Taylor let his hands release mine and looked over at me, "Did it work?"
I stared back at him, I didn't feel any different, "I'm not sure."
"Hmm...," Mr. Liu said, clearly not convinced either.
"Taylor, could you please go downstairs and grab my bag from the basement. You know the one I'm talking about. I think I need to read that book again."
"Sure," Taylor agreed and swiftly bounced up and exited the room.
As soon as he left, I felt like the room was instantly a lot smaller. The silence between us was unnerving.
"So you don't know how it should look?" I knew I shouldn't ask but I felt so unsettled by how everyone just seemed to be guessing about this Vortex business.
"Cara, no one has ever met a Vortex. All we have are old books, myths and legends. Scary stories that we tell our children," his voice was cold.
I nodded my head at him, "I'm sorry if that came across as rude. I... I just want some answers."
"I understand all of this must be overwhelming," Mr. Liu admitted. He hummed to himself for a moment before locking his eyes on me again.
"It could be that you may have already tethered. You have after all met one more warlock..."
I felt the fear creep up my back, "No it can't be..."
"Just to be clear, you have met Taylor and Aaron. So it's just a process of elimination," Mr. Liu's eyes did not leave me as he spoke.
"When I saw Aaron he was fighting with another guy..."
I saw how all the colour drained from Mr. Liu's face.
"What was the other guys name?"
"Umh..." I was thinking back to that morning in the hotel, "Lucas, I think?"
"Lucas Mathlow?" Mr. Liu shrieked.
When Mr. Liu said his full name, I felt like a wave of energy crashed into me. My eyes reflected at me through a mirror on the wall, for a second they shone in an electric light blue before my stomach twisted in a tight knot and my head felt heavy as I fell backwards.
For a moment, all I could see was darkness and in the darkness small sparks of blue energy was glimmering.
"Cara!" Taylor was shaking my shoulders.
My eyelids felt heavy as I opened my eyes, I stared up at Taylor's face.
"What happened?" I choked out, I felt my hands shaking.
"You fainted," Taylor explained.
I could see Mr. Liu shuffling around in the corner of my eye.
"You have to leave now," the words were sharp.
"What? Wait," Taylor turned around and looked at him, "You have to help us. We still need to tether Cara's powers."
"There is nothing I can do. You need to leave right now," Mr. Liu was adamant.
I pushed myself up to a sitting position, "Come on then."
I stretched out my hand towards Taylor and he helped me to my feet.
As we walked down the narrow staircase I could hear Taylor mutter underneath his breath.
"It doesn't matter. We don't even know if it works like that," I heard myself say.
"He should have helped us. I don't understand what got into him..."
I turned around and met his dark eyes, "Look I'm pretty tired. So maybe you could just take me back to the flat."
He nodded and motioned for me to carry on walking. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he had not given up on this whole tethering thing. I felt another twist from the knot in my stomach. My knees suddenly felt weak, but I forced myself to carry on walking.
I got back up on the bike behind Taylor, wrapping my arms around his waist and feeling the hum of the engine revving up mix with the small hum of magic running through my veins. Taylor pulled out into the traffic and as we weaved in-between the cars, I let my mind wander. I knew I had to tell Taylor about Lucas. I cursed myself for forgetting to tell him about it earlier but the fact that my world had collapsed in on itself also seemed to have drained my memory.
Taylor cut through one of the narrow alleyways, we weren't far from my flat. I was just about to lean forward to shout some directions for another short cut in his ear when a huge collision of force knocked me off the bike. I felt myself fly through the air before landing on the pavement. I gritted my teeth at the impact, the small hum of magic in my veins lessened almost as if it had helped me to land somewhat safely. I looked up and saw a tall man, his blond hair pushed back by the wind. He was quite far down the alleyway but I would have recognised those light blue eyes anywhere.
Taylor was speeding towards him, somehow he had managed to steer the bike through the impact. I pushed myself up to my feet and watched in horror. A blue orb of lightning stirred in Lucas hand and as Taylor's bike sped towards him, I saw the purple flames of energy as they licked the speeding wheels. I heard the sharp sound of impact, the flash of lightning as their magical energies locked horns, instantly I felt a sharp sense of pain in my left arm. Instinctively I pulled off my leather jacket and looked down, for a split second stunned, as a jagged line of blood made its way through my cotton jumper.
Only the sounds of Lucas shouting, "I will end you, Rouge!" pulled me back to the moment.
I ran towards them, my feet feeling slow and sluggish as if all my energy had evaporated. My eyes fixated on Lucas, the ball of magic was threatening to dart out of his open palm at any minute. I would not let this happen. The thought strengthened my resolve and a rush of power flowed through my veins, I flew forward as the globe of energy in Lucas palm receded. Before he even had a chance to turn around, I had leapt in front of him shielding Taylor with my body.
