Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 34

My vision was blurry when I opened my eyes. My head pulse and throbbed. I slowly sat up, my world spun and I felt nauseated. All I saw was pink. My eyes shifted from the pink couch, to a pink table and a pink TV. I was back in Gran's flat. I got up from the couch. Everything felt numb and tingly. There was a white cream covering my arms but I could see the red and purple bruises on my skin beneath it.

"Tristan!" gasped Gran her hands over her mouth.

"Hi," I mumbled. I lost but I wasn't dead at least. I looked around the flat expecting to see Gregor but he wasn't there.

Gran rushed towards me. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

"Nothing hurts except my head. I just feel sick. This cream-"

"It's a numbing cream. You'll be sore when the numbing wears off," said Gran smiling. Her eyes were red, she must have been crying.

"How did I get back here?" I asked. My tongue felt weird and stung a bit. My mouth still tasted of copper. I must have bit my tongue.

"Your friend brought you back. You weren't conscious so he wanted to wait until you woke up but after an hour he had to go back," said Gran coldly.

"How- how long have I been asleep for?" I asked.

"Nearly three hours. Nothing seemed broken and your friend insisted you'd be fine soon but you weren't getting up," said Gran returning to kitchen and switching off the stove.

Her flat smelled of caramel. "Did Gregor say anything else?"

Gran paused before she spoke, her back still towards me. "No, nothing, he only wished you well."

I frowned, that didn't seem right. It didn't seem like something Gregor would do. My legs were unsteady but I could walk.

"I'm going to my room," I said.

"Will you be alright? Maybe you should rest here for a bit longer," begged Gran furiously stirring her pot of caramel.

"I'll be fine," I replied weakly. I walked up the stairs, making sure my feet were firmly on each small step. I flopped on to my bed and sighed. My bag was on my bed beside the pillow. I took my phone out of bag which was flooded by messages from Claire. There were no emails from Gregor. My box fell out of my bag and a cube of darkness rolled onto my bed. I picked it up to put it back in the box but something didn't feel right.

It didn't feel like it was made out of magic anymore but just a light black stone. I tried to push my magic inside it to dissolve it but nothing happen. I couldn't move it at all. Something was very wrong. I turned in bed to my side which irritated the bandaged cut on my arm.

"Fuck," I grumbled and lifted my sleeve to look at the bandages. There was something beneath my sleeve drawn in my arm in black. I removed my t-shirt. There were bands of lines, swirls and circles on my shoulder from my collar to the top of my arm. I rubbed it but the marks didn't come off. The lines were beneath my skin, a part of my skin like a tattoo.

Was this a binding spell? I grabbed a cube of darkness and squeezed in my hand. Did nothing I did work because I had no magic to cast anymore? My heart raced. I couldn't believe it; I didn't want to believe it.

Gran made chicken pie and caramel tarts for dinner. She never makes deserts unless it's for special occasions like Christmas. I didn't talk much and Gran didn't ask about what happened. She must have seen the binding spell on my shoulder when she put the cream on me. Gran never brought it up and neither did I.

I tried to steal shadows a few times but failed each time. Not only couldn't I steal it I couldn't feel it or touch it. Gregor didn't contact me at all the next week I was at Gran's place. She must have suspected something was wrong since she would ask me if I was alright every time she saw me. I wandered around Market Town for a few days, lazed inside my room a few days and minded Gran's shop when she had to go out. My life returned to being uneventful.