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Chapter 37: Trust

I waited a whole week for Cailen to return but he never did. But to my delight Colin came over several times with Daniel after they had gotten out of school.

"Aden we're making some lunch, do you want to eat with us?" Daniel asked me as I was browsing the internet looking up old Celtic rituals.

"Sure" I said coming downstairs and joining them in the kitchen.

I hadn't dared say anything but I was entranced with Colin. He really was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

"What?" he asked giving a small smile "you keep staring at me?"

"I'm sorry" I managed to say "If it bothers you I'll stop"

Colin seemed to think about this for a moment before finally saying

"Well do you at least like what you see?" he said obviously flirting with me

"And if I did?" I asked

He reached over to me and took my hand into his and gave me a great big smile.

"That'd be fucking awesome!" he laughed

"I had been reading up on the internet and I wasn't sure how the human culture tolerated homosexual acts, the sites I was getting didn't make the social impact seem clear."

Colin gave me a funny look

"Aden" he said "what town did you come from?" he asked

"Voa in the province of Aldetta" I said

"Never heard of it" Colin said

"That's because it is on the other side of the gate in the Elven realm... Colin! COLIN!" I watched as Colin slid out of his seat as he passed out into a dead faint.

"That's one way to tell him" Dan just smiled at me

"I thought you might have mentioned it before now" I said

Dan came over and helped me carry Colin over to the living room couch. I laid him down gently and said softly

"Wake"

Colin's eyes fluttered open and he looked at me in mild shock.

"Aden!" he gasped "what happened?"

"You passed out, are you alright?" I asked

"Yea I'm fine" Colin said

"Listen, what I told you needs to be kept a secret" I said

Colin's lips quivered

"Colin... please!" I said

"Aden... is it true?" Colin asked

"Yes, I am from Aldena" I said

Colin reached out to me as if entranced and touched my cheek

"Um... guys?" Dan said and the moment was broken

"I'm gonna go" Colin said and I watched him leave.

As he left an ominous feeling followed.

0.o.0

I wanted to actually be surprised about what happened next.

Within the span of two hours Jared, Dan and I were sitting for dinner when suddenly my magic flared up inside me.

"Get down!" I shouted as my magic suddenly warned me of immediate danger.

Suddenly the windows in the living room shattered and small canisters bounced off the floor and smoke suddenly started pouring out of them.

My magic flared out around me and I fought to keep it contained around myself and Jared and Dan. I pulled them along the floor and down into the basement. I knew there was a hatch we might be able to escape from in the back.

We got into the basement and I could hear footsteps above us.

"I want you guys to run into the forest" I hissed

"What the fuck is happening?" Dan asked

"I think Colin told the temple" Jared muttered

"They'd do this?" I asked and Jared nodded mutely

I pushed us towards the hatch and up the steps. Dan pushed open the doors and we burst out into the open night air.

We had only made it about twenty feet when I heard several voices shot

"They're escaping!"

I turned and saw a group of ten people outside the front of the house with lights and three of them instantly started shining in my face

"GO!" I shouted to Dan and Jared

Suddenly three lights appeared in the sky as a helicopter suddenly appeared with a huge spotlight trained directly on me. I looked up and with a push of my magic the light suddenly exploded and the helicopter veered away.

I turned to our assailants and I was suddenly hit with three darts and my body went rigid as I was tasered by three stun guns. My magic surged out of me and the guns exploded in the hands of my attackers.

I ripped the darts out of my chest and with my magic I summoned a sword which I held down to my side.

"Attack me again and I will show no quarry!" I shouted

I heard someone clapping slowly

"Of that I do believe" I heard a voice say and the lights came out of my eyes and I was able to see clearly. An elf was standing in the center of the ten assailants he was wearing a sharp black suit and his black hair was pulled back tightly.

"Who are you?" I asked

"Oh do excuse my rudeness..." he said taking a few steps forward. As he did the crowd behind him came forward as well.

"My Name is Veritas" he said and instantly I knew he was trouble.

"Why did you attack us?" I asked

"I didn't really attack you, but I came here to speak with you" he said "instead you injured several loyal followers of Ada."

"That's a real funny way of speaking to someone" I said

"Well you see there was this funny rumor saying that you were from beyond the gate, this simply cannot be true so we came to ask you a few questions, that's all" he said with an air of false innocence.

