Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 18

"Fuck you, you massive prick!" I shouted hoping Earl Alfred could hear, hoping he was listening. How long had I been trapped in the illusion for? Did the illusion start when everything when disappeared or when he first grabbed my wrist? Maybe it was even before.

I walked in a straight line. I kept walking but I couldn't reach the edge of the spell. I held my hands in front of my face. Maybe this was an illusion as well- maybe I was in the real world but I just can't see or feel anything. I lowered my hands and balled my fists. I had escaped his spell before and I could probably do it again.

I crouched on the ground and placed my palms against the floor. I closed my eyes and imagined I was touching a paper. I slide my hands across the ground, trying to feel a ruffle or a curl in the fabric of the magic. Nothing. I stood up and walked forward to another spot. I tried again but again it didn't work.

"Why isn't this working?" I groaned. "Why's this place different ? Is it because I can only touch the floor I can't rip it off?"

It might be like trying to pull out a rug while standing on the rug. I place my palm on the ground and tried to push some of my magic into it. Nothing. My magic was swirling smoke and the ground was a cement block.

I lifted my hand and squeezed it into a fist. I gathered some of my magic into my hand and pounded the floor. My fist hit the ground sending tingling tremors of pain right up to my shoulder. The floor did not give way and the magic was unmoved. I curled my fingers into claws and scraped my nails on the ground hoping to at least pucker the magic. Nothing again. I can't get a grip or stick or move it at all. The potion! I took my bag off and took out the box of potions were still there.

The only potions left was the green potion Smoke, the pink potion Charming, the orange potion Confusion, the black potion An-apple-a-day, the clear potion Tonic and the silver Lost-and-found.

"An-apple-a-day lifts curses but is this a curse? Will it work here? I don't know..." I said to myself. It was easier to think things out when I spoke to myself- or maybe it was to feel less alone.

I close the cardboard box just as my shadow bunny jumps out of my bag and onto my hand.

"Hello," I whispered, "I didn't think you were still there."

The bunny hopped a few times on my hand and then jumped back into my bag. I put the potions back in as well. I felt my wooden box inside. I took it out and opened it. One black papers and one weird rubbery goop.

Maybe I could use my shadows somehow. They were both projections of magic but they were different- like how liquid perfume and perfume vapour are different. They were different in both scale and form. I sat on the ground, my legs crossed and placed the open box next to me. I placed my hand on the ground again. I pressed my magic down, I tried to move or contort the illusion anyway I could but it did not budge.

I know there's a magic film around me but I can't move it and I can't get a grip. I tried to think of what I did last time but it wasn't so hard the first time. I dragged my hand across the ground, hoping it will slacken. I begged it to move. Nothing, nothing moved or reacted at all to my touch.

I took a shadow from my box and rolled it up in my hand into a tube. I pushed some of my magic into it to make it more malleable. Then I flattened one half with my hand and carefully shaped it into the head of a blade. I had only ever used kitchen knives so I shaped into a chef's knife. I wished I could still do paper folding because my sculpting skills were terrible. The knife ended up lumpy and wonky.

I tapped the ground with the tip of the knife. The knife felt awkward and weak in my hand as if it would break and bend at the slightest application of force. I closed my eyes and dragged it along the ground to try and catch the magic film. I should be able to cut this, diamonds can cut other diamonds. But the more I scratched the more it felt not like diamonds but that I was pointlessly scrapping a rock with a plastic knife. This wasn't working, nothing was working.