Flight (new version)

Chapter 8: Magic

"MAX!"

Max dragged open his eyes, disoriented for a second as dark silhouettes of trees met his gaze instead of the eastern shack walls. Mary squeezed his shoulder and tapped her ear. He frowned and listened. A slight rustling of leaves. An owl call from far away. Footsteps.

Cold sweat slid between his shoulder blades. Heart pounding, Max slowly stood up and motioned for Mary to follow him. They crept away from the noise, moving painstakingly slow as they pushed through the trees, not wanting to rustle a leaf or step on a branch. He stopped. Listened again. The footsteps were still there, twigs cracking and dried leaves crinkling under the step of someone's heavy stride.

Max pulled Mary toward the left, around a cluster of bushy pine trees. Then stopped. Open field met his gaze. These woods aren't very big. There's no place to hide!

Mary tugged his shirt. He looked at her, and she pointed at the pine trees before pushing her way through the prickly branches to the trunk of the closest tree. Max squeezed his way in and huddled next to her, ignoring the sting of tiny cuts on his arms. They waited.

The footsteps grew louder, now accompanied by voices.

"Could've been a wild animal."

"Or slaves trying to hide. I can barely see a blasted thing out here."

The sounds drew up directly behind them, on the opposite side of their tree. Max held his hand over his mouth, barely daring to breath. Light trickled across the forest floor to his left.

Suddenly the low-hanging branches of their tree began to shake. The angular, masked face of a racoon appeared. It glanced at them, chittered a bit then left.

"What was that?"

Max stiffened and looked at Mary, the fear in her eyes mirroring his.

"I think something's in that tree."

The footsteps quickened. Max squeezed his eyes shut. Thinking. Searching for...something. Anything.

Deep inside, a pool of warmth drew his attention. Max concentrated on this, heart thumping as the footsteps came around the tree. It felt like a small pocket of warmth sitting just below his gut, a warm basin of water that invited him to plunge his hands in. As that last image took hold, a small stream of warmth split off from the pool, moving up his body and down his arms. Max opened his eyes to find that his hands had turned black, or rather a strange, weightless substance now coated his skin.

The footsteps stopped. Lantern-light crept dangerously close to their feet. Max thrust out his hands and the inky substance whirled into the air, creating a small screen in front of him.

"Think there's something in there?" one of the humans questioned. His voice sounded much too close.

Max felt inside himself for that warm pool again and drew more from it, releasing the blackness around him and Mary. Mary leaned close against him, shoulders tense, breathes coming out in quiet, trembling whispers.

"I'm pretty sure I saw the branches move."

The branches directly in front of them were parted and lantern light flooded in. The light illuminated the frames of two humans. The whispers of Mary's breath stopped.

The man holding back the branches kneeled down and leaned forward, head swiveling as he searched the base of the tree. Hazel eyes moved from pine cone to roots to Max...then continued on.

He withdrew with a grunt and the branches snapped back into place, a few green needles showering the earth.

"Nothing. Let's keep looking."