Magic's Mark

Chapter 4

He looked over at me, as if he for the first time realised something, "You don't know anything about all of this do you?"

"All of what?" I replied.

He sighed deeply and started going through the pockets of the grey haired man, "I'll explain everything but right now we need to get out of here before he wakes up."

He opened up the coat and unclasped a small pin from the man's shirt, handing it to me. I looked at the small pin in my hand, it looked like a crest from one of those castle flags. But this one didn't look like anything I had seen before, it was deep red and in the middle of it bloomed a flower. The flower was beautiful but when I looked closer I could see that on each petal a snake was slithering its way out from the centre of the flower. As I held it in my hand, I felt a flash of recognition. The same wave of energy as I had felt in that hotel rushed through me, I could feel his arm as he pushed me up against the wall. "Don't think you can run away from me, Vortex," his words echoed through my mind and I knew that the grey haired man in front of me and that Aaron guy must be connected.

I saw the pin drop to the ground as my eyes welled up with tears. Taylor came closer and gently held his arm around my shoulders.

"Do you recognise it?" he asked softly.

I nodded my head and heard myself say, "This guy... Aaron?"

I instantly felt Taylor stiffen next to me.

"We have to go now. We need to hide," he pushed me forward, urging me to start walking. I walked next to him as we headed down the alleyway.

"Is there anywhere close by where we can hide?"

A minute passed before I grasped what he was asking me. I had been so preoccupied with my own emotions, I could still feel the burning in my palm from where the little pin had been resting a moment ago.

"I guess so, I mean my flat is close by," I said dumbly, not even considering if it was safe to show him where I lived.

"How about we run there?" Taylor suggested and grabbed my hand. I felt his fingers clasp around mine as we started running down the dark streets.

My hand grabbed tightly around Taylor as we rushed forwards, the warm shine of the street lights created small dots of brightness in the drab night. Rain had started to spit down from the sky and I felt a layer of moisture across my face as we rushed towards my flat. My feet slowed down to a job as we approached the corner of my street. Taylor shot me a look as he adjusted his pace to mine.

"It's around the corner," I started.

"Okay?" he asked, a slightly confused look played on his face.

The memory of how I had carefully looked around this corner, scanning my street to judge that it was safe this morning rushed through me. Nothing threatening had been waiting for me then, but the events that had happened since clearly told me that there was more to what happened this morning in the hotel than what I would have liked to believe.

"What if someone is waiting for us?" I breathed and pulled us both closer to the wall of the house on the corner.

"Let me check," Taylor let go of my hand and peered around the corner. I had to stop myself from instinctively pulling him back. A thousand needles of ice danced up my back. What if something worse was waiting for us outside of my flat?

Taylor turned back to me, "All looks clear. Which house number?"

"Thirteen," I pushed out. He furrowed his brow for a second and then grabbed a hold of my hand again.

"Let's run," he commanded and in an instant we were both bolting down towards my door. I could feel the wave of energy carrying my legs, it was something more than just adrenalin and fear.