by Elon Vidal
Elijah looked at the falling sand nervously and nodded, extending his hand over the large map on the table as he continued reading the spell. He was visibly shaking as he tried to race against time. His hands started to glow.
Fisher walked back to Dawn with a grin on his face. “Seems like our friend is moving along now, and our time together is coming to an end.”
Dawn felt her pulse in her throat. “Are you going to kill us?”
“Gods, no!” he chuckled. “I don’t murder little kids playing detective. I have what I want now, well, almost. But once I do, you two lovebirds are free to go back to your little council and tell them that I said hi.”
“All this just to get Elijah to do some spell?”
“It is more difficult to get hands on a warlock than you might think. They are all so sensitive about intruders whatnot, and I’ve become tired of breaking warding spells lately.”
“Still, why Elijah?” she asked, not believing for a second that any warlock would have sufficed.
While everyone had been assuming that the sun and moon revolved around her, they had missed the mark completely.
“Done,” Elijah called out.
“Splendid,” Fisher went to his side once more. “Now one more thing.” He took Elijah’s hand in one of his and revealed a knife in the other. “Just a little bit of your blood should seal the spell.”
What was it with dark magic and blood, she wondered, watching as her friend winced at the unnecessarily deep cut Fisher inflicted on his palm? Scarlet liquid dampened the map, spreading rapidly until all of it looked soaked. Fisher smiled as the map instantly caught fire, consuming the paper until a small compass remained in its place. He picked up the compass and looked at it.
“Beautiful!” he exclaimed, then pocketed the compass. “Thank you for your cooperation, let’s do this again soon, shall we?”
Elijah glared at Fisher, which only made the mad man laugh and give him a two-finger salute. He used his hand to open a portal in the middle of the room, walking through it and disappearing to wherever he was headed next. The portal disappeared, too, leaving the two guards with Dawn and Elijah. She looked around for a weapon or anything she could use to get them out alive. Elijah looked pale, with slumped shoulders, even drained. She doubted his magic would be any good to help them.
“Come on,” one of the guards said, grabbing her arm.
“Where are you taking us?” Elijah asked with the same fear she was feeling.
“Home,” he replied before using his magic to transport them from the room.
Dawn landed with a thud on hard ground, Elijah appearing a second later, the two guards nowhere in sight.
“Ouch,” she groaned, looking at her scraped elbow. Surely enough, the white room had vanished. She recognized the garden. Indeed, it was home.
“Are you okay?” Elijah asked, not looking any better himself. His eyes were red, and even though it had only been a day, his cheeks looked sunken. And his hand was covered in blood.
“Elijah, your hand.”
Elijah looked at it as if only remembering now that he was hurt. He held it in his other hand and closed his eyes. He opened it seconds later, his eyes widening.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t heal it.”
She didn’t find that hard to believe just by the looks of him.
“You are tired. We need to figure out where we are and call someone.”
She wasn’t looking forward to seeing her parents, but the good thing was that they were alive. She doubted they would be for long, though, but at least she could enjoy these final, painful moments of freedom. She almost laughed at the thought of her mother killing anyone; she couldn’t even harm a fly. Literally couldn’t. But if there ever was a Fae motivated to figure out a way around that magical limitation, it would be her mother when she finally laid her eyes on them.
“No, Dawn,” Elijah said suddenly jumping up and looking panicked. “I really can’t.”
He snapped his fingers several times as his desperation went up a notch.
“Elijah, stop. You need to rest.”
“I can’t, Dawn! I can’t do anything!” he screamed, tears welling in his eyes. He snapped his fingers a few more times and shook his hands to try again.
“You are drained, Elijah,” she reminded him again
“You don’t understand!” he said, now full on crying.
She tried to touch his arm, but he flinched and stepped away from him.
“I can’t feel my magic, I’m tired, but it’s supposed to be there, recharging. I can’t even make a single bubble, and that was the first thing I did when I got my first tooth! I can’t feel it, Dawn! I can’t feel my magic.”
Dawn looked at her friend helplessly as he looked at his hands while he sobbed.
“It’s gone. My magic is gone.”
NINE
As soon as they appeared in the kitchen, Dawn knew exactly what was coming.
“Dawn, do you have any idea how worried your father and I have been?”
Judging by the look on her mother’s face, Dawn was in a lot of trouble. Trouble seemed like an understatement, but they didn’t have time for that now. Elijah walked like a zombie to the couch and sat down, and he was all she could focus on right now.
“I’m really sorry mom, I-”
“What were you thinking? You could have been killed!” Isabel exclaimed, with shadows under her eyes and wearing the same clothes she had since Dawn had last seen her, as if she had spent the past few hours imagining the worst. “Damon said you just left him, and he had no idea how to find you! He was here for your protection, Dawn.”
Shame flooded Dawn’s face, and she looked at the ground. She wondered where her bodyguard was now and just how much he had told her mother. But again, not important at the moment.
“I’m sorry.”