"What are you doing Cara? Get out of the way!" Taylor tried to shove me behind him. But the strength of my new found power kept me firmly locked into place.
"Get out of the way," Lucas commanded with a cool and annoyed voice, as if I was simply a distraction.
"No," I felt my voice bellow out defiantly.
I could hear Taylor stirring behind me, a small glimmer of purple energy shot past me and before I had a chance to reach I saw the electric blue light shine before me.
I felt a deep stabbing pain and noticed how my arm was bleeding in earnest.
"Ah," I gripped tightly around my lower arm.
"Cara, are you okay?" Taylor grabbed a hold of my hand, examining the wound.
"Don't touch her, Rouge," Lucas gripped his left lower arm that was profusely bleeding.
His wound looked much like mine and something tugged at me. In my mind I saw my eyes light up in bright blue and the twist of my stomach I had felt at Mr. Liu's, when I had heard his name. What if? What if we were linked? I hadn't been anywhere near the collision when Taylor had tried to run him over with his bike.
"Move over, Vortex," Lucas shot me an annoying glance and waved his hand.
"No," I heard myself say again.
"He needs to be eliminated," Lucas growled back.
I could feel Taylor stir at my side, but before he could reply I cut in, "If you want to get to him you have to go through me. And looking at your arm and my arm, I would say that could be costly."
Lucas narrowed his eyes, "What have you done, Vortex?"
"What have I done?" I exclaimed. I felt the rage rise up within me. "I haven't done anything. What have you done? You're the one with the magical powers," I spat at the last two words, letting myself feel how unfair it was that I had to deal with all of this dangerous nonsense.
My outburst seemed to have calmed him down, as he lowered his arm and let the last flicker of blue energy die out.
"Let me heal that," Taylor said as he pulled up my sleeve and examined the wound.
"No," Lucas was not yelling but his voice was firm.
Taylor made no notice of him and raised his fingers, purple energy hovering around his fingertips.
"Are you deaf Rouge? I said no. She's somehow connected to me and I won't allow you to touch her," Lucas moved forward as he spoke.
Instinctively, I moved forward placing myself between the two of them.
"Taylor is my friend. I trust him," I looked Lucas in the eyes as I spoke.
"Cara," hearing Lucas say my name felt unfamiliar. He sighed as if he was explaining something to a child, "He's a Rouge. He hasn't sworn allegiance to any of the royal families. That means he is sentenced to die. A man sentenced to die will not be trusted to use magic on you."
"Do you think I care about tradition?" Taylor growled.
"It's not tradition, it is law," Lucas growled back, showing his white teeth in the process.
Taylor shifted towards my left and I sidestepped, so I could keep him shielded.
"Do you want me to swear allegiance?"
"Swear allegiance or die, your choice," Lucas replied coolly.
"Fine, I'll swear allegiance," Taylor spat back. He turned to me, his expression softened instantly, "You'll want to stand back for this."
I nodded and stepped towards Lucas, trying to give Taylor space yet keep myself in-between the two.
Taylor left the purple flickers flame up from his hand as he straightened out his back, holding his arm straight in front of him with his palm out making his hand seem like a human torch. He let it blaze up and the magic rolled itself into a small rope streaming around an invisible line in the air. The line connected with itself forming a circle, hanging gleaming in the air. Taylor stepped forward and painted into the circle with his finger.
Drawing a symbol at the top of the circle as he spoke, "I swear by my life..."
He drew another symbol at the opposite end of the circle, "I swear by my magic..."
His arm moved forward to the left, "An oath that can not be broken..."
The third symbol made the circle tremor with energy, as if the circle was about to break.
Taylor moved his hand quickly over to the right, adding another symbol, "I, Taylor Grimstaw..."
Lucas let out a gasp of surprise but kept his eyes pinned at Taylor, a small smug smile playing on his lips. I inched myself closer to Lucas, in case he would try something.
The air around us felt like it was standing still as Taylor moved his hand into the middle of the circle, carefully drawing one last symbol, "... swear myself to Cara Walker."
I felt like all the air had left my lungs and I could faintly hear Lucas let out a scream of anger. But Lucas screaming, the alleyway around me, Taylor's eyes fixed on me all drowned out as I was engulfed by a stream of purple light. The circle was beaming all of its magic to me, it was washing over me as a huge wave. All I could hear now was the hum in my ears, like I was trapped inside a giant power plant.
Author's Note: Sorry for being a bit late writing this. I just wanted to get the chapter posted as soon as possible. I have a picked a song for this chapter now and I <3 this song. (Song of the day!)
Okay, let's get down to business - what do you think about the fact that Cara is tethered to Lucas? Who was surprised and who saw it coming? Also what did you think about the whole interaction between Lucas and Taylor? And Taylor certainly surprised everyone at the end ;)
Song: Annabel Jones - IOU