Hi,
Trouble ahead, trouble behind. Anna's in grave danger of losing herself. Or worse, getting herself killed.
Why? Read on and you'll find out... I hope you like this chapter! :-)
Lara
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Chapter 20
The stream of oncoming people was as smooth as ever. Nothing amiss with the sub-magical in-crowd in this quarter â the half witches or humans with just enough witch blood to give them what they called a 'knack' or 'the sight', the charlatans and street vendors that promised a low price and instant effect, whatever that meant.
I was going on autopilot, stiff and numb from what I learned from Sonya Bernardsâ information I'd rather have lived without. Information that made me consider turning my pockets inside out, watch the trinkets clatter to the pavement and roll away from me. Whatever it took to get myself out of this mess.
My aura was twisting, flailing like an angry swarm of insects. Flecks of what must have been deep red in auratic sight, fueled and sharpened by a toxic cocktail of fear and anger. I was too wired and too scared to maintain a steady cloaking spell, lost in thoughts, panicking. If I had payed attention, I might have noticed the shift in the quarter's atmosphere earlier, might have seen the still figures vanishing in and out of shadows around the market.
I was walking by one of the street vendors, when a black cat jumped in front of my feet, hissing like I was the devil impersonated. Goose bumps roughened the skin at the back of my neck. I stopped short. Something wasn't right. A disturbance in the auratic set up to my right.
I turned around just in time to see the smudge of motion in my peripheral vision. Something, or someone was coming my way. Time slowed down. Instinct had me raise my hand protectively, pulling on the cuff, reaching for power. The wall of air came into existence the moment it crashed into me. As soon as it hit, I knew what it was: air magic.
Nothing but the rush of motion, and the deafening sound of metal screeching as I crashed into one of the stands behind. My vision was tunneled, spinning. I sprang to my feet, rolled over and got myself behind the smashed stand, crouching low. People were shouting, scattering in the commotion. Another screech of sound right in front of me. I peered over the smashed stand. Chaos and panic spread through the street like deadly toxins hatching a ride on a dust devil. Impossible to tell enemy from foe.
I opened my mind to second sight, sifting through my surroundings. The quick flicker and fade of red spots in the auratic landscape. One moment there, the next one...not. A dance I was familiar with. My mouth dried.
Powerful witches. The same power I felt when the Inri Brotherhood stole the null bombs. Who in the name of the great three witches was that? The Force? Or, something else?
I tensed, scanning the crowd around me. Shadows retreating, people shouting, running.
"What the fuck man?" Someone shouted from above.
I didn't look up at what most certainly was the owner of the stand. They were closing in on me. If they got their hands on me, it was over.
I started running, plunging into a group of witches that were trying to re-erect the stand I'd knocked down.
"Hey you! Hey! Stop her!"
The words followed me like a blaring siren chasing me out of the quarter.
I was gliding in and out of second sight, maintaining an edgy, shaking double vision that made it hard to navigate.
The red aura seemed to come out of nowhere. There and not there. I blinked and came to a halt, spotted him in the parting crowd â a beacon of red in pitch black darkness that vanished like a dying fire as soon as I laid my eyes on him.
Too powerful to be part of the black market. He was dressed in a black, worn leather jacket over black pants. Brown short hair and a hawkish nose. But that was not what captured my attention.
I saw it in his eyes and the spread set of his fingers.
Determination. The will to do what it takes. Power.
The magic around me was on fire, elemental particles doing cartwheels in a drunken frenzy. I grabbed the power, gathered it, hurling an orb of compressed air at him before turning to run. It wouldn't be enough, not by far, but I might buy me enough time to get away.
I veered to the left, fought my way through the throng of people, pushed through the line of people staring without turning. If I looked back, I would lose precious seconds.
The black market opened out into an intricate set of lanes and alleyways, offered enough shadow-filled places perfect for shady dealings â or hiding. I veered off to the right and pushed myself against the wall behind a trash can. My pulse was racing twelve miles per hour. I had to slow down, dammit. I'd need my full concentration to portal out.
Noise in the air like a whispered promise of violence. A bottle rolling over cobblestones, then glass shattering. I stilled. Footsteps.
Second sight snapped into place and I saw them. Five red spots, all approaching in a semicircle. Not one aura familiar. The gravitational pull of magic retreating, gathering into something even bigger chilled me to the bones. The sound of low chanting.
They were going to trap me. Then probably arrest me, or worse: kill me. I was trapped. Unless ...