“What’s been going on with you lately? This is not like you,” her mother said, now a bit calmer but still not quite able to hide the fear and anger in her voice.
Dawn looked up and then turned to her best friend who was now in an almost catatonic state.
“We need to help Elijah,” she said, making her mother turn to Elijah as if she had forgotten he was in the room for a second.
“Elijah are you hurt?” Isabel walked to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, checking to see if there were any injuries. “My word, you look so pale.”
“He can’t feel his magic, mom.”
Isabel frowned. “What do you mean?”
“He thinks it’s gone, like really gone.”
Dawn watched as her mother’s face paled. “What happened?”
“The man who took Elijah made him do some kind of spell, and now his magic is gone.”
“But that’s not possible. No one can just take magic away from you.” Isabel hesitated. “He’s probably just tired.” She turned to Elijah. “You should lie down, I’m sure you will feel better in the morning.”
Elijah shook his head, “No, I won’t. It’s gone. Completely,” he responded in a resigned tone.
“Tell me what the man did, what he said. What he made you do; I need to know everything.”
Elijah’s eyes were blank; he looked like he didn’t want to talk or do anything at all. Dawn prayed to any god who was listening that they could fix this. Because she didn’t know what Elijah would do if he didn’t get his magic back. She didn’t know what she would do if he didn’t get his magic back. This was all her fault. Not fixing this just wasn’t even an option right now.
Just as she was about to start confessing and leave their fate in her mother’s hands, the twinkle and space bending that was characteristic of a portal appeared in the room and instants later, both Elijah’s dad and grandfather walked through the portal into the room.
“What on earth were you two thinking?” were Ezekiel’s first words, his anger filling the room like a heavy smoke.
“I doubt they were thinking at all,” Elijah’s father said
calmly, walking to where his son was sitting.
“We have a bigger problem,” Isabel said as she sat down next to Elijah, “good thing both of you are here now. Dawn?”
Dawn walked to the opposite couch and sat down, looking up at the two tall men who didn’t look like they were in the mood to even sit and play nice.
“I wanted some answers about the light, and Damon and Elijah went with me,” she began.
“Went with you where exactly?” Ezekiel interrupted, narrowing his eyes at her as if he knew exactly where she had been.
Dawn winced slightly as she answered, “We visited some pixies we thought could help, and Elijah got attacked outside by wraiths.”
“Wraiths?” Isabel asked, moving to the edge of her seat. “Dawn are you sure?”
“Damon confirmed it,” Dawn said. Since she’d had no idea what they really were before he’d shown her, she had to take his word for it.
“And where is that warlock?” Ezekiel said, “It appears he forgot that he was supposed to be keeping an eye on you instead of leading you into danger.”
Well, technically he had been keeping an eye on her. And Dawn had been the one to ask for the help, and then sort of leave him behind to go after Elijah. When it came down to who really was to blame for the whole problem, much of that blame had her name written all over it.
Isabel sighed. “Damon went home just after Dawn called; the poor boy was very upset, and I told him to come back tomorrow. He used too much magic trying to find them and could barely stand by the time he left.”
“He wouldn’t have had to look for them if they had stayed home, now would he?” Elijah’s father cut in.
“I’m the one who asked him to go, and we didn’t know this would happen,” Dawn said. “I’m so sorry.”
She looked at Elijah and realized that she couldn’t apologize enough, no one in the room could really understand how sorry she felt right now.
“We were taking care of the matter; that is what we do!” Ezekiel all but growled. “What did you think you could accomplish on your own?”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Isabel said. “If someone is controlling wraiths, this is bigger than these two.”
Ezekiel cursed under his breath. “The Pixies. Whoever killed them is the one who raised the Wraiths.”
“His name is Fisher,” Dawn said. “And he’s the one who took Elijah.”
“Elijah?” His father asked in confusion. “I thought someone was after you?”
Dawn nodded, “We all did. But it wasn’t me Fisher wanted; it was Elijah. And he made him do some kind of spell with a map.” She paused as she wondered how to say the next part without Ezekiel biting her head off; or making her disappear for good with his magic. But it couldn’t be avoided and needed to be fixed now.
“Whatever he did to Elijah, it took away his magic.”
Ezekiel narrowed his eyes and looked at his grandson. “He took away your magic?”
Elijah gave him a small nod while his father placed a hand on his son’s neck. It took his dad few seconds until he looked up at Ezekiel with a grim expression on his face. “I can’t feel anything.”
Ezekiel walked toward Elijah and placed his hands above his head before closing his eyes and chanting a spell. His hands glowed and a light covered Elijah, turning grey as it began to fade away.
Ezekiel opened his eyes, his mouth set in a firm line. “This is not possible,” he said.
Dawn was getting really tired of hearing that. “If it happened then it was possible,” she blurted. She knew it was all coming from a place of fear. Fear that if the people who were supposed to have the answers didn’t have them, then there was no hope.
“Do you remember the spell?” Elijah’s dad asked.
