Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness (18 page)

- Online Chat between Edge & Chronos dated April 19
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Edge: Yes, I’ve seen them before. It’s a while ago now, maybe 20 years, but yes. I have seen something like this before.

Chronos: 20 years ago?

Edge: I was travelling the Middle East and it happened while I visited the Island of Tarut.

Chronos: Tarut, you mean, the one that had that Earthquake?

Edge: That’s the one. I was there when it happened, I was in the middle of the Earthquake. I thought she was an Angel at the time, but, maybe she was just one of these Magi. I’ve lived in a kind of denial for a while over what I saw that day. But, recently I just realised I had to know. I couldn’t leave it any longer, I needed to know what I saw, which led to the blog and everything else.

Ritual

May 19
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Donegal, Ireland.

Amanda walked in the front door of the Catholic Convent School that had once been her home. The last time she had been here had been nearly two years ago, a few months after becoming a Magi when she came to visit her old friend Alicia. It had been lovely to catch up with her, but it had also served to highlight the differences in their lives now.

She’d left a phone number for Alicia to call should she need contact Amanda, but had not returned to the Orphanage since that day. Alicia had seemed happy, and that had been enough for Amanda. She’d not planned on returning to the orphanage again, other than to occasionally check in on her friend. And yet, here she stood, ready to step back into her past once more.

There were two main front entrances to the complex, one for the school and the other for the orphanage on the same site.

Amanda walked into the school entrance, through the large iron bound oak double doors set deep into the dark weathered stone in this imposing building. As a child, living here full time, the whole place had seemed like nothing more than a prison for her, a Place to stifle her dreams and ruin her life.

She had escaped though, run away as a teenager and stowed away on a cargo ship bound for New York. It had been the best decision of her life, even if it had led to a certain amount of pain in the years since then.

But she wouldn’t change the choice she made to run away, it had been the right thing for her to do. She had dreams to follow, and nothing would stop her from pursuing them.

She walked up the front steps, her heels clicking on the stone as she moved. She wondered how the superficial secretary would react to her this time.

Last time she’d worn jeans with holes in them and a fitted top, looking like some student that had escaped the common room, which is how the secretary had treated her. Today, she still wore the outfit from her visit with the Coven in DC, dark top, black skirt and tights with knee high boots, finished off the a smart jacket, her long red hair tied back in a ponytail. She looked prim, proper and well groomed.

The entrance area had not changed, and the same woman sat behind the reception desk as last time, Amanda grinned and walked over to her. The Secretary looked up and smiled, her reaction to Amanda this time somewhat more welcoming.

‘Good morning miss, how may I help you?’

‘I’m here to meet Sister Alicia,’ answered Amanda.

‘Aaah yes, she said you were coming. Amanda is it? One moment, if you’d like to take a seat I will call her down.’

‘Of course,’ said Amanda, and walked to the nearby sofas where she sat with her knees crossed.

Moments later the door through to the school opened and Alicia, in full Nun’s Habit, stepped through. Amanda smiled. Alicia had been in training the last time she had visited, and now it seemed like she had passed the test to be a fully-fledged Nun. Amanda rose from her chair and walked to meet her old friend.

‘Amanda, God bless you, it’s such a pleasure to see you again. Thank you for coming,’ Alicia said.

‘Any time, you need only ask.’

‘Come with me, let’s go somewhere we can talk,’ Alicia said, in a slightly quieter tone.

‘Of course,’ said Amanda, and followed her friend through the door into the School proper. They walked through several corridors and up some steps before Alicia unlocked a door and ushered Amanda through.

‘You have an office?’ Amanda asked.

‘I’ve taken on more responsibility within the school and this happened to be one of the perks.’

‘Very nice,’ Amanda said as she admired the room with its wooden book shelves and desk. Everything felt warm and comfortable in here, a perfect place to work.

‘Thank you. Take a seat,’ Alicia offered.

Amanda sat in one of the chairs that faced the desk with Alicia sitting on the opposite side.

‘How can I help you?’ Amanda asked.

Alicia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down almost before she’d even started to speak about it.

‘You remember that group of kids I showed you last time, the ones who were into the occult?’

Amanda remembered, and almost immediately relaxed. Alicia had discussed this with Amanda last time, and Amanda found nothing really magical at all. Alicia meant well, she didn’t mean to pre-judge, Amanda felt sure of that. But her personal beliefs, in Amanda’s view, were colouring her opinions on this matter.

These four kids were what Amanda thought of as Goth’s. They wore black clothing, they often painted their faces white and wore black eye liner, that kind of thing. She also knew from her visit last time that although there had been an interest in some occult stuff from a couple of them, it all looked totally harmless to Amanda. Even with Magic being real and with some real horrors in the shadows, Amanda didn’t really worry about these kids, and had tried to get Alicia not to worry either. Even if you were interested in the occult, the chances of you discovering it were almost at zero. For a mortal to discover the Magi and Scions, there had to be a single minded drive to look for it, and to look in the right places. A few kids playing on a Ouija Board would never find anything.

‘I checked last time I came, they’re just kids and they certainly aren’t worshipping the devil or anything.’

‘I know you did. But they seem much more into it this time. They’re much more secretive about it and just looking at the note books they have with all the symbols and runes in them. I’m worried Amanda. I wanted to ask you because you took me seriously last time, you helped me, and I can talk freely with you. I’m worried the Sisterhood might not be so… understanding.’

Amanda nodded, she understood. Alicia really did look worried, and she didn’t want to mock her by dismissing her thoughts as silly. ‘Okay, sure. I’ll have a look. Leave it with me. Where are they?’ Amanda asked.

Alicia checked the time. ‘They should be in the common room in the 6
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form block.’

‘Okay, leave it with me. I’ll watch them, and see what I can find out.’

