Coterie of Darkness

Chapter 8: Realisation

"Where did you last see her?" Marian spoke through the phone, calling up the trio again.

"Before last period. I had to meet someone so I left them behind. Nathan said Jamie ran after me though and I hadn't seen her." Carmen breathed heavily as she and the others began to run around campus.

"Where did you run to?" Marian huffed as she arrived by the school fountain.

"Into the woods, by the lake." Carmen said, leaving another empty classroom and meeting the others back in the hallway, empty handed.

"Right, ill check there. Did anyone check her room?" she sighed, marching off into the trees.The three of them looked at one another, Nathan hitting his forehead with the palm of his head. "Someone go check, message me if you find anything." Marian hung up and began to sprint towards the lake, a sickening feeling growing in her stomach.

"I'll go check her room, you guys keep checking here." Carmen spoke and patted Nathan's arm before running to the school's door. Making sure she wouldn't be seen, small shots of magic were pumped into her legs as she sped to the back end of the girl dorm building, and jumped onto the fifth floor balcony to the girls room, small orange sparks skid along the metal railing as she jumped onto the balcony floor.

The mage pulled the door open and walked in, pushing the curtains away to reveal her friend whose chest looked to be glowing a crimson red. Carmen didn't know what to do, she stood there in shock for a minute before composing herself to get a closer look, and walked over to Jamie who was barely conscious and clawing at their chest.

"Dammit Jamie." She whispered as she climbed on top of their stomach and pinned their arms beside them, careful not to injure them further. Carmen replaced her hands with her knees so she could pull out her phone to message the others that Jamie was in her room, telling them she had a fever but she was ok and that they shouldn't come.

Carmen shoved her phone back into her pocket and hovered her hands over their chest, chanting unknown words under her breath. Her ears became more pointed as her eyes began to glow a soft orange, the same glow bursting from her hands to surround her friend, glowing orange chains enveloped them.

A worried look struck on Carmen's face as the chains broke, something was wrong. Whatever spell that was put on her friend wasn't any normal spell. Carmen panicked as she scanned over the rest of her friend's body for any other markings, finding faint bruising on their neck and wrists.

The phone rang loudly in Carmen's back pocket, making her jump with surprise as she fumbled to get her phone and answer. "Hello?" Her voice shook slightly, dehydration coating her dry mouth.

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Marian reached the lake after a few minutes of walking through the trees, the cold night air nipping at her skin, a refreshing feeling to the heat still bubbling under the almost healed burns.

Her eyes scanned the area, light purple rising to the surface of her eyes, calling upon her magic.

A dark and neon orange glow mixed around one of the trees behind her, sparking and cracking into the higher branches. Marian jumped up to one of the lower branches, slowly climbing to the source of the light as she inspected the tree, slight burn marks and glowing runes could be seen amidst the glowing. The symbols were drawn to her, clutching to her skin the higher she climbed, the burning sensation gripping her skin and tightening its hold making sharp pains run along her body. The demon winced in pain, short sharp breaths escaped her as she reached one of the higher branches, the source of the marking and light.