Shadow Mage: (Witchling Wars: Luxra Echelon, Book 1)

by Shawn Knightley

  William reached out for the phone as if Dr. Stewart was an inch away from sharing old and unwelcome stories I wasn’t meant to hear. “I’ll text you a few of our open times tomorrow. Stop by when you can.”

  With that, he ended the call, put the phone back in his coat, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Dr. Stewart plays the part of a know-nothing but he’s quite scandalous. If anyone in the medical world knew how he sometimes treats his patients with magic he’d bring a scandal over our heads among our kind. The local covens would probably kill him.”

  “His secret is safe with me.”

  William took out his wand once more and extended it toward the fireplace. The flames flickered in a deep shade of blue, hot enough for me to actually feel a gentle wave of warmth tickle my senses. He disappeared into the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee. I sat there in silence, trying my best not to feel like the most ungrateful twat on the planet. William was willing to open up his home to me in a way few people even helped their best friends. He was a good man, despite my initial impression of him. He was willing to help me, a complete stranger and yet someone he knew from the day I was born. He watched over me maybe since the day I arrived, knowing what I was and who I was. And somehow I knew that in doing so, he was taking an enormous risk.

  ‘I hope I don’t let him down again.’

  10

  A long night of sleep, an extra-large helping of Thai curry from a diner down the road, a set of fresh clothes, and I was feeling relatively normal again. The only problem was that normal for me now meant a feeling of dread constantly making a home inside my acid stomach.

  I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, letting the wild mane of my curls cascade down my back. William was kind enough to pick up a few items of clothing for me. Or so I thought. As I stood in front of the bathroom mirror a familiar smell wafted over my senses. I took the sleeve of the gray jacket he gave me and held it just under my nose. My mother’s favorite perfume seeped into my senses, sending a wave of memories through my mind. William kept my mom’s clothes over the years. There was the scent of dust there as well, suggesting maybe they sat in a box inside his closet. Nevertheless, she and I were roughly the same size. They fit me well enough if I rolled up the jeans a little over the boot and hiked up the sleeves an inch or two.

  I stared at myself in the mirror, knowing that this day would probably be the worst of it. After today, I could set my sights on finding out exactly what happened in the car that night. If the wreck was intentional, I was going to find out who caused it. If a demon seduced Annette just to set a trap for her, I would find him and kill him. But not today. Today was the memorial service for Annette, Emily, and Caitlyn in one of the larger auditoriums on campus. Their families were in town to collect their remains to take home for burial in a few days. I didn’t want to be seen, I didn’t want the attention, and I especially didn’t want to be bombarded by endless questions. But most of all, I didn’t want to see the looks on their family’s faces when they were forced to see the one person who survived the crash. The guilt weighed down on me hard enough without knowing the wreck might have been intentional.

  I gripped onto the porcelain bathroom counter, trying to choke back tears. A lump formed deep inside my throat, making my efforts feel hallow.

  A knock came at the door.

  “Are you ready?” William asked me on the other side of the thick wood.

  “Yes,” I croaked out. “I’m coming.”

  I rubbed my eyes to make the redness look like nothing more than the steam of the shower agitating my eyes. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  William wasn’t wild about the idea of me going to the memorial service but he respected it. I suppose he realized I needed closure just like everyone else at uni. Only I wouldn’t get such a luxury until I knew the truth about what happened that night.

  I opened the door to the bathroom and let William lead me outside. There was a small car parked behind the courtyard out back. He let me through the passenger side. We sat in silence, watching the clouds roll over us like an ominous sea of gray washing all the light out of the world and only sinking me deeper into despair. I let out a deep breath and found myself staring down at my feet resting on the muddy floor of the vehicle.

  William parked us far enough away so my presence wouldn’t be noticed the second I got out.

  I reached for the car door handle.

  “Wait,” he said quietly. He reached inside his trousers pocket once more and pulled out his wand, being careful not to hold it up too high so people walking on the rain drenched sidewalk outside wouldn’t see.

  I eyed the wand in his hand when he pointed the tip in my direction. Even though I knew now that he wouldn’t hurt me it still felt something like having someone point a loaded gun at me. Only with a magic wand, I wasn’t sure what was going to come out. It could be good or bad.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Giving you privacy.” A ball of sapphire blue light pierced through the tip of the wand and floated about my body. It weaved through the air and hovered just over my head before evaporating completely. “It’s called a shadow charm. The other students will never know you’re there. It will last for about an hour. Get out of there before then.” He reached into his coat and pulled out a cell phone. “This is one of the dumbphones we use for our regular customers that need frequent house calls. My cell number is programmed into it. Call when you’re ready to come back.”

  I cocked my head. “You’re not coming with me?”

  His mouth curved to the side. “This is something I think you need to handle on your own. You’re not my ward and I’m not your father. Although, I’d like to be your friend if you’ll let me. Call me once you’re ready to come back and I’ll be there in a matter of minutes.”

  I was overwhelmed by his kindness. I never had a stranger offer so much to me. A place to live, a job, and help when I needed it. Such people still existed in the world today?