"Well it is true" I said

"Obviously someone as young as you, you thought if you said you were from beyond the gate that we might garner you some attention... you youngsters are such attention seekers now a days" he said.

I instantly knew that Veritas could not possibly be anywhere near as old as Cailen. He acted far too immature.

"It's the truth" I said

"I am the truth!" he shouted and I realized where the name Veritas came from. Veritas is Latin for truth.

"Well perhaps you need a lesson in the truth" I said and with a push from my magic I burst forward as fast as I could and I grabbed him before any of his guards could catch me. I put my sword tightly against his throat and spun him around.

"Well Veritas, I have some more truth for you" I mocked "have you ever met a hand of Ada?"

"Sleep!" I shouted and Veritas watched in horror as everyone in front of me suddenly collapsed to the ground.

I released him and grabbed his arm

"BREAK!" I shouted and Veritas howled in pain

"For each time you wrong me, I will break your arm Veritas, and THAT is the truth!" I shouted.

"Release my son!" I heard a voice call

I looked up and saw another elf come into view. He was only lit by the flashlights held on the ground. He seemed to be older, perhaps older than Cailen.

"I am Aldo Vera" he said "I am the head of the temple of Ada."

"My name is Aden Fuico" I said "I am a hand of Ada"

"I told you to release my son!" Aldo shouted and I could see he was in distress

"I do not take orders from you." I said

"Please" Aldo said and with disgust I pushed Veritas towards him

Veritas walked the rest of the distance cradling his arm and giving me a deep look of pure hatred.

"Leave" I said simply

"We wish to talk" Aldo said

"You attacked my family" I said and the moment after I said it I wondered if I was overstepping Jared's generosity, but in that moment I realized that this place had become my home.

"But..." Aldo began

"You and your people will NEVER set foot on this land again!" I shouted and I pushed my magic out with a ferocity and I felt it push over the lawn. I blinked and everyone had vanished.

0.o.0

I guess I had fallen asleep after that because I awoke tired and groggy, as soon as I opened my eyes and found myself in the familiar surroundings of my room and I found Jared, Daniel and to my mild annoyance Lord Cailen surrounding my bed. Cailen was again cloaked in shadow as he stood over my bed. I was beginning to get used to it.

"Good morning" Jared said giving me a kind smile "are you feeling better?"

"Morning" I said yawning and I looked over at Cailen "what's he doing here?"

"Checking your magical levels" Cailen said evenly "do you remember how you got here?"

The fact was that I did not. I remember noticing that everyone was gone and then suddenly waking up here in my room. Cailen noticed my surprised look

"You suffered severe magical poisoning, when you cast that banishment spell you said for all of his people. Performing the spell on one person is taxing enough but you just cast it on over four hundred." Cailen said

"What happened?" I asked

"You collapsed; your magic managed to push itself out of your core and burned several of your organs. Your right arm was blackened and you torched all of your clothes" Cailen smiled

"How did I get healed?" I asked frowning

"Though I am not a hand myself I have learned how to call the powers out of someone. I was able to call out your magic to heal your injuries, you will be able to do the rest on your own" Cailen smiled at me

"Thank you, I guess I owe you my life" I said

"What you did was reckless" Cailen scowled "Veritas will use worse tactics from now on"

"Worse?" I asked

"He will more likely than not try and harm someone close to you instead of getting close to you himself" Cailen sighed

"Why is he after me?" I asked Cailen

"Power" Cailen sighed "namely power, he wants to force you to try and open the gate, he also wants you to do a global summon of all the elves"

I wasn't sure what he was talking about but I was guessing it required a lot more power than I was capable.

"Sadly Veritas is following the advice of his father Aldo who is convinced it can be accomplished with only one hand of Ada. But I would NEVER take the advice of a squire of a mage than an actual mage"

"Aldo was a squire?" I asked and Cailen nodded

"In the mages temple" Cailen said "he does not hold the power himself but is convinced he knows all of its ways."

"That sounds rather implausible" I said

"Too true" Cailen smiled "you and I know better, it would take an unbelievably strong magical source to pull that kind of power."

