The Prime Of The Outcasts

Part 4

I ran, and the shadow man was floating after me, drowning in his own bubble of hatred and anger that could be deemed from far afield. Howling winds outside were running through my waterfall of brown locks, my blue shirt dress was gathering dirt at the dispersing hem as I prowled through several mud puddles, and the unforgivable tone from my chaser cursed loudly as I hurried around blocks and frail market stalls. Why did I throw a ball of fire at him? Why didn't I think for one moment that he wouldn't block it with magic? I've got a lot to learn. For some fluky reason though, the spirals intersected on my hand hadn't vanished, they felt stronger, more empowered, innumerably dangerous. Was this normal?

'Get back here, you little witch!' I heard the shadow man shriek, picking up his pace and accelerating so a rocket booster shot out the back. I hope nobody heeded that! If anybody found out my secret, that I was magic and I knew another magical being, I could never show my face in Tarmonty ever again. And since Tarmonty was cut off from the rest of the world, I would have nowhere to go. Unless if there was a spell to transform into a mermaid and jump off Tarmonty pier. But I can't swim, so that might not be the best option.

'Never!' I screeched back, feeling my heart rate increase rapidly. 'What do you want with me?' I regretted asking that question, I didn't actually want to hear what this bodiless silhouette wanted from an amateur sorceress. If I was going to try and keep my normality then I had to stop with these irregular questions. I could hear mumbles growing from behind, reluctantly, I listened closely.

'I can tell you, Serena!' It called. 'But I can't go on like this, you have to slow down. But throwing weak fireballs at me is not the answer!'

'Why? Is this some sort of a trick to lure me into your imagination of madness?! I wish I had another ball of fire to finish you off.' I cried. The shadow man chortled and coughed once he'd had enough.

'Female witches were always the bravest.' His voice deepened again. 'Please, stop at this next block and I'll show you everything! Please, let me show you that you're more than what you seem. Show you how to keep your magic under control. Show you the kind of young girl your parents could actually be proud of.' I wished this man would stop with all of these good points he was making.

I felt all choked up and clammy at those final words. I was hesitant to say much more, mom always said 'never trust a strange unidentified figure'. But he wasn't exactly a figure though, just a head. Just a blunt, irrational, good-for-nothing... head. I stopped at a halt right outside Mrs Mabel's Old Antique Shop and café. The breeze tangled with my wild curls and relaxed for a minute until I saw him in full view. For a spectral being, the shadow man wasn't exactly fast. He moved about as agile as the lazy clouds up above. You would think he'd be able to speed fly here if he's all he says he is. Still, nobody had set foot onto their cobblestone doorsteps, so maybe talking was okay. At a distance though, I wasn't all systems go for a face to face discussion at this moment in time.

'You have five minutes!' I snapped grumpily. 'But I'd rather keep our distance though. I'll stand behind that shop wall and you around the corner, I'm not ready to face you just yet. I'm still trying to take this all in.' I heard him moan loudly, then furfill my deed and talk from around the corner I told him to stand by. He didn't waste any time, he snapped what he wanted to tell me like a cross alligator.

'Okay I'm around the corner, you happy now? Alright Serena. Do you want to know the real reason why I'm here?' I nodded, and my short silence told him he could continue talking. 'Bottom line is, I'm here to take you away - you can't stay here! Tarmonty is not the place for witches like yourself.' The way he used the term 'witches' made me sound like a psychopath out to destroy the human race so it was nothing more than debris and body ashes. I'd prefer he were slightly kinder and less aggravated, but by the way this conversation was heading, that didn't seem to be on the menu.

'What are you talking about?' I exclaimed in an exasperated whisper. 'Tarmonty is my home, I belong here, I...I'm not a witch.'

'Oh really! Is that so?' He responded. 'If you're so proud of your home and your family then how come none of them know who you really are?' I blinked back a tear that scurried quickly out of nowhere. 'How come you can't be honest with your so-called "loved ones" when they don't know that you, precious, were born an outcast?' The next line I shouted back came out a bit too tawdrily.

'I'm not an outcast! You take that back right now.' A second tear dripped unexpectedly. 'The reason I haven't told them is because they would never understand. But most importantly I'm doing this to protect them. Protect them from the criminals loose in Tarmonty.' I heard several cold sniggers reply. This got me clued up.

'Like I said, the female witches are by far the bravest. But like you said, they would never understand. Nobody here will ever understand you! Lucky enough for you though, I do.' Why was I feeling so emotional? I was ready to cry a five meter long river fit enough for a person to paddle in. I felt the shadow mans voice try to break into my mind, as I felt woozy and almost completely brainwashed of my sanity. He pursued with his message though. 'I can show you what you really can do, I can take you to a place where people like you are respected. Cared about. Accepted. A place where magic is encouraged and praised.' I was letting him ramble on, but I couldn't let him, no. Serena Pavock you are stronger than that! (I screamed solemnly into my mind). I felt the atmosphere around grow warmer, I felt my palms calm, and my feet not stand so firmly on the ground. I was ready to look around the corner and look that demon head in the eye. (Well, eyeholes, because he hadn't actually got any black pupils or colourful eye rims). Either way, I would face him, look straight at him, and yell... 'NO!'

I had focused my eyes to the correct viewpoint and found myself to be bellowing into the invisible air fanning around me. Where had the madman gone? He was just talking to me a few seconds ago. An icy puff of oxygen then trickled down my spine. I felt my teeth shatter maniacally and my hands bind together until they met and wouldn't let go. The world surrounding my numbed body had suddenly turned into a huge sparkling glacier, and the voice that I first heard so intimately repeated itself shrilly in my ears. 'You're coming with me.' Before I could say anything else, I turned around to face the large head again. We were so close, I could barely breath without him sneezing agitatedly at the hot air I was breathing heavily at.

Darkness then suddenly came; thick, fast and defiantly. It travelled from every area of the sky, soaring down so it hit me directly. Chuckles and sniggers erupted from nowhere. For a split second my eyes had blurred, then I found that I was completely sightless. Panic struck me. A zephyr of grey smoke had hurtled from the  midst and straight into the whites of my eyes, and made it so that I could visualise absolutely nothing. All I could feel was my body being half suspended into mid air, and the deafening sounds of those same thunder claps that emerged the past night. I heard the evil coloured tone of the shadow man yell;

'Baton, I command thee you take me to... Overcast Island!' I was loosing my mind (literally). Was this head talking to a baton? What was Overcast Island? I was forced to try and overlook these questions as it was probably the most trivial thing to think about right now. Sparks of energy spiked my body and nips attacked my feet. There was nothing else for it, I screamed, loud and clear. Nothing even remotely useful happened though, only that I felt my body swelter, then swirl until my feet hit the ground again. What just happened? Am I still in Tarmonty?