‘I can give you access to their rooms again,’ Alicia said, and passed over a key ring with four keys on it. ‘Same rooms as last time.’

‘I remember,’ Amanda said.

‘You’re sure you don’t need me?’ Alicia asked.

‘I’ll be less conspicuous alone, trust me,’ she said.

Moments later Amanda approached the sixth form block, a small building that contained a Common room where the pupils hung out and socialised with their friends between lessons.

The majority of the school sat in relative silence now, the school day had finished about an hour ago and most of the kids had either left for home, or were back in their dorm areas. There were always some after school activities and lessons though, from what she remembered, and the people in the sixth form often hung out in the common room for a while after main end to the day.

As she approached the building she let her vision expand, allowing the golden mist of Essentia swim into view. At first glance, everything here seemed in order, no unusual magical signatures. So she found a place to stand, out of the way where she would be unlikely to be disturbed and sent a second set of senses inside the common room, where, just as Alicia had predicted, the four kids, although maybe young adults might be a better term, sat in the corner away from the other pupils in the room.

She remembered their names from last time. Scott sat in a chair, his feet up on a nearby table. Tomo sat on the table next to Scott’s feet while Christina perched on the arm of Scott’s chair. Next to them, Jake sat backwards on his chair, his feet either side of the seat and his arms across the back rest. They talked easily and quietly, keeping to themselves, discussing TV shows, their fellow students and other not really very interesting things.

As Amanda watched though, she noticed that the Essentia around Christina had a very slight twist or eddy in it from time to time as she moved. Looking closer, she could see that she must have been in touch with something Magical recently, something that had marked her.

Intrigued, Amanda used her Magic once more and sent her senses plunging into Christina’s mind, and started to sift through her memories. It didn’t take long until she saw the image of a book in her mind’s eye. A book she had recently found that had really captured her interest. Looking at a memory like this, Amanda had no idea if the item might be Magical in nature, but she did find a couple of memories that showed Christina reading from the book and a few strange things happening. Such as lights flickering, a pen levitating off the floor, and seeing a few strange things that just as quickly disappeared.

Magic, Amanda felt sure of it.

Then, As Amanda watched, the four of them discussed meeting up tonight to take a look at the book.

She left her second set of senses in the Common room, watching and listening to the students and walked back to Alicia’s office.

Alicia waited inside and greeted Amanda warmly.

‘So, anything? Anything at all?’

‘They’re fine Alicia. Nothing to worry about,’ Amanda lied. She had no intentions of letting her friend become involved in the machinations of the Supernatural world. She would be chewed up and spat out in mere moments.

Amanda would deal with this and remove the book from them by herself, so that her assertion that they were fine would be true, eventually.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I am, I searched their rooms and there really is nothing to worry about. But, to be really sure, I’m going to follow them about for the rest of the evening.’

‘It’s just, I know what I saw. I know what they wrote in their note books.’

‘Trust me Alicia, they’re fine, there really is nothing to worry about.

Alicia took a breath, and tried to relax again.

‘OK Amanda. I… I trust you. I do,’ she said.

‘Good, I’ll catch up with you tomorrow. Try to get some rest and stop worrying.’

‘That’s easier said than done,’ Alicia countered.

Amanda rolled her eyes but smiled, and walked out the office as Alicia started to clear her things from her desk.

She knew she had done the right thing. Dealing with the supernatural wasn’t exactly the safest way to live your life as a Mortal. Even though this little trip had distracted Amanda from her problems at home, she knew she needed to do this, and a break from the craziness of New York might be just what the doctor ordered.

She felt sure she could handle this anyway. She smiled to herself, realising she felt quite confident looking into this all by herself. She wouldn’t be calling for help, she’d be flying solo on this one. The boys, Xain and Orion, back in Paris, would be proud of her.

She still had her second set of senses on the four kids, and it looked like they were still quite comfortable in the Common Room, so Amanda focused on her view of them and tried to see that strange swirl of energy coming off of Christina again.

Amanda wasn’t multitasking, she hadn’t split her mind for this, she just placed a set of senses, vision and hearing, close to the kids and, much in the same way that in a crowded room you could focus in on one conversation to the exclusion of the rest, she could focus in on either set of senses – her own in her body or the magical ones – and push the other set into the background.

If she closed her eyes, her magical senses filled her vision, or, she could take the input from this magical set of senses and, much like on a computer, have a window open in her field of vision which she could look at when she needed too.

The school corridors were empty, and the chances of her running onto anyone were slim, so she just focused in on her magical senses and just walked on autopilot through the school, slowly and surely. There wasn’t any rush after all.

A few corridors away from Alicia’s office, but still a distance from the Sixth Form common room, Amanda rounded a corner and walked straight into someone coming the other way.

They bumped into each other with some force, so that it took Amanda a couple of backward steps to regain her balance. She banished her magical senses to a tiny window in the corner of her vision and looked about her.

Paper spilled everywhere, files were all over the floor, and the man who had been carrying them hopped over them to Amanda’s side to help her.

‘Whoa there young one, I’ve got you, are you ok-so?’ the man asked.

Amanda caught her balance easily, even in her stiletto heels, and didn’t really need the teachers help, but she let him think he helped her.

‘Mr Croft?’ Amanda said, looking up.

‘Amanda. How lovely to see you again, it’s been a while,’ he said.

‘Nearly two years I think, and you’re still here,’ she said.

‘I am, for my sins,’ he smiled.

‘Sorry to bump into you like that.’

‘Away with the fairies so ya were,’ he offered.

‘Yeah…’ Amanda admitted.

‘That’s ok. It’s lovely to see you back here again, can I help you with anything?’

‘No, no I’m good. I’m helping Alicia with something.’

‘Is she worrying after her students again?’