"Are you okay?" he breathed into my ear.

I felt the pressure around my chest loosen, I opened my eyes and met Taylor's concerned ones.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I pushed out.

Taylor's eyes told me that he was not buying what I was saying, his fingers quickly swiping away the last remnant of tears from my cheeks.

"I took the afternoon off, so let's go and do something together," he offered.

I smiled back at him weakly, "Do what?"

"I think we need to teach you more about how our magic is used," Taylor admitted.

I nodded my head at his suggestion. The suggestion sounded appealingly concrete. All this crazy magic stuff had been spinning around me so quickly, I had just been reacting to what had been happening. The thought of knowing more about how their magic worked made me feel in control.

We were walking slowly side by side, along the busy street. Taylor clearly had an eye of where we were going ushering me along.

I felt curiosity get the better of me, "So where are we going?"

"So who was that guy?" Taylor countered.

My eyes darted forwards, finding something in the distance to focus on. As I examined the great steel structure around Old Street roundabout, my mind was searching for a simple way to explain away the encounter.

I pushed out the words together with a deep sigh, "Josh is my ex. That was the first time I've seen him since we broke up."

"Oh." Taylor was now the one with his eyes fixated at something in the distance.

We approached the massive roundabout, a circle of cars swirling their way around the grey steel structure in the centre.

"So where are we going?"

"It's easier if I show you," Taylor responded and pulled at my arm. We ran down the stairs to the maze of subway tunnels underneath the traffic junction.

The corridors were clad with ugly green tiles and a few people walked past us, heading towards to underground train station. Taylor continued to walk ahead, moving towards a row of small shops that lined the wall of the tunnel.

As we walked past a cute flower shop, I looked over at him again. His eyes scanned the walls of the tunnel, a look of concentration across his face as if he was searching for something. I followed his gaze and on the other side of the display of flowers, a small golden sheen hovered along the wall. It was almost as if was indicating an emergency exit. But the hum of magic that came from it, told me it was something else entirely.

"What about all the people?" I breathed into his ear.

"Human's can't see our magic," Taylor confirmed.

"So why can I?" the question terrified me as soon as I heard myself asking it.

Taylor turned to me, his dark brown eyes burn intensely, "You are human Cara, but you are also a Vortex."

"What does that mean?" I echoed.

"No one knows," Taylor's words made my heart beat pick up.

He turned back to the small glowing doorway, turning the door handle and disappeared out of view. Instinctively I followed him into the darkness. As soon as my eyes had adjusted the narrow dark tunnel, I turned back to close the door behind us. I stared back and found myself looking into a solid wall.

"What happened?" I gasped.

Taylor's eyes twinkled with excitement, "Magic happened."

"What do you mean?"

"The entrance is only there when we need it, now that we're through the magical roadwork it's not needed anymore."

Taylor turned and started to walk into the darkness of the narrow tunnel. I followed behind him, scared to loose him in the darkness.

"Magical network?" I whispered.

"We have our own set of roads underneath the city," he explained.

He snapped his fingers, creating a small spark of purple glow from his index finger.

"Sometimes it's just easier for us to use these roads rather than the human ones," he added.

"Okay," I responded hesitantly.

I felt a small spark of annoyance grip me, I was just following along Taylor. I didn't feel any more in control than what I had done before.

"So what are we doing down here anyway?" I almost immediately regretted the harshness in my tone.

"We need somewhere where I can practice magic and show you without any human's noticing," his response was soft and logical as if he had not picked up on the harshness of my question.

The damp tunnel started to widen and we walked onto what seemed to be a fully functional two-lane street. It was completely deserted and the streetlights illuminated the gravelly walls of the tunnel.

"I thought humans couldn't see your magic?"

Taylor sighed, "They can't see our hidden magic, like the one on the entry way or the spell on your front door. But if we are going to use full force magic, they might feel the energy waves of it. They are too blind to actually see the lightning of it..."

"Like when you and Lucas..." I started.

Taylor nodded and grabbed my arm lightly, pulling me in towards the wall of the tunnel.

His eyes searched down the street, "I thought I heard something..."

"Is there other warlock down here?"

"Could be. It's used by all of the royal families and their armies. But we're pretty far from the west of the city. That's where they all hang out."

Taylor craned his neck, looking down a smaller side street.

"Come with me," he ushered me in front of him.

We walked quickly down the small side street. Taylor picked up speed and headed towards a small door, pushing it open and shoving me through the doorway. He looked around before shutting the door behind us.

