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

by Shawn Knightley

“Where are you headed?” he asked.

  “Edinburgh airport,” I said.

  His eyes lit up. A ride that distance would get him a nice fare early in the morning. “Get in.”

  I opened up the back door and let myself inside. It wasn’t until then that I realized the one kink in my plan. I didn’t have my passport. It was in my residence hall. I couldn’t go back there. Liam would find me again. But I also couldn’t get home without it.

  I had no other choice but to not worry about that yet. I could at least get away and take a domestic flight. I’d go to London and book a hotel. Then Fiona might fly in and we could go to the American Consulate together so I could get home. Fiona would have to bring proof of my identity. It would take longer than I wanted but I had no other choice. Right now I just had to get away and find a phone to call Fiona again. The rest was detail.

  “Destination?” the lady behind the counter at the airport asked me.

  “Heathrow.”

  “And no baggage?”

  I shook my head.

  I watched with nervous knots rolling around in my gut, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything other than liquid broth since I ran from the hospital. She typed a bunch of things into the computer.

  “Do you need a boarding pass or do you have an app for the airline?”

  “I need a boarding pass.”

  She handed it to me and I walked straight to security, all the while watching the cameras as they filmed everyone. I felt like a common criminal trying to escape discovery. And I hated it. I did nothing wrong and I owed nothing to some mystery man who snatched me from my ransacked room. For all I knew he was crazier than me.

  I did my best not to fidget as I waited my turn to walk through the body scanner and then to my gate. I was the last to board. They were closing the gate just as I hurried through and handed them my boarding pass. I wasn’t the easiest flyer in the world but I let myself take the first deep breath of relief once my feet were on the plane. Even the seat felt like a heavenly cushion as I sat down. I was getting out. I was escaping. I was headed home. It would take longer than I wanted but I would get there eventually. If it came down to it, I’d beg the coven leader in Dallas to bring back my mom’s memories. If any of this was true, I needed to hear it from her lips. And if someone was after me like William thought was the case, staying in Edinburgh was the worst idea imaginable.

  I rested my head against the back of the seat, relieved that no one else bought the seat next to me, and relieved that I wasn’t the biggest spender in the world like Annette was. I never saw the point of blowing a bunch of money on drinks. I had plenty of money in my bank account to sustain me until I could get a temporary passport to go home.

  I barely felt the plane take off. I was nearly asleep. The sudden tsunami of exhaustion greeted me with open arms. I let it.

  A light bump of turbulence rocked me awake. I pulled up the plastic covering over the window and peered outside. The sun was rising over the Scottish rolling hills, giving the land a glow that would have taken my breath away only a matter of days ago. I felt nothing now. Not the soothing presence of nature filling me with awe, not the excitement and nerves of being a stranger in a foreign land, nor the warm feeling inside when the sun greeted me. It was too bright. Far too bright. My eyes burned and I shut the plastic covering a little too enthusiastically.

  The plane shook. The wind outside must have been howling. The pilot turned on the fasten seatbelt sign after just having turned it off.

  A flutter of nerves struck my insides. All my usual uneasiness about flying returned with full force.

  ‘It’s not a long flight. Just get through it!’

  I took one deep breath after another, trying to reassure myself that it would be worth it once we touched down in London. On the flight over from Dallas, I was fortunate enough to have a sleeping pill in my purse to help me along. I wasn’t so fortunate this time.

  I sighed and rested my head back against the chair, stretching out my fingers to ease the stiffness forming inside my joints. I gave them a shake once more, feeling like my wrists needed to pop from the dull ache lingering in my bones.

  A blue spark snapped across my eyes and struck a woman on the other side of the plane seated a few seats away from me.

  “Ahh!” She let out a yelp and gripped onto her bare elbow.

  My eyes widened. The blue spark left a sear mark on her skin.

  I nearly raised my voice to apologize until I realized it wasn’t wise to take credit for something like that. Not when I was across the plane. And not when I saw what was going on over my hands. The radiant blue glow was back. Only this time, it was forming little rays of dazzling light between my fingers. I could feel the energy growing inside my skin. Like an electrical charge that was building up and needed release. Sparks were flying between my fingers, lightly zapping the tips as they went.

  My stomach clenched. I peeked over the tops of the seats to see if anyone was watching me. Curling my fingers into a ball and pulling down the sleeves of my jacket only made it worse. The zaps traveled up the length of material over my arms and tickled my chin.

  “Are you alright, love?” A flight attendant asked me with a trolley in her hands.

  “Yes, yes, I’m fine.” I forced my mouth into a smile.

  “Your face is ashen.”

  “What can I say? I have a great complexion.”

  Her mouth curved into an awkward smile. Then she shrugged her shoulders and pushed the trolley forward. “We’ll be back around to serve drinks once the turbulence stops,” she said. “ Perhaps you would like a coffee then. It might perk you up a bit.”

  I pretended to laugh as she rushed to the back of the plane to strap in the trolley and sit down through the turbulence, which was getting worse by the second.

  ‘How did she not see the sparks?’

  The woman I zapped wasn’t staring at me either.

