The Divide: Luminescence

Chapter 10

"Usually we would drive, but we all agreed; the first time you see the city shouldn't be through a car window." We were all lost in common conversation while we were walking, and I didn't notice how far we had gone until we were standing on the hill over the city.

It had a likeness to Gastown in Vancouver, and it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. The city was cozy, and as we walked closer, I could start making out little details in each of the houses and shops that lined the streets. We turned down a street in the center of the city, where cars couldn't drive down. Residential houses surrounded the red cobblestone we were walking on, and in the very center of the street was a small garden with a fountain. An older woman was sitting at the fountain with a toddler on her lap, manipulating the water to make a show for him. He watched, transfixed, and clapped his hands with delight whenever a droplet would touch his nose. I think I noticed it more than the others, simply because this was already their normal. For me, magic in such a mundane use wasn't mundane at all.

"This is one of the residential squares in the city. This was the first one made, actually, and the city was built around it. It's kind of like a pattern. You have your residential square here," Acacia said, pointing to the palm of her hand, "and then you have a street of shops on either side of the block. It continues on like that until you get to the outskirts of the city. And that," she said, pointing to the massive house at the end of the square, "is Jaspers house."

Gas street lights lined the houses on either side of the square, as if to draw focus to his house at the end. His house was at least three time bigger than any of the other houses, and was the complete width of the courtyard we were in. It stood in stark contrast to the rest of the houses. They were made of warm brick and rich earth tones, and his house looked almost identical to The Breakers mansion in Newport.

"I don't get it...he lived by me, not in The Divide. How does he have a place out there, and then such a nice place here?" Acacia smirked before answering me.

"It helps when your mom runs everything around here." I wanted to smack myself for not seeing it earlier, all the signs were there. Of course Lady Ira was his mom. I went back to the first time I had met her, when we arrived at The Divide. How she had embraced him. It made sense why she knew so much about me; she had kept in constant contact with her son.

We walked up the steps to his house, where people were sitting outside talking. As we entered the house, I lost everyone in the fray of people, except Liza. She grabbed my hand was pulling me through the house, and stopped in a room that I can only assume was meant as a ballroom. The ceiling stretched in a dome, a skylight at the epicenter. It was strange seeing such classic architecture being used in place of a club. There was music coming from a DJ at the opposite end of the room, and there were two bars on either side of it. Eliza shimmied her way up to the bar closest to us, moving quickly through the throngs of people dancing.

"What do you want?" She turned expectantly to me.

"I'm good for now." She raised her eyebrows as if to say are you sure? and I nodded. I was still pretty tipsy, and I knew I couldn't drink the same way Eliza could. As we were waiting for her drink, I felt arms tighten around me from behind. I turned to see Cody smiling at me, his dark brown hair completely mussed up, blue eyes shining.

"Having fun, are we?" I couldn't help but match his grin, his attitude was beyond contagious.

"Always. You ladies wanna dance?" Jamie held out his hand to Eliza, and she finished her drink and took it without a moments hesitation. I took Cody's hand as we made our way to the middle of the dance floor. Everyone was a blur of glowing colour and magical energy. We lost ourselves completely in that moment, our bodies moving to the beat of the music, our energy matching the pulse that surrounded the room.

Halfway through the third song, I could feel my energy change, and I knew all three of them had entered the vicinity. My gaze was pulled from Cody towards the door we came through, and as their individual energies washed over me, I could feel my vision blur. First was the chill that made my hair stand on end, then the fire that made my heart beat faster. I stumbled forward, and Cody caught me.

"Are you okay?" Everything was getting darker, and I could feel myself about to faint when another hand touched my back. I could feel my heart rate slow, and everything came back into focus. I looked up to see a pair of golden eyes looking at me.

"Hey Sawyer. Yeah, Cody, I'll be fine. I think I just need some air." I took Sawyers hand and led him out of the room, nodding at Jasper. If he saw it, he didn't acknowledge it, and just pulled Acacia closer to him.

We weaved through the crowds of people, Sawyer taking the lead. He opened a pair of double doors, and we walked into a study.

He shut the doors behind us, and turned to look at me.

"What was that?" I sighed, walking over to one of the couches in the room. I sat on the edge of it, looking up at him.

"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. Some people...their magic really effects me, and it's too much to handle. The closer I am to them, the stronger effect it has on me." He took a hesitant step away from me. "No!" I quickly added, "you're different. You bring me back when it's all too much."

"So does Eliza effect you too? How do you deal with that?" I bit my lip, trying to find the right way to word what I was about to say.

"It doesn't seem to effect people I see as my friends, just...romantic interests."

"Oh. So like Jasper?" I nodded, wishing I wasn't in this situation. "But you've been around him before and been fine."

"I think it was the combination of all three of you, together. Plus just the energy in the room, and me being a little drunk." I watched as his confusion turned to recognition as he realized who he had walked in with.

"The three of us? Just casually dropping that you're attracted to Acacia, hey?" He chuckled and sat beside me, and I rested my head on his chest. I looked up at him, smiling.

"The opportunity presented itself. I didn't want to waste it." I could feel his chest rumble with laughter, and it was only then when I clued in on how close we were. I could feel the heat radiating off his body as that warm, familiar feeling started seeping through my body.

"Why is it you never have a shirt on?" I mumbled, trying to hide the way my body was feeling.

"Why is it you always do?" His voice was low, and before I knew it his lips were on mine, his hands pulling me on top of him. As soon as our lips touched, I could feel our magic intertwining, becoming stronger, more powerful. He pulled my shirt off, and ran his hands over my body. Kissing him took away everything. In that moment, there was no one else. There was only us , and only the way we felt together. I was the strongest, best version of myself, and all I wanted was more. I kissed his lips, his neck, and his collarbone, and couldn't help smiling.

"Bronwyn," he whispered, "look." I looked up and saw a thousand little gold specs, completely illuminating the study and everything around us. It was like being in the middle of the night sky, and it couldn't have been any more perfect.

His thumb brushed across my cheek, his golden eyes matching the stars in the room.

"My pulchra stella." His lips brushed against mine, and I was about to kiss him when a shrieking noise rang though my head. I fell off of him, covering my ears, screaming. The gold stars in the room disappeared abruptly, but the ringing in my ears was fading. It was replaced instantly with Breckon's voice.

Bronwyn. Meet me at the door. Now. Bring no one. I stood up facing Sawyer, who looked more confused than I had ever seen him.

"What's going on?" I shook my head, not knowing what to tell him. I quickly put on my shirt and headed towards the door.

"If I could tell you, I would....but I can't. I have to go. I'm so sorry." His eyes were pleading with me, wanting me to tell him what was going on. I wished with all my heart that I could, but I turned on my heel and left him standing there alone.

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