I twisted and turned in the bed, staring up at the ceiling as the light of dawn pushed its way in. Go on with every day life. I rolled over and stared into the wall. How could Taylor even suggest that? Stay away from west London and don't go anywhere near the royal court. I reached over to grab my phone, annoyed at Taylor's words that were bouncing through my mind. At every turn I seemed to sink further into the magical world and now when the king was about to drop dead at any moment, he tells me to get on with my life. Aaron might tell the other warlock's what I am? A knot of worry tightened in my stomach as I swiped across my apps, in the warm glow of the screen I tapped my way to Twitter. My finger scrolled down but my eyes were not registering any of the tweets, something at the back of my mind keep pulling for my attention. I pushed myself out of bed forcefully. Enough of this.

My fingers locked tightly around my phone, I softly walked over to the kitchen. Even though it was a weekday it was far too early for Matthew to be up. My eyes scanned the kitchen for a moment, locking on the kettle as I settled on my decision. A couple of cups of coffee and some toast might be a good idea. There was no way I was going to get anymore sleep, so I might as well get an early start.

I pushed the last edge of the toast around the plate with my index finger. Go back to every day life. Stay away from West London. At least until the new king has been crowned. I felt helplessness well up within me. I hadn't asked for any of this. I never even entertained the thought that magic was real. Once I found out, I think I took it well. I did freak out but not much. I went with it. I learned about it, I thought I could have it under control somehow. But now... My body shivered as I thought of all those people in the grand hall of the court. If they ever found out what I am, they will hunt me until I'm caught. The flashing light of a notification on my phone screen distracted me, I swiped through to my messages,

"I have your things. My father got them back pretty quickly. No one knows what you are."

Taylor's message filled me with a sense of relief. I put my phone down and took another sip of my coffee. They don't know what I am. And if they find out... I am a Vortex after all. Surely I can figure out how to suck the magic out of all of them.

"What are you smiling about?" Matthew's sleepy voice cut through the silence of the kitchen.

"Nothing," I replied maybe a little bit too quickly.

He poured himself some coffee from the pot and shot me a look. It was a look that I had seen before, the one that told me he didn't believe a word I was saying.

He pulled out the bread from the bread bin and threw me another look over his shoulder "So you are up early today?"

"I couldn't sleep," I countered and took another sip of coffee from my mug.

He pushed down two slices of bread into the toaster before turning around to study me.

He took a deep breath, "I wanted to talk to you..."

I raised my eyebrows and took another sip of coffee.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages and I am starting to get worried. I've felt almost as if you've been hiding away lately."

"What do you mean?" instantly I felt defensive.

He continued in a calm voice, "I know you are working on becoming a photographer..."

"I am working as a photographer," I cut in, correcting him.

He shrugged his shoulders gently as if to indicated he didn't want a fight, pausing for a moment and taking a sip of the coffee.

"You are a photographer," he started, taking another sip of the coffee and carefully considering his words before continuing, "but it's a hard job to become established in."

I nodded back. I knew this, he knew this. We had had many conversations about it, it was the reason why he was paying a substantially larger part of the rent.

"I know you had a lot of other things on your mind when you graduated," he continued.

I stayed silent, only nodding in agreement. My mind instantly flashing back to those months after graduation, the turmoil after my break up, the realisation that my parents weren't able to support me when I established myself.

"I was happy to lend you the money and I don't mind paying more of the rent," Matthew continued.

I nodded again, looking into my best friend's eyes as he hesitated before speaking again, "I was just thinking a month or so ago that you've really had some good momentum and I don't want to see you loose that again."

"What do you mean?" I heard myself ask that question again.

"Lately... with Taylor and everything," he hesitated for a moment, "Just don't get distracted. You can't just keep hiding, you have to go out there and get those jobs. Working freelance is really hard and I just want you to make sure you stay focused on what you have been fighting for all of this time."

I looked back at him, almost feeling numb.

"You have the making of a great career in front of you. I just wanted to remind you about it," he gave my shoulder a little squeeze before turning around and starting to butter his toast.

I started at his back for a minute. If anyone else had said that to me, it would have made me so angry. But because it was him, all I could do was agree. Sometimes I thought he was the smart one, changing universities after our foundation year and graduating with a Bachlor's in business rather than art.

"So what's your plan for the day?" he voice was light and unaffected, as if his serious lecture was long past.

"I think I'm going to take Shaun out for drinks. He's gotten me so many jobs lately, I think it's time for me to just hang out with him for once."

"Sounds good," Matthew agreed.

He furrowed his brow before adding, "Is he still friends with..?"

"Josh. Yes he is," I confirmed. I knew what he would say next.

"Just don't get dragged into all of that again,"

"It's over. We broke up more than six months ago," I replied, not able to contain the frustration bubbling under the surface.

I grabbed my coffee cup and tried to remain calm, "I appreciated so much that you care. But you don't have to wrap me up in cotton wool. I can handle it you know."

"Sure," Matthew replied and returned to his toast.

After a few hours of sending out emails, I finally turned my attention away from my laptop. I knew it would take hours before any leads would come in. I swiped through the calendar on my phone, drinks with Shaun was locked in for this evening and I didn't have any booked jobs for today. I threw my phone on the bed and stared around my room, it was just as well as Taylor had texted earlier to let me know he wouldn't be able to bring my camera & handbag back until later in the afternoon. My eyes fixed on the giant pile of clothes at the bottom of my wardrobe, the door was constantly ajar as the clothes seemed to be crawling out of it trying to slide their way across the floor. I sighed deeply and resigned myself to an afternoon of laundry and organisation.

