4)
I would never forget Ritter’s eyes as he burned, and Q shoving me behind him saying, “You have to go through me, Knight.” Then he threw something at me, and the next thing I knew, I was in his circle in the forest near his house, far away from the store.
He had told me a while what to do, so even though I was a little disoriented, I wasn’t phased. I went in the toolshed and got a knapsack that he had put aside for me. I had no idea what was in it, but he told me there was money and a credit card in the front pocket. I was to take a cab to Logan Airport in Boston, making sure I requested a certain cab number. After that I was to take the next available flight to New Orleans.
Then, I had no idea what would happen to me.
I had to wait half an hour for the flight, and I used my brother’s name, changing it on the ID. When they wanted me to remove my belt at the TSA gate, I balked. I did, and concentrated entirely by my will to keep the glamour up – one of the guards looked strangely at me, and I hoped against hope that this flare of magic wouldn’t draw all kinds of people to me.
I dashed down to the gate and barely got on in time.
I had to change planes in New York, with a layover of twenty minutes. I used no magic then. I still had some money so I bought a paperback novel, The Lovely Bones. Not my normal style of stuff, but nothing else seemed to be interesting, and this was on the top of the best seller list.
I wanted to call Q, to see if he was all right, if he had chased away Ritter. After all he had done, I didn’t want him to sacrifice himself for me. I wouldn’t have.
When I got off the plane, the world was grey and rainy. My skin prickled. Something was here. This was another center of magic in the US, it had to be. Even in the airport I could feel it.
What would it be like outside? I grinned, knowing I would find out, and it would be the greatest challenge of them all.
391 words