The Unveiling - Modern Magic: Book 1

Chapter 7

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Chapter 7 – April 15, 2019

Classes and the study session on Monday went well, with limited distractions during the latter. There definitely seemed to be something starting to form with Amy and Tim. The attention between them was no longer one-sided, and I don't remember seeing Tim smile that often.

Later that evening, Tim took Amy home, and I drove Diana. I was planning on asking about Easter when we reached her apartment, but I quickly became distracted. It was him, the dampening guy. Diana must have noticed my expression. "Zane, are you ok?"

I looked over at her, my gaze serious. "I need you to get inside. He's nearby. I'm going to track him down and stop him."

Diana didn't need to ask who I meant, her expression shifting from confusion to worry. "Are you sure? I mean... going after him alone?"

I smiled and then leaned forward to give her a reassuring kiss. "I'm sure. He won't be ready for someone to actually track him. Stay in your apartment. I'll call you when it's over."

Diana nodded reluctantly and gave me another kiss before hopping out of my car and jogging up to her apartment. She looked back and I gave her a smile and a wave before she went inside.

I focused my full attention on the dampened feeling. I could tell it was moving away from me, so I got back on the streets. I followed a zigzagging pattern, getting closer with every turn. Ten minutes later I found a parking spot and began approaching on foot. He must have sensed me too; he was drawing closer now. I found a nearby alley and stopped somewhere past halfway down, and I waited.

A kid walked around the corner, well, maybe he was 18 or 19. I wasn't entirely ready for that, but my genetic memory was filled with dark souls hiding behind innocent faces. He saw me and stopped, probably surprised that I was waiting for him. Even from 20 or so feet away, I could see his eyes glinting silver in the alley lighting. I felt magic condensing just before his eyes shifted to glittering gold. Less than a heartbeat later, I knew he was forming a kinetic attack.

The young man threw his hand forward, overly dramatically. I formed a kinetic barrier along my forearm, long enough to extend past my fingers and elbow. I angled the shield so the kinetic bolt bounced off and collided harmlessly against the brick building beside me. I saw surprise and frustration in his eyes. Did he really think I would use Antimagic when I could see his attack coming? He formed another kinetic bolt and threw it, causing the same result.

As his second attack deflected harmlessly against brick, I could see he was angry now. I didn't have time to decipher his expressions, using so much of my focus to search for tricks, traps, or circling accomplices. I watched as he put both hands together, forming a larger kinetic bolt. I focused hard, thinking he was going to follow such an obvious assault with an Antimagic attack when I got overconfident. Was he sweating? That didn't make sense. The bolt he was forming didn't feel considerably stronger than his first two attacks.

I funneled extra power into my barrier just in case, but the result would have been the same without it. After I felt the bolt deflect off my barrier, I quickly formed a kinetic bolt in my right hand and pushed it forward, sending the attack flying at the man. His eyes opened in surprise, and he held both hands forward, forming a barrier in front of his open palms. He made three mistakes. First, he was too slow in reacting to my attack. Second, he didn't put enough power into his barrier. Mostly because of the third mistake: he tried to fully absorb the force of my attack instead of deflecting it. Why? Whatever the reason, the result was his barrier failed after absorbing much of the power of my attack. The residual force still knocked him back a few steps.