A Dark Inheritance Read online

  In Sahira’s hand now was a small, thick blade. Chanta understood then. In order to test her healing abilities, she needed something to heal.

  She tried to pull her hand back, but Reiter caught her wrist, holding it to the table.

  “Wait for direction,” he told her sternly. “You can’t run, and you can’t steal our stones, either.”

  Chanta gulped.

  Sahira took the blade in her right hand and extended her own left wrist. Chanta looked closely at that wrist for the first time.

  Several small, thin scars covered her skin from her wrist to halfway up her forearm. They were varying degrees of horrifying. Some of them had healed quite nicely, whereas others looked like the scar tissue had formed at an absolutely random rate, causing bumps and pieces of red flesh that ruined her otherwise perfect olive skin.

  “These are from other students,” she explained to Chanta. “They are the result of other tests, like this one. Students come from all over, with varying knowledge and connection to their stones. That is why some of them have healed better than others. Some students simply know how to home in on their abilities. This will help me understand a few things. First, it will help me determine if you are a Healer, and second, it will show me where you need to be placed in the classes of my house. Are you ready?”

  Chanta realized the knife wasn’t meant for her. Sahira was going to slice her own wrist and ask Chanta to heal it. Even as her emotions calmed at the realization, Reiter did not let go of her wrist. Perhaps that was because of the new sense of apprehension she felt over this beautiful woman cutting herself for the sake of Chanta’s test.

  The professors were waiting for an answer, though.

  “Sure,” she managed to say. “Whatever. Do it.”

  Sahira placed the knife to her wrist and pressed down. As the first few droplets of blood began to spill over, Chanta had to look away, squeezing her eyes shut. She wasn’t a fan of blood, but more than that, she didn’t want to see the woman ruin her skin.

  A moment later, she heard the knife hit the surface of the table, and she knew she could look again.

  The cut had been made deep. There was already blood rolling down Sahira’s wrist and onto the wooden table, where it was sure to leave a stain. It was bright red, as if it was screaming for attention.

  Chanta’s voice shook as she spoke.

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Don’t think about it,” Sahira told her. “These things are instinctual, more often than not. You just need to concentrate on what you want to happen and listen to your body as it moves you to act.”

  Chanta’s teeth audibly ground together. She wasn’t sure what that meant. She closed her eyes and took a breath through her nose.

  What she wanted was simple: to be gone.

  Instead, she concentrated on what she knew she was supposed to think about: a healed wrist. She imagined the scar tissue forming perfectly, creating a cleaner line than any others on Sahira’s wrist. She saw the tissue moving in her mind, layer by layer, stacking on top of itself to seal up the wound and regenerate to a perfect olive tone.

  The image in her mind was forming so perfectly, so vividly, she knew it had to be real. This was it. This was what she was meant to do. But it wasn’t everything—not yet. She had to do more. Simply imagining the healing wasn’t going to be enough. She knew that. She needed to do something physical, too. She reached out without even opening her eyes. She felt around for Sahira’s arm, Sahira waited patiently until Chanta wrapped her hands around the base of her wrist.

  In her mind, Chanta pictured exactly where the cut was, and she was careful not to place her hand on it. Instead, she pulled the wrist closer to her, and with her other hand, the one with the Gold still in it, she did what she felt compelled to do. She touched the Gold to the goddesses’ skin, carefully rubbing the stone up and down the skin that had been sliced. She tried not to pay mind to the wetness she felt dripping onto her own fingers. She was too squeamish to consciously deal with other people’s blood, but if she kept her eyes closed, she could get through the test.

  Chanta rolled the stone over Sahira’s wrist and continued to imagine the healing. It felt powerful. It felt hot. It felt wonderful, and it gave her butterflies in her stomach.

  But as she continued to roll, she suddenly felt a shift in the atmosphere. She could almost imagine Reiter and Sahira looking at each other, rolling their eyes… Or maybe laughing… Or…

  Or what?

