A Touch of Magic

Chapter 32: The Uninvited

I rushed to Iona's side; her eyes, nether closed or open, were glazed and far away. Gone.

"No... Iona?" I looked at Edgar, who stared back still clasping unhealed wrists.

Darcy tutted loudly. "Oh, come on Minta. You know he can't help her. He's not allowed to fix the dead. And don't look at me like that, her sacrifice was necessary to break the protection spell on this house."

I closed Iona's eyes. "You didn't need to kill her. I let you both in." I grappled with a chair and forced my legs to standing.

"Us, yes, but that was only the start," she laughed malevolently. "I knew you didn't recognise me in robes in the woods. You've no idea, do you?"

"Stop her," Edgar choked, "they've gone too far. Don't let them take your magic."

I drew my hand up, emotions heaving, rage overflowing, yet, I still winced at the thought of hurting, harming... killing. I wanted to get to the bottom of it all, to find out why? But, I felt Ed's fear for me. "Take my magic, but how? Abreo-,"

A gale force wind pushed me away from Iona's side. I landed in a heap, catching my head on the corner of the fireplace and in the thirty seconds it took to gain my senses, and scrabble up, chaos reigned. A cold fear swiftly drained me, yet my skin prickled and burned. "Ed?" I murmured weakly as I opened my eyes. He lay on his elbow, his eyes fixed on me, sending over a message I couldn't read. A woman in white stood above him, emptying a vile of liquid over his arms. It burned his skin like acid and I shared the pain.

The screaming was mine.

As I stretched forward to touch him, a set of rough hands grabbed my arms bundling me backwards, just out of reach. Edgar didn't - no - couldn't move.

"What have you done?" I screeched. "Abreotan." I lashed out with my feet to kick her away from Edgar, but she'd finished her torture, and now held up a gem stone necklace, which somehow deflected my feeble, distressed spell. What protected her, prevented me form acting? My legs buckled once more. "Ed?"

"He's no use to you. I've disabled his powers, as much as I can anyway. So we've but a short time. It's no easy task, even with studying spell casting, and I was an 'A' grade student. You have it easy, chosen one." She put the necklace over her head.

"I don't understand." I couldn't wriggle anymore as the guard held me tight and straight. I looked at the female face for the first time. "Hey. I've seen you somewhere."

"Yes, sweetheart. We scryed for magic, and there you were! Oh, if could've taken you home that day I followed you to the bridge. You were so unaware of yourself." She cackled, how apt. "And, in that dreadful Hunters Night Club. I could've hypnotised you then, except your friend came back in the toilets. And as for the night in the woods..."

"I'm no threat to you. I didn't know of your existence. Why do you want to hurt me?"

She merely smirked and turned to her sidekick. "Are you prepared Darcy?"

The hands which bound me, snapped back harder, arching my body over, just enough to obscure my view of Edgar.

"Not quite, Leda." Darcy pulled objects from a bag, kicking Iona's lifeless body aside. I gasped at her callousness. Darcy's eyes flicked up from her work.

Leda's hand pulled my chin back towards her. "You're unprotected, at last. I scryed every hour waiting for your mentor to leave; now, I believe we have until midnight before you're too tough to tackle. That isn't long." She didn't take her eyes off me. "I can't let you reach magical maturity."