Hallowed Omen Read online

  Hallowed Omen

  A Gem Experiments Novella

  by

  Emma Nicole

  The Gem Experiment series so far:

  Novellas:

  Hallowed Omen

  The First Hunt

  Novels:

  The Gem Experiments (#1)

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter One

  13th May 2013

  It was funny how everyone here was searching for an identity while Seraphina tried her hardest to crush hers in to nonexistence. She threw herself in to another series of jabs and kicks at the punching back. Her breath whistled through gritted teeth every time her knuckles struck the leather. She’d already bandaged them up but now she could see spots of red showing through. There weren’t many other hunters in the training room today, which suited her just fine as she let out another frustrated hiss of pain and started going through every kind of kick she knew instead. She still wasn’t even going to beat Suzanne, the best girl in her class, a year younger than her. All the students in her class were a year younger than her and all of them were better when it came down to training, but dirty tricks they were not so good at. She’d won almost every match like that, which also had something to do with no one talking to her.

  You don’t have to win every game. Her sparring instructor had said after he’d caught her training in here outside of class hours. He also liked to call matches games to take the intensity out of them, which was ridiculous because at the end of the day the students were trying to beat each other up.

  Being better was all Seraphina knew because if she hadn’t been the best she wouldn’t be here today and quite frankly, she was in a better situation than her old classmates from the paradox. They were dead, as was the paradox.

  There was only one girl who didn’t hate Seraphina and that was mostly because she had some fascination with her. Now, that girl, Daria was jogging towards her in her grey tracksuit from earlier. Worry strained the girl’s face but she was always worrying about something and Seraphina had grown tired of jumping at the girl’s every move so she kept kicking the back again and again.

  “Seraphina,” she gasped by the time she’d woven between all the equipment and sparring mats.

  That’s how Seraphina knew there was no real trouble, no person would run around empty sparring mats instead of on them if there wasn’t a real problem.

  Daria dragged in another gasping breath, resting her hands on her knees. She was Seraphina’s age when she’d escaped the scientists, twelve. It was a little over a year ago now and yet it seemed longer.

  “Seraphina,” Daria said. “It’s urgent.”

  “Is it?” She kicked the bag again, harder for Daria’s sake.

  “It’s Kai, the other guys – I heard –”

  Seraphina stopped mid-kick, twisting her heel back and planting both feet on the mat again. “What about Kai, Daria?”

  “Well… it’s the guys from our class, you know Patty, Seth and James? Then I think there’s some from the upper classes too - erm, like Derek and er - the big one.”

  “And what about those guys, Daria?” It was probably nothing but Seraphina’s heart raced at the thought of someone hurting Kai.

  She didn’t hear whatever Daria said next as she reached for the bond her and Kai shared. It connected their minds together and allowed them to see what each other were thinking and doing. For the briefest of moments she was looking through Kai’s eyes at a white tiled wall and water raining down. Then she was shoved out so hard it felt like someone had clapped her around the face.

  Seraphina staggered on the mat and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Her whole face hurt.

  I’m in the shower! Kai’s voice echoed through her mind in high pitched indignation. This is why we only talk to each other.

  Seraphina grimaced as she sent her own mental message back, it was as easy as thinking the words. Daria said you were in trouble.

  Tell Daria to go shove some Prozac up her ass.

  What’s Prozac?

  She could hear Kai’s laughter in her ears. For what you just did I’m not telling you.

  “So you’re worried too, right?” Daria implored.

  “Huh?” Seraphina blinked through her pounding headache.

  Kai was getting meaner. He’d given her a wicked headache that was going to last hours and he was playing mind games with her. It’s not like she’d seen anything and not like she cared if she did.

  “Did you guys argue again?” Daria asked. “Because this is serious. Those guys are bad news and they’ll come for you too.”

  “Why?”

  “You weren’t listening to me.” Daria’s shoulders slumped.

  “I’ve got a headache,” Seraphina murmured. “I think I’ve worked out too much.” The lie flowed from her lips easily and she hated using that excuse, the one that made her sound weak.

  “You should really stop.”

  “I’ve got to catch up.” Seraphina shrugged as she limped over to a bench at the side of the room, her leg muscles protested at the movement.

  “But if you do they might move you in to the correct class!” Daria gasped. “You’d leave me alone.”

  “They’ll never do that, I’m never going to be that good.”

  “They would,” Daria grumbled. She slumped on to the bench beside her and crossed her arms. “My dad says you’ll get moved up the moment you can hold your own because you have Power and anyone with it gets special treatment.”

  “I can hold my own,” Seraphina said indignantly before realising that her abilities weren’t the problem. “Ah, Daria… Power isn’t a good thing. If I use it all I’ll die. It’s dangerous.”

  “But it could also save lives.” Daria sighed. “You know, if I had Power I wouldn’t be doing this. I’d train to be a healer, I love our first aid classes and there’s so much more they don’t tell us. I’ve found the books in the library.”

  “You can still be a surgeon.”

  “But I could be so much better.”

