Sorcha's Secret World, Part one.

Chapter 6, Strangers from a strange land.

I went home and had a shower and something to eat. Then I slept for a few hours, too exhausted to even lie awake and worry about everything that was happening. When I woke up the world was still standing, perhaps Beaumont was taking a nap too.

Jessie had gone off to school by the time I got up, but she had left me a little note just to say she loved me. I got dressed in simple blue jeans and a black sweater.

I looked in the mirror. I didn't exactly look like someone capable of saving the world. At 5'8 feet I was tall and I could at best be described as curvaceous, as long as by that you meant 'pear-shaped with wide hips and a pancake butt'. Brown eyes were staring critically back at me. My nose was slightly too long, my mouth was small and bow-shaped and the shape of my face was more of an oval than a heart. My hair was brown. Not auburn or chestnut, just brown. At least the few grey hairs I used to have had disappeared when I got my Bee. The CW network would never hire me to front their new superhero show if I was honest.

I stuck out my tongue which made me smile. I looked prettier when I smiled.

After filling a thermos flask with tea and throwing a few protein bars and a Snickers in my bag I left a note for Jessie to tell her I loved her too and went back to New England. It had only been a few hours since I left and the sun had just begun to come up, although it wasn't really visible through the fog.

I had taken the business card from the archives the day before, and I figured that the best thing to do would be to pay a visit to mister Devore.

I stopped by the sheriff's station first, to see if people were okay and to ask for directions to the house. The survivors were still holding up as best as they could. I felt sorry for them but stopping Beaumont was my first priority. Helen Bannerman asked me to stop by Red's Bait and Tackle on my way to the mansion. I hesitated, but Helen assured me that they had knowledge of the mine that I would not learn from Mrs Devore. Mister Devore had died it seemed, but his widow was still alive.

I ran towards Red's Bait and Tackle, past the school following a road leading up the mountain. The view must have been gorgeous up here, I could see the Ferris wheel from the theme park and the forest and the river down below through the fog.

The road wound down again towards a small bay with a fishing dock. What seemed like a camping store was situated on the other side of the road, looking out over the water. In the water, slowly wading towards the store, was the largest draugr I had seen so far. Almost as tall as the building itself, it was gigantic. Blue and muscular, with a tiny head, it was covered in barnacles and seaweed.

I started flinging fireballs and lightning bolts as fast as I could, it would destroy the shop and anyone in it if I didn't stop it in its tracks. I got the giant's attention but I soon regretted it, because it lunged towards me and with one swing of a huge fist it flung me into the mountainside.

I got back up, shaking my head groggily, and unleashed everything I had at it at once. I could feel myself levitating in the air as I unleashed my magic. Fire, ice and lightning hurled toward the giant at the same time, barraging it until it lay twitching in the water, and then stopped moving.

I whooped. That was awesome! I didn't even know I could do that!

"Gotta say, you make one hell of an entrance!"

The shop inside was warm and cosy. It had a homely, lived-in feel. Talking to me was an older Native American man, wearing a red baseball cap and a red flannel shirt. I grinned at him, I was still on a high from my success. Having magic powers was awesome!

"It's no coincidence what is happening here, and what is happening now," he told me. The old man was the owner of the shop, the woman behind the counter who roughly looked my age was his niece Ami, and the young girl he had been playing chess with was his grand-nice, Kyra.