  The plane grew dark. The bright light of the sun seeping through other people’s windows quickly faded as if we had flown directly into a black cloud. Maybe my eyes wouldn’t burn anymore from the sun’s harsh rays. And it wasn’t like I wanted to watch as we flew directly into a thunderstorm.

  Only one problem. I didn’t hear any thunder. Nor did I see any flashes of lightning outside other passenger’s darkened windows.

  The ding of the pilot’s intercom came on followed by a deep voice with a posh British accent.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to have some unexpected weather patterns forming in front of us,” said the pilot. “Turbulence will be bad for a few minutes so please keep your seat belts fastened and tuck away any electronics you may have. Thank you.”

  The sparks spinning over my fingers made the hair on my arms stand straight up. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. Breaths came in and out so rapidly that I knew I was on the edge of having a panic attack. Only being in an airplane wasn’t the sole cause of it. The sparks were getting bigger and brighter. Soon my hair was frizzing to the sides. The sparks felt like tiny matches igniting at the edge of my skin, burning me ever so slightly and making me freak out.

  ‘Why is no one noticing me?’

  I looked from right to left and peeked through the crevice between seats to my back. The gentleman seated behind me had his nose buried in a book. The woman I accidentally zapped was still rubbing her elbow but had no idea where it had come from. Even when I raised my palms up to look at the light display happening right over my lap, no one paid any attention.

  The cabin got darker. A noise reached my ears. It was a familiar noise that made my heart lurch. The shadowy beings were.

  No.

  Demons. William called them demons. It wasn’t until that very moment when I saw them descending from the roof of the cabin and trailing down along the edges of the seats that I knew beyond a doubt that William wasn’t lying. Everything he said was true. The light radiating from my hands and sending sparks all over my arms like flashes of lightning was magic running through my
veins. The demons wouldn’t leave me alone. Worst of all, the car wreck wasn’t an accident. Someone did this to me. And I had no idea why.

  The shadows moved over the floor, rolling in like a fog threatening to consume me and everyone else. I searched everywhere. No one was watching me. No one else could see the demons. And my magic was going crazy.

  “Ahh!” I yelped. The material covering my arm ripped open. One of the demons slashed me again. The same blue glow poured out of my skin. A few passengers were finally looking at me after I let out a cry. They still didn’t see what was happening. No one could.

  The plane rocked up and down. My heart abandoned me several feet up as the turbulence forced the plane down. It happened again and again. It wasn’t until the rocking went from side to side and the trolley busted loose from the strappings in the back of the plane that people began to worry. The plane tilted downward. The trolley went rolling across the center aisle and didn’t stop until it slammed into the doorway leading to the pilot’s cabin. Drinks spilled everywhere when it crashed to a halt.

  I unhooked my seat belt to see what was going on. Demons were filling the cabin one by one. A male flight attendant at the front of the plane unhooked his seat belt and tried to get a hand over the front of the trolley before it went flying backward through the aisle again. He was standing right in front of one of the demons. The shadowy being took shape, forming a silhouette of a man. A burst of energy jolted out like a leg kicking forward, striking the flight attendant right in the center of his chest and sending him straight back into the aisle with his feet rolling over the top of his head. He never saw the demon strike him. But he did see the trolley rolling back in his direction once the pilot got the plane upright again.

  A man on the left side of the plane unhooked his seat belt and grabbed a hold of the flight attendant’s white shirt. He yanked him out of the aisle and into a seat before the trolley went rolling full speed in the other direction.

  That was when the chaos really got started.

  A few of the hatches came loose above our heads. Luggage came tumbling out and struck two women. People were screaming. Another demon slashed down the side of my neck. Soon I was screaming along with them. But I was the only one who knew what was really going on.

  My magic wasn’t having it. It shot out from my fingertips and sent a ball of light everywhere. Along with zaps of what looked like lightning. It struck passengers endlessly. I was a weapon. And I was hurting people. The demons didn’t need to attack anyone. I was doing enough damage on my own. The bolts fired out of my body and rained over the passengers. The plane tilted to the side. The pilot was struggling through the strength of my magic causing some sort of electrical disturbance.

  I ripped open the window covering and looked outside. It was worse than I could possibly imagine. My magic wasn’t just striking at passengers inside the cabin. It was shooting out of the plane and wrapping around the wings. Small pieces of tile were flying off. The blue light was piercing into the engine and wrapping it in a chain of electrical fire.

  My blood froze in my veins. I could feel my arteries tighten. I shut my eyes and grit my teeth, trying to focus as hard as I could. All the while the demons kept attacking me. I could feel them slashing down at my skin and making cuts into my flesh. I wanted to scream bloody murder along with everyone else.

  It was me. I was causing this mess. The demons were only there to watch the action and enjoy the sight of me losing control. Along with the added bonus of witnessing me take down the entire plane with all the passengers inside. I couldn’t give them that kind of satisfaction. It was different when it was just me lying on the operating table, struggling to take in a single breath, and having a surgeon press paddles into my chest. This was other people’s lives. I wouldn’t let them die because of me. I wouldn’t let anyone be killed on account of me ever again.

  ‘Breathe. Just breathe. One breath at a time.’