"So what happens now?" I asked

"We get you dressed and I teach you EVERYTHING I know about magic, and then we force you back into your human form and then get you enrolled in school so you don't go stir crazy." Cailen said

"Sounds like a plan" I smiled

0.o.0

I was slowly learning to regret my decision to learn magic with Cailen. His knowledge was vast. Far beyond anything my masters had learnt. He was truly in a league of his own. But he took the time to explain how some of my powers worked go I could get a general sense on how to activate them. Cailen had learnt directly from his father and from other hands of Ada, the fact he could draw my power out of me what frightening and I found to be even more powerful than my own skill.

He taught me how to combine different skills. All elves have at least one of the abilities of Light-Footed, Steady Hand, Eagle's Glance, or Serpent Stealth. He showed me that you could combine them in different combinations for a more powerful effect. For instance you can combine Eagle's Glance and Serpent Stealth and cast yourself into a nearby shadow if you needed to quickly hide. You can also combine Light- Footed and Steady Hand and I watched in horror as he was able to climb up falling leaves.

He showed me how to heal myself and how my magic works.

"Your magic is a gift from Ada and it runs through you. Her power you can call on and if will flow through you and do your will." Cailen explained but pressed on.

"Magic is stored in your core. It is the area of nerves that runs from behind your heart and all the way back onto your head. When you start using too much of it you will get what we call magical poisoning there are three levels."

"First level is over saturation" he explained "You will get headaches, vomiting and if you are sharing magic with someone else you can also get shared dreams, visions and feelings."

"Alright" I said

"Second level is luminance" he said "your magic will start to literally `steam and flare' off your skin like heat. This is the only warning signs to the third level"

"What's that?" I asked

"Third level is obliteration" he said "you magic will break out of your core and start to damage your body as it breaks free from its confines"

I became terrified

"When you cast your banishment spell the magic had already broken free from your arms and half your body was casting an eerie light." Cailen said

"Can it break... completely free?" I asked

Cailen paused

"My father could call his power out of his body without harm to himself. He called it the `Ada Ky'rae' or rather the `Will of Ada' and that all other mages were his `hands.' A hand of Ada is supposed to serve the `will of Ada'."

I saw the magic coming off of Lord Zasuan to know that he wasn't lying.

"A `hand' or even the `will' of Ada can call out their magic completely, and in doing so sacrificing their life. The magic cast will be of the most powerful effect. I heard of a hand doing that very thing in battle to protect my father. He told me that the shield surrounding him would not fade until he was back inside Aldena." Cailen said

I shivered at the thought of my magic ripping my body apart and destroying me.

The lessons pressed onward and I learned how to control my form and revert myself back to my human self. It took a small degree of control to maintain it and Cailen warned me that for the first few months it would be difficult for me to maintain it while I was asleep so to make sure I slept here at the house.

Cailen made no comments to Veritas and to Aldo. He seemed to be purposefully avoiding the topic of them. I was thinking about this when he turned to me and smiled

"I enrolled you in school" he said

It took me a moment to process what he said

"You enrolled me in school, like with Dan and Co...Colin" I stammered as merely thinking about Colin caused me a bit of pain.

"You don't honestly expect to be able to sit around here all the time do you?" Cailen laughed

"It's just that Colin..." I said

"I see... you think he betrayed you by telling Aldo what he learned" Cailen smiled

"Well, yes" I said thinking that described it perfectly

"Aden, he works for me."

"Excuse me?" I asked

"I told him to tell the temple, in reality he only told his brother Clayton" Cailen said

"You alerted the temple?" I asked getting angry "Why would you do that!"

"Knowledge is power Aden, you needed to know exactly what Aldo and Veritas are capable of."

"You could have told me" I said

"Experience is the best teacher" he said

"Yes, but now they know I am a hand of Ada" I said

"And now you know Colin is someone you can trust, so much for not taking sides... eh?" Cailen mocked

0.o.0

I wish I could say that I enjoyed my first few weeks of school and that everything went according to plan. Jared had gotten all the needed papers from Cailen and I was now Jackson Aden Petrie. I got the required materials I needed and I spent the next two days reviewing the stare required syllabuses and over the material I could find online.

