Free The Keeper's Curse by Diana Harrison Page B

it would be
stored in your subconscious, even if you never clearly saw
it.”
    Emmy
leaned her head to the side, looking out the window, seeing
teenagers laughing and running all over the grounds. She wanted
that. She wanted to be normal, and she never would be if she
continued hearing these voices. “Okay.”
    “ Good, good. I will have the downloader set up in a few days.
I’ll send you a note when I can book the next session.” She looked
at the golden clock ticking away. “We still have twenty minutes. Is
there anything else you would like to talk about?”
    Emmy
grinned, wide and toothy. “Yeah, what’s it like being a
counsellor?”
     
    ***
     
    When she
completed her session, she found Teddy waiting for her on the front
grounds, still in his peacekeeping uniform. His cheeks were flushed
and his eyes clear, waving at her as she came down the
steps.
    “ Hi?” she said. “Do you need something?”
    “ Yeah, remember? I was going to take you flying
today.”
    “ Right.” She rubbed her hands together and breathed hot air
onto them. She had forgotten how cold it was. “But not for too
long.”
    His
friendly composure made her feel almost as good as Jade had. Emmy
had spent her morning classes with Jade again, as well as
Persephone and Teddy, now that they weren’t late. He had taken
extra consideration to include her and she wished with all her
heart she could repay him in some way.
    The two
of them headed towards the forest, Emmy falling into silence while
Teddy began chatting with her, adding dramatic pantomime with
nearly every verb he said. He was incredibly easy to like, Emmy
thought. He reminded her of her mischievous but benevolent best
friend back home.
    Before
her mood could turn sour over the thought, Teddy had, while Emmy
hadn’t been paying attention, led her through a part of the forest
and into a little circular clearing behind the school. A couple
dozen other teenagers were practicing their flying as well, a few
of them walking on air while holding onto what appeared to be a
pair of floating gold rings. Teddy pulled out a pair of them from
his pocket and waggled his eyebrows.
    “ Now, since I have no idea if you’re capable of flying or not,
I’m going to get you to use these. Don’t let go of them, or they’ll
float away on you. They’ll hold your body weight up. These are
solators, otherwise known as your best friend.”
    Emmy took
hold of them; they stung her palms with cold. Her heart nearly beat
out of her chest. She was suddenly a little kid again, whose
greatest wish was to be able to fly.
    Teddy
moved in front of her, and with one foot he kicked off the ground
and into the air. Emmy jerked her head up towards the sky, her eyes
following him, seeing a palewraith stretch out of his back and take
the form of wings, keeping him levitated.
    “ Would you like to try, or do you want me to carry you
up?”
    “ No, I’ll try it,” she called. Mimicking him, she kicked off
with one foot, gripping the gold rings until her fingers were
sweaty. She glided upward a few feet, her legs wobbling in mid
air.
    Teddy
dipped down and floated beside her. “Perfect. How do you
feel?”
    “ Like my organs fell out.”
    “ Nice. Do you want to keep going on your own, or would you
like some help?”
    She
looked down, a sense of vertigo making her feel faint, and then
looked above at the other students who were several feet
overhead.
    “ I’d like to go up a bit more.” Either Alex was going to kill
her or Jade was going to kill Teddy. Or both.
    Without
another word he flashed a devilish look, darted behind her and gave
her a push. She flew upwards, feet first, not being able to contain
a bloody-curdling scream along with a streak of her favourite
French swearwords. As she should have guessed, Teddy was a few feet
away, laughing and clutching his stomach in midair.
    When she
swung back into a position of head first, her body was swinging
back and forth like a pendulum. She should have been