  I shut my eyes and bound my fists into tight balls. The chill inside my veins didn’t cease. Ice rolled through my veins and into my muscles. It traveled through the smallest hairs on my arms and trailed down my skin. I sucked in a deep breath, one in through my nose and out through my mouth.

  I dared open my eyes. The demons had me surrounded. And I swear that I could hear them laughing. They were mocking me. They knew I couldn’t control my magic. But I would die trying.

  The plane tilted to the left. The pilot was still trying to get out of the storm.

  A woman hollered from a few rows behind me. “I’m going to blackout! I’m going to blackout!”

  Another threw up several rows in front. A little boy was crying and begging for his mother to get them out of there.

  She was helpless to help him. They were all helpless. But I wasn’t.

  I stared one of the demons down as he floated over the head of the seat in front of me. His smokey silhouette took shape, forming eyes that glowered at me. I glared right back at him and unbound my fists. The magic inside my palms formed a circle of light so bright that I had to squint my eyes. I could feel it growing bigger, threatening to come barreling out.

  The plane made noises like it might come apart. The metal creaked. The engines were struggling. The pilot was probably going out of his mind trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

  I slowly closed my fist and focused my attention on the sparks first. Then the fire of electrical shocks running over my skin. It took a solid ten seconds of nothing but targeting one thing at a time but I was an attentive student. I didn’t let my focus stray from the sparks. Then the second they began to calm down, I honed in on the electricity. Then the light of cobalt blue energy spinning over my knuckles. One by one they began to recede.

  The demon let out a blood curdling screech, angry that I should discover how to make the chaos slow down. He slashed down at me once more forming what looked like claws with his essence. Only this time, the light didn’t stay inside my hand. It radiated out of my chest and struck the demon right in his center. The demon flowed backward and up over the ceiling, crawling like he was a spider trying to capture its prey inside a web.

  The plane was practically flying sideways. I felt the currents of wind pushing against it as the pilot kept fighting the waves of energy. I wasn’t sure what did it but the demons were retreating. They spiraled up into the air and flooded the roofing of the cabin. They evaporated into nothing faster than they appeared. The light inside the plane returned. Sunlight poured in through the windows. And best of all, the blue light was gone. My magic calmed down and was no longer wrestling with me. I took in a deep breath and gradually let it out. When I peered outside the window, I saw the Scottish hills below us along with a completely scorched engine. The pilot must have only gained control of the plane a few thousand feet above the ground because we were way too low. Not only that, but the sun was on the opposite side of the plane now. We were turned around.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” the intercom came on. “I’m terribly sorry about the turbulence. The storm caused us to lose an engine. We can make it back to the runway just fine but I’m afraid we’ll have to make an emergency landing back at Edinburgh Airport. I’m sorry for the fright and the inconvenience this has caused you. We’ll land within the next ten minutes.”

  I heard passengers groan and let out sighs of relief. A few clapped, believing that the pilot had probably saved us from certain death. I knew better.

  I rested my head against the seat and didn’t let my eyes open again until I felt the wheels of the plane safely landing back on the runway. My magic didn’t freak out again. I wouldn’t let it. I kept my breaths tame and controlled the entire way back. The cold feeling in my veins didn’t dissipate until we made it to our gate. I let all the passengers walk out before me. It wasn’t until paramedics came in to attend to the few passengers that blacked out and got hit with luggage that a woman shook my shoulder and forced me out of my trance. It was the flight attendant that spoke to me after we first took off.

>   “You can go now, dear,” she said down to me in a soft voice.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if she thought I looked more ashen now than I did before. Especially since I knew the truth.

  William wasn’t crazy. Every detail he said was true. My magic wanted to bring me back to Scotland. Now that I was there, it wouldn’t let me leave. It was willing to take down the plane over letting me go back to Dallas. That made me a danger to everyone else around me. If I didn’t get control of my magic, it would kill people. The demons would surround me once more to watch with glee as I sank into despair.

  I rose from the chair and walked out with the sort of calmness that took a professional actor to achieve after what I just experienced. Lucky for me, traumatic events were becoming a sort of regular occurrence and I had a bit of practice.

  9

  The slow walk to baggage claim was one of the longest I had ever known. I had no bag to collect and no loved ones to meet me once I reached the carousel. I walked in silence with my arms crossed over my chest, watching people as they hurried about to the restroom to throw up or to a seat where they could process what just happened. More paramedics ran down the hallway, eager to help anyone in need. I could hear sirens of fire trucks outside as they drove with their lights flashing, headed to the airplane, and probably expecting to find it on fire.

  I was in a daze. A whirlwind of self-induced confusion. My hands no longer sent invisible sparks of blue light through my fingers. My heart wasn’t hammering inside my chest. Nor was my forehead dripping with sweat. For the first time in days, I felt the harsh tear of cold air rolling over my skin with more dread that I had when I first woke up in the hospital.

  I couldn’t leave. My one attempt at trying nearly killed a few dozen people on that flight. Many were injured. The car crash might have been intentional. Maybe even premeditated murder. That meant Annette, Emily, and Caitlyn all died because of me. My decision to study abroad in Scotland already had a body count. If I wasn’t careful, it would grow.