Stephan sat in a little world of his own, consumed by his own thoughts, he felt agitated and ill at ease because they had taken away the golden book for an examination. They had promised to bring it back, but while it was out of his sight, Stephan felt oddly vulnerable.
They had hidden on the streets of London for the rest of the night and much of the following day after the attack on their home and their encounter with Vito. They had wandered about, picked up some food, and didn’t really know what to do.
Liz had been the first to bring up going to the Police early that day. But Stephan had said no, Fran hadn’t been keen either, it didn’t feel right. They knew what they’d seen and they didn’t feel like the Police could help them.
Liz no doubt had been thinking of Ben and their parents and the killer. He needed to be brought to justice, but how would the Police capture someone who could use Magic?
It had been late in the day when they passed an electrical store only to see Stephan’s house on the televisions inside it. The Police had discovered the bodies of their parents, so Liz mentioned turning themselves in again, this time Fran had agreed.
Stephan’s resistance against going to the authorities had waned as well, now the police knew of the deaths of their Parents, things might be different, they might be able to help them, their flight from the killer might be finished.
Standing there, outside that shop, Stephan had cried, they would let the Police take over now, and maybe they had been imagining the Magic and the strange things they thought they had seen. Stephan had to admit, they were under a lot of stress. After all, it’s not every day your parents and your best friend are killed violently before your very eyes.
It had been a thought that had occurred to him a few times already, and one that intensified when he saw the News story. Maybe they had imagined it all, maybe it wasn’t all Magic and Wizards, maybe it could all be easily explained by the shock of the past nights events.
The Police were looking for them, and as soon as they made themselves known at the front desk of the first station they went to, they were taken inside.
There had been questions and tears and plenty of melodrama since then, the golden book itself causing quite a stir. They had told the police everything, including the parts about Magic, and the Police only nodded. According to their psychologist, it was stress, pure and simple, that had turned the killer into someone, or something more than human. It wasn’t unheard of, and could be easily explained.
Stephan had finished with his crying for the time being, and for the moment, while the book was gone, he felt on edge, defenceless, and he didn’t like it.
The minutes passed, and the door suddenly opened, a Policeman walked in holding a clear plastic bag, inside of which was the golden book.
He smiled once at Stephan, who was watching him carefully, and placed it on the table. ‘Don’t touch it please, leave it in the bag, its evidence now. I’ve only brought it back in here because you wanted it close to you, and for the moment at least, we’re fine with that. But leave it in the bag okay? Understand?’
‘Yes,’ said Stephan.
The officer nodded to the female officer next to Liz and seemed satisfied. He left the room, closing the door behind him.
Stephan leant forward and looked carefully at the book, it looked fine, no marks or anything on it that shouldn’t be there.
He didn’t like the idea that it would be taken away from him again, but he knew he didn’t have much choice. They had told him it would be most likely returned to him anyway, after the case had been closed, but that seemed like an age away.
Stephan looked back at the girls, Liz had calmed down a lot, and both she and her sister were listening to the Police woman talk in low tones to them. A councillor had already spoken to Stephan, and he suspected there would be much more of that to come in the future. Not something he was really looking forward too.
When it came, the bang sounded muffled and low, like an explosion heard from a great distance. In fact, they felt it more then heard it as the room shook for a second with the sound. Stephan looked up, alert suddenly, straining his ears to hear something, anything. Next to him, the Police woman stood up and quickly made for the door, ‘Stay here,’ she said, and left the room, locking the door behind her.
Stephan looked at the girls, he suspected he wore the same expression they were, one of slight shock and sudden fear. All three of them were silent, listening for what would come next.
How long had passed? Seconds, minutes maybe, who knew?
‘Do you think…’ Liz began, but she didn’t seem to know how to finish the sentence, although they all knew what she was thinking.
Then they could hear a series of rapid fire bangs, then another set, and another.
‘Gunfire,’ Stephan said. He remembered the sounds from trips to firing ranges in the USA.
‘What?’ asked Liz.
‘Are you sure?’ Fran asked. They both looked scared, and he knew he probably did too.
‘Pretty sure,’ he said, and got to his feet. ‘I think we need to get out of here,’ he said as he picked up the gold book and placed it back in the backpack that had been left in the room with them.
‘She told us to stay here though,’ Liz said.
‘Do you want to be here when that killer walks in with his knife?’ Stephan said.
‘No…’ said Liz, her bottom lip quivering.
‘Then we have to go, now.’
‘But how, the door’s locked.’ Fran said. Liz started crying again.
‘We’ll break it down.’
‘Can you do that?’
‘No idea,’ he said as he zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulders. He walked up to the door and tried it, it had been locked tight.
The sounds of gunfire and further explosions were getting louder, closer. The girls were on their feet now, holding each other and looking very scared. Stephan only hoped he could get through the door.
‘Stand back, but once I’m through, follow me, quickly,’ he said to the twins. They nodded at him.
Stephan backed up, braced himself, and ran at the door, only for it to open a second before he hit it with his shoulder. He fell into the arms of a man stood outside who caught him easily.
Stephan felt more than a little shocked by this, and pulled himself from the figures grasp.
