Chapter Three: A Murder and Teaching

The next morning, I wake up on a bed. I don't see Jason anywhere until I flip onto my back, he's looking out the window, buttoning up his uniform. My cheeks heat up the slight view of his bare chest, which isn't as bad as what I thought it would be like. I quickly flip over so that my face is in the pillow. Get ahold of yourself, Talia! He's an assassin, you are a simple girl. I fell asleep near the window, how did I get on the bed? Maybe I sleepwalked? Did Jason set me here? If so, then when did he wake up?

"How did I get in bed?" I asked, turning my head so I was looking at him and my cheek was against the pillow. That is seriously the first thing I say to him?!

"I woke up with you next to me, so I figured that you laid down there and fell asleep." He says, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Wait, does he know what happened yesterday?

"I fell asleep by the window...maybe you grabbed me in your sleep and set me next to you. I don't sleepwalk very often." I sit up, rubbing my eyes a bit. This is so weird!

"Was I drunk?" Jason asks me.

"Yeah. After we got in this room, I sat on the foot of the bed and you tried to pull me next to you. 'Just sleep next to me, sweetheart'." I mimic his voice.

"I really said that?" I nod, "Ugh!" He throws his hands up in the air and falls back onto the bed, I giggle a little at his reaction. That was a little dramatic, wasn't it?

"You even grabbed me by the waist and pulled me so my back was against your chest." I blush at the memory of his arms around me. I quickly get up from the bed and head to the window, the view of the village is actually amazing. The color of dawn is slowly fading to the bright blue sky of day.

I brush my hair out of my face and use a pin to get my hair in a messy bun. I've been needing to brush my hair but this is the most I'm able to do right now. I glance over at Jason and see him staring at me, I cock my head to the left a little in confusion.

"You look cute with your hair down, not up." He says, I quickly turn my head back to the window.

Maybe he's still drunk or has a hangover. I do not want to deal with an assassin with a hangover, that would be very annoying. I turn to him while he's getting up, I notice right then that his shirt has a tear in the side. I walk over to where our bags are, which is in the corner by the door and pull out a spool of thread and a sewing needle. You always have to be prepared for anything, even ripped clothes.

"Take off your shirt," I tell him, threading the needle. He doesn't comply, so I repeat myself but with a stern voice.

"Why, Talia? You want to see me shirtless or something?" He questions, removing his shirt and handing it to me.

I poke the needle into the material and start to sew it back together. I used to sew new clothes in my free time, so this is just as easy as 1 2 3. Once finished, I tie off the thread and use Jason's knife to cut the thread, I also sorta slice my finger a little with the blade. How did I fricken do that?! I hand him his shirt back and use part of my dress's skirt to wrap my finger with.

"Did you seriously cut yourself? Silly girl." Is all he says as he hands me some bandages and helps me with the cut. I can be pretty careless when it comes to getting hurt, once when I was little I jumped off the small fence by my old home and got a couple scratches and a bruise or two. I don't really feel pain until I notice I got hurt at times.

After we took care of my hand, we had grabbed our bags and left the inn. The cool morning air made goosebumps on my arms, I could manage it though. We made our way to Sir James's home, where the town Sheriff was for some reason. I could faintly smell something metallic and rotten. We walked closer and then I saw it: a man with a knife dug into his back and there was a strange aura about it. The man was Sir James.

"What happened here!" Jason yelled at the sheriff, kneeling by the dead assassin's body. The aura around the corpse was darkening, almost evil.

"We found James like this, this morning, sir." The sheriff says.

"Bring back the evil that haunts the souls of the living, take what is yours with no fight. The evil within, the darkness without, no one can run from this eternal night..."

I turn around, no one but the villagers, sheriff, and me and Jason are here. Who said that? I shake the unease away and kneel beside Jason, he's inspecting the knife and I notice that Sir James's neck was turned in almost a 360, maybe someone with a tremendous amount of strength did that? Or maybe someone with magic? That would explain the dark aura, but the royal family would never kill someone, right? I shake the idea out of my mind and got back to the task at hand. Who would have killed Sir James? He has no reward for his head, so then someone he was a target for some reason.

"He was murdered. Someone with dark magic did this, his head was twisted 360 degrees." I say suddenly, Jason and the sheriff stare at me.

"How do you know if dark magic was used, little lady?" The sheriff asked, his eyes narrowed in my direction. Of course, he was suspicious, a woman like myself wouldn't know this kind of stuff.

"There's a dark aura, sir, and by looking at Sir James's neck, you can see the skin is twisted tightly. Also, no one is strong enough to pull off this feat." I tell the sheriff, standing up and taking a step back so that he could look for himself. He has a shocked expression on his face, he must have figured out that I was right.

