Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness (20 page)

As she moved forward, Amanda could make out this person held out a cross pointed towards the spirit while they she chanted something, a passage from scripture maybe.

Amanda got a bad feeling about this and moved forward to get a better look, and as she did so, her stomach sank.

Alicia had stepped into the circle with her cross held out attempting to banish the spirit.

‘Alicia, no,’ shouted Jake, recognising her suddenly.

Amanda suspected that the thing came from the Abyss, and a simple nun reciting bible verses would be about as effective as a broken umbrella in a typhoon.

Amanda moved forward quickly and reached the edge of the circle, but as she tried to step into it, she found her passage blocked.

An Aegis surrounded the creature, a powerful one that kept the thing confined and Magi like Amanda out. Alicia, as a Sundered Mortal, could cross it without problem. As she watched, the thing bent low to give Alicia a good long look and suddenly grabbed her with one of its powerful tentacles.

‘No,’ shouted Amanda at the thing, which turned and regarded Amanda for a moment before looking back at Alicia who now struggled and had started to shout at the creature.

‘I’ve found it, bellowed Christina and gave her friends a desperate smile.

‘Then use it, get rid of it,’ Jake shouted.

Christina looked down at the book and started to read. Amanda watched as the creatures head snapped up to look at Christina, feeling the change in Magical energy and understanding what she had started to do.

The spirit moved quickly now and turning back to Alicia, pounced at her. The whole eight or nine foot of black Abyssal spirit shot at Alicia’s chest and in a puff of black smoke, passed into her. Alicia staggered backwards as black smoke bubbled around her body, the force of the thing possessing her making her take a few steps back and drop one knee to the floor.

Alicia hadn’t worn her Nuns Habit to come here, she wore a dark hoody over the top of her grey Novitiate outfit Amanda had seen her in a couple of years before. She twisted and dropped to the floor, ripping her tights as she went.

Christina finished her chanting and the barrier dropped. Amanda ran forward and crouched down next to Alicia as she tried to sit up.

‘Ali, Ali? Are you alright? Alicia, talk to me,’ she pleaded as the four students gathered around them. Alicia looked up at Amanda, she looked to be in shock, her skin looked very pale, but most disturbing of all were her eyes. They were black, a solid, oily, glistening wet black. She looked up at Amanda, and whispered two words.

‘Help me…’ she said, before going limp and dropping to the floor. Amanda caught her a fraction of a second before her head hit the ground, before pulling her in for a hug.

‘Alicia,’ Amanda said quietly to herself.

‘Err, hi, can we help?’

Jake crouched down next to her, concern filling his face as she reached out and touched Amanda’s arm that held Alicia.

‘Not really Jake. She needs specialist care now.’

Amanda placed Alicia on the ground carefully before looking up at the other students from her crouched position. Jake stayed next to Alicia, crouched down, Scott stood behind him, looking down at Alicia, also clearly concerned, but not as much as Jake.

Straight behind Scott stood Christina, her magic book in hand and a defiant look upon her face, while Tomo stood off to one side, lighting up a cigarette and pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

‘What the hell were you thinking you ejit,’ Amanda asked Christina.

Christina raised her eyebrows at Amanda. ‘I don’t think you’re in any position to question me, did you see what I just did?’

‘Oh really?’ Amanda answered.

‘The power I wield with this book allows me to…’

Amanda had raised her hand, and the book shot out from under Christina’s arm and stopped dead in Amanda’s hand as she caught it. Christina stopped speaking, her mouth left agape.

‘No, no, please continue. You were saying about power,’ Amanda said, questioning.

‘I, err… that is…’

Amanda slowly stood up as Christina struggled to find the words, staring hard into Christina’s eyes. ‘You’ve played with forces so far beyond your understanding you have no idea, and now you might have killed someone,’ she said as she took a couple of steps towards her.

‘She looks alive to me,’ Christina said in defiance.

‘Something is alive in that body, but it might not be Alicia.’ Amanda held up the book she now had in her hand. ‘This stays with me,’ she said, only for her to feel someone behind her grab it and try to pull it from her hand. She knew it was coming, but she let the kid do it in order to teach him a lesson.

Amanda twisted, going with the motion and took hold of Tomo’s hand as she did so, prying it from the book and in one smooth motion. She forced the six foot teenager to the ground, where he landed on his knees, his wrist held almost effortlessly in her left hand in a very awkward position that made him wince with pain.