‘Who the hell are you?’ Stephan asked. The gunfire sounded much louder now. This guy didn’t look like a cop, in fact, he didn’t even look English, he looked like a Native American.
‘I’m Raven, and I’ve been looking for you, I need to get you all out of here, before Nate finds you.’
‘Thanks, but I don’t think we need your help,’ he said defiantly, fed up of people offering to help and only hindering them. Stephan turned and beckoned to the girls, ‘Come on, we’re getting out of here.’
The twins stepped forward and walked behind Stephan and out into the hallway to the right.
‘You don’t know what you’re doing, what you’re up against. I can protect you.’
‘Steph, he might know what he’s doing. Maybe we should listen to him.’ Fran said.
‘We’ve listened to enough people telling us what to do tonight, we were doing fine on our own until we came here.’
‘Listen to your friends Stephan,’ said Raven, ‘they know what they’re talking about.’
A door further down the corridor on the left, beyond Raven, slammed open as the body of a Policeman was sent flying through it. Raven turned to look, Stephan stared past Raven to watch also, and saw the nightmare from the previous night step out from the dust and smoke cloud billowing from the room.
Nate, grinning to himself, easily stepped over the body of the policeman and saw the Kids and Raven a short distance away from him. ‘Raven, greetings, how nice of you to join the party, and I see you brought me some friends.’
Raven looked about to retort with a smart comment, but Nate quickly raised his arm, a gun in his hand, and squeezed o
ff five or six shots in rapid succession.
Stephan tensed, the bullets were aimed at him, but they never struck home.
Blue light flared up in streams of energy as the slugs slammed into some kind of invisible barrier just in front of Raven. They ricocheted off the force field and buried themselves in the wall and ceiling while Raven grunted with effort as the barrier discharged the energy, the blue light fading..
The girls were screaming, the window behind them had cracked, while Stephan stood there, wide eyed.
The bangs had turned into clicks as Nate emptied his gun, frustrated with it, he dropped it on the floor, it was useless to him now.
‘Nice trick Raven,’ Nate said, clearly unhappy.
‘I’m nothing if not prepared,’ Raven answered.
Suddenly Stephan felt a touch dizzy, and then very dizzy, and he grabbed the wall to keep himself from falling over completely.
‘No!’ Raven cried, and Stephan felt the wave of dizziness sweep from him while all about him the shadows of the room seemed to shift, and the world didn’t seem quite real for a moment.
Stephan looked up, Raven stood with his arms raised, palms towards Nate looking tensed, he turned to look at Stephan, and spoke through gritted teeth, ‘Run, down the stair well there,’ he pointed. ‘Get out of here, I’ll follow you.’
Stephan got back to his feet very unsteadily, the twins coming to his side and helping him up. They backed away from the confrontation that was happening before them, but didn’t quite run.
There was a further bang from a door being slammed open further down past Nate where he had stepped into the corridor, and police flooded into the hallway holding guns and dressed in riot gear.
Nate turned just in time and raised his hands as the Police opened fire. Red and gold light flared up like fire in front of Nate as he defended himself from the police.
Raven didn’t hesitate and ran towards Stephan and the girls, ‘Run, go, now!’
Stephan backed up and then ran, the girls ahead of him, already going through the door to the stair well. Stephan followed, barrelling through the door way and running down the stairs, taking three or more at a time.
‘Keep going,’ shouted Raven as they went, huffing and puffing.
‘Come on, go, go, go,’ said Stephan to the girls, urgency in his voice as he tried to keep them running at full tilt.
Within moments they were on the ground floor and quickly found a fire door, then under Raven’s directions they soon found themselves outside in a side alley. To their left the main street and the front of the building where they could hear sirens blaring, and the sounds of a crowd gathering.
They went the other way, weaving between buildings and climbing over walls until they finally hit a street, where they slowed to a brisk walk.
In the morning air, on top of a nearby building, a figure appeared from thin air, where there had been no one before. Nate looked down on the street, watching the kids with Raven as they made their escape.
That had been messier then he had wanted, but they were on the run now, and he could follow them fairly easily. That book may be valuable, but it made escape difficult. They couldn’t Port to Paris with it, which was no doubt where that Legacy stooge was taking them right now, so they would have to get there the hard way, and Nate thought he knew how Raven would do that.
Several streets away from the Police station they stopped in a fairly busy street to catch their breath, although Stephan noticed Raven wasn’t out of breath at all.
He stood close to the girls, his arm around Fran’s waist as he looked at Raven.
‘You’re a wizard aren’t you,’ he said.
Raven looked at him carefully, ‘We use the term Magi, but yes, you could say that.’
‘I knew it! I knew I wasn’t seeing things.’ Stephan felt somewhat vindicated, ‘And that guy, Nate, he’s one too, but a bad one.’
‘That’s right. Now, how are you all feeling, no one’s hurt or anything?’
They all said they felt fine, to which Raven looked satisfied.
‘Now look, I can help you,’ Raven said, ‘I can protect you from him, but you need to do exactly as I say and you have to come with me now. We need to get to Paris, I have friends there, you’ll be safe. Do you understand?’
