Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 20

I opened my eyes and gazed at the unfamiliar ceiling. I sat up, confused for a moment before I remembered where I was. I sighed and got out of bed.

The pajamas were baggy and far too long, so I kept tripping on them. I brushed my teeth and wore my jeans and the grey t-shirt that had been left out for me. I took the book from my bed and held it under my arm. I looked at the clock on the wall, a white numberless face with golden hands suggested it must be around nine. There was a tray of tea on the dressing table in the room. I added four spoons of sugar and drank half of it. It had already gone cold.

There was a knock on the door and before I could speak the door opened. Cin smiled when she saw me.

"Good morning Tristan!" sang Cin and walked to me. "It's good to see you're awake. I'm going out for a bit but you can go back to the library and keep studying. I forgot to give you the WIFI password earlier so here."

She gave me a slip of paper with a thirteen digit password. My heart raced as I stared at the random jumble of numbers and letters. I could email Gregor and tell him where I am. He could come break me out.

"I'll help you with the VPN when I get back," said Cin.

"What's the VPN for?"

"The internet here is location locked so you can't access anything that's created or uploaded from outside the demon world. It also means you can't login to or use social media accounts made off realm. You can bypass the location lock using a VPN but it takes ages to set up and I don't have time right now."

"Oh, okay. Thanks," I smiled through the crushing disappointment. If I can't login into my email account I can't email Gregor. Even if I make a new account I couldn't remember his email.

"The router's is in the library and it doesn't reach much outside that room because its 4G and the walls are so thick," said Cin as she turned and walked out of the room.

I ate the egg sandwich and a few of the buttery biscuits on the tray before leaving and going back to the library. I connected to the WIFI and checked my social media apps just in case. I was logged out and couldn't login because the apps claimed my accounts didn't exist. My phone was on 50% battery so I put it on power saver mode and placed in my bag so I'd be less tempted to pick it up.

I searched through the bookshelf for any book about magic transmutation, making piles of them on the table and floor. I flipped through them one by one and made a separate pile for any books that mentioned shadow magic, magic projections or undefined magic. I read several of the books, mostly skimming the sections that I didn't understand or didn't seem relevant.

After a couple hours I found a tattered book with a peeling cover and wrinkled pages which had a section on manipulating undefined magic and magic projections. It specified it was only for making barriers and bounds but it might be applicable for my magic as well.

I placed the opened book on the table and took out my box of shadows. The only shadows I had were the knife and the weird black rubber.

If I followed the directions in the book I should be able to transform the shadows over and over. Currently I could transform it only once after turning it into paper and then after that I can either animate them or disintegrate them. I placed the knife on the book.

The book's instructions detailed how if I pulled the magical projections (i.e. the shadow) I should be able to turn it back into its basic form, intangible magic. Another book I read called this process evaporation. I was a bit hesitant because there is a chance the shadow will just vanish if I am not focused. But this was the first step in transmutation so I needed to try.