"I think we're fine here."

I turned to look around, it was a medium sized room. I looked at some of the tools on the wall, it looked like some kind of storage room for construction workers.

"What are we doing here?"

"No one ever goes into these smaller storage rooms, it's a good place for us to practice."

"Okay then, let's practice." My eyes were challenging him to show me what he could do.

A ball of purple flames sparked up in Taylor's hand, he allowed the energy to flourish around in flickering flames.

"Using magic is pulling at the strength within yourself, it's instinctive. You feel it and it happens," his dark eyes glistened in the purple light.

"So there's no abracadabra?" I asked ruefully.

"No," he shook his head.

"So you just have to think about it and just happens?"

I looked at him suspiciously, it seemed to be a little bit too easy to be true.

"In simple terms, yes. But it takes years of practice to master it."

"So show me something," my words came out as a challenge.

Taylor stepped away from me, facing forwards the wall of tools. He took a deep breathe and as he exhaled the flickers of purple energy formed into a spear, growing out of his hands and shooting forward. It rushed through the air and crashed into the wall.

Astonished, I walked over to it. It was sticking out of the wall as is if was a dart stuck to an exceptionally large dart board. My hands dance across the shaft of it, under my finger tips it almost felt solid. The surface of the magic tremored underneath my fingers shaking itself loose from its form and moving into my open palm. As soon as it absorbed through my skin I felt its surge in my veins.

"I still can't believe it," Taylor's eyes shone in amazement as they were fixed on the purple light drawing into my skin.

In that moment, I realised that what was happening with me was as crazy and unexpected to him as it was to me.

A small shadow of doubt played around me.

Instinctively I batted it away by asking another question, "So what else can you do?"

Taylor thought for a second, I could tell that he found it hard to try to explain what must be second nature to him.

"So what about those metal balls?"

"Ahh those," as he spoke he started searching thought the wall of tools, settling on a small toolbox. He unceremoniously dumped its contents onto the floor. I shuffled closer, intrigued as to what he would do next. His eyes sparkled with excitement as he held his hands over the open box.

"You know how I told you we can only use a certain amount of magic in one day?"

"Yes," I confirmed, shuddering at the memory of his ashen face when I had nearly drained him of his magic.

"The metal balls, we call them Circles, is a way around that."

"How so?"

His hands sparked up with purple, the magic flowing into the small space of the toolbox and nestling itself there, whirling around like a small woodland creature going to sleep.

"We can create Circles on days when we know we won't use any more magic. So we force the magic into a small metal space where it will stay until we are ready to use it."

His cheeks had lost a lot of its healthy rose colour, but his eyes still twinkled with excitement as he shut the lid to the toolbox.

"So it's like an extra battery or something?"

He laughed at my reply. "Not really. We can't absorb energy like you. But we can use it in battle."

The memory of the metal ball landing at my feet in the alleyway and the cold eyes of Grey haired man cause my heart to contract with fear.

"So how do they work?"

"When the power of a Circle is released it will do what it was intended to do. When creating a Circle, you have to know the purpose of it."

"Ahh, we're back to the whole think about it and it happens thing again."

He shrugged his shoulder, "Pretty much."

I studied his face, he still looked pale.

He thought for a moment, his fingertip playing around the sharp edge of the metal box.

"You know, I think we should release the energy in this Circle and you should try to absorb it."

"Why?"

"When Aaron's man attacked you in the alley, you had already been pulled down by his magic. It would be useful if you could absorb the energy before the magic can take hold."

I nodded slowly, as I couldn't help but agree with him. So far, the only times I had pulled power purposely had been in quiet, non-threatening situations. Given that Aaron still had a hunting order out for me... Just thinking the words made me shudder.

"Okay let's do it," I agreed.

"Let's head out onto the street again," Taylor tucked the metal box underneath his arm and headed towards the door.

I followed him, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"There's more space out there. I want the magic to really have a chance to spread when the Circle is opened," Taylor explained.

My eyebrow was still raised so he added, "More realistic that way."

As we stepped out onto the side street, a cold breeze swept around the corner and pushed my long red hair back. Taylor walked up to the corner and looked both ways down the main street, before giving me the thumbs up that the coast was clear.

"I'll throw this and it'll release a stunning spell," he had to raise his voice to make sure I could hear him.

I nodded nervously and stared at his face, I could make out his confident smile even though he was about twenty steps away from me.

