Magic's Mark

Chapter 12

"My friend is in the neighbourhood, he could drive you there now?" he continued.

"Sure," I agreed.

"Let me make another call," Taylor got up from the table, phone in hand.

"So, he's lining up jobs for you now," Tanya's voice was had that excited, suggestive tone to it.

"Will you be okay here on your own?" I heard myself ask.

"We work together. I am sure we'll find something to talk about," Tanya said in an excited voice. A voice that worried me about what sort of stupid, intrusive questions she might ask.

As I stared into the distance I spotted a car pulling up. I recognised the car from this morning and I did recognise the driver. I grabbed my handbag and got up from the table at the same time as Taylor returned. I looked from the car and Mr. Liu and back to Taylor. I didn't know what he had set up.

"It's a job and I thought you might need the money," he said.

"Okay. I do need the work," I admitted.

I gave Tanya a quick hug and ran over to the car, jumping into the passenger seat. As we drove off, I felt myself hesitate for a moment but I reminded myself that if Taylor had set it up there must be a reason for it. I trust him.

After a good thirty minutes of silence, Mr. Liu pulled up on a small street in Chelsea. A long brick wall lined the side of the street, clearly hiding something on the other side.

"I'll continue to search the books, Taylor will tell you if I find something," he nodded his head curtly.

"Is it through there?" I pointed at the small wooden door in the middle of the brick wall.

Another curt nod from Mr. Liu.

"Thank you for driving me," I added softly and slide out of the car.

I barely had a chance to press the doorbell before the door swung open, revealing a short, stocky grey hair woman. Her body almost filled whole door frame.

"You are the photographer, yes?" she clucked.

"Yes, Madame," I replied and pulled the camera from my handbag.

She practically pulled me by the wrist through the door, shutting it quickly behind us.

I was stunned, staring at all the green and the flowers. Behind the brick wall, a garden was hiding. I could see green houses and a little café to my right across the lawns and rows of flowerbeds, trees where concealing the rest of the garden.

"We need images for our website," she clucked next to me.

"Of course," I replied, still trying to take in the beauty of the oasis in front of me.

She tapped me on the arm, "I'll be in the café if you need me."

I nodded as she walked off.

I followed the small gravel path, stopping to take a close up of a particularly beautiful purple flower. The sounds of the city was hidden by the large brick walls and as I continued in between a hedge of larger bushes my heart skipped a beat when I saw a small Japanese inspired pond. I sat down on one of the large marble benches and took another couple of snaps.

"So it's here you're hiding?" his voice froze every part of my being.

I turned around and started straight into his blue eyes. The grey tailor suit he wore fit him perfectly and the sun was playing in his blonde hair.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," he replied nonchalantly.

Like we have anything to talk about. I got up from the bench, grabbing a steadier hold of my camera and walked over a large bush. I looked at its silvery grey delicate leaves swivelled around in the soft wind through my camera lens, adjusting the focus before taking a few shots. I could sense him as he approach me, the swells of magic coming from him were so intense. My focus was on my camera and I continued to ignore him.

"Fine," his voice was cool and annoyed. "You don't have to talk, you can just listen."

Moving a few steps away from him, I focused on a gorgeous pink rose and hunched down to get a better line to photograph it.

"I don't know what your Grimstaw warrior has told you about the throne. But the current king is dying and when he does, we'll all fight to replace him. The throne is a source of magic, making the whoever is the king more powerful than they were before."

I snapped my head back, "Why are you telling me this? Why did you come here?" I didn't like his self-entitled attitude and I couldn't see how this had anything to do with me.

He grabbed my wrist, "Cara, warlocks kill for the chance to be king."

I tried to pull away, but his fingers had my wrist in an iron grip.

"I know you think you're safe now because you can use magic and the Mathlow's are protecting you. But you're not," his blue eyes turned to ice.

"How do you even know this?" as soon as I asked the question, I froze from the inside out. Taylor had told him. He had sent him here to talk to me.

"Charlet are still trying to kill you. The only thing we have going for us is that Aaron doesn't trust his father, he would never tell him that he allowed a Vortext to take magic from him."

"Just make sure that Aaron and his warriors don't kill me then," I hissed back.

"I will," he hissed back.

"Now let me go," I countered.

He still held a tight grip on my arm and he was just about to snap back when I felt anger swell inside of me. I pulled my arm away with more force that I thought I had in me, feeling his power hum through my veins. For the first time, I hated that feeling.

Author's Note: Sorry for being bad with updates. My life has been very busy and a bit stressful lately. I must say - I loved writing this chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading it. What do you think of the story so far? I would love to hear your predictions of what you think will happen.

Song:  Folded Like Fabric - I Tried