Page 14 of Light and Shadow
Needing a bit of time, I step out of the room and speak through the safety of the closed door. “Get ready and let me stew on it. You must be starving. I know I am.”
Harper
I’m freaked out about glowing, and as we get in the car, I can feel the eyes of those wolves watching us. I search, but I can’t see them. “This is creepy.”
“Yes, it is.” Aaran buckles his seatbelt. “We should get moving.”
At least my stomach is full, and I got a good night’s sleep. “They must know where we’re going, Aaran. How do we get to this portal?”
“We just do.” He stares out the window, looking as if he could wrestle a wolf pack on his own with his bare hands.
Pulling onto the highway, I keep my attention on the road and let Aaran worry about monsters. “Tell me something that will make me think this journey won’t end in disaster.”
“I don’t think you can be turned to darkness.” His lips lift into the most infuriatingly hot smile.
“Why?” I mean, that’s nice, but I’m no angel. “I have all the same good and bad thoughts as anyone else.”
“You told me that you prayed you wouldn’t be turned into a shadow and the result was the most spectacular aura I’ve ever seen. You glow so bright with light magic that it’s no wonder the oracle found you, and not surprising the witch queen has located us as well.” He searches the trees on the side of the road. “I think that was the way your prayer was answered. It was to show you that darkness cannot invade your soul. She can’t turn you into one of her minions, Harper. Though, she probably doesn’t know that.”
My heart settles for a moment, but then races again. “How do we hide my whatever-you-call-it so she can’t track us?”
“Good question.”
“I doubt those wolves can chase us at this speed. Will she find another resource for our next stop?” My phone GPS tells me to stay left and continue north. Maine is beautiful. I wish I had time to explore. As it is, we speed past trees and signs for parks, and I hope one day I’ll get to come back.
Following a long silence, it’s startling when Aaran speaks. “We should stop at the next opportunity. I’ve been thinking about how to hide the light in you, or at least dim it.”
At a rest stop, I pull off and park. “What do you have in mind?”
“You showed your colors, so to speak, by using prayer. Prayer and spellcasting are quite similar. I used a spell to protect the hotel last night. To draw my magic, I asked the old gods to shape my magic into a protection spell. In my mind, I saw the building and formed my magic to surround it.”
My life has become a comic book. “So, if I pray to be hidden from witchy, my psychedelic aura will fade?”
He shrugs. “That’s my theory.”
“Since I don’t have a better idea, I’d say it’s our best bet.” I close my eyes and pray to be invisible to the witch queen and all her minions. My heartbeat slows, the hair on my arms stands on end, and warmth spreads through me, starting at my toes and rising, like pulling the blanket up from the bottom of the bed. When I open my eyes, Aaran is staring.
“That was amazing.”
“You can tell?” I mean, I think it worked, but this is my first magic trick. At least the first intentional one.
“I can tell.” He smiles. “Look in the mirror.” He points to the rearview mirror.
Hesitating for a long moment, I finally dare to peek. I look like me; the aura is still there, but the colors lack the vibrancy they had earlier. I touch my cheek. “I did it.”
Grinning at me proudly, he says, “We’d better get going if we’re to find a boat to take us to the coast of Labrador today.”
We make it to the Canadian border without any interference. “How are you going to cross?”
The line is long, and each car has to stop at the booths to present their passports. The officers look as intimidating as those wolves last night. My nerves are reaching their limit. I don’t know if I can do this.
“Just drive up and hand the man your papers. Act as if I’m not here. If they ask, you’re traveling alone to vacation at Prince Edward Island.” He closes his eyes.
“They have dogs.” I watch the German shepherd sniffing around the cars up ahead. “Won’t they smell you?”
He lets out a long breath. “Not if I do this right.”
At the booth, I say hello to the young woman who looks in my car while a man with a dog walks around it.
