Magic's Mark

Chapter 13

"What?" I asked.

"This might seem strange, but the blonde guy over there keeps staring at me," Shaun explained.

As soon as I heard the word blonde my heart sunk to my stomach, I didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"Maybe he thinks you're good looking?" I offered, trying to keep my voice light hearted.

"Maybe so," he dragged in another lung full from his cigarette before crushing the stub of the cigarette into the ashtray.

"I have to head off now," he said in a cloud of smoke.

I got up from the table and he gave me a quick hug before walking off. My hands where riffling through my bag trying to find my purse when a well manicure hand glided into my view and placed a twenty pound note on the table next to the bill.

I didn't bother to acknowledge him and simply started to walk away from the coffee shop.

A couple of steps later he was side by side with me, out of the corner of my eyes I caught a glimpse of his blonde hair and relaxed facial features.

"Aren't you even going to say hello?"

"Hello and good bye," I replied, turning the street corner and heading towards the underground. I bit my lip, about to spin around and ask me how he found me when a glowing blue compass resting on an open palm rushed through my mind. Of course he had used magic to track me. That little shit.

He grabbed my wrist, gentler than the other day and spun me around to face him, "You can't just keep running away."

His eyes looked concern and I hesitated for a moment.

"Why not?"

"Because you might die if you don't accept help from someone," his voice was soft and completely caught me off guard.

"So what do you propose?" I asked.

"How about I stay close by today to make sure you don't go running into any trouble?" he suggested.

"Fine," I admitted. A thought had sparked in my mind and the corners of my lips turned up towards a smile.

Lucas, encouraged by this asked, "So what are we doing today?"

"Today we're going to hang out with the Blue Lagoon," I replied, the smile now widening across my face in earnest.

"Oh, is that a spa?" his voice was incredibly upper class crisp almost as crisp as the cut of his suit, dark blue today.

"No, it's an indie band. I'm meeting them in Brixton."

I saw him frown at my reply, so I continued, "I promised I was going to do a photo shoot with them today."

"South of the river. You must be joking," he exclaimed.

"Don't be so upper class stuck up. You'll have fun," I teased, part of me slightly horrified as his preconceived notions about the parts of town he considered less sophisticated.

"I highly doubt that..." he said and rolled his eyes.

I lifted my hand and a black cab stopped right next to us. He raised his eyebrows into a question to which I replied, "Do you prefer to take the train?"

"No, no. This is fine," he agreed.

The cab dropped us off by Brixton underground station, I jumped out and felt an instant smile play across my face. This part of London was always so vibrant, I turned to look at the reggae band playing by the entrance to the station.