  “Thank you.” My voice was barely louder than a whisper. Whether it was a flood of gratitude or grief I wasn’t sure. Either way, I didn’t want him seeing me any weaker than he already had. I reached for the car door and got out. William waited until I disappeared around the corner of a building before driving away.

  It took a few minutes of walking for me to notice that William’s magic was doing exactly what he claimed. No one could see me or even sense me. A random person nearly bumped into my side. If I hadn’t gotten out of the way his dog would have walked right into me. I was used to people ignoring me in many ways. I didn’t exactly draw a lot of male attention over the years. Fiona always told me that I sent out negative signals to men. Little signs that I was far more preoccupied with books than dating. Mom was stern with me about that, fearing I would end up alone if the pattern continued. And yet, at that moment, I was thrilled that not a single soul could see me. Because I definitely didn’t want to see them.

  One of the halls was reserved for the memorial service. Students gathered in the auditorium by the hundreds. I knew Annette, Emily, and Caitlyn couldn’t have known this many people. Yet somehow, the accident seemed to affect so everyone at uni on some level. Their immediate families sat in the front, along with extended family along the following rows. Then hundreds of students that I had never even seen before. Three wreaths sat atop the auditorium stage with their pictures in the center. Students came up to the stage one by one and laid roses down, some sobbing, and others appearing shaken.

  Perhaps that was the catastrophic nature of the incident. The fact that it could have been anyone on the motorway that night. Or that as graduate students, we were all far too young to die.

  I found a seat in the far back corner and kept to the shadows, watching in horror as students walked back to their seats and Caitlyn’s mother nearly fell apart in her husband’s arms to the right of the stage. His arm draped around her, helping to gradually find her way back to her chair before grief overwhelmed her.

  All the w
hile, I felt like an impostor. A thief wandering into a jewelry shop where nothing was mine and I was the one disturbing the peace. I knew what everyone else did not. The wreck might have been the exact opposite of what everyone assumed. It might have been murder. And there was nothing I could do or say about it. I had to keep the knowledge to myself. I was confined to a cage of silence for a mystery I had yet to solve. Looking across the hall as Caitlyn’s mother let her head rest on her husband’s shoulder as he struggled to keep his emotions inside was all the motivation I needed. If this was murder like William suspected it might be, I would find out who did it. I had to. Because at the end of the day, they did it to get to me. My friends were murdered so that my magic would no longer be dormant. Someone saw the blood that ran through my veins as worth killing for. And I was determined to find out why.

  A pit formed in the center of my chest, burning with a raging fire that made me shrink in my seat. William didn’t let me down. The shadow charm he cast worked brilliantly. Not a single person noticed me sitting in the back. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to disappear entirely.

  My memories drifted back to my mom. My step-dad. Fiona. Everyone in my life that mattered to me. My mom was never wild about the idea of me studying abroad. Fiona flat out didn’t think I had the balls. I proved them wrong. My single stint of teenage rebellion showed up five years too late and now it had cost me nearly everything but my life.

  My mom wrapped me up in the biggest bear hug she had ever given me right before driving me to the airport. She locked me tight in her arms. I could hear her doing everything she could to choke the sobs threatening to come barreling out at any moment. She was always so protective of me. Only now I understood why. Even though the spell William cast on her made her memories go away, her subconscious knew I would be in danger.

  “Come back safe, do you hear me?” she whispered in my ear right before forcing herself to let go.

  “I promise,” I whispered right back, giving her an extra squeeze as though it was the reassurance she needed. We both knew it wouldn’t be enough.

  I watched the concrete slab coming closer as the car skidded toward it completely turned upside down, knowing that the end was near. I never felt like such a fraud as I did in those few seconds, watching the slab-like it was a hanging noose waiting to take me away from this world.

  I lied to my mom. I broke my promise. Now as I looked at the families of my friends in their grief, something inside of me shifted. The cool reserve and the timid way I looked at the world gradually disappeared, perhaps never to come back. I wanted to find whoever did this to my friends. And once I did, I would make them pay with their life.

  Tears washed over me as students in the auditorium listened to some hymns and a song blaring from the speakers, followed by a moment of silence that felt more like my mind going on a tremendous guilt trip inside my head.

  When it was over, a man stood up from the right side of the front row and walked up to the podium to the center of the stage. It was Professor Connelly. He carried some pages in his hand and set them down on the podium then brought the microphone closer to his height.

  A shiver ran down my spine and made the tiniest hairs on my legs stand straight up. For someone who usually made my insides warm, all I could think of now was how much he creeped me out that day in his office.

  He lightly cleared his throat then began speaking.

  “It’s a rare thing for universities to experience a tragedy on this scale,” he began. “Students come to uni to experience life on their own terms for the first time. To study, misbehave a little, and to gain life lessons that are meant to carry them forward in the world toward something greater. We’re left in a state of confusion when the young are taken from us so suddenly. We search for meaning. For a way of understanding that will help us in the newly formed knowledge that everything can be taken away from us so quickly and without our consent.”

  Professor Connelly’s eyes left the pages sitting before him and let his gaze wander over the audience. He had all the girl’s attention. And yet, his eyes didn’t make contact with any of them. They scanned over them as if they were nothing but a sea of unknowable faces.

