Lily?

Liz just couldn’t handle it anymore.

Handle what? I feel a stab of guilt, although I can’t exactly place why. What could Liz not handle anymore?