‘As I was saying, if you try any more funny business, then people will get hurt,’ Amanda said. ‘Now, where did you get this book?’ She asked, and as she did so she plunged her magic into Christina’s mind. She didn’t need Christina to answer the question. Just by asking Amanda had triggered memories of buying the item that Amanda could now see.

‘You think I’m telling you that?’ Christina said.

‘Thank you,’ Amanda said telepathically directly to her mind and the minds of the others there.

‘What,’ Christina said in shock.

‘You already have,’ Amanda answered. ‘You bought it at Sligo Nik Naks. Thank you.

Christina looked utterly bewildered by what Amanda had just done, and stared at this impossible woman.

‘Now, are we all good?’

Tomo nodded dumbly, Scott backed off while Christina just looked angry. Amanda let Tomo go and stepped back to Alicia. Jake still crouched next to her, holding her hand. He looked up at Amanda.

‘Will she be ok?’

‘I have no idea, but I will do everything in my power to try and ensure it. You have my word,’ she answered quietly. ‘Now, go back to your dorm rooms and forget this ever happened,’ she said to the group.

They started to back off and walk away. Amanda knew that she had progressed further in her Magical ability, she seemed to be able to travel further with her Porting now than just a few weeks ago, so she wondered if she might be able to take an additional person with her now. She figured she’d give it a go and see if she could take herself and Alicia back to her Cottage, just a short jump that would be really easy on her own.

Amanda waited until none of them were looking back at her before she pulled on the threads of Essentia and wrapped them around herself and Alicia, focusing on the bedroom in her cottage. With a quiet whip crack of energy, they disappeared from the warehouse.

Christina turned away from the Redhead and scowled to herself. She felt a mix of emotions that only really made her feel frustrated and angry. She’d felt elated that the Magic they had used from the book had worked, but also a little scared at what she had managed to do. Sister Alicia’s meddling ways had only served to frustrate her further, she’d felt sure she could have banished that demon back to hell if Alicia hadn’t turned everything to shit.

But who the hell was this Redhead? She seemed to know Alicia and seemed to have some kind of power herself as well. Not to mention she took down Tomo with one hand.

She’d only been turned away from the Redhead for a second or so when she heard a strange whipping of air sound, she looked back and both women were gone. They’d disappeared into thin air.

Christina paused looking back, her mouth agape in surprise and confusion.

‘What the hell?’ she said.

They appeared in Amanda’s cottage on the north side of the Blue Stack Mountains, Alicia appearing on Amanda’s bed.

It had been a bit of a strain to take an additional person, she really had stretched herself to Port Alicia with her, but it had been worth it.

She looked at the unconscious Alicia, and then back at the book in her hands. She really wasn’t sure exactly what had happened with that spirit, but as she looked at Alicia now with her Magical vision, she could see something had changed. Her interaction with Essentia seemed different, her Aura had shifted and there seemed to be a deeper, more fundamental shift she couldn’t quite place.

She knew little about spirits or possession; she wasn’t an expert and couldn’t pretend to be. She would need to find someone who knew a little more about these things.

First though, she could do with knowing more about this book. After weaving an alarm spell over Alicia, that would let Amanda know when she woke up, Amanda did a quick search on her phone to locate the shop that Christina had thought about and after a quick Scry of the street and then the shop, she Ported directly into the building.

The shops interior sat quietly in the shadows of early evening, closed for the night, lit only occasionally by a passing car. The shop had been filled with household items of all kinds, from cooking implements to chairs, tables, handmade ornaments and books.

She approached the handful of bookshelves scattered about the shop interior, but even under close inspection, there was no residual magic here.

Finding this book must have been a fluke. She could see plenty of items listed as pre-owned on the price tag, so maybe someone sold it to the shop, probably in amongst a pile of unwanted books and just didn’t know what they had in their possession.

She left the shop, Porting back to the cottage, writing the shop off as a dead end for the time being.

Alicia still lay on her bed where she’d left her.

‘God damn it Ali, why’d you have to go and do that,’ Amanda said to the room. She perched on the edge of the bed and looked down at her friend. She could see the Essentia within her that twisted about, as if fighting itself. She could see two minds inside in the body, the thoughts of both seemed erratic and under stress, but they seemed to be linked somehow.