I blinked. Unless I trap them first.
I pulled on the cuff, not caring if I drained it for good, milking it for every last bit of power. The magic flared and pulsed into me, a gushing wound dripping blood. Silent words infused intent. Magic followed in their wake, air particles aligning like a shadow orchestra.
Bigger. More.
I pulled again. The power spun through me, burning through my veins like pure alcohol. Air space tumbling and imploding in on itself. I forced particles out of their natural way, turning the whole mouth of the alley into a wasteland of nothingness.
Come and get me, if you can.
If I was lucky the particle-deprived space would delay them, buy me enough time to get away far enough to open a portal. If I was really lucky, the vacuum like state would make some of them pass out. Luck hadn't been in my favor these past weeks.
I turned and ran as fast as I could, moving with magic-induced speed. The alley spun away from me, red bricks and gray walls like blurred ghosts lining the streets. Sound exploded above my head, chunks of concrete raining down my hair.
I ducked, forced my feet to keep on moving. Opened my senses to what lay behind me. Not only sound. More than that. It was motion on a magical plane. Auras shifting, magic pulsing like a life wire stirring, awakening from a long nightmare.
They got through. They already broke through my barrier!
I pushed myself harder, fought the urge to turn my head and look. Kept running. Nothing but the roaring white noise of the wind in my ears, my heart an angry hammer in my core. If it was beating, it meant I was still alive.
I turned right, followed a cracked wall with fissures the sizes of fists, then turned right again. The hustle and bustle of the black market was less than hundred feet ahead. The masses were my one and only life line. If whoever was following me was part of the Force, they were the good guys. That meant they were bound to play by the rules. Once I was among other people, innocents, I was safe. If these were Force members.
A bolt of fire burned its way through space, racing along metallic, magic-soaked air. I leapt to the side, skidding on asphalt. Turned. The water hydrant beside me exploded, a spray of spouts tearing into space like a hand reaching for me. I deflected, particles of air forming a solid shield like a second skin. Power rolled past me like deadly thunder. Another sprout of water, smashing whatever was in its way. I spun around, hitting the wall with my shoulder. Something snapped inside. Pain flashed behind my eyelids, starry blind.
Keep moving!
My feet pounded on the street, heavy knocks of sound aside the thunder in my ears. I raced along a brick wall. A crack and a whang. Bits and pieces of brick, falling apart. I ducked. Stone rumbled, a mountain of concrete forced on its knees. The brick wall collapsed in on itself.
I lifted my hand palm up, half-reflex, half-survival instinct. Magic burned through the tips of my fingers. Sound exploded around me, dust billowing away. Nothing touched me in the semicircle of my reinforced shields. The flat slice of brick wall hung in the air like a badly balanced slab of stone on a crumbling grave.
I pushed it up, nerve endings stinging and burning in my head with the use of magic. Stone cracked, pieces of brick crashing to the ground. My shields reknitted, mended. For a fleeting moment the alley spun away from me, vision swimming.
You're using too much magic at once. You have to get yourself out of here, Anna. Now.
Motion and sound behind. I broke into another run blindly, pulled on my magic to manipulate air and space in front of me. Running faster than someone strictly human would ever be able to.
I was breaking my own record. I'd never moved this fast before.
I could see the corner to the next intersection. If I turned right again, I'd be able to get back to the black market, slip into the crowd and disappear. Open a portal and teleport into safety.
I stumbled forward, rounding the corner. Looked up. The nightly street like a beacon of all that was real and human. Here in this city where darkness meant violence and death, where light was a sign of life. Survival. A blanket of white light and people in motion.
I forced my feet forward. Pain bit into my shoulder, tore at the flesh like a savage animal.
Move!
I screamed through the pain, reinforcing my shields with the desperation of the hunted. My feet clattered on asphalt, bringing me closer to the main street and the black market. My vision shook, blurry around the edges. The air was wild and alive with magic, air particles in a frenzied dance of panic. I broke through, vision narrowed down to the main street.
The shift happened unexpected. Absolute stillness. The aerial landscape was caught up in a loop of total motionlessness, breath held, metaphysical muscles in a lockdown. The magical planes around me moved. As if drawing back. I faltered in my steps, caught up in the magical wash-out, tasting power on my lips.
The magic detonated, rumbled through the night sky like an electromagnetic shock-wave. The air at the mouth of the alley solidified from one moment to the other, morphed into a curtain of see-through bulletproof glass. Trapping me.