Magic's Mark

Chapter 4

My breath was jagged as I pulled the keys out of my pocket and practically shoved them into the front door. I pulled Taylor inside and threw one last glance out at the quiet street before shutting and double locking the door.

"Do you really think that would help?" Taylor said as he looked at me.

"What?" I looked up at him stunned.

A small glow of purple energy rolled up from his palm as he spoke, "We need to seal the door."

"I have neighbours," I hissed and pointed down the hallway at their front door.

Taylor mumbled a couple of words underneath his breath and let the small glimmers of energy flow from his hand. They crept slowly in the air, before settling in the crack between the floor and the edge of the door. Hovering there for a moment, before tracing its way along the door frame and coating the door in a glowing purple sheen before fading away. I could still sense the energy along the door but the purple sheen was gone.

"Come on," Taylor broke my fixation on the energy barricading us in.

He grabbed my upper arm gently, "Which way is your flat?"

"Upstairs," I answered not tearing my eyes away from the door. He turned and started walking up the narrow staircase.

I followed behind him and whispered out the most pressing question I could think of, "What if my neighbours try to come or go?"

Taylor stopped at my front door, "That's fine. Could you please unlock this door?"

I pushed in the key and stared at him as I turned the handle, letting him in.

"What do you mean?"

"If they are human, it won't affect them. The spell only works on warlocks," he explained casually as he pulled out his hand, again small waves of purple energy was waiting in it.

I locked the door and stepped back, looking at him as he repeated the process.

"Warlocks? Spell?" My hands started to shake, as a wave of shock passed through my body. I knew there wasn't any other way to explain everything I had seen today, but it was still unbelievable. Maybe I was trapped in an extraordinarily sick dream and I would soon wake up to Matthew shouting at me to not sleep the day away?

"Hey, you should get some rest," Taylor responded.

"Rest? I should rest?" my voice was raising up to hysterics now, "Some lunatic is chasing me. I barely know you. You have put a s-s-spell on my flat and I should... should rest?"

I couldn't bring myself to say warlock, lunatic seemed as a good of a word for what he must be. That's when my brain suddenly added up two and two, if that grey haired man was a warlock that would mean that Taylor was one too.

I backed away from him, as my fists clenched.

He shot me a sad look, "I won't hurt you Cara."

"How do I know that?" I felt fear push up in my throat.

"I came after you, to save you. I could sense that something was happening. But instead of just leaving you to it. I came to check on you. Do you think that you would have survived without me?"

The factual tone in his voice seemed to calm me down, I felt myself calm down somewhat and my hands started to relax. I knew I couldn't make sense of it all right now, but what he said made sense. He had only helped me so far.

"My room's this way," I said and walked off.

I sat down on my bed and stared at him as he awkwardly lifted up a pile of clothes from my tiny arm chair and folded his tall frame into a sitting position.

"What do we do now?" I stared at him, expecting him to come with some kind of elaborate plan for how to get me out of this situation.

"Now you get some rest. I need to stay up anyway so I'll wake you if anything happens."

"What do you mean you need to stay up?" I narrowed my eyes slightly as I examined him.

"The spell I cast, it'll only be active as long as I'm awake."

I nodded and didn't question him about it further. I curled up on the bed, my legs felt so tired. I stared at him for a second before I felt my eyelids slowly closing down on me.

I heard the faint sounds of footsteps, I felt myself drift back from the darkness and into a frozen fear. My eyes opened and to my horror I realised two things – it was morning, I must have slept through the night and from what I could see I was not the only one who had. Taylor was asleep, his head tilted backwards and mouth wide open. I heard the footsteps as they approach the front door and I could distinctly hear the door open. I stared at Taylor sleeping face in horror as I remembered what he had said before I had fallen asleep. The spell that was going to protect us would only work if he was awake. The footsteps became louder as the approached this side of the flat. My hand reached for the first thing I could find, my fingers clasping around a pen on my nightstand. I threw it as soundlessly as I could and hit Taylor squarely in the jaw. His eyes opened and he blinked a couple of times. I waved at him from where I was curled up on the bed. He was about to speak when I help a finger up to my mouth and pointed with the other one to the door of my room. Taylor's eyes widened as he heard the footsteps that was clearly moving towards us.

He got up from the armchair so quickly, that I barely saw him move. His hand was gripping the door handle and I felt myself move towards him. He threw open the door and lunged himself out with his palm raised.

Song: James Blake - Retrograde