#if you saw me overposting no you didn't

[cilly-the-writer]

SHADOWS OF SORCERY | Part 15 | “Shadow of Secrets” | 2,229 words

Content Warning: Violence, blood

     Imogene followed the student's turns down the hallway. It was easy blending in with other students at first, but the last hallway he took was empty, so Imogene turned and hid behind the corner.

     She peered out as he approached the vending machine under a dark stairwell. It beeped as he held his student card to the scanner. Then he pressed his hand to the glass, prompting a seal of purple light to shine over the item he was selecting. The coil sprang forward and his energy drink dropped down to the dispenser. He grabbed it and that’s when Imogene heard him thinking that he should check to see if anyone was around.

     Imogene jumped back around the corner. 

     She sensed him listening to the hallway for movement, confirming that no one else was around. At least as far as he knew. Then he moved to the side of the vending machine—cast in the darkness of the stairwell's shadows. He waved one hand over it and a violet film of light flashed over it, projecting a portal door to another room. He stepped inside and Imogene felt the connection to his thoughts breaking.

     She couldn't hear him. He was too far away.

     She peered around the corner, seeing the soft glow of purple and yellow light emanating from the side of the vending machine. She crept over slowly to check it out. Yet just when she went to peek around the corner—he grabbed her and pulled her inside. 

     He formed cuffs around her wrists and sealed the portal door before she could even blink. Her hands were bound behind her back as he yanked her arm and forced her to sit back against the wall.

     "You didn't think I was actually letting you read my thoughts, did you?"

     Imogene's stomach twisted as she caught the smirk on his face and she took in her surroundings. It was a storage room with brick walls and wooden shelves strewn with cobwebs. The only source of light was the glow of hundreds of different magic cores in glass jars. Most of them were a distinct deep purple.

     That meant they were sorcerer magic cores.

     It was like a collection of marbles. Only much more twisted.

     The student, Devin Sage, turned to one of the shelves and grabbed his energy drink. He cracked the tab against the tin to open it, delighted at the fizzling sound of carbonation. He watched the look on Imogene's face drop as he took a sip.

“I was told to take care of you. You know too much… Your ability is a little too good.” Devin took another gulp of his drink. “It’s also rare.”

     Imogene just stared back at him. Unable to form a response.

“They want it.” With that, he downed the rest of the drink and crushed the can in his hand, conjuring a dagger in the same hand before he tossed the can at the floor. He kept the dagger at his side as he crouched down and leaned in closer. “It’s a shame though. You seem kind of innocent. I don’t really want to kill you. Maybe he can just extract your magic core… and change some memories around after we get your friend’s magic core.”

     Her breathing hitched at that last comment.

     “You leave her alone!” Imogene struggled against the cuffs and grit her teeth, suddenly not afraid to be in his face.

     “It worked really well on Kaden anyway.” he said. “It was kind of funny when he came back and he said he never heard of Elora. He still doesn’t remember what the hell we’re talking about.”

     “Who else are you working with? Who’s the extractor you were just talking about?” Imogene slanted her brows.

     “Well, I don’t really know his name… and I’ve never really seen his face.” Devin said, rising from his crouched position. “So your guess is as good as mine.”

     “What do you mean?” 

     Devin forced a smile, brushing her off.

     “I have to get going. But you’re a little too smart to just leave you here like this.”

     Imogene squinted. What did that mean? But then he twirled his finger and his dagger pierced her abdomen as it shot straight into her side. Imogene cringed at the influx of shooting pain, her stomach instantly feeling sick.

“I won’t be long. You’ll be fine.”

     He pressed his palm to the door and another portal appeared, but this time–he closed it hastily and Imogene was alone in the room. She looked down to see the dagger still in her side. The dagger should have disappeared. He had left. Developer magic was only temporary. It had to be kept active by the conjuring sorcerer.

     “Oh my god, he has a magic preservation ability.” Imogene held back the pain in her throat. Despairing at not just the pain, but the fact he had the ability she wanted. “That’s not fair.”

     In the meanwhile, Charlotte’s match was still going on.  

    She and her opponent were finally tiring out, but neither of them were giving up. Angela threw as many energy blasts as she could dish out and Charlotte blocked them as they flew her way—her fields breaking every time due to her inexperience. But the next succession of hits was dizzying. Charlotte’s vision tunneled and her hands trembled as she conjured an energy field that shattered faster than all of the previous ones.

     It knocked her to the ground and she blacked out for long enough that the buzzer went off. She heard it faintly in the background of her subconscious. In seconds, there was a set of teachers at her side to aid in her healing. But she really only needed a minute to catch her breath and heal herself. 

     She sat up slowly, graciously thanking the teachers for their support in a melancholic tone. She had lost. She had gone in expecting to lose quickly, and yet, here she was feeling disappointed that she didn’t win. Maybe because her friends had believed in her so much.

     She exhaled and got up. She insisted she was fine and shortly after that, she headed back to find her friends in the stands.

     Elora flashed a quick, consoling smile when she got back.

     “Well, I lost…” Charlotte said.

     “It was literally almost a tie though.” Jaelin said.

     “And there’s no way they aren’t giving you a good score,” Elora said. “A really long match is good. You did great. Really.”

     “Thank you… and thank you for being here too," Then glancing at the empty seat between her and Jaelin, she went on, “Where’s Imogene?”

     “She went to get you a smoothie, but the line must have been long. You want to go catch up with her?”