This was all new to her, something she had never seen before, so she started to open a Link to Gentle Water in New York, but paused half way through and looked at Alicia. She wondered about trying to link with Alicia’s mind, would it be possible? Would she be able to help her or would she present a more alluring prize for the demon? She had no way to know, but she knew her Aegis had been brought up to strength for the potential fight in the warehouse, so surely she would be protected.

Throwing caution to the wind, she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind.

Her Magic closed in around Alicia’s head and started to press in on the mind she recognised as Alicia’s. Slowly, thoughts started to reveal themselves to Amanda, like shouts in the distance that she struggled to make out. They sounded stressed and in pain.

So Amanda sent thoughts of her own into the depths of Alicia’s mind, comforting thoughts, that she was there for her should she need her.

Darkness swooped in from elsewhere in her body, the other mind, the mind of the creature, pushing Amanda out and away from her friend.

The creature had power, more than enough to force Amanda’s Magic out of the way and defend its prey.

Amanda pulled her magic back in defeat and finished sending the Link request to Gentle Water, she needed him to Port Alicia back in one go rather than hop from country to country. 

I have no idea what happened today, that thing I summoned and what it did to Alicia. I suppose I always hoped it would be real, but I never really expected it to actually happen. It’s like films and video games, part of you thinks it would be cool to live in that world, when in fact, it would probably be fucking scary as all hell. I’m still pissed off at that Redhead though, that book had been the find of the century and now it’s gone.

I hope Alicia is OK. I never intended for anyone to get hurt. Jake won’t speak to me and Scott’s a bit more distant tonight. Why can’t they understand?

I guess we all have a lot to deal with.

- Christina’s Diary.

New Information

May 19
th

Greenwich Village, New York

Amanda sat back in the chair, then after a few moments sat forward again her elbows on her knees. She rang her hands through each other, fiddled with her rings on her fingers and played with her hair.

‘How are you? You seem worried.’

A half smile crossed her features upon hearing Gentle Waters comment, snapping her out of the endless rollercoaster of thought that her mind had been strapped to. The endless recriminations and self-doubt swam about her head that sprang from not being there in time to stop Alicia, or not seeing that her headstrong friend might take it upon herself to try and stop the children in her charge from doing something stupid. Had she been there sooner maybe she would have seen Alicia, maybe she could have stopped the kids from starting the ritual in the first place. She’d been distracted by old friends and spent too much time with her old teacher drinking and talking about old times.

She should have taken Alicia more seriously, followed the kids more diligently, and maybe, just maybe she wouldn’t be sat here next to her friend who had been possessed by who knew what.

Gentle Water sat opposite, obviously concerned about her. Given how much she had been fidgeting while she sat here in the half-light next to the bed, she couldn’t say she blamed him.

Alicia had been laid on the bed for a couple of hours now after Gentle Water had Ported them both directly into this room from Ireland. On first arrival, both Gentle Water and Raven had stood next to the bed, using their magic to see what they could do. Amanda watched, following what they were doing closely, learning as she observed.

Between them they tried to pull the creature out, to separate its spirit from Alicia’s Spirit, her Anima Mundi as the Magi called it.

They tried several times, using different methods, but nothing seemed to work. They didn’t want to force it, to rip it from her against its will as that would almost certainly lead to some kind of damage, maybe even death.

But as time passed, it became clearer and clearer that no amount of magical might would remove the thing and leave Alicia undamaged, the spirit seemed to be just too powerful, too clever and maybe permanently linked to Alicia now.

After a while, they gave up, and the choice was made to wait for Alicia to wake up.

‘I’m more than a little worried, I have no idea what that thing is inside her or what it’s doing to her.’

‘We are here for you Amanda, we will do anything we can to help. You know that.’

‘I know, you have already done so much, I don’t tell you often enough how much I appreciate everything you have done for me,’ she said.

‘Thank you, but there is no need. We do it willingly.’

‘How long do you think she will be unconscious for?’

‘There is no way to know. She fights a battle, deep inside her mind. A battle she must fight alone. The outcome will be made clear soon enough.’

‘I just hate this waiting, not knowing what’s going on.’

‘She knows you’re here. Trust in that and in her strength, and she will prevail,’ he said.

Amanda nodded, her mentors’ wisdom always helped her in times of stress. There were times when she didn’t know what she would do without him. He had been there after Georgina’s death back in Ireland and through his gentle guidance, he had pulled her through the grief of that loss.

