Order of The Rose: Forsaken Petal by Joshua Hoyt Page B

aren’t telling me something? What is it?” She walked closer to them. “Hey you two what’s going on?”
    Cody looked at Aithnea, his hands up. “It’s not for me to say.”
    She turned on Tom and glared at him. “Well?”
    “I-I-I’m not quite sure actually. The other night when we were attacked, I was out on the tree and I saw Cody all bloody and a man looking like he was going to kill him and...” Tom’s voice died off. What did happen?
    “ And what, Tom?” Aithnea came closer to Tom.
    Tom looked up at her sheepishly. “I felt an odd energy inside me and heard strange words go through my mind. I lifted my hand and two orange orbs shot out and hit the man.”
    “That’s crazy. Are you sure that you were not imagining things, or maybe one of Kristiana’s missiles missed their target and flew across the yard and into a window hitting an unseen target.” Aithnea sat down, realizing what she was saying.
    “ So, is it possible?” Cody asked excitedly.
    Aithnea was deep in concentration pulling her feet up under herself. “I don’t know, I just don’t know.”
    The library door opened and Kristiana came in. “Aithnea, it’s time that you come to bed.” She stopped when she saw the expressions on the kids’ face.
    “ What are you guys up to?” She asked accusingly.
    Aithnea stood up and walked toward Kristiana. “Are the stories true that talk about male enchanters?”
    “It’s late and we need to sleep.” Kristiana put her hand to her head. “We will discuss this tomorrow.”
    Kristiana left the room without another word.
    “Well, I guess I better get going, it was nice talking to both of you. Have a good night,” Aithnea said following after Kristiana.
    “ It was nice talking to you. You are a wealth of knowledge. We need to talk more often,” Cody said.
    Tom was stunned about all that they had talked about. He continued sitting in the chair as Cody and Aithnea walked down the ramp. He tried so hard to understand the things that were happening to him. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Aithnea had said and how his life had changed so much already. He couldn’t even imagine how much more it would change in the coming years.
    Hearing Cody and Aithnea at the bottom of the ramp, Tom decided he had better follow before getting lost. He slowly got up from his seat. Casually glancing at the bookcase, he noticed a book that was out of place. He walked to the bookshelf and tugged on the book. There was a grating noise and the shelf began to turn. He jumped back in surprise as musty, cold air hit him in the face.
    “ What did you do?” Cody asked as he came running up the ramp.
    “ Nothing, I-I just grabbed a book,” Tom said.
    Cody looked at the opening there was a tunnel. “Huh, I wonder where it goes.”
    “I don’t know. It looks like no one has been through it in years.”
    Cody nodded in agreement.
    Tom looked down the dark tunnel.  The stairs were rounded from heavy use and they wound steeply down.  Uhg I hate spiders and there are probably plenty of them down there.  
    “ Let’s find a light and go down,” Cody said.
    “ Are you sure we should do that? What if we aren’t supposed to go down there?” Tom said.
    “ Who will know? Besides, I don’t think anyone has been down here for hundreds of years,” Cody said as he looked for a light.
    “ What are you guys doing?” Aithnea said.
    Cody pointed at the entrance. “Look what we found. It’s an entrance of some sort.”
    Aithnea looked through the entrance and then at Cody. “What are you looking for?”
    “ He’s looking for a light. I’m hoping he doesn’t find one,” Tom said quietly.
    “ Oh, that’s easy,” Aithnea said.
    She began to chant and with a flick of her fingers a bright sphere appeared above her head.
    Tom’s eyes went wide. “How did you do that?”
    “ It’s a simple cantrip that every enchantress learns within her first week of lessons.” Aithnea replied.
    “ Cody, look at thi...” Tom