Elijah shook his head, “Not really. It was a locator spell, but I don’t know for what.”
“A locator spell? He didn’t do anything else to you?” Ezekiel asked.
Elijah shook his head again.
“There was a map, and Fisher made him drop his blood on it,” Dawn added.
“But the hound attacked you? How did Elijah become involved in this? Was he taken because he has magic and you do not?” Isabel asked.
“It was never about me, Fisher wanted Elijah all along. That’s what he said. The hound was tracking Elijah, probably came here because he’s here a lot, I don’t know. And we were together when the Wraiths found him.”
“We need to assemble the Council. Now,” Ezekiel said. “Meanwhile, Isabel, do not let your daughter out of your sight until she is summoned.”
“Can you help him?” Dawn asked.
“We need to meet with the Council,” Ezekiel said, which didn’t give Dawn much hope. It wasn’t the affirmative answer she desperately needed. And after her own unfruitful encounter with the Council, she worried about her friend’s case too.
Elijah’s father stood, taking his son’s hand. Ezekiel opened a portal for them, and they all disappeared from the room. Dawn let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding and slumped into her seat.
“Are you feeling alright?” her mother finally asked. “Can I get you anything?”
Dawn shook her head. “I’m scared, mom.”
“It will be alright.”
“Will it? Do they know what’s wrong with me yet? And now this thing with Elijah too?”
“They will, they always do. But you have to promise me no more little adventures on your own. Next time, something terrible might happen to you and there won’t be any coming back or fixing that. Damon came here out of his mind with panic, you scared all of us tonight and we didn’t know how to even find you and help you.”
“I’m sorry mom. But I had to get Elijah back.”
“You shouldn’t have gone anywhere in the first place, neither you nor Damon and Elijah. And why would you leave Damon behind when you got in trouble?”
Because she didn’t trust him. Because it had been a stupid decision. Because she’d felt compelled to do it alone. Even if there were a million reasons why she had one what she had, it all didn’t matter now. Not when it had ended the way it did. She did feel a little guilty about how Damon panicked as she disappeared.
“I’m really sorry mom,” she said instead.
“You have no magic, Dawn. And facing someone with this kind of power is dangerous, no amount of training can ever prepare you enough to win that fight. You were lucky he even let you go unharmed.”
Dawn knew how lucky they had been, despite the price Elijah had paid.
“I know,” she agreed with a nod. “But if they can’t help Elijah, mom-”
“Don’t think like that. They will find this Fisher character, he’s not the first Wiccan to try and cause trouble.”
Only this kind of trouble was new territory for the Council, Dawn thought. They were all a thousand steps behind Fisher and if it hadn’t been for her and Elijah, the Council wouldn’t even know about him in the first place. Nothing was adding up to give Dawn any confidence in the resolution of this mess, but she just had to wait now and hope that this situation gave the Council insight into Fisher’s plan. Isabel was right, Dawn had no power and no business getting involved in this. It had all started with seeking answers but being alive was more important. Priorities.
“Let me run you a bath so you can rest. We’ll see where we are in the morning,” Isabel suggested as she stood up.
Dawn nodded and stood too. “Where is Nathan?”
“At your father’s. You will see them in the morning.”
“Is dad super mad at me?”
“He was worried, maybe he might be super mad after he sees you and realizes that you are okay.”
Dawn gave her mom a slight smile. “Sounds like dad.”
“I’m sure he’s already making plans to enroll your brother in a regular human school right now, probably a boarding school far away,” her mother said with a chuckle.
Dawn smiled at that thought, it sounded very much like something her father m
ight do. Too bad Nathan loved his current school and was eagerly anticipating learning spells and becoming a warrior like a character in one of his video games.
And later that night after her mother had run her a bath and assured her that there were guards outside watching their house, Dawn finally slept. For the first time she dreamt of Elijah, and she had his blood on her hands.
TEN
Dawn woke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest as she realized that she was back home. She wasn’t trapped in a place somewhere with a madman who stole people’s magic, and Elijah was alive and safe. She was safe too, at least for now.
“About time!” Maggie sang as she appeared right next to her.
“Gods, Maggie!” Dawn exclaimed, feeling her heart racing for a whole new reason.
The ghost giggled. “Did you miss me?”
“I certainly didn’t miss you making my heart jump out my throat,” Dawn grumbled.
“Someone needs a hot beverage.”
Coffee to be exact, and lots of it. Today was already promising to be extra-long, and if she was going to deal with the Council and Maggie too, then she needed a large cup of coffee.
Dawn narrowed her eyes at the ghost who had just appeared as if she had just been next door for a few minutes. It was unfair to be mad at Maggie who had never stayed put for long anyway, but Dawn couldn’t help but feel everything that had happened in the past couple of days all at once. Perhaps if her old friend had been there, she could have helped somehow. It was a foolish thought, but again, she couldn’t help it. She just needed to let her anger out and Maggie just happened to walk in.
“Where have you been?”
