(Playlist: Fences-Paramore, Lips of an Angel-Hinder, Sick-Adelitas Way, Mr. Brightside-Killers (Mostly Nolan's song for Kym and Malorn), Apologize-One Republic)

Beautifully Dark Places
Chapter 8
Evanescent

I had spent most of my day remembering that morning. It was impossible to put it out of my head. I could still remember the warmth of his hand against my back and forehead against my own. I sighed as I tapped the makeshift wand on the table. All seven of the school teachers sat in the front of the classroom. We were in the Ice school. Ambrose had decided that my magic was just buried deep inside me, and we had to figure out how to get it out. Ambrose was sitting between the teachers, four on his left and three on his right. His wrinkled hands were a perch for his slightly lopsided, large head. His bead was stuffed under his hands—probably to keep from being too cold, it was frigid—and fell to the desk in a spiral. Professor Greyrose hovered impatiently to his left, looking over her spectacles at my work.

"Any luck over there, honey?" Her voice was light and crisp, like a nice day in autumn. I looked up at her, shaking the thought of Nolan and me for a few moments. I must have been very obvious about my lack of attention; she looked a bit disappointed and hung her head. I sighed, straightening my back as I had been instructed, and raised the hickory shafted wand Ambrose had provided me with. I imagined the intricate snowflake symbol that triggered the Ice school spells.

Ambrose had explained this process to me when Malorn and Boris brought me to his office. There was a lot that went into this process. First, he said the wand he gave me was made of hickory, which is a big conductor of magic. He told me that it would feed off of the magic crystals we had seen before, and would be easy to learn with, but would not be very powerful. Ambrose told me the entire, drawn out history behind the symbols that each school used, and why Nolan and the others didn't have to use the symbols to cast a spell. Apparently, they only needed to use symbols for very high power spells because it concentrates their power. That explained why they ported so easy and so forth.

I concentrated on first forming the circle; a simple task for anyone who could make ice appear out of thin air. Frustrated, I slammed the wand back on to the deck and crossed my arms. Ambrose sighed and pressed his forehead to his folded hands. Greyrose, more empathetic than anyone else in the room, fluttered over to the edge of my desk.

"Kymma," She whispered, looking at me with big, blue eyes, "Why don't we wait until you're more focused." I nodded and put the wand on the desk as I stood. She placed a hand on my shoulder. "We've all had to go through times like this, sweetheart. I can only imagine the problems those boys are giving you." I jerked my head up, surprised. She simply smiled in understanding and nodded. "Better take that wand with you."

I nodded to her. "Thanks, Professor." She smiled at me as I opened the door. The light outside smacked me in the face, blinding me for a short time. I teared up at the sudden brightness of the ongoing day. Apprentices and those called Novices bumbled and stumbled around looking for their next class. A few hollered back and forth to each other about their homework and what to do that night. I had lost track of the days since I left Earth. I couldn't remember how many days had gone by anymore.

"Kymma!" Malorn's voice cut through the humming of the crowd. He pushed through the collection of people, knocking over a theurgist or two as he went. I smiled at him, back to normal with his jester hat and black get up. His eyes were dark from lack of sleep, and his face was thoroughly flushed.

"Malorn!" I laughed as he picked me up in a hug, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," He sighed and let go of me. "I, uh… Just talked to Nolan." He shoved his hands into his pockets and pushed the dirt around with his boots. I blushed a little at the thought of the two of them talking about our kiss.

"About…?" I prodded, rocking back on my heels. I had stolen some of Susan's robes that looked the most normal. He glanced up at me, blush turning his pale face a shade of pink. I avoided eye contact.

"You know…" He bit his lower lip, "about you two." He paused. "And us."

"Us?" I raised an eyebrow. There was no 'us'. There was just Malorn and me. I tucked a loose strand of my hair—my bun was unusually messy today—behind my ear and cleared my throat. Silence engulfed us, creating an awkward barrier between us.

He took a step forward. "About you liking me." He continued, "and about how you're confused."

"Malorn this really isn't the place for this." I shook my head, glancing at the gathering on lookers. He followed my gaze and nodded, holding his pale hand out to me. It felt strange, foreign even, to take his hand after everything this morning. It was even more so when I was attempting to fix my scraggly hair after Nolan and I kissed and Malorn coming up and knocking on the door. I think Nolan purposely left his disheveled hair the way it was just for sheer spite. Malorn's eyebrow had instantly shot up. It was cruel in a way, but there was a part of me that smiled at knowing Malorn was thrown for a loop.

When my hand was firmly placed in his clammy, pale hand we ported. It still had weird effects on me, but I had gotten a little used to the queasy feeling that came with porting. We were standing at the gated entrance to a grave yard with a big, black mansion sitting in the middle of it. Malorn pulled me down the cobblestone sidewalk and into the house. I noted that all the headstones had sunck into the ground unevenly and left them lopsided and old. Fog had hovered over the ground eerily. It was a bone-chilling place.

Malorn yanked the door open with a fierceness that surprised me. He pulled my inside and slammed the door shut. His grip on my wrist was so tight I attempted to pull it out of his grasp. He pulled me closer to him. Fear clutched my stomach.