  She opened her eyes suddenly. The looks on their faces were not amused. They were confused and concerned. Chanta looked down at the wrist in her hands.

  Immediately, she let go. She looked at her own hands, now covered in blood, and gagged for a moment. Sahira passed her a disinfecting cloth which she gratefully accepted and quickly began to clean off her hands.

  She didn’t have to look at Sahira’s wrist to know that she had failed. Miserably. There had been no change in that cut. Not even a little bit of scar tissue had begun to form, and not even a little bit of blood stopped flowing. She did watch, though, as Sahira healed herself.

  For Sahira, it was a matter of concentration and nothing more. It wasn’t even that much concentration, really. It was like she just gave it a thought, and exactly what Chanta had pictured happening before happened.

  It just didn’t happen by Chanta’s abilities, but by Sahira’s own mastered techniques.

  She had failed the test entirely.

  “I can do better,” she practically begged, surprised by how panicked she sounded. “I’ve just—I’ve never done the healing part. Let me show you something else. I can cut myself without the knife, I’m sure of it! I’ve done that so many times!”

  But Sahira didn’t look pleased with that suggestion.

  “The promise of a true Healer,” Sahira reminded her, “is not to practice the darker side of the ability. Do not lose hope. Just because you failed, this does not mean that you are not a Healer. I will need to consider all that has happened here, and we will need to continue to investigate other stones. We have another test for you yet.”

  A little hope rose in Chanta’s heart—only a very small amount. Sahira was giving her another chance to prove herself.

  “James?” Sahira said, turning to the other professor.

  He let out a grunt and dug around in his shirt pocket, in search of something else. He pulled out a small piece of honey-gold Amber.

  Sahira held out her hand toward Chanta, silently asking for the Gold stone back.

  Sahira wiped the Gold stone before placing it back in the burlap sack and placing the sack in the bigger bag where she kept the knife.

  That was it, then. Chanta was sad to see the Gold be put away. Her eyes lingered on the sack.

  “Take this,” Reiter commanded her, forcing her to pay attention to him now.

  It took her a moment to become present in the situation once more. She extended her hand toward the professor and allowed him to drop the stone.

  This stone didn’t drop with as much weight as the first one. She looked down in her hand. The honey color was definitely mesmerizing. It was warm but… It wasn’t alive like the Gold was.

  “What do you feel?” Reiter asked her.

  “It’s… A stone,” she told him. “It’s warm, but it’s nothing special, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t think this is it. Sorry,” she told him, shrugging her shoulder and reaching back to hand him the stone.

  She was shocked, too. It was a beautiful stone and, when she had read about it, she had wanted it to be her stone so badly. But now that she had the chance to test it, she only wanted the Gold. She could feel its presence still in that bag, as if it was calling out to her. The Amber did not call to her in the same way.

  “Give it a moment,” he told her. “Concentrate on the stone, ignore everything else around you. Draw the connection between it and you.”

  She did as she was told, trying to forget about the Gold across the table. She closed her eyes so that she
couldn’t see the Gold on Sahira’s person, either, in case that should start to call out to her, too. She focused on the stone in her hand. She did exactly what Reiter had said, and literally drew the connection in her mind, from the stone to her mind.

  The problem was, she knew she was faking it. Apparently, everyone knew she was faking it. Minutes ticked by until, suddenly, Reiter let out a sigh.

  He reached out and snatched the stone out of her hand.

  “This test is over,” he said gruffly. “Congratulations on making it through your first two tests, tomorrow you will have more.”

  He was standing up then, annoyance coloring every last bit of his tone and his movement. Chanta and Sahira were both staring after him as he walked out the door. Once he was in the hallway, Sahira cleared her throat.

  “Don’t worry about him,” she said. “He gets irritable very quickly, especially when things don’t go his way. He had hoped this would be easy, and he could quickly guess your stone. But, like I said, you are a mysterious case. I’m sure you’ll have to go through all seven tests before we get close.”