  Seraphina sucked at her teeth. She wasn’t good for these sort of what if situations. She hated them because they just made her feel crappy. Her go to would always be what if she wasn’t a science experiment that the entire world sought to kill. Daria’s father was a well-respected hunter and if he knew a Gem was friends with his daughter, he’d kill Seraphina with his bare hands. He had that bearish sort of look to him, hairy arms and dark hair like Daria’s.

  “You’re doing it again,” Daria said. “You’re not listening. I think you should rest and maybe stop this. Your hands are bleeding.”

  “That’s what fights do.”

  “We’re not in fights at the moment. Not until next week.” Daria checked the sparring games like a hawk, not because she liked them but to worry over them until the day came. “You’re against a boy next week, Seth and he’s good.”

  “I wondered when they were going to stop being nice.”

  “I read somewhere that guys are better at fighting naturally. It’s unfair that they don’t split us in to boys and girls.”

  “Daria, if you fight monsters it isn’t going to be fair. They could be a boy or a girl and have more magic than most Lionhearts in the guild put together. They’ll be at least three times as strong and fast too.” She met the girl’s dark eyes and she could see genuine fear in them.

  Seraphina looked away. She wasn’t sure how to comfort a girl who would one day be a hunter and she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. It was scary, Seraphina knew that first hand, but not training to fight them would be suicide.


  “Daria, think of it this way. If we train hard enough, we’ll be better equipped to fight them.”

  The girl nodded and leaned her head back against the bench with her eyes closed. Daria had the best imagination Seraphina knew of, she came up with great ideas from all the books she read. Maybe that imagination did the reverse too.

  Chapter Two

  Seraphina started awake as someone hammered on her door. Two people perhaps, by the amount of slams. She was tempted to ask Kai if it was him but she knew better to think he wouldn’t have called to her mentally first and she knew it couldn’t be Daria at 2AM because she lived with her parents.

  Seraphina had bought a standard dagger from the weapon’s shop last month when she’d finally pickpocketed enough money off civilians in London. Now, she curled her fingers around the handle of that dagger, unsheathing it slowly. Then she held it behind her leg as she went to unlock her door. She waved her hand over the handle, which also deactivated the trap she’d laid on it. Once she found out the hunters only locked their rooms with the usual sort of lock that people could unlock magically she started trapping them. So far she’d shocked two trespassers.

  However, it was Daria and a guy in their class, Seraphina knew his last name was Yates. Daria was in a pair of jeans and a jacket whereas Yates was still in his tracksuit from class.

  “Seraphina, you’ve got to come with us,” Daria said.

  Seraphina looked down at her loose cotton pyjamas. “Can I change?”

  “It’s Kai. Do you remember –”

  “Let’s go.” Seraphina said and stepped out of her room, keeping the dagger close to her side.

  “Is she serious?” Yates hissed to Daria.

  For once Daria didn’t have anything else to say as she led them both out of the girls’ dormitory and towards the south side of the castle, away from the reception area to the back set of stairs.

  Kai, where are you? Seraphina counted to ten before she asked again. Kieran…are you okay? Her hand trembled on the dagger and she tightened her grip on the handle. She couldn’t believe Kai hadn’t tried to contact her, or had she slept through it. Of course, Seraphina could check to see if Kai was really in trouble by jumping in to his mind but that would steal seconds of time coming to his possible rescue.

  “They’re outside,” Daria said without looking back.

  For a moment Seraphina saw the hunter the girl could be with her shoulders back and head high. Seraphina felt like the opposite in her pyjamas and bare feet. She felt just like the girl who had crept around Faerie at night.

  They hurried down the carpeted stone steps and then outside in the cool summer night. Seraphina didn’t hear anything at first, just cars roaring across roads far away and then as they grew closer, voices. She followed Daria and Yates on to the grass and through the quadrangle, towards the church at the far end of the guild’s land.

  She saw a lantern on the ground, casting shadows over seven guys. She could make out Kai just over their shoulders, he’d shot up a good few inches in the time they’d spent at Hallowed Omen and it wasn’t fair but rather useful now.

  “What are you guys doing?” Seraphina called, keeping the dagger beside her leg but in direct sight.

  “I bought them both, Nor, like you asked.” Yates called.

  Daria looked at him in horror as he made to grab her. Yates grabbed her arm and she moved in to him with a palm strike they’d recently practiced in class. He gripped her wrist before she could make contact.

  Seraphina kicked him hard in the back of the leg, forcing him off balance. Then she lunged, driving a knee in to his back and forcing him to the ground. She held the dagger to his eye, since his half his face was hidden in the grass. She looked up at the seven guys. “Let us go and he won’t lose an eye.”

  “She has a weapon!” One of them crowed.

  The larger one of the lot, like two people crushed together took a step forward. He was in the year above, the one everyone was afraid of. “I dare you, monster scum. Show us how little you care for humans.”

  “Your guy attacked her, last time I checked she was human.”

  “You checked?” The guy laughed. “You gay too?”

  Wrong choice of words. Seraphina sucked in a breath when Yates, threw his weight to the side, unbalancing Seraphina. She landed on the ground, scrambling to her feet as fast as possible as Yates did the same. He folded back in to his gang and the big one grinned toothily. He looked like he’d been punched in the face one too many times and never had his teeth corrected. He took a step towards her now.

