The Vortex: Rectification

Chapter Nineteen.

Chapter Fifty-Nine.

The second I am left alone up here the pressure on my shoulder's hits an all-time high, everything up until this point hasn't felt entirely real. Like every ounce of research and sneak ingredients out of the basement with every restocking of supplies that Jackson would do. There's something to be said for the crazy idea's that pop up in my head but every time I have made a suggestion, there has always been a sense of knowing it won't really play out that way.

This time has proved me infinitely wrong and there's been no time to process that fact, drunkenly deciding that what Aleera said about my magic was true. That I was going to act on it at my earliest convenience and be instrumental in the big steps we would be taking against The Saviours.

Just because the potion happened to be ready doesn't mean I had any kind of inkling that it would happen this fast, as much as these two groups of people have been at war with each other for as long as I can remember. Most of us have been insanely lucky that worse things haven't happened to the masses, that for as much as people have died, we have all remained in a relative safety.

I kept myself out of the nitty gritty since the moment I came back, trips to non-magic grocery stores and clothing outlets have been an adventure for me. Glamoured trips onto main street in the middle of the day and with two of my friends with me was pushing it and the one meeting with The Resistance propelled me further into reclusion.

Out of all the futures I saw myself in, becoming a hermit wasn't something I saw but as a year since I came back starts to creep closer, I've realised that getting us out of this hard spot will be the only way I don't become my Grandmother. How ironic that I spent so long judging her for never leaving the house, for making my Mum and Dad do everything for her only to unintentionally do the same thing.

I don't want that to be my life or my legacy, maybe my friends wouldn't let it be, but it feels like it for me and I don't think I can live with that.

It doesn't take perfect eyesight to notice the grimace that Harry gives Aleera as she slips out of his grip, his disapproval for her arrival means that she never spilt the beans of our intentions, like I did. In all honesty I can't blame him for not wanting her surrounded by people out to kill her, I don't exactly like the thought either but it's not my choice whether she walks into danger for us all.

It's more of an elbow battle than I would have guessed for them to get to the front, pushing through unwavering walls of people. The further I squint the more I realise that some of our people are crouched over injured friends, Aleera and I weren't too far behind the others, but our sides don't need to blend for lives to be lost.

They can't try and convince everyone to join their cause without first demonstrating what refusal will bring, "Come on girls" I murmur, the cold vial around my hand feels damp from the heat of my body.

As I watch the two finally spill through the front line and into the empty space between us my breath stutters in my chest, the taunts and worried whispers cease and all eyes pin to them. My worry that The Saviours will kill them on the spot for fun doesn't come true, not when they second the step into the open their hands separate and the wind surrounding us picks up speed.

Clouds of dust trail along the cobblestone paths beneath their feet, outstretched hands remain unmoving as murmurs of confusion become secondary to the whine of the wind swirling around everyone. I can just make out the irritated faces of the men at the front of our lines, grimaces that only deepen when the rest of our friends push out into the open.

They never reach Aleera and Liylah, not even as their hair whips around their faces and Liylah's jacket ripples in the wind. The Saviours hands dart for wands and poise in tight fingers as the dust is carried above even my head and the wind moulds it into a thick wall. Liylah's eyes flicker up to where I stand, pushed off of the fireplace I had slumped against as I had waited.