Stephan’s head wheeled. Paris? He had never been to Paris, it wasn’t his parents kind of holiday. He broke that chain of thought before it went too far, he didn’t need to get upset now.
‘Yes, I understand,’ Stephan said.
‘We do too,’ said Fran, speaking for Liz who still seemed a little dumb struck.
‘Good, then we have to go, now, my guess is that he’s right on our tail, he probably knows roughly where we are, and he certainly knows where we’re headed. Come on.’
They set off down the street once more, alternately walking or jogging depending on how busy it was and how tired they were.
After what seemed like hours they found themselves walking up the street to Waterloo Station, the sky brightening as the city woke up, and Raven came to a brief stop outside. He reached inside his back pocket, pulled out a strip of tickets, and handed them out.
‘Right, we’re getting on the Euro Star, but I have a bad feeling about this, I think he’ll try for us again here in the chaos of the morning crowds.’
Stephan felt his stomach do a somersault and felt slightly sick, He guessed they all looked quite worried as Raven then said, ‘Don’t worry, trust me, I’ll get you through this. Come on, let’s not waste time.’
Stephan took hold of Fran’s hand, she had hold of Liz’s, and they followed Raven onto the huge concourse of the station through huge entrance ways filled with people coming and going. The concourse was busy this morning, many of the commuters stood watching the electronic time tables, waiting to find out which platform their train would depart from. Large prefab stands with shops inside them dotted the middle of the waiting area, creating barriers and places to hide.
Stephan didn’t like it, he felt vulnerable, but there was no time to waste. He followed Raven and dived into the crowds after him. They weaved through the people and could begin to see the Euro Star check in ahead of them.
Maybe they would make it without incident, maybe Nate hadn’t managed to follow them or predict where they were heading. Stephan’s heart lifted.
Liz yelped and pulled back on her sister which pulled on Stephan. They looked back and saw that she was looking off to one side, they followed her gaze, and knew what they would see.
Nate, a wicked smile on his face, striding through the crowds towards them, and Stephan felt sick again.
‘Raven,’ he called looking back to the Magi, but he wasn’t there, he had disappeared. ‘Shit.’
‘What? What is it?’ Fran asked, panic in her voice.
‘Nothing, come on, let’s go,’ he covered, and he pulled the two girls onwards.
‘Where’s Raven?’ Fran asked. ‘I can’t see him’
‘What?’ Liz said, panicked.
‘I don’t know, come on, let’s get to the train.’ Stephan felt scared, where the hell had Raven gone too, he said he would protect them, he said to trust him, and now he had disappeared just as Nate arrived. Where the hell was he?
‘You don’t…you mean you’ve lost him?’ Fran’s voice went almost to a screech as she said it and she pulled Stephan to a stop again. It was noisy in here, the crowds and the announcers voice all making far too much noise.
‘Don’t stop!’ Stephan said, urgency in his voice, straining it, and he pulled Fran onwards again.
‘Oh shit, we’re dead, we’re dead…’ Fran was saying to herself, he couldn’t hear Liz, she’d gone a bit quiet on seeing Nate again.
He glanced back, Liz still followed them, and beyond her, striding through the crowds, followed Nate, with a look on his face that scared Stephan more than anything he had ever seen before. It was a primal fear, because he knew Nate would kill him, and he wouldn’t stand a chance.
But he
didn’t let the fear grip him, he needed to get to the train, Raven must be there, waiting for them, he must be. Stephan pulled the girls round the corner of one of the stands, and there stood the Euro Star terminal, just ahead of them.
As Liz rounded the corner of the stand behind Stephan and Fran she yelped as she saw something and pulled back on her sister slightly. Stephan and Fran looked back to see Raven, who had been hiding round the corner of the stand, they had passed him without seeing him.
He stepped out just as Nate rounded the corner of the stand in a jog, holding his elbow up and out to the height of Nate’s head. Nate’s face and Raven’s elbow connected with sudden and jarring force, Stephan could have sworn there was a brief small flash of light where the elbow connected with Nate’s nose, but maybe it had been his imagination, the sound seemed odd too, it wasn’t quite there, it sounded muffled. There was more to this attack then Stephan could make out.
Nate didn’t fall, but stood still for a second, utter shock on his face, as blood began to leak from his nose. Raven, moving smoothly from the elbow strike, put his hand on Nate’s face, and as Stephan watched, Nate’s eyes closed and his body relaxed.
Once more Stephan felt the odd sensation he got in the presence of magic as the world and reality seemed paper thin and false. It was like feeling dizzy but without the disorientation. The shadows around Raven and Nate seemed to move but didn’t and it felt almost as if a fundamental truth of the world was about to be revealed, but then pulled away at the last second.
Raven guided Nate as his body dropped towards a chair set up against the side of the trade stand, and sat him in it. Removing his hand from Nate’s face, the blood was gone.
Stephan looked about them at the people stood nearby, but no one had been watching this, not one person took the slightest bit of notice.
Raven turned to Stephan and the twins, ‘Come on, quickly. He won’t stay like that forever.’
‘You didn’t kill him?’
‘He’s just sleeping for a while, hopefully long enough for us to be on our way, come on, let’s go.’
Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling Page 40