The second load of laundry was humming along in the washing machine, the music was streaming out of my laptop and I was sitting on my knees pulling out the last bits of clothes hugging the bottom of the wooden IKEA wadrobe. As I pulled out the last of the clothes my fingers caught on something hard. Pulling away the clothes, I stared at it. A small black external hard drive and a few video game consoles. There was no need to examine it further, I knew exactly who those things belonged to. Josh. The memory of him so proudly holding out the external hard drive, like it was some great achievement, and asking me to listen to the tracks he had made with his friend. It felt like it had been years ago. The shrill noise of our doorbell broke the spell I had been under. I pushed myself up to standing and rushed for the door.

"Hello," Taylor smiled and stretched out his hand, holding my handbag.

"Hi," I grabbed the handbag from him and instantly opened it.

"It's all there," he confirmed as he stepped in, closing the door behind him.

"I just wanted to see if there's any scratches on my camera lens," I replied.

"Oh I didn't even think of that."

I help it up to the light, examining it, "The lenses are more expensive than the camera."

"So what's the verdict? Do I need to shake down Brownlow for money for a new lens?" his voice was light but there was part of me that suspected that if I said the words, he would.

"No. I think it's fine," I replied.

"So want to head out for some late lunch or early dinner?" he offered.

I shook my head gently, "I have to work for a bit more and then I'm seeing Shaun for drinks."

Taylor nodded, hesitating for a moment before adding, "Just be really careful from now on."

"I will be. Let me know if anything changes." 

I couldn't bring myself to say if Aaron starts telling everyone what I am. But the flicker of recognition in Taylor's eyes confirmed there was no need for me to say anything else.

~*~

My eyes danced across the exposed brick walls and the sleek interior of the venue, The Book Club was always one of the popular places to hang out. I knew Shaun loved it here so it had been an easy choice. My cheeks felt so warm, a mixture of the crowed bar and the drink. I took another sip of my wine and looked over at him.

He smiled back, "You didn't have to take me out for drinks Cara. Now I might get the impression that you like me."

"You know I like you. You have been a good friend to me," I replied.

"No need to clarify. I know you're still dealing with things," he raised his eyebrow and pulled a face that told me that he thought he knew exactly what was going on.

Josh again. Why does everything today seem to be connected to him. The hard drive, now in my desk drawer, flashed through my mind again. I should really give it back.

Shaun took my silence to mean something, adding, "Sorry Cara. I didn't mean to bring him up."

"It's okay. That's not the point. The point is that I just wanted to take you out for drinks to say thank you for setting me up with so many jobs."

He smiled at me again, "Don't worry about it. I just wanted to help out and I also didn't want to take sides."

I nodded and took another sip of my wine. Shaun was one of the few people who were friends with both Josh and I and who had stayed friends with both of us after our break up.

"He talks about you sometimes you know," Shaun started.

I waved my hands for him to stop, "I am sure he does. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Are you sure?" he countered.

I nodded. I had no desire to go back there. It was done. We were just two different people. After graduation it had all seemed too clear, there was just no way I could keep pushing, keep striving to achieve something when his life was so opposite to mine. Eventually it would tear us apart, so I had to walk away before that happened.

"I think he still doesn't get it," it was as if Shaun had summed up my thoughts.

"I found some of his things today. Some of his tracks," the words fell out before I could restrain myself.

"Ah, he's been talking about those tracks. I think he might want to make a go of it again."

You can't keep hiding. The words echoed through my head. Maybe it would just be good to give him back his things and be done with it.

"I think he's still hurt by it all. I don't think he understands why you took the job with Amazing Eight."

I smiled to myself, remembering the two weeks on the tour. Josh and his friends had been aiming to get on that tour, but the Amazing Eight had swooped in and taken their spot. It didn't help that I had accepted the job as tour photographer during the same week as our break up.

"I needed the money and the exposure."

"He doesn't see it that way. But I have been trying to tell him."

We sat in silence for a while, sipping out drinks before drifting onto safer topics of conversation.

"I'll see you soon," Shaun hugged me before turning and walking down the street.

I smiled to myself and pulled the jacket tighter around my neck, even though it was spring the evening air still held a chill. I weaved past a couple walking unnecessarily slow, heading towards my flat. An unmistakable rippled jolted through the air. It could only mean one thing. My body froze in fear as I tried to locate where the waves of magic were coming from.

Author's Note: So what do you think of this week's chapter? It gives a bit more back story into Cara and things that have happen before the start of this story. Do you think Matthew was right -  that Cara should focus more on her career? Or was he unfair as he doesn't know what else she is dealing with? Also - do you think she'll go see Josh to hand back the hard drive?

If you haven't yet - please go to @KellyAnneBlount profile and read my post in the WATTPAD BLOCK PARTY SUMMER EDITION II book. It's a post which talks about my inspirations for some of the things in Magic's Mark - breaking down which parts of the story has been taking from parts of my own life :)

And as always - THANK YOU FOR BEING SO AMAZING AND FOR SUPPORTING THIS STORY ❤❤❤

Song: Quicksand - Meadowlark