He’d been there for her every day since then, being a mentor, a friend and in some respects, a surrogate father to her. The Nuns in the orphanage had to some extent played the role of mothers, but she had never known a true father figure. Not that she felt she had suffered because of it, but it felt good to have someone like Gentle Water who she trusted with her life and who she knew would be there for her in the darkest times.

She did wonder who her parents were sometimes though. Why had they chosen to leave her on the steps of that Orphanage, what had been going on in their lives that had led to that choice? She’d never considered looking for her real parents, not really. Not in any seriousness. It just didn’t play on her mind at all. She felt content in the friends she already had.

She looked over at Alicia, she remained motionless, serene, almost at peace if you didn’t look into the depths of her mind.

She looked back at Gentle Water where he sat in a chair against the far wall.

‘Did I miss anything while I was away?’ she asked.

‘Nothing. All is calm.’

‘How did Liz’s date go?’

‘I don’t know, I’ve not seen her.’

‘She’s gone out-out then,’ Amanda said, ‘the dirty stop-out.’

Gentle Water eyed her for a moment. No doubt pondering the turns of phrase she had used.

‘If you say so,’ he said finally.

‘Urgh,’ moaned Alicia from next to Amanda, making her jump.

Amanda stood up next to her bed and looked down at her friend. ‘Alicia, are you alright. Don’t move,’ Amanda said.

‘Amanda, where am I?’

‘My place, you’re safe. Keep still, how do you feel?’

Alicia lay there, she’d tried to move, but struggled to do much more than lift her head a few inches from the pillow before dropping back down again, breathing heavily from the effort.

‘Relax, rest. You’re in good hands here,’ Amanda said softly, holding her friends hand in hers.

‘I’m… tired,’ Alicia gasped.

‘Then rest. There’s no need for you to do anything.’ Amanda said, wishing she could do more for her friend. ‘Do you remember what happened?’

‘Not much. Just, bright lights, and then darkness and a really odd dream.’

‘Dream?’ Amanda asked.

‘To be sure, a dream of smothering, and it felt like I was fighting in the darkness, something, slippery, something…’ Alicia shivered suddenly. ‘I, I can’t really remember much else. Just the students… oh my word, the students, are they ok?’ Alicia said, suddenly animated and trying to sit herself up.

Amanda pushed her back down.

‘They’re fine, I made sure of it. They got back to the school safely, there’s no need to worry.’

Alicia relaxed back onto the bed.

‘Thank you Mandy…thank you…’ she said, her voice trailing off as she slipped back to sleep.

Amanda let out a heavy breath, and then stood up straight.

‘She seemed… okay,’ Gentle Water said.

‘Hmmm,’ Amanda said, her tone none comital. ‘We’ll see.’

The doorbell rang suddenly, making Amanda look back at Gentle Water in slight confusion.

‘Did Liz forget her key?’ Amanda asked and walked out the room. The guest bedroom Alicia was in happened to be on the ground floor only a short distance from the front door. Amanda walked towards the door, looking into the other rooms. From what she could tell, only herself and Gentle Water were in the house at that moment, Raven must have gone out.

‘It’s not like you to forget your key Liz,’ Amanda called out as she approached the door. She automatically sent out her senses to check who had rung the bell, a habit she had made a point of getting into since her encounter with Lucian on this very spot. It came as something of a surprise not to see Liz stood there, but instead, there stood Yasmin, looking straight into the magical senses Amanda had just placed outside the door.

Amanda froze, stopping mid walk just a foot from the door and almost didn’t dare move, she sent a lightning quick thought to Gentle Water to warn him, just a single word, Yasmin.

The message brought Gentle Water to a sudden stop as well, he looked over at Amanda, a look of surprise and fear on his face.

‘Hello Amanda,’ Yasmin said, still looking straight into the senses Amanda had placed outside. ‘I came here to talk. I have something to tell you. I wish you no harm.’

Amanda didn’t answer, she just listened to the Yasmin’s voice, biting her lower lip as she thought.

Yasmin the Dark, Red Yasmin, one of the most infamous Nomads of all time, now stood a few feet from her on her doorstep. Yasmin wore all black, a skin tight cat suit, it had a wet sheen to it that glistened in the city lights. Falling from her shoulders, down her back and around her legs, inky black smoke fell languidly about her, almost moving in slow motion compared to Yasmin herself and the world about them. Her sharp features and powerful cheekbones stood out proudly giving her face a cruel countenance, framed by the waves of dark hair that fell about her head like a lion’s mane.

