The Arwain Chronicles Book I

Chapter Seven

The Arwain Chronicles: Four Predictions...

The car slowly pulled to a stop in the dark parking lot. The mist in her breath told her that it was cold, she however felt nothing. She sat unmoving, her gloved hands remaining on the steering wheel even after the car had stopped. At last she turned to the girl seated in the passenger seat staring out blankly through the wind screen.

Her eyes had always burned bright with life and a strong will to keep on living and surviving, ever gleaming with sly intentions. They sharply contrasted with the empty shells that she was now looking at. It made a shiver creep down the length of her spine, her heart contracting painfully at seeing the other girl this way.

When had the girl become this important to her? When had she slipped past the defenses and walls she'd put up to guard against this exact thing? When the fuck had the girls seated unmoving in the passenger seat become her fucking weakness?

Another sigh escaped through her gritted teeth. It was a question she'd asked herself more times than she cared to remember over the past two weeks since it happened. She was yet to find an answer to it. "I've got an errand to run, I need you to stay here. Don't worry, I won't be gone for too long," it was only after the words had left her lips that she realized how stupid the request was. Her mouth opened to say something else to make up for the stupid request, but nothing came to mind. Closing her mouth, she turned and stepped out of the car.

Her eyes more out of habit than any real suspicion that she had been followed, scanned the parking lot and the area around to see if she was attracting any unnecessary and therefore unwanted attention. She wasn't. Moving round to the back of the car she pulled the trunk open and effortlessly picked up the duffel bag inside of it. With the duffel bag in one hand she slammed the trunk shut with the other. A few words murmured beneath her breath later, she'd cloaked the car. Anyone of lesser power than she possessed would not be able to see it even if they were looking directly at it.

With quick strides she left the parking lot and started down the street towards her target. Her face was a solid expressionless mask that betrayed nothing of what she felt. It was only her eyes that would give anyone who would have cared and had the balls to look into them long enough, a clue as to the cold and ruthless personality that had been bred and ingrained into her.

She ignored the lust filled gazes she attracted from the guys she passed and the jealous ones from the chicks. Her all black leather outfit that hugged her body like second skin was designed to give her the free movement essential in combat, not for any aesthetic purposes.

She turned and walked into the dark alley just before the end of the street she was on. Once she was at the center of the alley, she closed her eyes and spread out her senses looking for it. Doorways between realms left such a slight magical signature that for ninety nine point nine nine percent of the magical population, they were practically undetectable. Unless one knew exactly where they were, it would be next to impossible to find them. Lucky for her, she fell in that last zero point zero one percent.

Her eyes opened their gaze fixed directly on the dumpster that was almost full of garbage. She walked to it and with one strong kick sent it flying to the other end of the alley.

She studied the brick wall behind it, or more accurately, she studied the runes cleverly disguised as cracks on the wall. Half of them were useless and using them would get her nowhere. A large percentage of the other half would cause the doorway to malfunction. Using them could for instance cause only one half of the user to pass through leaving both bleeding halves of them on opposite sides of the door before closing. They could also leave them trapped in the 'in-between' that both existed and didn't between realms. She'd done this enough times before that figuring out the right ones to use took her less than thirty seconds.