  “Do you want to try that with me? One on one? You can keep the dagger,” he said.

  Seraphina’s blood ran cold. They wouldn’t kill her, she was sure of that much but this was going to hurt. “What about magic?”

  “Magic?” The guy spat. “Using monster words too. No Power, monster.”

  “If I win you’ll let Kai, Daria and me go?”

  “Sure,” he drawled.

  Seraphina met Kai’s gleaming yellow eyes. She couldn’t read them from here, couldn’t feel anything but emptiness in the bond they’d shared and she couldn’t make sense of the feeling.

  “Scared, monster?” The guy said.

  “What’s your name?” Seraphina asked.

  “My name? Nor.”

  “Yeah, but what’s your full name?”

  “Are you trying to spell me, monster!” He yelled as he lunged.

  Seraphina darted to the side and Nor staggered a couple of steps away, but he was fast, too fast as he twisted back around with a punch. Seraphina slashed out with the dagger but then he dodged again. Seraphina backed up quickly, her dagger raised in front of her as she reached for her magic. There were no rules in these sorts of fights. She didn’t want to kill him, she’d get kicked out of the guild for sure even if it was self-defence. Seraphina envisioned a wave of magic to leave her, a little like a shield.

  The magic burst from her like a glowing white wall. Nor struck it hard and fell to the ground as the magic disappeared in to nothing. He gritted his teeth and clutched his head as he rolled to his knees. “Cheater!” He yelled.

  “Please, I didn’t agree to this deal.” That was also the wrong thing to say as she saw the remaining guys look at each other and turn on Kai.

  Kai ran. That’s when Seraphina realised he wasn’t defending himself with good reason, he didn’t know many ways to use his magic other than his affinity for controlling the winds and he couldn’t do that without revealing he was a Gem.

  Seraphina grabbed Daria’s arm as they sprinted around the church to meet up with Kai. She also realised that those guys were much more athletic than the three of them. She sucked at her teeth as she reached for more magic and created another wave, sending it further this time and causing the guys to stagger back in order to avoid it. It earned them precious seconds as they ran towards the main entrance of the guild’s castle. Sweat beaded down Seraphina’s face.

  They were halfway there when Kai shrieked, “Drop!”

  The three did and Seraphina saw a whistling blade of glowing magic slice above them.

  “That could have killed us!” Daria gasped.

  The three were just on their feet as the guys lunged. Seraphina let out a roar and it scared her too. She punched first with her left hand, catching the pretty blonde Seth in the face. Nor came from her other side and she slashed out wildly with her dagger. Nor came back around with a punch, but was forced to dodge as she waved the blade wildly. The fight lasted for a few seconds as she tried to eye the rest of her opponents. There was a sharp pain in her side and Seraphina screamed as she turned and swiped with the sword but no one was close enough. That’s when she saw three of them on Kai, two of them had hold of his arms and the third was punching him hard in the kidneys. Seraphina raised the blade, her heart skittered as she realised she really was going to use it to kill if she had to.

  Nor grabbed her wrist and pried the dagger from her fingers. His knee slammed in to the botto
m of her spine and Seraphina let out a hissing breath as she willed her magic in to her palm and slammed it in to his chest. He flew backwards and Seraphina staggered towards Kai. She could still feel his pain like phantom blows to her own skin.

  One of the guy’s on Daria tackled Seraphina over and Seraphina twisted in to it, throwing him off. He was quick and had far more training than her. He slammed in to her again before she’d barely gotten to her feet. Seraphina slammed another palm of magic in to his chest and the guy screamed, twisting away. She might have just killed him. The reaction made him appear like a magic user and in that case, it was very likely they weren’t compatible and her magic would work like a poison.

  Seraphina rose to her feet and went for the one pummelling Kai. She aimed for a side-kick which he stepped out of the way of. He was too self-aware, despite the fact he’d been on another target. Seraphina danced away from his next two strikes before he went for a kick and then slammed a fist in to the side of her head. Seraphina’s ears rang as her head snapped to the side. Someone grabbed her arms from behind, dragging her of her feet. Her head pounded as she kicked out at the guy in front of her. She screamed just as a clear voice rang across the grounds.

  “Cease this!”

  The students all froze as they looked up at the two fully fledged hunters in their black leather uniforms. Cold anger marred their faces as they took in the scene.

  Two of the guys were downed on the floor, the magical one was shaking violently and Nor was spitting up blood. Daria’s eye had swelled shut and nose was bleeding but her opponent, Yates was sporting a bloody lip and torn shirt. Kai didn’t look he had a drop of blood on him but Seraphina could feel the blows he’d taken from the shoulders down. She could feel something hot sliding down the side of her head.

  “Stand to attention!” The hunter yelled.

  Seraphina grimaced. The pain in her shoulder blades ceased as the student behind her released, Seth she realised. His dark eyes that had once been filled with malice now just looked annoyingly fearful as he eyed the hunters. The others released Kai, who swayed on his feet.