  Until they didn’t.

  His eyes came to an abrupt stop when they wandered in my direction.

  I sank lower into my seat.

  ‘There’s no way he can see me, can he?’

  Professor Connelly’s lip curved to the side in a way that was downright mischievous. A way that told me that I might have everyone else fooled but I didn’t fool him.

  He brought his attention back down to the paper and began speaking again.

  “So how do we withstand the unknowable? This newfound world where the young and beautiful can be taken so viciously and…”

  His words trailed off. At least for me. I couldn’t listen to it anymore. I got up from the seat as quietly as possible and hustled up the carpeted walkway between the aisles. Someone came in late and opened the door, saving my cover when I grabbed the large handle and let myself out.

  I rushed out of the auditorium and back onto the wet streets outside, not stopping until I was away from campus and a solid few blocks down a narrow lane lined with pubs. The shadow charm was still working. People walked by me without ever making eye contact. And I couldn’t be more thrilled. My heart was thundering inside my chest. I reached for it and tried to calm it down. One deep breath at a time.

  ‘This was a bad idea. I never should have gone to the memorial. I never should have come to Scotland.’

  Men and women walked through the streets as if it wasn’t one of the saddest days I had ever experienced. A cold reminder that the majority of people didn’t care. They would move on and I would be trapped right where I was. In a foreign land not my own and in circumstances that I had only just started to understand and yet would probably never fully comprehend.

  I waited there on the street, watching people go by as I attempted to calm myself down. The phone William gave me was still in my pocket. I pulled it out and thought of calling him.

  No. I didn’t know when I would get out again. I was going to make sure that this day didn’t end on such a low note. Maybe going to the memorial service was a bad idea but having a drink in memory of my friends wasn’t.

  “Hey!” A man bumped into me and nearly sent me crumbling to the ground. The shadow charm was gone. “Mind where you stand, tart!”

  I shuffled to the side and barely got my bearings before realizing what had happened. True to William’s word, the shadow charm wore off. I sucked in a deep breath as a few guys from uni walked by snickering about my clumsiness. A pub stood only a few yards away. I ducked inside and yanked the hood of my coat off. It smelled of stale beer, smokey fumes, and old wood. The typical Edinburgh style pub that I generally preferred to Annette’s modern tastes for night clubs and places with strobe lights. I could find a booth in the back, have a drink for my friends, then leave in peace.

  “One pint of Guinness, please,” I asked the bartender. He filled up a glass for me.

  “You want an open tab, love?”

  “No. Just the one. Thanks.”

  I handed him a few spare coins in my pocket and disappeared into the back corner of the pub. At least now I could continue people watching without being out on the street as rain fizzled down to the cobblestone streets.

  I rubbed my eyes and sat back in the booth, sipping the heavy beer and savoring its thick flavor. Annette referred to my taste in darker beers as a love for motor oil. Just the thought of her teasing me over it made a small smile appear on my face. Only to be replaced by the same acidic pit consuming my stomach.

  I continued drinking and watched as people began funneling into the pub. A few students stuck together toward the front, some in the back, along with a few tourists gulping down pints before a tour gathered in front of the pub. I watched them as they talked in excitement, eager to begin sightseeing.

  I wasn’t a fast drinker. I nursed that beer for
at least half an hour. Before the final sips made their way to my stomach I let my mind wander. My attention slowly drifted away. It wasn’t until I knocked back the final sip that I noticed the entire pub’s atmosphere had changed. It grew darker. Creepier. Almost as if a fog had rolled in and taken possession of a once relatively quiet space where someone could drink in peace.

  Shadows lingered over the corners of the pub, crawling down to the floor and ascending back into a silhouette of a human form.

  ‘Oh lord! Please, not again.’

  I inched deeper into the booth, knowing it would only be a matter of seconds before the wretched demons tried exposing me by slashing down at my skin.

  The dark smokey silhouettes shifted and changed. They formed a human sort of likeness. Within seconds they turned into regular men walking about the world and coming into the pub for a drink. They lurked in the shadows until more people flooded in, watching people as I watched them. Only they didn’t look the least bit normal to me. They were… gorgeous.

  I counted. There were four of them. Their gaze followed people as they came and went. I remained frozen in place with breaths coming in and out faster and faster. They didn’t move. They only watched with wicked smiles gracing their dark yet angelic faces.

  ‘Oh my god! They’re hunting. They’re looking for victims.’

  One standing in a pair of expensive jeans, a button-down shirt, and a thick leather jacket came over to stand by the bar. His hair was dark, his eyes light, and his skin perfectly tan. That should have given him away granted it had been a long, cold, and dark winter. He ordered a drink and let his eyes linger over a young woman seated at the bar on her laptop. I had seen her before. We shared a class together on campus, but otherwise our paths never crossed. He scanned her up and down as if he could undress her with his eyes.

  She eventually noticed because she looked right back at him. A hint of rouge struck her cheeks. She buried a small laugh deep inside her and pretended to stay focused on her work. That was until he presented her with a drink and she gladly accepted. She closed her laptop and gave him her full attention.