Magic's Mark

Chapter 9

"Are you okay?" he breathed into my ear.

I felt the pressure around my chest loosen, I opened my eyes and met Taylor's concerned ones.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I pushed out.

Taylor's eyes told me that he was not buying what I was saying, his fingers quickly swiping away the last remnant of tears from my cheeks.

"I took the afternoon off, so let's go and do something together," he offered.

I smiled back at him weakly, "Do what?"

"I think we need to teach you more about how our magic is used," Taylor admitted.

I nodded my head at his suggestion. The suggestion sounded appealingly concrete. All this crazy magic stuff had been spinning around me so quickly, I had just been reacting to what had been happening. The thought of knowing more about how their magic worked made me feel in control.

We were walking slowly side by side, along the busy street. Taylor clearly had an eye of where we were going ushering me along.

I felt curiosity get the better of me, "So where are we going?"

"So who was that guy?" Taylor countered.

My eyes darted forwards, finding something in the distance to focus on. As I examined the great steel structure around Old Street roundabout, my mind was searching for a simple way to explain away the encounter.

I pushed out the words together with a deep sigh, "Josh is my ex. That was the first time I've seen him since we broke up."

"Oh." Taylor was now the one with his eyes fixated at something in the distance.

We approached the massive roundabout, a circle of cars swirling their way around the grey steel structure in the centre.

"So where are we going?"

"It's easier if I show you," Taylor responded and pulled at my arm. We ran down the stairs to the maze of subway tunnels underneath the traffic junction.

The corridors were clad with ugly green tiles and a few people walked past us, heading towards to underground train station. Taylor continued to walk ahead, moving towards a row of small shops that lined the wall of the tunnel.

As we walked past a cute flower shop, I looked over at him again. His eyes scanned the walls of the tunnel, a look of concentration across his face as if he was searching for something. I followed his gaze and on the other side of the display of flowers, a small golden sheen hovered along the wall. It was almost as if was indicating an emergency exit. But the hum of magic that came from it, told me it was something else entirely.

"What about all the people?" I breathed into his ear.

"Human's can't see our magic," Taylor confirmed.

"So why can I?" the question terrified me as soon as I heard myself asking it.

Taylor turned to me, his dark brown eyes burn intensely, "You are human Cara, but you are also a Vortex."

"What does that mean?" I echoed.

"No one knows," Taylor's words made my heart beat pick up.

He turned back to the small glowing doorway, turning the door handle and disappeared out of view. Instinctively I followed him into the darkness. As soon as my eyes had adjusted the narrow dark tunnel, I turned back to close the door behind us. I stared back and found myself looking into a solid wall.

"What happened?" I gasped.

Taylor's eyes twinkled with excitement, "Magic happened."

"What do you mean?"