Page 45 of Shattered Illusion

Axel’s boisterous laugh can be heard from inside the car as he slips around the vehicle before smoothly sliding inside. He reaches over and snags the seatbelt, locking it in place around me before doing the same to his.

Only one question comes to mind as he does this, and I can’t help but ask.

“If we’re immortal, why with the seatbelt?” I wave my hand around as I ask.

The engine revs, a deep growling sound, sending vibrations through my body, before Axel peels out of the academy like the hounds of hell are on his ass. The trees blur by in a flash, and soon, we’re on an empty road heading who knows where.

“That’s a common misconception,cor meum,” Axel murmurs, adjusting his sunglasses. “We’re not truly immortal in the sense that nothing can kill us. We can all still die. The only ones with actual immortality are the gods. But we, even as supernaturals, can die if our weaknesses are exploited. An oak stake to the heart or a beheading for me. Too much blood loss where healing can’t keep up for you. Or self-destruction, which many curiomancers used as a way out instead of the mass execution many others died from.”

Already, I regret asking. Once more, my mouth ran away without thinking, and now that I have an answer, I wish I didn’t. But I continue my questioning since he’s already debunked one myth.

“So if not true immortality, then how are you as old as you are? Or Thaddeus? Hell, even Luka or Jasper. You guys barely look five years older than me.”

“Ahh. That is a much simpler answer. We don’t age anymore. Our bodies are frozen in development when we reach twenty-one.”

“Does that mean?—”

“Yes,cor meum. The moment you turned twenty-one a few days ago, you stopped aging. You’ll look as you do now until you die.”

Mind. Blown.

“But…” Axel reaches over, laying his hand on my thigh. My toes curl at the feel of him touching me. “There are those like witches who do still age. It’s just slowed down. They will live maybe two hundred and fifty years, but it won’t be until they hit around a hundred that they start showing signs of their age.”

My fingers thread through his, and he gives them a small squeeze. “So, Olga…” I trail off, knowing he knows where I’m going with that.

“Olga is very old and a rarity in the witching world. She’s outlasted many and will continue to do so if she takes care of herself.”

That makes me feel marginally better. I’d met her once, but I couldn’t imagine her passing any time soon. She said there was so much she wanted to teach me, and I’m totally here for it. Plus, she’s an extension of my parents that I didn’t know about. She may be the only person who was close to them, and one of these days, I’m sure there are stories about them that she’ll tell me.

When I’m ready.

That seems to be the common theme amongst everything: when I’m ready. I wasn’t ready when I was pulled from the lagoon. I wasn’t ready when Axel picked me up from my parents’ house. I wasn’t ready for anything that’s happened over the past week. But time doesn’t stop for anyone, and ready or not, it’s going to happen anyway.

It’s time to change the subject. I don’t know if my brain is capable of handling any more revelations today.

“So where is this house? How far away from the academy is it?”

“Just relax,cor meum. It’ll take an hour to get there, and I’ll answer any questions you have when we arrive.” Out of nowhere, he produces a second pair of sunglasses, passing them over to me. It’s only now that I realize I’ve been squinting out the front windshield. Once they’re on my face, I lean back in the seat, letting my mind wander to what this place could look like.

“Holy shit.”

This is so freaking far from what I was expecting. But I guess with as many zeros that made up the account now in my name, I should have known better.

“Welcome to what used to be known as Mancer’s Bend.”

“More like Mancer’s Mansions,” I mutter, earning a chuckle from Axel.

The building before me is so much more than a house. It’s a freaking palace. Especially for someone like me who grew up in a small two-bedroom house with a tiny backyard. It may be smaller than the castle housing the academy, but it rivals the size of any of the houses I’d ever seen in the human sector.

Three floors in height and as wide as a city block, the gray stone structure sits apart from the smaller mansions making up what was formally known as Mancer’s Bend. A large black wrought iron gate connects to a stone wall that surrounds the property, disappearing into the forest beyond the house. A red double door is visible from where we sit out front of the gate, and numerous floor-to-ceiling windows reflect the surroundings back to us.

“This is…mine?”

“It is,cor meum.” Axel rolls down the window and leans out, pressing a series of buttons into the small call box next to the gate before it slowly rolls open, admitting us inside its imposing walls.

“But won’t this,” I wave my hand around frantically, “give away what I am?” My voice squeaks, belaying the nerves this place brings.

Axel rolls smoothly through the gate, and I peer back, watching it slowly close behind us.

---