Shadow's Edge (Shadows Saga bk1)

Chapter 13- Home

“Thank you so much!” Mara said excitedly. “We can do it in my room, Trixle won’t say anything to anyone.” Mara turned on her heels, making her way to the stairs trusting that Zander was right behind her.

Trixle looked up as the two walked right in. She gave Zander a slightly sympathetic nod as he stood awkwardly by the door.

“Okay, so where do we do this?” Mara asked not wanting to waste any time.

“Well I need to know exactly where the connecting portal is. I need precise location, and its surroundings. Since you know all of that information, you are going to have to act as the bridge. I need you to picture the portal; I need you to see that room like you’re standing in it. Just like what you would do to create an object, like in our lessons.”

"Sounds simple enough. Just picture it and you’ll draw on that to create one to get me there?”

“Essentially. It’s a lot like drawing on another witch's power except I’m only drawing on your image.”

“Not to be the party pooper here,” Trixle chimed in. “But is this safe? I mean, it sounds like there’s a lot of room for error, and I wouldn’t want Mara left to float around in portal land or whatever.”

“She won’t be floating around in portal land,” Zander said. “I’ll have it under control. As long as we know the location, everything will be perfectly fine."

Zander took a piece of chalk out of his jeans pocket and Mara looked at him quizzically.

“We have to draw the portal, you can’t make it randomly appear,” he said guessing her thoughts. “Most places have built in portals, a permanent place for them, but in this case we’re trying to make a new one. We have to give it boundaries unless you want the entire room to become the portal.”

“So you just keep chalk in your pocket?” She asked sarcastically.

“You never know when you might need some chalk,” he sad flashing a grin and winking. He then began to draw a fully enclosed rectangle on one of the blank walls. He stood back up and turned to Mara.

“Now it’s your turn,” Zander said as he stood up, taking her hands. “You just need to picture the portal entrance in your house. Share your image with me.

Mara closed her eyes and began to picture the room in her basement. The one door she had never really noticed before the day she left for Shadow’s Edge. She pictured the neat space, kept clean and organized, the red, fuzzy rug in the center of the room. Once she had a stable image in her head, she pushed it outward, using her magic to broadcast it to Zander.

When he was able to get the image, he murmured something she had been unable to hear. The hairs on Mara’s arms instantly stood on end, and the same feeling that always washed over her when magic was preformed flowed once again. She felt the change in the air. Trixle watched as the chalk line on the wall began to shimmer, swirls starting to form inside the space that had been created.

Zander and Mara opened their eyes, looking at the portal in front of them. Something didn’t seem quite right. The portal didn’t look the same as the one she had gone through to get to the school, this one seemed darker. Instead of the shimmering blues and purples, it had been taken on by greys.

Mara mentally shrugged it off; after all, it was only the second portal she had seen. Could she really expect every portal to look the same? “I’ll contact you when I’m ready to come back. You’ll be able to help me get back here right?”

“Of course I will,” he said smiling down at her. Zander bent over and kissed her forehead before she turned towards the portal to go back home.