"Do you really like me?" His eyes were darker than normal, more black than the steely gray I was used to. He pulled me against him differently than Nolan did. Nolan had at least been gentle and a tad careful with me. I didn't want to be treated like fine china, but I certainly didn't want to be jerked around like rope. I pulled my arm away from him, rubbing my wrist where the indentions of his fingers remained.

"Yeah," I muttered, looking up into his eyes. Suddenly, he grabbed my waist and pulled my face closer to his. I blinked at the sudden surprise. Malorn had been so gentle. What is wrong with him?

I told him you like bad boys.

I jumped slightly, launching my body away from Malorn's. He looked a little hurt but said nothing, and also didn't let go. Nolan! I tried to keep from glaring as I thought to him. Why in the hell did you do that?

Well, you do. It's not my fault he sucks at being a bad boy.

I sighed. Malorn misinterpreted that and pulled me back to him. I had to actually attempt to not roll my eyes. Malorn brushed my hair out of my face. Nolan, I swear to God. You were not supposed to tell him that! I waited for an answer. But, alas, no answer came. Nolan's voice didn't spring up out of the dark corners of my mind. Malorn was still holding me and attempting to make sure I was comfortable and really did like him.

"Yes, Malorn, I like you." I sighed, leaning my head against his chest. He was quite a bit taller than me, and even a few inches taller than Nolan. "And I really am confused."

"I like you, too." He whispered, combing his fingers through my hair. "I have ever since the day you popped up here." Then he tilted my head back up to him, eyes scanning my face and eventually stopping on my mouth. "Let me unconfuse you."

For some reason, the kiss was easy. I didn't want to fight it as much as I thought I would. His lips were chapped and rough, but I didn't care. I needed the comfort that came with kisses. I needed someone to hold me and make sense of everything for me. I wanted to feel loved.

"Kymma," He breathed, pulling away from me a few seconds into the kiss. I blinked, bewildered. "We're standing in hallway in front of the door. Don't you want to sit or something?"

I simply nodded. My legs were tired. He pulled me into the living room, much gentler this time, and sat down on the big tan sofa. I smiled and sat beside, a little unsure of what to do. He held his arms out to me. I let him hug me and pull me closer to him. Malorn said nothing else this time between our kisses. I personally found it unfair that we were practically making out and Nolan and I had hardly even gotten a good kiss in. It was different with Malorn than it was with Nolan. I didn't have that white hot flame with Malorn; I wasn't really driven to kiss him over and over. I was driven to feel better. That was all I cared about.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered, pulling the ponytail holder out of my hair and releasing a cascade of curly hair. My red flags didn't go up until he pushed me down against the couch and tugged at my shirt a little. I shook my head a little and pulled his hands back up to my face and tried to sit back up.

"Malorn, quit." I scolded him when he pulled at my T-shirt again.

"Kym," He groaned protestingly. I stated 'no' again very firmly. He sighed and nodded. He still didn't let me sit back up. God, Malorn, get off me. I rolled my eyes in my head. There was the strangest feeling in the back of my mind. It was impossible to describe. It was like the alien feeling of telepathy, but this wasn't a voice or words… it was feelings and emotions rolled up together. There was the suffocating feeling of jealousy and the mind-numbing red hot flash of anger. Then I realized something.

Nolan could feel and hear everything I was thinking.

And it was killing him.

I pushed Malorn backward with strength I didn't know I had. He caught himself and looked at me, stunned. I muttered an apology and ran out of the house. I could hear him yelling for me, but I couldn't stop running. I was very good at running. I had been running away from my life for so long it was a natural habit. I didn't stop until I found myself standing at the entrance to the Ravenwood Dorms. I quickly walked into the boys', ignoring the stares and raised eye brows. Boris was in room 142, just as he had once mentioned some time ago. I knocked on the door as quietly as I could. Boris would know what do.

"Hel—Kymma?" Boris's reaction was strange. It was like he had just seen a ghost. "Are you ok? Come in, come in." I didn't realize until he asked me that I had been crying. Mascara ran down my cheeks and splattered onto my gray T-shirt. I sat down on his bed in the corner, bawling my eyes out. He sat beside me and patted my back. Ryan, to my surprise, was sitting on the couch in front of me asking Boris what was going on. I had no idea she was here.

"Kymma, what did those boys do to you?" Ryan's voice was gentle and understanding, and it just made me cry even harder.

"I love them both." I whispered. Boris jumped and gasped. Ryan, on the other hand, simply nodded and informed me that she already knew that.

"You love them both, but you're in love with one of them, Kym. You just need to figure out which one."

I wasn't sure how that helped, but somehow, it did.

Sorry I was gone for so long you guys! I've had a very, very depressing last few weeks. This would be longer, but I feel too bad to write anything longer. Don't worry; I'll still update I'll just be slow :D The only good thing is: I was unsure how I was going to write some of this (I don't have a lot of boyfriend experience, lol, and still don't) but I at least know how to write heartbreak :/ Good luck with that one, Kym! Anyway, can't wait to hear what you guys think!