The Gifted

Chapter One. VII The Chariot

(direction, control, willpower)

It was dead on midnight when the central line train, bound for West Ruislip closed its doors and left Holborn station, almost empty, bare a handful of hard-worked and sleepy commuters on their way home. The last carriage of this eight-carriage train held only three of these passengers. This, of course, worked to Akimani Wolf's advantage, people, especially people trapped in a confined space, moving at high speeds, in an even more confining tunnel under several feet of Earth, don't respond well when things start going south, at least with there only being one person, it would be easier to control the situation when it would inevitably arise. However, with any luck, said passenger would leave be for the proverbial shit, hit the even more proverbial fan. But there was no guarantee of that, and Akimani, after having finished a two-day shift didn't have the capacity to really care beyond her duty of keeping the public safe.

Safe from what, one may ask and rightly so, but unfortunately right at this minute, Akimani wasn't completely sure on the answer. All she knew and could smell was one, the passenger that had got on with her reeked of alcohol and recently discharged unrestrained magic. The smell of discharged magic was not the problem, it was the unrestrained part that had court her attention. Magic when channelled properly had an almost lavender kind of sent to it, unrestrained magic, on the other hand, was more metallic and irony, the type of sent you taste on your tongue, and unrestrained magic very quickly spirals out of control and just as quickly becomes corrupt magic. That was where Akimani comes in, and the last thing she needed on her way home was a rouge magic-user, drunk on alcohol trying to be the big I am and blow a hole in the side of the train and possibly bringing the tunnel they were in down on all their heads.

However, said passenger seemed at that moment to be doing nothing more than grumbling away to himself and snapping his fingers together trying to light a flame for a cigarette that hang from between his lips, and getting nothing more than sparks. Akimani was obliged to overlook the No smoking rule on trains for the pure fact that one, upsetting this guy was like throwing a starving cat at a large flock of pigeons, and two, smoking on a train was the most minor of offices this guy was probably committing at this point. Akimani, couldn't speak for the other passenger's reaction though and was quickly saved any worrying when with a quick glance she found them to be fast asleep with a pair of headphones on and given there breathing a blocked nose.

Akimani had seated herself in the very last seats of the carriage, lent up against the driver's cabin, she kept her head down hood up, and took full advantage of having a fringe, using it to hide her eyes, and where they were looking. Relaxing her body, she slowed her breathing giving the appearance that she had fallen asleep, while she carefully watched the length of the carriage. Her magic-user seemed for the most part to behave himself. As station after station passed, Akimani started to worry that she would have to stay on past her stop, to make sure this guy didn't do anything stupid after she had left the train. This would mean her already eighteen-hour day, would probably turn into a twenty-four. Akimani sighed, this was just her luck, nothing ever seemed to be easy around her. Even a simple trip home turned into a case. She blinked slightly fighting off tiredness, and stifled a yawn, as they exited the underground and came out into the open. Akimani allowed herself to relax, a little. If the magic-user decided to do anything now, the risk wasn't as high, now, he would be more of a pain in Akimani's ass, then anything else. They went another three stops before Akimani's magic-user made a move, finally losing their temper they took the cigarette from between their lips and threw it across the train, as the other hand came up thumped the window behind them, which shuddered slightly and cracked from the impacted.

The young man though didn't seem to notice the window, instead, he just got to his feet, picked up the cigarette from where it landed on the seat opposite and putting it between his lips once more, and tried yet again to light a flame. Akimani watched as the sparks turned from a bright blue to an angry bright red, she sighed and shifting her position carefully, she slipped her right hand from her jacket pocket, and casually placed her hand on the seat beside her, then raising her first two fingers, pushed outwards, feeling the air, and the magical energy that crackled in the air following the use of magic. Following the channel of the crackle back towards the sparks, and finding their source and flow, she connected with it, and with a quick flick of her fingers severed the connection.