"How can you tell if there is a dark aura surrounding the body, young maiden? Only people with magic, or ties to the world of magic, can tell what magical auras are and how they feel. Only the royal family has those things, so how could you tell?" He was asking questions that I couldn't answer, this guy was also being suspicious.

"I can't tell you how I know, I just do, and there are evil beings with magic. Not just the royal family has such a power. Read a history book for once and see how the royal family got their magical lineage, okay?" I tell him. If I have to, I'll freeze his ass or something when no one is around. He is so getting on my nerves.

Jason grabs my arm and pulls me into the alley between Sir James's house and another house, which is quite large and hides us from view unless you were to look into the alley head-on. I rip my arm out of his grasp, the feeling of heat in my fingertips, and I take a couple deep breaths. I can't let the forbidden magic tale ahold of me like that nightmare did the other night. The image of burnt and frozen grass appears into my head and the air around me starts to heat up and freeze, freezing on one side and heating up on the other. I take a deep breath and glared at the entrance of the alleyway, wishing I had the strength to just stop these bursts of magic. I feel tears form in my eyes and one escapes, I quickly wipe the rest away before Jason notices.

"What was that about, Talia?!" He's angry with me, Jason has a right to be angry with me at the way I was acting a moment ago.

"He was asking questions that I don't have answers for, he was being suspicious!" I say, letting the wall behind me freeze a little. The small patch of ice then melts just as fast as it had formed.

"Your eyes had changed color, from dark blue to blood red and icy blue! You need to control that magic of yours before someone gets hurt!" Jason yells at me, his hands on either side of my head. He was basically pinning me to the wall, blocking me from the world on the outside of this little bubble.

"I have been trying to control it since I had shown signs of having magic, which was three years ago when my family left me alone in my village! I had almost burnt down my own house, I almost froze all my things!" Tears start streaming down my face, "and to make it worse, I have nightmares that make my magic act up. You saw it with your own eyes last night, Jason, and...and..." I can't continue, a sob breaks out from between my lips.

"Talia, I'm sorry for yelling at you, but you do need to learn how to control the fire and ice. I'll help with that tonight, okay?" He wipes my cheek with his thumb, I take another deep breath and nod. "Let's get going."

We exit the alley, walking out of the village. I follow Jason until we get to our horses and he helps me on mine. Even when he mounts his horse, I feel like his hands are still on my waist. I shake the feeling off and we start on our way to the next village or the castle.

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"First, focus on the fire," Jason says, placing a knife in my hand.

"What am I supposed to do with a knife and fire?" I ask, glancing between the knife and a target that Jason had set up earlier for target practice.

We had reached another field, our horses were tied up to a tree again. For the past couple of hours, Jason has been shooting at targets and throwing knives and practicing with what he calls a katana. Apparently, it's a type of sword or something.

"Focus on the fire and throw the knife at the target, take aim and throw." He says, avoiding the question.

I take aim at the target, trying to focus on the fire side of my magic. Jason's hands were on my arm, helping me with the throwing portion, but it was distracting me. I couldn't focus, then his hands were off me, I could hear him hiss in pain. I drop the knife and focus my attention on Jason's hands. They were burnt. I had hurt him, the guy who was helping me got hurt.

"Jason, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..." I trail off, trying to find the right words to describe what just happened. I had just burned him!

"Use your ice to stop it!" He screams, holding his hands away from himself. I grab his hands in mine, I hear his hiss in pain again, and I focus on the cold of ice, my eyes closed.

I open my eyes after a few seconds and look down at our hands, our fingers intertwined, and I let go.

Jason sighs, his hands no longer burnt, but he is scared. I had hurt him, then I sorta healed him. What is wrong with me? I take a couple steps back, fists at my sides, and I let tears roll down my cheeks for the second time today. I have to be a monster, I just have to be! Turning away from the assassin, I start to the tree line, picking up my pace until I'm sprinting.

"Talia! Wait!" I hear Jason call out, but I keep running.

My legs started to ache after a while of running so I stop, and I turn to see Jason a few feet away. He seriously chased me? He's crazy to chase a monster like me.

"I don't want to hurt you again! Go away!" I scream, but my heart wasn't in it.

Jason walks up to me, I walk backward, then I feel a tree against my spine. Jason, so close to my face that I could feel his warm breath on my face. "You are not a monster, you have a gift that everyone wishes to have. Yes, only the Royals have magic, but you have two kinds of magic: fire and ice. You need to learn how to use both, Talia, and the only way is to control it." He takes my hands in his own, I could feel the warmth of his skin against mine.

"I'll hurt you again and...you distract me..." I whisper, a blush creeping up onto my cheeks.

"Then block me out, princess. I know you won't hurt me again." He backs up, pulling me with him.

We head back to the field, he hands me back the knife.

"Focus on the fire and throw." He repeats.