  “Do you think it’s a lost cause?” she asked the goddess quietly. “I mean, honestly. If no one can even begin to guess what my ‘Blessing’ is, then it’s a lost cause.”

  “Never give up hope,” Sahira said, shaking her head sadly. “Just because you are a special case does not mean you are an impossible one. We will help you yet. Just be patient.”

  Chanta nodded toward the door.

  “How much patience do you think he has for me?”

  “Trust me, he’ll be fine. He’s frustrated at the situation and at himself, but not at you.”

  “I guess I’m supposed to go back to my room now.”

  “Indeed,” Sahira said as she rose. “I hope to see you around the school, Miss Chanta Larr, if you are not a member of my house by the end of this.”

  Slowly, Chanta nodded her agreement.

  Together, they walked out to Reiter, who was waiting at the doorway for them. Sahira departed then, making her way up the stairs without looking back at Reiter or Chanta. Chanta watched her walk away, a small bit of sadness already creeping in as she realized she would miss the goddess. She turned to Reiter then.

  “Back to my room?” she asked him.

  “You will be brought dinner,” he said. “I hope it’s to your liking.”

  He motioned forward and led her to the room she had become familiar with. He led her in a robotic manner, his emotions clearly subdued by his best effort. She remained quiet as he did so. It didn’t seem like the best move to aggravate him in any way.

  He opened the door for her, and she let herself in. Just as she turned to close the door, she decided to ask.

  “And what tests should I prepare for tomorrow?”

  At first, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. It was like he had frozen in place, and she wasn’t sure how to proceed.

  He sighed and looked her in the eye.

  “We will do the Jasper stone in the morning, and in the afternoon, we will do Pyrite and Amethyst. Prepare accordingly.”

  That was all he said. He left her without saying goodbye.

  She felt better once he left. Better because she was alone. Better because, no matter how good he was at controlling his ability, his mood definitely pulled her down. Besides that, she had a few things to think about. Like the fact that she would have to meet Nessi tomorrow.

  Pyrite and Amethyst. Those were the two stones she needed to read up on. She decided she would start that before dinner, that way she had after dinner to snoop around the basement and figure out where the crying was coming from.

  She sat at the desk and pulled The Book of Stones in front of her. She flipped through it till she found the stone she wanted.

  The Pyrite stone resembles Gold in its appearance. However, it’s far more dull and jagged around its edges. It’s never been worn as a symbol of beauty, but it is used as a symbol of power. Pyrite is found in several different places through the Earth’s core, and different kinds of Pyrite can be mined almost anywhere.

  It is one of the most unique stones, as it connects one directly with the Earth and environment. There are physical stones, mental stones, and spiritual stones, but Pyrite is the only stone that enables its users to directly connect and control Mother Nature. Those who are Blessed with the stone do not use it for its protective properties, nor do they use it for a symbol of wealth. They use it to control the elements in a unique way.

  In the case of Kan Thurien, Prisanni’s School for the Blessed was able to learn a great deal about this unique stone. When he was twelve years old, he had a sudden spurt of his ability. He had burned down his own home in his sleep. Everything was burned down to the ground, his own dog dying in the mix. His family had been rescued, and extended family had taken them in while they sorted out new living arrangements. A whole week passed, and in the middle of the night, he had, once again, set fire to the house he had been sleeping in. Everything was charred, but his family was able to escape that fire as well. Once again displaced, they had to separate. Some of them were in hotel rooms, and some of them with various family members. He ended up in a hotel.

  The trend followed Thurien through to the hotel. The entire building was burned, but this time he was one of the very few that made it out alive. The family members that had stayed with him in the hotel were not so lucky. Having kept an eye on him, the school found it best to sweep him up in the chaos before anyone could point fingers. Anyone who knew the boy at the time believed him to have passed in the rubble of the hotel.