It all happened so quickly, I heard metal smack into the concrete ground, the flash of purple energy darted towards me and I had to fight my flight impulse. Think it and it will happen. The words bounced through my mind. I opened my palms and tried to picture a dry sponge underneath a tap of running water. Soak it up. The storm of purple lightning crashed towards me. As I stared at it, the wall of lightning strated to funnel into the shape of a spear directing itself towards the centre of my palms. The moment it hit my skin, my head felt so light. My limbs felt both loose as jelly and strong as marble simultaneously. I wanted drink it all in faster, my head saw myself bathing in the purple light. It was as if the magic was listening to me, it threw itself around me like an anaconda wrapping around my body and seeping into me through every pore. It rushed forwards surging so fast, all I could see was a rainfall of purple sparks. In the middle of my tornado of magic, Taylor's screaming cut through and instantly froze every inch of my spine. The last whisks of the purple cloud subsided and I finally got my bearings, what I saw made my heart twist into a frightened, frozen mess.

Taylor was on his knees, paler than I had ever seen him. A man with a globe of red magic hovering in his palm, held a stead grip on the back of Taylor's shirt.

My eyes darted from Taylor on his knees, his pale face lit up in the glow from the man's flickering red magic. It was rolling around in his palm, waiting to be released. I heard footsteps approach, someone was running towards us.

"Taylor!" I screamed out.

"You are dead, Vortex," the man hissed and as he raised his hand up and opening his palm towards me, the light reflected in the small pin he wore across his chest. A stabbing sensation of realisation impaled my stomach as I realised that he was one of Aaron's men. They had found me again. The words bounced around my head as the man released his magic, a stream of red energy rushed down the narrow street towards me.

"Cara, remember what we practiced," Taylor shouted.

Behind the red wave, I glimpsed a small flash of purple. I closed my eyes and opened my palm. Come to me, I can control you. I felt the magic rush towards me, in a split second it would either be crashing into me or I would be controlling it. I can do this, it's only magic. I felt a surge move up my arm, opening my eyes to check if it had worked would not be necessary. This time around, I didn't have time to marvel in the feeling. I focused on making the magic travelling into me as quickly as possible. The rush in my ears and my hands furious shaking told me it was working.

The second it stopped, I dared to open my eyes. Instantly searching for Taylor. I saw two bodies laying on the ground. My feet carried me over to them at an unnatural speed. Taylor's face was grey and ashen, his eyes still open but not focused. One quick glance at the attacker confirmed that he must be stunned, just like the grey haired man Taylor had fought off for me in the alleyway during the other attack. Unceremoniously I grabbed Taylor's shoulders and started shaking them.

"Taylor?"

Nothing.

I shook his shoulders harder, "Taylor, we have to go."

I heard the footsteps louder now, whoever was approaching was running towards us at an alarming speed.

I shook his shoulder even harsher now.

"You have to get up Taylor," my voice was both angry and pleading.

The Hunting Order, there must be more than one of them coming for me this time. Taylor's small groan brought me out of my thoughts.

"Are you okay?"

He groaned again but didn't move. I heard the footsteps even louder.

"You are going to die, Vortex!" the furious voice of a man carried down the street.

I could sense the energy rolling towards me. I turned around, still sitting hunched down and started down the street in the direction of his voice. He had yet not sent his magic out to attack me but I could sense that he was building up his power. In an alarming speed, he was approaching. There was nowhere for us to run. I couldn't get Taylor to even speak, let alone move. I refuse to be dragged into your messy world. I felt the power of magic coarse through my veins, as if my body was super charged. My legs rose me up to standing and my mind felt blank.

"Leave me alone," my voice sounded distant and I felt as it I was looking at myself from the outside. I was standing over Taylor's unmoving body, an orb of purple and red energy hovering in each hand.

The man stopped dead in his tracks, his face frozen into a ghastly expression of fear.

"What...This is.. it's not possible," he stammered as he started to walk backwards.

He waved his open palms in front of his chest, creating a thin veil of magic protecting him as a shield.

I could see the fear in his eyes through the red glow. You are not getting away. I can't have you calling anyone more of Aaron's men to come and attack us.

I felt the magic leave my palms, shooting forward like to flares of red and purple.

Author's Note: Thank you for supporting this story and me, by reading, voting and commenting. This week has been really difficult for me and I do really appreciate your patience. The next couple of weeks might be a bit patchy. I will always try to post on Thursdays but given the drama of my life at the moment it might not always be possible.

Please do let me know what you think of this chapter - especially what you thought of the ending ;)

Song: Born Cages - I Just Want the Truth, Baby