Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 7

"Okay," said Gregor, "now to break out!" He pointed at the metal door with his axe.

"It's probably locked with a magic charm," I said.

"Probably," chirped Gregor and hit the door with his axe.

Crackle! Electricity danced from the door in white branching threads. Gregor dropped his axe on the ground. "Fuck," hissed Gregor. He shook his burned hand.

"Did you get hurt? You okay?" I asked and looked up at him.

"I'm fine, but the door shocked me when I tried to hit it," grumbled Gregor. "Do you think you can remove the electrification of the door? I'm pretty sure it is magic as well."

"I need to touch it to manipulate the magic. That door is going to burn my hands off before I can pull its magic off if that is even possible. Me removing the curse was more of a fluke than anything," I replied. I opened my bag again. Maybe I could use a shadow as a barrier or manipulate magic through a shadow. In my magic book it talked how magic could be manipulated without touching it directly but I never managed to work out how.

I grabbed my box but then I noticed the cardboard box of potions Gran gave me. I had completely forgotten about it.

Gregor walked up to me. "What is that?"

"Some potions Gran gave me," I said and took out the bottles from the box.

"Anything useful?"

"I have no idea," I picked up a bottle filled with a red liquid and held it close to my face to read the tiny letters on the label.

"Honesty. How is that useful?" I said. Gregor took a green bottle and read looked at the faded label.

"Probably if you wanted to interrogate someone. So this is a Smoke potion. Maybe if we can use this if we needed to run away from someone," said Gregor.

"Yeah, maybe." I picked a white potion. There was some white powder near the lid and on the label. I wiped it off. "Open sesame," I muttered.

"Will that work?" asked Gregor.

"Maybe, if the lock is only magic and there isn't a physical lock," I said. I put the other bottles back in my bag. I was a bit nervous when I stood in front of the door. If this doesn't work I would have wasted a potion... but what other moment than right now could I use it. I opened the bottle. The smell of acetone tickled my nose. I hope this isn't poison.

"Are you going to just pour it on?" asked Gregor.

"Yeah, I was planning on it, why?"

"I mean, potion will have less contact on the door. How about you just throw the bottle on it?"

"Then the bottle will break," I protested.

"Obviously, but what else are you planning on using it for?"

"Fine," I huffed, "but you do it."

"Alright, if you insist," shrugged Gregor and took the bottle. We stood a few feet from the door in the middle of the room. Gregor threw the bottle which shattered and sprayed glass everywhere. Nothing. The white potion slowly dripped down the door.

"Damn," I whispered. "I thought that would have at-"

CRACK! Static sprang from the metal door. Domes of white electricity bubbled to the surface and burst like boiling water. Crackle! The static gradually got weaker and weaker. crack, one final stray spark of lightning hit the ground in front of the door. The door slowly swung open with a weak whine.