Birchmont High School was unlike anything I could have ever imagined as soon as I was through the door Dan was helping me find my first room when suddenly I was slammed into the locker next to me and my magic surged through me ready to defend myself

"Sup new kid, let's show you how we welcome fags like you" he said

I didn't have any idea how he knew I preferred other guys but I just looked at him calmly

"You don't want to mess with me, just walk away" I said and I felt warmth leave me and the big guy just blinked at me for a few seconds

"Sorry dude" he said and he stalked off

"Dude that was Corey Vancil" Dan hissed

"So?" I asked

"You don't want to mess with him" Dan pulled my arm and he pushed me into a room

"Good luck" he said as he walked away.

I was standing in the room and I turned around at looked at all the wide eyed faces staring at me and I felt extremely uncomfortable being up under such scrutiny. I had only made it a few steps into the room when a funny smell caught my nose.

The room smelt like sanitizer chemicals and plastic. But there was a residual smell that was extremely faint. I found an empty chair in the back and made my way too it. The smell was stronger and it made my nose burn and my eyes water.

The smell was fresh like a spring thunderstorm and I sat down at the desk and placed my hands on top of it.

My hands tingled as the rubbed the surface of the desk.

I sneezed

I managed to get through the class but I realized I had already reviewed the material so at the end of the class I asked the teacher if I could take the test.

By lunch I had tested out of two of my four classes as I sat down with Dan who seemed to be excited to have me with him.

We chatted about class until I noticed Colin eating at the end of a table by himself.

"Why's he eating alone?" I asked Dan who smiled at me

"Self imposed punishment" Dan said

Just at that moment the same smell I had smelt before wafted into the room and I looked up sharply and I saw a figure walking into the cafeteria he was a skinny kid with long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. He had a cute face and something was telling me he was also gay. He sat alone at a table.

"Who's that?" I asked Dan who looked to the guy sitting alone

"Dustin Farrell" he said

"Why is he alone?" I asked

"He's gay, or at least that is what Corey has been telling everyone, nobody wants to sit with him because they are afraid Corey will beat the shit out of them" Dan said

I frowned

I knew the smell was coming from him

0.o.0

That night we were all sitting down for dinner. Jared, Dan, myself and Cailen had decided to join us again. Albeit from the kitchen doorway `s shadow.

"Cailen?" I asked

"Yes Jackson" Cailen asked using my human name

"Can you describe what a hand feels when he is near the will of Ada like you told me about earlier?" I asked

Cailen paused and he seemed to be thinking.

"Well Venore always said my father smelled and gave him a headache." Cailen said

Smelled

The word made me pale and Cailen noticed it

"What happened?" Cailen asked

"There was this funny smell at school" I said

"WHO!" Cailen shouted and I watched as his shadow lept and broke free of the kitchen door and I gasped as darkness enveloped the room as tendrils of blackness seemed to swirl around him completely distorting his body. But his eyes remain still in the vortex around him.

"Dustin Farrell" I said back stammering for the words.

"Describe" Cailen commanded as his shadow finally connected with the leg of the table and the violent swirls ended.

"It smelled like... Spring, like rain... and it made my eyes water and my skin tingles." I said

"Come with me" Cailen said in a voice like anything I had ever heard in say. I hastened to obey.

We rushed out of the house and Cailen started running as fast as his legs would carry him. He was incredibly fast and we raced through the woods at lightning speed. We stopped after only a moment and Cailen hissed

"What do you feel?" he asked me

I saw him in the shadow of the tree next to me.

I instantly caught the smell again and my eyes watered

"Excuse me" he said "but this might hurt a little" he finished saying calmly and suddenly I felt like someone had just suddenly taken their arm and shoved it through the skin of my back. Suddenly my magic was burning and I hissed in pain. Cailen was drawing my magic out of me directly.

"Sweet Ada" he looked at me wide eyed

I ended Jackson's Interlude here because I wanted to leave room for a bit of speculation as to how they developed their plan on Raven. At the same time I wanted people to get to know Aden and understand that maybe he isn't such a bad guy and I wanted people to also try and emphasize with him. I also explained why Raven was having visions and introduced a lot of the elven lore. Now there are only ten chapters left to go before the story is finished. I hope you have enjoyed this little interlude.

On a personal note if you are reading this message it means that you have read through the story till this point. That means you have read over 85,000 words roughly 250 odd pages of material. I take it then that you must be enjoying the story so far and I cannot thank everyone enough for the kind words of encouragement that have been sent to me. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me.

Thanks for Reading

Reviews, comments, and questions are always welcome at cailenauthor@yahoo.com

Cailen