A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) Read Free Page A

her hand on my cheek. I pulled away and she frowned. “Be
careful of the lies those people would tell in order to manipulate
you, son. You are the future ruler of this kingdom. That comes with a
great deal of responsibility. I hope you understand that. There are
dangers out there you can’t possibly understand.”
    I gave no answer, but I understood. Yes, there
were those who would use me for their own personal gain, not the
least of whom was standing right in front of me.
    “Will you be back before nightfall?”
she asked.
    I gave her a quick bow. “Not likely,”
I said, then turned and shifted into black smoke. I didn’t give
her the chance to ask anything more of me, and by the time night did
fall, I was nowhere near the castle walls.

The Deepest Kind of Darkness
    Andros was waiting for us by the roses.
    He didn’t see us at first, so I stood there
for a moment watching him through the darkness.
    He leaned down at the edge of a small patch of
flowers and closed his eyes. He lifted his hand over the flowers and
mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out.
    A bluish black mist of energy rose up from the
flowers like a fog, flowing into the demon’s hand. Then, Andros
cried out and yanked his hand backward, falling onto his back.
    I rushed over toward him.
    “Are you okay?” I asked.
    He cradled his hand close to his chest. “I’m
fine,” he said, laughing. “Just one of the dangers of
experimentation, I guess.”
    “What were you trying to do?” Lea
asked.
    “Honestly?”
    I nodded.
    He shook his head and laughed. “I have no
idea.”
    “What was the black fog that rose up from
them?” Lea asked. “Where did it come from?”
    “I haven’t completely figured it out
yet, but these roses have some kind of property that allows them to
pull energy from the magic around them,” he said. He lifted his
hand over the cluster of the black roses and moved it in a circle. I
could instantly feel the energy of his magic as it entered the air,
and within a few seconds, I could physically see it too. “Watch
this.”
    I watched as the energy field of his magic
transferred from his hands to the tips of the roses. It was as if the
roses were a magnet, drawing the energy toward them.
    The dark black smoke of his power drifted toward
the roses and hovered above it.
    “Now what?” I asked. “Does the
magic get absorbed into the flowers?”
    Andros shook his head and moved his hand away from
the roses. The smoke hovered for a moment, then gradually faded
altogether.
    “It doesn’t seem to actually soak in,”
he said. “The roses attract the power, but they don’t
seem to have a way to store it. They appear to be more of a conductor
of energy. It’s hard to understand, but that’s why I
started growing them here. I want to understand them. I think they’re
important.”
    “I’ve seen these roses before,”
I said, looking out over the darkened field. The light of the moons
was dim tonight, but I had always been able to see very clearly in
the dark. It was one of my gifts. “The day my brother
disappeared, I got a very strong vision of him. He was kneeling in a
circle of these roses, bleeding and crying out. There was a bright
light shining inside the circle.”
    I struggled with the memory. It was difficult to
talk about it, even now.
    “Tonight may prove to be a very emotional
one for you, my friend, but I think you are on the verge of finding
answers to questions you have held for a very long time,” he
said.
    “Where are you taking us?” Lea asked.
    She was still unsure about us being here, and I
knew it was a lot to ask of her. If the king found out we were
meeting with rebels, he would be very unhappy. I knew she was only
here out of loyalty to me, which only deepened my guilt.
    “You’ll see very soon,” Andros
said.
    “What do the roses have to do with what
happened to my brother?” I asked. “I know the two things
are tied together. It’s the only real clue I’ve had