"Oh Gods, oh Gods, oh Gods!" Kyra dashed into her room and almost skidded on the rain dampened floor. She glared at the window that had blown open in the storm and ran to it. Pulling it closed, she didn't look when she put the latch down.
She muttered under her breath, grabbed an armful of ingredients off the side and unceremoniously dumped them on her table. Flicking through the spell book, she waved her hand frantically as though that action alone would speed things along. She was already going flat out.
What had he been thinking?
She flicked back a few pages and smiled when she found what she was looking for. Running her finger down the page, her eyes switched between it and the various bottles she'd gathered. She picked out each ingredient, adding just the right amount to the beaker in front of her, and then growled in frustration when a gust of wind blew the casement open again. Slamming the window, she clawed her dark brown hair from her face and then leafed back through the book to find the spell it had been on before the breeze had lost her page. She hurriedly put in the rest of the ingredients that the spell mentioned and then stirred it as fast as possible.
"Come on," she said, urging it to change colour so she knew it was ready.
The second it went from green to black, she poured it into the phial, spilling some of it down the sides in her haste, and corked it.
What on earth had he been thinking?
Her heart raced along with her feet as she skidded out into the hall again and bolted along it back towards the other end of the house where she was needed. She tried to swallow, but her mouth had gone dry and her head ached from all of the thoughts swimming around it.
She couldn't lose him. She had worked hard to get the position as his apprentice and keep it for so long. If the Black Sleep killed him, her mother wouldn't let her hear the end of it. She already thought he was lowest of the wizards in the Tri-Kingdom area.
Her mother was just jealous of his talent.
So Isaac didn't have the greatest of reputations, but that was only because he was a recluse. In fact, he made recluses look like outgoing people. But she didn't mind. If he went out all of the time to the tournaments and soirees that most wizards and witches attended, she'd never see him. This way, she got to spend hours sitting in his company.
She only wished he'd teach her something for once.
But at least she was still here. She'd lasted longer than all of his apprentices so far. Usually the moment an apprentice achieved trial level, he let them go. She was ready to take the first trial that would bring her the rank of third-level witch if she passed, and he showed no signs of ditching her, yet.
She wondered what the Black Sleep was like. She had a lot of trials to go through before she made it to the rank of seventh-level witch and only then would she be allowed to take the eighth and final trial. No one survived it. The Black Sleep was the after effect of passing if you were a dark magic user and it drove you insane until you finally died. The light magic users suffered a similar fate.
She hurried down a set of dark wooden steps and then stopped suddenly when she lost a shoe. She didn't have time to go back. Kicking off her other one, she bolted up the corridor. The stone flags were freezing underfoot but she didn't care. All that mattered right now was getting the spell to him so his suffering would ease.
A distant cry of pain made her redouble her effort. She was so tired and her legs were starting to ache but she had to keep going. She cursed the size of the mansion. Why did he live in such a big place and why did he insist on using his magic to make it even bigger on the inside? He didn't need this much room. The only people that lived in it were him and herself.
Grinding to a halt in front of his door, she went to barge straight in but stopped herself. He demanded calmness at all times and she didn't want to anger him when he was hurting so much. Smoothing her appearance, she took deep breaths and tried to steady her heart. It was going like a jackhammer against her chest. Her throat was dry and sore, and she wheezed with every breath.
Her mother's words rang in her head.
"Why work for him? He's the most foul tempered, dark wizard in the Tri-Kingdom."
She knocked on the door.
She had her reasons.
The door opened without any assistance and she walked in at a slow pace, not letting herself hurry like she wanted to.
She swallowed and looked at him. He was reclining on his bed now wearing only his black trousers. She tore her eyes away from his slim legs and toned chest, and raised them up to his face. They traversed the curve of his jaw to his thin lips, up to his straight nose and to his fine dark brows and tousled black hair.
She had her reasons all right, just like every other apprentice witch in the area. Even some apprentice wizards, too.
There were countless girls that would give their right arm to work with him. He was gorgeous.
"Did you pass?" she asked.
His violet eyes were heavy with fatigue when he looked at her. A pang of concern stabbed her heart and she shut out the words that were running around her mind.
No one survived the Black Sleep.
There was no cure.
"Of course," he said in a deep silken voice that seemed so relaxed. She was surprised at how well he hid the pain while she was around. The only sign of it was the occasional twitch of his lips or darkening of his eyes.
"Will the nightmares ease in time?" she said but didn't hold out hope that his answer would contradict what she already knew. He closed his eyes, his brows knitting and his lips compressing. She hurried forwards and held the spell out to him.
He opened one eye and looked at it.
"Sleep will not come, and I am so tired." His tone was heavy, showing her the tiredness he spoke of.
She knelt beside the bed and offered the spell to him. "I have made what you asked for."
He smiled but she could see straight through it. The gratitude he felt was marred by the pain he was experiencing. The Black Sleep made his nightmares real and even with his eyes open they haunted him, tormenting and racking his body with pain.
He took the spell from her and she reached out and uncorked it for him.
She stood up and stepped back while he sat up a little, propping himself up on one elbow, and drank down the black liquid. When he was done, she took the half empty phial from him and placed it down beside the bed. He closed his eyes and she waited, holding her breath and trying to steady her fluttering heart.
She'd never made a spell like this before.
He looked calm at first and then his face contorted. Sitting up, he glared at the phial on the small table beside the bed and then at her.
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