“Oh, I just thought, since you transferred. I’m sorry, I just expected an accent,” I blushed again, not really sure why I felt embarrassed.
“I’m American, just like you,” he smiled as if he had made a joke, but if he had I didn’t get it. “My parents were working in Brazil until last week. We only lived down there for the last two years.”
“That’s nice. Accents can be so irritating anyways,” he looked up at me confused, but I didn’t dare explain.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” he asked.
“Oh, no, not at all. As long as you don’t mind the outcast table,” I gave him a sardonic grin.
“I don’t mind; I’m pretty sure I prefer it,” he glanced over his should at Kiran and all of his fans; he shook his head and took a big bite of his turkey sandwich. I was pretty sure Avalon St. Andrews and I were going to get along just fine.
“Me too,” I rolled my eyes in the general direction of the Monarchy.
“I’m Avalon by the way. And you’re Eden?” when I nodded my head, he continued, “So I heard a rumor that you like saved his life this weekend?” he jerked his head in Kiran’s direction.
“Where did you hear that?” I asked mortified.
“All of the girls were talking about it this morning. You’d think they’d be grateful, I mean they still have their precious Prince to worship,” he grunted in disgust.
“You’d think,” I agreed with another mouthful of apple. I realized how disgusting my eating habits were around Avalon and I quickly swallowed. The bite was a little too big and I began to choke a little. The apple stayed lodged in my throat as I continued to cough and gulp my bottle of water.
“Use your magic,” Avalon suggested, sounding confused.
Oh right. I held up my finger to him and focused on my magic. The electricity was flowing through my blood at a steady pace. It only took a minimal effort to determine that the apple would no longer be stuck. And just like that I was able to swallow the detrimental piece of food and cough no more.
“Thank you,” I cleared my throat, feeling like an idiot.
“Do you enjoy choking?” I heard the laughter in his voice.
“Ha. Ha. No. It’s just that, well this whole magic thing is new to me,” I gave a sheepish grin and took another swig of my water, just in case.
“What? New to you? How can that be?” Avalon stared at me intently, his green eyes sparkling.
“I was raised by humans,” I explained dramatically. I wiggled my fingers a little, to add a theatrical flair.
“I’ve never heard of that before,” Avalon sounded skeptical.
“Well, I had never heard of this before.” I gestured to the room filled with my peers, my Immortal peers.
“So you didn’t know about magic? You didn’t know what you were capable of?” He still sounded skeptical.
“Well, I knew I was capable of something. But I just thought I was crazy. I guess I figured it out Saturday night, when people started turning into animals and I could move trees with my mind,” I said it all very casually, but the truth was I still could barely get past what I was able to do.
“Huh,” he grunted. “You mean to tell me, that you were able to save the Prince’s life and do what you did to those Shape-Shifters and you had never even used your magic before?” he squinted his eyes at me, unbelieving.
“I guess,” I looked across the room to where Kiran sat, surrounded. He met my eyes, and I realized that he was watching me. I quickly turned my attention back to Avalon.
“That seems impossible,” Avalon was still skeptical.
“Yeah, to me too,” I looked down at the table, ashamed of what I did and worried for Lilly.
“What are you doing later?” Avalon asked suddenly.
“French homework.” Ugh.
“That seals it. We are going to practice your magic later tonight and that’s final,” he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest as if his decision was the final authority.
“I told you, I have French homework. It’s going to take me all night,” I protested; although the thought of sitting down to learn a language that completely escaped me made my head spin.
“Eden, there is no more homework. Don’t you get it? You are Immortal! Your magic can do the homework for you,” his voice was stern as if I should have known this forever.
“I can’t cheat!” I protested louder.
“You’re unbelievable. And you have so much to learn. You’re lucky I’m here, you really are. I have so much to teach you!” he gave me a playful smile and I guessed he won, because I couldn’t think of any other reason not to let him help me with my magic.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Do you want to follow me?” Avalon was suddenly behind me as I dug through my backpack looking for my keys.
“Follow you?” I replied confused, pushing my things around inside of my book bag and reaching deeper beyond the books and loose leaf paper.
“We’re going to work on your magic, remember?” Avalon stood next to me, fidgeting a little, as if his muscular frame was having a hard time containing all of the energy within. He rocked back and forth on his heels and bit his thumb nail nervously. I noticed that his right hand was constantly drumming a beat into the side of his Dockers and imagined that he was playing a rhythm to god-knows-what kind of angry rock music I was too innocent to listen to.
I squinted at him, trying to figure him out. The same feeling of peacefulness and tranquility passed over me again and once more I felt completely focused. I had no reason to fidget or wiggle at all. My energy seemed to be completely balanced.
“Magic, Eden,” Avalon nodded his head in the direction of my backpack and heat quickly rose to my cheeks. How could I keep forgetting the magic when it was so helpful in situations like this?
“Oh yea, I forgot,” I finally focused my magic on the missing keys and used it to direct my hand where to go. I pulled them out of my worn book bag, feeling quite triumphant. “Do you want to go to my place?”
“Just follow me. We have to go somewhere where no one will bother us,” he smiled wide and pointed to his car: a bright red, four door truck, with an extended cab and monster wheels. It not only stood apart from the rest of the black something or others, but stood above them as well. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
–-
I followed Avalon for twenty minutes. I could tell he wanted to speed, but drove painfully slow so that I could follow him. We drove over the bridge and into Iowa up into the bluffs that looked down over the Missouri River.
Eventually the road ended and we continued on a dirt path through some trees. I had never been more thankful for my Rover as I bounced along behind Avalon’s ginormous truck.
We continued for miles on a dirt path barely wide enough to accommodate Avalon’s massive vehicle. Every once in a while a tree branch smacked down on the roof of his truck and I fully expected him to eventually get impaled.
After a while Avalon stopped his truck. His was parked precariously near the edge of a one of Iowa’s famous cliffs. I kept my Land Rover a little ways back and in a more secure area. I loved my yellow SUV and was totally not ready to watch it plummet into the Missouri River just yet.
Avalon hopped down from his cab and I noticed that he had changed out of his school uniform. I looked past him to see a winding path that snaked carefully around his truck and into a clearing surrounded by trees on one side and the cliff’s edge on the other. The sight was beautiful, but I couldn’t help the small tremors of terror making their way across my arms and legs. The familiar acceleration of electricity surged through my veins, reminding me that I was a scaredy-cat.