     Charlotte nodded. They left their row in the stands and headed out the double doors where the hallway's quietness hit them. It was just as dead as it had been earlier. 

     There was no line at the cafe either.

     She wasn't here.

     Elora glanced around to be sure. Then she dug out the stupid school lanyard from her pocket with the tiny marble charm and dangled it in front of herself, concentrating on it. It was powered by a kind of pre-instilled dreamer magic that could send a light signal to anyone's charms at the school.

     She stared at it, waiting for Imogene to signal her back. 

     But the charm was clipped to Imogene's bracelet, lighting up behind her. She couldn't see it. Her wrists were still bound by cuffs made out of developer magic. That she couldn’t break. Her casting magic was too weak.

     Imogene glanced around the shelves full of glass jars and magic cores. It was hard to believe that he had left her in here—in a room full of potentially very powerful magic. But when she shoved her shoulder into the shelf beside her, trying to knock one of the jars down, she hit a seal of light.

     Of course it was sealed.

     Magic seals were the work of a special dreamer ability. They looked and acted a lot like casting magic, but once the energy was created—it stayed in that shape and form. It wasn't malleable like casting magic. Seals could only be unlocked by the unique core magic of those intended to unlock it. With a few exceptions. 

     She shoved her body into the seal one more time, but she wasn't meant to unlock it. The film of light stayed intact. She breathed hard at the pain it caused. She was moving around too much with the dagger in her side.

     Her gaze drifted to the crumpled energy drink on the floor by her foot. She stared at it. It had been in his hand when he conjured the dagger. He had certainly used his magic preservation ability on the dagger. She wondered if there was any trace of his magic on the can. 

     There was only one way to find out.

     She kicked the can toward herself and pushed it into the film of light with the bottom of her sneaker. The seal brightened at the point of impact like usual–

     And then it broke open.

     Imogene gasped at the sheer high her success had evoked. She didn't think it would actually work. She quickly banged her shoulder into the shelves one more time and shut her eyes as some of the jars came crashing down.

     They hit the floor and glass shattered everywhere. Imogene opened her eyes to see what kind of prizes had spilled out. It was like the magic jackpot. There were glowing cores everywhere. But the labels were mixed up among the shards.

     She just needed energy magic to break the cuffs. She just had to try one and test it out. Imogene nudged one over with her foot, guiding it. She let it roll toward the wall so she could just barely reach it with her fingers. As soon as she touched it, the magic crumbled into a purple light that absorbed into her skin.

     It was like a breath of cool air as it found its way to her center and reformed into a magic core. Imogene closed her eyes and imagined energy magic breaking the cuffs apart and it happened: a purple light burst across them. The cuff’s energy form shattered and she fell halfway onto the floor, on her hands. Her body weakening at the blood loss.

     Imogene pushed herself up, falling back to her knees at the first step. She breathed out hard and grabbed the soda can before continuing at a crawl.  She held the can to the seal over the door, her arm trembling as she kept it in place. It broke open. She pushed through, over the threshold and finally caught the charm on her bracelet lighting up out of the corner of her eye. That’s when she collapsed under the stairwell’s darkness.

    She gazed at the blinking bracelet, somewhat out of it and she lay on the cold tiled floor. But she gathered the message easily: Where are you? Imogene stared at the charm and concentrated on her reply.

     Simultaneously, Elora’s charm lit up on her lanyard. The blinking light garnering her attention immediately:

     V-E-N-D-I-N-G  M

    “Vending M?” Elora said, surprised at Imogene’s abbreviation. 

     “There’s a vending machine over that way.” Jaelin gestured down the hallway.    

     Elora started walking. She kept a brisk pace down the hall and and took the turns Jaelin told her, freezing once she saw Imogene's lifeless body in a pool of blood.

     "Imogene!"

     Elora ran the length of the hallway and dropped down in front of her. Her firelights lagged just a second behind in a cloud of frenzy, zipping over to catch up and divide themselves between Elora and Imogene with indecision.

"No, just heal her!" Elora cried out, but it wasn't necessary by that point–because Charlotte had already run over and bent down to heal her.

     Imogene woke slowly to the desperate look on Elora's face—and the silent rage in her eyes. Seeing red for whoever did this to her.

"What happened?" Elora asked.

     Imogene started to push herself up from the ground. That's when they all saw the dagger.

     "You… stabbed yourself?" Jaelin's emotions caught in his throat. He had only known Imogene for a few days, but he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

     "No," Imogene said weakly, realizing how the magic dagger looked when she was the only one around, "this isn't my magic. Someone… someone wanted my magic—."

     Elora’s pupil’s shrank at the realization:

     The exam yesterday.

     Imogene’s mind reading ability must have caught someone’s attention. She had matched against one of the most skilled sorcerers in their class–mirroring and paralleling her movements so perfectly that it looked like she could see the future. 

"He had a whole room of magic cores. He said he was coming back. He said —.”

     Imogene stopped before she said anything about Elora. Neither Charlotte or Jaelin knew about her mind control ability. She couldn’t say anything. She looked at Elora to relay her fear, and Elora understood immediately. 

     This was bad. Imogene shouldn’t have had to keep secrets for her like this. A hard lump formed in Elora’s throat as she clutched the charm on her lanyard and alerted the school’s board of teachers.

     Whose charms lit with a red flashing S-O-S light across the school.

Next >>