Amanda couldn’t deny it, Yasmin look stunning. Powerful, dangerous, not to be underestimated, but stunningly attractive all the same.

‘I know you’re there Amanda, there’s no need to stand like a statue.’

Amanda relaxed her stance, but remained still. Yasmin, by all accounts, had reached the rank of Arch Magi, the highest rank that a Magi could become. By that point you wielded powers that were almost godlike, so it seemed odd that she would be standing on Amanda’s door step like this. But only because ringing a doorbell seemed like such an ordinary thing, below the notice of such a powerful being. But, here she stood, just a few feet from Amanda on the other side of a door that, compared to the power that Yasmin could bring to bare, might as well have been tissue paper.

‘What do you want?’ Amanda said, finally. Realising that keeping silent wasn’t actually doing them any favours.

‘As I said, I have information. Now please open this door so that I may come in and we can talk. It’s only polite,’ Yasmin said, dead pan.

‘What guarantee do I have that you won’t…’ Amanda mulled over her choice of words for a second, ‘…break my trust,’ she said in the end.

‘None. But you have two choices, either open the door and let me pass through this Aegis, or, I rip down your Aegis, destroying the last couple of weeks work and walk in anyway, a little more pissed off then I am right now.’

Amanda raised her eyebrows at Yasmin’s candid answer. She hadn’t expected that, but Yasmin made all good points, and Amanda had no desire to annoy an Arch Magus or to have to rebuild the houses Aegis.

She reached for the door and opened it, while her mind sent out the signal to the Aegis to let Yasmin through.

Yasmin stood in the doorway, hands behind her back, feet apart in a commanding pose and looked at Amanda, then across to Gentle Water before returning to Amanda. She smiled, but the emotion behind it remained inscrutable, hidden from casual viewing.

She stepped inside, the smokey cape dissipating to nothing behind her as she walked into the reception area just inside the front door, her heels clicking on the hard tiles as she moved.

‘Lovely place you have here Amanda, you must feel right at home.’

‘I do,’ she said curtly, not really wanting to get into a conversation with this infamous Nomad. ‘You said you had information for me.’

‘Not you too,’ she sighed, ‘No one ever wants to indulge in a little pointless conversation with me, it’s always right down to business. It’s such a shame.’

‘I.. um..’

‘Of course, I understand why,’ she continued conversationally. ‘My reputation precedes me, and no doubt you’re feeling a little threatened by my presence,’ she said, still looking about the hallway and into the adjoining rooms, talking in an offhand and light hearted way. ‘Perfectly reasonable reaction from you. You want to get this over with and for me to by on my merry way. Is that right?’

‘Well…’ Amanda said, agreeing without actually saying so. Yasmin sounded almost pedantic during that little outburst.

Yasmin stepped forward to her now and came in close, invading her personal space, her voice low and measured, threatening almost. ‘Of course it is. But I am not here to hurt you. I have no desire to see you come to harm today. I’m here to help,’ she said quietly, her face mere inches from her own, Yasmin’s bosom pressing against hers.

Amanda looked up and met Yasmin’s gaze with her own having pointedly avoided it so far. ‘And what exactly are you here to help us with?’

Yasmin smiled, her eyes glittered with mischief in reaction to Amanda’s retort. She seemed to be enjoying this verbal sparring.

‘There it is,’ she said in a happier tone. ‘There
is
a little fire in you, I like it.’

Amanda took a step back, putting some space between them and raised her chin a bit. She felt a bit more confident now, seeing Yasmin face to face like this, talking. She didn’t feel any threat from her. She didn’t feel that Yasmin intended any harm to her at all. That wasn’t to say that this Dark Magi wasn’t dangerous, far from it. Amanda knew she could look at her with her Magical sight and see the intense power that Yasmin radiated. But the truth was that she didn’t need to look into the Magical spectrum, she could feel the power flowing from this Magus a mile away. Even though her confidence had started to grow, that sheer power would always mean she would feel slightly vulnerable around this Arch Magus.

‘I’m pleased for you.’ Amanda said, a little sarcasm creeping into her voice.

Yasmin smiled. ‘Of course, I’m stalling. Okay, let’s get down to business. Lucian has gotten somewhat more ambitious and has kidnapped your apprentice, Liz Fox.’

‘What!?’ Amanda yelped. When, where?’