Magic's Mark

Chapter 9

"The entrance is only there when we need it, now that we're through the magical roadwork it's not needed anymore."

Taylor turned and started to walk into the darkness of the narrow tunnel. I followed behind him, scared to loose him in the darkness.

"Magical network?" I whispered.

"We have our own set of roads underneath the city," he explained.

He snapped his fingers, creating a small spark of purple glow from his index finger.

"Sometimes it's just easier for us to use these roads rather than the human ones," he added.

"Okay," I responded hesitantly.

I felt a small spark of annoyance grip me, I was just following along Taylor. I didn't feel any more in control than what I had done before.

"So what are we doing down here anyway?" I almost immediately regretted the harshness in my tone.

"We need somewhere where I can practice magic and show you without any human's noticing," his response was soft and logical as if he had not picked up on the harshness of my question.

The damp tunnel started to widen and we walked onto what seemed to be a fully functional two-lane street. It was completely deserted and the streetlights illuminated the gravelly walls of the tunnel.

"I thought humans couldn't see your magic?"

Taylor sighed, "They can't see our hidden magic, like the one on the entry way or the spell on your front door. But if we are going to use full force magic, they might feel the energy waves of it. They are too blind to actually see the lightning of it..."

"Like when you and Lucas..." I started.

Taylor nodded and grabbed my arm lightly, pulling me in towards the wall of the tunnel.

His eyes searched down the street, "I thought I heard something..."

"Is there other warlock down here?"

"Could be. It's used by all of the royal families and their armies. But we're pretty far from the west of the city. That's where they all hang out."

Taylor craned his neck, looking down a smaller side street.

"Come with me," he ushered me in front of him.

We walked quickly down the small side street. Taylor picked up speed and headed towards a small door, pushing it open and shoving me through the doorway. He looked around before shutting the door behind us.

"I think we're fine here."

I turned to look around, it was a medium sized room. I looked at some of the tools on the wall, it looked like some kind of storage room for construction workers.

"What are we doing here?"

"No one ever goes into these smaller storage rooms, it's a good place for us to practice."

"Okay then, let's practice." My eyes were challenging him to show me what he could do.

A ball of purple flames sparked up in Taylor's hand, he allowed the energy to flourish around in flickering flames.

"Using magic is pulling at the strength within yourself, it's instinctive. You feel it and it happens," his dark eyes glistened in the purple light.

"So there's no abracadabra?" I asked ruefully.

"No," he shook his head.

"So you just have to think about it and just happens?"

I looked at him suspiciously, it seemed to be a little bit too easy to be true.