  Once Thurien had been introduced to the school and his studies, it became a priority to study him as well. Each professor had the chance to take him under their wings, and each one passed him on with no luck. It became the duty of the stone itself to train the young boy, coupled with his own, wild instincts. Etiquette classes were the best thing the school had to offer him, as well as soothing from the Soothers to keep his temper in check.

  He became known as the Burner. Although his particular Blessing gave him the power to bend all of the elements of the earth, fire was always the strongest, most readily available element to use. It seemed to be the most willing element, too, for every student Blessed with the Pyrite stone after Thurien himself was also most apt to use the fire element. Thus, Thurien became the Head of the House of Pyrite and the Pyrite Burners.

  Keeping up with her assignment, Chanta paused and thought about the similarities she felt she could draw between herself and the story given to her. Destruction was the key word, but Thurien didn’t have the same kind of destructive tendencies as she had. He set places, buildings, on fire, and while he slept. She, on the other hand, hurt people. And she was very much awake when it happened.

  She decided quickly that she had nothing in common with the Pyrite Burners and briefly wondered why Reiter had scheduled her a test with that particular stone at all. It seemed highly unlikely that she would have any connection to it. She still felt a closer connection to the Gold than to anything else, and from what she read, Jasper was the only other stone that might come close to a match for her.

  Of course, she reminded herself, that would mean that she would have to meet Naimie Nessi.

  She decided she wanted to try and make sure that didn’t happen. She flipped through the book, to the very last section, and began to read about the Amethyst stone.

  Amethyst is one of the most coveted stones across the world. It ranges in color from a deep, royal purple, to a light lavender hue. It is said that the stone gives a cleansing to one’s soul. It is meant to purify energy fields, thus cleansing any negative energy out of one’s aura, as well as relieving stress on the mind.

  Amethyst has had many uses over the years. It has been used as a symbol of wealth, placed on the crowns of royalty, and also as a symbol of faith, as ministers would wear the stone as well. It has also been used as a home decoration, and it was believed that, through the use of that stone, familial bonding was
promoted. It has been deemed a stone of trust and intuition and seems to always be the center of knowledge.

  Maya Arbella was one of the most defining cases of the Amethyst Blessing. In her unique case, the stone was defined and given the appropriate consideration. She was never a troubled child. Not in the normal way, anyway. She came to Prisanni’s School for the Blessed when she was nineteen years old, having sought out the instruction rather than having been sought out. At first, she would not say how she had found out about the school, or who had told her. It became evident very quickly, though, that no one had to tell her at all. She only needed to come into contact with the right people.

  Arbella was one of the most powerful Amethyst wielders the school had ever seen. She knew her stone before she had come into the school, and she knew what her Blessing was. She was familiar with the religion of the school without ever having been exposed and, as the school faculty interviewed her more and more, it became evident that she knew what they were about to say before they said it at all.

  There is a reason that trust, intuition, and bonding are associated with the Amethyst stone, and Arbella gratefully explained the phenomena to the faculty. Before, those who were Blessed with this particular stone believed they were Blessed with a peculiar intuition. They had called themselves Gypsies, people with a particular psychic reading. They are able to read energies, and those who are very powerful can predict movements. They can peer into the future and read someone’s past. It had never been certain or exact, though. It was more than an intuitive guess, but it wasn’t information to be wholly relied upon.

  Arbella was different. She was able to directly quote things from the faculty’s mind before they had told her anything. She began to mention things, like a door swinging open or someone sneezing five minutes before they felt the sneeze themselves. At first, it was terrifying to the faculty. But Arbella hadn’t come to terrify anyone.

  Arbella had come to offer her help. She had come across a former student, and through a simple inquiry out loud, she learned the location of the school from the girl’s mind. The rest of it, she learned from the faculty as they thought it in her presence. Her power allowed her to hear the information clearly, and her own oral inquiries had become skilled as she learned how to ask the right questions for the information she sought.